Project Management Skills Research Articles

Project Management Methodology in Regional Self-Government Units

Project implementation is one of the key activities in the process of ensuring development. In public institutions, the challenges in project management are particularly evident. Organizational inflexibility and an inability to adequately evaluate work are particularly emphasized, often creating problems during project implementation. These challenges become even greater if the financing of the project is planned with EU grants or other financial instruments that require great precision and thus exceptional project management skills. This document will present an effective project management model, as well as programs and portfolios in regional self-government units. A methodology has been developed to encourage the transformation of public systems from rigidly functional to project systems. The methodology was tested in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Republic of Croatia. An analysis of the quality of implementation of twenty projects has been carried out: an analysis of the final results of ten projects in which the methodology has been applied and of ten projects in which the methodology has not been applied. After conducting empirical research and analysis, the quality of the proposed model was proven at all levels of governance within the public sector. By applying this methodology, significant advances can be made in the quality of realized projects while ensuring the realistic dynamics of this realization and rational financial costs.

Quantitative Evaluation of Dental Students' Perceptions of the Roleplay-Video Teaching Modality in Clinical Courses of Dentistry: A Pilot Study.

In the modern era of dentistry, role modeling/roleplaying is one of the most prevalent and recommended methods of dental education. Working on video production projects and using student-centred learning also help students create feelings of ownership and self-esteem. This study aimed to compare students' perceptions of roleplay videos among genders, different disciplines of dentistry, and different levels of dental students. This study included 180 third- and fourth-year dental students registered in courses such as 'Introduction to Dental Practice' and 'Surgical management of oral and maxillofacial diseases', respectively, at the College of Dentistry at Jouf University. Four groups of recruited participants were pre-tested using a questionnaire about their clinical and communication skills. The students were tested again using the same questionnaire at the end of the workshop to evaluate improvements in their skills. The students were then assigned to create roleplay videos with respect to demonstrated skills related to all three disciplines (Periodontics, Oral Surgery, and Oral Radiology) in a week's time. Students' perceptions of the roleplay video assignments were collected through a questionnaire survey. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare responses for each section of the questionnaire (p < 0.05). Improvements in problem-solving and project management skills during video production were reported by 90% of the participants. No significant difference (p > 0.05) in the mean scores of the responses was found with respect to the type of discipline involved in the process. There was a significant difference in the mean scores of the responses between male and female students (p < 0.05). The fourth year participants demonstrated increased mean scores and significantly higher (p < 0.05) mean scores than third-year participants. Students' perceptions of roleplay videos differed by gender and the level of the students, but not by the type of discipline.

‘We Used to Be Somebody’, can the UK recapture its reputation as a world-leader in research and innovation? Considering the future of training researchers.

The UK has recognised itself as a world leading educator, particularly in higher education where ten of the top 100 institutions are based in the UK. And yet, establishments such as the British Academy and the Royal Society are questioning whether the UK will continue to hold this recognition. Ahead of the recommissioning of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) in 2023, the Economic &amp; Social Research Council (ESRC), one of seven council domains of UKRI (UK Research &amp; Innovation, the largest funder of doctoral research in the UK distributing funding from the UK Government) has sought to understand what the ‘gap’ is and how to close it. The ESRC commissioned three projects (Adams &amp; Neary, 2022; ESRC, 2022; Ferrie et al., 2022; Tazzyman et al., 2021) in preparation for recommissioning and this paper reviews their recommendations and anticipated impact on DTPs, and the education of doctoral researchers. Specifically, the plans to increase exposure of digital data and related skills/toolkits and project management skills including dissemination strategies will be evaluated. The paper critically asks how the new approach will benefit researchers with a focus on those intending to stay in the academy and those who choose to build a career ‘beyond’. To focus this critical work, an ‘alternative’ career pathway, that uses research skills but also dissemination and knowledge exchange skills, will be examined as a critical exemplar: journalism. This paper will close by considering the future for research methods training, at least within UK social sciences, and whether it meets the needs of doctoral researchers, whichever career pathway they intend to follow.

Developing Teachers to Enhance Project Management Skills for Students

This study is an operation within the research project of “Teachers’ Development to Enhance Their Project Management Skills for Students,” which is also one of the projects in the research plan or research project series regarding 21st-century skills. This project arose from an awareness of the opportunities from the knowledge-based society, as well as from the present digital society, and has processed different views related to project management, which have been published globally via the internet by applying the Research and Development Methodology so that an educational innovation could be created in accordance with the concept of “Knowledge and Action are power.” The aim was to empower the teachers’ learning first and then to have them apply their learning outcomes to develop their students afterwards. Furthermore, it was believed that so long as teachers are stimulated and encouraged to apply their learning outcomes, then the teaching would become more efficient. As a result, an educational innovation called an “Online Self – Training Program for Developing Teachers to Enhance the Project Management Skills of Students” has been created. It was tested by the stakeholder teachers, who used the program, and was also tested through the process of experimental field research. Thus, it was determined to be efficient as it was hypothesized by showing the possibility of disseminating the program for the useful purpose of developing the teachers and then the students in the educational opportunity extension schools under the Office of the Basic Education Commission of the Ministry of Education, which is also the target population to whom the research results will be disseminated.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AS AN ACCELERATOR FOR THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLANNING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The post-apartheid government in South Africa adopted the democratic model of cooperative governance enabled by the Constitution of 1996 in birthing intergovernmental relations (IGRs). The concept of cooperative governance accepts that all government spheres can collaboratively function together to render quality and efficient services to the citizens. Against this background, this study adopted an interpretive paradigm that draws from an explorative qualitative research approach. Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) was identified as a case study, where existing government documents, peer-reviewed articles, and other expansive literature sources were analysed to demonstrate how IGR can be adequately implemented to accelerate local government planning and community service delivery. The analysis of documents unearthed numerous challenges affecting BCMM in implementing IGR to enhance its operational efficiency and public service delivery. The challenges include poor project management and support in integrated development planning. The findings further reflected the absence of hard and soft skills, which triggered poor coordination and implementation of intergovernmental relations in BCMM. The conclusions derived from this study revealed that the leadership of BCMM needs to promote coordination and cooperation among various municipal departments, which is crucial in strengthening intergovernmental relations within the local government planning processes. The study's contribution lies in highlighting the potential of IGR in improving service delivery in South African municipalities and emphasizing the need for improved coordination and project management skills, which are central to advancing local government planning and public service delivery. Keywords: Intergovernmental Relations, Local Government Planning, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.2.71

A Model Emphasizing Project Managers’ Competencies Influencing the Success of SD Projects

This paper presents project managers (PM) competencies that influence the successful achievement of sustainable development (SD) projects. A relevant literature review is conducted to summarize the PMs’ competencies that lead to outstanding performance in projects. Then, this has been narrowed down to find out the PMs’ competencies that influence the adoption and completion of SD projects. Considering the different views, the primary purpose of this exploration is to illustrate the PMs’ competencies that have a positive impact on the achievement of SD projects in an integrative model. The investigation indicates that there are four main categories of PMs’ competencies that influence the success of SD projects: project management skills, team management abilities, emotional intelligence skills, and formal skills. Hence, this study demonstrates a model inclusively for PMs to relate the found PMs’ competencies to the successful implementation of SD projects. The model primarily explains that PMs who acquire the found competencies have a higher potential to achieve outstanding results in existing and future SD projects.

Enhancing Team Skills as a Project Management Strategy

Project management has become more difficult due to shifting consumer demands and technical development. Recognizing the benefits of high-performing project teams in delivering effective project outcomes is critical. This research examines the advantages of enhancing team skills in industries where people collaborate to achieve common goals. A thorough analysis of the research on project management strategies, team dynamics, and skill development was carried out. Additionally, empirical data was gathered through surveys and interviews with influential businesses' senior executives. The study showed a significant link between team skills and project performance. The statistical analysis of the survey data supported the premise that investing in team skill development significantly adds to project performance. The findings clarify that improving team skills should be regarded as a core project management technique. Team skills is essential for departments and cross-functional teams to perform effectively in businesses of all sizes. Organizations can foster a culture of continuous improvement, flexibility, and innovation by implementing various strategies such as training workshops and agile project management techniques. According to the study, prioritizing team skill development is crucial for maintaining a competitive advantage and effectively navigating the always-changing problems in businesses. Industry stakeholders should understand the need for technical proficiency and soft skills within project teams as project complexity rises. By enhancing team skills, project managers can optimize project delivery, risk mitigation, and long-term success in the industries. This study contends for a paradigm change in project management techniques, highlighting the value of team skills as a critical differentiator for the expansion and success of organizations.

Digital Skills for Project Managers: A Systematic Literature Review

Nowadays, project managers are facing various challenges related to volatile and dynamic environment. They should be able to manage successfully changing requirements, budget constraints and multicultural teams across several countries. Due to Covid19 pandemic context, digital skills have become even more important in order to manage remote teams and to handle increasingly complex projects. In this paper, we've conducted a systematic literature review so as to explore the main digital skills which enhance project managers’ efficiency. By analyzing the main extracted concepts from the papers resulting from our systematic literature review, we've concluded that adopting digital skills is as important as technical classic project management skills and soft skills. Also, we've performed a quantitative assessment of the 15 selected articles by using bibliometric tools. Indeed, our clustering analysis on the selected papers confirms the rise of digitals skills importance since the Covid19 pandemic. In light of the above, we believe that adopting and mastering digital skills is a requirement for current project managers in order to succeed in a changing and volatile environment. Digital skills will undoubtedly play a central role for project managers to stand out and thrive in this new normal.

Pilot project for a Medical Home in Geneva

The aging of the population and the increase in chronic diseases are overloading our healthcare system, with complex patients requiring more care. To meet their needs and keep them at home, interprofessional team management is necessary. The Directorate of Health of the Canton of Geneva issued a call for tenders to set up Medical Homes. We responded, were selected and have been building its various components over the past two years: identification of complex patients, setting up coordinated teams, the shared care plan, coordination with the medical assistant and the financing system. The preliminary results show its success, yet specific project management skills and financial resources are needed.

Inadequacies of project management skills of secretaries: implications for OTM curriculum reorganization

Inadequacies of project management skills of secretaries: implications for OTM curriculum reorganization

Management of regional development projects in the context of post-war reconstruction needs

In quarantine restrictions and active hostilities in most territories of Ukraine, the problems of activating the processes of virtual adaptation of enterprises, organizations, and institutions to new working conditions have become more acute. Moreover, it contributed to the acceleration of digital transformation processes, the transition of a significant part of workers to the remote format, the broader use of means of intellectual work, and the development of various management and remote communication programs. It is worth mentioning that in connection with the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which is currently ongoing, most regional strategies, projects, and programs need to be updated, considering the current data on the economic, social, and ecological state of the territories after the victory, the final assessment of the damage and destruction. The paper considers the process of managing regional development projects in the context of the need for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. The study showed that in the structure of projects financed from the DFRD, most of them are aimed at the development of education (about 50% of all projects), sports (an average of 15%), housing, and communal services (10%), health care (12%), transport and road infrastructure (5%). Only a little share of projects (1.5%) has a creative direction. The principles of regional management are described, which should be transformed into criteria for selecting regional and territorial development projects that will be financed from the state budget, the budgets of territorial communities, and in the form of public-private partnerships. It was emphasized that the government of Ukraine created the Fund for the Restoration of Ukraine, funds to which all those interested in a quick victory and restoration of economic potential can transfer funds. It was determined that the search for additional resources for implementing local projects could become important in reconstructing regions on the ground. It was emphasized that necessary conditions for activating these processes are the creation of conditions for the development of small businesses and the imperative of state guarantees for investors, donors, and financial institutions in financing risky projects. It has been determined that there is a need to improve the qualifications of local authorities, self-government, and businesses regarding the possibilities of attracting various sources of funding for business projects and the requirements for them, as well as improving the skills of project management. Keywords: project, management of regional development projects, post-war reconstruction.

Examining critical project management skills for successful delivery of major maintenance projects: insights from the United Kingdom energy sector

PurposeMajor maintenance projects are often regarded as maintenance activities regardless of the projects' complexity and scale. Consequently, very scarce research attention has hitherto been paid to the critical skills required when undertaking these projects. More specifically, the body of relevant knowledge is deprived of a study focusing on maintenance projects within the energy sector. In view of this shortcoming, this research aims to examine the critical project management (PM) skills required to deliver major maintenance projects within the energy sector.Design/methodology/approachBased on a quantitative research strategy, this study addressed the knowledge gap through a cross-sectional survey of professionals involved in the delivery of major maintenance projects in the United Kingdom's (UK) energy sector. Data obtained were analyzed via descriptive (e.g. frequencies, mean and standard deviation [SD]) and inferential statistical analyses (One sample t-test and exploratory factor analysis (EFA)).FindingsOut of the 45 PM skills identified in the literature and examined by the respondents, the results obtained from the One sample t-test (based on p (1-tailed) = 0.05) showed that 37 were considered to be at least “important,” accounting for 80.4% of all the skills identified. EFA revealed a clustering of the PM skills items into seven components: “skills related to work scheduling and coordination”; “communication, risk, safety and stakeholder management skills”; “quality assurance skills”; “people management skills”; “skills related to forecasting scope and duration of outage”; “implementation of processes and time management skills” and “technical/engineering skills and experience pertaining to the outage and local site knowledge.”Originality/valueThis study has identified and contributed to the limited state-of-the-art skills project managers must possess to manage major maintenance projects in the energy sector successfully. The findings would be useful to organizations within the energy sector in ensuring that the organizations have suitable personnel in place to deliver major maintenance projects on the organizations' assets.

"Not just a checkbox": A qualitative study of the resident scholarly experience.

Scholarship is a requirement of residency training; however, the scholarly productivity of trainees is highly variable. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of residents who have been highly productive in scholarship. We performed a qualitative study using a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm and conducted semistructured interviews at seven Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited emergency medicine residency programs in the United States. We included sites of diverse locations and training formats (PGY-1 to -4 vs. PGY-1 to -3). Program leadership identified residents with high levels of scholarly productivity at their institutions. We used purposive sampling to seek out residents with diversity in gender and PGY level. Two researchers independently performed a thematic analysis of interview transcripts. Discrepancies were resolved through in-depth discussion and negotiated consensus. We invited 14 residents and all consented to be interviewed. Residents felt scholarship enhanced their knowledge and skills, grew collaborative networks, and provided personal fulfillment and external rewards. Scholarship positively impacted their careers by focusing their professional interests and informing career decisions. Participants identified individual and institutional facilitators of success including personal prior knowledge and skills, project management skills, mindset, protected time, mentorship, and leadership support. Challenges to conducting scholarship included lack of time, expertise, and resources. Participants acknowledged that participating in scholarly activities was hard work and recommended that residents seek out quality mentorship, work on projects that they are passionate, start early, and be persistent in their efforts. Participants' advice to faculty supporting resident scholarship included recommendations to allow resident autonomy of projects, provide scholarly opportunities, and be responsive to trainee needs. Participants in this study highlighted benefits of participating in scholarly activity as well as challenges and strategies for success. These results can inform residencies seeking to enhance the scholarly experience of trainees.

An Assessment of the Factors Leading to Projects Success/Failure in the Mauritian Building Construction Industry

: The Mauritian building construction sector is the 3rd largest employer in the economy with around 46,300 employees, thus absorbing a large percentage of the working population with minimum level of education. However, in the Mauritian construction industry, the concept of project success/failure still remains unclearly defined. The well-known success criteria like time, cost and quality do not provide any practical information of achieving project objectives in an efficient way. Thus, it is very important for local building construction companies to understand the factors which make a project successful or a failure, if they want to progress in the highly competitive environment. The main aim of this research is to identify the major success/failure factor (and their interrelationship) from the 26 factors which were identified from project management literature. The survey was carried out among the major stakeholders of the Mauritian building construction industry through emails and social-medias. 37 responses were successfully received. From the analysis, primary and support areas of success/failure factors were identified and a framework was worked out so as to illustrate the factors which can increase project success in building construction. The most important success/failure factors are proper planning/scheduling, purchasing, contractor competences and other project management skills. Moreover, a clear interrelationship has been identified between primary and support areas of success/failure factors. Hence, from the developed framework and the interrelation matrix of project success/failure factors, major building construction project stakeholders in Mauritius can focus more on the primary factors to increase chances of project success.

Community partnerships in medical education: Narratives of medical students

AbstractWhile medical education has traditionally been designed, led and delivered exclusively by clinicians and academics, there has been an increasing shift towards diversifying actors involved in training future generations of health professionals. Public and patient involvement in learning increases the likelihood that learning is relevant to the communities we purport to serve. This article explores the experiences of medical students who were partnered with a community‐based organisation (CBOs) as part of the intercalated Global Health BSc at Imperial College London. Students involved in this programme highlight opportunities to understand the needs of communities they were placed with, beyond what is possible to understand in clinical practice; this is essential to support them in becoming holistic, patient‐centred practitioners. Students also found this opportunity helpful to gain insight into the role and value of the voluntary sector in healthcare and develop transferrable skills in project leadership and management. It is hypothesised that the benefits of this partnership extend to community‐organisations; they gain experience working with students, who provide an external view of their services and may be helpful in the delivery of quality‐improvement projects. Communities could also benefit from interactions with students by sharing insight into their needs and priorities, and in turn, shaping students’ priorities as future health professionals and co‐designers of voluntary‐sector initiatives within the community. Whilst the establishment of these partnerships does not come without its challenges, this article also highlights lessons for students and institutions undergoing similar programmes, including clarification of goals, stakeholder consultation, sustainability of interventions, voicing the community, timetable flexibility and funding.

Project cost performance factors in the war-affected and conflict-sensitive Afghan construction industry

PurposeThe Afghan construction industry faces resource shortages and heavily relies on foreign aid to fund public projects on the path to recovery and reconstruction. While the resource constraints demand cost-efficient delivery of construction projects, many Afghan public projects experience delays and cost overruns. This study aims to evaluate various attributes and factors influencing cost performance in public construction projects in Afghanistan.Design/methodology/approachThe literature review and Delphi method identified 30 cost performance attributes relevant to the context of Afghanistan. Next, a questionnaire survey was conducted with construction management professionals working in the public sector in the Afghan construction industry to evaluate these attributes.FindingsThis study found that the lack of resources, poor project management skills and corruption in procurement are the leading causes behind cost overruns in Afghan public projects. This study also identified five latent factors influencing cost performance in public projects in Afghanistan: competency of the project team, socioeconomic and political support, governance and public procurement, planning and risk management and project characteristics.Research limitations/implicationsThe exploratory factor analysis did not reveal the relative significance of different cost performance success factors. Moreover, the ranking of cost performance attributes is based on the responses from the public sector construction professionals only.Practical implicationsThe construction industry in Afghanistan significantly contributes to the country’s social and economic growth and employment. This study’s findings will help researchers, project sponsors, government departments and industry practitioners interested in improving the cost performance in Afghan public projects.Originality/valueGiven the scarcity of research in war-affected and conflict-sensitive regions, this study fills a research gap on project cost performance by providing insights into the cost performance success factors in public projects in Afghanistan.

Investigating staff capabilities to make projects resilient: A systematic literature review and future directions

Projects are increasingly confronted with uncertainties and unexpected events, which necessitate having capabilities to build resilience to cope with such events. Yet, the understanding of staff capabilities to make projects resilient remains limited. The study employed Templier and Paré's (2015) six-step instructions for conducting an SLR to close the gap. A data sample of 283 articles was systematically analyzed to filter 97 relevant articles for content analysis, yielding three-fold findings. First, much work has been done on the project manager's competences and skills, followed by projects and project team management. But literature is largely silent on how those competencies can make projects resilient. Second, there is a conceptual overlap among various types of competencies (e.g., behavioral and cognitive), which transcends in understanding of capabilities for project resilience as well. Third, to systemize knowledge development, capabilities literature should be categorized along four dimensions, i.e., project manager, team, staff, and projects (projects are regarded as temporary organizations as per definition in Appendix 1). Then, the capabilities along these dimensions can be classified from behavioral, cognitive, and functional/technical/managerial aspects to overcome the conceptual overlaps and develop strategies to make projects resilient. Academically, the study has: 1) developed a classification scheme to examine staff capabilities for project resilience, and 2) identified six areas of future research agenda, e.g., inter-disciplinary effects of project staff capabilities on resilience.

Critical Project Management Knowledge and Skills for Managing Projects with Smart Technologies

Critical Project Management Knowledge and Skills for Managing Projects with Smart Technologies

Transforming from Coordinator to Manager: Essential Responsibilities of a Successful Residency Program Manager

In 2002, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) instituted the Outcome Project, which established 6 core competencies for residency education and changed the scope and depth of the program director and program coordinator responsibilities dramatically.1 The paradigm shift changed the ACGME-defined program coordinator role from primarily clerical/secretarial in nature to a managerial one, necessitating specialized knowledge of ACGME requirements, project management skills, and the ability to function as an integral part of the program leadership team.

Key Factors Employers Look for In Hiring Construction Managers for Public and Private Construction Projects

The construction industry is one of the world's most important economic activities, and research in this area has found a positive correlation between project management skills and construction project success. However, it is becoming more evident that success in the role of a construction manager cannot be attained with a technical skill set alone. Excellent soft skills are also necessary requisites for success. The aim of the paper is to discuss the benefits of project management skills and what skills employers of labour expected when hiring construction managers in the construction industries. In recent years, several construction projects have steadily failed due to engaging incompetent construction managers with no technical and soft skills. This failure has affected the rate of productivity in the construction industry. Several companies have closed due to the poor performance of their construction managers. Despite the construction industry's significant contribution to economic growth in developed and developing countries, there are still great hindrances in construction project productivity due to the poor performance of construction managers. However, this gap significantly delays much-needed productivity gains, as it is difficult to fully overcome the associated disruptions and choose the best remedy to minimize their impacts on every Nation's Economic Development. Therefore, this investigation is required to close these gaps. This study employed a qualitative research methodology. A combination of primary and secondary sources was used to achieve the main research objectives. Interviews were conducted with 8 vibrant employers in the construction industry. The interview question was made open to enable the employers to air their views on the skills they expected construction managers to possess before engaging them to manage a construction business. The interviews were done face-to-face. Each employer was interviewed separately to avoid copied responses. The outcomes of the interview were noted and listed. However, the benefits of possessing those skills demanded by employers were explained. These benefits were discovered through a systematic literature review. The findings from this study will not only benefit all employers of construction managers in the construction industry but will also be beneficial to all other employees in a company who seek career growth and better job opportunities in the future. It will help eliminate the issue of unnecessary company closure and disputes among the project team due to project failure. Both professionals and future college and university graduates, whose intentions are to proceed to the working field after graduation, will also benefit from the findings. The construction industry is still doomed unless it addresses the issues of construction managers’ attributes. The value of teamwork in the workplace is obvious, and it is frequently directly influenced by effective construction managers’ attributes. Effective construction managers help to save money and boost their company’s reputation. Using a technology-knowledgeable construction manager can greatly help improve the project delivery and a good team working environment saves money and time on projects.