Showing papers by "Christophe Midler published in 1998"

Projects as Arenas for Renewal and Learning Processes

Abstract: There is a growing tendency to organize various aspects of business life by projects, and to set up temporary organizations in a competition where speed and adaptability becomes a major necessity. ...

Evolution of Project as Empirical Trend and Theoretical Focus

Abstract: Organising by projects appears to be on a definite increase in the world today. A growing number of persons are involved in project activities and the interest in project thinking is increasing too. There are only indirect measurements to substantiate this claim, however. One example of such an indicator is given by Jean-Pierre Boutinet who has counted bibliographic references to projects in the national French library to find that a substantial growth starting in 1960 has taken place (Boutinet 1996, p. 14). Another way of measuring this development is via the explosion of membership of professional organisations connected to projects worldwide. Project managers all over the world and across industries are united in professional organisations. To mention two, there are PMI (Project Management Institute) with a base in the US and IPMA (International Project Management Association) with a European dominance. These professional organisations have increased their membership considerably of late and they have annual conferences or congresses which in general thousands of people attend and where practical matters and experiences are discussed in efforts to learn from colleagues by comparison.

Évolution des modèles d'organisation et régulations économiques de la conception

Abstract: Depuis le debut des annees 1990, on assiste dans differents secteurs a des transformations parfois radicales des processus de conception de nouveaux produit : nouvelles organisations projet, methodologies d'ingenierie "concourante", reorganisation des services de recherche et developpement, transformation des filieres de sous-traitance, etc.... Leur enjeux est de concevoir plus vite et moins cher des produits innovants et de qualite. Sur des marches de plus en plus satures, dans un contexte mondial ou les competiteurs s'epient et se copient, c'est en effet dans la conception que l'on peut trouver l'innovation qui fera la difference si elle arrive la premiere sur le marche, ou qui creera la niche permettant d'echapper a la guerre des prix sur les produits banalises.

Project Management Learning: A Contingent Approach

Abstract: A convergent stream of research insists on the importance of adopting a contingent approach to project management, due to project characteristics and to specificities of social contexts. This chapter will focus on how such a result can be utilised in designing a project management learning program within a firm.

Emerging Convergences or Debates

Abstract: The foregoing text provides examples illustrating the variety of projects in terms of how they can be identified, what kinds of learning are involved, how the projects relate to transformations in permanent organisations, and how projects can be analysed as economic relations. In this chapter we claim that, in spite of the variety, certain themes of convergences and ongoing debates emerge. These themes concern the epistemology of projects, i.e. how each discernible project notion is related to a particular view of the world; the social contingency of project ideas and/or role that culture plays; the diffusion of learning project concepts; varieties of learning and economic relations in project work. The latter point sets a focus on the notions of boundaries or borderlines between projects and so-called permanent organisations. It is maintained that aspects of this temporary/permanent duality are at the top of the present agenda for researchers and practitioners alike.

Beyond Advanced Project Management: Renewing Engineering Practices and Organisations

Abstract: The new approaches to project management currently being deployed in companies radically alter the practices of the participants and the balance of power between them. The literature on this topic has concentrated on analysis of the role of the project manager, internal project management, or even overall management of a project portfolio. What are the consequences of this systematisation of concurrent engineering for the departments involved? How can project-based approaches be developed without undermining professional skills which are also key resources in the race to design innovative products? These issues are of fundamental importance in the transition currently under way. We discuss them in the present chapter through the case of a major French chemical corporation, where we study the reorganisation of engineering departments.