How project managers can encourage and develop positive emotions in project teams

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Emil Berg ◽  
Jan Terje Karlsen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Engineering Industry ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Signature Strengths ◽  
Positive Meaning

Purpose – This study provides insight into how project managers can use leadership tools to encourage and develop positive emotions among the project team members toward greater overall project success. The purpose of this paper is to provide the engineering industry with a closer look at how positive emotions can create good team member relations, reduce stress, develop clearer roles, creativity and joy at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were obtained using in-depth interviews of three experienced project managers. Findings – The empirical data give insight as to how project managers can use their signature strengths. Additionally, the data also show how they can evolve and draw on positive meaning, positive emotions and positive relations. Various examples of positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths have been identified and discussed. Research limitations/implications – Future research should apply a more comprehensive research design, for example a survey using a larger sample, so that these findings may be generalized. Practical implications – The paper contributes to portray and analyze positive psychology in a project management setting. Additionally, the paper assists understanding the connections among positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths by presenting and discussing a model. Originality/value – This research extends current understanding of how project managers use their signature strengths to encourage and develop positive emotions in project teams.

IT outsourcing, knowledge transfer and project transition phases

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-246
Author(s):  
Cynthia Denise McGowan Poole
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Research Software ◽  
Purposeful Sampling ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Opening And Closing

Purpose The purpose of this research was to uncover perceptions of information technology outsourcing (ITO) project leaders and project teams regarding knowledge transfer between client and vendor partners during opening and closing transition phases of ITO projects. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative methods and exploratory case study design were used. Purposeful sampling was used to identify ITO knowledge assets including project team members and organizational documents and artifacts that may provide information regarding the knowledge transfer processes during the transition phases of the ITO project. Sample criteria were ITO project team members from one US-based client organization and the company’s international vendor partners. The study population included project managers, analyst, developers, subject matter experts (SMEs) and other ITO knowledge workers involved in the ITO project from one US-based organization. Interview and document analysis were done using of NVivo Pro 11® research software. Findings Four themes emerged from participant responses relative to the opening and closing phases of ITO projects including KT approaches to plans and processes; KT dependencies relative to IT project team member’s reliance on project tools, processes and artifacts; determinants of KT success or failure relative to project team members’ perceptions; and role of documentation relative to communication and distribution of KT outcomes. Originality/value This research may provide insights into additional aspects of knowledge transfer during ITO transition phases, which may be used by IT leaders and project teams to plan for successful knowledge transfer during the transition phases of ITO projects.

The impact of ethical leadership on project success: the mediating role of trust and knowledge sharing

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabeen Hussain Bhatti ◽  
Saifullah Khalid Kiyani ◽  
Scott B. Dust ◽  
Ramsha Zakariya
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members

PurposeAlthough the use of project teams is on the rise, there is a limited understanding of how project managers can ensure project team success. Research to date is relatively broad and does not pinpoint how and why leadership influences success in a project team context. Along these lines, we draw from social learning theory to illustrate that ethical leadership influences project success through leader trust and knowledge sharing.Design/methodology/approachWe collected data from 175 project team members from the information technology and software industry to evaluate our hypotheses. The results were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsOur findings support our hypotheses, illustrating that ethical leadership is related to leader trust and knowledge sharing, and that leader trust and knowledge sharing mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and project success.Research limitations/implicationsOur work illustrates that the behaviors inherent in ethical leadership may be particularly well-suited for these project team challenges. Ethical leaders help team members understand that project success is possible when team members are transparent with one another, discussing their goals and challenges, and then working together to ensure their actions are coordinated in a way that increases the success of the overall project.Practical implicationsFor those in industries or organizations where project teams are commonly used, our study may help to attract, select, and retain project managers that exhibit ethical leadership tendencies. Project managers are likely to be attracted to settings that align with their leadership style. Thus, organizations could focus on developing a culture that focuses on process over results.Originality/valueWe sought to align with the contingency approach to leadership, which suggests that the ideal leadership style depends on the followers, and the context in which the leader and followers interact. Specifically, we investigate ethical leadership as an ideal approach for project managers influencing members of their project teams. Our study demonstrates how ethical leadership is an ideal, context-specific approach that project managers can apply to increase the chances of project success.

A study of the influence of project managers’ signature strengths on project team resilience

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 247-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Terje Karlsen ◽  
Morten Emil Berg
Keyword(s):  
Character Strengths ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Signature Strengths ◽  
Team Resilience ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Cross Case Analysis

Purpose This paper aims to study the influence of project managers’ signature strengths on project team resilience. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a qualitative multiple case study design to explore the research question. Open-ended interviews, site visits, observations and documents were the data sources. The authors used character strengths and virtues within positive psychology as a theoretical framework in the data analysis. Findings The main finding of this study is that the project manager’s use of signature strengths influences the resilience of the project team. The cross-case analysis revealed four signature strengths – leadership, open-mindedness, persistence and hope – that influenced team resilience in all three studied cases. Research limitations/implications Future research should investigate other organizations, types of projects and countries so that the findings may be generalized. Practical implications This paper provides managers and teams with useful insights on signature strengths and team resilience. The findings stress the importance of managers being aware of their signature strengths and knowing how to use them. As the working situation today is often more complex, uncertain and difficult than ever, it is important to have resilient managers and teams. Originality/value This study contributes to increased knowledge on signature strengths and team resilience.

Leading the way: how project manager strengths can influence team resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Signature Strengths ◽  
Team Resilience ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The study takes empirical data from three case studies of projects that have faced setbacks to explore the impact of project manager signature strengths on team resilience and finds that four signature strengths, leadership, open-mindedness, persistence and hope, were present in project managers across all three case studies. Originality The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

scholarly journals Multi‐dimensional nature of service innovation

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1164-1192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renu Agarwal ◽  
Willem Selen
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
Telecommunications Industry ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Service Network ◽  
Content Type

PurposeInnovation in services is thought to be multi‐dimensional in nature, and in this context the purpose of this paper is to present and operationalise the concept of “elevated service offerings” (ESO) in collaborating service organisations. ESO stands for new or enhanced service offerings which can only be eventuated as a result of partnering, and which could not be delivered on individual organisational merit. ESO helps us expand our understanding of service innovation to include a service network or service system's dimension.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation model is specified and estimated based on constructs and relationships grounded in the literature, as well as self‐developed constructs, using empirical data from 449 respondents in an Australian telecommunications service provider (SP) and its partnering organisations.FindingsResults show that ESO is a multi‐dimensional construct which was operationalised and validated through an extensive literature review, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling using a holdout sample.Research limitations/implicationsQualitative and empirical data analysis was undertaken with data collected from a single large telecommunications SP organisation, and its partnering organisations. Future research may seek to collect data from the entire telecommunications industry sector and their partnering organisations, across other service sectors, or even any other organisation where collaboration is pivotal to their success.Practical implicationsService organisations today need to understand that innovation in services is not just about process or product innovation, or even performance and productivity improvements, but in fact includes organisational forms of innovation. Indeed, the interactions and complementarities between the three different aspects of ESO – strategic, productivity, and performance – highlight the increasing complex and multi‐dimensional character of innovation and the ongoing iterative process.Originality/valueThis research provides empirical evidence for the existence of a multi‐dimensional innovation in services construct – known as elevated service offerings in a collaborative service network, along with an adapted definition of service and a service innovation model.

Investigating the adoption of social media in the construction industry: empirical evidence from project teams in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guofeng Ma ◽  
Shan Jiang ◽  
Jianyao Jia
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Content Type

PurposeA lack of reliable and effective communication tools poses major barriers impeding the performance of construction projects consisting of diverse participants. Although some construction project teams (CPTs) begin to apply social media (SM) as an available approach for project management the entire mechanism of SM adoption in this specific context remains understudied. Therefore, this study aims to adopt a CPT's lens to investigate the critical antecedents and associated effects underlying SM adoption in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachBased on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) theory, a conceptual model was proposed and tested by empirical data collected from 159 CPTs in China. Structural equation modeling technique was employed for data analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrate that all the five extracted TOE-based antecedents including two technological factors (i.e. compatibility and expected cost), one organizational factor (i.e. top management support) and two environmental factors (i.e. project partner collaboration and project fit) are crucial to the adoption of SM in CPTs. Besides, SM acceptance is found to mediate the relationships between organizational and environmental factors and SM use. Moreover, SM use significantly predicts the communication effectiveness of CPTs.Research limitations/implicationsA questionnaire study based on cross-sectional data from China may only unveil the logic of SM adoption in the context of Chinese construction industry within a shorter time interval. It is recommended that future research could develop longitudinal studies among various construction practitioners in different countries to further specify and generalize the current findings.Originality/valueThis paper provides a comprehensive understanding of SM adoption in the construction industry by exploring the preadoption antecedents and postadoption effects from the perspective of project teams. The empirical findings advance the current web-based project management literature and afford new insights for construction practitioners into better managing SM application to reap its full capabilities in projects.

Managing projects as a mode of temporal ordering. Performative organising of time and temporality in projects

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannick Kalff
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Temporal Structures ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
Temporal Flow ◽  
Conceptual Nature ◽  
Temporal Ordering

Purpose Project studies analyse either managing practices or the temporal nature of project management, which leaves open a research gap: the temporality of managing practice. The paper demonstrates that performativity theory with a temporal perspective helps us to understand how managing a project organises limited temporal resources by aligning activities, deadlines or milestones to reach a goal in a given time.Design/methodology/approach The article utilises empirical data and grounded theory methodology. Ten interviews with project managers from two companies support empirically guided theory building and conceptual reasoning.Findings The article extends John Law's “modes of ordering” to a project-specific mode of temporal ordering. This mode of temporal ordering describes the underlying rationale of project managers who assign, order and materialise time to generate the temporal structure of the project.Research limitations/implications The conceptual nature of the paper and its limited empirical data restrict the generalisation of the findings. The article's goal is to initiate further research and to offer a set of tools for such research.Originality/value The contribution links managing practice and temporality in a performativity approach. This link focusses the actual actions of the managers and contextualises them in the temporal flow of the project. Managing projects as a mode of temporal ordering describes how project managers enact temporal structures and how they themselves and their activities are temporally embedded.

Developing a sustainable career through discourse: a qualitative study on a group of Italian project managers

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Lo Presti ◽  
Amelia Manuti ◽  
Assunta De Rosa ◽  
Angelo Elia
Keyword(s):  
Social Space ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Constructivist Perspective ◽  
Sustainability Theory

PurposeThe current study makes two main contributions: one theoretical and one methodological. First, it investigated the theoretical prepositions of career sustainability perspective, which appears particularly suitable for examining project managers' careers' dynamics and patterns, featured by explicit and recursive interactions between individual, temporal and contextual factors. Second, the study aimed to adopt a qualitative approach to this topic as to allow a deeper understanding of individual narratives about careers, highlighting underexplored issues and peculiarities that future research could further examine through quantitative methodologies.Design/methodology/approachProject managers' careers are still an under-researched topic, especially through qualitative methods. The study applied career sustainability theory to the realm of project management, moreover, adopting a socio-constructivist perspective. Participants were 50 Italian project managers who were involved through a narrative in-depth interview that focused on career and career success. Their answers were analyzed through thematic analysis of contents and diatextual analysis.FindingsResults showed that project managers' career could be a prototypical example of sustainable career, basically described in terms of four basic constitutive dimensions as follows: time frame, social space, agency and meaning. Implications for both future theoretical expansion of career sustainability theory and project managers' career management interventions were also discussed.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper could be found in the effort to adopt a socio-constructivist perspective to investigate the topic of career sustainability taking the exemplary case of project managers' career.

Charismatic leadership, change and innovation in an R&D organization

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 511-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Paulsen ◽  
Diana Maldonado ◽  
Victor J. Callan ◽  
Oluremi Ayoko
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Team Identity ◽  
Team Processes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Team Innovation ◽  
Cooperative Strategies ◽  
Sense Of Identity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the charismatic dimension of transformational leadership on team processes and innovative outcomes in research and development (R&D) teams.Design/methodology/approachData are collected by surveying 34 teams that totalled 178 participants. Surveys measured charismatic leadership style, team identity, cooperative strategies and team innovation.FindingsResults reveal the importance of managers assuming a charismatic style of leadership to encourage innovation. Charismatic leaders promote team innovation by supporting a sense of team identity and commitment, and encourage team members to cooperate through the expression of ideas and participation in decisions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in a single R&D organization and future research should explore the influence of these factors in other settings. The measures of team innovation are based on the perceptions of the team members, and future research needs to include a wider variety of data sources over time.Practical implicationsSuccessful team leaders who employ a more charismatic style facilitate more cooperative interactions in teams. Teams with a strong team identity combined with the exercise of cooperative behaviours are more innovative.Originality/valueThe preliminary model tested enhances the understanding of the importance of the leaders in influencing team processes and innovation. Leaders who are more transformational in style influence followers by affecting their sense of identity. This sense of identity influences how well teams adopt and follow more cooperative strategies to resolve issues and to make decisions. In turn, the model shows how these factors influence team innovation.

Colombia: innovation, trust and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Varón Sandoval ◽  
Mónica Bibiana González Calixto ◽  
María del Pilar Ramírez Salazar
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Awakening ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Collaborative Innovation ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to reflect on some actions carried out in Colombia, both at the governmental and organizational levels, that can be considered collaborative innovations and that have emerged within this pandemic context seeking to generate an increase in trust and the awakening of others’ emotions, as well as manifestations or expressions of trust and emotions by the population. Design/methodology/approach Through a qualitative descriptive study, innovation strategies applied by different sectors to address the current situation of preventive isolation are identified, with the subsequent identification of manifestations resulting from the execution of the strategies and analyzes of the implications in terms of emotions and confidence as research constructs. Findings Actions taken by the public administration, instead of generating trust and instilling positive emotions, have generated the opposite and there is evidence of greater acceptance of actions when they come from the general population through strategies that can be assimilated into the application of open collaborative innovation. Originality/value This study raises future research challenges, in addition to the practical implications that it may have in terms of the vision of the role of the state and citizens and the impact of administrative decisions regarding the generation of trust and the presence of positive emotions in a crisis context.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document