Towards Project Portfolio Management for Sustainable Outcomes in the Construction Industry

It is imperative that organisations improve their sustainability and there is a global push to reduce the environmental impact from project activities. This is especially true in construction, yet there is no ex1stmg framework to guide decision making and project portfolio management (PPM) for sustainable construction. This paper discusses the application of project portfolio management to the area of sustainable development in the construction industry. Using the understanding gained from existing PPM practices in a range of industries and the current approaches to risk and sustainability management in the construction industry, we propose a new maturity model for PPM. The maturity model aims to guide the introduction of sustainability factors into multi-project resource scheduling and risk analysis in the coustruction industry, and can be used to make the contribution to sustainability from an overall portfolio more sustainable than the sum of the contribution from individual projects, 1

When agility meets a project portfolio: A study of success factors in large organisations

The iterative nature of agile methods combined with high levels of team and customer interactions and continuously changing IT and software development project requirements make the management of agile project portfolios very complex. To date, the mechanisms under which project portfolio management adapts to these complexities and achieves portfolio success have not been thoroughly investigated. This study explores the notion of success and its impacting factors in large organisations\u27 portfolios of agile IT and software development projects. Using a multiple case study design, we analysed the agile project portfolios of seven large organisations. We identified four success criteria and 15 success factors and categorised them into a unique agile portfolio success framework. Some of these criteria and factors are unique to agile project portfolios. The framework contributes to agile and project management literature by conceptualising the notion of success in portfolios of agile projects while revealing a set of factors that affect the relationship between an agile portfolio with its subcomponents and the surrounding environment. The framework supports managers and practitioners in large organisations in reflecting on their agility efforts to achieve higher success rates in their agile portfolios

IT Services Project Management: Lessons Learned From a Case Study in Implementation

Project management has gained unprecedented popularity worldwide as companies strive to become more productive, respond quickly to customer needs and stay competitive. However, implementing and managing a formal project-management system is becoming harder as organisations become larger and more complex, the number of the projects undertaken at any given time increases and delivery times become shorter (Levy and Globerson, 2002). This paper includes a review of some of the major multiproject management issues and presents a case study of a successful integrated project-office implementation. Based on the details of the case, a systematic framework that includes the roles and responsibilities, organisational styles and staffing process of an effective project-office programme is developed. Practical guidelines for implementation are presented based on the case and the resulting framework

Strategies to Improve Project Management Maturity Processes

Information technology organizations lose significant competitive value when business leaders fail to use project management maturity (PMM) processes that enhance market delivery, reduce costs, and increase profitability. Using a multiple-case study, the researcher explored strategies that project leaders have used to improve PMM processes and expanded upon Kerzner\u27s PMM model, which comprises 5 PMM levels essential for achieving repeatable project success. The researcher selected 20 project leader participants in the Southeastern region of the United States using a purposeful snowball sampling technique. In depth interviews were combined with archival and document exploration using a multiple-case study design where different types of project offices were cross compared as the unit of analysis including governmental, corporate, nonprofit, and not-for-profit organizations. Thematic analysis and cross-case analysis revealed 6 major strategies to improve PMM processes: project leader development, customer focus, standard methodology development, interactive communication, establishing a project office organizational structure, and practicing continuous process improvement. The implications for positive social change include the potential to provide small businesses and marginally-resourced organizations, such as churches and charitable organizations, with a beneficial value that contributes to positive economic activity in the local communities they support. The results are important because they extend constrained resources and organizational buying power for deliverables required by the recipient of the altruistic act

Improving research labs’ performance through project management guidelines: a case study analysis

© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The article aims to critically analyze the project management developed by research laboratories of a Brazilian university in order to enhance their performance. For this, a critical analysis was performed to identify existing opportunities about the management of schedules and resources. Additionally, a software was developed to enable performance improvement. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological procedures used were literature review, for a theoretical foundation, and case study conducted with semi-structured interviews, documentary research and on-site visits. Through a detailed critical analysis of the laboratories' management, it was possible to understand the activities developed and map the main difficulties observed. Findings: A total of five plausible points of improvement were identified, namely reduced teams and accumulation of activities; team seasonality; centralized management; deviations from projects and schedule control. Based on the theoretical foundation, it has been proposed adjustments to minimize the mentioned difficulties that can greatly contribute for better management efficiency of multiple research projects. In addition, a software was structured based on the proposed improvements. The laboratories' performance was monitored for a month and significant improvements were observed. Practical implications: The information presented here may be of great value to other researchers interested in enhancing research laboratory performance. Originality/value: The academic literature presents several examples of project management guidelines application in different organizations; however, there are few studies about the application of them in research laboratories and how to improve their performance

Project portfolio management: The linchpin in strategy processes

© Cambridge University Press 2017. Introduction Project portfolio management (PPM) is a central component of organizational project management (OPM), especially through its role in both the formulation and the delivery of organizational strategy. Corporate activities are increasingly carried out in the form of projects, in a trend that has been called “projectification” (Midler, 1995). In particular, for the implementation of complex innovations, it is not enough for organizations to focus on the successful management of individual innovation projects; they must also manage a large number of interdependent projects from a portfolio perspective. In today's dynamic environment, organizing by projects has become the rule rather than the exception, and organizations face challenges in managing these large project landscapes (programs and portfolios). The management of project portfolios is closely linked to the implementation of strategies. As strategies are ultimately implemented by projects, PPM – as a link between corporate strategy and projects – plays a central role (Meskendahl, 2010). In most research and practice this role is considered from a top-down perspective: strategies are considered to be a given yardstick for the prioritization and selection of projects and the allocation of resources. From such perspectives, PPM acts as the recipient of strategic goals and requirements that need only to be operationalized. However, the strategic management literature has long recognized the importance of emergent strategy; and that the realized strategy (the strategy that is actually implemented) often strays from the intended strategy (Mintzberg, 1978). Surprisingly, this is hardly considered in existing research models and standards for PPM (PMI, 2013). While there is some empirical evidence to suggest that hierarchical, formal, top-down approaches are not the actual practice of PPM (Christiansen & Varnes, 2009; Jerbrant & Gustavsson, 2013; Martinsuo, 2013), a much broader debate is needed to fully explore the role of PPM in the context of emergent strategies. The goal of this chapter is therefore to explore the role of PPM in the relationship between the formulation and implementation of strategy and consider both the top-down approach as well as the bottom-up strategy emergence. We first discuss emergence in the context of strategy implementation and the role of different phases in the PPM process that affect strategy implementation

IT governance as a higher order capability

This paper utilises the resource-based view as a framework to examine the interactions between information technology (IT) governance, IT management and organisational information systems. Analysis of data collected from medium and large Australian organisations indicates that IT governance capabilities act to improve IT management capabilities which in turn improve the performance of organisational information systems, specifically future-oriented accounting information systems. We propose that these interactions represent the operation of an overarching organisational IT capability. Further analysis finds significant differences in the most effective combinations of IT governance and IT management mechanisms for organisations facing differing levels of environmental turbulence. This finding highlights the importance of utilising IT governance as a higher order organisational capability to reconfigure and align capabilities and resources in response to changing strategic requirements and environmental pressures

Maintaining Equilibrium between Project Success and Team Well-Being: Pharmaceutical Project Management

Projects of all types bring with them their own set of challenges and risks. Those within the pharmaceutical industry are subject to heavy regulation, high risk of failure, and the requirement of having very specialised knowledge. High-pressure projects like this also puts much stress on the individual team members working to ensure the project’s success. In order to delve into what it takes to maintain equilibrium between project success in a timely and cost effective manner, and the well-being of the project teams themselves, this research takes a look at what are the common issues with these types of projects. Issues such as unrealistic timelines and budgets, unclear requirements, and inadequate resources, will be explored to determine what affect they have on the workers, and how might these issues be addressed in a structured and repeatable way, regardless of project type