Greater Washington Works: IT and Health Careers with Promise

The Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, an initiative of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, has partnered with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to develop new a research report, Greater Washington Works: IT and Health Careers with Promise, released today. The report focuses on how our region can address the skills gap and lift more of our neighbors out of poverty through careers in IT and Healthcare.With over 70% of net new jobs requiring post-secondary education and training, the Washington regional economy continues to be highly knowledge-based. Local employers, however, face challenges in finding skilled workers. Nearly 800,000 individuals in our region have no education past high school, highlighting a skills gap that has the potential to undermine our region's global economic competitiveness.Further, while it is encouraging that our regional unemployment rate has improved to pre-Great Recession levels, many of our neighbors are still struggling to make ends meet. Our region can count 100,000 additional residents living below the Federal poverty level since 2009. African American or Latino workers in the region are three times more likely to earn an income below the poverty level. Addressing our region's race, ethnicity, and gender-based income inequality is a critical challenge for our region to tackle if we want to ensure that all in our region have a fair shot for prosperity

Benefits measurement of a plan to reduce hypertension in a healthcare foundation using the BCTool

The hypertension is a well know problem and associated with a high salt consuming is one of the commonest chronic diseases.To measure the impact of this consuming it has been applied the methodology provided by the Business Case tool (BC Tool), in a Portuguese foundation for elderly, in order to contribute for Intervention Plan for the reduction of hypertension which aims to reduce salt consumption in the Portuguese population and to improve the control of Hypertension through a phased reduction in salt consumption.This objective has been achieved by changing the availability of foods with lower salt contents and by decreasing the addition of salt in cooking. The results of these measures provided a substantial benefit in terms of Benefits Measurements and Cost Analysis besides the results of SROI measurement in order to obtain the social benefits of this initiative of the Intervention plan to reduce hypertension. Along these results it has been collected the suggestions for improvements that would allow the Sarah Beirão Foundation's response to the needs of its users to be improved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The management of complexity in project management – a qualitative and quantitative case study of certified project managers in Germany

With the increased globalization and expansion of the markets worldwide, companies have to struggle with increased competition. Therefore, organisations have begun to offer advantages such as a personalisation of products to potential customers. Market conditions and legal policies can make it challenging to predict whether those ad-vantages can be realized. Project managers are often in the position of having to fulfil these requirements; in continuously changing influencing factors that make tasks diffi-cult to manage. These circumstances create complexity. Frequently, managers are una-ware that complexity has created problems in a specific project. Often, the traditional standards of project management no longer provide a sufficient support to managers of complex projects. This research investigates how current standards of project management address com-plexity, and whether a supplement is necessary. Complexity strengtheners are investi-gated. One standard Project Management Institute (PMI) is selected as an example to analyze the influence of strengtheners on PM-processes. A funnel model is developed based on these research findings. This is aimed to help managers in their daily practice and support them in categorizing the complexity of their projects. Based on this model, managers should be able to recognize the actual strengtheners of complexity and which processes of their project are affected. Finally, a possible adaption of the standard is re-searched. A proposition for a new comprehensive guide is designed to support manag-ers carrying out complex projects. The key managerial implication of this research is the development of a five-step model for handling complexity in projects: forming, storming, norming, performing, and ad-journing. Furthermore, the intent of this thesis is to make a valid contribution to the management literature. For handling complexity the new funnel model should close the gap between the recognition of complexity in a project and underlying causes. The new five-step model thus provides project managers helpful guidelines for handling complex projects. This research applies a mixed method, consisting of a survey (quantitative method) and focus interviews (qualitative method) with experts of project management (PMI) in Germany. There are approximately 4.900 PMI certified project managers in Germany; more than 170 participated in the survey (3.6%). This is considered sufficient to provide reliable results for this research. Further, three focus interviews deepen the knowledge and validate the results of the survey: Complexity is an actual problem in project man-agement. Existing standards are sufficient for project management, but complexity can-not be standardized. This thesis proposes to help project managers to resolve project complexity by providing guidelines for navigating through complex projects

Common Causes of IT Project Failure in Public Universities in Oklahoma

Information technology (IT) project management is a dynamic field. It requires a project manager who knows how to manage a project and possesses a knowledge of technology. The purpose of this research is to find the common factors that contribute to IT project failure in public universities in Oklahoma and know what role facilitated the failed IT project. For the purposes of this study, the roles leading the projects are a certified project manager, a non-certified project manager, or a non-project manager. Also, IT projects for this study are ones that require hardware changes, software changes or integrate new technology. The goal of this study is to help public universities successfully implement IT projects. Successfully implementing an IT project in a public university might help the university be a better steward of both taxpayer funds and private donations

Effectiveness of the project management profession in the Ugandan oil industry : performance, benefits and challenges

Oil is one of the most valuable resources. For a country like Uganda, which is one of the least developed countries in the world with more than one third of the population still living below the poverty line; the discovery of this valuable resource has the capacity to radically alter the economy of the country. But on the other hand, oil exploration, mining and refining are complex, costly, long duration projects with many challenges that require sophisticated financial management, planning, scheduling and cost control. The project management profession is charged as a single point of responsibility for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling projects in order to meet stakeholder’s needs and expectations. The research objectives were: 1. To identify and examine the challenges and risks associated with the oil industry in Uganda. 2. To investigate the effectiveness of project management practices in the Ugandan oil industry in terms 1 above. 3. Identify how project success can be measured in the Ugandan oil industry. A case study was the research technique adopted and interviews were conducted with the major stakeholders in the Ugandan oil industry. The research findings reveal the challenges and risks that continue to plague the Ugandan oil industry and the role of project management in the exploration phase of the project. The research findings were used to evaluate the role, responsibility and service that project management professionals are expected to render and the actual role, responsibility and service that the professionals have been rendering to the stakeholders in the Ugandan oil industry. The research then concludes by proposing ways of improving the chances of project success in the Ugandan oil industry

Trainathon Lean Simulation Game: Determining the Perception of Value of Training among Construction Stakeholders

This research was prompted in part in response to a recent study by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) that there is a shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry and that this shortage is increasing. The QUESTION this thesis seeks to address is: Why aren’t construction stakeholders perceiving the value of training and development of employees? The PURPOSE of the research is to develop and test a simulation that will help identify the way building stakeholders view the impact of employee training on their long and short-term profit margins. The RESEARCH METHOD used was two phased: (a) a preliminary phase involving the iterative development and testing of a 50-minute table-top simulation using readily available materials (i.e. paper and tape); (b) a mature phase where results from a “perfected” version of the simulation were subjected to statistical analysis from a larger participant pool. The trials each team went through financially at each round were recorded and results recorded via cash flow diagrams. FINDINGS suggest that players tend to underestimate the importance of upfront training and its impact on long-term cash flows. LIMITATIONS of this research include a restricted sample size and a limited number of industry professionals that were tested during this phase. IMPLICATIONS AND VALUE for this work are potentially larger than that of pure research—i.e. as an opportunity to serve as a change agent as well since a number of respondents suggested that the simulation made them think about the long-term value of training, illustrating the first principle of The Toyota Way. This dual-role for simulations fits easily within the culture of lean construction which historically has used simulations both to understand impacts of certain types of stakeholder behavior as well as transfer comprehension of specific lean principles

A comparison of project management practices in academic research organizations (aros) and contract research organization (cros)

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityWith the increased costs of drug development, pharmaceutical companies outsource most of drug development to contract research organizations (CROs) and academic research organizations (AROs). Given the importance of the relationship between the contracting organization and pharmaceutical companies, project management has become the hallmark in conducting clinical trials. The purpose of this project was to identify whether there are differences in the project management practices of CROs and AROs who conduct clinical trials. An electronic survey and follow up interview were administered to 134 CROs and 15 AROs who provide clinical trial services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The survey collected information on the characteristics of project managers, the organization demographics, and project management within the organization. The survey demonstrated significant differences between the services provided (p less than .001), (p=0.001), availability of project management standard operating procedures (SOPs), training of project managers (p less than 0.05), and salary of project managers (p=0.003). The overall response rate of the survey was 36%; thus, the full variance of project management practices may not have been obtained in this survey. These findings highlight some differences between AROs and CROs, and provide a foundation to learn more about project management at these organizations

A Phenomenological Study of Factors that Influence Project Manager Efficacy: The Role of Soft Skills and Hard Skills in IT-Centric Project Environments

One source of confusion around the factors that influence project manager efficacy already identified in the literature is the lack of clear agreement on definitions of success as viewed by different stakeholders in the context of project success, project management success, and project manager success. These are not subtle differences when making decisions related to hiring, professional development efforts, and curriculum development. The purpose of this phenomenological research was to identify what Senior IT Leaders and Certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs) identify as the most important attributes for project manager efficacy as it relates to project success. The first sub-question is whether there are differences in expectations between Senior IT Leaders who hire, assign, and develop their project managers, and Certified Project Management Professionals who execute projects. The second sub-question is whether contextual factors such as industry or organizational culture affect stakeholder skill rankings. The final sub-question is whether new project management modalities such as agile create different demands on project managers, resulting in new or changing perceptions of necessary skills and knowledge for project manager efficacy. Using a comparative focus group design with participants from three industry sectors, this study provides clear evidence of the factors these two stakeholder groups consider the most important contributors to project manager efficacy as it relates to project success and application of project management tools/knowledge. Contributions of findings extend beyond providing a list of skills project managers must acquire by providing a deeper understanding of priorities and contextual influences on perceived value in three categories; 1. IT knowledge and skills, 2. Interpersonal skills and 3. Project management methodology knowledge and application. The key lessons learned from this thesis research contribute to the overall body of knowledge in IT project management, as well as to practice. Key Finding 1: There is a clear skill category preference for project managers in an IT-centric project environment for both stakeholder groups, adding to our understanding of the potential conflicts and agreements between hiring, delegating or development managers and project managers. Key Finding 2: The skill category priorities related to factors that contribute to project success and attributes that contribute to project manager efficacy strengthened through collaborative discussion with peers, suggesting that research methods need to engage participants. Key Finding 3: Four specific attribute categories emerged as most important for project manager efficacy: facilitation skills, communication skills, leadership skills, and individual personality traits. Key Finding 4: While Senior IT Leaders considered IT knowledge and skills as moderately important contributors to project success, descriptions suggested a preference for general, or basic, IT knowledge rather than a specialized area of IT expertise. This finding may influence practitioners\u27 decisions on resource allocation for project manager development. Key Finding 5: There were suggestions of industry influences on attributes influencing project manager efficacy during the initial group brainstorming. However, stakeholders did not include those attributes that varied between industries when ranking attributes in order of perceived importance, adding support for a group of key attributes that are expected of project managers for them to be effective across industries. Key Finding 6: Similarly, while the participants\u27 suggest project manager efficacy is situational; this did not influence their skill category rankings or attributes most important for project manager efficacy. This reinforces support for key attributes of effective project managers. Key Finding 7: Agile project management approaches do create a different demand on project managers; however, participants were unanimous in their assertion that the attributes most important for project manager efficacy do not change in an agile project management environment. This is an important finding as it contradicts early anecdotal evidence. Each of these findings contribute to the body of research on project manager success, project success and project management success, as well as providing insights for practice and new thoughts for future research