Complexity Framework for the Project Management Curriculum

2021 ◽  
pp. 334-357
Author(s):  
Simon Cleveland ◽  
Cristelia Hinojosa
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Complexity ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Elective Courses ◽  
Elective Course ◽  
Core Project ◽  
Management Curriculum

Universities' core project management courses address the key principles and best practices of project management methodologies, while elective courses are utilized to introduce alternative project frameworks. The concept of project complexity can be taught to strengthen competency in project managers and enhance the success of the projects they manage. Previous instruction methods were evaluated to determine the key concepts that pertain to project complexity. This article proposes a preliminary framework for the development of an elective course on project complexity.

Complexity Framework for the Project Management Curriculum

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-54
Author(s):  
Simon Cleveland ◽  
Cristelia Hinojosa
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Complexity ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Elective Courses ◽  
Elective Course ◽  
Core Project ◽  
Management Curriculum

Universities' core project management courses address the key principles and best practices of project management methodologies, while elective courses are utilized to introduce alternative project frameworks. The concept of project complexity can be taught to strengthen competency in project managers and enhance the success of the projects they manage. Previous instruction methods were evaluated to determine the key concepts that pertain to project complexity. This article proposes a preliminary framework for the development of an elective course on project complexity.

scholarly journals Editorial

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverly Pasian ◽  
Shankar Sankaran
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Online Delivery ◽  
Actual Impact ◽  
Management Curriculum

The main purpose of this special issue is to provide a forum to explore how the possibility for online delivery of education was being embraced by the project management community. I was interested in the answers to several questions. How were online delivery opportunities being explored by project management educators? Was the design of the project management  curriculum being affected by the possibilities for online delivery? What was the actual impact of online delivery for the development of project managers’ skills and knowledge?

scholarly journals Using a Case Method Approach in an IT Project Management Curriculum: A Long Look over the Shoulder of a Practitioner at Work

10.28945/2655 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Jewels ◽  
Christine Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Case Method ◽  
It Project Management ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
It Project ◽  
Management Curriculum ◽  
Role Demands ◽  
Method Approach

Modern IT project managers require a range of multi-disciplinary skill-sets in order to increase the likelihood of project success. Delivery of a single course unit, which attempts to prepare students for the rigours demanded from this role, demands a delicate blend of topics from curricula administrators and a pedagogy that best suits its environmental constraints. The Faculty of Information Technology of one university is using an integrated case method approach in an attempt to link theoretical constructs of IT project management (ITPM) with a real-world, practical implementation example. An analysis of student post-unit feedback indicates a variation in understanding of what had been learnt, providing an opportunity to advance the teaching model.

scholarly journals Complexity and Project Management: A General Overview

Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
José R. San Cristóbal ◽  
Luis Carral ◽  
Emma Diaz ◽  
José A. Fraguela ◽  
Gregorio Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Goal Attainment ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Organization ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Project Outcomes ◽  
Project Complexity ◽  
Clear Identification

As projects have become more and more complex, there has been an increasing concern about the concept of project complexity. An understanding of project complexity and how it might be managed is of significant importance for project managers because of the differences associated with decision-making and goal attainment that are related to complexity. Complexity influences project planning and control; it can hinder the clear identification of goals and objectives, it can affect the selection of an appropriate project organization form, or it can even affect project outcomes. Identifying the different concepts associated to project complexity, its main factors and characteristics, the different types of project complexity, and the main project complexity models, can be of great support in assisting the global project management community. In this paper, we give a general overview of how complexity has been investigated by the project management community and propose several ideas to address this topic in the future.

scholarly journals Researching navigation of project complexity using action design research

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mogens Frank Mikkelsen ◽  
John Venable ◽  
Kirsi Aaltonen
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Design Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Action Design Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Project Complexity

PurposeProject complexity is becoming increasingly challenging for project managers. Much valuable research has been done on the concept of project complexity. The research reported in this paper aims to provide a new means (the “Complexity Navigation Window”) and guiding principles for the navigation of project complexity in practice.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applied action design research (a methodology for design science research) to design and evaluate the Complexity Navigation Window (CNW), which will serve as a representation of project complexity as a key component of the user interface for a decision support system (DSS) for managing project complexity.FindingsFormative evaluations of the CNW by 16 project management practitioners indicated that the artefact is relevant, comprehensible and heading in a promising direction to guide decision-making. The evaluation also highlighted project managers' difficulty in using the (conceptual) representation by itself to assess a project's current situation accurately, which in turn limits their ability to understand a project's current complexity and decide an appropriate course of strategy. A conceptual framework by itself is insufficient. This finding motivates further research to develop and evaluate a DSS that would partially automate the assessment process (by surveying stakeholders and automatically assessing and representing project complexity according to the CNW), which should aid in increasing the accuracy (and timeliness) of project complexity assessments and contribute to appropriate strategy formulation and timely revision.Practical implicationsThe formative evaluation of the CNW indicates relevance for practitioners and the further features of the DSS may still yield even higher perceived utility from the full artefact.Originality/valueThe paper provides improved understanding of practitioners' perceptions of project complexity and ability to assess it for a given project. The paper describes the design of a new visualisation for navigating and managing complexity. The paper further presents four strategies for managing project complexity. Finally, the paper also provides a methodological discussion on the potential of ADR in advancing project management research.

The reality of adherence to best practices for information system initiatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Marnewick
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
South African ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Middle Managers ◽  
General Assumption ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Standards ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Standards are written by practitioners for practitioners. It is therefore logical that project managers should comply with project management standards. Benefits management is a domain within programme management. The focus of benefits management is to deliver benefits of initiatives beyond the closure of a normal programme or project. This is not the case with projects within the information systems (IS) discipline, implying that IS programme and project managers are not adhering to standards. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the best practices associated with benefits management are applied to IS initiatives in order to maximise the benefits of these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach Senior and middle managers in South African organisations were interviewed to determine how benefits are managed within their various projects. The purpose of the interviews was to determine adherence to standards and especially benefits management and, second, to determine whether these organisations are achieving any benefits and ultimately value. Findings There is an overwhelming non-adherence to benefits management best practices within the IS discipline, and IS programme and project managers do not have the slightest idea how to perform benefits management. Irrespective of this, organisations do believe that they are receiving benefits and value from these IS projects. Research limitations/implications The research was only done in South Africa with the specific focus of IS. The results are thus very specific and opens the door for more comprehensive research that focusses on various industries, countries and standards. Practical implications The results have several implications ranging from how standards are written to the professionalism of IS programmes and project managers. Organisations are not achieving the optimal benefits from investments. The fact that organisations do realise benefits from a broken process, implies that more benefits can be realised when the entire benefits realisation process is followed. Governance controls should also be put in place to ensure that programme and project managers are adhering to standards. Originality/value Standards are dominating the project management discipline and there is a general assumption that programme and project managers are adhering these standards. This research queries the value of standards as the results indicate that there is limited adherence to standards and best practices.

Project management and entrepreneurship competences

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (55) ◽  
pp. 25-43
Author(s):  
Taavi Tamberg ◽  
Arvi Kuura ◽  
Reet Soosaar
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Competence Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural Progression ◽  
Competence Framework ◽  
Core Project ◽  
Linguistic Approach

AbstractCompetence frameworks are increasingly used in several practice fields and have been an object of research. A typical development trend has been encapsulation into a particular field, not considering the developments in related fields. Similarly, in research, learning from neighbouring disciplines has been rare. Yet, during the past decade, there have been several attempts at linking essentially related disciplines in practice, such as entrepreneurship and project management. This is a reaction to the trends in the labour market – a growing demand for people with diverse competences. In this context, converging different fields via competences deserves more attention. This paper compares the competences required for project managers and entrepreneurs; in addition, it explores the possibilities for mutual enrichment, contributing to further linking of project management and entrepreneurship conceptually. The cross-examination of competences for entrepreneurs (The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework or EntreComp) and for project managers (International Project Management Association's Individual Competence Baseline [IPMA-ICB]) reveals some quite significant, but also weak, correlations. The linguistic approach used has natural limitations, as different terms have been used to convey the same concepts. Thus, a relational linguistic analysis and conceptual analysis have also been applied. The main implication is the recommendation to integrate core project management competences into competence models for entrepreneurs. A natural progression of this work is to build a common competence model for entrepreneurs and project managers.

scholarly journals An Evaluation Of A Communication, Facilitation And Project Management Tool To Enhance The Effectiveness Of Project Execution

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Schalk Van der Merwe ◽  
Mark Bussin
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Viable Solution

Project managers are in desparate need of a tool to help them save time and bridge the gap between different interfaces which they use to document, present to the business and manage their projecs. Mindmanager x5 Pro appears to be a viable solution. But it is of utmost importance that before rolling out the solution in the business that the solution be evaluated in the specific environment. Mindmanager x5 Pro makes certain claims that must be confirmed. Furthermore the software will be evaluated against best practices criteria in the field of change communication, facilitation and project management.

scholarly journals CHANGES IN MANAGING PROJECTS DUE TO COVID-19 IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenka SMOLÍKOVÁ
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Project Teams ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – this paper investigates the changes in managing and leading the projects due to COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. Research methodology – a literature review, qualitative analysis based on conducted interviews with project managers in the Czech Republic. The main research objective is to obtain best practices and lessons learned from project managers in the IT sector. Findings – the findings are based on interviews with project managers and reflect the reality in the Czech Republic in the field of project management. It describes what the project teams and project managers had to face during the pandemic. Findings are derived from the research and presented at the end of the paper. Research limitations – the limitation of this paper is related to the research location, which was in the Czech Republic. The author suggests to extend the sample of data and include other countries in future investigations. Practical implications – findings provide recommendations for successful project management in the future projects. Originality and value – can be found in the recommendations for companies and lessons learned that can be used in managing new projects.

scholarly journals Incorporating the dimensions of sustainability into information systems projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 530-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Joseph ◽  
C Marnewick
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
The Social ◽  
Project Sustainability ◽  
Is Projects

Although research has been done on sustainability in project management, little or no research has been conducted on sustainability within the domain of information system (IS) projects. This article reports on whether IS projects are executed sustainably and whether they contribute to organisational sustainability. A questionnaire, completed by 650 IS project managers, was used to determine the state of IS project sustainability. The results highlight that sustainability is not integrated into IS projects and IS project managers do not consider organisational sustainability. IS projects tend to focus on the economic dimension, i.e. increasing productivity and profits, with no thought being given to the social and environmental dimensions. This article recommends that sustainability should be incorporated into project management and IS best practices. Accordingly, the way IS projects are executed should be re-evaluated in terms of their sustainability.

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