Project and Programme Management

Construction is a sector that has been tagged with poor performance in the UK. Reports on the industry since 1944 have repeatedly described the industry as fragmented and adversarial. Furthermore, poor project information arising from paper-based drawings and other instructions have been blamed as a one of the major causes of this poor performance. Through technology, industries like manufacturing have improved performance by working in fully collaborative digital 3D environments that foster collaboration. Comparatively the construction industry still retains much of its traditional paper-based design and craft-based construction culture. Building information modelling (BIM) promises to transform construction into a more modern industry and improve performance throughout the project life cycle.


This dissertation examines the impact of BIM on project performance in the UK construction industry by evaluating how it assists the project manager deliver projects to budget, on schedule and to the specified quality. The central objectives are; to examine the effectiveness of traditional paper-based modes of operation and the current tools and techniques of project managers in the UK construction industry, to examine the awareness of project managers regarding BIM and its applications, how BIM can assist project managers and how BIM can improve project performance in the UK construction industry, to examine and identify the benefits of BIM adoption by project managers in the UK construction industry and to examine and identify the challenges of BIM adoption by project managers in the UK construction industry.


The findings of this study are based on responses from a structured questionnaire on BIM awareness, benefit, challenges and usage in project management. The results from the data gathered indicate that project managers do not see BIM making direct improvements to their functional operations but rather improves general project performance. Project managers see the value and benefit of BIM more in terms of the entire life cycle management of the capital investment. It was also observed that BIM can help project managers make better decisions due to a relatively clearer depiction of reality compared to 2D drawings, communicate more effectively with project participants and help maintain greater control of the project.

Objective: Public projects are used to delivery policy objectives. From a financial perspective, the Major Projects Authority (MPA) estimated a whole life investment of £488 billion for 199 major projects in 2014, only a small subset of the total number of public projects. Given the financial exposure, the impact of endemic public project failures could put the economic health of the nation at risk. This thesis studies the challenges facing public projects. It applies an organisational capabilities lens to investigate projectification, when organisations shift away from functional-based organising (FBO) toward project-based organising (PBO).

Research Design: This study adopts an interpretivist research paradigm, with a constructionist epistemology and an idealist ontology, and employs an abductive research strategy. Structurally, it follows the Cranfield Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) methodology, with a linking document that summarises three complementary research projects: a systematic literature review (SLR) followed by two empirical studies that investigate the Department of Health (DoH) during the early phases of the Next Stage Review Implementation Programme (NSRIP). The findings are derived from over 250 academic literature sources, 100 government publications and 41 semi-structured interviews.

Findings: Project-based organisations depend on a core competency of changing organisational forms. Project-based management (PBM), a particular type of organising developed during projectification, depends on seven capabilities related to managing complexity, investments, governance, specialisms, learning, value creation and organisational change. There are 17 routines and five actors involved in developing the set of seven PBM capabilities. Publicness matters when developing the PBM capabilities, with each capability suffering from distinctive routines that did not fully mature, even after an extended period of time, and five involved actors struggling to develop at least one routine.

Contributions to Theory: The study concludes that successful projectification in the public sector depends on a double loop capability construction process, i.e. on having PBM capabilities and capabilities to change organisational forms. With capabilities either inherited or constructed internal, a paradox is created. Projectification in the public sector depends on FBM, an organisational form unsuited to creating new capabilities, to create PBM capabilities. Further, the study demonstrates that publicness matters to projectification.

Contributions to Practice: The study informs public sector practices, providing insights for public sector reform policies related to organisational capability and professional skills development. The study informs programme and project management (PPM) practice, proposes two different frameworks to help assess the maturity of public organisation’s PBM capabilities.

Key words: project management, projectification, project-based, publicness, inheritance, public sector, civil service, capability, routines, actors, project management office, distinctive

R ightly or wrongly, project management might once have been viewed as a specialist branch of management for those leading ad hoc and self contained initiatives that do not fit into normal corporate structures and timetables. More tasks in many organisations are now being undertaken as projects and more of these projects can be of strategic significance. Organisations themselves are increasingly portfolios of projects. There is a case for reassessing the significance and practice of project management and there are additional project and programme governance dimensions to consider.

Published as: Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2016), Changing Project and Programme Management, Management Services, Winter, Vol. 60 No. 4, pp 33-38

The Asian style of regional integration may be seen as a “quasi-common economy” that eschews a formal linkup in political
or monetary terms, but manages to generate similar results by strong physical integration and distributed chains of production
and service delivery. This note proposes the Asian quasi-common economy as a benchmark for South America’s regional
integration efforts because it is a better fit than the politically driven, broad-based, European style integrative process

"Examines the strengths and limitations of the case method as a teaching tool for developing the professional competence of personnel engaged in strategic management and enterprise development projects. Reports on progress towards introducing a new pedagogical genre for educators, trainers and consultants informed by the notion of a ‘master class for entrepreneurs’. The approach, Enterprise MasterWorks (EMW), extends on the traditional case study method of teaching by offering multi-media material that is timely, lively, relevant to the context of small enterprise and new venture development, and augmented with written material comparable to the traditional case format.

Illustrates the EMW approach in detail for one prototype package based on the foundation and growth of the New Zealand ‘born global’ company Pacific Lithium Limited, and its founding entrepreneur, Robin Johannink. Outlines results from trials of the pedagogical ‘package’ in several situations and presents future development intentions. for the production and dissemination of the EMW courseware packages. Argues that the EMW approach provides a cost-effective approach for surfacing the tacit knowledge of a high-performing (‘masterful’) enterprise developer, and passing on that knowledge to selected learning partners."

Citation:
"Mellalieu, P. J. (1998). Beyond the Case Method: A Master Class for Enterprise Development. Proceedings of the Annual Educators Conference of the New Zealand Strategic Management Society, 6th Annual Conference. The University of Auckland N.Z.: New Zealand Strategic Management Society.

Case resource library:
For a Case Resource library providing Part A, Part B, Part C of the Pacific Lithium case, and other resources, see:

Mellalieu, P. (n.d.). Pacific Lithium Ltd - Case resource library. https://www.academia.edu/1513410/Pacific_Lithium_Ltd_-_Case_resource_library

See also related:
Mellalieu, P. J. (1998). Weaving the threads of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial learning through a university-located reality-TV and master class: Enterprise MasterWorks (EMW)™. International Conference on Higher Education and Small/Medium Enterprise (SMEs), Rennes, France: Centre Études et Recherche EURO PME, Rennes International School of Business. http://unitec.academia.edu/PeterMellalieu/Papers/1518817/

Mellalieu, P. J., & Holland, R. (1998, February). Weaving the threads of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship [Video]. Innovation & chaos ... in search of optimality. Retrieved December 30, 2013, from http://pogus.tumblr.com/post/71680403728/

Companies and public sector organisations worldwide are under increasing pressure to increase efficiencies, respond to competitive demands, and deliver value. Organisations frequently turn to programme management practices to manage the multiple initiatives implemented to meet these demands.

The application of project management practices in contemporary business is continuously increasing with the aim of delivering the work packages in a more cost-conscious and controlled way while making the best use of limited human resources to meet customer requirements and create competitive advantage. In order to be considered competent, individuals working in the field should demonstrate a certain level of knowledge, skills, and abilities-assessed, developed or improved through a certification system. Taking into account the importance of information modeling and technology in the domain of project management as a set of practices that determine structure, lifecycle and accessibility requirements of information and the emphasis placed on the behavioral competencies of project, program and portfolio managers, the authors of the paper focused on exploring the challenges and specificities of the project management profession in Croatia. Empirical research was conducted in two steps. Firstly, a qualitative research was done using in-depth interviews with a member of the editorial board of a new project management international certification standard and two representatives of the certification body in Croatia: the director and the assessor. The collected data were analyzed using grounded theory approach and results in four main areas were obtained: project management and certification challenges, addressing certification body needs, the missing link between educational institutions and project management in practice and key project management competencies. In the next step, a quantitative research with a questionnaire as a research instrument was conducted among 53 certified project, program and portfolio managers in Croatia regarding their perception of the importance of the behavioral project management competencies. The results show that the majority of the certified experts in the field consider "leadership" to be the most important behavioral project management competency, closely followed by teamwork and self-management, while relations and engagement, conflict and crisis as well as negotiation and resourcefulness are considered to be of the least importance for conducting the project, program, and portfolio successfully. Statistically significant differences in assigning importance to various project management competencies were revealed with regard to several respondents' independent characteristics.

Program governance is a combination of governing bodies, strategic control and oversight functions, and cohesive policies that defines the consistent management of the program throughout the program life cycle. The key constituents of the program governance are program organization structure, governing body definition, the roll-out of governance forums, program accountability, escalation paths, and decision making processes. Program governance ensures that strategic direction and program vision are aligned, that program priorities are defined and understood, and that decisions are aligned with the overall business objectives. A lack of sound governance practices poses a substantial risk of realizing the desired business outcomes targeted by the organization strategy.

According to program management, literature programs allow for top-down management and create additional oversight, which leads to improved project delivery. Nevertheless, to date, limited empirical insight is available on how a program, as a governance mechanism, affects project performance and thus being accountable for a competitive advantage.

Describes the key strategic issues facing the directors of the Manawatu Community Arts Centre Trust Board, the gov- erning agency for the Square Edge Creative Centre: Reducing sponsorship; Lack of strong arts focus and synergy; Poor profitability of retail tenants’ operations; A ‘busy board’ engaged excessively in operational management details, and; Location in an historically significant, but unrefurbished building.

Explores alternative futures, and outlines the basis for a new role and strategy for the centre founded on the idea of becoming (1) the city’s ‘window on the community’s arts, recreation, and culture’ - the first stop for new residents, tourists, students, and long term visitors who wish to learn about and participate in our community’s recreational, arts and cultural activities; and (2) an ‘enterprise incubator’ for a synergistic cluster of arts, culture, design, and related rec- reational activities.

Concludes with the presentation of several strategic themes which are recommended as policy guides for the Board’s activities towards fulfilling the new role: Modernise the the centre’s vision and role; Institute a strategically-focused governing board, and a policy-driven operations management team; ‘Balance the Books’ for operating the centre; En- hance marketing communications between the centre and its key sponsors, friends, tenants and regular users; Improve the profitability of the centre’s tenants and key users; Modernise the centre’s performance, exhibition, and retail envi- ronment in the most important areas in a manner which reflects and reinforces the new role for the centre, and; Selec- tively recruit and develop tenants and key users who can contribute most directly to the realisation of the centre’s new vision.