Showing papers on "Project stakeholder published in 2008"

Learning from Multi-Stakeholder Networks: Issue-Focussed Stakeholder Management

Abstract: From an analysis of the role of companies in multi-stakeholder networks and a critical review of stakeholder theory, it is argued that companies practise two different types of stakeholder management: they focus on their organization’s welfare (organization- focussed stakeholder management) or on an issue that affects their relationship with other societal groups and organizations (issue-focussed stakeholder management). These two approaches supplement each other. It is demonstrated that issue-focussed stakeholder management dominates in multi-stakeholder networks, because it enables corporations to address complex problems and challenges in cooperation with stakeholders. Since deliberation is the key to issue-focussed stakeholder management, it helps to cope with numerous and at times contradictory stakeholder demands and enhances the legitimacy of corporate activities.

Moral Discourse and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Abstract: This paper examines voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting as a form of moral discourse. It explores how alternative stakeholder perspectives lead to differing perceptions of the process and content of responsible reporting. We contrast traditional stakeholder theory, which views stakeholders as external parties having a social contract with corporations, with an emerging perspective, which views interaction among corporations and constituents as relational in nature. This moves the stakeholder from an external entity to one that is integral to corporate activity. We explore how these alternative stakeholder perspectives give rise to different normative demands for stakeholder engagement, managerial processes, and communication. We discuss models of CSR reporting and accountability: EMAS, the ISO 14000 series, SA8000, AA1000, the Global Reporting Initiative, and the Copenhagen Charter. We explore how these models relate to the stakeholder philosophies and find that they are largely consistent with the traditional atomistic view but fall far short of the demands for moral engagement prescribed by a relational stakeholder perspective. Adopting a relational view requires stakeholder engagement not only in prescribing reporting requirements, but also in discourse relating to core aspects of the corporation such as mission, values, and management systems. Habermas’ theory of communicative action provides guidelines for engaging stakeholders in this moral discourse.

Do project managers' leadership competencies contribute to project success?

Abstract: This article explores the following hypothesis: There is a statistically significant relationship between a project manager's leadership competencies and project success. Two proven questionnaires,...

The Handbook of Project-based Management: Leading Strategic Change in Organizations

Abstract: 1 Leading change through projects PART ONE: MANAGING THE CONTEXT 2 Projects for delivering beneficial change 3 Project success and strategy 4 The people involved PART TWO: MANAGING PERFORMANCE 5 Managing scope 6 Managing project organization 7 Managing quality 8 Managing cost 9 Managing time 10 Managing risk PART THREE: MANAGING THE PROCESS 11 The project process 12 Project start-up 13 Project execution and control 14 Project close-out PART FOUR: GOVERNANCE OF PROJECT-BASED MANAGEMENT 15 Project governance 16 Program and portfolio management 17 Developing organizational capability 18 Governance of the project-based organization 19 International projects 20 Epilogue Appendix A: Project definition report for the CRMO Rationalization Project Appendix B: Project control documents for the CRMO Rationalization Project

Managing for Stakeholders: Trade-Offs or Value Creation

Abstract: One of the central uses of stakeholder theory, in its original form, was as a counterpoint to the idea that corporations should be managed in the interests of shareholders. As the theory developed the debate was often framed in terms of "shareholders vs. stakeholders." While developing "theories of the firm" is an interesting and useful project, focusing solely on "theory of the firm" obscures a more important contribution of stakeholder theory. The purpose of this brief essay is to set forth what I consider to be the central insight of stakeholder theory: the jointness of stakeholder interests.

A comparative study of factors affecting the external stakeholder management process

Abstract: There is a natural tendency for stakeholder groups to try to influence the implementation of construction projects in line with their individual concerns and needs. This presents a challenge for construction project managers in analysing and managing these various concerns and needs in a stakeholder management process falling within the limits of the project. The aim of the research presented here was to show the factors affecting the stakeholder management process positively or negatively from the perspective of project implementation. A comparative study of two railway projects in Sweden was undertaken to analyse these factors. The study showed that the outcome of the stakeholder management process depended mainly upon how well the project managers presented the benefits and negative consequences brought on by the construction project. Techniques and tools exist for this purpose, but must be appropriate, and these are discussed in the context of the two projects. The challenge for project managers is to...

Practical approaches for engaging stakeholders: findings from the UK

Abstract: Principles for managing stakeholders are discussed in the context of UK construction practice. The number of stakeholders in a modern construction project can be large, presenting numerous interfaces that have to be managed. Meanwhile, each organization has its own characteristic disposition. Therefore, the interactions between diverse organizations in a project pose a high potential for conflicting stakes. Against this background, stakeholder management assumes high priority. Qualitative research was used to investigate the practice of stakeholder management with 12 UK companies in the construction sector. Interviews were held with these companies and content analysis was used to identify themes that demonstrate effective stakeholder management practice. Construct validity and a workshop underpinned the verification of underlying and frontline approaches for managing stakeholders. The underlying approaches include maintaining existing relationships, providing top‐level support and being proactive while t...

Project business as a research field

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce project business as a research field. The project business view in this paper puts focus on the management of firms and their businesses, and this way the paper complements the existing project‐centric view of the role of projects and their management in various business contexts.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a conceptual framework for project business and identify relevant research areas and themes. These research areas and themes are derived by using the knowledge and experience obtained from scientific project business research conducted in Finland since the early 1990s.Findings – This paper describes project business as a research field by introducing a project business framework and the four major research areas inherent in the framework: management of a project, management of a project‐based firm, management of a project network, and management of a business network. It also suggests specific research areas and themes within the ...

Building trust in project‐stakeholder relationships

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate how trust can be built in a relationship between a project and its stakeholders.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data are based on a qualitative case study with in‐depth interviews following a semi‐structured approach. A Norwegian project, the new opera house, is studied. This is a large public construction project, with a great deal of media and public attention by Norwegian society.Findings – The study results show that trust is built in a project‐stakeholder relationship by improving communication skills, behaving reliably, showing commitment, being sincere, benevolent and competent, obtaining and acting with integrity, working towards reaching project milestones and establishing common goals.Research limitations/implications – Future research should investigate other scenarios, types of projects, cultures and countries, so that these findings may be generalized.Practical implications – This research concludes that trust is important for ...

Editorial: stakeholder management in construction

Abstract: Interest in stakeholders has grown considerably since Freeman’s (1984) seminal work Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach was published. Over 100 papers concerning what has become termed 'stakeholder theory' were published by 1995 alone (Donaldson and Preston 1995, p.65), with many more published since. Increasingly, stakeholders have been referred to in mainstream media and government communications, not just in academic texts (Friedman and Miles 2002).

Motivation in Project Management: The Project Manager's Perspective:

Abstract: Project motivation is a key aspect to a successful project, yet few studies exist that shed light on this important subject. This article reviews the current literature and theoretical aspects of motivation and provides an analysis of the data. A survey was conducted by soliciting project managers to tell how they perceive their ability to influence motivation. In total, 115 certified project managers responded to the survey. A discussion and suggestions for future research follow the data.

Project strategy: strategy types and their contents in innovation projects

Abstract: Purpose – Previous literature on project strategy has adopted the narrow view that a project is to be conducted under the governance of a single strong sponsor or parent organization. The purpose of this study is to provide a critical analysis on prior project management (PM) literature addressing different context‐specific strategies of single projects.Design/methodology/approach – Literature analysis.Findings – There are two important determinants in the project's context that affect the strategy of a single project: a project's autonomy in its environment and the complexity of project's stakeholder environment. Based on these two determinants, we characterize four types of alternative positions that projects can have in their context: parent's subordinate and autonomous projects that occur in a stakeholder environment that is not complex, and projects with weak and autonomous positions in a complex stakeholder environment. The developed project strategy framework is applied in the context of innovation...

The role of technology in the project manager performance model

Abstract: Technology assumes importance in the context of project management due to greater challenges in today's technology-enabled work environment, where technology tools are routinely used for collaboration, communication, and deployment of project management practices. It is becoming common practice for even co-located project teams to use the electronic medium for these purposes. Notwithstanding the importance of technology, research has shown that it is difficult to associate the use of technology with business performance and the absence of such relation can be extrapolated to project performance as well. However, technology can play a major role in supporting project managers in managing projects effectively and efficiently. Several studies have addressed the importance and leadership style of project managers. However, specific roles and responsibilities of a project manager toward the project team is an area that needs further study. In this research effort, using the literature review, important people-related factors of project performance are identified. Then structured personal interviews were used to gather data for understanding relations among these factors in order to develop a project manager performance model. The model was developed employing the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methodology. The model was used to determine the role of the project manager in managing the project team and improving the project performance. Results show that both leadership and management roles are important. This study helped to analyze underlying interactions among these factors and, consequently, understand the supportive function of technology to the project manager in improving project performance.

Stakeholder management through empowerment: modelling project success

Abstract: Stakeholder management is part of the project management process and this ongoing research builds on previous studies in the field of relationship management in Hong Kong and Australia and presents a testable stakeholder management process model in which the concepts of empowerment, organizational culture, trust and commitment are used as a basis for exploring the process. This may appear somewhat paradoxical to the reader as project managers, traditionally, have been seen to attempt to mollify stakeholders while focusing their attention on the details of project management rather than to empower stakeholders to have a significant input to the project—empowerment being seen to encourage ‘interference’ from non‐specialists into the managers' domain. This change in attitude to stakeholders marks a culture change in the real estate and construction industry, brought about by an increased emphasis on relationship management. The research reported in this paper looks at the issues of stakeholder management via...

Top management involvement in project management: A cross country study of the software industry

Abstract: Purpose – Top management support is considered to be an area that has high impact on project success. However, previous studies have also stated that effective top management support practices may vary across industries. This paper focuses on top management support for projects executed in the software sector. The objective of this study is to identify those top management support processes that have the greatest impact on software development project success and to compare these critical processes with the actual type of support provided by organisations.Design/methodology/approach – About 17 top management support processes have been identified from the literature. Their effectiveness has been calculated according to their relative impact on project success. Data has been collected from 213 software development project managers and their supervisors in Japan, Israel and New Zealand. For each country, the impact of top management support processes on project success has been analysed to identify critical...

A qualitative re‐construction of project measurement criteria

Abstract: – Failure is encountered regularly within project‐based industries and there has been research for decades into this phenomenon. Much of it has considered the failure of projects in terms of the classic project progress issues such as time, cost and quality. Using cases from two major industries the authors aim to develop a different understanding of project measurement criteria. This work is part of a larger completed investigation into information systems and information technology (IS/IT) project management models, developed for industry comparisons., – During the study, the concept of project failure and success is investigated. The authors carry out a UK‐based, grounded study of two project‐based industries of differing maturity levels (construction and IS/IT) to investigate measures of project failure or success across the two industries., – The paper presents a reassessment of project measurement criteria. This is based on the separation of measures for project performance and project progress., – The adopted strategy of naturalistic inquiry has always been susceptible to the criticism that it relies too much on subjective interpretation of data. In addition, no clear relationship was established between the factors discussed and the criteria for measuring project success., – The paper discusses current differences in perception of what actually constitutes a failed or successful project. The paper highlights that often two different (but closely related) concepts, are being discussed by project stakeholders.

Project management for business, engineering, and technology : principles and practice

Abstract: Introduction Philosophy and Concepts: What Is Project Management? Systems Approach and Systems Engineering Systems Development Cycle:Systems Development Cycle and Project Conception Project and System Definition Systems and Procedures for Planning and Control: Planning Fundamentals Project Time Planning and Networks Advanced Network Analyses and Scheduling Cost Estimating and Budgeting Project Quality Management Managing Risks in Projects Project Execution and Control Project Evaluation, Communication, Implementation, and Closeout Organization Behavior: Project Organization Structure and Integration Project Roles, Responsibility, and Authority Managing Participation, Teamwork, and Conflict Project Management in the Corporate Context: The Management of Project Management Project Selection and Portfolio Management International Project Management.