Understanding the Meaning of “Project Success”

Fortune 500 organizations are executing their tasks using projects. Project management is the area of concentration across the world. Different stakeholders have a different perspective about project success. The meaning of project success had been explained in this article. In addition, the Project Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were mentioned. The research of Standish Group on project success and project success metrics was presented. Earlier research on the meaning of project success and project critical success factors was highlighted. The works of Jeffery K. Pinto and Dennis P. Slevin, David and Adam, DeLone and McLean, and The Standish Group Research were discussed in this article. The methodology included secondary research based on literature view of prominent empirical studies and the literature reviews by making note of findings and observations from those studies. The initial literature collected led to further search of articles based on their references. The research findings indicate that the top of the most success factors for many projects include project objective, top management commitment, competent project team, and user involvement

A multidisciplinary approach in understanding the symbolic meaning of built form

The purpose of this paper is to position a multi-disciplinary logic of inquiry which combines the interpretive and structuralist paradigms in qualitative research as well as reviewing a methodological framework that incorporates both semiotics and hermeneutics as a ‘pluralist’ approach to interpret the social world. This proposed methodological framework is considered as an important contribution as it introduces new ways of looking at buildings in particular to mosque’s architectural attributes as a system of ‘sign’ as well as proposing various indicators in order to investigate this matter in depth. This study builds upon the theories and concepts outlined by Saussure on sign relations, Barthes on levels of signification and Gottdiener on reading the material culture as reliable ways for analysing and understanding the religious building. Furthermore, this paper also introduces a new approach in comprehending the meaning of the built form that depends on the building patron’s situation. This research builds upon concepts outlined by Wallace and Barber in their model of leadership to develop a new methodological framework in order to understand the patron’s ideological intentions.This framework of inquiry is beneficial namely for architectural researchers and social scientists as it enables the analysis of the built environment from three aspects of concern. Firstly, reveals the symbolic meaning embedded in the design of the built form and their mundane settings. Second, elucidates on the structural relationship that exists between the built form and the human culture. Thirdly, uncovers the patron’s intentions and associated actions during the creation of the built form. As a result, specific interpretations of meaning of the socialphysical phenomenon were developed in narrative form and holistic fashion. As a sample of discussion, states mosque were used as a case study to show how its symbolic and representational meaning are portrayed in denotative and connotative manner. This includes descriptions on all possible influencing codes and conventions that reveal the rules explaining how the Muslim cultures and societies organise their ideologies, to give meaning and make sense of the state mosque design. This paper offers new insights which not only add to knowledge by widening and strengthening the understanding of new methodological approach to understand the meaning of built form and their attributes, but also is valuable for range of associated fields including architectural semiotics and non verbal communication. This is because this paper reveals deep understandings of the built form and material environment - (state mosque) operating as a ‘sign’ in the Muslim cultural and social context

The adaptive nature of "meaning as understanding"

In the paper I discuss semantic change as a cognitive adaptation process which flexibly adjusts the culturally shared conceptual category system of a language to changing conditions in the environment. I back up this view with the claim that the evolutionary function of cognition is to provide the organism with functional "knowledge" of its environment for the sake of adaptive orientation in a flexible way relative to the stability of environmental conditions. Hence, the cognitive function of language is to promote social cognition in order to facilitate the sharing of knowledge that proves functional and adaptive in the given physical, social and cultural environment of a group of individuals. In this light the cognitive function of the mental machinery of conceptualization and imagery-as the basis of meaning as understanding---is the adaptive construal of phenomena. Semantic leaps in the form of metaphor, metonymy and other kinds of meaning extension create new adaptive perspectives on the environment. When the circumstances triggering such novel usage persist, these perspectives will become conventionalized in the process of semantic change, leading to new established forms of functional and adaptive imagery

Understanding a philosophical text. The problem of “meaning” in Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī, Book 5

The authors make an attempt to comparatively analyse some stances of the Old Indian philosophy of language, exemplified by the Medieval Indian author Jayanta, along with the Western tradition of the analytical philosophy of language, and to highlight the differences as well as the similarities

Understanding the meaning of awareness in Research Networks

Reinhardt, W., Mletzko, C., Sloep, P. B., & Drachsler, H. (2012). Understanding the meaning of awareness in Research Networks. In A. Moore, V. Pammer, L. Pannese, M. Prilla, K. Rajagopal, W. Reinhardt, Th. D. Ullman, & Ch. Voigt (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Awareness and Reflection in Technology Enhanced Learning. In conjunction with the 7th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: 21st Century Learning for 21st Century Skills (ARTEL/EC-TEL 2012) (pp. 13-30). September, 18, 2012, Saarbrücken, Germany. Available online at http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-931/ . [Please see also http://hdl.handle.net/1820/4729]underpinning and description of a tool that helps researchers become aware of their research context and reflect upon i

Understanding the Meaning of Collaboration in the Supply Chain

Despite its infancy, some authors are already suggesting that the writing may be on the wall for supply chain collaboration. It has been reported that supply chain collaboration has proved difficult to implement; there has been an over‐reliance on technology in trying to implement it; a failure to understand when and with whom to collaborate; and fundamentally a lack of trust between trading partners. This paper proposes that a supply chain segmentation approach, based on customer buying behaviour and service needs, is the most appropriate context for collaboration. The paper also proposes the need for a greater understanding of the elements that make up supply chain collaboration, and in particular how the relevant cultural, strategic and implementation elements inter‐relate with each other

Denotation and connotation in the human-computer interface: The ‘Save as...’ command

This paper presents a semiotic technique as a means of exploring meaning and understanding in interface design and use. This is examined through a study of the interaction between the ‘file’ metaphor and ‘save as’ command metaphor. The behaviour of these (from a functional or computational basis) do not exactly match, or map onto, the meaning of the metaphor. We examine both the denotation of a term to the user, i.e. its literal meaning to that person, and the term’s connotations, i.e. any other meanings associated with the term. We suggest that the technique applied is useful in predicting future problems with understanding the use of metaphor at the interface and with designing appropriate signification for human-computer interaction. Variation in connotation was expected but a more fundamental difference in denotation was also uncovered. Moreover, the results clearly demonstrate that consistency in the denotation of a term is critical in achieving a good user understanding of the command

Understanding the meaning of medications for patients: The medication experience

Objective: To understand and describe the meaning of medications for patients. Methods: A metasynthesis of three different, yet complementary qualitative research studies, was conducted by two researchers. The first study was a phenomenological study of patients’ medication experiences that used unstructured interviews. The second study was an ethnographic study of pharmaceutical care practice, which included participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus groups with patients of pharmaceutical care. The third was a phenomenological study of the chronic illness experience of medically uninsured individuals in the United States and included an explicit aim to understand the medication experience within that context. The two researchers who conducted these three qualitative studies that examined the medication experience performed the meta-synthesis. The process began with the researchers reviewing the themes of the medication experience for each study. The researchers then aggregated the themes to identify the overlapping and similar themes of the medication experience and which themes are sub-themes within another theme versus a unique theme of the medication experience. The researchers then used the analytic technique, “free imaginative variation” to determine the essential, structural themes of the medication experience. Results: The meaning of medications for patients was captured as four themes of the medication experience: a meaningful encounter; bodily effects; unremitting nature; and exerting control. The medication experience is an individual’s subjective experience of taking a medication in his daily life. It begins as an encounter with a medication. It is an encounter that is given meaning before it occurs. The experience may include positive or negative bodily effects. The unremitting nature of a chronic medication often causes an individual to question the need for the medication. Subsequently, the individual may exert control by altering the way he takes the medication and often in part because of the gained expertise with the medication in his own body. Conclusion: The medication experience is a practice concept that serves to understand patients’ experiences and to understand an individual patient’s medication experience and medication-taking behaviors in order to meet his or her medication-related needs