1. |
- Söderlund, Jonas, 1971-, et al.
(author)
-
Changing times for digitalization: The multiple roles of temporal shifts in enabling organizational change : The multiple roles of temporal shifts to enable organizational change.
- 2021
-
In: Human Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 0018-7267 .- 1741-282X. ; 75:5, s. 871-902
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Shifting an organization’s temporal order can be a key mechanism for accomplishing organizational change, but it is also fundamentally problematic: instead of helping an organization accomplish change, it may simply reinforce an already failing course of action. Our current understanding of the roles that temporal shifts play in enabling organizational change is inconclusive in terms of when and how temporal shifts contribute to the success of organizational change. We exploit an in-depth case study of a new digitalized design approach implemented at Advanced Construction to demonstrate how a temporal shift can increase temporal awareness, among organizational members, of the salient and differing temporalities involved. In this case, the increased temporal awareness facilitated improved temporal coordination, which in turn figured prominently in making actual change possible. Our study identifies three complementary roles of change-inducing temporal shifts—namely, in connection with past experience, current activities, and future directions. Thus, we develop a deeper understanding of the relation between temporal shifts and organizational change, and offer a novel account of how the establishment of a temporal zone harbors those three roles of temporal shifts.
|
|
2. |
-
Bright and Dark Spots in Project Studies: Continuing Efforts to Advance Theory Development and Debate
- 2021. - 52
-
Editorial collection (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this special issue, we encouraged project scholars to be bold and construct their voices. We now reflect on the results, which include the bright spots in four areas: project organizing (organizing and collaborating in and between projects), project value (organizing value in and through projects), project citizenship (living in and through projects), and project scholarship (reflecting on project theorizing and scholarship). We then dared to voice our views on three dark spots: a lack of diversity in the project scholars ethnicities, geographies, and genders; in disciplines that extend beyond management and organization studies; and in modes of reflexivity.
|
|
3. |
- Fortin, Israel, et al.
(author)
-
So many projects, so little result: The self-perpetuating cycle of inter-institutional projects
- 2023
-
In: International Journal of Project Management. - : ELSEVIER SCI LTD. - 0263-7863 .- 1873-4634. ; 41:4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims to provide an explanation for the lack of implementation of innovation generated through publicly funded research. While previous scholars have categorized organizational cycles as either virtuous or vicious, cycles of inter-institutional projects can have simultaneous benefits for some organizations while causing drawbacks for others. Such a cycle was observed across inter-institutional projects in port logistics, where the primary objective was to implement innovation. During the investigation of ten projects, it became apparent that an excessive emphasis on certain practices at the expense of others, unintentionally resulted in delays in innovation implementation while collaborations continued to thrive. These practices led to a self-perpetuating cycle of inter-institutional projects that rarely resulted in implemented innovations. In contrast to the solutions proposed in existing literature to address organizational cycles, this study suggests that temporary hybridizing competing logics may be the root cause of cycles of inter-institutional projects.
|
|
4. |
- Geraldi, Joana, et al.
(author)
-
AI for Management and Organization Research: Examples and Reflections from Project Studies
- 2024
-
In: Project Management Journal. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 8756-9728 .- 1938-9507. ; 55:4, s. 339-351
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We reflect on AI's implications for management and organization research. Advanced language models like ChatGPT can analyze large datasets and generate human-like text, potentially disrupting academic research and knowledge production. While potentially helpful, the technology evokes concerns about, for example, inaccuracies and accountability, inadvertent plagiarism, and confidentiality breaches. We also reflect on potential systemic consequences such as the erosion of creativity, analytical thinking, and the human voice. Overall, our stance is cautious optimism. We require full disclosure regarding AI's role in research, and advocate for maintaining human oversight and critical engagement with AI to preserve the integrity and originality of academic work.
|
|
5. |
- Geraldi, Joana, et al.
(author)
-
Stepping into the Future of Project Studies: Establishing the PMJ College for Early Career Researchers in Project Studies
- 2024
-
In: Project Management Journal. - : SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC. - 8756-9728 .- 1938-9507. ; 55:3, s. 227-231
-
Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- With the support of the Project Management Institute (PMI), we are excited to launch the PMJ College, a global, cross-journal initiative to nurture future leading academics in project studies. The initiative is important now, as academia struggles to attract and retain talent, yet really needs academics. Society requires good projects and project management to survive and hence also a vibrant academic project ecology to extend knowledge and help project practice. The PMJ College aims to attract, retain, and help early career academics through a series of workshops and mentorship, fostering passionate and engaged scholarship. Applications are open, and its process is described in this editorial.
|
|
6. |
- Hedborg, Susanna
(author)
-
”It’s in the between” : Inter-Project Organising in Project Ecologies
- 2022
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The word project is used to describe everything from mundane tasks tomajor government-initiated structural changes. Projects are also thefocus of a growing research field that seeks to understand how society isorganised. On the back of this ‘projectification’, projects are becomingincreasingly entangled with each other, both in and betweenorganisations. This means that it is not only important to understandsingle projects, but also the interdependencies between projects in multiprojectcontexts. There is a call for a deeper understanding of multiprojectcontexts as interdependencies between projects can influenceproject work and outcomes widely, even though the interdependenciesare not visible in formal relationships. This thesis applies the concept ofproject ecologies to explore interdependencies that go beyond strategic orformal relationships. Inspired by a practice perspective, the purpose ofthis thesis is to increase the understanding of multi-project context,through investigating inter-project practices in project ecologies.In this thesis, urban development and construction projects are studied togain insight into inter-project practices in project ecologies. Spaceinterdependencies are multiple when parallel and sequential constructionprojects are carried out in a confined urban development district, and theactions of construction clients in this setting are studied using interviews,meeting observations and project documents. Routine dynamics are themain analytical framework, and the emergence of inter-project routines isused to study inter-project practices and how interdependencies becomerelationships through joint action.The findings show that construction clients commencing projects in anurban development district must apply both an intra- and inter-projectfocus. As project ecologies have low levels of formal management,construction clients must take actions to handle space interdependenciesbetween projects, i.e., actions patterned into routines between projects.These actions are not steered through principal-agent relationships, butstem from self-organising to a large extent. In project ecologies, the maincomplexities lie between projects, but benefits can be achieved if theactors can overcome issues relating to skewed power relationships, trust,and resource allocations. In the case of urban development, these benefitscan include the creation of new neighbourhoods and sustainability.The focus on the space between projects and on inter-project routinessuggests that the concept of project ecologies would benefit from an interprojectlayer running horizontally between projects. This layer, whencoupled with the routine dynamics framework, could help move theconcept of project ecologies beyond identifying actors, projects andorganisations in networks, to following the actions and actors’ practicesthat emerge in a project ecology.This thesis contributes to project studies by exploring organising that isboth inter-project and inter-organisational, moving beyond programmesand megaprojects as concepts explaining complex project organising.More specifically, it contributes to the literature on project ecologies byextending the understanding of organising in project ecologies throughexploring actions between projects. By using organisational routines tozoom-in on the actions between projects, the current definition of projectecologies as centred around a single project and firm is scrutinised.Moreover, this thesis contributes to the construction managementliterature by redirecting the focus away from contractual relationships toshowing how construction clients’ roles are influenced byinterdependencies between projects and by having to perform intra- andinter-project practices in parallel.
|
|
7. |
- Hetemi, Ermal, Senior Lecturer in Organisation and Leadership, et al.
(author)
-
Value Pathways in System Transformation Projects
- 2023
-
In: 9th International Megaprojects ‘Theory Meets Practice’ Workshop. - Sydney, Australia : https://project-leadership-eng.sydney.edu.au/megaprojects2023.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tackling the societal challenges we are facing requires collaboration among many actors with quite different backgrounds and interests. Indeed, these challenges call for systemic and cross-sector collaboration. However, such collaboration is associated with several problems, concerning the creation and distribution of value among the actors involved. We need a new way of thinking about how value should be created and distributed among the involved actors to be able to make the necessary system-wide shifts that are needed. This article presents findings from an in-depth field study of the High-Capacity Transport (HCT) project and focuses on the system-wide shift towards more sustainable models within the transportation sector in Sweden. The article highlights four pressing challenges that may negatively influence collaboration, search, ideation, and value creation processes, and identifies four corresponding value pathways for effective system transformation projects. It offers advice on how to maneuver through these four challenges in system transformation projects to produce socially valuable outcomes.
|
|
8. |
- Lenfle, Sylvain, et al.
(author)
-
Project-oriented agency and regeneration in socio-technical transition: Insights from the case of numerical weather prediction (1978-2015)
- 2022
-
In: Research Policy. - : ELSEVIER. - 0048-7333 .- 1873-7625. ; 51:3
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper analyzes the unfolding of socio-technical transition (STT) using the multi-level perspective (MLP) framework. It relies on an in-depth case study of the "quiet revolution" of numerical weather prediction. The study reveals how key actors targeted the reverse salient of data assimilation and thereby facilitated the transition toward a new "variational" regime. In so doing, the paper makes three contributions to the SIT literature: (1) it identifies a new type of transition pathway, "regeneration," in which the regime transforms itself from within, despite the lack of changes in landscape pressure, to overcome internal tensions; (2) it showcases "project-oriented agency" as the central mechanism of this transition, which allows the actors to join forces and cooperate to counteract the reverse salient; and (3) it proposes a process model of project-oriented agency that accounts for the role of the reverse salient in the regeneration pathway.
|
|
9. |
- Locatelli, Giorgio, et al.
(author)
-
A Manifesto for project management research
- 2023
-
In: European Management Review. - : WILEY PERIODICALS, INC. - 1740-4754 .- 1740-4762. ; 1, s. 3-17
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Project management research has evolved over the past five decades and is now a mature disciplinary field investigating phenomena of interest to academics, practitioners and policymakers. Studies of projects and project management practices are theoretically rich and scientifically rigorous. They are practically relevant and impactful when addressing the pursuit of operational, tactical and strategic advancements in the world of organisations. We want to broaden the conversation between project management scholars and other scholars from cognate disciplines, particularly business and management, in a true scholarship of integration and cross-fertilisation. This Manifesto invites the latter scholars to join efforts providing a foundation for further creative, theoretical and empirical contributions, including but not limited to tackling grand challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and global poverty. To this end, we identify five theses:Projects are often agents of change and hence fundamental to driving the innovation and change required to tackle grand challenges.Much project management research leverages and challenges theories across disciplines, including business, organisation and management studies, contributing to developing new theories, including those specific to projects and temporary organisations.Projects are useful units of analysis, project management research is ideal for scientific cross-fertilisation and project management scholars welcome academics from other communities to engage in fruitful conversations.As in many other fields of knowledge, the project management research community embraces diversity, welcoming researchers of different genders and various scientific and social backgrounds.Historically rooted in problem-solving and normative studies, project management research has become open to interpretative and emancipatory research, providing opportunities for other business, management and organisational scholars to advance their knowledge communities.
|
|
10. |
- Pantic-Dragisic, Svjetlana, 1985-, et al.
(author)
-
Swift transition and knowledge cycling: Key capabilities for successful technical and engineering consulting?
- 2020
-
In: Research Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-7333 .- 1873-7625. ; 49:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The organization of innovation labor is undergoing major changes in technology-based and engineering-intensive industries worldwide. Those changes reflect fluctuating market demands and increasing task uncertainty, and they are characterized by three related developments: externalization of the workforce, development of new types of employment relations, and greater use of technical consultants. These trends have led to the technical and engineering consulting (TEC) industry becoming a major player in the organization of innovation labor and thus also in the development and transfer of engineering knowledge. Determining what underlies the growth of this industry and the performance of TEC firms requires a better understanding of their nature and capabilities. Our paper builds on an in-depth case study—spanning multiple organizational levels and incorporating 50 interviews with a leading Scandinavian TEC firm's top managers, middle managers, consultant managers, individual consultants, and clients as well as field observations and diary studies. These data lead us to posit two central capabilities associated with innovation labor in technical and engineering consulting: swift transition and knowledge cycling. The interplay between these capabilities, each of which arises from interactions between the firm level and the individual level, seems crucial for the successful development, organization, and supply of innovation labor and engineering knowledge.
|
|