Many management studies report poor implementation of organisational strategy into practice (Yukl and Lepsinger, 2007; Li et al., 2008) and the absence within the literature of the question of how to translate strategy into effective practice provides the encouragement for this study. There are suggestions that by adopting a project management approach, organisations can better implement their overall strategies, meaning that what they do is properly and totally aligned with their goals (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). However, recent studies have concluded that project management makes little contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives, and possibly causes failure in this respect (Young and Grant, 2014). That said, Young and Grant (2014) have not provided any detailed information on the reason for such failure. At the same time, some management studies have revealed a number of challenges that confront organisations when approaching strategy implementation. Given these observations, this study aims to explore how organisations in Saudi Arabia are practising project management. It does so by adopting a qualitative method, involving thirty (30) face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews undertaken in two phases with five organisations from the banking, property development, and higher education sectors. Two exploratory case studies (IT and Construction) were used to investigate the translation challenges in respect of strategy and project management implementation. From these, the study has identified a number of challenges confronting the participating organisations, and shows these challenges to be inter-related. Furthermore, it arrives at an understanding of why these challenges arise by investigating how the practice has been translated in these organisations. The tools and materials which resulted as objects from the translation are used to establish common knowledge, but are insufficient to create a clear view of the strategy within the participating organisations. Three main challengers related directly to the translation of project management practice emerged, namely: change, individual influences, and the role of the objects. The study makes several recommendations to improve the translation concept so that strategy implementation and overall project management practice can be enhanced. Additionally, it makes recommendations for further research to continue the efforts in this field of enquiry.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-06-23T17:36:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 JoaoSoares.pdf: 5550196 bytes, checksum: f8b00404f5d8b554afdac55adea1a05d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-23T17:36:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoaoSoares.pdf: 5550196 bytes, checksum: f8b00404f5d8b554afdac55adea1a05d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-03 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Maranhão (FAPEMA) / The Aparelhagem is a popular multimedia artifact, originated from a very specific craft process of design, serving two main needs: physical-structural support to Aparelhagem’s Parties and communicate an aesthetic concept that will be explored from semiotic performances of a DJ and the public of the party itself. The survey mapped the design process of the Stereos, unspoken and cultural information with matching theories of Design, meeting aspirations of social integration of the knowledge. For that, the literature review aimed to understand the formation of the concepts of culture, identity and their reflections in contemporary times, as well as their influences in making design and be designer. Used as a method to ethnography and the systematic observation of the creation, as well as tools used for benchmarking methodologies considered more relevant in the field of design, with the aim of checking the range of the design in this activity. For data collection, a case study was conducted with three workshops, equipment manufacturers in order to extract and systematize the information project, where they revealed cultural aspects that can be incorporated into the traditional concept of design, since the culture of a society is rich in symbols and can be cumulative in its aesthetic and functional process. With that, the research presented here, was intended to create more consistent elements for ongoing project practices, contributing to the design of equipment, the design project through the systematization of information. / A aparelhagem é um artefato popular multimídia, originado de um processoartesanal bastante específico de projeto, que atende duas necessidades principais:dar suporte físico-estrutural às festas de aparelhagens e comunicar um conceito estético-semiótico que será explorado a partir das performances de um DJ e do próprio público da festa. A pesquisa mapeou o Processo de Projeto das Aparelhagens, combinando informações tácitas e culturais com as teorias da área do Design, atendendo aspirações sociais de integração entre os conhecimentos.Para isso, a Revisão de Literatura teve como objetivo entender a formação dos conceitos de cultura, identidade e suas reflexões na contemporaneidade, assim como suas influências no modo de fazer design e ser designer. Utilizou como método a etnografia e a observação sistemática do ferramental da criação, bem como se valeu de análises comparativas às metodologias consideradas mais relevantes no campo do design, com o objetivo de verificar o alcance do design nesta atividade. Para a coleta de dados, foi realizado um Estudo de Caso com três oficinas fabricantes de aparelhagem, visando extrair e sistematizar as informações de projeto, onde se revelaram aspectos culturais que podem ser incorporados ao conceito tradicional de design, uma vez que a cultura de uma sociedade é rica em símbolos e pode ser cumulativa no seu processo estético e funcional. Com isso, a pesquisa aqui apresentada, pretendeu criar elementos mais consistentes para as práticas projetuais em curso, contribuindo tanto para o projeto de aparelhagens, quanto para o projeto de design através da sistematização das informações.

Community-based care facilities have a positive effect in supporting older adults and people with dementia thus improving their well-beings. Despite authoring empirical studies focused on providing design interventions, researchers often remain unclear about whether and how exactly practitioners and architects should implement these interventions. This paper presents an on-going project of a senior center in a small municipality in Germany. It aims to explain how the municipality (the client) and the design team (the architect) cooperate to apply updated research-based interventions, and how trade-offs are made. It discusses several research-based interventions during the design process. They include: 1) the early engagement of architects into the planning process; 2) the use of small-scale care units as care concept; 3) offering easily accessible and visible communal areas within the building; 4) providing an area open to the neighborhood; and 5) taking into consideration of the local urban form and materials. The article enables the readers to gain an insider look of the design process of a care facility and become familiar with some of the common trade-offs in design practice. Sufficient access to research materials and efficient communication with the client from the beginning of a project are the key elements to successfully implement research-based design interventions.