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,andprod