Lavagnon A. Ika, Amadou Diallo and Denis Thuillier
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the empirical relationship between project management (PM) efforts (the extent to which national project coordinators (NPCs) – the project…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the empirical relationship between project management (PM) efforts (the extent to which national project coordinators (NPCs) – the project managers in the aid industry sector – make use of available PM tools), project success, and success criteria.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by way of questionnaires delivered by mail to 600 recipients in 26 different countries in Africa.
Findings
The research results suggest that project success is insensitive to the level of project planning efforts but a significant correlation does exist between the use of monitoring and evaluation tools and project “profile,” a success criterion which is an early pointer of project long‐term impact.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to PM research by exploring the relationship between the use of PM tools and project success in the non‐traditional PM – although project oriented – aid industry sector. The paper highlights self‐perceptions of NPCs and should not be interpreted in other ways.
Practical implications
This paper highlights the importance of PM tools in practice. Further, it suggests that NPCs (who are in fact only involved in project execution) put a lot of effort into monitoring and evaluation. In so doing, they strive to ensure project performance and accountability throughout project lifecycle, and this contributes to project “profile.”
Originality/value
This is the first study that offers insights into the relationship between PM efforts and project success in the aid industry sector. The paper calls for further research on PM practices in the aid industry sector where projects remain important instruments for aid delivery.
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Lavagnon A. Ika, Amadou Diallo and Denis Thuillier
The purpose of this paper is to report on a PhD thesis that examined the empirical relationship between a specific set of critical success factors (CSFs), project success, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a PhD thesis that examined the empirical relationship between a specific set of critical success factors (CSFs), project success, and success dimensions (criteria) from the perspectives of World Bank project supervisors (task managers or task team leaders) and project managers (the national project coordinators). Also, the PhD thesis author's journey and motivation are explained.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by web questionnaires addressed to 1,421 World Bank task team leaders and paper‐based questionnaires delivered to 600 national project coordinators in 26 different countries in Africa. Principal component and confirmatory factor analyses, multiple correlation and regression analyses, as well as structural equation models were used for data analysis in this study.
Findings
First, research findings highlight a specific set of World Bank project CSFs (monitoring, coordination, design, training) and the existence of a second‐order latent CSF, that is World Bank project supervision. Second, they suggest that World Bank project supervision has differing significant influences on the two project success dimensions and that the first (project management (PM) success) does not significantly affect the second (deliverable success). Third, consistent with theory and practice, they suggest that the most prominent CSFs for both World Bank project supervisors and managers are design and monitoring. Fourth, they suggest that for the national project coordinators, project success is insensitive to the level of design efforts but a significant correlation does exist between monitoring efforts and project “profile”, a success dimension which is an early pointer of long‐term deliverable success (impact).
Originality/value
This study offers insights into the relationship between success factors and dimensions for ID projects with the perspectives of both the World Bank project supervisors and managers. The thesis calls for further research on PM in the ID industry sector.
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Monique Aubry, Brian Hobbs and Denis Thuillier
The purpose of this paper is to summarise a doctoral thesis that has been defended in 2007 and to share scientific results on a recent organisational phenomenon, the Project…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to summarise a doctoral thesis that has been defended in 2007 and to share scientific results on a recent organisational phenomenon, the Project Management Office (PMO), in a context where most of the literature is currently coming from consultants. The focus of this research bears on the PMO transformation process rather than on the description of their great variety. Results bring into question some established paradigms on PMOs.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological strategy is based upon a constructivist epistemology. Just as organisations are complex social entities, so too are the specific organisational project management structures that encompass PMOs. The methodological strategy is designed to understand such complexity. Results reported in the thesis are based upon a grounded theory approach where over 60 interviews from four large organisations were analysed to uncover the process of transformation of organisational project management.
Findings
There are two primary findings. First, a PMO should not be considered as an isolated island in the organisation, but rather as one part of an archipelago, defined as the organisational project management. Second, the organisation project management and specifically the PMO evolve continuously adapting to changes in their external or internal environment or as an answer to internal tensions.
Originality/value
From an academic perspective, the originality of this research rests primarily on its non‐positivist epistemology to the study of PMOs and particularly with the mobilisation of a social conceptual framework. From the professional perspective, it provides PMO managers with a fresh look at their own configuration and it gives them means to understand their evolution through their particular history. Being able to do this reflection, managers making decisions on structural dimensions are more critical of the advices from outsiders.
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Stephen Fox and Stefan Grösser
The purpose of this paper is to inform information and communication design (ICD) for multi-national projects through the presentation of an example that does not rely on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to inform information and communication design (ICD) for multi-national projects through the presentation of an example that does not rely on expensive expertise in graphic design.
Design/methodology/approach
Action research involving participants from five different sectors.
Findings
Successful ICD is not necessarily dependent upon costly graphic design of elaborate explanatory methods such as storyboards.
Research limitations/implications
The action research involved participants from only five differect sectors.
Practical implications
Economical ICD can facilitate development of understanding among multi-sector multi-national project participants.
Originality/value
The originality of this research note is that it addresses recent developments in ICD. The value of this research note is that an example is provided of application in a multi-sector multi-national project.
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Soo Yong Kim, Minh V. Nguyen and Tuyen T.N. Dao
This paper aims to propose a comprehensive framework for prioritizing complexity criteria. The framework was validated by applying in infrastructure international development (ID…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a comprehensive framework for prioritizing complexity criteria. The framework was validated by applying in infrastructure international development (ID) project as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review highlighted the limitations of existing complexity prioritization methods. Then, a combination of the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and fuzzy analytic network process (ANP) was employed as a foundation to develop a three-stage complexity prioritization framework. Focus group discussion and questionnaire surveys were used to practically test the framework in the infrastructure ID projects.
Findings
The three-stage complexity prioritization framework was validated to be reliable and feasible. The findings showed ability of consultants, scope uncertainties, site compensation and clearance, communication between stakeholders, administrative procedure and project duration were the most significant complexity criteria of ID projects in the Vietnamese context.
Practical implications
The framework is a robust tool that enables the researchers to grasp the interaction of complexity criteria for complexity prioritization. Later studies can apply the proposed framework, with some minor revisions, to assess the interaction of criteria in other research topics in, and beyond, project complexity. Results of the case study suggest project stakeholders focusing on complex interactions among criteria to reduce project complexity.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing a comprehensive complexity prioritization framework that grasps the interrelationship of complexity criteria. For stakeholders of ID projects, the findings provide insightful perspectives to understand complexity, which can help to enhance project performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to look at the emergence of “gated communities” in Ghana. It explores gated communities as a nexus of social and spatial relations within the context…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at the emergence of “gated communities” in Ghana. It explores gated communities as a nexus of social and spatial relations within the context of urban inequality. It is concerned with the phenomenon in which the rich now live in isolation behind barbed wires and gates, fearing for their lives and properties.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a sociological approach to the study. It does so initially by focusing on the social constitution of a gated community. The gate becomes a focal point of the analysis because by its function, it separates the residents from others. This spatial construction of gated communities does not only preserve the social stratification of class and demographic groups, it institutionalises this already extant stratification. The paper, therefore, uses social inequality and the status attainment theory as the basis of its work. Status processes play a part in the development of powerful inequalities, which shape the structure of groups and societies as well as, directly and indirectly, the opportunities of individuals (Berger et al., 1980).
Findings
The paper finds that although people feel safer behind gates, at the same time the fear of the outside world increases for them. Their desire to find a small area in which they feel secure, meanwhile, only expands the vast areas in which they feel insecure. It notes that security can be achieved only and much better, if the causes of insecurity, namely poverty and exclusion, are addressed.
Originality/value
The paper wades into the gated communities’ phenomenon. It contributes to the discussion in which social difference and inequality have become more marked features of urban society. Its relevance lies in the fact that it analyses this issue through a sociological perspective.
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This paper aims to look at how organisational partnerships balance knowledge exploration and exploitation in contexts that are rife with paradoxes. It draws on paradox theory to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at how organisational partnerships balance knowledge exploration and exploitation in contexts that are rife with paradoxes. It draws on paradox theory to examine the partnership’s response to the explore-exploit relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple interpretive case study was used to examine international partnerships in three African countries. These partnerships were between international (Northern-based) non-governmental organisations and local African non-governmental organisations.
Findings
The research finds that within the partnership, knowledge exploration and exploitation exist as a duality rather than a dualism. This is supported by the acceptance and confrontation of paradoxes of performing and belonging. However, macro-level paradoxes of organising linked to power, culture and epistemologies inhibit further effective confrontation of the explore-exploit paradox.
Practical implications
The findings can help managers working in international development organisations to understand how learning is enabled and constrained in partnership-based programmes.
Originality/value
The study provides a novel contribution to knowledge management by applying the paradox perspective to the explore-exploit relationship. This paper extends previous work by drawing on the levels and repertoires present in the paradox perspective to understand how knowledge exploration and exploitation can be mutually reinforcing and can exist as a duality.