From Tool to Actor: How a project came to orchestrate its own life and that of others

The empirical study of this dissertation is informed by process theories. The collection of empirical material and the analysis of it have spun around the following concepts: connecting, heterogeneity, and contingency. The study is designed as a longitudinal, in-depth study following a single case. The object of the study is a technology development project that makes an emergency communication system for the railroad. This dissertation closely follows a project journey. More specifically, it describes how the project task was regarded and presented differently in due course. In sum, this dissertation describes empirical indications of how the project developed qualitatively, from being merely a task-oriented organization to being an influential actor. The project became influential in the sense that it was able to engage in strategic discourses and affect the outcome of a number of processes, including the actions and decisions of others. Over time, the project management team, that is here followed, managed to exceed the intentions of its initiators, and I suggest that it became more influential than normative, mainstream project literature proposes project teams to be. The contribution of this dissertation is threefold. It lies in the subject examined, the methods applied, and the framework developed for this investigation. There is a need for research on projects in general and there is, more specifically, a need for qualitative, in-depth studies within the project management field of research. Through exploring and describing the activities of a project over time, this study points to discrepancies between project management theory and practice when it comes to central issues, such as how project task and competence are perceived, and how we think about the role of contingencies in determining project processes and the positioning of projects. The themes covered in this research are central in the project field, yet they tend to be treated quite normatively. The approach that is here applied and the framework that is developed appear functional in exploring and understanding the evolving and embedded nature of project practices in that the study leads to fruitful propositions for further research

Managing collaborative space in multi-partner projects

Collaboration across company borders in multi-partner construction projects has proven to be challenging. An increasing number of projects aim to strengthen such collaboration by collocating project members from different companies in the same physical space. Yet we know little about the management practices required for taking advantage of such a collaborative space. To begin to remedy this shortcoming, we present an in-depth case study of a hospital construction project that applied a collaborative space and focus on the management practices influencing this space. With the help of affordance theory, we identified two types of management practices and show how they transform across project phases. These management practices included designing the physical elements of the collaborative space, and creating shared collaboration practices for the space. We contribute to the construction management literature by taking the first step in conceptualizing the connections between space, management and collaboration practices in the context of multi-partner projects. We suggest managers to consider carefully what kind of collaboration practices the space is expected to enhance and plan the physical and social space to support it.Peer reviewe

Balansert lederskap

Denne artikkelen diskuterer hvordan man kan kombinere vertikalt og horisontalt lederskap effektivt i prosjekter, altså hvordan lederskapet i prosjektet kan skifte mellom teammedlemmer og den formelt utpekte prosjektlederen avhengig av situasjonens krav. Vi konseptualiserer denne kombinasjonen av vertikalt og horisontalt lederskap som balansert lederskap. Et treårig, globalt forskningsprosjekt gir innsikt i når det er hensiktsmessig å skifte lederskapet i prosjektet mellom teammedlemmer og den formelt utpekte prosjektlederen, og hvordan dette kan gjøres. Våre funn indikerer at fem delprosesser sammen bidrar til balansert ledelse i prosjekter. Det er sentralt her hvordan prosjektleder identifiserer teammedlemmer som kan ta ledelsen, og legger til rette for at dette skal kunne skje ved å dyktiggjøre og bemyndige dem, samt hvordan prosjektleder følger opp teammedlemmenes ledelse og tar tilbake ledelsen på en god måte. Avslutningsvis viser vi hva prosjektledere som ønsker balansert lederskap, bør legge vekt på for å oppnå dette. Vi peker på sammenhengen mellom balansert ledelse, prosjektresultater og prosjektsuksess samt hvordan balansert ledelse kan bidra til økt motivasjon og egenutvikling hos prosjektmedlemmer som får større ansvar og en mulighet for å teste ut ulike personers evne til å ta lederansva

Assignment of project team members to projects: Project managers’ influence strategies in practice

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by indirectly using lateral influence strategies to secure the appropriate resources. This study is part of a wider study investigating the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects in which nomination (or assignment) was identified as a key event contributing to balancing the leadership. It focuses specifically on the nomination or assignment event at the start of a project. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the philosophy of critical realism, case studies were used to collect data through 70 semi-structured interviews in Australia, Scandinavia and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, project managers and project team members. Two project team members who worked with the same project manager were interviewed to gather diverse views. The data were analyzed individually by researchers from each location using a coding method proposed by Miles et al. (2014). The researchers then jointly analyzed the findings to arrive at five common themes from that explained how team members were assigned in practice. Findings: Despite the recognized need for project managers to form their own teams, this study found that project team members were often assigned by others. This was because project managers lacked authority to secure their resources. Therefore, they used lateral influence strategies to help with assigning project team members. The study identified five lateral influencing strategies adopted by project managers to assign team members: creating an image of competence; creating coalitions; taking a gamble; waiting for the right moment; and reasoning with facts. Two of these lateral influencing strategies were not identified in the previous literature on influencing strategies used in organizations. Research limitations/implications: The findings should not be viewed as representative of the respective continents where the cases were studied. However, this study contributes to the literature on project management, illuminating how project teams are assigned and by whom and, specifically, the role that influence plays during this event of the balanced leadership theory. It also identifies the types of lateral influence strategies used by project managers when assigning team members to their projects. It provides a pathway to explore the use of lateral influencing strategies by project managers beyond the assignment process. Practical implications: This study will help project managers to become aware of influencing strategies that they can use in practice while assigning team members to their projects. It will also highlight the importance of assigning the right resources to projects with a view to achieving balanced leadership. Originality/value: This research is of value to organizations using projects to successfully deliver their strategies by assigning suitable resources to their projects

The Challenges of Implementing Temporal Shifts in Temporary Organizations: Implications of a Situated Temporal View

We apply a situated temporal view to reveal the acute challenge actors face in making changes when their project moves toward its final deadline. A situated temporal view takes account not just of the dwindling time left to change the future but also the lingering past, the combination of which poses particular challenges to organizers. We discuss aspects of temporary organizing that make such temporal shifts challenging: the complex interplay between temporal structures and practices, multiple temporal orientations, and deferred timing of temporal shifts. We suggest ideas for further research to apply a situated temporal view to temporary organizing

Project management : a value creation approach

xxiii, 600 p. ; 25 cm

Project managers adjust their leadership: to workspace and project type

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the triadic relationship between project workspace (i.e. spatial context), project type and project manager’s leadership style. It develops the concept of leadership construct (i.e. mental models of leadership to predispose the way leadership is performed) to explain related preferences for workspace and behaviors