«Exalted by the new,in love with the old»:undertaking the change at the Barcelona Athenaeum Library

La Biblioteca de l’Ateneu Barcelonès es troba en un procés profund de canvi que va començar el 2004. S’explica quines han estat les oportunitats que ha generat la col·laboració amb els agents de l’entorn social, quines han estat les millors pràctiques que l’equip de treball està duent a terme per desenvolupar amb èxit el projecte i quines són les estratègies creatives que estan donant valor afegit als resultats i fidelitzant els usuaris.La Biblioteca del Ateneo Barcelonés se encuentra en un profundo proceso de cambio que se inició en 2004. Se explican las oportunidades que ha generado la colaboración con los agentes del entorno social, se destacan las mejores prácticas que el equipo de trabajo está llevando a cabo para desarrollar con éxito el proyecto y cuales son las estrategias creativas que estan dando valor añadido a los resultados y fidelizando a los usuarios.The Barcelona Athenaeum Library is in a deep process of change that started in 2004. Opportunities that have been generated by the collaboration with the social environment agents are explained, as well the best practices that the team is carrying out to lead the project successfully, and which are the creative and entrepreneurial strategies that are giving added value to the results and to obtain users faithfullness

The wisdom of conversations: Existential Hermeneutic Phenomenology (EHP) for project managers

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA This paper introduces Existential Hermeneutic Phenomenology (EHP) as an approach to reflecting on and studying the lived experience of project management practice. We argue that an EHP way of being is an effective approach for any practitioner confronted by significant existential disruptions to their practice. We develop our proposition of ‘the wisdom of conversations’ as an EHP enabled way for project managers' practical coping with otherwise potentially inhibiting existential disruptions. We understand EHP as a holistic philosophical practice which: 1. allows making the ‘lived experience’ of project management practice explicit for reflection, and 2. is available and useful to practitioners in the field. Heidegger provides the theoretical base through a language of existential categories, which are dimensions of being-in-the-world. Gendlin offers a practical method for accessing the states of being that Heidegger describes. Rorty offers promise, the ability to disclose new possibilities or ways of being-in-the-world through irony and practices of re-description

From Project Management to Program Management: An Invitation to Investigate Programs Where IT Plays a Significant Role

Information technology is an inherent component of major change initiatives that organizations undertake. However, the increasing technological complexity involved in achieving the benefits of these change initiatives means that organizations must substantially revise management policies and procedures to create and deploy information technology across multiple functional areas and longer time horizons. Industries, governments, professional societies, and early researchers consider prior management practices inadequate and are moving toward practices that promote the integration of multiple functions, projects, environments, and stakeholders to best achieve the benefits of the chosen change. In this editorial, we discuss previous research, highlight key findings, and raise questions about the process of managing multiple projects in change initiatives that contain significant information technology—also known as program management

Unexpected Events in IT Projects: A Conceptual Review and Research Agenda

When unexpected events occur, IT project teams need to react appropriately in order to limit the potentially negative, and sometimes disastrous consequences of such events. Yet, while past research has identified unexpected events as being an important aspect to consider when managing projects, the existing literature does not provide a clear conceptualization of this concept which limits the development of new theories and thus the ability to guide practitioners. Based on a literature review and to advance our understanding of unexpected events in IT projects and their effective management, and facilitate future theoretical developments on IT project management, the present paper develops a conceptualization that clearly distinguishes this concept from other closely related ones, as well as proposing a research framework that links it to IT project team responses and their consequences. A detailed research agenda, integrating current advances in different fields, is developed to highlight future research avenues

A Review of Successful Construction Project Managers’ Competencies and Leadership Profile

The Project Management Institute (PMI) described project management as “Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements”. The nature of projects is always dynamic, uncertainty and different from each other. Project lifecycle is along with risk, changes and even sometimes failing happened. Therefore, to bridge these gaps and to achieve the project goal within budget, time, scope and quality. All projects-oriented organizations such as construction firms, consultancy firms, and information and communication technology (ICT) firms, need for trained, competent, leader and experienced project managers. Among the most important elements for a successful project manager, there are combination of knowledge, skill, leadership, ability and personal attitude which are necessary for successful project completion. So, to percept these combinations in detail it is the main purpose of this paper, to review project manager’s competencies and leadership constituents for construction projects throughout lifecycle

Examining Project Manager Insights of Agile and Traditional Success Factors for Information Technology Projects: A Q-Methodology Study

Executive Summary Two dominant research views addressing disappointing success rates for information technology (IT) projects suggest project success may depend on the presence of a large number of critical success factors or advocate for agile project management as an alternative to traditional practice. The purpose of this Q methodology study was to use views of experienced project managers to explore the contribution of success factors and management approach to project success. This study used a sample of 519 project managers with experience leading or working on IT projects and employed a two phased research approach by employing a frequency analysis of project manager preferences for the entire sample followed by a Q analysis from a random subsample of project managers to uncover dimensions of their subjective opinions and identify clusters of project manager participants who shared common viewpoints. The frequency analysis showed a clear preference for traditionally worded critical success factors over agile critical success factors and tended to support prior research investigating critical success factors for IT projects such as the importance of clearly stated and measurable goals and objectives and a strong commitment from upper management to provide resources, authority, and influence for the project. The Q analysis of the subsample identified three composite factors which explained 47% of the variance representing different perspectives of project manager opinion about the importance of various critical success factors: a people-project focus, user/client involvement focus, and a traditional project management focus. This study successfully used Q methodology to evaluate and group a set of divergent critical success factors based upon the views of project management practitioners and may provide an explanation for the long list of critical success factors found in IT project management research studies. i

Towards a regional ontology for information systems project management

Includes bibliographical references (leaves [170]-185).The extant research literature on Information Systems (IS) project management illustrates that there is considerable confusion about the true nature of IS project management. The bewilderment is expressed in a number of ways. Practitioners are reporting that there is considerable mismatch between the prescribed practices they are socialised into and their actual experiences of project work. Appropriately, there are also debates about what constitutes project success and about what factors influence project success and failure. Whilst these fundamentals are being debated there are also concerns expressed about the lack of adequate underlying theoretical constructs to give coherence to the kinds of questions raised. As the essence of IS project management is being debated there is evidence suggesting that the project-driven organisational form is growing in popularity. Together with the concerns there are proposals being offered as alternatives to improve understanding of project management. The review undertaken in this thesis illustrates that alternatives are emerging despite the existence of an entrenched value system that makes society prone to unwittingly accept and be attracted to the adoption of best practices such as PMBOK, which is central to the debate taking place in IS project management

The Interactions Among Information Technology Organizational Learning, Project Learning, and Project Success

Knowledge gained from completed information technology (IT) projects was not often shared with emerging project teams. Learning lessons from other project teams was not pursued because people lack time, do not see value in learning, fear a potentially painful process, and had concerns that sharing knowledge will hurt their career. Leaders could change the situation; however organizational leaders have not seen value in project learning and have not made it a priority. Yet, if a relationship existed among IT project success variables (PSVs) organizational learning factors (OLFs) and project learning practices (PLPs) then IT leaders may take greater interest in managing knowledge. The goal of this research was to conduct a correlational study to determine the relationship among OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs within IT organizations. OLFs included those activities at the corporate level that enabled project teams to learn from other projects. PLPs included the activities to learn lessons from a maturing or completed project. PLPs also included activities within an emerging project to harness lessons from prior projects. PSVs described project success. The research question (RQ) asked; what was the relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs? To answer the research question it was necessary to ask four support questions (SQ). First, what elements defined organizational learning, project learning, and project success? Second, how effective was use of organizational learning? Third, how effective was project learning? Fourth, how successful were IT projects? To answer the first SQ a content analysis was conducted followed by a review with a Delphi team. A survey was then developed based on the content analysis. Finally, a statistical analysis was conducted to answer the remaining SQs and the RQ. The content analysis and Delphi team review revealed 12 OLFs, 11 PLPs, and 9 PSVs. Answering the second and third support questions the study found that OLFs and PLPs could be used more effectively within IT organizations. However, IT leaders reported that a foundation for organizational and project learning existed. Answering the fourth SQ, IT leaders reported good project success though risk management could be improved. This study found that there was a positive and significant relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs. The relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs suggests that there is justification to research and develop IT competence in learning

Using Organizational, Coordination, and Contingency Theories to Examine Project Manager Insights on Agile and Traditional Success Factors for Information Technology Projects

Two dominant research views addressing disappointing success rates for information technology (IT) projects suggest project success may depend on the presence of a large number of critical success factors or advocate for agile project management as an alternative to traditional practice. However, after two decades of research, success rates remain low, and the role of critical success factors or project management approach remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to use views of experienced project managers to explore the contribution of success factors and management approach to project success. Applying organizational, coordination, and contingency theories, the research questions examined IT project manager perceptions about success factors, how those success factors interrelate, and the role of management approach in project success. A Q methodology mixed method design was used to analyze subjective insights of project managers about the important critical success factors for IT projects. Two critical success factors emerged as important: a sustained commitment from upper management to the project and clear, measurable project goals and objectives. Three composite factors also surfaced representing the importance of people-project interactions, user/client involvement, and traditional project management tasks. The analyses found no broad support for agile project management and could not confirm principles of organizational or coordination theories as critical for project success. However, a contingent relationship might exist between some critical success factors and merits further investigation. Helping the project management community understand IT project success factors could improve project execution and reduce failure rates leading to sizeable savings for project clients

Design and evaluation of an integrated change lifecycle model to explore multiple dimensions of successful information technology enabled public services initiatives

Investing in information technology (IT) to enable change in organizations is an abundantly researched subject. Academic literature and practitioner publications have emphasized critical success factors and reasons for failure in change initiatives. Recent studies in the private sector highlight major challenges with these undertakings that diminish shareholder value. There is also mounting evidence that government agencies have had similar experiences, resulting in the loss of public trust and confidence. Many prior investigations have recommended improvements to one aspect of change, such as project management diligence or overcoming organizational resistance to change. Other investigations contend that success is inhibited by inadequate understanding of the multi-dimensional nature of change and by the application of prescriptive models that are incomplete. In response to these shortcomings, this thesis iteratively designs and develops a theoretical model that integrates multiple dimensions, which originate as the process, content, and context of change. The resulting model offers an extensive set of factors, conditions, and practices within all three dimensions that should be considered during the lifecycle of IT-enabled change. The thesis evaluates this integrated change lifecycle model (ICLM) empirically by exploring how two public sector organizations have managed the contribution of IT to produce positive results and benefits. Empirical evaluation of the ICLM focuses on the question, “How are successful IT-enabled public services change initiatives governed, managed, and performed?” The evaluation uses two cases: (1) a new service delivery channel initiative, and (2) an operational process improvement initiative. Both are located in a transportation program area of a U.S. state government. Thematic analysis of multi-faceted stakeholder interviews, survey results, and change initiative documentation was employed to determine findings for each change dimension and each change lifecycle stage. This multi-dimensional ICLM contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge in the fields of (1) public services management; (2) organizational change and development; and (3) information systems and technology. The ICLM offers an extensive elaboration of solution content domains, project performance processes, and organizational change environment aspects across five lifecycle stages: (1) public policy and strategy formulation; (2) public service improvement definition; (3) change solution delivery; (4) project results determination; and (5) public benefits realization. The methodology employed to produce and evaluate the ICLM corresponds to the design science research (DSR) paradigm and is consistent with DSR guidelines for contributing to research knowledge. The objective of the research is to develop a technology-oriented solution to an important and relevant management and organizational problem. The research has produced, via multiple iterations, an advanced artifact in the form of the ICLM. The viability and utility of the ICLM has been evaluated and rigorously demonstrated via two in-depth case studies. The ICLM, and its evaluation findings and implications have been presented to technology-oriented and management-oriented academics and practitioners in research colloquia, conferences, and leadership sessions. Participating program and system managers accept that the multi-dimensional ICLM could benefit their agency in two ways: (1) as a diagnostic tool to assess existing change initiatives; and (2) as a strategic tool to plan and organize new initiatives. Of particular interest is the finding that no individual manager was tasked to orchestrate solutions to meet the requirements of all change dimensions. Instead, each initiative organization employed a collaborative approach with well-defined accountabilities for each change dimension. The ICLM could help system owners to understand the complex responsibilities of the information system integrator role to ensure fit for purpose and integrative compatibility of technical components from all sources. The ICLM also defines a public services integrator role for government change initiatives to ensure that the IT components fit with redesigned laws, rules, regulations, policies, processes, preferred practices, and duties. The findings confirm the value to management practice and theory of a unifying model that integrates the three change dimensions within a prescribed change lifecycle. Based on these results, it is recommended that the ICLM be evaluated in other public sector program areas as well as in private sector business environments to further its contribution to management, organizational change, and information systems theory, and to increase its value to researchers and practitioners