No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Accelerating time to impact: Deconstructing practices to achieve project value
Abstract and Figures
Accelerating time to impact is a serious and important challenge for today's organizations. This paper combines the literatures of project
acceleration and benefit management to inquire into the possibilities of accelerating time to impact. Specifically, it explores a practitioner-driven Danish initiative targeted at increasing the speed at which project benefits are attained, and it analyzes why some projects were able to achieve benefits faster than others. The initiative functions as a major social experiment, where the same project methodology was implemented in several Danish project-based organizations. We analyze five of these organizations. We identified reasons for the differences and grouped them in a conceptual model: the ‘house of time to impact’ with three areas: valuing speed, owning speed and entraining speed in the organization. The paper's contribution is the bridge between the literatures on benefit and time management, bringing two pressing issues together. The contribution to practice lies in the considerations and stories of other organizations attempting to reconcile the increasing need for effectiveness
Figures - uploaded by Per Svejvig
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Per Svejvig
Content may be subject to copyright.
... It is conjectured that the failure of benefits realization might be related to the formalization in public project management. It has been supported that the conventional project management driven by the "iron triangle" is incapable of ensuring benefits realization (Hjelmbrekke et al., 2017;Svejvig et al., 2019). ...
... For example, project investors may appreciate the anticipated return on investment, while end-users might concern more about whether the project could meet their usage needs (Hjelmbrekke and Klakegg, 2013;Kelly et al., 2014). The term "benefit" is often used interchangeably with the concept of "value" (Laursen and Svejvig, 2016;Svejvig et al., 2019). ...
... However, the scope of benefits realization is far beyond the efficient output production and delivery (Svejvig et al., 2019). Besides the process of transforming inputs into outputs, it also includes the utilization of outputs which giving rise to target outcomes/benefits (Zwikael and Smyrk, 2012). ...
Benefits realization at the operation stage is a widely neglected aspect of sustainable development of construction projects. It is one of the ultimate purposes of initiating projects. However, public projects often perform poorly in realizing benefits after being delivered. The purpose of this study is to investigate why public institutional building projects could not realize benefits as expected. A two-pronged research design was applied. A semi-structured interview and archive analysis of three cases were initially undertaken to elicit practitioners’ perspectives on why institutional building projects fail in delivering target benefits. Q methodology was then applied, identifying barriers to benefits realization in institutional building projects. Four barriers to benefits realization are identified, which mainly stem from the formalization of public institutional building project management. These are rigid administrative systems, non-autonomous decision-making, strong accountability, and lack of benefits evaluation scheme.
This study presents a paradoxical understanding of the role of formalization in ensuring project production and benefits realization of public institutional building projects. While formalization ensures accountability and transparency in the project delivery and production, it undermines the benefits realization after being delivered. Such short-term consideration of project production would impede the pursuit of long-run benefits as expected by sustainable development.
... Our analysis showed a need for a process perspective in the novelty dimension to account for the changes in work procedures derived from the product novelty. With advantage, the product/process elements could be IPMA Research Conference 2020 http://www.ipma-research-conference.world/ 17 implemented in the technological uncertainty dimension. Furthermore, it is suggested that the novelty dimension be expanded to four types, as the three levels in the present Diamond ...
... The regular projects were not given much attention to complete the project faster because the deadline was not critical to the organization. One potential explanation could be that the speed of the regular projects was not valued, which Svejvig et al.[17] argue is vital for actually speeding up the project. Working with visual tools requires the project team to put continuous effort into planning, which might be less prioritized if the progress of the project is not considered important. ...
In 2017, Shenhar and Dvir released their Diamond Model as a typology for project categorization with the following dimensions: novelty, technology, complexity, and pace. The Diamond Model is useful for uncovering the project type at hand with a view to selecting a suitable management style. The objective of the model is to be universal and context free to capture a broad spectrum of projects. However, the model was built on military and commercial market product projects primarily in the United States and Israel, calling into question the validity of the model in other settings. This study addresses this problem and seeks to evaluate the Diamond Model in different settings. The study uses a mixed-methods approach and evaluates data from 62 projects in 16 project-based organizations. The study points to several ways to upgrade the model, such as splitting the pace dimension into two dimensions: pace (time) and impact. The study contributes to a broader discussion of the categorization of projects.
... While the extant work on project value Fuentes et al., 2019;Green & Sergeeva, 2018;Invernizzi et al., 2019;Pargar et al., 2019;Svejvig et al., 2019;Willumsen et al., 2019) covers a variety of empirical settings-with implications for project value in the broad sense of the term-we could not identify research expanding on project value as a rationale that informs the decision on whether or not the organization should take part in the project. Such additional nuance to the understanding of project value would not only inform the argument on organizational participation in projects but would also contribute to the long-standing conversation in project scholarship on why projects exist (Söderlund, 2004). ...
... A recent collection of contributions differentiates between concepts of value as worth (underpinned by engineering and economics) and value as ideals (underpinned by the social sciences) to address a variety of value considerations in projects. Examples include value in context (Green & Sergeeva, 2018;Invernizzi et al., 2019;Riis et al., 2019), value creation (Pargar et al., 2019;Willumsen et al., 2019), value co-creation (Fuentes et al., 2019;Liu et al., 2019), value delivery (Svejvig et al., 2019;Vuorinen & Martinsuo, 2019), and value capture (Bos-de Vos et al., 2019). In this way, the extant studies explore a myriad of specific theoretical and empirical phenomena, which have implications on project value in a broad sense (Laursen & Svejvig, 2016;Martinsuo et al., 2019). ...
Project scholarship suggests that an increasing volume of activities in organizations, economies, and societies occurs in the form of temporary projects. Drawing on research on project value, we aim to build a contextual understanding of why business organizations choose to participate in projects. Discussing value creation, capture, and destruction patterns for the owner, project-based firm, and the temporary project domains of project organizing, we develop a typology of project value domains for business organizations. We contribute to the theory and debate in project studies, integrating the conversations on the projectification of economies and societies with the stream of work on project value.
... The ten contributions cover different levels of analysis: project, program, projectoriented organization, and project alliance, indicating the broad application of value creation in project settings. They also cover different project phases: from the front end of a program (Liu et al. 2019) to the execution phase (Fuentes and Smyth 2019;Pargar et al. 2019;Vuorinen and Martinsuo 2019;Svejvig et al., 2019) and finally to the solution's end-of-life phase (Invernizzi et al. 2019), showing the relevance of value creation over the project lifecycle. With these contributions, the special issue succeeded in its aim to develop new knowledge about successful ways to negotiate and deliver value in complex and uncertain project-related contexts. ...
... The authors emphasized the social, economic and ecological dimensions to provide one value potential in the sustainability community. Svejvig [13] mentioned that based on acceleration of time is possible to find serious and important challenge for today's organization in order to achieve project values differences. According to the authors, there are some main reasons for the differences: valuing speed, project ownership, timing of the project methodology introduction, the nature of the project, and the institutional context and governance structures. ...
The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the challenges faced by business organizations implementing sustainable solutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the wider Gulf Coast Countries (GCC) region. To this end, our study examines an academic theory supporting the implementation of responsible solutions to the market. Ultimately, the authors hope to inspire the reader to consider what he or she can do to ameliorate the existing challenges encountered by sustainable businesses. The analysis presented in this article implies that in recent markets, the implementation of the sustainability theory is essential for further development. The research project contributes to the increase of knowledge about corporate and organizational challenges related to running a responsible business, as well as challenges related to the application of environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable business practices. The research is currently limited to conceptual analysis, literature review and a survey conducted during the Sustainability Week 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Nevertheless, this is the first stage of the research project conducted by the research team in cooperation with enterprises that implement responsible solutions in many global markets, and in UAE market. The scope of the first stage of the study was limited to the analysis of data clarifying the concept of the model specified in the research. To prove the validity of the model it will be implemented and tested in cooperation with organizations participating in the research.
... Add to this the comprehensive guides from professional bodies (see Breese et al., 2015, for a review), such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), the Association for Project Management (APM), and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), with guidelines for benefits management as part of project, program, and portfolio management (Office of Government Commerce, 2009Commerce, , 2011aCommerce, , 2011b. Finally, there are several empirical studiesfor example, on target benefits formulation (Zwikael et al., 2018), benefits management practices and project success (Badewi, 2016;Musawir, Serra, Zwikael, & Ali, 2017;Serra & Kunc, 2015), and how to accelerate benefits realization (Svejvig et al., 2019), to mention but a few. ...
This article reports on a four-year action research study, where the aims were to study benefits management at a detailed, practical level and to evaluate the benefits management practices applied. Synthesizing the insights from the study shows that the approach is dependent on the context and that the action research process was a challenging endeavor, but also that the project was successful with respect to improving performance. We provide a structured evaluation of the practiced process to uncover weaknesses and improve future interventions by suggesting an integrative management model with three layers: instrumental, practical, and reflective.
... Despite valuable contributions reporting on lessons learned (Birkinshaw, 2018, Rigby et al., 2018, Dikert et al. (2016) state that almost 90 percent of the papers were experience reports, and that theoretical grounded research examining the impact of scaling at the portfolio level is lacking (Sweetman and Conboy, 2018). Our research offers theoretically guided findings from a multiple case study of four organizations, which during the last three to four years have adopted agile practices at the portfolio level by drawing on agile frameworks as Spotify's scaling model (Kniberg and Ivarsson, 2012), SAFe (Leffingwell, 2007) and Half Double (Svejvig et al., 2019). Our research aims to understand the implications of scaling agile to the PPM level in legacy companies. ...
During the last couple of decades, agile methods have spread from software development start-ups to large, established organizations across different industries. The traditional project portfolio management processes build on certain premises about agreed-on delivera-bles, resources and deadline. These premises are not applicable to agile projects. Therefore, accommodating agile methods in project portfolio management (PPM) has become a key question. On this backdrop, we use four large companies with a background in traditional forms of managing projects and portfolios to investigate how agile transformation demands change in ways of thinking. By using the rethinking project management framework as our theoretical grounding, we deconstruct the companies' PPM practices in elements of thought from a classical and a rethinking project perspective. We study how these elements manifest and interact across project, portfolio, and management levels and how they produce desirable and undesirable consequences. Finally, we suggest how scaling agile to the project portfolio level demands new ways of thinking and operation.
... Such studies take the form of event or process studies, and they could follow decision making and actions and how they develop as the projects proceed. Some studies already reflect this life cycle orientation Fuentes et al., 2019;Matinheikki et al., 2016) and seek ways to accelerate projects' possibilities to deliver value (Svejvig et al., 2019), but they do not necessarily reveal the evolving nature of values over time. For example, more attention could be directed at the tensions among the values and how these tensions evolve and are resolved or convert to risks over time. ...
Project value is an important topic of debate in project studies, and previous research has identified challenges in value management. This article reveals the challenges of subjectivity, dynamics, and tensions stemming from multistakeholder involvement and competing values over the project life cycle. This research seeks solutions to the management of values by exploring values as beliefs to supplement their treatment as worth. Management of values is portrayed as an exercise in sensemaking, negotiation, and co-creation when adjusting beliefs to transform project practices and outcomes. A research agenda is proposed to cover the social and behavioral aspects of values in project studies.
... For example, the approach used at the front end of projects (J. is different from that in the process of delivering decommissioning projects (Invernizzi et al., 2019). Some researchers have worked to explore effective ways of creating greater value for projects, considering the aspects of project scheduling (Svejvig et al., 2019), risk management (Willumsen et al., 2019), project governance (Hjelmbrekke et al., 2017) and executive process (Pargar et al., 2019). Bygballe and Jahre (2009) and Vuorinen and Martinsuo (2019) proposed that stakeholders' expectations and needs can influence the value created in projects. ...
Adding value is widely regarded as a key issue in engineering projects, and cooperative arrangements in project management have been investigated by researchers due to their superiority in value creation compared with traditional arrangements. However, it remains unclear how parties properly interact with each other to create greater value in their cooperative relationships. Based on the paradox theory, this study applied the construct of behavior tension to describe the tension between cooperative and competitive forms of behavior, a pair of two contradictory forces coexisting in owner–contractor partnerships. This study then explored the impact of behavior tension on value creation. Using data from 161 responses, the interactive effect of dependence asymmetry and behavior tension on value creation is examined. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results show an inverse U-shaped relationship between behavior tension and value creation in owner–contractor partnerships, implying that a balance between cooperation and competition, more than either behavior alone, is helpful in creating value. Meanwhile, dependence asymmetry weakens this inverse U-shaped relationship. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in project and engineering management by adding greater variance to partners’ behavior (i.e., not just cooperation or competition), and by potentially enriching our understanding of how to rearrange interactive behavior among partners in facilitating value creation. Our findings reveal that, to create greater value for each other, engineering managers should change their cognition regarding cooperation and competition, and try to take advantage of the merits of these two opposing forces.
... IT projects also face this challenge (Einhorn et al., 2019;Nielsen and Persson, 2017), not least in the public sector and healthcare (Hellang et al., 2013;Sapountzis et al., 2009;Williams et al., 2020). Studies indicate that the challenges can be met through sound benefits management (BM) practices and disciplined governance applied consistently across the lifetime of projects (Musawir et al., 2017;Svejvig et al., 2019), including robust business case design and use (Einhorn et al., 2019;Nielsen and Persson, 2017). However, despite considerable efforts in BM and business case development (Breese et al., 2015;Nielsen and Persson, 2017), many IT projects are still failing to deliver high customer satisfaction and high return on value to organizations (Johnson, 2018). ...
Purpose
This paper reports on an action research study based optimization project related to healthcare IT implemented on the Faroe Islands. The aims were to study what constitutes value in the public healthcare setting by applying and activating existing resources in the organization, hence answering the overall research question: How can a resource-based view (RBV) improve benefits management (BM) practices?
Design/methodology/approach
By applying a RBV to findings from an action research study of an optimization project of an integrated health information system (HIS), a framework of capabilities needed in a public HIS setting to create value was developed.
Findings
The theoretical contribution is a framework explaining how BM practices and, hence, value can be interrelated in a public healthcare IT system.
Research limitations/implications
The study shows the need for academic IT professionals to structure and facilitate value generation, especially in the form of creating an innovative and learning environment in the form of an action research based project.
Practical implications
This study suggests which actors should be motivated and developed in order to ensure value in healthcare IT projects. Having value creation in mind, the model could have potentially broad applicability in a variety of healthcare IT settings.
Social implications
The findings leads to better usage of public healthcare resources.
Originality/value
The present research studies real problems in a real setting, thus providing distinct ideas on how to improve public value creation by direct engagement of researchers.
... Effectiveness criteria include the value generated by the project, the relevance and usefulness of the project's results, meeting of project goals, strategies, and organizational objectives, and (direct) organizational benefits, (indirect) community benefits, side benefits, and future potential. Effectiveness can be measured in stakeholder satisfaction, sales, income, profit, and market share as well as sustainability, innovation and new ideas, skills, technologies, capabilities, and core competences (Atkinson, 1999;Baccarini, 1999;Barclay & Osei-Bryson, 2009;Haass & Guzman, 2020;Laursen & Svejvig, 2016;Martinsuo, 2019;Martinsuo & Killen, 2014;Nelson, 2005;Pinto & Slevin, 1988;Samset & Volden, 2016;Serrador & Turner, 2015;Shenhar et al., 2001;Svejvig et al., 2019;Williams & Samset, 2010;Zidane et al., 2016). Project evaluation literature lacks consensus regarding which criteria to use (Haass & Guzman, 2020), and central concepts are considered ambiguous and overlapping (Zidane & Olsson, 2017). ...
In the quest to improve projects, project actors rely on sound project evaluation. However, project evaluation can be complex and challenging. This study aims to explore and define project evaluation and reveal how it can promote continuous improvements within and across projects and organizations. A review of extant literature finds four constitutive properties for project evaluation: criteria, times, evaluands, and evaluators. Based on the action design research of 75 projects in 21 organizations, the study finds three evaluation perspectives: process, outcome, and learning. Understanding the multidimensionality of project evaluation through the seven identified dimensions offers a meaningful conception of project evaluation.
... he management of the organization for the enhancement of organizational performance (Anantatmula & Rad, 2016;Hurt & Thomas, 2009). By utilizing the tools and tactics of project management, the leadership of the organizations, plan, organize and accomplish efficiently their projects with better utilization of their tangible and intangible resources (Svejvig et. al., 2019). According to Pivec and Maček (2019),the project-based performance of the organizations not only increases the revenue for the firms but also improves the economic conditions of the country, moreover, these activities also enhance the competition level among the organizations (Amaral & Araujo, 2009). Currently, due to the highly competi ...
This research is conducted to check the applicability of theory of individual level collectivist values (ILCV) in developing brand loyalty. Hence, association between brand loyalty with its determinants and mediating effect of individual level collectivist values have been checked in this study.This research is explanatory in nature based on primary and secondary data collected through cross sectional survey. A sample size of 384 women customers of five Pakistani renowned brands have been carved out from the regular customer population of about 500,000. Margin of error is 5%.Though researched works available on brand loyalty with different dimensions, few studies have been found on ILCVT internationally and not spotted any research in Pakistani context. This study can be taken as first of its kind in Pakistan. This research finds women shopping behavior in Pakistan where they belong to different Pakistani sub-culture. Study found a strong relationship between brand loyalty and brand trust even when individualistic values at group level play its role as a mediator.This study has several implications for managers and policy makers. Hence brand managers need to undertake subcultural themes while offering new volumes in order to make more and more customers brand loyal.
... Similarly, recent research has also looked at value co-creation whereby the client organisation engages with market partners ( Liu et al., 2019 ), customers ( Fuentes et al., 2019 ) or delivery partners ( Pargar et al., 2019 ), and generate value in the process. Similarly, research has acknowledged that value in projects can be generated through the use of management approaches and methods, such as risk management ( Willumsen et al., 2019 ) or acceleration to fasttrack projects to completion ( Svejvig et al., 2019 ). Value has similarly been approached from a firm-level perspective, in the context of value capture from a portfolio of projects to address the value slippage that occasionally occurs beyond individual projects ( Bos-de Vos et al., 2019 ). ...
There is growing interest in the ways that value is understood in the context of projects and within project-based settings. Recent studies emphasise the multiplicity of project value in various project settings as perceived by different project actors. Drawing on previous work on project value and project front-end, this study expands on the idea of multiplicity of project value in the early project definition phase. To this end, the study draws from empirical data on infrastructure projects provision, including semi-structured interviews with a set of highly experienced and senior level informants with extensive knowledge and familiarity of infrastructure project planning and front-end decision making. The study is bounded with a focus on London, UK as an example of a complex, highly established global city with a great reliance on its infrastructure and a well-established projects ecology. Through inductive qualitative data analysis the study explores the role of infrastructure projects as solutions to policy problems, the multiple and complex nature of value in project definition and identifies three value levels, which are instrumental for project definition: local value, sector value and user value. The multi-level value framework in the project front-end extends and complements early decision making in planning and setting up of infrastructure projects.
... The regular projects were not given much attention to complete the project faster because the deadline was not critical to the organization. One potential explanation could be that the speed of the regular projects was not valued, which Svejvig et al. [17] argue is vital for actually speeding up the project. Working with visual tools requires the project team to put continuous effort into planning, which might be less prioritized if the progress of the project is not considered important. ...
In 2017, Shenhar and Dvir released their Diamond ModelDiamond model as a typology for projectProject categorization with the following dimensions: novelty, technology, complexityComplexity, and pace. The Diamond ModelDiamond model is useful for uncovering the projectProject type at hand with a view to selecting a suitable management style. The objective of the model is to be universal and contextContext-free to capture a broad spectrum of projectsProject. However, the model was built on military and commercial market product projectsProject primarily in the United States and Israel, calling into question the validity of the model in other settings. This study addresses this problem and seeks to evaluate the Diamond ModelDiamond model in different settings. The study uses a mixed-methods approach and evaluates data from 62 projectsProject in 16 projectProject-based organizations. The study points to several ways to upgrade the model, such as splitting the pace dimension into two dimensions: pace (time) and impact. The study contributes to a broader discussion of the categorization of projectsProject.
... Previous research found that accelerating projects does not constitute project value in itself (Svejvig, Geraldi & Grex, 2019). Our study contributes to this notion by empirically demonstrating that it is the timing of interactions and decisions, not their overall pace, that affects the scope and extent of the reconciliation, thus affecting the becoming project value. ...
In project research, value has been conceptualized either as something subjective in peoples’ minds or as an objective reality. However, in practice, project actors encounter, express, and negotiate value both subjectively (e.g., as ideals and beliefs) and objectively (e.g., as the price) depending on the evolving circumstances of real-life situations. To capture the project value phenomenon from project actors’ perspective, we adopt a projects-as-practice approach on project value, which puts the emphasis on the activity, process or practice of valuation rather than on value as something in itself. This suggests that project value must be understood with a focus on valuation practices, through which various project actors express what they value, and through which they evaluate the alternative ways of proceeding with the project tasks in hand. Using practice-level interaction data from three projects in an architectural practice, we reveal three nexuses of interrelated valuation practices with distinct practical rationalities, through which various considerations of project actors manifest themselves and get resolved in different ways. We argue that these valuation practices combined create an ongoing process of reconciliation in the observed projects and enact project value on an ongoing basis. We discuss how the cross-cutting issues of relational constitution of valuation practices, temporality as well as power relationships configure the practical rationality of valuation practices, thus determining the enacted project value. Our study complements the existing research on project value by establishing project value as practice, and by highlighting relational constitution, temporality, and power as key issues for the study of the project value phenomenon.
Purpose
Although project management (PM) continues to rise in popularity, there is still a significant PM talent deficit, leading to more challenged or failing projects. To lower the PM talent deficit and mitigate the higher project failure rates, academic institutions have been developing PM curriculums aimed at inculcating a repertoire of competencies to the potential project managers. In developing an ideal well-rounded PM curriculum, academic institutions occasionally engage the input of industry partners and governing entities. The study aims to (1) compare the competencies in one of the leading industry competency model and framework (PMI Talent Triangle) to the competencies in the PM course syllabi learning outcomes, (2) determine the extent to which these two sets of PM competencies are aligned and (3) and explore avenues for improvements.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a purposeful sampling method to gather PM course syllabi. The PM competencies data are gleaned from the syllabi using the content analysis method. Thereafter, QSR NVivo qualitative statistical software is used to summarize and analyze the competency data from the learning outcomes.
Findings
The results reveal that most of the PM competencies in the course syllabi fall under the technical PM domain. Specifically, the top three competency elements in each domain are technical PM domain (PM skills, tools and techniques, schedule management and cost estimation/budget), leadership domain (team-building, verbal/written communication and problem-solving) and strategic and business management domain (strategic planning, analysis and alignment, benefits management and realization, customer relationship and satisfaction).
Research limitations/implications
The study investigates the alignment of the PM course competencies with competency domains in the PMI Talent Triangle, a global competence model that is well aligned with other global competence models such as the APM Competence Framework, the ICB4 Individual Competence Baseline and the PROMA3.
Practical implications
The results from this study provide guidelines useful in informing PM curricula re/design, as well as the inculcation of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques and behaviors needed for effective PM.
Social implications
The PM curriculum can be improved by partnering with PM industry leaders who can serve as advisors to the academy on industry needs, direction and emerging innovations that can inform PM learning outcomes, PM curricular design and the development of quality PM talent. The academy and the industry are encouraged to actively strive for mutual partnerships where PM professionals and academicians serve on each other's advisory boards. Also, the academy can partner with the industry professionals by developing curriculum resources such as case studies that bring the real-life PM applications to the classroom.
Originality/value
This study is motivated by the call for research studies that provide a holistic picture of the desired PM competencies and an exploration and definition of the educational needs in the PM curriculum.
Benefits management has recently gained in popularity but remains difficult to implement and conduct in organizations. Inspired by the practice perspective and building on an exploratory study, we reveal that defining benefits is a complex task, as the concept of benefit is understood in a variety of ways. We also expose the evolving nature of benefits management, highlighting that benefits management is far from a linear activity. Our study uncovers some of the social and political aspects of benefits management, which have up until now been neglected and may be connected to the challenges of this activity.
Støttet af Otto Mønsted-fonden kunne årets forskningskonferencen invitere prominente talere til at reflektere over Symposiets tema ”Ledelse skaber vi sammen”. Her gennemgås de vigtigste pointer fra konferencens mange talks, debatter og posters.
Infrastructure projects in developed countries are rarely evaluated ex-post. Despite their number and scope, our knowledge about their various impacts is surprisingly limited. The paper argues that such projects must be assessed in a broad perspective that includes both operational, tactical and strategic aspects, and unintended as well as intended effects. A generic six-criteria evaluation framework is suggested, inspired by a framework frequently used to evaluate development assistance projects. It is tested on 20 Norwegian projects from various sectors (transport, defence, ICT, buildings). The results indicate that the majority of projects were successful, especially in operational terms, possibly because they underwent external quality assurance up-front. It is argued that applying this type of standardized framework provides a good basis for comparison and learning across sectors. It is suggested that evaluations should be conducted with the aim of promoting accountability, building knowledge about infrastructure projects, and continuously improve the tools, methods and governance arrangements used in the front-end of project development.
Purpose – With the aim of furthering the understanding of project speed and how to manage the urgent project, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the management challenges involved in delivering a telecommunications infrastructure project in a period of much shorter duration than a similar project. The authors wanted to understand the reasons behind the urgency and how the project management team succeeds in delivering in such a tight time window. Finally, the authors assessed the consequences (negative
and positive, during and after the project delivery), knowing that the project was considered a success at its delivery, but not that it was successful at the post-project evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach – A case study based on qualitative research interviews with management team including the client, the main contractor and some related stakeholders, combined with
case archives and internal documentation from the case project.
Findings – The urgency of a project or programme may lead to some negative consequences and impacts. The success seen in a short- and mid-term view is not enough to justify making acceleration decisions: thus holistic thinking and a long-term sustainable approach are needed to ensure continuity and profits.
Research limitations/implications – This research is based on a single case study. There are some limitations regarding how urgent and unexpected the case was managed in comparing to normal case.
A second limitation is that there is no clear definition of what are normal practices such that we can say what are a normal case and an urgent case.
Practical implications – There are some lessons learned from this case study about managing the unexpected and the urgent. Practitioners can obtain insight into positive and negative consequences of fast project delivery from this case.
Originality/value – This study is unique in its content and context, since it presents the first-hand insight into a case study that seemed to be successful to some extent (short-term impact); however, negative consequences appeared within a few years of its delivery.
There is growing pressure on project managers to demonstrate the value of their projects to the funding organization. However, most projects lack a robust process for realizing such strategic value. While the literature recognizes the importance of project governance for enabling benefits realization, this research area lacks empirical evidence. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the relationships between effective project governance, benefit management, and project success. A scale for evaluating effective project governance was developed and validated based on feedback from 21 project governance experts. Subsequently, an international survey of 333 projects was used to test proposed relationships. The results indicate effective project governance improves project success both directly and through an enhanced benefit management process. Additionally, the most effective project governance and benefit management practices for improving project success are identified, such as the development and monitoring of a high quality project business case. The resulting model sets the foundations for a theory that explains how effective project governance enhances project success and enables the realization of strategic objectives through projects.
Keywords: Project governance; Benefit management; Benefits realization; Project success; Organizational strategy
Project organising is a growing field of scholarly inquiry and management practice. In recent years, two important developments have influenced this field: (1) the study and practice of projects have extended their level of analysis from mainly focussing on individual projects to focussing on micro- as well as macro-level concerns around projects; and (2) there has been a greater interest in different kinds of scholarly inquiry. Taken together, these two developments call for closer scrutiny of how the levels of analysis and the types of inquiry are related and benefit each other, and of the explanations of project practices they could offer. To discuss avenues for future research on projects and project practice, this paper suggests the notion of project studies to better grasp the status of our field. We combine these two sets of ideas to analyse the status and future options for advancing project research: (1) levels of analysis; and (2) type of research. Analysing recent developments within project studies, we observe the emergence of what we refer to as type 3 research, which reconciles the need for theoretical development and engagement with practice. Type 3 research suggests pragmatic avenues to move away from accepted yet unhelpful assumptions about projects and project organising. The paper ends with an agenda for future research, which offers project scholars a variety of options to position themselves in the field of project studies, and to explore opportunities in the crossroads between levels of analysis and types of research.
Purpose
To qualitatively validate the constructs of a theoretically derived research model whilst gaining insights to steer the direction of a greater study on methodologies, their elements, and their impact on project success. In doing so, to investigate whether different project environments, notably project governance, impacts the relationship between methodologies and project success.
Design/methodology/approach
A deductive approach was applied to validate a theoretically derived research model. Nineteen interviews across 11 industrial sectors and four countries were used to collect data. Pattern-matching techniques were utilized in the analysis to deductively validate the research model.
Findings
There is a positive relationship between project methodology elements and the characteristics of project success; however, environmental factors, notably project governance, influence the use and effectiveness of a project methodology and its elements with a resulting impact on the characteristics of project success.
Research limitations/implications
Project governance plays a major role in the moderating effect of a project methodology’s effectiveness. Contingency theory is applicable to a project’s methodology’s selection and its customization according to the project environment.
Practical implications
Understand the impact of project methodologies and their elements on the characteristics of project success whilst being moderated by the project environment, for example, the risk of suboptimal project performance due to the effectiveness of methodology elements being negatively impacted by the project environment.
Originality/value
The impact of a project methodology (collection of heterogeneous-related elements) on the characteristics of project success is identified whilst being moderated by the project environment, notably project governance.
Benefits management (BM) and project management (PM) are two interrelated approaches to the success of projects. The literature, however, still lacks empirical evidence of the value of applying BM practices. Hence, it is aimed to test the impact of BM practices on the success of investments in projects, taking into consideration the impact of PM practices on that success. Since the results, based on 200 valid responses, suggest that a significant proportion of organisations adopt PM and BM concurrently, SEM was used. PM practices were not only found to influence project management success but also to affect project investment success. However, BM is found to be less significant and to have less impact on project investment success. Nevertheless, the probability of project success is enhanced significantly when PM and BM practices are combined together. Therefore, a governance based framework is developed to uncover the interweaving relationship between the two practices.
Business strategies, which imply organisational change, usually require the development of projects, e.g. IT projects. However, organisations fail in implementing their strategies even though they employ project, programme and portfolio management techniques. Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) is a set of processes structured to close the gap between strategy planning and execution by ensuring the implementation of the most valuable initiatives. However, there is no empirical evidence of its effectiveness. This paper presents the results of a survey to practitioners in Brazil, United Kingdom and United States evaluating the impact of BRM practices on project success rate. Our results show BRM practices being positive predictors to project success on the creation of strategic value for the business. Therefore, these results suggest that BRM practices can be effective to support the successful execution of business strategies.
The project management literature argues that most projects fail, and yet, paradoxically, increasing numbers of proposals for new initiatives attract funds. In order to resolve an apparent ‘investment‐in‐failure’ paradox, this paper questions the methodology used in the literature to judge project performance and to decide on funding new projects. Using results from a field study, the authors describe a project performance framework that both expands and extends traditional approaches. They argue that the conventional test of project performance is not only fundamentally flawed, but also irrelevant to decision‐makers. In response, drawing on ‘principal–agent’, ‘regret’ and ‘contingency’ theories, the authors propose a new methodology to assess projects based on the concept of ‘worth’. According to this approach, performance is judged at three separate levels: project management, project ownership and project investment. These three tests allow distinct judgements to be made about the respective performances of the project manager, the project owner and the investment represented by the original funding decision. To the extent that financial crises are associated with project failure, such a framework may prove useful, because it would support better investment decision‐making.
A major source of risk in project management is inaccurate forecasts of project costs, demand, and other impacts. The paper presents a promising new approach to mitigating such risk, based on theories of decision making under uncertainty which won the 2002 Nobel prize in economics. First, the paper documents inaccuracy and risk in project management. Second, it explains inaccuracy in terms of optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. Third, the theoretical basis is presented for a promising new method called "reference class forecasting," which achieves accuracy by basing forecasts on actual performance in a reference class of comparable projects and thereby bypassing both optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. Fourth, the paper presents the first instance of practical reference class forecasting, which concerns cost forecasts for large transportation infrastructure projects. Finally, potentials for and barriers to reference class forecasting are assessed.
Most companies' development portfolios suffer from: too many projects for the limited resources available; ineffective project prioritization; Go/Kill decisions made in the absence of solid information; and too many minor projects in the portfolio. The end result is poor performance: low-impact projects; too long to get to market; and higher-than-acceptable failure rates. Solutions are proposed based on the experiences of firms in the study. The first is to implement a systematic gating or Stage-Gate new product process, complete with tough Go/Kill decision points. Next, build in resource capacity analysis—a quantitative assessment of resource supply versus demand in your new product pipeline. A third solution is to develop a product innovation and technology strategy for your business to help guide the selection of the best projects. Finally, integrate portfolio management into your gating process using one of the two approaches utilized by leading companies in the study.
Project Half Double is an industry-driven initiative with the purpose to develop a new and radical project paradigm to increase the competitiveness of the Danish industry. The research part of Project Half Double will assess the degree to which the new project paradigm is more successful than traditional approaches, which calls for an evaluation and comparison framework. This paper describes the design of such a comparison framework consisting of the five elements context, project, mechanism/practices, output and impact based on the open systems view. We illustrate the use of the comparison framework for front-loading projects in Grundfos and the specific evaluation criteria used here. The design and use of comparison frameworks have some implications, such as it being challenging to define relevant and meaningful evaluation criteria, it is difficult to collect complex evaluation data and some organisations lack the project maturity to take advantage of the frameworks.
Unexpected urgent projects can arise because of a new business opportunity, or for protection against a sudden threat, or, most obviously, to restore a severely damaged asset. This paper summarizes the critical decisions and lessons learned from the management of six different unexpected and urgent projects. These cases show how unexpected urgent work can demand not only instant acceptance of cost risks but also the sustained involvement of top management, immediate attention to all stakeholders' interests and trust in oral commitments.
Purpose
Standardizing the development, planning and construction of public building projects can contribute to timely and efficient project delivery. This is especially relevant when there are urgent needs for capacity. The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences from the development of standardized concepts for school extensions and prison building in Norway.
Design/methodology/approach
The research questions posed in this paper are on the interaction between public entities project delivery models and standardizing building types and the construction method. To investigate the research questions, the paper presents the findings from two case studies: school and prison development and construction projects. It is based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, document studies and quantitative data on time and cost for the planning and construction phases.
Findings
Standardization and use of modularized building systems can contribute to shortened delivery time by reducing the duration of both the planning and construction phase. The most significant time reduction resulted from less time spent on quality assurance of cost estimates prior to the funding of the projects. Project costs increased in the school case, but were reduced in the prison case. An important challenge faced in both cases is a shallow pool of capable suppliers; the actors have approached the challenge with different strategies, yet neither actor has been successful in their attempts.
Originality/value
The paper provides empirical data to add to the collective knowledge on the project management aspects of using standardized project delivery models and standardized (modular) building. However, by emphasizing the interaction between project delivery models and standardization of the planning and execution of the projects, additional insight into the benefits and challenges are highlighted.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the similarities and differences between the Danish rethinking project management (RPM) initiative named Project Half Double (PHD) and the RPM research stream. The paper furthermore discusses how PHD and RPM can inspire each other in research and practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This is an empirical paper based on collaborative research between industry and researchers. PHD has developed principles and practices driven by industry consisting of ten leading stars and the impact, leadership and flow (ILF) method. The ten leading stars and ILF method are compared to RPM research. The comparative analysis is then used in a broader discussion about how the research-driven RPM initiative can enrich the industry-driven PHD initiative and vice versa depicted in a theoretical understanding of translations between global ideas and local implementations.
Findings
RPM and PHD share a focus on value creation, social processes, learning and complexity while PHD also focusses on lean thinking, agile thinking, front-end loading and leadership, which are largely topics beyond the RPM research stream.
Originality/value
The paper presents how stakeholders from Danish industry interpret the actuality in projects and how they want to move forward with a radically different project paradigm. This is expressed in the ten leading stars and ILF method, which is compared and contrasted to the existing RPM literature providing a foundation for further development of both RPM and PHD.
Project management as a discipline possesses a rich body of literature characterized by early determinism and later expansion to broader contexts aided by paradigmatic, thematic, and methodological diversity. The dynamic nature of research entails many parallel streams of enquiry under differing perspectives without convergence to parsimonious theories. We argue that an integrated view of project management research in terms of its thematic evolution and trends is necessary for an understanding of future directions. Our study fills this gap by tracing the evolution of themes in project management research, trends, and future opportunities through a systematic review of literature. We find the research to be dominated by empirical and deterministic perspectives while non-deterministic research enquiry remains weak and sporadic. We contend that stronger focus on non-deterministic perspective and a methodological convergence is necessary for the research to meaningfully advance towards theory building, and discuss potential avenues for further research.
There is a continued interest amongst academics, practitioners and policy makers in methods to achieve accelerated innovation. Academic studies of this complex phenomenon have succeeded in reaching a high degree of consensus on the antecedents of innovation speed. Our aim in this review is to further elucidate the mechanisms underlying management interventions to promote speed. The review adopts a theory-led, realist synthesis of innovation speed research – the first example of this methodology in management studies. We develop a new time-based framework for categorizing the innovation speed literature. The framework has a CIMO-logic, and is built by invoking the organisational studies literature on time. We contextualise the innovation speed literature in relation the three generic temporal challenges faced by all organisations: reducing temporal uncertainty; resolving temporal conflicts over activities; and allocating resources amidst conditions of temporal scarcity. We problematize extant explanations of innovation speed as not taking account of different temporal orientations (temporal dichotomies) within innovation work, and thereby neglecting a potential barrier to achieving accelerated innovation outcomes. We further draw upon the literature on time in organisations to suggest new avenues of research, and methodological approaches new to the study of innovation speed. The principal contribution of this review is to offer a new conceptual perspective on the complex empirical research examining how innovation projects may be accelerated from original idea to launch.
Definitions of agility found in the project management (PM) and agile project management (APM) disciplines are inconsistent, incomplete and lack clarity. This paper presents a complete definition of the agility construct, built from a combination of systematic literature review and frame semantics methodology. A survey with 171 projects with different innovation levels and industry sectors combined with factor analysis was used to first validate the construct. The results show that the agility construct is cohesive and useful in different PM contexts. The implications for advancing the PM theory and practice are threefold: i) agility should be considered a team's performance, rather than a mere adjective for practices and methods; ii) agility, as a performance, might be dependent upon a combination of organization, team and project factors; and iii) the agility performance level can be measured within two main factors: rapid project planning change and active customer involvement.
To keep product development projects on schedule, establishing psychological safety and promoting cooperative behavior can be just as important as good planning.
This hugely informative and wide-ranging analysis on the management of projects, past, present and future, is written both for practitioners and scholars. Beginning with a history of the discipline's development, Reconstructing Project Management provides an extensive commentary on its practices and theoretical underpinnings, and concludes with proposals to improve its relevancy and value. Written not without a hint of attitude, this is by no means simply another project management textbook. The thesis of the book is that 'it all depends on how you define the subject'; that much of our present thinking about project management as traditionally defined is sometimes boring, conceptually weak, and of limited application, whereas in reality it can be exciting, challenging and enormously important. The book draws on leading scholarship and case studies to explore this thesis. The book is divided into three major parts. Following an Introduction setting the scene, Part 1 covers the origins of modern project management - how the discipline has come to be what it is typically said to be; how it has been constructed - and the limitations of this traditional model. Part 2 presents an enlarged view of the discipline and then deconstructs this into its principal elements. Part 3 then reconstructs these elements to address the challenges facing society, and the implications for the discipline, in the years ahead. A final section reprises the sweep of the discipline's development and summarises the principal insights from the book. This thoughtful commentary on project (and program, and portfolio) management as it has developed and has been practiced over the last 60-plus years, and as it may be over the next 20 to 40, draws on examples from many industry sectors around the world. It is a seminal work, required reading for everyone interested in projects and their management..
This paper aims to take stock of what we know about project value creation and to present future directions for research and practice. We performed an explorative and unstructured literature review, which was subsequently paired with a structured literature review. We join several research areas by adopting the project value creation perspective on literature relating to benefits, value, performance, and success in projects. Our review includes 111 contributions analyzed through both an inductive and deductive approach. We find that relevant literature dates back to the early 1980s, and the still developing value-centric view has been the subject of many publications in recent years. We contribute to research on project value creation through four directions for future research: rejuvenating value management through combining value, benefits, and costs; supplementing value creation with value capture; applying a holistic approach to project, portfolio, and strategic management; and theorizing by applying independent models and frameworks.
Unanticipated threats or opportunities create a situation in which work is required unexpectedly. On these occasions, such urgent and unexpected work demands an instant start, in contrast to the often lengthy processes of investigation, evaluation, development, selection and planning normal in businesses and public services before the start of a project.
The book draws on twelve cases ranging from the launch of the Freeview television system in the UK to the sifting and removal of the New York World Trade Center pile of debris following the 9/11 terrorist attack. The
lessons offered in this book will help private and public organizations plan how to authorize and support future urgent work to take advantage of immediate new business opportunities or to protect or restore systems and services.
Mixed methods research is increasingly being used in business and management disciplines, in spite of positivist traditions. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) to examine the types of mixed methods approaches being used, and (2) to determine the quality of the reporting of mixed methods studies published in the field of project management. A retrospective content analysis of articles from three ranked project management journals was undertaken for a sample period of 2004 to 2010. Our findings suggest the field of project management is in need of capacity building in relation to the good reporting of mixed methods studies.
Projects are expected to bring value to their constituents. Value management in project portfolios has centered on the maximization of commercial value and identification of future business prospects. In this study, the goal is increased understanding of the identification and assessment of strategic, non-commercial value in project portfolios. We map the relevant dimensions of strategic value and supplement previous frameworks with the non-commercial aspects. Ecological, societal, and learning values have only been studied conceptually and qualitatively in earlier research. We propose future research on these values in quantitative settings and exploring collective sensemaking as part of project portfolio value management.
Successful realization of project benefits is strongly associated with organizational performance. Formulating project target benefits is regarded as the first and critical step in the benefit management process. In this study, we drew upon relevant theories and conducted in-depth interviews with senior managers in Australia to develop a conceptual framework of project target benefit formulation and corresponding propositions. Our findings highlight the important role of project target benefits in funding decision-making and suggest seven criteria for their appraisal (strategic fit, target value, measurability, realism, target date, accountability and comprehensiveness) and four constructs which improve the formulated target benefits (a formal benefit formulation process, senior executive leadership, senior executive supports, and public service motivation). These findings extend the current literature on project benefit management by providing a holistic view on how project target benefits should be formulated and appraised.
Five meta-analyses previously have been published on the topic of new product development involving the concept of new product development speed. Three of these studies have investigated antecedents to new product development success, of which just one was new product development speed. The other two studies used new product development speed as the dependent variable, and analyzed antecedents to achieving speed. This article extends previous empirical generalizations in this domain by using a meta-analytic methodology to understand the link between new product development speed and new product success at a more granular level. Specifically, it considers the relationship with different dimensions of success as measured overall or compositely, operationally (i.e., the process measures of decreasing development costs and proficiently managing market entry timing and the product measures of technical product performance and product competitive advantage), and relative to external success outcomes (i.e., customer based and financial success). While the results indicate that, in general, new product development speed is associated with improving success outcomes, those relationships may diminish or even disappear depending upon a number of methodological design decisions and research contexts. A subsequent meta-analysis of the antecedents of development speed provides a more holistic picture of development speed. These results are broadly consistent with those produced by another recent meta-analytic investigation of the issue. Together, these findings have important implications for academics pursuing further research in this domain, as well as for managers considering implementing a program to increase new product development speed.
The authors develop and test a simple conceptual model linking product development cycle time to organizational performance. Using data from two industries (automobile and computer) and four countries (Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United States), they find that faster cycle time alone is not associated with higher accounting returns, sales growth, or perceived overall performance. Stronger support is found for the hypothesis that some product development practices, such as cross-functional teams and advanced design tools, interact with accelerated product development to improve performance, whereas other practices, such as reverse engineering of competitors' products, suppress the potential benefits from lower cycle times. Finally, interaction effects for other organizational practices, such as customer involvement in the product development process and the extent to which new technology is obtained from external sources, appear to vary by industry.
Organizations across industries are facing a new competitive challenge: reducing the time required to successfully bring new products to market. Although the managerial literature cites many product development acceleration techniques, little insight is provided as to why and how these techniques are successful. In this article, we extend theory by presenting a conceptual model of product development cycle time that explains the relationships among acceleration techniques, underlying theoretical constructs and development time. The underlying constructs that we propose affect product development time are: (1) project complexity, (2) information processing capability, and (3) motivation. We propose that by understanding the relationships between the popular acceleration techniques, the underlying intermediate processes and product development time, practitioners and academics alike will be better able to develop new techniques as well use existing ones to more effectively speed products to the market.
As an introduction to the special issue topic of value creation, we define value creation in terms of use value and exchange value and discuss some of the key issues related to its study, including the topic of value capture. Although the definition of value creation is common across levels of analysis, the process of value creation will differ based on whether value is created by an individual, an organization, or society. We use the concepts of competition and isolating mechanisms to explain how value can be captured at different levels of analysis.
"In this graduate level text, Michael Myers brings a wealth of insight to the research process. Combining abstract and theoretical considerations with those of a practical nature, such as tips for interviewing or for the final stage of writing up, Myers establishes an expansive resource for those involved in qualitative research that will aid them from start to finish. In this book the reader will be provided with the resources to: Understand the underlying philosophies of qualitative research in business and management Be aware of a variety of qualitative research methods Gain insight into examples of the previous use of qualitative methods in business and managementAnalyze and critically evaluate research, including discussion of using qualitative data analysis softwareCarry out their own research in business and managementWrite up their research for publicationThis book will be an indispensable resource both to those just embarking on their research as well as existing researchers in business and management."--Publisher's website.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to address value and the value‐creation process. It argues that the firm operating in line with investor interests, acts as both a customer and a supplier of value and considers the internal activities that reflect these motivations.
Design/methodology/approach
– A series of propositions are developed regarding the creation, capture and destruction of value.
Findings
– It is argued that two types of value‐creating activities can be identified. In addition there are activities directed at the maintenance of the firm, and the maintenance of its capital stock, and there are activities that destroy value. Value capture is determined by bargaining relationships between stakeholders and their representatives. The paper concludes with some comments regarding value appropriation.
Originality/value
– The paper addresses the critical issue of “value” in the resource‐based view (RBV) and specifically begins to develop the RBV away from its neo‐classical roots.
There is a growing recognition that innovation speed is important to a firm's creating and sustaining competitive advantage amidst rapidly changing business environrients. However, there has been little theoretical advancement or model building regarding when innovation speed is appropriate, what factors speed up innovations, and how differences in speed affect project outcomes. In this article, we organize and integrate the innovation speed literature, develop a conceptual framework of innovation speed, and offer researchable propositions relating to the need for and antecedents and outcomes of innovation speed. Specifically, we argue that innovation speed (a) is most appropriate in environments characterized by competitive intensity, technological and market dynamism, and low regulatory restrictiveness; (b) can be positively or negatively affected by strategic-orientation factors and organizational-capability factors; and (c) has an influence on development costs, product quality, and ultimately project success.
This volume summarizes the results of a research project in industrial relations in which the Industrial Research Department of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration cooperated with the Western Electric Company. 12 years of research bring the authors to a critical evaluation of the traditional view that workers, supervisors, or executives be considered apart from their social setting and treated as essentially "economic men." For example, "it became clear that the beneficial effects of rest pauses could be explained equally well in terms of the social function." The work involved was not heavy manual labor. Again, "the efficiency of a wage incentive is so dependent on its relation to other factors that it is impossible to separate it out as a thing in itself having an independent effect." The book, 26 chapters in length, is divided into 5 parts. There is a foreword by C. G. Stoll of Western Electric and a preface by Elton Mayo. 34 tables and 48 figures assist the reader in visualizing details. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper presents a study on the progress of project management. Descriptions of projects from 2000 and 2008 are studied. The study concludes that the field of project management is moving ahead. Project team members are more knowledgeable about project work, project objectives are more clearly expressed, project organization is more appropriate, most work processes are improved, and team members experience project work as rewarding and are more motivated for future projects. However, the project results are not fully satisfactory. It is shown that stakeholders' satisfaction could be improved by better decision processes, better management and leadership, and closer cooperation with the stakeholders.
Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) is becoming an increasingly important aspect of project and programme management. However, commentators have observed that the practice of BRM is often flawed, and have made suggestions as to how practice might be improved. This paper is concerned with the reasons why the implementation of BRM might not be straightforward, by focusing on the underlying assumptions. It will approach the issue by drawing on the author's experience from the 1990s and 2000s in working in the management of government-funded regeneration programmes in the UK. In this field there was a rigid benefits management framework, although it precedes the development of BRM. The paper will argue that there are important underlying conceptual issues in benefits management which have practical implications and need to be recognised in the development of theory for BRM.Highlights► Benefits Realisation Management (BRM) is a developing part of project management. ► Existing theory is largely based on the ‘modern paradigm’ of management science. ► Benefits management practice does not always accord with these theories. ► Alternatives to the ‘modern paradigm’ are needed for theory building. ► BRM is neither a panacea, nor a false dawn, but lies somewhere in between.
It can be assumed that projects are designed to produce relevant outcomes. However, it cannot be assumed that originally intended outcomes will necessarily remain relevant over time. This article explores the challenges to project management that stem from the possibility of relevance becoming eroded in the course of implementation. Relevance can become eroded when the environment of a project starts drifting. This may happen if, for example, customers change their preferences, competitors their strategies or corporate management their commitments. Alternative strategies for coping with drifting environments are discussed.