scholarly journals Lessons learnt on implementing project management in a functionally-only structured South African municipality

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
C. J. Brown ◽  
M. C. Botha
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Preparatory Phase ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
Problematic Situations

This paper reports on the most important lessons learnt from the implementation of project management in a South African district municipality. These lessons demonstrate how difficult it is to gain acceptance of project management in an organisation; more specifically when it has no previous exposure to integrative cross-functional structures and work methods. The paper aims to create awareness that organisations should not jump into project management precariously, but with a well developed project plan. This is done through the discussions of a dozen problematic situations that surfaced during the case, as well as the corrective actions that were taken. Some of these problems were indeed confirmations of the implementation team’s research during the preparatory phase of the implementation project. Although the implementation of project management was found to be not well researched, such research is highlighted were applicable. These problematic situations varied widely. The most important ones to address included inter alia, that the implementation should be a project in own right, a need for firm top management commitment, a strong resistance to change that was encountered, having to deal with the challenges to the de facto organisational culture, structure and systems, the need to establish security for clear career paths in project management, and the necessity for a sound and supportive change management process.

scholarly journals The importance of organizational climate for management development

1981 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
I. H. Nurick
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Climate ◽  
South African ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Management Development ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Management Style ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Training

The article records the opinions of nine South African managers in the personnel and training fields regarding the importance of organizational climate for management development, and relates these to some relevant theory. The author examines what management development is, why corporations invest in management development programmes, and who is responsible for this task. He then discusses the relationship between management development and organizational climate, and shows how a poorly implemented management development programme can adversely affect organizational climate. Factors considered include: top-management commitment, management style, attitude towards delegation, insecurity and resistance to change, counselling and coaching, profit orientation, organizational pressures, and incentive for development. The practical experience and opinions of the managers interviewed enhance and illustrate the points discussed.Die artikel gee 'n opsomming van die menings van nege Suid-Afrikaanse bestuurders in die personeel- en opleidingsgebiede aangaande die belangrikheid van organisasieklimaat in bestuursontwikkeling en bring dit in verband met toepaslike teorie. Die outeur ontleed bestuursontwikkeling, waarom maatskappye daarin bele, en wie vir hierdie taak verantwoordelik is. Hy bespreek daarna die verhouding tussen bestuursontwikkeling en organisasieklimaat en dui aan hoe 'n swak geimplementeerde bestuursontwikkelingsprogram organisasieklimaat nadelig kan beinvloed. Faktore wat oorweeg word, sluit in: ondersteuning van topbestuur vir die projek, bestuurstyl, houding teenoor delegasie, insekuriteit en weerstand teen verandering, voorligting en onderrig, winsorientasie, organisasiedruk en aansporing tot ontwikkeling. Die praktiese ervaring en menings van bestuurders met wie onderhoude gevoer is, belig en illustreer die punte wat bespreek word.

scholarly journals Barriers to ISO 9001 implementation in Moroccan organizations: Empirical study

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noussaiba Bounabri ◽  
Ahmed Amine El oumri ◽  
Elmadani Saad ◽  
Latifa Zerrouk ◽  
Amina Ibnlfassi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management System ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Iso 9001 ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Quality Initiatives ◽  
Organizational Resistance ◽  
Inhibiting Factors ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore obstacles to ISO 9001 quality management system implementation in Moroccan firms.Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey has been conducted among a heterogeneous sample of 115 organizations, operating in different sectors in Morocco. The authors have studied barriers to quality initiatives in general and obstacles to QMS implementation in particular through an extensive literature review. Questions related to profiles of respondents, reasons of seeking certification, external consultancy and barriers to ISO 9001 implementation experienced by surveyed organizations. For the purpose of this study, authors considered three categories of quality inhibiting factors: organizational, technical and costs related barriers.Findings: Results indicate that surveyed companies sought ISO 9001 certification mainly for marketing reasons and experienced many difficulties during the implementation process. Barriers reported by respondents were mostly organizational. Resistance to change headed the list according to participants’ opinion. Also, findings highlighted the prominence of bureaucracy and poor interdependence between departments in organizations. Lack of communication, poor top management commitment and insufficient trainings were also ascertained to be obstacles to QMS implementation in Morocco.Originality/value: Earlier studies were led by different researchers in different countries about barriers to quality initiatives in general and to ISO 9001 implementation in particular. Few of those studies were conducted in Arab speaking countries but no research has been carried in Morocco. This study on obstacles to QMS implementation in Morocco will help in completing the jigsaw of difficulties faced by organizations worldwide when preparing to ISO 9001 certification.

Assessing the Role of Knowledge Management in Adding Value: Moving Towards a Comprehensive Framework

2009 ◽  
Vol 08 (04) ◽  
pp. 275-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahmi Ibrahim ◽  
David Edgar ◽  
Vivien Reid
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Accurate Picture ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
Comprehensive Framework ◽  
Depth Interviews

Researchers and practitioners have emphasised the need for advances in knowledge management (KM) research to better understand how organisations add value from their KM practices. Thus, a comprehensive framework, rooted in two main theoretical streams of KM practices, objectivist and practice-based perspective, is proposed. We believe this explains how KM practices add value, and will assist organisations to obtain a more accurate picture of their KM practices, the factors that influence KM implementation, and how KM can be measured. The framework also serves as a means to identify how well KM practices meet organisational strategies. This paper begins with a review of different KM perspectives and then reports the findings of qualitative in-depth interviews with UK car manufacturers. The results indicate that most organisations adopt different types of KM practices, with the findings revealing that top management commitment, strategy, IT, people involvement and organisational culture were the factors that most influenced KM implementation. In conclusion, the paper advocates an integrated view of KM perspectives and mechanisms for KM practice in UK car manufacturing.

Factors Influencing Green Warehouse Practices in Malaysian Warehouse Industry: An Empirical Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Siti Norida Wahab ◽  
Nazura Mohamed Sayuti ◽  
Azimah Daud
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Development ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Industry Competition ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
The Government

The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of the factors influencing green warehouse practices (GWP) in the Malaysian warehouse industry. Both stakeholder theory (ST) and institutional theory (IT) act as the foundation in developing the theoretical framework. Six factors were identified resulted from preliminary data gathering and an extensive literature review for constructing the model. The sample size consists of 226 respondents with the acceptance rate of 89 per cent. The findings revealed that customer demand, owner support, employee involvement, top management commitment, industry competition, and governmental pressure are positively associated with GWP. Based on the findings, warehouse companies and relevant authorities in Malaysia should focus on the importance of GWP towards becoming more competitive in the global market. The study provides a theoretical gap by proposing a valuable implication to scholars and practitioners in promoting sustainable industrial development which aligns with the government national agenda.

scholarly journals What Prompts Small and Medium Enterprises to Implement CSR? A Qualitative Insight from an Emerging Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengming Zou ◽  
Yu Liu ◽  
Naveed Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Safdar Sial ◽  
Alina Badulescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Customer Behavior ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Depth Interviews

The topic of corporate social responsibility (henceforth referred to as CSR) has been a central topic during the last decade, but the majority of the existing literature discusses CSR relationship with large organizations. Whereas, its contribution in small and medium enterprises (henceforth referred to as SME) sector has received little attention. There have been some studies that focused on CSR activities in SME sector quantitatively in the context of developing economies like Pakistan, but the fact is, to date, SME sector of Pakistan is not participating actively in CSR-related activities due to some constraints. The present study is a pioneer attempt, to explore CSR barriers that restrict SME sector of Pakistan from practicing CSR initiatives. For this reason, the present study explores these barriers qualitatively in order to gain in-depth knowledge of different CSR barriers. In doing so, we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews from 9 SMEs in Lahore city of Pakistan. We performed thematic analysis, which produced five relevant themes of CSR barriers, including: Lack of resources, lack of regulations, lack of top management commitment, lack of CSR knowledge, and passive customer behavior. Our analysis further showed that lack of resources is the most related barrier that hinder SMEs to be engaged in CSR activities. This paper contributes to CSR literature in emerging economies’ context. Through an increased awareness of barriers, policy makers and practitioners may take necessary steps to improve CSR practices in SMEs.

Excellence in IT Project Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Michael Elliott ◽  
Ray Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Career Paths ◽  
Step Change ◽  
It Project Management ◽  
Technology Learning ◽  
Agile Methodology ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
It Project ◽  
Personal Skills ◽  
Silver Bullet

With almost thirty years since the start of our quest to find Fred Brooks' magical “Silver Bullet” to slay our productivity horrors, and twenty years since the first Standish report on IT project success and failures, are we getting closer? This paper discusses and challenges current thinking on process improvement initiates to provide answers of how we can significantly improve IT project productivity and consider that to achieve a step change in improvement requires a different approach. Recent Standish research has highlighted the Agile Methodology as being particularly successful for the smaller IT project. However, what specifically is creating this improvement? Is it the process itself or is there something that the process enables? The hypothesis presented is that in order to create the step change improvement in IT project management delivery, we need to significantly improve the inter-personal skills of the whole IT project management team. The revolution for improved productivity will stem from challenging the typical career paths of technology learning to provide a much greater focus on the softer skills.

scholarly journals Factors Influencing the Success of ERP System Implementation in the Public Sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Mohamed Bukamal ◽  
Rami Mohammad Abu Wadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Critical Success Factors ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
System Implementation ◽  
Erp System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment ◽  
High Level

<p>This study aims empirically to analyze the critical factors that impact the success of ERP system implementation in the public sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain and to clarify the benefits gained from the implementation. The study used a detailed questionnaire as a measuring instrument across the sample group to measure two main variables, the first being critical success factors (CSFs), and the second whether ERP implementation was successful or not. The CSFs are top management commitment and support, ERP system matching organization, business process re-engineering, vendor support, and training users.</p>Those factors found to have a significant impact on ERP system implementation and the results illuminate the high level of success in implementing ERP systems. While simultaneously demonstrating that an organization with a functioning ERP system does not achieve the desired benefits by default, but rather the organization requires certain Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to be present and in effect for those benefits to be achieved.

scholarly journals Knowledge Sharing in Ontario Colleges: The Way to Sustainable Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rania Mohy EL Din Nafea ◽  
Esra Kilicarslan Toplu
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Behavior ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Knowledge Repositories ◽  
Innovation In Education ◽  
Management Commitment ◽  
Top Management Commitment

This paper puts forward several principles that the authors believe are essential for quality education in Canadian colleges. The relationship between establishing communities of practice, creating knowledge repositories, encouraging top management commitment to knowledge sharing and establishing a comprehensive reward system are examined in relation to innovation in education. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4 of the UN postulates quality education among its top initiatives.The question that arises is how do we ensure that SDG #4 is implemented in higher education institutions? Accordingly, data was collected through observation of faculty and staff from the 2017 Ontario Colleges strike. Although a strong corporate culture exists in Ontario colleges, the system continues to struggle with explicit top management principles that support knowledge sharing across different disciplines. Inter and intra departmental forums including students are non-existent. Knowledge repositories, that staff, faculty and students can tap into are lacking. A greater conversation with stakeholders is imperative to weave all the threads of organizational behavior practices together to nurture future global citizens. Only then can we achieve sustainable quality education.

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