Karen Smits and Alfons van Marrewijk
The purpose of this paper is to examine how project partners respond to contractually agreed collaboration in an infrastructural megaproject. Problematic performances of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how project partners respond to contractually agreed collaboration in an infrastructural megaproject. Problematic performances of megaprojects have shifted away attention from the instrumental towards the interpretative, focusing on daily work life, practices, power, ambiguity and sense making in project organizations. Such an interpretative perspective helps to better understand practices of collaboration in complex mega projects, which the authors studied in the Panama Canal Expansion Program (PCEP).
Design/methodology/approach
Given the focus on daily work life, the authors chose an in‐depth single case study. Practices of collaboration have been studied during a one‐year ethnographic fieldwork period in Panama, in which the daily work life of project participants was intensely observed.
Findings
First, it was found that practices of collaboration in complex projects change in periods of conflict. In these periods actors are forced to reflect upon their practices and to negotiate about new practices. Second, the authors identified collaborative practices in which a consultancy firm teaches their client and supervises its appropriate behavior. The authors have labeled these as chaperoning.
Practical implications
This study illustrates that when innovation in contracts requires an innovative relationship between project partners, specific attention to this innovation and the related practices of collaboration enhances the collaborative relationship among partners, which can prevent cost overruns and delays.
Originality/value
Ethnographic fieldwork has not been used frequently to study project management practices. The paper builds upon a one‐year ethnographic fieldwork period to study practices in the daily work life of the project participants from “within”.
Details
Keywords
Markus Hällgren and Marcus Lindahl
The purpose of this editorial is to reflect on the growing interest of situated project research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this editorial is to reflect on the growing interest of situated project research.
Design/methodology/approach
The editorial is conceptual and relies on published work and the articles included in the special issue.
Findings
With this special issue it is found that practice‐based studies, also called Projects‐as‐Practice studies, interested in the everyday activities of project practitioners, are multi‐faceted and rich. What may also be seen is that practice‐based studies are not yet a coherent area. However, it is more important that practice‐based studies allow researchers to understand the organization less as an entity and more as a socially‐accomplished task.
Research limitations/implications
Several implications for research are offered, including the need for studies that emphasize the small details of organizing, and that practice‐based studies are not restricted to a certain methodology but depend on what a particular paper tries to accomplish.
Practical implications
With an ever‐growing stream of research focusing on projects the guest editors argue that it is about time to look into the details of organizing. This could be accomplished through a number of ways but in this special issue it is proposed that approaching traditional areas with a conscious naivety when asking the questions may do it. For the practitioner, the special issue offers important insights into how things are done in practice, which may be used as a mirror or reflection upon their own practice.
Originality/value
This editorial and special issue offer insights for any academic interested in understanding projects differently.
Details
Keywords
Damian Hodgson and Svetlana Cicmil
The purpose of this paper is to review the formation and evolution of the “Making Projects Critical” movement in project management research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the formation and evolution of the “Making Projects Critical” movement in project management research.
Design/methodology/approach
Retrospective and discursive paper.
Findings
Reflections on tensions and challenges faced by the MPC movement.
Originality/value
The paper establishes the historical trajectory of this movement and clarifies the tensions and challenges faced by MPC.
Details
Keywords
Stanley J. Smits, Dawn Bowden, Judith A. Falconer and Dale C. Strasser
– This paper aims to present a two-decade effort to improve team functioning and patient outcomes in inpatient stroke rehabilitation settings.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a two-decade effort to improve team functioning and patient outcomes in inpatient stroke rehabilitation settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The principal improvement effort was conducted over a nine-year period in 50 Veterans Administration Hospitals in the USA. A comprehensive team-based model was developed and tested in a series of empirical studies. A leadership development intervention was used to improve team functioning, and a follow-up cluster-randomized trial documented patient outcome improvements associated with the leadership training.
Findings
Iterative team and leadership improvements are presented in summary form, and a set of practice-proven development observations are derived from the results. Details are also provided on the leadership training intervention that improved teamwork processes and resulted in improvements in patient outcomes that could be linked to the intervention itself.
Research limitations/implications
The practice-proven development observations are connected to leadership development theory and applied in the form of suggestions to improve leadership development and teamwork in a broad array of medical treatment settings.
Practical implications
This paper includes suggestions for leadership improvement in medical treatment settings using interdisciplinary teams to meet the customized needs of the patient populations they serve.
Originality/value
The success of the team effectiveness model and the team-functioning domains provides a framework and best practice for other health care organizations seeking to improve teamwork effectiveness.
Details
Keywords
Hinadi Akbar and Mohammad Anas
This study aims to examine the influence of the talent management (TM) process on employee ambidexterity (EA) and the moderating role of learning organizations in Indian IT and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of the talent management (TM) process on employee ambidexterity (EA) and the moderating role of learning organizations in Indian IT and ITes organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is descriptive and based on empirical data from 390 IT and ITES employees from India. Data were collected using three valid and reliable questionnaires. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The findings show that the TM process significantly impacted EA. The moderating effects of the four dimensions of learning organization (LO) on the relationship between the TM process and EA were also noteworthy, even though no direct association was found to be significant. Regarding demographic variables, male and female employees do not vary considerably in their perception of TM process and EA in LO.
Originality/value
The study’s novelty lies in creating and discussing a synthesis of exploration and exploitation stemming from EA in learning organization.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the success of the 50 EURO STOXX companies as measured by the earnings before taxes (EBT) and the percentage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the success of the 50 EURO STOXX companies as measured by the earnings before taxes (EBT) and the percentage of female members on their supervisory boards.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on data extracted from the annual reports of the 50 EURO STOXX companies in 2015 and from financial websites.
Findings
The paper provides the existence of a weak correlation between companies’ performance as measured by EBT and the percentage of women on supervisory boards.
Research limitations/implications
This study has two main limitations: first, a single key performance indicator was used to measure firms’ success; and second, the study offers insights related only to the year 2015. The analysis could be extended over a larger time span while some other variables could be considered in a more holistic approach.
Practical implications
The paper raises awareness that there is much to be done with regard to the presence of women on boards, and readers, investors and business owners gain an insight on the business environment and women active on European corporate boards.
Originality/value
By concentrating on the companies of the EURO STOXX 50 Index, the study offers a good image of the European business environment.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to empirically test the variation in household assets and the incidence of child labour using data from Ethiopia.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to empirically test the variation in household assets and the incidence of child labour using data from Ethiopia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was cross-sectional in design and used a sample of 3,500 observations (children aged 5–17 years) collected from 2,231 households in the rural and urban areas of Amhara and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' regions in Ethiopia. The logistic regression model was used to estimate the extent to which predictor variables are associated with the incidence of child labour.
Findings
The results indicate statistically significant child labour participation by those households who own assets than those who do not. The findings suggest that parents who own assets such as land, livestock and other endowments are likely to employ children in labour than the opposite, i.e. child labour increases with household asset ownership. However, this study did not investigate child labour response to wealth increment at the individual household level.
Practical implications
Any initiative to reduce child labour needs to be accompanied by parental awareness and compulsory schooling as one of the key policy tools.
Originality/value
This is one of those studies that question the poverty assumption as a cause of child labour and suggests parental selfishness playing a role in accentuating child labour.
Justice Mensah, Benjamin Yaw Tachie and Harriet M.D. Potakey
The sixth of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has access to improved sanitation as one of its targets. Sanitation is important not only for environmental quality…
Abstract
Purpose
The sixth of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has access to improved sanitation as one of its targets. Sanitation is important not only for environmental quality and public health but also for the outstanding universal value (OUV) of heritage monument sites and tourism promotion. The study examined the causes of open defecation (OD) in the neighbourhood of a World Heritage (WH) site in Ghana and the implications of the practice for sustainable tourism and heritage management.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the qualitative approach. Data were gathered from purposively targeted respondents (an Environmental Health Officer, Heritage Managers, a Tourism Expert, Hoteliers, Zoomlion Staff, Open Defecators, Community Opinion Leaders and Ordinary Community Residents) and analysed using the thematic approach.
Findings
It became evident that the causes of OD were: the lack of toilet facilities in many houses in the community, filthy and foul-smelling public latrines, poor attitude and heritage culture, mental and income poverty, inadequate sensitisation and a poor law enforcement regime. OD threatened the sustainability of heritage tourism and its associated livelihoods, as well as public health. In addition, it impaired the authenticity and integrity of the heritage monument, culminating in a detraction from the OUV of the heritage property.
Practical implications
In collaboration with the local, national and international stakeholders, the managers of the heritage monument should design and implement a comprehensive environmentally friendly plan. The plan should consider demarcating the boundaries of the heritage asset, monitoring the protected area, enforcing sanitation laws and mounting intensive sanitation education campaigns. It should also consider providing a decent toilet in the vicinity of the monument for the transit population, facilitate the provision of a toilet in every house through the community-led total sanitation approach, installing digital cameras at vantage points in the buffer zone of the castle to capture open defecators and punishing offenders severely to deter others from engaging in the ignoble practice of OD.
Originality/value
The authors argue that sanitation at heritage sites in developing countries merits further discussion within the WH network to promote sustainable heritage conservation management and tourism.