Jingting Shao

The Interrelationship of Governance, Trust, and Ethics in Temporary Organizations

This study investigates the variety of ethical decisions of project managers and their impact from corporate governance and project governance structures. The roles of personal trust and system trust as a mechanism to steer ethical decision making in different governance settings is explored. Nine qualitative case studies in Europe, Asia, and Australia show that ethical decision making is contingent on trust, which in turn is contingent on the fulfillment of personal expectations within a given governance structure. The findings show the prerequisites for ethical decision making and the consequences of lack of trust. Further managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

Measuring program success

Growth in the use of programs has led to a requirement of understanding what constitutes program success. A measurement construct for program success, which comprises four dimensions—delivery capability, organizational capability, marketing capability, and innovative capability—was developed based on 172 responses to a web-based questionnaire to program managers. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and canonical correlation analysis were applied to test for the relationship between program success and program context. Results showed that the measurement construct for program success was stable over different types of program contexts. It provides a tool for further investigation into program success assessment.

Project Management Knowledge Flows in Networks of Project Managers and Project Management Offices: A Case Study in the Pharmaceutical Industry

This study investigates the knowledge flows among and between project managers and project management office (PMO) members in a pharmaceutical R&D company in China, using a mixed-methods approach. The results show that knowledge exchange happens in clusters, where each cluster forms around a PMO member. Contrary to expectations, PMO members were not identified as the most popular knowledge providers in these clusters; instead, knowledge was requested from earlier collaborators. A three-tiered model is developed for knowledge governance at the cluster level, across clusters and the link with corporate and project governance structures. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

Governance and Ethics in Temporary Organizations: The Mediating Role of Corporate Governance

The impact of multilevel level governance on the frequency of ethical issues in temporary organizations (TOs) is investigated. A structural equation model, based on a global survey, showed that behavior control, as a governance mechanism at the temporary organization (TO) level, reduces the frequency of ethical issues. This relationship is partly mediated through corporate governance, which controls ethical issues by following good governance principles. Using institutional and agency theory, we identify a substitution effect, where micro level (TO) governance substitutes for ‘holes’ in the macro level (corporate) governance. Situational contingencies for the synchronization of governance efforts across macro and micro levels are discussed.