Management of project knowledge at various maturity levels in PMO, a theoretical framework

Management of project knowledge is a critical factor for project success. Project Management Office (PMO) is a unit within organisations to centrally facilitate, manage and control organisational project for improving the rate of project success. Due to increasing interest of developing PMO, the Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) has been proposed to develop PMOs gradually. The PMMM contributes to evolvement of PMO from immature to mature level through addressing appropriate PM practices. Despite the importance of project knowledge, it has not been extensively investigated in project environments. In addition, the existing PMMMs not only do not address management of project knowledge, but also they recommend little criteria to assess the maturity of PMO from KM point of view. The absence of KM discussion in current PMMMs was defined as the subject of a research project in order for addressing KM practices at various maturity levels of PMO. In order to address the mentioned gap, a framework has been developed based on the current discussions of both PM and KM. The proposed framework comprises three premises: KM processes and practices, PMMM, and KM Maturity Model (KMMM). The incorporation of KMMM practices at various maturity levels of PMO is one of the significance of this framework. It proposes numbers of KM strategies, processes, and practices to address project knowledge management at various levels PMO. This framework shall be useful guidance for developing PMOs from KM perspective. In other words, it contributes to management of project knowledge, as a key for project success. The proposed framework follows the process-based approach and it could be employed alongside the current PMMMs for PMO development. This paper presents the developed framework, theoretical background, premises, proposed KM practices, and processes to be employed in Project-based Organisations and PMOs. This framework has been examined at numbers of case studies with different maturity levels. The case studies outcomes, which will be subjects for future papers, have not shown any significant contradiction yet, however, more investigations are being conducted to validate the proposed framework.

Management of project knowledge in a project-based organisation : a case study of research enterprise

Knowledge Management (KM) is vital factor to successfully undertake projects. The temporary nature of projects necessitates employing useful KM practices to reduce any issues such as knowledge leakiness and rework. The Project Management Office (PMO) is a unit within organisations to facilitate and oversee organisational projects. Project Management Maturity Models (PMMM) show the development of PMOs from immature to mature levels. The existing PMMMs have focused on discussing Project Management (PM) practices, however, the management of project knowledge is yet to be addressed, at various levels of maturity. A research project was undertaken to investigate the mentioned gap for addressing KM practices at the existing PMMMs. Due to the exploratory and inductive nature of this research, qualitative methods using case studies were chosen as the research methodology to investigate the problem in the real world. In total, three cases selected from different industries: research; mining and government organisations, to provide broad categories for research and research questions were examined using the developed framework. This paper presents the findings from the investigation of the research organisation with the lowest level of maturity. From KM process point of view, knowledge creation and capturing are the most important processes, while knowledge transferring and reusing received less attention. In addition, it was revealed that provision of “knowledge about client” and “project management knowledge” are the most important types of knowledge that are required at this level of maturity. The results also revealed that PMOs with higher maturity level have better knowledge management, however, some improvement is needed. In addition, the importance of KM processes varies at different levels of maturity. In conclusion, the outcomes of this paper could provide powerful guidance to PMOs at lowest level of maturity from KM point of view.

Three sides to every story; Ernesto Love + Eve Roleston + Ernest Olove = 3SUM/3DUM

This was another in the project of using my three pseudonyms to investigate the strategic potential of the fictocritical as an approach to making visual art. It was large scale single artwork that took place over 21 days and combined 2D, 3D, Time-based elements and performance in an attempt to construct a Gesamtkunstwerk. Over the course of the exhibition I critically and creatively engaged with political, social, economic and cultural issues thorugh opening up a range of rhetorical modes such as the lyrical, the elegiac, the rhapsodic, the humorous, the parodic and the satirical.

A hybrid quality function deployment and cybernetic analytic network process model for project manager selection

Identifying appropriate decision criteria and making optimal decisions in a structured way is a complex process. This paper presents an approach for doing this in the form of a hybrid Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Cybernetic Analytic Network Process (CANP) model for project manager selection. This involves the use of QFD to translate the owner's project management expectations into selection criteria and the CANP to weight the expectations and selection criteria. The supermatrix approach then prioritises the candidates with respect to the overall decision-making goal. A case study is used to demonstrate the use of the model in selecting a renovation project manager. This involves the development of 18 selection criteria in response to the owner's three main expectations of time, cost and quality.

Importance of knowledge management processes in a project-based organization : a case study of research enterprise

Knowledge Management (KM) is vital factor to successfully undertake projects. The temporary nature of projects necessitates employing useful KM practices for tackling issues such as knowledge leakiness and rework. The Project Management Office (PMO) is a unit within organizations to facilitate and oversee organizational projects. Project Management Maturity Models (PMMM) shows the development of PMOs from immature to mature levels. The existing PMMMs have focused on discussing Project Management (PM) practices, however, the management of project knowledge is yet to be addressed, at various levels of maturity. This research project was undertaken to investigate the mentioned gap for addressing KM practices at the existing PMMMs. Due to the exploratory and inductive nature of this research, qualitative methods were chosen as the research methodology. In total, three cases selected from different industries: research; mining and government organizations, to provide broad categories for research and research questions were examined using the developed framework. This paper presents the partial findings of undertaken investigation of the research organisation with the lowest level of maturity. The result shows that knowledge creation and capturing are the most important processes, while knowledge transferring and reusing are not as important as the other two processes. In addition, it was revealed that provision of “knowledge about client” and “project management knowledge” are the most important types of knowledge that are required at this level of maturity. In conclusion, the outcomes of this paper shall provide powerful guidance to PMOs at lowest level of maturity from KM point of view.

Learnings, case studies and guidelines for establishing shared and collaborative service delivery in the non-government sector: Evaluation of the Multi-Tenant Service Centre (MTSC) Pilots Project

This report presents learnings, case studies, guidelines and resources for non-government organisations that are planning to implement shared or collaborative arrangements with other agencies. It summarises results from an evaluation of the implementation phase of the Multi-Tenant Service Centre (MTSC) Pilots Project, which was completed in June 2008. This evaluation shows that developing and implementing shared and collaborative arrangements is a complex process that presents many risks, challenges and barriers to success, but can have many potential benefits for non government organisations. As this report makes clear, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this process. The MTSC Pilots Project was conducted by the Department of Communities (DoC), Queensland Government, as part of its Strengthening Non-Government Organisations strategy. The objective of the MTSC Pilots initiative was to co-locate separate service providers in an appropriately located centre, operating with effective and transparent management, which enabled service providers to improve client services. Three MTSC consortiums in Mackay, Caboolture and Toowoomba were selected as the pilots over a four year period from 2006 – 2010.

Literacy and numeracy project: Final report 2009

Literacy and numeracy are critical for young people during and after their schooling. The subjects and courses that students undertake during their school years incorporate a range of academic literacy and numeracy practices which students must be able manage if they are to be successful. Pathways beyond schooling also require specific, and changing, understandings of, and proficiencies with, literacy and numeracy as new communication technologies increasingly impact on further study, work, and everyday life. Teaching and learning numeracy is a new emphasis in the SACE and as yet we have little understanding about the ways in which secondary schools handle this area. Students in Years 10 and 11 are at a crucial point in their educational and life pathways as they begin to refine their future aspirations. For those who have difficulty with academic literacies and numeracies – and often a long history of such problems – this period can be fraught unless teachers are able to provide specific support when it is needed, or students are able to access it from care-givers or community members. The School to Work Literacy and Numeracy Project involved teachers from nine schools across the three sectors and university researchers working together to design curriculum interventions for students with a history of low measurable achievement in literacy and/or numeracy. The project started from the premise that working with ‘rich tasks’, an approach to learning and assessment developed in the Productive Pedagogies work undertaken in Queensland (Hayes et al., 2006), would improve students’ motivation, engagement and learning and that this work could best be done by teachers working in school-based, cross-curriculum teams with a school leadership team member and a university researcher as mentor. A key idea in designing rich tasks is that students will have opportunities to demonstrate their learning in assessments which are aligned with the learning expectations (for example a film festival to publicly launch student-produced films, advertising to sell student-made cubby-houses, a household budget based on students’ likely incomes in future work). In other words the assessments should be designed to allow for authentic communication and displays of what the students have learned through serious engagement with the curriculum. The project was conducted from Term 1-4 2009, with follow-up checks with some project teachers in the early weeks of 2010.

Heavy vehicle safety in Oman: Police interviews and heavy vehicle driver survey and focus groups. Third Report of the Heavy Vehicle Safety Research in Oman Project for The Research Council of Oman.

Over the past six months the project has undertaken three key, separate, data collection rounds. Each of these rounds focused on essentially different issues within the broader common construct of heavy vehicle road safety. This document will initially report on a series of two key qualitative data collections rounds. Firstly it will detail findings and report on discussions held in focus groups with 43 heavy vehicle drivers. The second qualitative study involved a series of interviews undertaken with 19 police officers from various levels of command and operations within the Royal Oman Police. The final data collection round reported on in this document is a roadside survey questionnaire undertaken with 400 heavy vehicle drivers.

A three dimensional virtual medical imaging computed tomography suite: Innovation in education

Aims: The Medical Imaging Training Immersive Environment(MITIE) Computed Tomography(CT) system is an innovative virtual reality (VR) platform that allows students to practice a range of CT techniques. The aim of this pilot study was to harvest user feedback about the educational value of teh application and inform future pedagogical development. This presentation explores the use of this technology for skills training. Background: MITIE CT is a 3D VR environment that allows students to position a patient,and set CT technical parameters including IV contrast dose and dose rate. As with VR initiatives in other health disciplines the software mimics clinical practice as much as possible and uses 3D technology to enhance immersion and realism. The software is new and was developed by the Medical Imaging Course Team at a provider University with funding from a Health Workforce Australia 'Simulated Learning Environments' grant Methods: Current third year medical imaging students were provided with additional 1 hour MITIE laboratory tutorials and studnet feedback was collated with regard to educational value and performance. Ethical approval for the project was provided by the university ethics panel Results: This presentation provides qualitative analysis of student perceptions relating to satisfaction, usability and educational value. Students reported high levels of satisfaction and both feedback and assessment results confirmed the application's significance as a pre-clinical tool. There was a clear emerging theme that MITIE could be a useful learning tool that students could access to consolidate their clinical learning, either on campus or during their clinical placement. Conclusion: Student feedback indicates that MITIE CT has a valuable role to play in the clinial skills training for medical imaging students both in the academic and clinical environment. Future work will establish a framework for an appropriate supprting pedagogy that can cross the boundary between the two environments

Three-dimensional printing in the construction industry: A review

3D printing (3Dp) has long been used in the manufacturing sector as a way to automate, accelerate production and reduce waste materials. It is able to build a wide variety of objects if the necessary specifications are provided to the printer and no problems are presented by the limited range of materials available. With 3Dp becoming cheaper, more reliable and, as a result, more prevalent in the world at large, it may soon make inroads into the construction industry. Little is known however, of 3Dp in current use the construction industry and its potential for the future and this paper seeks to rectify this situation by providing a review of the relevant literature. In doing this, the three main 3Dp methods of contour crafting, concrete printing and D-shape 3Dp are described which, as opposed to the traditional construction method of cutting materials down to size, deliver only what is needed for completion, vastly reducing waste. Also identified is 3Dp’s potential to enable buildings to be constructed many times faster and with significantly reduced labour costs. In addition, it is clear that construction 3Dp can allow the further inclusion of Building Information Modelling into the construction process - streamlining and improving the scheduling requirements of a project. However, current 3Dp processes are known to be costly, unsuited to large-scale products and conventional design approaches, and have a very limited range of materials that can be used. Moreover, the only successful examples of construction in action to date have occurred in controlled laboratory environments and, as real world trials have yet to be completed, it is yet to be seen whether it can be it equally proficient in practical situations. Key Words: 3D Printing; Contour Crafting; Concrete Printing; D-shape; Building Automation.

Investigating the impact of project definition clarity on project performance: Structural equation modeling study

Having a clear project definition is crucial for successful construction projects. It affects design quality, project communication between stakeholders and final project performance in terms of cost, schedule and quality. This study examines the relationship between project definition and final project performance through a structural equation model comprising 4 latent constructs and 6 path hypotheses using data from a questionnaire survey of 120 general contractors in the Malaysian construction industry. The results show that in the study population, all three items impact the project performance, but the link between design quality and project performance is indirect. Instead, the clarity of project definition affects project performance indirectly through design quality and project communication and design quality affects project performance indirectly through project communication. The primary contribution is to provide quantitative confirmation of the more general statements made in the literature from around the world and therefore adds to and consolidates existing knowledge. Practical implications derived from the finding are also proposed for various project stakeholders. Furthermore, as lack of the clarity of project definition is a very common occurrence in construction projects globally, these findings have important ramifications for all construction projects in expanding and clarifying existing knowledge on what is needed for the successful delivery of construction projects.

Rallying the troops or beating the horses? How project-related demands can lead to either high performance or abusive supervision

In today's high-pressure work environment, project managers are often forced to “do more with less.” We argue that this imperative can lead project managers to engage in either high-performance or abusive supervision behaviors. To understand this process, we develop a model and associated propositions linking a project manager's cognitive appraisal of project-related demands to high-performance work practices versus abusive supervision behaviors—both of which impact three project outcomes: stakeholder relationships, people-related project success factors, and employee well-being. We propose that the choice between high-performance work practices and abusive supervision behaviors is moderated by a project manager's personal resources (psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and dark triad personality).

A fair use project for Australia: Copyright law and creative freedom

This essay provides a critical assessment of the Fair Use Project based at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. In evaluating the efficacy of the Fair Use Project, it is worthwhile considering the litigation that the group has been involved in, and evaluating its performance. Part 1 outlines the history of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, and the aims and objectives of the Fair Use Project. Part 2 considers the litigation in Shloss v. Sweeney over a biography concerning Lucia Joyce, the daughter of the avant-garde literary great, James Joyce. Part 3 examines the dispute over the Harry Potter Lexicon. Part 4 looks at the controversy over the Shepard Fairey poster of President Barack Obama, and the resulting debate with Associated Press. Part 5 of the essay considers the intervention of the Fair Use Project as an amicus curiae in the ‘Column case’. Part 6 explores the participation of the Fair Use Project as an amicus curiae in the litigation over 60 Years Later, an unauthorised literary sequel to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Part 7 of the essay investigates the role of the Fair Use project in disputes over copyright law and musical works. Part 8 investigates the role of the Fair Use Project as an advocate in disputes over copyright law, fair use, documentary films, and internet videos. The conclusion has main three arguments. First, it contends that Australia should establish a Fair Use Project to support creative artists in litigation over copyright exceptions. Second, it maintains that Australia should adopt a flexible, open-ended defence of fair use, and draw upon the rich jurisprudence in the United States on the fair use doctrine. Finally, this paper argues that support should be given at an international level to the proposal for a Treaty on Access to Knowledge.

The genographic project: Traditional knowledge and population genetics

This article considers the debate over patent law, informed consent, and benefit-sharing in the context of biomedical research in respect of Indigenous communities. In particular, it focuses upon three key controversies over large-scale biology projects, involving Indigenous populations. These case studies are representative of the tensions between research organisations, Indigenous communities, and funding agencies. Section two considers the aims and origins of the Human Genome Diversity Project, and criticisms levelled against the venture by Indigenous peak bodies and anti-biotechnology groups, such as the Rural Advancement Foundation International. It examines the ways in which the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) grappled with questions of patent law, informed consent, and benefit sharing in relation to population genetics. Section three focuses upon the ongoing litigation in Tilousi v. Arizona State University, and the Havasupai Tribe v. Arizona State University. In this matter, the Havasupai tribe from the Grand Canyon in the United States brought legal action against the Arizona State University and its researchers for using genetic data for unauthorised purposes - namely, genetic research into schizophrenia, migration, and inbreeding. The litigation raises questions about informed consent, negligence, and larger matters of human rights. Section four explores the legal and ethical issues raised by the Genographic Project. It considers the aims and objectives of the venture, and the criticisms levelled against it by Indigenous communities, and anti-biotechnology groups. It examines the response of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to the Genographic Project. It charts the debate over the protection of traditional knowledge in various international fora. The conclusion recommends a number of measures to better regulate large-scale biology projects involving the participation of Indigenous communities.

Analysing industry needs to fine tune IPM project activities

As a first step to better targeting the activities of a project for improving management of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentialis, (WFT) in field grown vegetable crops, we surveyed growers, consultants and other agribusiness personnel in two regions of Queensland. Using face-to-face interviews, we collected data on key pests and measures used to manage them, the importance of WFT and associated viral diseases, sources of pest management information and additional skills and knowledge needed by growers and industry. Responses were similar in the two regions. While capsicum growers in one northern Queensland district had suffered serious losses from WFT damage in 2002, in general the pest was not seen as a major problem. In cucurbit crops, the silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci biotype B) was considered the most difficult insect pest to manage. Pest control tactics were largely based on pesticides although many respondents mentioned non-chemical methods such as good farm hygiene practices, control of weed hosts and regular crop monitoring, particularly when prompted. Respondents wanted to know more about pest identification, biology and damage, spray application and the best use of insecticides. Natural enemies were mentioned infrequently. Keeping up to date with available pesticide options, availability of new chemicals and options for a district-wide approach to managing pests emerged as key issues. Growers identified agricultural distributors, consultants, Queensland Department of Primary Industries staff, other growers and their own experience as important sources of information. Field days, workshops and seminars did not rank highly. Busy vegetable growers wanted these activities to be short and relevant, and preferred to be contacted by post and facsimile rather than email. In response to these results, we are focusing on three core, interrelated project extension strategies: (i) short workshops, seminars and farm walks to provide opportunities for discussion, training and information sharing with growers and their agribusiness advisors; (ii) communication via newsletters and information leaflets; (iii) support for commercialisation of services.