T.M. Williams

How Do Organizations Learn Lessons From Projects—And Do They?

The need to learn from one project to the next is clearly of vital importance, but is often neglected. Furthermore, there are fundamental issues within projects that inhibit such learning, such as the temporary nature of project organizations and the fundamental complexity of projects. This paper surveys the diverse literature that can help explain these factors and help projects to learn, and describes a large survey of project managers to look at what actual practice is and how successful it is perceived, as well as some empirical work. From this, a number of general conclusions are drawn as to how to create project organizations that are learning organizations.

Issues in front-end decision making on projects

The importance of the front-end decision-making phase in projects is being increasingly recognized—the need to “do the right project” is on a par with “doing the project right.” This area is underrepresented in the literature, but there are a number of key themes that run throughout, identifying key issues or difficulties during this stage. This article looks at some of these themes and includes: the need for alignment between organizational strategy and the project concept; dealing with complexity, in particular the systemicity and interrelatedness within project decisions; consideration of the ambiguity implicit in all major projects; taking into account psychological and political biases within estimation of benefits and costs; consideration of the social geography and politics within decision-making groups; and preparation for the turbulence within the project environment, including the maintenance of strategic alignment.

The role of feedback dynamics in disruption and delay on the nature of disruption and delay (D&D) in major projects

The idea that small disruptions and delays can cause serious consequences to the life of a major project, well beyond that which might be easily attributed to their direct impact, is well established. Nevertheless, the nature of this ‘delay and disruption’ is still not fully understood. This paper discusses some of the issues and difficulties in gaining a full understanding. In particular it presents the variety of ways in which disruptions occur, and the variety of consequences that may unfold. It also focuses attention on a number of issues that arise when ‘normal’ methods of analysis of complex projects might be used, for example, the analysis and costing of change orders and the use of network analysis. The role of dynamic feedback and the ‘portfolio effect’ is introduced, particularly with reference to project acceleration and changing productivity.

The two-dimensionality of project risk

The idea of multiplying the likelihood and the impact of risks is common. This Note discusses the point that the proper consideration of project risk requires consideration of both impact and likelihood. Calculating “expected” risk as probability times impact has limitations, and ranking risks according to this figure is misleading. Computerized “risk lists” thus ranked should not be relied upon.

Vicious circles of parallelism

Manufacturing development projects are frequently highly parallel and time-constrained. A study was undertaken of such a project as part of a delay and disruption (D&D) litigation to show the effects of delays and in-development product enhancements. The use of the cognitive-mapping technique revealed some key vicious circles, and in particular that increasing crossrelations between concurrent activities increases activity durations, which under time constraints causes activities to become more parallel and hence increases crossrelations. System dynamics was used to model these loops quantitatively, explaining the level of D&D experienced within the project, which was more than the sum of each individual causal effect as the effects compounded each other. A case study is used as a basis to analyse these effects, and discuss the wider implications for modelling projects for which project networks are the normal modelling medium, and possible ways in which the inadequacies of networks can be overcome.

The Compatibility of Performance Appraisal Systems With TQM Principles - Evidence From Current Practice

Purpose – This paper aims to address the question whether or not quality‐driven organisations have, in practice, tended to adjust their performance appraisal systems to integrate total quality management (TQM) requirements.Design/methodology/approach – To do so, the findings of an initial literature survey suggested the combined use of quantitative and qualitative methods for empirical research. The quantitative element consists of a postal questionnaire survey of 64 UK‐based, quality‐driven organisations on the topic of performance appraisal in the context of TQM. Key informants from ten of these organisations were subsequently interviewed in order to gather detailed information on the reasons behind their initial responses.Findings – The results indicated that only a minority of the respondents were satisfied with their TQM programmes. But this comparative lack of success did not lead them to eliminate performance appraisal altogether, as advocated by Deming and others because of the role of systems‐lev...

HR performance evaluation in the context of TQM: A review of the literature

While the concepts of performance evaluation and total quality management (TQM) have been explored in the management literature of the last decades, there has been relatively little work on the particular characteristics that an organisation with a TQM approach to human resource (HR) performance evaluation should adopt. To this end, this paper provides a review of the literature in the area of TQM and HR performance evaluation, in order to establish the context for future empirical research. This study provides a brief overview of the implications of a quality orientation for the evaluation of employee performance. It reveals the main difficulties with the concept of performance evaluation from a quality perspective; and it also examines particular characteristics of performance evaluation that could maximise the effectiveness of HR performance evaluation in organisational environments with a quality orientation. Both the assumptions of TQM and the requirements for HR evaluation are used as a foundation from which to examine the ways in which HR performance evaluation might have changed to integrate TQM requirements. By examining the relevant literature, the main criteria of a TQM-based HR performance evaluation system are refined and enhanced, thus moving towards a situation in which TQM can drive HR performance evaluation in practice. The results also serve as a guide for the evaluation of the effectiveness of such a system.While the concepts of performance evaluation and total quality management (TQM) have been explored in the management literature of the last decades, there has been relatively little work on the particular characteristics that an organisation with a TQM approach to human resource (HR) performance evaluation should adopt. To this end, this paper provides a review of the literature in the area of TQM and HR performance evaluation, in order to establish the context for future empirical research. This study provides a brief overview of the implications of a quality orientation for the evaluation of employee performance. It reveals the main difficulties with the concept of performance evaluation from a quality perspective; and it also examines particular characteristics of performance evaluation that could maximise the effectiveness of HR performance evaluation in organisational environments with a quality orientation. Both the assumptions of TQM and the requirements for HR evaluation are used as a foundation f...

Mixing methodologies to enhance the implementation of healthcare operational research

Healthcare Operational Research (OR) has had limited success in achieving a sufficient level of stakeholder acceptance to lead to implementation of results. This research study is aimed at combining OR methodologies to achieve greater acceptance of results for organizational change. Patient flow delays in the Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin were identified using case studies. Patient flow was modelled using hard OR (simulation) using case study findings, with active stakeholder participation, and enhanced with outcomes research. Outcomes research allowed achieving greater clinical relevance of OR findings. Results from hard OR, particularly for politically sensitive issues, were persuasive but inadequate to result in change. Soft OR (cognitive mapping) was used to identify new issues and enhance results. Consequently, the planned PICU expansion was deferred, and resources focused on improving staffing strategies identified independently from both hard and soft OR. These findings suggest that: (1) Outcomes research can play a unique role to enhance results in healthcare OR. (2) After obtaining a holistic understanding of the system using hard and soft OR, stakeholders are willing to implement results from each independently, supporting the development of a common form of knowledge, which is consistent with Mixed-Mode Modelling. (3) Hard OR, enhanced with outcomes research, with active stakeholder participation, and combined with soft OR, results in greater acceptance and sustained organizational change.

Dismantling the learning curve: the role of disruptions on the planning of development projects

Any medium-run design and manufacture project requires manufacture learning to be estimated and controlled. Since the 1930s and the explication of Wrights Law, this learning has been usefully forecast using a logarithmic function. This ‘rule of thumb’ meets most practical requirements and the task of planners depends on their ability to estimate the ‘learning curve index’ from historical data. However, when projects are disrupted by clients changing their requirements by making additions or modifications, the process of estimating the impact of these changes becomes particularly difficult. The ‘rule of thumb’ has to be dismantled to account for wasted learning, the difference between corporate learning and personal learning, attributes of developmental work, retrofitting, new learning, and so on. This paper discusses the elements of disruption to learning in order that better estimates can be made of the impact of disruption. The conceptualization of learning which is presented is based upon detailed analysis for a contractor of one of the major projects for the Channel Tunnel, carried out to help compute delay and disruption for a litigation.

Challenges Posed to Performance Management by TQM Gurus: Contributions of Individual Employees Versus Systems-Level Features

There is a plethora of literature to suggest that even in quality-oriented organizational contexts, the approach driving performance appraisal is fundamentally in conflict with Total Quality Management (TQM) precepts, which put heavy emphasis on systems-level features of performance management. This inconsistency arguably impedes the transition to a stable Total Quality (TQ) environment, or even actively encourages regression to traditional ways. In response to this inconsistency, this paper discusses the contributions of individual employees towards organizational performance versus systems-level features, based on a wide-ranging literature survey and an empirical study of a sample of EFQM-affiliated organizations. The results indicate that most performance appraisal systems fail to meet TQ expectations in practice, and that they contradict TQM assumptions about the relatively low importance of individual employees as a source of variation in organizational performance. In this paper, we argue that performance management should be based on both systems-level features and contributions from individual employees, as these tend to complement each other. Our findings suggest that individual employees--as a basis for competitive advantage in the new millennium--will retain a critical role in providing a potential source of quality improvement. Thus, our research findings will provide a new insight into how quality-driven organizations not only cope with apparent mismatches between TQM precepts and the performance appraisal system used in practice, but also attempt to utilize the latter system to the advantage of both the organization and its employees.