Gita Mathur

Intangible project management assets as determinants of competitive advantage

Purpose – To explore the role of intangible project management assets in achievement of competitive advantage from the project management process through it being valuable, rare, inimitable, and having organizational support.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected on tangible and intangible project management process assets and competitive characteristics of the project management process using an online survey of North American Project Management Institute™ members. Three key tangible asset factors, one intangible asset factor, and three competitive characteristics were identified using exploratory factor analysis. The relationship between these project management assets and project management process characteristics are examined using multivariate analysis.Findings – Intangible project management assets are found to be a source of competitive advantage, directly and through a mediating role in the relationship between tangible project management assets and the competitive characteristics of th...

Project management elements as strategic assets: preliminary findings

Purpose – To examine project management assets and to explore the link between these and the achievement of competitive advantage from the project management process through it being valuable, rare, inimitable, and having organizational support.Design/methodology/approach – An online survey with North American Project Management Institute® members was conducted. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify tangible and intangible elements of project management and the achievement of competitive characteristics of the project management process.Findings – Six factors were extracted that comprised project management assets and three factors that comprised the competitive characteristics of the project management process.Research limitations/implications – This was an exploratory study. It is expected to further develop the instrument, refine the model and constructs, and test it with a larger sample.Practical implications – This study highlights the importance of developing intangible project management...

Classifying project management resources by complexity and leverage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework to classify project management resources as sources of competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the resource‐based view of the firm and project management literature to explore the level of competitive advantage from 17 project management resources based on their degree of complexity and level of leverage in the project management process. This exploratory study drew on a small sample of practitioners in the classification.Findings – The paper proposes a conceptual model to show the relationship between four categories of resources and their contribution to competitive advantage by being valuable, rare, inimitable, and organizationally supported.Research limitations/implications – This paper is exploratory in nature and uses a small sample of practitioners.Practical implications – The authors believe that the classification of project management resources based on complexity and leverage provides a usefu...

Project management assets and project management performance outcomes: Exploratory factor analysis

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes as a step towards exploring the link between assets being valuable, rare, inimitable, and having organizational support and the achievement of competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach - This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute Findings - In total, six factors that comprised the characteristics of project management assets, three factors that comprised organizational support for project management assets, and two factors that comprised the project management performance outcomes were extracted. Research limitations/implications - Limitations of this study include sample size, response rate, and self-report bias, calling for a larger sample in ongoing research. This study is a step towards making the link between project management assets and performance outcomes. Practical implications - This study draws managerial attention to project management assets as sources of competitive advantage, applying the resource based view of the firm that assets are sources of competitive advantage if they add economic value, are rare, are difficult to imitate, and have organizational support. Originality/value - Few papers have applied the resource based view of the firm to examine project management capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the resource based view of the firm and contributes to an improved understanding of project management as a source of competitive advantage.

Bridging situated learning theory to the resource‐based view of project management

Purpose – This paper aims to present a high‐level conceptual framework to strengthen the conceptual bridge between project management and workplace learning by applying situated learning theory to project management practice to guide shared learning within and between projects.Design/methodology/approach – The paper bridges situated learning theory from the workplace learning literature and the resource‐based view (RBV) of project management from the strategic management literature, using them as lenses to view two learning mechanisms in the project management domain, project reviews and communities of practices.Findings – The paper finds that situated learning theory can be applied to project management to highlight processes that enable capability development through shared project learning.Research limitations/implications – This paper is conceptual in nature and intended to make a case for empirical research that draws on workplace learning literature which is useful to project management as there rem...

Problem-solving Interdependence in Technological Innovation: An Examination of Interorganisational Interaction in Semiconductor Component Development

Organisations are often dependent on each other for knowledge and problem-solving skills in technological innovation. Integration of problem-solving efforts across organisational boundaries is an essential managerial task in such collaborative activity. Knowledge and problem-solvers required in the development of semiconductor components are found to be distributed across the customersupplier interface. A field study examined problem-solving interaction in this context. Data from 12 projects and 52 embedded cases of design iteration were used to explore the relationship between project definition, problem-solving interaction and managerial response to interaction needs. Projects defined closer to the frontier of knowledge in product concepts and manufacturing technologies were found to require more interaction between problem-solvers engaged in interlinked design tasks. An overlap in participation in design stages between collaborating organisations and co-location of problem-solvers were found to be the managerial response to higher interaction requirements. Hypotheses are developed and implications for research and practice are explored.

The relationship between project management process characteristics and performance outcomes

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the links between project management process characteristics and project-level and firm-level performance outcomes to test the hypotheses that project management assets being valuable, rare, inimitable and having organizational support leads to competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute® members. Regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between six factors extracted from an exploratory factor analysis that comprise the three project management asset characteristics – valuable, rare and inimitable, three factors that comprise organizational support for the project management process, and two factors that comprise project management performance outcomes – project-level and firm-level performance. Findings – Organizational support for the project management process, specifically project management integration, was found to signif...

Linking workplace burnout theories to the project management discipline

Given the demanding and stressful nature of project work, with a view to explore established concepts of burnout within the project management context, the purpose of this paper is to examine two instruments: the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS). Since there is a paucity of literature in project management anchored within the MBI and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS), this paper proposes a high-level model on burnout in project management, drawing on the literature underlying these two instruments.,Using a conceptual approach, the paper reviews the social psychology literature on burnout and then the narrow stream of literature on burnout in project management. The paper develops and proposes a conceptual model as a foundation to explore the links between the determinants of project manager burnout/engagement and turnover/retention.,This paper contributes to an improved understanding of the determinants of project manager burnout, engagement, turnover, and retention.,The driver for this research is to contribute to the emerging literature on burnout in project management and strategies to help improve engagement and retention of project managers in the discipline – specifically, their tenure in organizations and/or the profession.,This paper contributes to the topic of burnout in the project management context. An improved understanding of the stressors in project management contexts, and the mechanisms to mitigate the stress, can add to our understanding of project manager well-being, engagement and retention, improved project success, and healthier work environments.

Characteristics of Project Management Assets and Project Management Process Outcomes: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

The resource-based view of the firm from strategic management literature is applied to examine project management as a source of competitive advantage. In this view, assets contribute to competitive advantage if they add economic value, are rare, are difficult to imitate, and have organizational support. This research examines project management assets and project management process outcomes in a cross-industry study that attempts to replicate findings from a prior study, using the same survey tool with a larger sample. Exploratory factor analysis extracted four factors that comprised characteristics of project management assets that are valuable, rare, and inimitable, three factors that comprised of organizational support for project management assets, and two factors that comprised of project management process outcomes. The extracted factors mostly replicated the findings from the prior study; differences emerged in the factors that comprised of project management assets.