工程管理外文文献样本文档格式.docx

工程管理外文文献样本文档格式.docx

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whatmanagementenacts

Abstract

Althoughcompaniesmanageprojectportfoliosconcordantlywithprojectportfoliotheory，theymayexperienceproblemsintheformofdelayedprojects，resourcestruggles，stress，andalackofoverview.Basedonaresearchprojectcompromisedof128in-depthinterviewsin30companies，weproposethatakeyreasonwhycompaniesdonotdowellinrelationtoprojectportfoliomanagement（PPM）isthatPPMoftenonlycoversasubsetofon-goingprojects，whileprojectsthatarenotsubjecttoPPMtieupresourcesthatinitiallywerededicatedtoPPMprojects.WeaddressanddiscussthedilemmaofwantingtoincludeallprojectsinPPM，andaimingatkeepingtheresourceandcognitiveburdenofdoingPPMatareasonablelevel.

Keywords：

Managingprogrammes，Managingprojects，Organisationresources，Strategy

1.Introduction

Atanygivenpointintime，mostcompaniesengageinmanyprojects.Someoftheseprojectsmayrelatetoproductdevelopmentandmarketing，othersrelatetochangesinworkprocessesandproductionflows，whileyetothersrelatetocompetencydevelopment，strategicturns，theimplementationofnewITsystems，environmentalissuesetc.

Akeymanagerialtaskistodedicateresourcesacrossalloftheseprojects（aswellasdodailywork）andconsequently,managementacrossprojects（projectportfoliomanagement（PPM））iscriticaltocompanyperformance.Thispaperisbasedonalarge-scalequalitativestudy,whichshowsthatmanyproject-orientedcompaniesdonotperformwellwhenitcomestoPPM.Thisrelatestotheinabilitytoaccomplishprojectsthatareinitiated.Inparticular，weidentifythefollowingproblems：

（1）Projectsarenotcompletedaccordingtoplan（ortheyevenpeteroutduringtheirprojectlifecycle）;

（2）Managementandemployeesfeeltheylackabroadoverviewofon-goingprojects（especiallywhenthenumberofon-goingprojectsincreasesasmoreandmoreprojectsarenotcompletedaccordingtoplan）；

（3）Peopleexperiencestressasresourcesarecontinuouslyreallocatedacrossprojectsinordertomakeendsmeet.

Theseobservationsareespeciallyinterestingbecausethecompanieswereincludedintheresearchprojectbecausetheyweresupposedtobeespecially,experiencedinPPM，andbecausetheyactuallyengageinPPMaccordingtotheextantbodyofliteratureonPPM.Forexample，partofthecompanies’PPMincludedanefforttopickthebestprojectsonthebasisofexplicitorimplicitcriteria，andanefforttoallocatesufficientresourcestotheseprojects.

However，despiteefforts,topractice‘good’PPM，thesecompaniesexperiencesevereproblemsinrelationtoPPM–especiallyinlettingenoughresourcesgointothe‘right’projects.ThepurposeofthispaperistoconfrontPPMasadvocatedbynormativetheorieswithactualPPMpractices.Hence，thepurposeistoconfrontPPMtheorieswithPPMasperceivedbymanagersandotheremployeesforwhomPPMispartof，oraffects，theirworkconditions.

However，inthispaper，wearemoreinterestedinPPMasenactedbycompaniesthaninuniversallytrueperceptions.Hence，weadheretoWeick’s[1–3]notionofenactmentasthepreconceptionsthatareusedtosetasideaportionofthefieldofexperienceforfurtherattention.InregardtoPPM，enactedprojectsarethustheonesmanagementsetsasideforfurtherattention（i.e.PPM）.Assuch，wefocusespeciallyonwaysactorsdefineorenactprojects[4]andmakesenseofhowtomanagethesumoftheprojects.Drawingonthisperspective，weaccountforfindingsthatsuggestwhycompaniesthatdoengageinPPMstillexperienceproblems.

2.Projectportfoliotheory

ThispaperdrawsonArcherandGhasemzadeh’s[5，p.208]definitionofprojectportfoliosas‘‘agroupofprojectsthatarecarriedoutunderthesponsorshipand/ormanagementofaparticularorganization’’.Henceforth，wedefinePPMasthemanagerialactivitiesthatrelateto

（1）theinitialscreening，selectionandprioritisationofprojectproposals,

（2）theconcurrentreprioritisationofprojectsintheportfolio,

（3）theallocationandreallocationofresourcestoprojectsaccordingtopriority.

Forquitesometimeresearchershavesuggestedthatlowcompletionratesfornewproductdevelopment（NPD）projectsandnewproductfailurerelatetoresourcedeficienciesinkeyareas[6,7].Furthermore，whileahostofresearchers[8–10]havefocusedonthedimensionofPPMthatconcernsprocessesrelatingtoselectionofprojectstobeincludedintheportfolio，researche.g.[11]alsoincreasinglyfocusesontheday-todaymanagementoftheprojectportfolio.

3.Methodology

Overaperiodoftwoyears，wedidempiricalresearchonhowcompaniesmanagetheirentirerangeofprojects，e.g.renewalprojects，strategicprojects，ITprojects，departmentallyspecificprojects，andproductionbasedprojects.Inrelationtotheselectionofcompaniestobeincludedintheempiricalstudy，akeycriterionwasthatthestudyshouldcoverawidevarietyofindustries.Asaresult，theempiricalstudycovers30companiesfromindustriesasdiverseas，e.g.mobiletelephonecommunications，finances，energy，pharmaceuticals，toys，software，andfoods.

However，duetothefactthatwewerelookingforcompanies，wheretheamountofon-goingprojectssuggestedtheywereengagedinPPM，thestudyisbiasedtowardslargercompaniesaswellascompaniesthatdefineatleastasubstantialpartoftheiractivitiesasprojects.Thedegreetowhichthecompaniesparticipatedinthestudyvaries.Hence，halfofthecompaniesarelabelled‘innercircle’companiesduetothefactthatwedrewextensivelyonthese15companies.Forexample，inthesecompaniesmoreinterviewswereconductedatvariouspointsintimeandatvariousorganizationallevels.Hence，alongitudinalperspectivecharacterizestheinvolvementofthesecompanies.

Theremaininghalfofthecompaniesarelabelled‘outercircle’companiesbecausetheirparticipationinthestudyhasincludedfewertop-managementinterviews，thepurposeofwhichwastogaininsightintowaysinwhich（top）managementdefinesthecontentoftheirprojectportfoliosandmanagesthem.

4.Managerialimplications

Akeyfindingisthatthegapbetweenrequiredandavailableresourcesisverymuchattributabletotheexistenceofahostofsmallerprojectsthatneverbecomepartofenactedprojectportfolios.Thus，atanaggregatedlevel，theempiricalstudysuggestssmaller，un-enactedprojectsqualifyasresourcescrunchersinsofartheyarenotconsideredtobeapartofenactedprojectportfolios.Inordertoovercomethiscrunchinresources，twosolutionsseemobvious:

（1）Enactingmore，i.e.havingPPMembraceallprojects.

（2）Allocatingmoreresourcestoapoolofloosely-controlledresourcesfortheun-enactedprojectstodrawon.

5.Researchimplications

Theempiricalstudyelaboratesonthe‘‘significantshortageofresourcesdevotedtoNPD’’thatCooperandEdgettargueisthefundamentalproblem‘‘thatplaguesmostfirms’productdevelopmentefforts’’.

Ourworkespeciallysuggeststhattheshortageofresourcesdevotedtoenactedprojectsisnotaproblemthatprimarilyarisesinrelationtotopmanagement’sPPM.Onthecontrary，in-good-faithtopmanagementdedicatesresourcestoenactedprojectsonthebasisofsoundPPM.However，whattopmanagersdonotdoistakeintoaccountthehostofsmallerprojectsthatindividualsinitiateand–moreimportantly–topmanagersignore（oratleastheavilyunder-estimate）theamountofresourcesthatthesesmallerprojectstieup.Hence，wearguethatespeciallythecrunchinresourcesmaybeattributabletotheun-enactedcompetitionforresourcesthatsmallerprojectssubjectenactedprojectsto.

Consequently，thekeycontributionofourempiricalworktoresearchisthatitemphasisesthatifwewishtostudyPPM（andespeciallyifwewishtorelatePPMtoprojectperformance），wemightbebetterofftakingintoaccounttheentirerangeofprojectsthatactual（notenacted）portfoliosarecomprisedof.Thus，ifweasresearchersonlyenacttheprojectsthatareneatlylistedbytopmanagement，thenourresearchwillneglectthehostofprojectsthatarenotsubjecttoPPM，projectsthatnonethelesstakeupvaluable，andscarce，resources.

Thefactthattheempiricalstudyincludesinterviewswithmanagers，i.e.thosewhodoPPM，andinterviewswithpersonnelatlowerorganisationallevels，i.e.thosewhoseworkissubjecttoPPM，isthereasonwhywewereabletoidentifyun-enactedprojects.Thus，researchersinterestedinPPMshouldbecarefulnottorelytooheavilyonamanagementperspective.

6.Conclusionandlimitations

Themainconclusionisthataslongassomeprojectsareun-enacted，companiesmayexperienceadrainonresourcesthatreducesthetimeandresourcesactuallydevotedtoprojectssubjecttoPPM.Hence，eachindividualcompanyshoulddecidewhetherornotallprojectsshouldbepartofPPMandiftheendresultofsuchadecisionisnottomakecomprehensiveprojectlists（i.e.liststhatincludeallminorprojects），thenmanagementshoulddecidehowmanyresourcesshouldbesetasidefortheplethoraofsmallprojectsthatdonotappearontheprojectlist.

Onewayinwhichthecrunchinresourcescanbereducedisbyensuringthatsmallerprojectsdonottakeupacriticalportionoftheresourcesthatare–officially–setasideforthecompletionofprojectssubjecttoPPM.However，duetotheexploratorynatureofthestudyaccountedforinthispaper，ourfindingsrelatefarmoretowhatcompaniesactuallydo（positivetheoryinHunt’sterms），ratherthantowhattheyoughttodo（normativetheoryinHunt’sterms）.Althoughgeneratingpositivetheoryisindeedacrucialfirststep–especiallyinrelationtothefutureofPPMtheory