Andreas Wald

Knowledge management in project environments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is show how the management of knowledge in temporary organizations is an increasingly important factor in many industries. This paper aims to examine knowledge management in and between projects.Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of 27 structured interviews with project managers and knowledge management experts in different corporations mainly located in Germany and German speaking countries, the prevalence, the organization and the success factors of project knowledge management are analyzed.Findings – As a result, most interviewees stated an urgent need for a significant improvement of project knowledge management although only in few companies a systematic approach exists. The success of project knowledge management is mainly determined by cultural factors whereas technical aspects like information systems and project management methods are considered to serve as supporting factors only.Research limitations/implications – Future research should include large‐...

Drittmittel als Performanzindikator der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

ZusammenfassungRessourcen innerhalb und zwischen Universitäten und in der außeruniversitären Forschung werden angesichts der Finanzknappheit im Wissenschaftssystem zunehmend in Abhängigkeit von Forschungsleistungen verteilt. Hiermit bekommen Evaluationsverfahren und die Messung von Forschungsleistungen einen neuen Stellenwert. Drittmitteleinkommen als relativ einfach zu erhebender Performanzindikator spielt in allen neuen leistungsbasierten Verteilungsverfahren eine große Rolle. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die Aussagekraft von Drittmitteln für die Bewertung von Forschungsleistungen zu untersuchen. Auf der Grundlage von quantitativen und qualitativen Daten zu Forschungsgruppen aus drei sehr unterschiedlichen Forschungsfeldern wird der Zusammenhang von Strukturindikatoren, Drittmitteleinkommen als weiterem Inputfaktor und dem Output der wissenschaftlichen Produktion betrachtet. Hierbei zeigt sich, dass der Einsatz von Drittmitteln als Performanzindikator nur unterhalb eines von disziplinspezifischen Produktionsbedingungen bestimmten Schwellenwertes sinnvoll ist. Ferner ergibt die weitergehende Analyse, dass Forschungsperformanz mehrdimensional ist, Publikationen also nicht der einzig sinnvolle Indikator für Performanz sein können. Schließlich zeigt sich, dass die Bedingungen wissenschaftlicher Produktion zwischen den Fachgebieten so unterschiedlich sind, dass Performanzvergleiche nur innerhalb homogener Forschungsfelder sinnvoll einsetzbar sind. Abschließend werden die forschungspolitischen Implikationen für Forschungsfinanzierung und Forschungsevaluation diskutiert sowie weiterer Forschungsbedarf aufgezeigt.AbstractResources within and between higher education and research institutions are increasingly allocated according to scientific performance. Evaluation exercises and the measurement of research performance take on a new role in this context. Third party research income is a performance indicator which is rather easy to measure and is used in most of the new performance-based evaluation procedures. This paper sets out to scrutinize the meaning and validity of third party research income. We studied research teams from three different research fields with a mixed quantitative / qualitative approach. The focus is on the causal relations between institutional / input indicators, third party research income as another input indicator, and a variety of output indicators of scientific production. An important result is that third party money has a positive effect on performance only below a certain and discipline-specific threshold. Further analysis shows that output performance is to a great extent field-specific. The context conditions for scientific production differ greatly, so that comparative performance assessments are only valid within homogeneous research fields. Another important result is that output performance is multidimensional and cannot be measured by bibliometric indicators only. These findings have implications for the rationality of the evaluation assessment exercises as well as for the funding decisions of science foundations, ministries of science and — increasingly, the heads of universities and departments. These topics are discussed in the last chapter as well as the implications for further research.

Drittmittel als Performanzindikator der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung zum Einfluss von Rahmenbedingungen auf Forschungsleistung

ZusammenfassungRessourcen innerhalb und zwischen Universitäten und in der außeruniversitären Forschung werden angesichts der Finanzknappheit im Wissenschaftssystem zunehmend in Abhängigkeit von Forschungsleistungen verteilt. Hiermit bekommen Evaluationsverfahren und die Messung von Forschungsleistungen einen neuen Stellenwert. Drittmitteleinkommen als relativ einfach zu erhebender Performanzindikator spielt in allen neuen leistungsbasierten Verteilungsverfahren eine große Rolle. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die Aussagekraft von Drittmitteln für die Bewertung von Forschungsleistungen zu untersuchen. Auf der Grundlage von quantitativen und qualitativen Daten zu Forschungsgruppen aus drei sehr unterschiedlichen Forschungsfeldern wird der Zusammenhang von Strukturindikatoren, Drittmitteleinkommen als weiterem Inputfaktor und dem Output der wissenschaftlichen Produktion betrachtet. Hierbei zeigt sich, dass der Einsatz von Drittmitteln als Performanzindikator nur unterhalb eines von disziplinspezifischen Produktionsbedingungen bestimmten Schwellenwertes sinnvoll ist. Ferner ergibt die weitergehende Analyse, dass Forschungsperformanz mehrdimensional ist, Publikationen also nicht der einzig sinnvolle Indikator für Performanz sein können. Schließlich zeigt sich, dass die Bedingungen wissenschaftlicher Produktion zwischen den Fachgebieten so unterschiedlich sind, dass Performanzvergleiche nur innerhalb homogener Forschungsfelder sinnvoll einsetzbar sind. Abschließend werden die forschungspolitischen Implikationen für Forschungsfinanzierung und Forschungsevaluation diskutiert sowie weiterer Forschungsbedarf aufgezeigt.AbstractResources within and between higher education and research institutions are increasingly allocated according to scientific performance. Evaluation exercises and the measurement of research performance take on a new role in this context. Third party research income is a performance indicator which is rather easy to measure and is used in most of the new performance-based evaluation procedures. This paper sets out to scrutinize the meaning and validity of third party research income. We studied research teams from three different research fields with a mixed quantitative / qualitative approach. The focus is on the causal relations between institutional / input indicators, third party research income as another input indicator, and a variety of output indicators of scientific production. An important result is that third party money has a positive effect on performance only below a certain and discipline-specific threshold. Further analysis shows that output performance is to a great extent field-specific. The context conditions for scientific production differ greatly, so that comparative performance assessments are only valid within homogeneous research fields. Another important result is that output performance is multidimensional and cannot be measured by bibliometric indicators only. These findings have implications for the rationality of the evaluation assessment exercises as well as for the funding decisions of science foundations, ministries of science and — increasingly, the heads of universities and departments. These topics are discussed in the last chapter as well as the implications for further research.

A Bibliometric View on the Use of Contingency Theory in Project Management Research

Contingency theory has influenced organization theory since the 1950s. Project management research has only recently started to consider context factors. In this area, applications of contingency theory still represent a fragmented field with a nonuniform use of terminology. Fully utilizing the contingency theory approach requires a systematic foundation. This article presents an overview of contingency theory in both permanent and temporary organizations. In a bibliometric study based on 1,622 articles from four academic project management journals, we identify dominating authors, prevalent keywords, and different focal areas in project contingency theory as well as the most researched project types.

State and development of innovation networks

Purpose – Innovation is one of the key drivers of economic success. However, the global environment is changing and makes innovation management more competitive. In order to sustain an advantage, companies seem to adopt more flexible schemes of organization. Specifically, innovation networks appear useful to researchers and practitioners. This paper aims to explore the current empirical relevance of this phenomenon in the automotive sector, the goals and performance of innovation networks as well as their formation and governance.Design/methodology/approach – Through a series of semi‐structured interviews with managers from European automobile firms, insights into network approaches and strategies based on the analysis of 39 innovation networks are presented. The study comprises all relevant actors in the industry such as large OEMs as well as small and medium‐sized second‐tier and third‐tier suppliers.Findings – The empirical survey was able to confirm that innovation networks are of high relevance in th...

A project management research framework integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors

The increasing projectification of the business world corresponds with a high diversity of theoretical perspectives used in project management research. This diversity is reflected by a variety of influencing factors, which have been the subject of empirical studies. This article aims to systemize the different streams of research on the basis of a literature review and at developing a research framework by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors. We elaborate on the crosslinks between the perspectives and identify fundamental elements of a project management theory. The framework consists of three dimensions: design, context, and goal. Its purpose is to support the combination of different perspectives and the development of strategies for further research.

Leadership in Temporary Organizations: A Review of Leadership Theories and a Research Agenda

Projects and other temporary forms of organizing are different from standard organizational processes. As most leadership theories are based on the assumption of stable organizational environments, the increase in temporary forms of organizing poses specific challenges to leadership theories. We evaluate existing leadership theories in terms of their applicability on temporary environments and identify theories, which are adaptable to temporary settings and therefore may be the basis for empirical investigations in this field. On this basis we derive a research agenda by proposing individual leadership theories and combinations of different leadership approaches to be further assessed in research.

Leadership in the Context of Temporary Organizations: A Study on the Effects of Transactional and Transformational Leadership on Followers’ Commitment in Projects

This article follows the call for more empirical research on leadership in different organizational contexts. Organizations react to environmental dynamism and uncertainty by using temporary forms or organizing such as projects. This organizational context factor raises questions about the nature of effective leadership in temporary settings. Transactional leadership has been found to be particularly effective in settings without a shared history of leaders and followers. In turn, prior research indicates that transformational leadership succeeds in times of uncertainty, which is essential to temporary organizations. We extend the existing transactional and transformational leadership approaches by examining leadership in the context of the temporary organization. We empirically test for effects of transactional and transformational leadership in projects and find that both leadership behaviors positively influence the followers’ commitment. However, transformational leadership is more effective than transactional leadership. The effects of both leadership behaviors are amplified by increasing complexity of the project.

Process benchmarking: a new tool to improve the performance of overhead areas

Purpose – This paper aims to present an empirically developed and tested process to address the limitations in the literature on the lack of appropriate performance measures and benchmarks for recording activity and sub‐process related cost. The process presented integrates performance measures, process cost accounting tools and benchmarking.Design/methodology/approach – A special type of research methodology called innovative action research is utilized to develop and test the new process benchmarking tool.Findings – The new tool provides information not only about costs, but also about the following non‐financial indicators: process volumes, process‐related time (cycle times), and used capacity/resources of processes. Also, the tool can be used in a very economical way.Research limitations/implications – The findings of the study are limited to the German mechanical engineering industry. Further research is needed for generalization of the proposed model.Practical implications – Although, the mechanical...

Möglichkeiten der Triangulation quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden in der Netzwerkanalyse

Wahrend die quantitative Netzwerkanalyse zum Standard der Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung zahlt, ist der Einsatz qualitativer Methoden in Netzwerkstudien nach wie vor unublich. Dabei ist zu vermuten, dass durch erganzende qualitative Forschungsstrategien zusatzlich zur Strukturbeschreibung die Untersuchung der sinnhaften Strukturierung von sozialen Prozessen und die Wirkung von Kontextfaktoren ermoglicht wird. In diesem Beitrag werden an einem Beispiel die Moglichkeiten der Triangulation quantitativer und qualitativer Methoden in der Netzwerkanalyse auf den Ebenen der Datenerhebung, Datenanalyse und Interpretation diskutiert. Ausgangspunkt ist der empirische Befund, dass bislang wenig qualitative Methoden vorliegen, welche originar fur die Analyse relationaler Daten geschaffen wurden. Daher wird auf der Basis generischer qualitativer Methoden diskutiert, wie sich die Sinnhaftigkeit von Beziehungen, Strukturperzeptionen sowie Kontextfaktoren durch Triangulation erschliesen lassen. Als Beispiel dient das Design eines Projektes zu Kooperationsstrukturen in der Forschung.