Managing innovative change within organisations and project team environments

In an attempt to enhance the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of today’s Architectural, Engineering, and Contractor (AEC) industry, this paper summarises the current status of an ongoing PhD research investigation in developing a sustainable AEC industry specific best-practice ‘Innovation-driven Change Framework’—more specifically a summation of the ‘fourth interrelated dynamic’ (culture). Leveraging off the outcomes of a two year industry and government supported Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRCCI) research project, as well as referring to recent internationally renowned case studies and related literature investigations, this research investigation includes further identifying, processing, analysing and categorizing various culture change methods, models, frameworks and processes utilized within the AEC and other industry sectors, and incorporating these findings in developing an AEC industry-specific ‘Innovation-driven Change Framework’

The two dimensions of virtual and collocated project teams or what project team members WANT and GET : an empirical study

The current paper compares and investigates the discrepancies in motivational drives of project team members with respect to their project environment in collocated and distributed (virtual) project teams. The set of factors, which in this context are called ‘Sense of Ownership’, is used as a scale to measure these discrepancies using one tailed t tests. These factors are abstracted from theories of motivation, team performance, and team effectiveness and are related to ‘Nature of Work’, ‘Rewards’, and ‘Communication’. It has been observed that ‘virtual ness’ does not seem to impact the motivational drives of the project team members or the way the project environments provide or support those motivational drives in collocated and distributed projects. At a more specific level in terms of the motivational drives of the project team (‘WANT’) and the ability of the project environment to provide or support those factors (‘GET’), in collocated project teams, significant discrepancies were observed with respect to financial and non financial rewards, learning opportunities, nature of work and project specific communication, while in distributed teams, significant discrepancies with respect to project centric communication, followed by financial rewards and nature of work. Further, distributed project environments seem to better support the team member motivation than collocated project environments. The study concludes that both the collocated and distributed project environments may not be adequately supporting the motivational drives of its project team members, which may be frustrating to them. However, members working in virtual team environments may be less frustrated than their collocated counterparts as virtual project environments are better aligned with the motivational drives of their team members vis-à-vis the collocated project environments.

The two dimensions of virtual and collocated project teams or what project team members WANT and GET : empirical evidence

The current paper compares and investigates the discrepancies in motivational drives of project team members with respect to their project environment in collocated and distributed (virtual) project teams. The set of factors, which in this context are called ‘Sense of Ownership’, is used as a scale to measure these discrepancies using one tailed t tests. These factors are abstracted from theories of motivation, team performance, and team effectiveness and are related to ‘Nature of Work’, ‘Rewards’, and ‘Communication’. It has been observed that ‘virtualness’ does not seem to impact the motivational drives of the project team members or the way the project environments provide or support those motivational drives in collocated and distributed projects. At a more specific level in terms of the motivational drives of the project team (‘WANT’) and the ability of the project environment to provide or support those factors (‘GET’), in collocated project teams, significant discrepancies were observed with respect to financial and non financial rewards, learning opportunities, nature of work and project specific communication, while in distributed teams, significant discrepancies with respect to project centric communication, followed by financial rewards and nature of work. Further, distributed project environments seem to better support the team member motivation than collocated project environments. The study concludes that both the collocated and distributed project environments may not be adequately supporting the motivational drives of its project team members, which may be frustrating to them. However, members working in virtual team environments may be less frustrated than their collocated counterparts as virtual project environments are better aligned with the motivational drives of their team members vis-à-vis the collocated project environments.

Forming a joint venture project team for multi-discipline engineering services in Australia

Joint venture design teams are formed to combine resources and expertise in order to secure multi-discipline engineering design services on major projects. Bringing together resources from two ordinarily competing companies to form one joint team is however challenging as each parent company brings to the project its own organisational culture, processes and team attitudes. This study examined the factors that impact on forming a successful joint venture project team. Three critical areas were identified from an extensive literature review; Joint Venture Arrangements, Parent Companies and Forming the Team; and a survey was conducted with professionals who have worked in joint venture project teams in the Australian building industry in order to identify factors that affected successful joint venture team formation, and the common lessons learnt. This study reinforced the importance of three key criteria - trust, commitment and compatibility - for partner alignment. The results also identified four key lessons learnt which included; selecting the right resources, enabling a collaborative working environment by way of project office, implementing an independent Joint Venture Manager, and allocating work which is best for project with fees reflecting risk where risk is disproportionate.

Project team trust in leadership and leader values

This international research showed that when senior leaders' values and behaviours were perceived as being congruent by project teams, there was enrichment of interpersonal relationships and a reinforcement of relational trust. Conversely, when leaders' values and behaviours were perceived as not congruent, they were considered to lack integrity and trustworthiness.

The Role of TAFE as an Equity Pathway to Social Inclusion, Employment, and to University : a submission from The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work, Geelong Based Project Team

Executive Summary

The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work Geelong Based Project Team (the Project Team) was assisted by Higher Education Partnership and Participation funding made available through Deakin University Participation and Partnerships Program (DUPPP) to carry out research and project work in 2012/13.

In the following submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the role of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system and its operation, this Project Team seeks to establish a case for:

1. Funding to enable TAFE to continue as:

a) an equity pathway to social inclusion, employment, and to university, particularly in regional areas.
b) an integral complement to the University education sector to deliver on the ambitious objectives of the Federal Government’s widening participation agenda, as a mechanism to deliver the skills, knowledge and workforce needed now, and in the future, in the Australian economy.
2. Increased resources for separate and joint sector development
a) Publicly funded TAFEs need funding to be restored and increased to enable them to maintain the high quality education they provide and to maintain their successful work in supporting communities, regions and disadvantaged individuals to gain skills, training and employment.
b) Universities need increased funding to increase staffing levels and therefore free up teaching staff to spend the necessary time to develop relationships with and provide support to students. This is important for the achieving the goals of the widening participation agenda of increasing access without increasing attrition at the same time.
c) TAFEs and Universities need funding to do the work required to further develop and formalise diploma-degree pathways so that disadvantaged individuals can exit into employment at the diploma level or be supported in an efficient and seamless way to undertake further study.
3. Active use of localised and nuanced partnership approaches by education institutions. This includes:
• Cross teaching by TAFEs and Universities in courses that can be articulated, such as professional practice diplomas and degrees
• Programs negotiated and designed according to the needs of students in each location. TAFEs and Universities need resources in order to do this work
• Focus on regional centres where there is a particular opportunity for government to make an impact on TAFE pathways to employment and/or further education
• Workforce development in regional areas due to new industries is a particular area of need
4. Recognise and capitalise on the complementary and symbiotic nature of each sector’s skills, strengths and capacities.
The submission responds to the second, third and fifth points of the Terms of Reference of the Inquiry and is based on the research work carried out by the Project Team in 2012/13.

We provide evidence of Gordon TAFE in Geelong working as an equity mechanism in the particular case of the welfare/ community services diploma to social work degree pathway. The project team considers that there is a strong case for additional resourcing of TAFE to enable it to continue what it does well. TAFE is the key training and education sectorthe ‘education and social hub’that can successfully attract, retain, and graduate people who may not otherwise access education due to one or more combinations of:

1. having a low SES current or past background;
2. living in regional areas;
3. receiving interrupted primary and secondary education;
4. having disabilities;
5. being sole parents;
6. being from refugee backgrounds;
7. having English as an additional language/culture;
8. retrenchment from employment in dying industries;
9. short, medium and long term unemployment;
10. past and/or current caring roles;
11. marriage/relationship breakdowns;
12. domestic violence;
13. gender, class, age, race/ethnicity and dis/ability discriminations; and
14. socialised expectations and fears.

The recommendations in this submission are based on research findings about important similarities and differences between Gordon TAFE welfare and Deakin University social work students in Geelong, and their respective institutional organisations and contexts. The two institutions employ a repertoire of diverse administrative, teaching, learning and support approaches to meet different mission goals, requirements and needs.

Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries / project team, David M. Nelson (editor) ... [et al.].

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Distribution and abundance of fishes and invertebrates in Gulf of Mexico estuaries / project team, David M. Nelson (editor) ... [et al.].

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Selection & development of short-term project team members:developmental stability as an indicator of interpersonal skills

Short-term project teams do not have the advantage of prior performance or long-term membership to facilitate development of effective team performance. Research suggests interpersonal skills are crucial to success but this is under researched longitudinally. Evolutionary psychology can provide a lens to explain how people develop differing levels of interpersonal skills via the relationship between fluctuating asymmetry and pro-social behaviours. This research aims to investigate the relationship between fluctuating asymmetry and interpersonal skills, the impact of training and to further the evolutionary psychology field by embedding research in a real-world context as opposed to solely in laboratory or student settings.

Is member-rated project success influenced by leadership team emotional intelligence?

Large complex projects often fail spectacularly in terms of cost overruns and delays; witness the London Olympics and the Airbus A380. In this project, we studied the emotional intelligence (EI) of leadership teams involved in such projects. We collected our data from 370 employees in 40 project teams working on large Australian defense contracts. We asked leadership team members to complete a scale measuring their EI, and project team members to rate the success of the projects. We found it was not the mean score, but the highest EI score in the leadership team that predicted members’ project success ratings.

Insights from stimulating creative behaviours in a project-based organization team

Novel and useful ideas and creative behaviours originate in varied work environments, yet the characteristics of work environments that stimulate and foster such creative behaviours are not well defined. The aim of this study was to identify the influences that contribute to creative behaviours in the work environment of a global project-based professional service organization. This article is based on an investigation of the work environment of one project team undertaking interdisciplinary work in the construction of a processing plant in a remote location. This multi-disciplinary team encouraged creative behaviours through regular team meetings, ensuring the presentation of diverse views and commitments to regular interaction and collaboration in co-located environments. In addition, a technology manager dedicated to identifying potential opportunities for patenting and commercialization further extended the creative behaviours of the team by focusing on the best solution for each situation. The study contributes new knowledge to research regarding work environments that facilitate creative behaviours.

An in-depth study of a teacher engaged in an innovative primary science trial professional development project

The implementation of effective science programmes in primary schools is of continuing interest and concern for professional developers. As part of the Australian Academy of Science's approach to creating an awareness of Primary Investigations, a project team trialled a series of satellite television broadcasts of lessons related to two units of the curriculum for Year 3 and 4 children in 48 participating schools. The professional development project entitled Simply Science, included a focused component for the respective classroom teachers, which was also conducted by satellite. This paper reports the involvement of a Year 4 teacher in the project and describes her professional growth. Already an experienced and confident teacher, no quantitative changes in science teaching self efficacy were detected. However, her pedagogical content knowledge and confidence to teach science in the concept areas of matter and energy were enhanced. Changes in the teacher's views about the co-operative learning strategies espoused by Primary Investigations were also evident. Implications for the design of professional development programmes for primary science teachers are discussed.