Project management as a compass in complex decision making contexts (original) (raw)
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Project management: The task of holistic systems thinking
Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing, 2009
Large national and international mega-projects are often structured around a hierarchy of a number of interrelated projects and subprojects. This construction of a complicated and fragmented project organization forms a multiproject environment. The networked structure of a mega-project, such as in shipbuilding or in the offshore industry, with its significant amount of boundaries between subprojects, poses a demanding task for project management. The purpose of the method designed in this research is to assist a company's management in the process of forming a comprehensive view of projects in a multiproject environment. The holistic overview of the project is formed by looking at individual subprojects from a variety of qualitative angles. This article introduces a method for the collection and analysis of qualitative information from a project organization. The application used converts the results of the operative project-level analysis into explicit system-level information for management guidance purposes. The method of a new qualitative project analysis uses fuzzy logic and emulation. The conceptual part of this article discusses the theoretical framework behind the application. Next, the empirical results of the implementation of the new analysis method in a project-based enterprise are illustrated. Finally, an example of revised project guidance proposals is presented. C
Complexity in the Context of Systems Approach to Project Management
2014
Complexity is an inherent attribute of any project. The purpose of defining and documenting complexity is to have an early warning tool allowing a project team to focus on certain areas and aspects of the project in order to prevent and alleviate future risks and issues caused by this complexity. The main contribution of this paper is to present a systematic view of complexity in project management by identifying its key attributes and classifying complexity by these attributes. A "complexity taxonomy", based on a survey of the existing complexity literature, is developed and discussed including the product, project, and external environment dimensions. We show how complexity types are described through simple real life examples and business cases. Then we develop a framework (tool) for applying the notion of complexity as an early warning tool for a project manager in order to timely foresee future risks and problems. The paper is intended for researchers in complexity, p...
The project as a system. Inducing emergence of a system rather than designing a system
Acta Europeana Systemica
In this article we consider how the activity of design and manage a system withinthe conceptual framework of the classical systemics assumes validity of concepts and approaches based, for instance, on explicit and symbolic representations; completeness; explicit decisions; adoption of control, degrees of freedom, optimisation, regulation and planning. Complex systems instead require different approaches since they are combinations of functioning and emergence. The systemics of complexity is rather based onconcepts like coherence; incompleteness; induction; multiplicity of representations, levels of descriptions, and models; multiple systems; non-explicitness; non-invasiveness; non-prescribability; structural dynamics; and usage of degrees of freedom. This requires new competences and approach for the managerial activity in any field by using new appropriated knowledge and approaches in order to combine, i.e., allow multiple usages of design and emergence, to induce, keep and act on ...
Managing project complexity: how to cope with multiple dimensions of complex systems
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2020
PurposeThis study aimed to contribute to the field of project management (PM) by exploring the elements of project complexity and how individuals respond to such complexity. Multiple dimensions were examined, including technical, human and political dimensions, with a significant impact on project implementation.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth case study was conducted, focusing on the implementation of a Brazilian hospital. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and document analysis. Bridging the research gap involved unraveling the project complexity elements and how to manage them, more specifically in the hospital context.FindingsThe findings revealed that project complexity challenges managers to deal with uncertainties, emergencies and unexpected situations. It implies coping with multiple factors of technical, human and political dimensions. Divergent interests contributed to the formation of coalitions, triggering relevant indi...
Complex Project Management: Using Complexity and Volatility to Guide Hybrid Methodological Practices
2020
Organisations must adapt to their changing business environment to remain profitable, competitive and able to meet their strategic goals, with projects often the instruments used to do so. A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result” with project management (PM) “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” (Project Management Institute, 2013), usually combined in specific PM methodologies. With organisational problems of increasing complexity and volatility, there is a growing recognition that better PM methodologies should be developed to deal with these characteristics (Theocharis et al., 2015), and that PM should be seen as a form of complex problem solving (Ahern, Leavy, and Byrne, 2014).
Application of the systems approach to defining major projects for successful implementation
1995
Despite advances in project management techniques and greatly improved levels of experience in managing major projects, a significant number of these projects still experience serious problems during implementation resulting in unacceptable loss of functionality with related cost and schedule growth, and sometimes outright cancellation. Research has shown that major contributors to these problems are systematic and can be associated with project size, complexity, technical uncertainty, schedule duration and urgency, physical and social environment, and government and politics. Several authors advocate that the application of systems problem solving methods and techniques during project definition could resolve these systematic problems and should be used to augment traditional project management approaches.This research is concerned with bringing together two important models, one concerned with traditional project definition (the Morris Model) and the other concerned with systems e...
Complexity, Projects and Systems : Just Going Around in Circles?
2015
Project management and systems engineering share common roots dating back almost seventy years. Proponents of both disciplines trace management and systems features all the way back to the Manhattan Project, the US programme to develop the atom bomb. Following the end of the Second World War and throughout the Cold War, the race to develop new weapons technologies and improved space exploration capability resulted in the conception, elaboration and enactment of distinct management and systems practices.
8th International Research Network on Organizing by Projects Conference: Brighton, Inglaterra, 2007
Effective project management is a key factor for innovations in complex technology areas, in bringing together system capabilities to actually working systems and taking them to the customer. How then can innovative project management in this field be conceptualized, practiced and understood? These broad questions are the focus of this paper.
8th International Research Network on Organizing by Projects Conference: Brighton, Inglaterra, 2007
Effective project management is a key factor for innovations in complex technology areas, in bringing together system capabilities to actually working systems and taking them to the customer. How then can innovative project management in this field be conceptualized, practiced and understood? These broad questions are the focus of this paper.