Project management improvement efforts—creating project management value by uniqueness or mainstream thinking?

This paper presents a research study that is part of the large international Project Management Institute (PMI)–sponsored research project the “Value of Project Management.” Three case studies have been conducted on Norwegian enterprises. This article focuses on how enterprises improve project management and presents the improvement efforts and the stated reasons behind them. There are striking similarities as to the prioritized ways the enterprises have chosen to make improvements: use of a rather standardized model for project work and internal schooling activities. The enterprises all explain their efforts as internally driven, even if some consultancy assistance was used. This article discusses three drivers behind the improvement efforts: an economic perspective, a new institutionalism perspective, and an innovation perspective. This article identifies indicators pointing to all drivers and helps us understand why and how enterprises are improving project management. The importance of research on the practice of the most capable enterprises within the project management field is acknowledged.     

Development of a project management model for a government research and development organization

This article presents the results of an undergraduate project to develop a project management model for integration into a government research and development (GR&D) organization. The project was divided into three main phases: literature review, creation and execution of an organizational culture survey, and the development of a project management model compatible with GR&D organizations. It was found that, although there are cultural gaps between the GR&D and project management cultures, it is possible to bridge these gaps by a combination of training, organizational structure, and the application of project management techniques blended to match the type of research project and fundamental cultural assumptions.     

A project management research framework integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors

The increasing projectification of the business world corresponds with a high diversity of theoretical perspectives used in project management research. This diversity is reflected by a variety of influencing factors, which have been the subject of empirical studies. This article aims to systemize the different streams of research on the basis of a literature review and at developing a research framework by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors. We elaborate on the crosslinks between the perspectives and identify fundamental elements of a project management theory. The framework consists of three dimensions: design, context, and goal. Its purpose is to support the combination of different perspectives and the development of strategies for further research.     

Project success as a topic in project management journals

This article highlights the characteristics of articles on project success published between 1986 and 2004 in the Project Management Journal (PMJ) and the International Journal of Project Management (IJPM). The analysis covers references, concepts like project management success, project success, success criteria, and success factors; features of the samples, data collection, and analysis techniques used; and professional disciplines. The results show that research on project success is characterized by diversity except in epistemological and methodological perspectives. The article suggests a shift to project, portfolio, and program success and concludes with a discussion on the traditional state of the research, criticizes its assumptions, and offers alternative metaphors and recommendations for future research.     

The Performance of a Project Life Cycle Methodology in Practice

In a deliberate attempt to shift the analytical focus away from critical examination of the underlying ideological assumptions of project management standards, this study focuses on the performativity of a specific project life cycle methodology. Through a case study, the article analyzes the effects and usages of the methodology in practice. This article proposes to think of project methodologies as fluid objects, creating shifting and adaptable relationships between methodology and practice.     

基于项目管理的软件产品研发管理研究

文章首先分析了常见的软件产品研发管理模式,并从项目管理的角度,针对当前软件项目管理中的薄弱环节,提出了“以项目目的为中心,以兴趣为导向,以制度规范为基石,以逆向三级目标管理方法为保障”,并且有效结合利用现有的先进项目管理工具与方法的软件产品研发项目管理模式。     

Contextualized Project Management Practice: A Cluster Analysis of Practices and Best Practices

The specificity of project management in different contexts and industries is recognized, but little empirical research encompasses a sufficiently broad range of contexts and project types to precisely identify these specificities. This article adopts such a wide perspective based on a large sample of data from an ongoing empirical investigation of project management practice. Contextual archetypes are identified (i.e., clusters of experienced practitioners that share similar organizational and project contexts). Archetypes of contextualized practice are then investigated through the study of the extent of use of empirically identified toolsets in each cluster. The results empirically confirm some well‐known assumptions about practice but also sharpen the knowledge and understanding of practice in real complex multidimensional contexts. A new concept of “performing‐maturity” emerged from the data. This concept sheds light on the entangled imbrications of maturity, competence, and success. Practices are regressed against performing‐maturity to reveal best contextualized practices.     

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!     

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.     

关于工程项目管理问题的几点思考

工程项目管理是工程项目的建设者运用系统的观点、理论、方法对工程项目的建设进行全过程和全方位的管理,实现工程项目资源的优化配置,打造全方位优质工程成果。本文对工程项目管理问题进行简要论述。     

战略项目管理——多项目管理的新阶段

文章从多项目管理的历史发展入手,在系统分析项目群管理、项目组合管理、项目化管理等概念和理论的基础上,提出了以职能管理和项目管理、战略管理体系与项目管理体系融合为思想背景的战略项目管理的概念,并对战略项目管理的特点进行了总结。     

浅谈工程项目管理中的合同管理问题及对策

合同管理是工程项目管理重要的组成内容,一旦合同管理出现严重的问题,很容易引发各种纠纷问题,不利于整体工程项目顺利建设开展。基于此文章以工程项目管理中的合同管理问题为研究对象,首先对工程项目合同管理应遵循的原则进行了简单的介绍,随后结合工程合同管理实际,分析探讨了其中存在的一些问题,最后结合这些问题,提出了一些针对性的应对解决策略,希望能够为相关研究提供一定的参考。     

Shared human capital in project management: A systematic review of the literature

From the viewpoint of project success, the importance of human capital in projects cannot be overemphasized. Despite this, previous studies have only explored some segments of human capital in projects (e.g., commitment or trust). The aim of this study is to gather studies on the concept of human capital in project management and create an aggregating concept of recent studies. We report and discuss the findings from a systematic review of the research literature. This article focuses particularly on shared human capital (common meanings on the interfaces of the individual and team), and we conclude that the constructive elements of shared human capital are values, tacit knowledge, and social support.     

Project management for new product development

This article examines the intersection of the project management body of knowledge with new product development (NPD). The area under examination is the development of consumer products that have a significant engineering production content. It is concluded that the project management method, with its structured task definition and software tools, is generally useful for managing NPD projects. However, in some areas, project management incompletely meets the needs of NPD. Specifically, NPD is characterized by complex interrelated activities and large uncertainties about precisely which solution path will be taken, such that the full scope of the project can often not be anticipated beforehand. The article identifies that more research is required to validate the stage‐gate and lean project management methods. Whereas cost is the primary focus in project management, with NPD there is a need to consider both cost and income (from product sales) in making strategic decisions. Communication and human resource management are important factors in NPD success, but existing project management perspectives have little to say about the social and behavioral aspects, such as organizational culture, team dynamics, and leadership styles, especially not for NPD. Current project management practices are very much based on “output control” (targets, appraisal, rewards, management by objectives), which the human resource management literature identifies as inhibiting innovation. There is also likely to exist an intersection, as yet poorly understood, between project management and knowledge management, particularly for innovation processes such as NPD. For practitioners, the main message is that the project management method provides a basic, but imperfect, tool for managing NPD. The relevance for researchers is that gaps have been identified in the project management method as it is currently applied to NPD. Several places are identified where further research is required to (a) better understand the causality between factors (e.g., human resource management) and project success and (b) adapt project management methods to better serve the NPD process.     

Contemporary knowledge and skill requirements in project management

This article provides an overview of some recent developments within the field of project management and presents metrics used to assess current trends within the discipline in order to identify its future direction. Graphical tools are introduced to measure the span and areas of emphasis within project management, such as radar diagrams and the recently introduced International Project Management Association (IPMA) “Eye of Competence.” The research shows that the discipline seems to focus increasingly on interpersonal competences, relationship management, resource management, and strategic alignment. The results are evaluated and discussed, and the article concludes with some ideas about the future development of project management.     

软件项目管理

给出了软件项目管理的定义，分析了在软件项目中经常会遇到的问题，并为项目经理提供了解决这些问题的参考方案。     

Understanding the value of project management: First steps on an international investigation in search of value

Organizations investing in project management need to be assured of a concrete return. Without the ability to clearly define its value, project management joins the long line of initiatives (i.e., TQM, information systems, training, human resources) struggling to prove their worth to organizations. However, demonstrating a concrete value in organizations has been illusive and even paradoxical. This paper describes the conceptual model underlying a major international research project designed to yield a broad perspective on the value of project management. This model and research design will be of interest to researchers, project managers, professional organizations, and senior executives.     

加强教研项目管理,不断深化教学改革

本文立足于我校在"十一五"期间出台的教改项目相关规定,产生的良好效果。通过介绍我校的三个有利于教学改革的机制充分阐述了加强教研项目管理,不断深化教学改革的必要性和紧迫性。     

从流程层面到组织层面的扩展:项目管理成熟度研究综述

本文将项目管理成熟度模型的研究分为三个阶段：流程层面的研究、项目层面的研究和组织层面的研究。分别对这三个层面的研究进行介绍，对一些重点的项目管理成熟度模型进行阐述，并对目前最新的基于组织的成熟度模型0PM3做一简单介绍，文章最后简述了国内项目管理成熟度研究的现状并对研究前景进行展望．