Multi-stakeholder perspectives of value in project portfolios

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.This study explores multiple stakeholders’ perspectives on the value delivered by project portfolios and reveals a new way of understanding value. When organisations invest in projects, they expect to create value. From a project portfolio perspective, a key goal of project portfolio management (PPM) is to maximise this value across the project portfolio for the organisation. It is easy to agree that value is an important concept, yet it is hard for scholars and practitioners to agree on what it entails. Value is an especially challenging area due to its subjective, intangible and emotional aspects. The value generated by projects has long been understood to be more than just the direct financial value. Yet, financial and tangible value appears to be the dominant way that a project portfolio value is viewed. Research highlights the complexities of project and portfolio ‘value’ due to the multiple and sometimes contradictory expectations demanded by different stakeholders who participate in and influence the ways that PPM decisions incorporate value. While researchers are extending the understanding of value for project portfolio environments, PPM research into the complex and multi-faceted aspects of value is still quite limited. To better understand value, the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders is important as value is perceived in different ways by different stakeholders. This thesis is a collection of six published papers that bring together the theoretical concepts of value, stakeholder theory and sensemaking in a research investigation about value in multi-stakeholder project portfolio environments. The research sheds light on the overarching question: ‘How is value understood in practice by different stakeholders in different project portfolio contexts?’ By studying how value is expressed, understood and used to influence decisions in multi-stakeholder PPM environments, the research reveals deeper insights into the wide range of value perspectives at play in project portfolios. The study includes a diverse group of organisations from the public, private (profit) and non-profit sectors in its exploration of project portfolio value. The exploratory research follows a pragmatic mindset and incorporates sensemaking concepts in the research design. It comprises two overlapping qualitative methodologies incorporating multiple case studies and a series of expert panels. The findings demonstrate how an understanding of value is built from many micro-constructs of value emanating from a variety of stakeholders. Sensemaking concepts applied to the study reveal how stakeholder perceptions of value are based on time and space, and are dynamic and non-linear in nature. As a result of the investigations, a typology of multi-stakeholder value perspectives that aims to improve PPM decision-making is derived from the findings and presented in this thesis. This study contributes a novel way to draw together deep concepts that are subjective, difficult to categorise and often ignored, by providing qualitative researchers with an alternative approach that is empirical and multi-method. The two-fold approach of case studies and expert panels incorporates a structured and orderly yet flexible research process that includes verification strategies. The research provides a new theoretical contribution by broadening the way value is viewed in multi-project environments, specifically PPM. Through its investigation of value concepts in multi-stakeholder portfolio environments, this research contributes to theory by integrating stakeholder theory and sensemaking concepts and extending the relevance and application of sensemaking to PPM research methods and practice. This thesis contributes a fresh way of thinking about value in project portfolios through the development of a typology of value perspectives and explores the implications of that typology for practice. The typology could prompt organisations to consider a wider range of stakeholder perspectives, and as a result improve the quality of decision-making by encouraging organisations to derive relevant value lenses and language at different organisational levels and in different stakeholder contexts

‘Value for Whom, by Whom’: Investigating Value Constructs in Non-Profit Project Portfolios

In most non-profit organisations (NPOs), there are multiple programs, projects or initiatives running simultaneously. The management of multiple projects in organisations can be coined as project portfolio management (PPM) (Archer & Ghasemzadeh 1999; Pennypacker & Dye 2002).  In any project-based organisation, it is critical that selected projects align with and deliver the organisation’s strategy or mission. Decisions about project funding are strategic decisions, particularly when there are resource limitations. In PPM decision making, the allocation of resources to projects requires a clear judgement of value across multiple perspectives. Value has often been expressed in financial terms, however increasingly research indicates that non-financial considerations are equally important in evaluating value.A key task in project portfolio management is to maximise value across the portfolio.  However, value can be a subjective notion, as each person may have different expectations of what is valuable. The involvement of diverse stakeholder interests could create complexities in decision making in non-profit organisations due to value being interpreted in different ways by the stakeholders. Furthermore in order to achieve its purpose, non-profits depend heavily on donors, patrons and sponsors - stakeholders who contribute to the portfolio but are often not the direct recipients of the services provided by the non-profit organisation (Kaplan 2012). Non-profit portfolios often compete with other initiatives for resources and attention from the same donors and sponsors, and may need to constantly justify the value they provide to these stakeholders.Most research about value in PPM has been conducted in the ‘for-profit’ sector. Recent value-based studies in the project portfolio field stress the importance of considering both commercial and non-commercial value in portfolio decision making (Killen, du Plessis & Young 2012; Kopman 2013; Martinsuo & Killen 2014; Thiry 2001, 2002). Non-commercial value includes the ecological, social, and learning dimensions of value (Martinsuo & Killen 2014), whilst commercial value is characterised by financial and economic measures like market value. The research reported in this paper is distinct as it investigates non-commercial value in the non-profit sector. The study extends our knowledge about strategic value and multi-stakeholder management in the non-profit sector. The findings also contribute to the overall understanding of PPM by providing insights about the multi-perspective aspects of value and the management of portfolios in complex environments involving multiple stakeholders.This paper commences with an outline of past and contemporary views about value and discusses how these views might relate to PPM and NPOs. Next, it deliberates the extent to which multi-stakeholder perspectives of value are discussed in the literature.  An empirical qualitative research design is used to explore value in project portfolios from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders in two inter-related case NPOs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings to highlight several value perspectives drawn from the non-profit sector that have significant theoretical and practical contributions to understanding value typologies that underline stakeholder constructs of value and decision making in project portfolios

‘Teach Me Chemistry Like a Ladder and Make it Real’ – Barriers and Motivations Students Face in Learning Chemistry for Bioscience

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing program come with diverse academic abilities, age, language skills and experience. Many enrol without any prior knowledge of the supporting sciences including chemistry. Moreover, whilst some do possess such prior knowledge, they may have had a substantial break since they last studied chemistry. This paper draws from surveys and interviews conducted to investigate students’ prior knowledge of chemistry and experiences around learning. These were first year students enrolled in a core unit of anatomy and physiology for which, albeit implicitly some prior knowledge of chemistry is assumed. It explores barriers and motivations to learning chemistry and offers insights into what students need in order to gain a mastery of the foundational chemical principles that underlie anatomy and physiology. This research is of considerable importance given that the teaching of anatomy and physiology relies heavily on foundation-level chemistry knowledge. It is of great significance if students can be better supported in the successful learning, retention and completion of their nursing studies. Insights reveal that problems stem from various factors including length of time since their last chemistry studies, language difficulties, students’ interests and motivations in the subject, pace and structure of sessions, relevance of information and the students’ ability to manage the amount of content. This informs future practice suggesting that it is important to scaffold the learning for all students in a structured and relevant manner. Additionally, it supports the development and provision of resources to support students transitioning into higher education from diverse backgrounds

Where is the feedback! A decomposition of feedback mechanisms in an introductory information systems course

While the importance of feedback to learning is well acknowledged in the pedagogical literature, the perceptions of multiple forms of feedback among learners is yet to attract significant attention, particularly in the IS context. Consequently, this research investigates the antecedent constituents of feedback and how they contribute to an overall perception of feedback in an introductory IS course. Building upon such investigation, the study explores how such an overall perception of feedback contributes to a favourable experience in a course. To such end, a research model grounded in the pedagogical literature was operationalised and quantitative empirical data collected and analysed using PLS. The results indicate that summative and generic assessment feedback were found to be significant towards formulating an overall perception of feedback, and that such perception is significant in influencing a learner's experience in a course. The findings hold important implications to theory and practice, particularly for IS education.13 page(s

Is H + the symbol for acid? Provision of learning support in foundation-level chemistry for Bachelor of Nursing students enrolled in bioscience subjects

Abstract Despite the value given to the teaching of bioscience as a central component of undergraduate nursing education, it has been accepted that nursing students often find bioscience subjects some of the most difficult to both master and perform well in. This nuts and bolts paper explores a practical approach undertaken to give first year students, commencing their anatomy and physiology unit, the opportunity to selfassess their existing knowledge of chemistry. We then evaluated the outcomes of a providing a wiki of student-sourced web pages on chemistry that students could use to address any knowledge gaps or revise aspects of basic chemistry. We found that students were open to using online resources provided they saw the relevance, were aware of them and had time and access to tools. Additionally, results also indicated that encouragement from teaching staff may drive the usage of self-directed online resources