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management of knowledge in project environments
Over the years there has been a shift in emphasis in research into project management, from focusing on the management of the individual project, to focusing on creating an environment in which projects can thrive. In the 1970s, the focus of project management research was on developing tools and techniques, particularly critical path analysis, but also earned value analysis. In the 1980s, the focus was on success factors on projects. Before you can choose appropriate tools to manage the project, you need to know what factors will influence success. In the 1990s, the focus switched to success criteria. Before you can chose appropriate success factors, and hence appropriate tools, you need to know how the project will be judged successful at the end, and have the entire team, indeed all the stakeholders, focusing on the same end objectives, both project outcomes and business benefits. This research led to a measured improvement in project performance, with success rates doubling for one third of projects to two thirds of projects, (and failure rates halving from two thirds to one third). Clearly the research of the last three decades of the 20th century made an important contribution to project performance, but it was not enough, it was not the whole story. Another part of the story is the context in which the project takes place. Senior management in the parent organization must ensure that they create an environment in which projects can thrive. They must govern the set of relationships between the management of projects taking place in the organization, the organization itself, themselves as client, and other stakeholders to ensure that projects can successfully deliver business benefit and help achieve corporate strategy. Project governance, governing that set of relationships, is not just the role of projects management; their role is primarily to successfully deliver project outputs. Senior management must create and govern the supportive project environment. Part of that environment is the management of knowledge. Many project-based organizations from both the high-tech and engineering industries recognize that their ability to deliver projects successfully gives them a competitive advantage. So being able to manage project management knowledge, to be able to remember how to deliver projects successfully and to improve that knowledge, is key to the organization?s success. But in project-based organizations, knowledge management is problematic, with new knowledge created on temporary projects and used on other projects. In the functional organization there is a classic three-step process of knowledge management: variation, selection, retention. New ideas are created in the function, successful ideas are chosen for reuse, and the knowledge stored within the function where it can be reused. In project-based organizations, new ideas are created on temporary projects, but the project cannot select and retain new ideas. Further, wherever those new ideas are stored, they are not immediately available to new projects. The project-based organization needs to think about how it is going to select new knowledge, where it is going to store it, and it needs to create a fourth step of knowledge management, distribution of knowledge to new projects. A book on knowledge management within project-based organizations is therefore a welcome addition to the literature. The book contains chapters by many recognized experts from the project management literature. It builds on a special issue of The International Journal of Project Management (Volume 21, Number 3, April 2003), which was edited by Peter Love. The book contains some revised papers, but also many new chapters by significant contributors to the field. It contains many important topics, such as the sharing of knowledge across boundaries, the creation of a learning environment in project-based firms, and learning from project failure. The book will be a valued addition to my library Project-based work currently faces some of its greatest opportunities and challenges. The opportunities are clear to see; the huge increase in interest in project management presents clear evidence that more and more firms recognize it as a viable and effective means to achieve organizational goals. The flexibility, responsiveness, and innovativeness that projects offer modern organizations demonstrate again and again that project-based work is not the latest management fad, but represents a very real sea-change in the manner in which organizations must do business if they are to be successful in a fast-paced, global marketplace. For additional evidence of the role of project management, one only needs to examine the myriad of businesses and industries that are embracing these techniques. Industries as diverse as heavy manufacturing, financial services, insurance, and utilities have all adopted project management techniques as they seek the twin advantages of internal operating efficiency, coupled with rapid external response of business opportunities. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that in many ways, project management offers the key to competitive advantage in the modern commercial world. At the same time, the challenges confronting organizations that are intent on using projects cannot be ignored. The very features that make project management special ? creation of a temporary organization within the firm, one-off activity sequences, and essential uniqueness ? also place the firm in a very difficult and almost contradictory position. How can we institutionalize and make these practices systematic, when by its very nature, project management represents a unique undertaking, one that is not long-term process driven, but in every sense temporary? How do we capture, organize, and manage the knowledge we derive from past project experiences in order to create an effective database designed to help future project managers and their subordinates make optimal decisions? In short, how can we learn from the past and best apply relevant project-based knowledge to help manage future project challenges? The above is not an easy question to address but one, I am convinced, that we will need to come to terms with quickly if we are to continue the upward trend in the use of project management techniques in modern organizations. As a result, it is with real satisfaction that I have read this book, Management of Knowledge in Project Environments, edited by Peter Love, Patrick S.W. Fong and Zahir Irani. They have assembled an excellent set of contributors who approach the challenge of knowledge management from a variety of perspectives ? all interesting and right on target. The book can be read either as a whole, coherent work or perused for the implications embedded in each individual chapter. Either way, the authors have produced a work that is extremely timely and offers an excellent, upto-date and useful treatment of an important and under-researched area in project management. For me, a key hurdle that any book on project management must clear is whether it can be equally useful for a practitioner or academic audience. That is: is the work relevant, readable, and cutting edge? Management of Knowledge in Project Environments handles these demands superbly. I am sure that readers will gain enormous insight and profit from the work.
Ketersediaan
| Call Number | Location | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Tan 658.409 5 Man | PSB lt.dasar - Pascasarjana | 2 |
| Penerbit | Amsterdam Elsevier., 2005 |
|---|---|
| Edisi | - |
| Subjek | Management environment |
| ISBN/ISSN | 9780750662512 |
| Klasifikasi | NONE |
| Deskripsi Fisik | xvii, 242 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. |
| Info Detail Spesifik | - |
| Other Version/Related | Tidak tersedia versi lain |
| Lampiran Berkas | Tidak Ada Data |