Leadership and project management competences in executive women: different styles from the agents' perceptions

The exercise of management and leadership are key aspects to achieve objectives, goals and relationships in the current knowledge society marked by increasingly competitive environments in which cognitive factors, creativity, knowledge and information determine the success of organizations. Both concepts have been historically associated with the male domain because of the underrepresentation of women in managerial positions. However, the increasing participation of women in the workplace has led to the development of an extensive literature on the possible existence of differences between the styles of male and female leadership, although it has not been addressed from the analysis of competences associated with each sex. Through a participatory process the abilities and skills related to women managers are analyzed and the differences in leadership styles. The results indicate that women particularly value the skills associated with human relationships, and that female leadership style tends to be transformational.

Analysis of the essential literature on project management in Spanish

The advancement of science and engineering projects is brewing major changes in the various phases of a project. These changes have produced more rigorous aspects of project management that tracks the research fronts of engineering and project management becomes key. However, research in engineering and project management in Spanish is hindered by access to information to enable the person concerned to ascertain the most recent and current research, limiting the exchange of information and strengthening research networks in this field interest with great implications in business, industry and scientific issues. Therefore, the article aims to present the state of the art of engineering research and project management in Spanish, using the analysis of scientific domains and network analysis of the research literature to identify and analyze relationships between authors and documents that establish the base and research fronts topic under study. The results also provide statistics on the contribution of international research in Spanish and scientific collaboration networks.

Training project management complexity in postgraduate and continuing education programs: a learning strategy in the eshe (European Space of Higher Education) framework

The objective of this paper is to address the methodological process of a teaching strategy for training project management complexity in postgraduate programs. The proposal is made up of different methods —intuitive, comparative, deductive, case study, problem-solving Project-Based Learning— and different activities inside and outside the classroom. This integration of methods motivated the current use of the concept of “learning strategy”. The strategy has two phases: firstly, the integration of the competences —technical, behavioral and contextual—in real projects; and secondly, the learning activity was oriented in upper level of knowledge, the evaluating the complexity for projects management in real situations. Both the competences in the learning strategy and the Project Complexity Evaluation are based on the ICB of IPMA. The learning strategy is applied in an international Postgraduate Program —Erasmus Mundus Master of Science— with the participation of five Universities of the European Union. This master program is fruit of a cooperative experience from one Educative Innovation Group of the UPM -GIE-Project-, two Research Groups of the UPM and the collaboration with other external agents to the university. Some reflections on the experience and the main success factors in the learning strategy were presented in the paper

Training project management complexity in postgraduate and continuing education programs: a learning strategy in the eshe (European Space of Higher Education) framework

The objective of this paper is to address the methodological process of a teaching strategy for training project management complexity in postgraduate programs. The proposal is made up of different methods —intuitive, comparative, deductive, case study, problem-solving Project-Based Learning— and different activities inside and outside the classroom. This integration of methods motivated the current use of the concept of ―learning strategy‖. The strategy has two phases: firstly, the integration of the competences —technical, behavioral and contextual—in real projects; and secondly, the learning activity was oriented in upper level of knowledge, the evaluating the complexity for projects management in real situations. Both the competences in the learning strategy and the Project Complexity Evaluation are based on the ICB of IPMA. The learning strategy is applied in an international Postgraduate Program —Erasmus Mundus Master of Science— with the participation of five Universities of the European Union. This master program is fruit of a cooperative experience from one Educative Innovation Group of the UPM -GIE-Project-, two Research Groups of the UPM and the collaboration with other external agents to the university. Some reflections on the experience and the main success factors in the learning strategy were presented in the paper.

Methodological Proposal for Teamwork Evaluation in the field of training Project Management.

Teamwork, is one of the abilities that today is highly valued in the professional arena with a great importance for various personal and interpersonal skills associated with it. In this context, the Technical University of Madrid, is developing a coordinated educational innovation project, which main objective is to develop methodological and assessment tools for the acquisition of personal skills necessary to improve the employability of graduates and their skills for project management. Within this context, this paper proposes a methodology composed of various activities and indicators, as well as specific assessment instruments linked to the teamwork competence. Through a series of systematic steps it was allowed the design of an instrument and construction of a scale for measuring the competence of teamwork. The practical application of the methodology has been carried out in Projects lectures from different Schools of Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid, which results are presented in this document as a pilot experience. Results show the various aspects and methods that teachers should consider in evaluating the competence of the work, including analysis of the quality of results, through reliability and construct validity. On the other hand, show the advantages of applying this methodology in the field of project management teaching.

A Web-based Support System for Providing Effective Monitoring, Feedback and Evaluation in Project Management Education

This work introduces a web-based learning environment to facilitate learning in Project Management. The proposed web-based support system integrates methodological procedures and information systems, allowing to promote learning among geographically-dispersed students. Thus, students who are enrolled in different universities at different locations and attend their own project management courses, share a virtual experience in executing and managing projects. Specific support systems were used or developed to automatically collect information about student activities, making it possible to monitor the progress made on learning and assess learning performance as established in the defined rubric.

Project Management : Gestión de la remedición mediambiental de las plantas de gas manufacturado

Para hacerse cargo del legado de las Plantas de Gas Manufacturado (MGP) en el Estado de Nueva York, la División de Remediación Medioambiental del Departamento de Conservación Medioambiental, creo las Investigaciones de las áreas afectadas y el Programa de Remediación Medioambiental. Con el paso de los años, la conciencia y entendimiento de la importancia y complejidad de estos proyectos fue creciendo, ya que las investigaciones realizadas daban fe del tamaño y extensión de la contaminación asociada a las plantas de gas manufacturado, propiedad ahora de las diversas compañías de gas que operan a lo largo y ancho del Estado de Nueva York. Tras varios años dentro del Programa de Remediación Medioambiental, muchas de estas compañías han intentado manejar estos vastos y complejos proyectos como han podido, dejándose llevar un poco, subestimando y pasando por alto muchos detalles, ya que al fin y al cabo son proyecto regulados por el estado y que, por tanto, son financiados enteramente por este. Esto ha ido causando en los últimos años grandes problemas a algunas Compañías que a la hora de reportar estos proyectos se han encontrado con una falta total de control y grandes lagunas que resolver. Una técnica para resolver estos problemas es hacer uso de grandes técnicas de gestión empresarial como es el Project Management. En este proyecto se exponen y desarrollan las técnicas que han de utilizarse para integrar la Gestión de Proyectos con el fin de poder gestionar y coordinar las competentes demandas de alcance, tiempo, costes, calidad, recursos, y riesgos con el fin de alcanzar los requerimientos y objetivos del proyecto y de la Compañía. ABSTRACT To address the Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) legacy in New York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Environmental Remediation has established the MGP Site Investigation and Remediation Programs. With the passage of time the Department’s understanding of the complexity of these sites grew, as investigations identified the extend of the contamination problem associated with many MGPs, property of the Operating Companies in the State. Through many years under the Remediation Programs, some Operating Companies have tried to manage these large and complex projects as they could, underestimating and overlooking them, as they were, in fact, regulated and financed by the Department. This has cause a lot of controlling issues and gaps to solve to the companies. Now the companies are trying to solve this kind of problems using the more innovative management techniques, as Project Management. This project expose and explains how to integrate the project management processes into the MGP Projects under the Remediation Program, to manage and balance the competing demands of scope, time ,cost, quality, resources, and risk to meet the project and company’s requirements and objectives.

Strengthening and measuring project management competences of engineering students

Since 2010 the Industrial Engineering School at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSII UPM) has its Plan Study accredited by ABET. Since then a big motivation has been promoted from the management team encouraging teachers to work on the measurement and strengthening of student¿s competences. Generic skills or behavior acquired significant importance in the workplace, particularly in relation to project management. Because of this, and framed within the requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the curriculum of the new degrees are being developed under the competence-based learning. This situation leads to the need to have a clear measurement tool skills as a basis for developing them within the curriculum. A group of multidisciplinary teachers have been working together during two years to design measuring instruments valid for engineering students.

Project management competence analysis in rural communities through territorial representation: application to Aymara women communities in Puno (Peru)

The acquisition of technical, contextual and behavioral competences is a prerequisite for sustainable development and strengthening of rural communities. Territorial display of the status of these skills helps to design the necessary learning, so its inclusion in planning processes is useful for decision making. The article discusses the application of visual representation of competences in a rural development project with Aymara women communities in Peru. The results show an improvement of transparency and dialogue, resulting in a more successful project management and strengthening of social organization.

An improved way for evaluating competences: A different approach to project management learning .;

This paper presents a formal initiative for monitoring the competence acquisition by a team of students with different backgrounds facing the experience of being working by projects and in a project. These students are inexperienced in the project management field and they play this game on a time-shared manner along with other activities. The goal of this experience is to make some improvements in determining the competence levels acquired by means of how the work is being done. The use of this information, which is out of the scope of this particular work, could make possible to bring additional information to the students involved in terms of their individual competencies and the identification of new opportunities of personal improvement.

Project Management Learning in a Collaborative Distant Learning Context - An Actual On-going Experience

The goal of this paper is to show the results of an on-going experience on teaching project management to grade students by following a development scheme of management related competencies on an individual basis. In order to achieve that goal, the students are organized in teams that must solve a problem and manage the development of a feasible solution to satisfy the needs of a client. The innovative component advocated in this paper is the formal introduction of negotiating and virtual team management aspects, as different teams from different universities at different locations and comprising students with different backgrounds must collaborate and compete amongst them. The different learning aspects are identified and the improvement levels are reflected in a rubric that has been designed ad hoc for this experience. Finally, the effort frameworks for the student and instructor have been established according to the requirements of the Bologna paradigms. This experience is developed through a software-based support system allowing blended learning for the theoretical and individual?s work aspects, blogs, wikis, etc., as well as project management tools based on WWW that allow the monitoring of not only the expected deliverables and the achievement of the goals but also the progress made on learning as established in the defined rubric

The use of computers for graduate education in Project Management. Improving the integration to the industry.

This paper presents an initiative for monitoring the competence acquisition by a team of students with different backgrounds facing the experience of being working by projects and in a project. These students are graduated bachelor engineering are inexperienced in the project management field and they play this course on a time-shared manner along with other activities. The goal of this experience is to increase the competence levels acquired by using an structured web based portfolio tool helping to reinforce how relevant different project management approaches can result for final products and how important it becomes to maintain the integration along the project. Monitoring is carried out by means of have a look on how the work is being done and measuring different technical parameters per participant. The use of this information could make possible to bring additional information to the students involved in terms of their individual competencies and the identification of new opportunities of personal improvement. These capabilities are strongly requested by companies in their daily work as well as they can be very convenient too for students when they try to organize their PhD work.

A Methodological model to assist the optimization and risk management of mining investment decisions

Identifying, quantifying, and minimizing technical risks associated with investment decisions is a key challenge for mineral industry decision makers and investors. However, risk analysis in most bankable mine feasibility studies are based on the stochastic modelling of project “Net Present Value” (NPV)which, in most cases, fails to provide decision makers with a truly comprehensive analysis of risks associated with technical and management uncertainty and, as a result, are of little use for risk management and project optimization. This paper presents a value-chain risk management approach where project risk is evaluated for each step of the project lifecycle, from exploration to mine closure, and risk management is performed as a part of a stepwise value-added optimization process.

Leadership in executive women from the viewpoint of project management competences: a study in the region of Madrid / Liderazgo de la mujer directiva desde las competencias para la dirección de proyectos: estudio en la región de Madrid

Today's knowledge society is creating increasingly competitive environments in which cognitive factors, creativity, knowledge and information determine the success of organizations. In this context the exercise of management and leadership is essential to achieve objectives, goals and relationships. Both concepts have been historically associated with the male domain because of the underrepresentation of women in managerial positions. However, the increasing participation of women in the workplace has led to the development of an extensive literature on the possible existence of differences between the styles of male and female leadership, although it has not been addressed from the analysis of competences associated with each sex. Through a participatory process the abilities and skills associated with women managers are analyzed, the differences in leadership styles and the barriers that still exist for the promotion of women into management positions. The results indicate that women particularly value the skills associated with human relationships, the female leadership style tends to be transformational and that there are still barriers to their advancement to management positions.

Educating in Project Management: an innovative approach. A shared-experience among Spanish Universities

This work presents an educational formal initiative aimed to monitor the acquisition and strengthening of competences by students that are being taught in project management subject. Groups of students belonging to three universities, embracing different knowledge areas such as engineering, biology, etc., were selected to run the experience. All of them had nevertheless a common and basic starting point: inexperience in project management field. In this scenario, we propose a new theoretical and practical approach oriented to reinforce problem-solving and related competences in a project management subject context. For this purpose, a Project-Based Learning (PjBL) initiative has been specifically designed and developed. The main idea is to bring a real world engineering project management case into the classroom, where students must face up to a completely new learning approach –groups in different locations, collaborative mode and unspecific solution, supported by a powerful internet platform:.project.net (http://www.Project.net). Other relevant aspects such as project climate, knowledge increasing, have also been monitored during the course. Results show and overall improvement in key competences. The obtained information will be used in two ways: to feed the students back about personal opportunities for improvement in specific competences, and to fine-tune the experience for further initiatives.