Uncovering the impact of organisational culture types on the willingness to share knowledge between projects

Current literature has established that organisational culture influences knowledge management efforts; however, it is only recently that research on project management has focused its interest on organisational culture in the context of knowledge sharing and some preliminary studies have been conducted. In response, this paper adds a significant contribution by providing rich empirical evidence of the relationships between culture and the willingness to share knowledge, demonstrating which cultural values are more and which are less likely to improve inter-project knowledge sharing behaviours. The use of interviews and the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) (Cameron & Quinn, 2005) in the cross-case examination of culture in four participating cases has resulted in rich empirical contributions. Furthermore, this paper adds to the project management literature by introducing the Competing Values Framework (CVF) of Cameron and Quinn (2005) to evaluate knowledge sharing in the inter-project context

Risk management reconceived: reconciling economic rationality with behavioural tendencies

Risk management practices as described in many leading texts feel counterintuitive to many practitioners and are frequently ignored, despite their being evidently logical and potentially valuable. Such practices are often conceived as a remedial post-planning, audit activity. This paper proposes an approach for dealing with project uncertainty and risk, grounded in economics and taking into account behavioural biases and heuristics. The proposed approach is argued to be an enhancement to conventional risk management practices and one that can serve organisations better while also aligning to experienced practitioners’ intuitive approaches. In particular, we argue: that the focus should be on adding economic value rather than reducing risk per se; that opportunity gain/loss is a superior metric for gauging potential impacts of risky events; and that creation of real options should be emphasised as part of the repertoire of generic response actions to risk. The approach also supports the integration and handling of uncertainty and risk as part of holistic project planning and control

Explorative and exploitative learning in project-based organizations: improving knowledge governance through a project management office?

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Project Managers\u27 Strategies for Megaproject Success

In Africa, most oil and gas megaprojects exceed their original budget and time deadlines despite advancement in project management processes and systems. This study explored strategies project managers used for megaprojects\u27 success in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria, from the perspectives of the owner and contractor organizations. Multiple case study design was utilized to collect data by asking open-ended questions in separate interviews with 4 project managers. Archival project data was also reviewed to eliminate information incongruences. The conceptual framework for the study is the contingency theory that there is no universal management structure for every project. The data analysis approach was thematic coding. Study findings from the data analysis were aggregated into 5 themes. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd themes include the project managers\u27 view of measures of megaproject successes, project managers\u27 strategies for managing the business environment, and the strategies for achieving megaproject execution excellence. The 4th and 5th themes are the strategies for facilitating employee performance and the typical social change development and social change performance initiatives to benefit neighboring communities because of a megaproject. The conclusion from the evidences gathered is that megaproject success is contingent on the ability of the project manager to unravel and address complexity leveraging strategic leadership and systems thinking. From these findings, project managers from the client and contractor organizations may use, adapt, learn, refresh, and improve their project management skills. The significance of the study to positive social change from improving the success rates of megaprojects includes improvement in human capacity development and infrastructural additions that can facilitate economic growth in the region

Project Management In Universities: The Institutional Aspect

The complementary aims of this manuscript are to describe the issue of project management in universities and to present proposals that may improve that area within selected institutions. The improvements are meant to enable project management at the university level in a coherent and coordinated way. These proposals were derived from experiential research carried out by the authors at a Polish university

Motor Carrier Safety: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Has Developed a Reasonable Framework for Managing and Testing Its Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Initiative

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "About 5,500 people die each year as a result of crashes involving large commercial trucks or buses, and about 160,000 more are injured. While the fatality rate for these crashes has generally decreased over the last 20 years, the decline has leveled off in the most recent years. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) within the U.S. Department of Transportation shoulders the primary federal responsibility for reducing these crashes, fatalities, and injuries and recognizes the need to make improvements if it is to achieve further substantial safety advancements. A key FMCSA effort to improve motor carrier safety is implementing the agency's Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 (CSA 2010) initiative. Through CSA 2010, FMCSA expects to reduce motor carrier crashes, fatalities, and injuries by using better ways to identify unsafe carriers and drivers; assessing a larger portion of the motor carrier industry and holding carriers and drivers accountable for sustained performance by regularly determining their safety fitness; and expanding the range of interventions to be used with carriers and drivers that fail to comply with safety requirements. Congress asked us to conduct a broad assessment of FMCSA's progress in planning and implementing CSA 2010. Because much of the detailed work to develop and implement CSA 2010 remains to be done, our work has focused on how FMCSA has managed its initiative, rather than assessing safety benefits that might arise from it. Specifically, we reviewed: (1) how FMCSA sees CSA 2010 increasing safety, (2) whether FMCSA's overall framework for planning and implementing CSA 2010 is reasonable, and (3) the extent to which the operational test of the CSA 2010 model will inform FMCSA of its ability to fully implement the initiative in 2010.

STRATEGY TO IMPROVE LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IN PT FREEPOT INDONESIA'S UNDERGROUND MINING PROJECT

Poor productivity of labor construction causes project cost to increase and project completion schedule behind target. Underground mining company such as PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) struggle to overcome problem with productivity. It is critical for mining underground company to keep up labor productivity due to importance of mining production. Therefore, the purpose of this research are: (1) to identify the factors that influence labor productivity; (2) to formulate alternative strategies to increase the productivity; and (3) to formulate recommendations carried out by PTFI in order to increase the productivity. This research use literature review and expert discussion to identify factors affecting labor productivity in the construction industry. The analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method used to find the best strategies to increase labor productivity. The result of this research showed that the factors that has the most influence is labor management, the most influencing actor is construction management, the most important goal is to improve project management implementation and the best strategy to increase labor productivity is to create a Project Management Office (PMO) system. The recommendation that can be given is that PTFI needs to develop guidelines and programs for PMO system development and apply PMO to all PTFI mining activity. Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Labor productivity, Project Management Office (PMO), Strategies, Underground minin

Beyond Goldwater-Nichols

This report culminated almost two years of effort at CSIS, which began by developing an approach for both revisiting the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and for addressing issues that were beyond the scope of that landmark legislation

Exploring the Project Management Office (PMO)–Role, Structure and Processes

The Project Management Office (PMO) is an organizational entity that maintains the standard of projects and may also provide resourcing to support the project management process across an organization. The PMO can be involved in portfolio or program management as well as strategic project development and management. Traditionally associated with IT (Information Technology) projects, the PMO approach has now been adopted in other applications and industries. However, there remain a lack a frameworks to properly describe the specification and functioning of the PMO. Therefore, this paper will provide insights from an exploratory study of the PMO approach to organizing and managing projects, including the results of a literature study related to engineering projects that will be used to develop a framework to describe the potential role, structure and processes of the PMO. This framework will be of use to practitioners looking to design and establish a PMO in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the project management process. The findings will be used to develop a research agenda to inform future studies needed to further understand the theoretical basis of the PMO as well as the practical implications of implementing an organizational PMO