Exploring PMOs through community of practice theory

This article explores project management offices (PMOs) through community of practice theory. Preliminary results from a national health care case study are used to confirm the legitimacy of this approach. Today's knowledge‐based economy calls for mechanisms to share knowledge. The issue of making more with less is at stake in order to reuse good practices, support innovative practice, and prevent the reinvention of the wheel. Members of these communities are at the heart of the learning process. The originality of this research is that it sheds light on PMOs in a new theoretical perspective within the field of knowledge management.     

Learning Through Interactions: Improving Project Management Through Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are a possible mechanism for improving knowledge sharing among project managers, both within and between organizations. Based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, we theorize a model of participation intensity in communities of practice by project managers and explore the use of Web 2.0 technologies to increase this participation. Using structural equation modeling, we test the research model and find that the factors of reputation, enjoyment, and management support impact the participation intensity of project managers in communities of practice. However, we do not find support for the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on participation intensity. This study provides evidence that participation in communities of practice can result in individual benefits for the project manager, as well as in more far‐reaching organizational benefits.     

Project‐as‐practice: In search of project management research that matters

Research on projects is not only an immature field of research, but it is also insubstantial when it comes to understanding what occurs in projects. This article contributes to making project management research matter to the academic as well as to the practitioner by developing a project‐as‐practice approach, in alignment with the ongoing debate in social science research. The article outlines a framework and argues that there are two major challenges to the researcher and also suggests how these challenges can be met. Underlying notions of the practice approach are outlined to ensure a development of the project‐as‐practice approach that makes project management research matter!     

大力培育项目管理公司促进代建制的发展

政府投资项目实行代建制是对原有项目管理模式的一大改革,其目的在于转变政府职能,实现项目的专业化管理。然而现阶段国内的项目管理公司较少,管理水平较低,尚不能满足市场需求。因此,要使代建制得以顺利推行,必须大力培育项目管理公司,建立完善的项目管理市场。本文从代建制的含义及其主要方式入手,分析项目管理公司应具备的条件,提出了四种有效的培育途径,并对培育项目管理公司提出了几点建议。     

工程管理专业实践教学研究与改革探讨

实践教学是工程管理专业尤为重要的关键教学环节,是提高工程管理专业学生的综合能力和专业素质的重要手段和具体途径。本文工根据工程管理专业的培养目标及区域经济的发展需要,对工程管理专业目前实践教学环节的实际现状进行研究分析。根据工程管理专业实践教学存在的问题,提出了该专业实践教学改革的具体措施。     

Sneaking through the minefield of talent management: the notion of rhetorical obfuscation

In spite of the growing popularity of talent management in practice, there has been a distinct lack of theoretical attention paid by scholars to such a strategically important innovation. To address this shortfall, we conducted an in-depth case study of a multinational enterprise to examine and conceptualise the rhetorical underpinnings of its efforts in implementing a talent management programme. Based on our findings, we propose the notion of rhetorical obfuscation to conceptualise the intentional use of persuasive language to selectively project and communicate organisational agenda as a means of directing and reinforcing relevant stakeholders' commitments and conforming behaviours. In particular, we found that rhetorical obfuscation was used extensively in the case organisation to cover up inconsistency in practices and lack of legitimacy during the institutionalisation of talent management. Our contributions are threefold. Firstly, this study has provided a necessary theoretical grounding to conceptualise talent management. Secondly, by introducing the theory of rhetorical practice to human resource (HR) innovation research, our account has demonstrated the usefulness of rhetorical practice and created a launch pad for other HR researchers to build upon. Thirdly, by exploring the rhetorical underpinnings related to the adoption of talent management, we have added to the rich intellectual tradition of rhetorical practice by presenting the notion of rhetorical obfuscation.     

关于电力工程项目管理的实践与创新研究

电力工程作为国家的能源型工程,它的建设状况关系到国家乃至国民经济文化的发展和提高。电力工程的影响之大从根本上决定了电力工程的项目管理至关重要。本文主要探讨了电力工程项目管理的实践与创新。     

工程管理专业学生工程实践能力培养与强化途径研究

针对目前工程管理专业学生普遍存在实践能力缺乏的问题,建议合理设置工程管理专业基本课程体系,加强实践能力培养,提出综合培养学生实践能力的有效模式。     

Project management practice,generic or contextual: A reality check

The purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of project management practice by investigating the use of project management tools and techniques and the levels of support provided by organizations for their use. The study examines both general levels of use and variations among project types and contexts. Many aspects of project management practice are common to most projects in most contexts, while others vary significantly among different types of projects and among projects in different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to present empirical results that show both the common elements and the significant variations. The paper is based on a survey of 750 project management practitioners. The use of tools and techniques is seen here as an indicator of the realities of practice. The study found some aspects of practice to be common across all types of projects and all contexts, but on this background of similar patterns of practice, several statistically significant differences have also been identified. The primary focus of this paper is on these variations in practice.     

浅论我国工程项目管理的发展

文章在对国外先进的项目管理理念进行全面学习和分析的前提下,理清我国建设工程项目管理模式发展的脉络,找出其中的不足和缺陷,并及时解决存在的问题,最终找到适合我国国情发展的工程项目管理模式。     

现代项目管理在新校区建设中的应用

现代项目管理是一种新型的管理模式,本文分析了我国现代工程项目管理的发展、业主工程项目管理的现状.重点从业主的角度阐述了现代项目管理理论在某校新校区建设工程中的应用.     

浅议不同项目组织结构在电网设计项目中的应用

随着社会经济的发展,为了适应不断变化的内外部环境,项目管理在各行各业得到了广泛的研究和应用。文章以项目团队的组织结构为研究对象,理论结合实践,对常见的三类项目组织结构类型进行了分析和比较,同时结合当前电网设计项目管理中的问题,提出了如何根据电网项目的实际情况来选择和优化组织结构,为电网设计中如何选择项目团队的组织结构提供了一般性建议。     

水利施工企业的项目管理关键问题

我国许多建筑业施工企业和建设单位中开展了工程项目管理的试验,施工项目管理的理论水平和实践水平都有较大提高。本文对我国施工项目的管理误区进行了讨论。     

基于CDIO理念的“工程项目管理”之应用

CDIO是国际工程教育的创新模式,它是以培养学生专业素质、分析问题及解决问题的能力、团队协作能力及动手能力等综合能力为目标的教学理念。本文以CDIO理念为指导,结合所讲授的"工程项目管理"课程,对该课程教学改革进行探索。     

建筑工程电气施工项目化管理研究

本文旨在分析研究当前建筑工程中电气施工项目化管理的理论与实践,以促进整体建筑项目管理的科学化、规范化、精准化,有效提高投资效益,如期达到建设目标。指出了建筑工程项目化管理的必要性。     

A Bibliometric View on the Use of Contingency Theory in Project Management Research

Contingency theory has influenced organization theory since the 1950s. Project management research has only recently started to consider context factors. In this area, applications of contingency theory still represent a fragmented field with a nonuniform use of terminology. Fully utilizing the contingency theory approach requires a systematic foundation. This article presents an overview of contingency theory in both permanent and temporary organizations. In a bibliometric study based on 1,622 articles from four academic project management journals, we identify dominating authors, prevalent keywords, and different focal areas in project contingency theory as well as the most researched project types.     

浅论项目管理与建筑企业管理

随着建筑行业对项目管理工作的日益重视,个别建筑企业出现了重项目管理轻建筑企业管理。甚至有以项目管理取代企业管理的倾向。这一问题比较复杂,既涉及相关的理论,也影响着具体工作的实施,应该给予应有的重视。项目管理具有特定的适应范围,只有正确认识它在建筑中可以发挥效用的领域,才能保证项目管理工作健康地深入发展。     

电力建设工程项目质量管理与控制的研究

本文从电力建设工程项目质量管理与控制的含义和原理出发,对电建工程项目质量管理与控制系统的原则、机制、工程统计分析方法进行分析,通过理论和实际相合,研究电建工程项目质量管理与控制的有效可行途径。     

What project strategy really is: The fundamental building block in strategic project management

Strategic project management is gradually becoming a popular and growing trend within the discipline of project management. The general idea is that project management teams must learn how to deal with the business aspects of their projects, as well as better support their company's business strategy and sustainability, rather than just focus on meeting traditional time, budget, and performance goals. Although this approach has been gaining popularity, strategic project management has not yet become an explicit and widely used approach in the practice of project implementation. One of the concepts mentioned as an important element is project strategy; however, no universal framework or even a clear definition of what project strategy is has so far emerged. The goal of this article is to fill in this gap and provide a useful definition and a framework for the further study and implementation of the project strategy concept. Specifically, to achieve this goal, we first look at the origins of strategy in military and business research to discuss the question of what, exactly, project strategy is; we follow this discussion with an explicit definition of a project strategy. We then outline a framework for building a dedicated project strategy document for an individual project, and show how this framework can guide the project planning and execution processes. Using a case study approach, which included an action research phase, we demonstrate how project teams can adopt the strategy concept in a natural way that would lead their project to better business results.     

An Empirical Identification of Project Management Toolsets and a Comparison Among Project Types

This article presents the results of an empirical investigation of project management practice. Practice is investigated through the study of the extent of use of a large number of practices, tools, and techniques specific to project management. A sample of 2,339 practitioners participating in a large‐scale international survey is used for this article. The sample size and the diversity of contexts in which the respondents are working render the analysis feasible and the results reliable. The data is analyzed to identify patterns of practice. More specifically, using principal component analysis, the research identifies patterns that demonstrate that practitioners use project management tools and techniques in groups or “toolsets.” A brief attempt is made to compare results with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (PMI, 2008 ) Knowledge Areas and Process Groups. The article also shows how practice varies with the management of different types of projects: engineering and construction; business and financial services; information technology (IT) and telecommunications; and software development projects. The identification of these variations has important consequences for practice and for the study of practice.