Madalena Araújo

Developing a Framework for Embedding Useful Project Management Improvement Initiatives in Organizations

This paper describes the quantitative analysis phase of an exploratory study to identify useful project management improvement initiatives and factors contributing to their successful embedment in organizations. A preliminary framework, based on a literature review and a series of interviews with practitioners, was tested via a questionnaire, which elicited 793 responses from project management practitioners worldwide. The paper focuses on factor analyses of the questionnaire responses, addressing issues of construct validity and reliability. The resulting final framework highlights 15 key project management improvement initiatives and 26 embedding factors grouped by the factor analyses into three project management improvement initiative themes and six embedding themes.

Sustainability awareness in Brazilian mining corporations: the case of Paraíba state

Mining and minerals industries are fast-growing, but at the same time, they have gained more attention due to their impacts over the environment and society. This research aims to provide new insights into the topic of perception and awareness toward sustainability in industrial mining in Brazil. The work included in-depth interviews with a set of companies’ managers/directors focusing in particular on aspects related to the social and environmental dimensions, including communication and relationship with the community, impact assessment and mitigation strategies. The knowledge and use of for formal indicators was also evaluated and analyzed through the proposed Model for Sustainability Assessment of Mining (SAoM model), which was applied to all participating companies. The results put in evidence the existing gap between large and small companies, with these last ones showing lower awareness for the impacts of their activities. The lack of community engagement and of local stakeholders’ involvement, as well as the disregard for actions to mitigate their environmental and social impacts, is the main challenges to be overcome by this sector. The sector has then a long path to go toward sustainability and an active involvement of public institutions is required to allow for its development without compromising locals welfare.

The roles of a Programme and Project Management Office to support collaborative university–industry R&D

While the literature provides some advice on managing programmes and projects in general, the specific context of the university–industry collaboration is being scarcely reported, demanding a strong research effort to produce effective guidelines. Pursuing this effort, a Programme and Project Management Office (PgPMO) structure, specifically devoted to support collaborative university–industry R&D funded contracts, is proposed. This paper is focused on the set of key functions and responsibilities established for the overall PgPMO, as well as on the equivalent ones for the four proposed PgPMO roles: the PgPMO Officer, PgPMO Finance, PgPMO Communication and PgPMO Quality Assurance Management. Additionally, it discusses the implementation process of such structure, shedding light on the success factors for its implementation. The PgPMO described in this paper has been implemented in two case studies. The programme stakeholders of both case studies perceived that such PgPMO structure has contributed to achieve the success of the corresponding university–industry programmes.

Risk Response Strategies for Collaborative University-Industry R&D Funded Programs

Universities are centers of knowledge in our societies and their role when it comes to innovation has become more important over the years. Companies have several reasons to engage in research collaborations with universities, namely to gain access to innovative technologies. University-Industry R&D collaborations are expected to play an important role in regional economies, and to fulfill the industry’s demand for innovative products, technologies and processes. However, the knowledge on what are the potential risks resulting from these collaborations and the risk response strategies to reduce the negative risk impacts and to enhance positive risk impacts is still limited. Thus, this paper aims to fill the gap in literature when it comes to risk identification and risk responses’ planning, by identifying, based on a case study analysis, 19 potential risks and 53 potential risk response strategies.

Improving and Embedding Project Management Practices in Organizations—The Human Perspective

A conceptual framework of the factors that facilitate embedding useful project management improvement initiatives (PMIIs) was developed from an exploratory study. This paper aims to make some contribution to theory as well as to practice by exploring the human perspective of the framework conceptualization. The framework resulted in 15 key PMIIs and in 26 key embedding factors, that can act as levers to be used by organizations in devising strategies to promote embedding PMIIs into their systems. Almost half of each, seven PMIIS and twelve embedding factors, are directly related to Human aspects.