Scientific Research Management Research Articles

Many faces of survey equipment failures during marine research at sea-Risk analysis.

Research of the marine environment is still a huge challenge for humanity. Each survey campaign is a complex project, where research vessels and relevant survey equipment is used. One of the problems that limit the success of working at sea are failures of survey equipment. The aim of this paper was to identify the most common survey equipment failures during marine research, find their causes and analyze identified risks. The authors employ risk assessment methodology in maritime research at sea and present its practical utility and contribution in social and organizational development. For this purpose we based the analysis on the review of relevant project documentation (Daily Progress Reports, Observation Cards) and the questionnaire addressed to specialists who carry out their survey work on board research vessels and also people involved in the implementation of offshore projects. The research reveals that 76.3% respondents participated in a project which had to be stopped due to a failure of the survey equipment that required return to the port which highlights that the problem which was analyzed is of particular importance. The questionnaire form was designed to obtain as much information as possible on the types of failures with examples and also their causes according to three groups: human factors, technical factors and forces of nature. Twelve risks were identified and analyzed. The authors also stress the relationship between the quality of research project management and its implementation in the context of the failure rate of measuring equipment.

It’s About Time: A Systematic Review of the Study of Time in Project Management

Time is one of the most important aspects of project management practice. Timely delivery of projects is one of the main success criteria for projects. Every year nearly half of all projects that start then fail to complete on time or miss their initial deadlines. Many project underperformances and failures are associated with time-related issues. Despite its acknowledged importance in project management practice, time-related phenomena are not often at the forefront of project management research. This paper takes stock of time-related research in project management discipline. We report how time is conceived and applied in project management research. First, we review time-related scholarship appearing in all issues of three leading project management journals. Then we review scholarship on time-related phenomena in project management published outside of three journals. Analysis of 165 articles reveals time-related research in project management is scarce and scattered, addressed in background or supporting positions rather than focal point of investigation. We identify gaps in seven themes of temporal research and present a research agenda for each to bring time-related phenomena to the forefront of project management research, which will prove beneficial in project management practice. We propose a shift in focus to studying time-related phenomena in project management to address some of the costly time-related issues.

Training and Development in Times of Automation: A Conceptual Roadmap for HRM

As automation of machines proceeds with high acceleration, human resource management (HRM) is challenged to prepare the organization for a “real” collaboration of humans and machines. In order to develop appropriate coping strategies and control systems for HRM, we design a conceptual roadmap for training and development in times of automation in the near and far future. We equally draw from management and computer science research by combining technical-centered and human-centered approaches for training and development. By conceiving humans and machines as complementary actors in the organizations of the future, we suggest four training directions. Our roadmap emphasizes that a fully integrated management of human and machine resources enables HRM to optimize and evaluate the collaborative development of machines and humans. Our research underlines the importance of combining human resource training and development with the progression of automation.

Effect of Use of Tacit Knowledge Transfer Techniques on Organizational Performance of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization Researchers

Tacit knowledge is key in managing the performance of agricultural research organizations. This study analyzed the adequacy of tacit knowledge transfer techniques, how tacit knowledge transfer enables achievement of performance indicators of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), and the nature of association between tacit knowledge transfer and researchers' performance. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design, used cluster sampling and a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from 191 respondents in KALRO research centers. Data were analyzed using the Likert scale and Chi-square in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Collaborative research, workshops and seminars are the most adequate techniques for transferring tacit knowledge among agricultural researchers and enhancing their performance. Cognitive Self-Motivation, collective and local tacit knowledge are the most useful types of tacit knowledge in enhancing agricultural researchers' performance. Management of agricultural research projects and writing of research fund-winning proposals were the performance indicators that researchers were most enabled to attain by tacit knowledge. Chi-square showed that there was significant association between the types of tacit knowledge and performance of researchers. In conclusion, use of tacit knowledge transfer techniques enables researchers to achieve their organization’s performance indicators and a significant positive association exists between tacit knowledge and researchers’ performance. KALRO needs to encourage more use of the most employed techniques in management of agricultural research projects and writing of research fund winning proposals through workshops, seminars and its knowledge management policy.

Soil Quality Assessment in Tourism-Disturbed Subtropical Mountain Meadow Areas of Wugong Mountain, Central Southeast China.

Meadow soil is a vital ecosystem component and can be influenced by meadow vegetation. Evaluating soil quality in mountain meadows subjected to different levels of tourism disturbance is essential for scientific research, ecological restoration, and sustainable management. This study aimed to evaluate meadow soil quality at different tourism-disturbance levels and attempted to establish a minimum data set (MDS) with compatible indicators for soil quality assessment of subtropical mountain meadows. We analyzed fifteen soil physical, chemical, and biological indicators in control check (CK), light disturbance (LD), medium disturbance (MD), and severe disturbance (SD) meadow areas in Wugong Mountain, west of Jiangxi, China. In addition, a soil quality index (SQI) was determined using the established MDS based on the integrated soil quality index. Average soil permeability, soil pH, available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and number of fungal OTUs were finally introduced into the MDS to evaluate meadow soil quality at different tourism-disturbance levels. The study found that the soil of the Wugong Mountain meadow was acidic, the bulk density was loose, and the nutrient content was rich. Additionally, SQI decreased with increase in tourism-disturbance level. The mean SQI values of the Wugong Mountain meadow areas were: CK, 0.612; LD, 0.493; MD, 0.448; and SD, 0.416. Our results demonstrate that the SQI based on the MDS method could be a valuable tool with which to indicate the soil quality of mountain meadow areas, and the SQI can be regarded as a primary indicator of ecological restoration and sustainable management.

The role of mindfulness in the management of projects: Potential opportunities in research and practice

Mindfulness is receiving growing attention in the project management community, probably due its proven beneficial effects at individual, team and organization levels in other management domains. Indeed, 80% of the 50 publications identified in this paper were published over the last decade. This review addresses the disparate extant publications related to mindfulness in the field of project management to date and seeks to establish how mindfulness is studied in the management of projects. We first recall the two historical schools of thought, their respective perspective on mindfulness and highlight a recent, reconciling conceptualization of the mindfulness construct termed meta-cognitive practice. Next, we review existing project management works that have included mindfulness theory and categorize them into six main research themes. Project management scholars have studied mindfulness as an enabler of (1) high reliability project organizing, (2) change and innovation, (3) agility and flexibility, (4) mindfulness-based behaviours to be compared with routine-based ones, (5) project actors and project team self-regulation, and (6) megaprojects performance. Third, we provide an overall framework of how mindfulness may benefit the project management field, together with an overall discussion of issues to be addressed. Last, we provide research avenues to foster future research in each of the identified themes. In sum, as the first review on the application of mindfulness in project management research, we contribute to the understanding of how mindfulness can contribute to overall project performance.

Analysis on the Influencing Factors and Training Strategies of Young Talents in Hospitals under the Background of Big Data

Under the background of big data, young talents in hospitals across my country are constantly striving to exert their personal scientific research and technical capabilities in terms of scientific research performance. At the same time, it also exposed many problems that need to be solved urgently. Under the background of the new era, each hospital needs to exert and increase its training in terms of scientific research and technology research and the use of young talents. By building a scientific platform and establishing an effective scientific research performance evaluation management system, the backbone of outstanding young medical talents can be realized. In the context of big data, this paper studies and analyzes the influencing factors of hospital young talent scientific research and performance management. After the preliminary data collection work, the chi-square verification was carried out on the survey data of young medical scientific research talents. It is confirmed that the research conclusions based on big data have certain basis for improving the scientific research management level of each hospital based on the research conclusions, thus providing a certain theoretical basis for enhancing the scientific research performance of young talents in the hospital.

Research Management in "Many Analysts" Projects

With the recent increase of large scientific collaborations in the form of "Many Analysts" projects, research project management has quickly moved from small/medium-scale coordination to large-scale planning. Project coordinators are faced with unprecedented challenges which make "Many Analysts" projects time consuming and resource demanding. With this poster, we would like to share our experience managing the ongoing Many Speech Analysis project (https://many-speech-analyses.github.io) and offer tips and logistic solutions to minimise the resource overhead required for such type of projects. We will also discuss which steps in the process didn't go as expected and how on hindsight we wished we approached them.
 
 More specifically we will discuss the following aspects:
 
 
 Overall design of the study in five phases: recruitment, teams' analyses, analyses peer-review, meta-analysis and write-up.
 Preparation of a Registered Report and process of getting an In Principle Acceptance prior to the beginning of the first phase (recruitment).
 Preparation and management of a project-wide OSF repository using the R package osfr, and integration with GitHub.
 Logistics of recruitment and team creation with social media, Eventbrite and Google Sheets.
 Development of questionnaires to gather background information on the recruited analysts and to collect reports on the the teams' analyses.
 General project management with GitHub projects, issues and GitHub actions.

Sámi Traditional Knowledge of Reindeer Meat Smoking

Reindeer meat, traditional food and knowledge are vital for the culture, health, and economy of Sámi reindeer herders. Nevertheless, the practices of reindeer meat smoking have barely been part of scientific research or reindeer herding management. We investigated Sámi reindeer herders’ approach to meat smoking in Northern Norway performed in the traditional Sámi tent, the lávvu. The investigation included workshops, interviews, participatory observations, and co-analyze meetings. Our findings reveal a typology of the traditional Sámi smoking practices. Sámi reindeer herders use a variety of wood species and plant parts to control the smoke based on a complex system of traditional knowledge. Yet there is a need for education, industry, and research acknowledging, supporting, and maintaining the Sámi meat-smoking process and associated worldviews, knowledge, and practices to ensure ethical, sustainable, and healthy food production.

Impact of COVID-19 on student attainment and pedagogical needs when undertaking independent scientific research.

Research is often an essential component of completing a veterinary medicine degree, with universities worldwide aiming to teach students a variety of techniques and general research comprehension and skills. As universities worldwide navigated the COVID‐19 pandemic, it was often necessary to move towards distance learning, this was employed for the research module at The University of Nottingham, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. Following completion of their independent research project, each student cohort was sent a student evaluation of the module questionnaire and quantitative and qualitative analysis was undertaken. In addition, assessment outcomes based on dissertation grade, supervisor grade and overall module score were analysed quantitatively. This was conducted on both the individual cohorts and between the pre‐ and peri‐pandemic groups, ranging from 2017–2018 through to 2021–2022 cohorts. The students received increased dissertation and supervisor grades (by nearly 6%) during the 2021–2022 peri‐pandemic cohort, when compared to the pre‐pandemic cohorts, but did differ significantly compared to the 2020–2021 cohort. The pre‐ and peri‐pandemic Likert‐scale ratings for module organisation and assessment criteria were similar, workload management and the ability to explore concepts and ideas was reduced in the peri‐pandemic cohorts, whereas the accessibility to resources was increased in the peri‐pandemic students compared to those taught prior to the pandemic. Student feedback can provide essential information when designing and managing research projects and when compared to assessment grades it can help us understand attainment, essential information when providing a quality university level education whilst supporting student welfare following the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Mass poisonings of the Vulnerable Andean condor prompt national strategy against the use of toxic baits in Argentina

Massive deaths of Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) prompted a National Strategy Against the Use of Toxic Baits in Argentina, based on 6 lines of action: 1) delivery of kits and unified intervention protocols in cases of wildlife poisoning, 2) community education programs, 3) surveys of rural people, 4) training courses and participatory construction workshops, 5) toxicology studies, and 6) an academic-scientific committee made up of specialists in toxicology. The strategy was developed in the 14 provinces of the country where the Andean condor is distributed. 554 people from 166 institutions have participated in the trainings and workshops, reporting 200 poisoning events involving more than 21000 individuals from 61 species. Birds and mammals were the groups most affected, and further, human victims show the impact on public health. 19 toxic substances were identified, mainly insecticides. This study proved that carbofuran is the toxic most used. Analysis of bait types suggests a significant conflict with carnivores. 195 surveys revealed that almost half of the farmers know people who use toxic baits and that the negative perception towards some species could determine their use. The strategy began to address the problem of the use of toxic baits in Argentina in a strategic, participatory and regional way, through the management of public policies and scientific research. We propose actions to work on the causes that lead to the application of this dangerous practice. Given its extensive use, we believe that this strategy can be adapted and applied in other countries in the region.

Research on the discourse power evaluation of academic journals from the perspective of multiple fusion: Taking Medicine, General and Internal journals as an example

In the open science environment, this article evaluates the discourse power of academic journals from the perspective of multiple integration. It is conducive to scientific research management and provides a reference for enriching and perfecting the evaluation theory and indicators system of academic journals. Based on the theory of evaluation science, discourse power theory and communication theory, first, this article discusses the basic issues of the discourse power evaluation for academic journals. It defines the academic discourse power and the discourse power of academic journals. It is proposed that the discourse power of academic journals is composed of discourse influence and discourse leading. Discourse influence is composed of discourse influence ability and discourse power, and discourse leading is composed of social media discourse, news and policy discourse, encyclopaedia discourse, peer-review discourse and video discourse leading. This article explores the formation process and operation mechanism of the discourse power for academic journals. Then, this article constructs the discourse power evaluation model of academic journals. Second, this article integrates multi-source heterogeneous data, then adopts correlation analysis, integrated factor analysis, entropy weight method, Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method and two-dimensional four-quadrant mapping method to conduct empirical research on the discourse power evaluation of Medicine, General and Internal journals from the perspectives of multi-dimensions, multi-factors, multi-indicators and multi-methods fusion. The results show that the research on the discourse power evaluation for academic journals based on the theory, method and application logic is practical, comprehensive and reliable.

Jilin Province implements industry-university cooperative education project

On May 20, 2022, the Jilin Provincial Department of Education issued the "Notice on Launching the Project Establishment and Project Closure Management of Jilin Province Higher Education Teaching Reform Research Project in 2022" (Jijiao Gao〔2022〕12), implementing the 2022 University-Industry Collaborative Education Program, and the application period is from June 10, 2022 to June 30, 2022.

IT-enabled management of project complexity – An Action Design Research project

PurposeProject complexity has been researched much. The majority of publication is searching for law-like relations or development of descriptive frameworks. More prescriptive knowledge is needed to guide the project managers in navigating the project complexity in project managers' pursuit of success. Identifying the complexities of a given project is a real-world problem for project managers (Mikkelsen et al., 2021). The purpose of the paper is to investigate the research of prescriptive knowledge on the management of project complexity.Design/methodology/approachBased on a longitudinally case study, this paper uses Action Design Research (Sein et al., 2011) (ADR) to research the management of project stakeholder complexity. ADR is a variation of action research (AR) with inspiration from design science (Hevner et al., 2004) where an artifact is designed to solve a real-world problem. In this case study, an information system was configured in collaboration with the project managers of the recipient organization.FindingsThe findings from the research project are presented using the affordance theory (Gibson, 1977) as a framing concept and give special attention the affordance perception (Pozzi et al., 2014). Among the project managers, who were very engaged in the co-design, the majority refrained from activating the information system and got the outside view from the stakeholders. Interviews afterward identified “fear of bad project ratings from the stakeholder” as the main course of resistance to deploy the surveying information system.Originality/valueThe paper contributes on two levels. The paper presents a novel approach to researching project complexity based on engaging the stakeholder in generating a common perception of the ongoing state of the projects. The paper also contributes insights into reasons for reluctance on the part of the participants (the project managers) of the recipient organization and hereby adds to the understanding of the organizational change aspect of AR in the research of project management. The paper concludes with the identified benefits of using ADR in research on project complexity management and gives recommendations for future research.

International Scientific Cooperation – Approaches to the Analysis of the Situation

The directions of analysis of international cooperation in science are considered including access to foreign financing, access to modern scientific equipment, exchange of ideas, access to potential customers for R&D, independent examination of scientific results and the organization of scientific research management. The analysis of approaches to the organization of international cooperation in science under sanctions pressure is given and proposals for priority actions in this matter are formulated: clarification of priorities for theorganization of scientific research; development of scientific instrumentation and production of consumables for scientific research; provision of access to foreign scientific and technical information; organization of presentation of the results of Russian scientific research primarily for Russian consumers of information.

Large-scale construction programme resilience against creeping disruptions: Towards inter-project coordination

Extant resilience research in project management focused mainly on the project level and sudden disruptions. However, resilience at the programme level, especially resilience against creeping disruptions, remains unexplored. This study adopts boundary object theory as the theoretical lens to explore programme resilience against creeping disruptions. Based on the case study of a large-scale construction programme Expo 2020 Dubai, a process model is proposed to unveil how programme resilience can be fostered through inter-project coordination. The model includes roles (i.e., program coordinators and project managers) and processes (i.e., preparation, mobilisation and response phases) that impact the resilience of the programme. The three-phase resilience process further corresponds to three boundary object-based coordination mechanisms: pull, match, and push, respectively. This study not only contributes to the project/programme resilience and management literatures, but also advances knowledge on resilience.

Systemic vulnerability of coastal territories to erosion and marine flooding: A conceptual and methodological approach applied to Brittany (France)

The attractiveness of the coasts tends to increase their exposure to erosion and marine flooding risks. This exposure is exacerbated by the effects of climate change, in particular sea level rise. To contribute to strategic thinking on the vulnerability of coastal areas, it is essential to develop, share and collectively maintain relevant knowledge on risks. This article will present the thinking behind the setting up of a coastal risks observatory in Brittany, a region located in north-western France. It relies on a conceptual approach to systemic vulnerability based on four components: hazards, assets, management, and social representations. Hazards and assets underpin the notion of risk and tend to increase the vulnerability, management tends to mitigate it, and representations can play a part in increasing or decreasing it depending on the context. To understand and analyse this system of vulnerability, our approach is based on the generation of a set of 62 indicators combined into different types of indices. A web-GIS interface was developed to navigate through and map this system of vulnerability. The difficulties associated with this type of synthetic approach will be discussed, whether they are related to data availability, to the links between scientific research and operational territorial management requirements, or to an understanding of the dynamics of all of the vulnerability components and their interactions. Ultimately, the approach developed has been successful in mobilising scientific and operational stakeholders around the co-construction of a diagnosis of territories with regard to their vulnerability to coastal risks.

Roles of competencies, career shock, and satisfaction in career commitment: Evidence from project-based organizations

This study analyzes how career competencies increase individuals’ career commitment through positive career shocks from the project perspective. Further, this paper discusses the interaction effect of career satisfaction and career shocks to career commitment. Survey data were collected from early-career engineers working on engineering projects, and later analyzed through PROCESS Macro. Findings revealed that positive career shocks increased the career commitment of young engineers who had acceptable career competencies. This study extends the current career debate more precisely in the project context by highlighting the role of positive career shock, a relatively new construct in project management research, in career commitment. This also highlighted policy implications from a project viewpoint, such as how project recruiters may help early-career workers develop and enhance their attitudes toward a certain career, which is advantageous to the organization and project outcomes.

Editorial Policy

Editorial Policy

A Scientific Research Information System via Intelligent Blockchain Technology for the Applications in University Management

The scientific research information system plays an essential role in improving management efficiency and promoting technological innovation in universities. With the increasing computational demand for human-centric research management, blockchain technology, with distributed storage, consensus sharing, and security traceability, has efficiently assisted the research information system in dealing with various issues such as big-data scale, information security, interconnection, rapid response, and private security. A novel scientific information system framework based on intelligent blockchain technology is proposed to promote university scientific research’s information level and management efficiency. Moreover, four smart data contracts, including data collection, verification, sharing, and supervision, are custom-designed under an efficient scientific research information system. Those intelligent contracts provide reliable data security and traceability algorithms to guarantee the practical application of the scientific research information system. The results show that the constructed system can relieve the centralized storage pressure of scientific research information and solve the cross-subject sharing obstacle of massive safety data among different systems. Thereby, the system increases the transparency of scientific evaluation and realizes the credible supervision of scientific research information, which provides a way to promote the innovative application of blockchain technology in scientific research management in colleges and universities.