Making Projects Real in a Higher Education Context

Challenging educators to rethink projects and see them as a practice rather than as a model of management the authors explore the possibilities for using live projects to enhance real world learning in higher education. Drawing on the work of the ‘critical projects movement’ the chapter outlines a theoretical underpinning for reconceptualising projects as a practice and proposes a new pedagogic model that of ‘agile learning’. Framing the use of live projects is a mode of real world learning that generates encounters with industry professionals and provides real-value outputs for clients. The chapter explores the challenges that face educators who wish to foreground ‘social learning’ and engagement with communities of practice as a means of easing the transition for students from education to the world of work

Factors Influencing Post-disaster Reconstruction Project Management for Housing Provision in the Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territories

In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Gaza Strip has suffered regular cycles of reconstruction due to systematic destruction during Israeli military operations, as in 2006, 2008–2009, 2012, and 2014. In this context of ongoing conflict this article aims to identify, rank, and discuss the most important factors influencing post-disaster reconstruction project management (PDRPM) for housing in the Gaza Strip. A set of key factors that influence PDRPM were assembled as a result of a global literature review. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and the obtained data were analyzed using a relative importance index for each PDRPM factor. Findings are presented in six groups: housing approaches, organizational behavior, project funding, supply chain and logistics, communication and coordination, and PDRPM context. Findings indicate that the most significant factors that influence PDRPM for housing provision in the Gaza Strip are related to issues associated with financial resources. It is critical that sufficient funding should be available in order to allow organizations to undertake housing projects in an effective and efficient way. Joint efforts are required from international donors and local organizations in order to effectively manage financial resources with the ultimate goal of improving PDRPM for housing provision

Paper for the 11 th conference of the International Research Network on Organizing by Projects (IRNOP)

Abstract In this paper, we draw on current research in the general field of leadership studies in order to suggest that process perspectives are relevant and rewarding for inquiry into project leadership. Departing from a process ontology we argue that project leadership can be studied as series of social activities and events in which actors, projects and organizational contexts are all in constant an mutually interacting flux, rather than as traits, styles and competences of individual project managers. From such a perspective, project leadership is seen as the ongoing social production of direction through construction and re-construction of actors' space of action. This involves processes of continuous construction and reconstruction of (1) past project activities and events, (2) positions and areas of responsibility related to the project, (3) discarded, ongoing and future issues to be dealt with in the project, an

Balanced leadership: A new perspective for leadership in organizational project management

© Cambridge University Press 2017. Introduction Leadership is an interpersonal, person-oriented, social influence (Endres & Weibler, 2016), which guides in direction, course, action, and opinion (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). To that end, it is different from management, which is task oriented in the sense of bringing about or accomplishing something, being responsible for, or conducting something (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). Leadership requires a leader, but leaders do not operate in a vacuum, nor do they need to be formal managers. For a long time, the terms “leader,” “leadership” and “manager” were used almost interchangeably, and only recently has there been a distinction in their use (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2003; Crevani et al., 2010). The development of leadership research over the years has also focused on different aspects of leadership, ranging from an interest in the traits, characteristics, and competencies of individual leaders, to an interest in how leadership is practiced in social settings by leaders, co-leaders, and followers in interaction (Carroll et al., 2008). Recent years have brought much insight about the importance of leadership as a complement to management in projects and has added a variety of perspectives to leadership. Examples include the traditional view of project and program managers as leaders and their associated leadership styles. This person-centric perspective has addressed the particular leadership styles of these roles (e.g., Keegan & Den Hartog, 2004) as well as personal characteristics that bring about certain leadership styles (e.g., Dulewicz & Higgs, 2005). We call this the vertical leader and his or her leadership style. Other research has looked at leadership that emerges from teams or individuals in a team and complements the leadership of the vertical leader. Examples of this include the studies on shared leadership (Pearce & Conger, 2003; Crevani et al., 2007) and its related processes (e.g., Cox, Pearce, & Perry, 2003). We call this approach the horizontal leader and his, her or their leadership style. Most recently, researchers have started to investigate the balance and situational contingency of vertical and horizontal leadership in projects. They showed the particular circumstances under which vertical leaders in projects make way for horizontal leaders to temporarily partake in leading the project (e.g., Müller et al., 2016). We call this balanced leadership, i.e., a situation in which the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership is appropriate

Balanced leadership: A new perspective of leadership in organizational project management

This chapter addresses a new perspective towards leadership, that of balanced leadership in organizational project management. The chapter starts with an overview of existing theoretical perspectives of leadership and leaders, where we introduce the distinction between leadership intent as an intra-personal process and practiced leadership as an inter-personal process of influencing. We discuss some of the popular theories in light of this distinction. Then we address the need for balanced leadership, which we propose as the temporary adjustment of leadership exercised by the project manager (vertical leadership) with leadership by one or several team members (horizontal leadership), and the situational particularities that emphasize the appropriateness of one approach over the other. We subsequently develop a four-step process of selecting, enabling, exercising, and controlling for balanced leadership and outline the intra and inter-personal activities for vertical and horizontal leaders in each of these steps. This provides an in-depth overview of the type and scope of inter and intra-personal leadership activities and their synchronization needs for coordinated balanced leadership to happen. Readers learn to look at leadership in and across projects as a combination of horizontal and vertical approaches, distributed in a coordinated way between vertical and horizontal leaders in organizational project management

Prediction of a time-sensitive condition among patients with dizziness assessed by the emergency medical services

BACKGROUND: Dizziness is a relatively common symptom among patients who call for the emergency medical services (EMS). AIM: To identify factors of importance for the early identification of a time-sensitive condition behind the symptom of dizziness among patients assessed by the EMS. METHODS: All patients assessed by the EMS and triaged using Rapid Emergency Triage and Treatment (RETTS) for adults code 11 (=dizziness) in the 660,000 inhabitants in the Municipality of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2016, were considered for inclusion. The patients were divided into two groups according to the final diagnosis (a time-sensitive condition, yes or no). RESULTS: There were 1536 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, of which 96 (6.2%) had a time-sensitive condition. The majority of these had a stroke/transitory ischaemic attack (TIA). Eight predictors of a time-sensitive condition were identified. Three were associated with a reduced risk: 1) the dizziness was of a rotatory type, 2) the dizziness had a sudden onset and 3) increasing body temperature. Five were associated with an increased risk: 1) sudden onset of headache, 2) a history of head trauma, 3) symptoms of nausea or vomiting, 4) on treatment with anticoagulants and 5) increasing systolic blood pressure. CONCLUSION: Among 1536 patients who were triaged by the EMS for dizziness, 6.2% had a time-sensitive condition. On the arrival of the EMS, eight factors were associated with the risk of having a time-sensitive condition. All these factors were linked to the type of symptoms or to clinical findings on the arrival of the EMS or to the recent clinical history

Beyond the line: exploring the HRM responsibilities of line managers, project managers and the HRM department in four project-oriented companies in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the USA

The topic of what human resource management (HRM) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four project-oriented companies (POCs) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and the project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices

Value Creation from Public Healthcare IS

Part 1: Creating ValueInternational audienceThe obtainment of value from IT is a recurring theme that has diffused into healthcare information systems (HIS). Having completed the implementation of an integrated HIS, the Faroese Health Service (FHS) has started discussions regarding the obtainment of value from its IT investment which is the subject of this paper. Based on an action research project focusing on the improvement of the stroke process, this paper reveals that it is not possible to distinguish between working processes and HIS and that the realization of value in this context has a much broader significance than mere financial value. During the project, specific key performance indicators (KPIs) were identified and a baseline was established for the stroke process. The outcome is a framework for measuring IS public value as: professional, organizational, patient-perceived and employee-perceived quality as well as learning. Selected non-financial measures for each dimension and their development are presented, e.g., a decrease in mortality