A framework for aligning project management to business strategy: a qualitative case study in Saudi telecommunications industry

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonProject management (PM) plays a significant role in achieving the company’s goal and objectives. Due to its significant role, it is essential that the project managers use processes which remain focussed on the company’s business strategy. However, some implementations of the company’s business strategy have led to failures as a result of misalignment between project management and the company’s business strategy. Such misalignment has an impact on both the project management and business strategy and may lead to problems in the overall functioning of the business, including the implementation of the company’s business strategy through the projects. This research was undertaken to investigate the problem of aligning project management process with the company’s business strategy which has not been fully investigated to-date. This investigation aims to provide a deeper understanding and more holistic analysis of the key factors, such as stakeholders and contextual factors (AF), which enable or inhibit this alignment in order to develop a conceptual framework that addresses this research gap. This study examines and analyses the alignment process, by considering the key factors at the early planning phase of project management. To address the research gap, the study employs a qualitative, multiple case study approach in the interpretive paradigm. Data was collected via interviews of senior personnel (executives and project managers), mainly from three managerial levels of the organisation, including corporate, business, and functional levels in four telecommunication companies of the private sector in Saudi Arabia. The investigation was carried out by collecting data through semi-structured interviews to critically explore collectively the perspectives of the executives and the project managers on their experience of managing and executing the company’s business strategy and the projects. Written and electronic documentations as well as non-participant observations also served as important triangulation and complementary sources in understanding the phenomenon being studied and as a means of gaining additional perspectives and further insights on key issues. This study provides a novel contribution to the alignment process of project management to business strategy. The original contribution and findings of this study contribute to the growing body of knowledge of project management by developing a practical framework to benefit both academics and practitioners and to increase awareness of the alignment process. This holistic conceptual framework includes two sets of factors that impact the alignment process. Additionally, it provides a unique prescriptive standard and a code of practice for practitioners seeking to realise efficient and effective alignment

Museum, memories and digital stories : A liminal space for human computer interaction.

Objects, material or digital, mediate memories: they act as anchors in between temporal notions and relations of past and present. Through those objects of memory, the act of remembering occurs neither completely relived in the mind, nor fully captured in the medium. Essential to personal memories, objects represent also our collective memory and capture our social history.The papers submitted for this PhD by selected publications look at the design of innovative technology that can make remembering more evocative and affective. They look at both museums, where digital and material are combined in an augmented reality, and personal/family contexts, where the home and mundane objects can be technologically enhanced to encapsulate digital memories.The museum was ideal to experiment with hybrid settings that combine material (the collection and the architectural space) and digital (the information) (papers 1 to 3). Personalization of information was used to augment the reality of rooms and exhibits: whole body interaction (i.e. physical movements in the space) was used to select and personalize the content and engage visitors with both material (the object) and digital (the information). Although the mobile technology is dated, these papers show the value of combining digital and physical to provide a holistic experience that made visitors wonder. Where the fusion occurs, however, is in the digital technology. To balance this perspective, paper 4 looks at the effect of taking the digital content out into the exhibition space. My recent research (papers 5-9) looks at objects of memory in the personal realm, in particular in the family home. Starting from observing the role and function of mementos, I conclude that a more holistic and organic approach has to be taken to make personal digital objects of memory more present in people's life. Materialization can be achieved with digital devices designed for individual and family use, so that the product fits with the mundane aspects of life, is immediate, and stimulates affect, not efficiency.Finally papers 10 and 11 provide evidence of the innovative methodologies I have developed and successfully used in iterative user studies and evaluations across different research projects and many years of research. As a whole this submission shows that there is a huge design space to explore in looking at how technology could be used in public or private spaces to bring together the two aspects of memory: remembering in the mind and capturing through objects, in order to preserve our digital life as tangible interactive objects