工程管理外文文献.docx

工程管理外文文献.docx

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工程管理外文文献

外文文献：

Projectportfoliomanagement–There’smoretoitthan

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）.Althoughgeneratingpositivetheoryis