Project Management Responsibilities Research Articles

Developing community energy systems to facilitate Ethiopia's transition to sustainable energy

In Ethiopia, renewable energy offers people an affordable, dependable, and eco-friendly power supply while decreasing the carbon footprint. However, delivering a renewable future for the country requires a massive change in social practices and systems of provision. The slow progress of renewable development is hindering the transition to a cleaner energy future. Over 80 % of people live in rural areas where it is expensive to reach them via grid networks in Ethiopia, requiring off-grid alternatives.Community energy systems, which are off-grid energy systems in which communities play a key role, offer alternative strategies to close the country's energy access gap. However, community energy systems remain underdeveloped in Ethiopia. There is a need to understand the opportunities for community energy and the barriers that hinder its development in Ethiopia, and their role in energy transitions.This paper adopts an experimental lens to understand the diverse dimensions of community energy projects through how they are made, maintained, and lived. Using a comparative analysis of three multi-method, qualitative case studies, this paper argues that the political context poses the biggest obstacle to the development of community energy in Ethiopia despite these projects' tangible benefits.The analysis indicates that community energy projects allow communities to be involved in all stages of project development. In every project, communities assume project management responsibilities after commissioning. However, these projects encounter challenges in resourcing capital, managing supply chains, and building necessary skills among community members to understand business models to ensure sustained operation of the systems.

The AI-powered PM Toolkit - A Project Manager’s Guide to Thrive the Generative AI Wave

Project management stands at the precipice of a significant transformation driven by Generative AI (GenAI). This paper delves into the profound impact of GenAI on project managers, exploring how it reshapes roles, responsibilities, and the future of the field. We begin by outlining the evolution of AI, highlighting the emergence of GenAI and its ability to go beyond analysis and create novel content. GenAI will transform project management responsibilities from fully automated activities to a blend of assisted and augmented tasks, requiring collaboration and strategic application of this innovative technology. The paper explores the evolution of project management methodologies and the evolving skillset required of successful project managers in the age of AI and offers a "Project Manager's Guide to Thriving in the Generative AI Tsunami" by outlining the three pillars of the PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working, Power Skills, and Business Acumen. Each pillar is examined in detail, highlighting the role of GenAI in enhancing mastery and providing illustrative examples of AI-powered tools and frameworks. This paper equips project managers with the knowledge and tools to not only survive but thrive in the age of GenAI, ensuring their continued value and leadership in shaping successful projects.

Development Of Micro Credential Design For Project Management To Improve The Quality Of Engineering Practices

The integration of engineering practices with project management responsibilities is commonplace in the field, offering an effective solution for executing engineering projects. However, the unique discipline of project management poses a challenge, revealing a limitation in the quality of human resources with expertise in both engineering and project management. This study aims to address this gap by developing a Project Management Micro-Credential Design to formally recognize engineers possessing project management competencies. Employing the Rapid Assessment Process (RAP) integrated with the Regional Model Competency Standard (RMCS), the research outlines a comprehensive design for the development of a micro-credential in engineering project management. Key components of the design include a competency-based skill set development model, an instructional design system for quality assurance, an outcome-based learning and teaching delivery structure (OBLT), a competency-based assessment (CBA) development framework, and an operational structure for micro-credential implementation. This designed framework is adaptable for application within Professional Organizations and Professional Education of Engineers, accommodating both integrated and packaged formats, such as the Indonesian Student Micro-Credential (KMMI). The study contributes to bridging the gap in project management expertise among engineers, presenting a structured approach to enhance their competencies and recognition within the engineering profession.

The Impact of Changing Project Organization Structure on Project Performance

Instigating changes to project organization structure during the project execution could disrupt many project processes and influence project performance. The purpose of this study is to investigate a particular problem occurred in completed construction projects in UAE market. The problem appeared due to unnecessary changes and slow or inadequate response to change by senior managers in contractor’s project organization structure. These changes had negative impact on the project management roles and responsibilities, additional cost and time impact. Furthermore, there were negative consequences on the performance of the project’s team and their effort to create new ideas as well as their innovation inside the construction project that they are involved. The qualitative methodology is used in this study through investigating five case studies for construction projects that completed in UAE market along with extensive literature review that focused on the different sides of the problem as well as an interview with ten members of contractor’s project management and senior managers to examine the impact of the problem on project performance and team effectiveness. The main findings indicate that having clear and defined roles and responsibilities have positive impact on project performance and team effectiveness. Moreover, the contractor’s senior managers have a vital role in establishing, managing the project organization structure and ensuring that any changes to the structure are dealt with effectively. This would enable the project to progress according to plan, reduce project activity reworks and address any weaking communication and cohesiveness between project team members.

The Project Win Game™: A Serious Game for Project Management Simulation

Agile project management methodology usage have grown widely in the last decade. Not all types of projects should apply agile methodologies, and the tasks that would typically be executed by a project manager are not (explicitly) addressed in agile methodologies. This paper describes The Project Win Game: a serious game for people to experience the differences in decision-making between traditional/waterfall and agile projects. The game engages an audience in complex decision-making and allows them to experience the effects of their decisions; this allows non-managers to learn project management responsibilities and translate that experience into knowledge. This paper describes the gamification of project management, the development of the game, and the lessons learned through single-player and competitive play. This paper would interest people that need to engage non-managers in management tasks and understand how a board game builds knowledge based on the experience of playing the game.

A comprehensive assessment of time overruns in Ghanaian telecom cell site construction

It is imperative for researchers to study construction projects in all industries, in order to find lasting solutions to the occurrence of time overruns during projects. Considering the myriad of studies on time overruns in construction projects, there is a scarcity of such studies in the construction of cell sites for the telecom industry. Therefore, this paper sought to investigate time overruns in the construction of cell sites, and quantitatively, to determine the real causal factors of its occurrence within the context of the Ghanaian telecom industry. As a mixed method approach, this study used the expert interview method in the case study, and structured questionnaires in the survey study to elicit information from practitioners with direct project management responsibilities in cell site construction. The findings indicate that time overruns, ranging from three weeks to two months, occur across the industry, with the overall impact of loss of revenue and business value. After the EFA and CFA analysis, 9 out of 28 factors were retained, forming two principal components named “project planning” and “project control”. The findings and recommendations made by this paper would enlighten the perspective of project management practitioners in their quest to deliver successful cell site construction. Both scholars and industry players can use the research methodology that has been designed to aid and facilitate the conduct of any such study in any industry in future.

Opening up Educational Practices through Faculty, Librarian, and Student Collaboration in OER Creation: Moving from Labor-intensive to Supervisory Involvement

This article presents a case study for transitioning library-led open-educational resources (OER) initiatives away from labor-intensive activities to a model where library personnel focus on project management responsibilities. This shift from labour-intensive activities, such as workshops and training sessions, led to more collaborative partnerships with faculty and students to produce OER projects. In particular, we focus on labour implications for the various stakeholders involved and the sustainability of these initiatives. We describe several initiatives undertaken by the Ohio University Libraries to encourage open educational resource adoptions and projects, including a grant-funded initiative to provide support services for faculty creating OER. That funding, which was awarded to enhance undergraduate education, has been used to support the development of five OER projects that have directly involved students in the creation of those materials. We provide an overview of the various ways in which students have become involved in OER creation in partnership with faculty and librarians and discuss the impact these partnerships have had on student-faculty-librarian relationships and student engagement. Among these projects are an Hispanic linguistics open textbook created using only student-authored texts, student-generated test banks to accompany existing OER materials for a large-enrollment art history course, and several other projects in which hired student assistants are helping faculty to develop content for open textbooks. This article helps to address a gap in the literature by providing transparency regarding the personnel, costs, and workflow for Ohio University Libraries’ OER initiatives and addressing potential areas of concern surrounding student labour.

Implementing a Centralized Surveillance and Validation Program for Infection Prevention

Background: Mandatory reporting of all healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) leads to substantial surveillance volume for infection prevention and control (IPC) programs. Prior to 2019, 6 infection preventionists were performing system-wide surveillance for all infection types using NHSN definitions at a large quaternary-care center in Pennsylvania. Limited surveillance validation was performed. With the continued expansion of the health system, increased demands for IPC expertise, and a growing team, the need for streamlined surveillance, and a validation program were identified. Methods: A surveillance training program for novice team members was developed and implemented. Infection prevention associates (IPAs), whose primary role was data management, began training. The new program included NHSN training videos, direct observation of surveillance with infection preventionists and practice case studies. Following training, IPAs performed surveillance for experienced infection preventionists covering high-risk inpatient units. To ensure high reliability, surveillance validation was initiated. Each month, ~10% of investigated infections were randomly pulled from the electronic surveillance system and divided among experienced infection preventionists. These validators performed unbiased reviews of the charts based on limited data, including patient demographics and culture results. Validation documentation included noting whether an infection was reportable to NHSN and a rationale. Data on whether or not each patient had a complex medical history and time spent validating each case were collected. Compliance of validator documentation aligning with original documentation was tracked. Discrepancies were discussed as a team and were adjudicated as needed. IPAs tracked hours spent on surveillance to capture effort transitioned from infection preventionists. Results: Between March and July 2019, an average of 223 (range, 178–261) potential infections were reviewed per month. From March through June 2019, 61 infections were selected for validation, with 98% compliance with original documentation. One minor discrepancy was attributed to interpretation of documentation in the medical record. Medical complexity accounted for 78% of reviews and validation time spent averaged 12 minutes per infection (range, 3–28 minutes). Self-reported effort directed from infection preventionists to 2 IPAs for surveillance was ~20 hours per week. An additional IPA was hired to perform surveillance in addition to other job responsibilities. Conclusions: Centralized surveillance programs can promote high reliability and cost-efficient IPC staffing for large healthcare systems, especially those with mandatory reporting requirements or medically complex patient populations. Improving surveillance skills among associate staff can increase experienced infection preventionist bandwidth for project management, staff supervision, and other leadership responsibilities. Lastly, validation programs are crucial to ensuring quality assurance of data reporting to both internal and external stakeholders.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

Helping women intrapreneurial leaders flourish: appreciating emotional labor

PurposeFaced with dynamic and challenging environments, organizations today expect all their leaders, including their women leaders, to be highly intrapreneurial. However, intrapreneurship is traditionally perceived to be a masculine activity. In order to appear intrapreneurial, women leaders consciously behave like men and suppress their feminine characteristics. This results in “emotional labor” that causes undue stress, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. Organizations can help intrapreneurial women leaders succeed by a combination of gender-related sensitization, focused training, setting up sharing and communication platforms, encouraging self-support groups and providing formal and informal mentorship to their women employees.Design/methodology/approachWe carried out qualitative research which involved 31 in depth semi-structured in-person interviews (including 11 repeat interviews) with 20 women leaders from seven large organizations from the Indian IT industry. The interviewees had 15 years of average work experience, were in the 35-50 years age group, and held senior management functional or project management responsibilities. The interviews were typically 60 minutes each. The researcher took detailed notes, and subsequently, manually carried out multiple levels and multiple rounds of coding (initially open-coding followed by focused coding) to identify and abstract the themes and categories.FindingsOur study identified that women leaders who are expected to behave as intrapreneurs, face “emotional labor” which results in stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout. To help women leaders succeed, a well-defined set of organizational interventions including gender sensitization, training, sharing & communication platforms, self-support groups, and formal and informal mentoring are useful.Research limitations/implicationsTo increase the generalizability of our study beyond the Indian cultural context and beyond the IT industry, future researchers may carry out both qualitative and larger sample quantitative studies in other countries, and draw upon data from multiple industries. The issues arising out of emotional labor of women intrapreneurial leaders are likely to be present in a wide range of industries and cultural contexts. However, there may be nuanced contextual differences that need further exploration. Future research can build on our findings and explore moderators, contingencies, and boundary conditions that affect the suitability of organizational interventions that we have suggested.Practical implicationsEmotional well-being of women intrapreneurial leaders would help them take innovative organizational initiatives, and make the organization strategically agile. To help women leaders be intrapreneurial, organizations need many interventions and need to provide the required supporting infrastructure.Social implicationsWays to resolve gender-related issues in workplaces are suggested.Originality/valueOur study is valuable as it simultaneously considers two strategic organizational objectives of intrapreneurship and gender diversity of leadership teams. The paper provides useful prescriptions for organizations to help women intrapreneurial leaders succeed. This will help organizations that are facing dynamic external environments become innovative and strategically agile.

Reducing Waste of Construction Materials in Civil Engineering Projects In Iraq

There is no doubt there is waste of construction materials in projects.So it is the responsibility of project managers to minimize these wastes. This study aims to determine the major causes ofconstruction materialswastage, to test the willingness of those who are engaged in the building and construction industry towards waste managementand to estimate the percentage of wastage in the main building materials used in construction sites in Iraq.To achieve the aims of this study, a form of questionnaire prepared, which include three sections that question about the causes of wastage, factors that influencing the application of waste management in the country and the wastage's estimated percentages for more common fifteen types of used materials in Iraqi construction sites and compare the results gained with other countries data.The study found that the most important causes of materials wastage at construction projects in Iraqiare lack of on-site waste management plans; frequent changes to design, time pressure, lack of supervision, improper storing of materials; lack of possibilities to order small quantities; lack of skilled workers; theft and vandalism and poor contract documents.Moreover, the study found that both the private and public in the construction sector do not really considered in their plan and given an adequate attention to the management of waste in a construction site in Iraq, in addition, the study revealed that the wastage percentage of materials are ranged between 5% to more than 11% in the Iraqi construction sites.

PROJECT MANAGER JOB DESCRIPTION AS ONE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENTKEY SUCCESS FACTORS

The article discusses the practical aspects of profiling knowledge in project management, taking into account competence and experience for various categories of professionals involved in project management. Very often, project managers are forced to not only manage the project, but also train the project team members or help them develop their best skills to achieve the project goal. It is shown that success of project activities of organizations substantially depends on the professional personnel training and the proper formation of project participants' job descriptions. In addition to the formal responsibilities outlined in the basic project management methodologies the project manager plays an important role in the interaction between the project and the business area.Market pressure on project activities is associated with a rapid reduction in the life cycles of technologies and products, which significantly increases the responsibility of project managers for the ultimate fate of their project outputs. The employees’ knowledge, skills and competencies are the basis for the development and improvement of any organization. In this case, more and more situations arise when, under extremely short deadlines, it is necessary to make a decision on the project team formation and on the selection of the project manager. When executing projects, there is always a need to coordinate the work of managers, staff and project team. To do this, organizations develop the rules of interaction and managers’ responsibilities, as well as determine the managers’ responsibility for various types of work. The responsibilities of managers are fixed in the job descriptions, which serve as the basis for the formation of responsibility matrices. At the same time, the fulfillment of the type of work specified in the instruction must be supported by the performer’s certain competence. A general concept of forming job descriptions is proposed. Each instruction point is formed at the intersection of three coordinates: the performer, the work and the competence. A Markov model for changing the project manager’s states has been developed, which describes the system using homogeneous Markov chains with discrete states and time. Discrete states form a specific structure of communications and interaction of project processes, which take into account the system topology and contextual features of the processes of project activities.

Managing risks in public-private partnership formation projects

While sourcing by means of Public-Private Partnerships has been lauded over recent years, increasingly risks appear to jeopardise public organisations' unique societal tasks. Integrated Risk Management has not yet been applied to public organisations getting involved in PPP in the sense of understanding risk management capabilities. This article explores risk awareness and risk management practices underpinning maintenance partnership formation by means of a dual case study of two PPP projects and a short industry survey. The results suggest that organisations face several “intolerable risks” linked to project governance and project management responsibilities: insufficient representation of qualified employees, absence of a shared performance system, assignment of responsibilities and decision-making authority, impractical or inappropriate partnership agreement, and timing of the partnership initiative. Cross-case analysis revealed the role of different levels of risk awareness and senior management involvement. Drawing on these findings, a framework for risk management for PPP formation projects is developed.

Web accessibility in Turkey: awareness, understanding and practices of user experience professionals

Ensuring web accessibility for all is not an easy task and requires the awareness, understanding and practices of people with different roles. User experience professionals (UXPs) play an important role in ensuring web accessibility for all. However, in Turkey, there is no research concerning the status of the awareness, understanding and common practices of UXPs. The overall goal of the present work was to offer an assessment of the current situation in Turkey to suggest areas of improvement and changes to advance web accessibility practices. To meet this goal, we conducted an online survey. The results of this survey show that UXPs believe they have enough training and education in web accessibility; however, they are not familiar with web accessibility standards and assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. They do not work with people with disabilities in their studies on usability, and they do not consider web accessibility in their projects. Our findings also show that UXPs have a top-down approach to web accessibility and they think that it is the responsibility of project managers to make web applications accessible. In brief, the study showed that UXPs in Turkey need to be better educated and trained on web accessibility, and organizations need to realize that both top-down and bottom-up approaches are required to ensure accessibility of the web for all.

2509 内部統制プロジェクト・マネージャーの責務(一般セッション)

2509 内部統制プロジェクト・マネージャーの責務(一般セッション)

Mediating influence of time management on the relationship between adult attention deficit and the operational effectiveness of project managers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between adult attention deficit (AAD) and the operational effectiveness of project managers (OEPM) as mediated by time management (TM). Design/methodology/approach In total, 104 actively employed business graduate students each had the opportunity to be a project manager within a project team. Each team member rated the others on their operational effectiveness, completed a self-report measure of TM and identified a close associate who completed an observer version of the Brown Adult Attention Deficit Scale. The Sobel and Hayes tests were used to test the hypothesis that TM mediates the relationship between AAD and OEPM. Findings AAD is negatively associated with TM and OEPM, and TM is positively associated with OEPM. TM partially mediates the relationship between AAD and OPME. Research limitations/implications Future research requires a sample of project managers drawn directly from the workplace, and needs to examine the association of AAD with a wider set of project conditions and associated competencies to identify potential benefits and challenges. An updated and validated measure of both TM and the OEPM is required in future research. Practical implications Individuals and organizations wanting to ensure timely and successful completion of key tasks and projects need to be aware of the potentially constraining influence of AAD on TM and OPME. Relatively more intensive time and project management training is suggested for disordered project managers and team members. The use of organizational coaches and peer coaching within project teams represents a potential opportunity for distributing the potential benefits of the disorder while managing the challenges. Employee assistance programs that raise awareness and provide access to assessment are an important part of multi-modal management of the disorder in the workplace. Social implications Employers are facing increasing social, legal and economic pressures to support functional but disordered employees, be more inclusive and take appropriate advantage of employee diversity. This research provides constructive suggestions for how to support disordered employees with project management responsibilities. Originality/value This research study is the first examination of the relationships between AAD, TM and OEPM, and is of value to researchers, organizational development specialists, human resource management specialists, managers and employees who are seeking effective multi-modal management of the disorder in the workplace.

Handover of managerial responsibilities in global software development: a case study of source code evolution and quality

Studies report on the negative effect on quality in global software development (GSD) due to communication and coordination-related challenges. However, empirical studies reporting on the magnitude of the effect are scarce. This paper presents findings from an embedded explanatory case study on the change in quality over time, across multiple releases, for products that were developed in a GSD setting. The GSD setting involved periods of distributed development between geographically dispersed sites as well as a handover of project management responsibilities between the involved sites. Investigations were performed on two medium-sized products from a company that is part of a large multinational corporation. Quality is investigated quantitatively using defect data and measures that quantify two source code properties, size and complexity. Observations were triangulated with subjective views from company representatives. There were no observable indications that the distribution of work or handover of project management responsibilities had an impact on quality on both products. Among the product-, process- and people-related success factors, we identified well-designed product architectures, early handover planning and support from the sending site to the receiving site after the handover and skilled employees at the involved sites. Overall, these results can be useful input for decision-makers who are considering distributing development work between globally dispersed sites or handing over project management responsibilities from one site to another. Moreover, our study shows that analyzing the evolution of size and complexity properties of a product’s source code can provide valuable information to support decision-making during similar projects. Finally, the strategy used by the company to relocate responsibilities can also be considered as an alternative for software transfers, which have been linked with a decline in efficiency, productivity and quality.

Research experiences and mentoring practices in selected east asian graduate programs: Predictors of research productivity among doctoral students in molecular biology

Although doctoral mentors recognize the benefits of providing quality advisement and close guidance, those of sharing project management responsibilities with mentees are still not well recognized. We observed that mentees, who have the opportunity to co-manage projects, generate more written output. Here we examine the link between research productivity, doctoral mentoring practices (DMP), and doctoral research experiences (DRE) of mentees in programs in the non-West. Inspired by previous findings that early career productivity is a strong predictor of later productivity, we examine the research productivity of 210 molecular biology doctoral students in selected programs in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Using principal component (PC) analysis, we derive two sets of PCs: one set from 15 DMP and another set from 16 DRE items. We model research productivity using Poisson and negative-binomial regression models with these sets as predictors. Our findings suggest a need to re-think extant practices and to allocate resources toward professional career development in training future scientists. We contend that doctoral science training must not only be an occasion for future scientists to learn scientific and technical skills, but it must also be the opportunity to experience, to acquire, and to hone research management skills.

EFFECT OF PROJECT COST AND TIME MONITORING ON PROGRESS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJCT

During the construction phase it is the prime respo nsibility of project managers to monitor cost and a void any overruns to maintain the cost baseline. Project monitoring is a n ongoing process and its importance cannot be unde rmined during the project life cycle. It can be monitored by using traditiona l approach of direct reporting of actual cost again st budget. However, the comparison of budget versus actual spending does no t indicate the worth of the work which is completed at any given time. This approach does not portray the true cost performance of the project. In general Construction cost contr ol consists of simply monitoring actual performance against cost estimate s and identifying variances. It has been usually se en there is a lack of systematic and automated evaluation and monitoring system in construction project. Due to these limita tions, this paper discusses traditional project monitoring practices in constru ction industry and proposes some guideline for impr oving cost management in fast, complex and uncertain construction projects. Such guideline involves the integrated application of Average Index formula and S-curves. This study discusses the result of qu estionairre survey conducted on various constructio n sectors to show how cost is compare as prime constraint in real estate secto r.

All Are Not Equal: An Examination of the Economic Returns to Different Forms of Participation in Open Source Software Communities

Open source software (OSS) communities live and die with the continuous contributions of programmers who often participate without direct remuneration. An intriguing question is whether such sustained participation in OSS projects yields economic benefits to the participants. Moreover, as participants engage in OSS projects, they take on different roles and activities in the community. This raises additional questions of whether different forms of participation in OSS communities are associated with different economic rewards and, if so, in which contexts. In this paper, we draw upon theories of signaling and job matching to hypothesize that participants who possess “proof” of their skills in OSS projects are financially rewarded for their activities in the labor market. More specifically, we distinguish between participation in OSS communities that is associated with a signaling value for unobserved productivity characteristics and an additional value that accrues to participants whose OSS roles and activities match those in their paid employment. Following a cohort of OSS programmers over a six-year period, we empirically examine the wages and OSS performance of participants in three of the foremost OSS projects operating within the Apache Software Foundation. Controlling for individual characteristics and other wage-related factors, our findings reveal that credentials earned through a merit-based ranking system are associated with as much as an 18% increase in wages. Moreover, we find that participants who have OSS project management responsibilities receive additional financial rewards if their professional job is in IT management. These findings suggest that rank within an OSS meritocracy is a credible and precise signal of participants' productive capacity and that participants' roles and activities in an OSS community have additional financial value when aligned with their paid employment.

Project Management Functions for the Light Industrial Sector in Mexico

This article examines the day-to-day functions performed by Project Managers in the Light Industrial sector of the Mexican construction industry in order to successfully complete their projects. The research investigates the primary activities performed by these professionals to identify those that are more time consuming. The study is based on results of a survey questionnaire and interviews of thirty Project Managers who responded to questions regarding their roles and responsibilities in performing pre-construction, construction and close-out phases of construction projects. The role of attending, organizing or leading meetings was found to remain relatively constant during all three phases consuming approximately 14% of the Project Manager's average weekly time each. Site rounds, report writing, quality issues and financial issues were found to increase as the project progressed from pre-construction to close-out. Planning and scheduling activities and contract review/negotiation, at 24.5% and 20.1% respectively, were found to consume the most average weekly time during the pre-construction phase and reduce through subsequent phases. As expected, safety issues (7.4%) and productivity review/improvement (7.1%) reached their peak during the construction phase. The results presented in this article provide an insight into the roles and responsibility of Project Managers in the Mexican Light Industrial industry.