Successful capital projects contribute to sustain society and accelerate socio-economic development due to its inherent multiplier effect. The linear project management paradigm does not seem to stem either historical or current capital project cost overruns and failures. Accelerative societal change in terms of trends, megatrends, paradigm shifts, Black Swan events, and disruptive technologies require capital projects to be executed in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment that is expected to result in more chaos and failures of capital projects. This research contributes to the non-linear ‘management by chaos’ paradigm and develops and test chaos theories and models for employment in capital projects. The objective of this research is to explore if chaos attractors could cause local convergence (first research question) and overall convergence (second research question) from chaos to order in capital projects and thereby contribute to reduce capital project cost overruns and failures. Using the grand chaos theory and literature references to chaos attractor metaphors as a starting point, six lower-level chaos theories and variance models were built for fixed-point attractors, fixed-point repellers, limit-cycle attractors, torus attractors, butterfly attractors and strange attractors. One lower level-theory and variance model were built for a landscape that comprised of the six chaos attractors. A randomness-chaos-complexity-order continuum model was derived from literature to represent the context within which dynamic capital project behaviour unfolds. Assuming a constructivist research paradigm, a two-round qualitative explorative research strategy was employed with the capital project as the unit of analysis. The Nominal Group Technique was employed in the first round of interviews with 12 experienced capital project managers to obtain grounded definitions, an understanding of the randomness-chaos-complexity-order continuum model and the concept of chaos attractors. Voice recordings from interviews were transcribed and content analysis was done using the Atlas.ti software. Five capital project archetypes were identified by respondents. This was followed by a second round of deep individual interviews using semi-structured questions with 14 experienced capital project managers. Content analysis was used to confirm the archetypes and test the transferability and convergence effect from chaos to order of the six chaos metaphors and one landscape of the six chaos metaphors to the capital project domain. Evidence was found in terms of examples, characteristics, value statements and variance model scoring to suggest that local convergence in capital projects from chaos to order could occur as a result of the six individual chaos attractors. Similarly, that overall project convergence could occur as a result of a specific constellation of these six chaos attractors located across the capital project life cycle. Nine convergence-divergence archetypes were defined by respondents that described the dynamic behaviour of different types of capital projects in the randomness-chaos-complexity-order continuum. It was also found that achieving capital project convergence from chaos towards an ordered project state, using chaos attractors, do not imply project success. However, an ordered project state could aid the minimisation of capital project cost overruns. “Chaos theory considers the convergence from chaos to order a natural phenomenon in capital projects that is brought about by the following six chaos attractors: fixed-point, repeller, limit-cycle, torus, butterfly and strange”. This exploratory research found evidence to support the existence of this grand theory and its associated mid-range and lower-level theories, but further research is required to validate the generalisation of these findings. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / PhD / Unrestricted

With the current trend towards empowered teams, hierarchical company structures are increasingly being replaced by team-based ones. As a result, a shift in the classic understanding of leadership is needed and research on leadership in project management is increasing. Two major concepts have developed in recent years: shared and vertical leadership styles. This thesis reports on the development of a new Model of leadership styles that considers the effect of project types and the project life cycle phases on leadership style (vertical versus shared leadership), and how an appropriate balance between the two styles influences the likelihood of project management success. A web-based questionnaire yielded 313 complete responses and the data was analysed using hypothesis testing. Based on this empirical work and relevant literature, a novel Model is proposed. The Model explains how project types and life cycle phases influence the appropriateness of different leadership styles, and it guides the practitioner to selecting appropriate leadership styles for specific situations. Recommendations for furthering the model are discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / NRF / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / PhD (Project Management) / Unrestricted

This thesis is a systemic examination of my practice as an educator specialising in the development of early career project managers. This inquiry is conducted through an internal inquiry into my living theory and an externally focussed inquiry into the journey that the early career project managers take to becoming a project manager. Four broad foci of my living theory are identified, ‘Soft Systems Methodology’, ‘Action Learning’, ‘Reflective Practice’ and ‘Systemic Practice’. These are discussed in order to consciously consider the foundations of my practice and to identify areas where the practice has been eroded through familiarity and developed through innovation. The external inquiry draws on three sources of qualitative data. The first two sources of data explore the experiences of students enrolled on the MSc in Project Management at Lancaster University during an action learning project. These two sources are an analysis of ‘word clouds’ and ‘critical incidents‘ presented in the dissertations that reflect on these projects. The third source of data is a series of interviews held with alumni of the MSc in Project Management at Lancaster University. These two areas of inquiry combine to present a framework for project management practitioner education that comprises of three broad areas of development. These areas of development align to the ‘ways of knowing’, ‘ways of doing’ and ‘ways of being’. The ways of knowing zone is made up of the development of a systematic approach to project management. This zone is complemented by the ‘ways of doing’ that looks at the development of this systematic perspective through the development of a range of analytical and social skills. It is suggested that systemic eloquence may be gained by enhancing the ‘ways of knowing’ and ‘ways of doing’ with a systemic perspective that encompasses relational dispositions to the practice of project management. This relational disposition covers the ways in which project managers learn to understand the dynamics of the problem situations that they co-create with their stakeholders. Furthermore, it is noted that the development of project management practitioners should be facilitated through their experience in the practice of projects. This ‘hands on’ engagement combined with an approach to self-development founded on reflective practice helps to develop people capable of delivering projects rather than talking about the delivery of projects.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore a new perspective within the sustainability of project management theoretical area. The research focuses on verifying the existence of  interconnections between Agile Project Management and Social Sustainability, and on understanding how Agile Project Management impacts organisational social dynamics from a Social Sustainability point of view. Research Methodology/ Approach/ Design: Through an in-depth single-holistic case study,  the research investigates the social dynamics taking place amongst the members of an international IT company, applying an agile project management framework since more than two years. A total of six extensive semi-structured interviews have been carried out with people covering different positions within the company. By working on qualitative data from the interviews, the researchers obtained an in-vivo set of interconnected concepts. The analysis work consisted in qualitatively analysing these concepts and relations in order to build a network diagram reproducing graphically the interconnections existing between Agile Project Management elements and the Social Sustainability factors proposed by Missimer et al. (2016a, 2016b). Research Findings: The findings - obtained through the analysis of the network diagram - have been analysed with the lenses of the five factors, that have not to be degraded in order to ensure the social sustainability of a social system. It has been found that implementation of Agile Project Management, within the company’s environment, has impacted the organisation’s social dynamics in several ways. These impacts influenced in a direct or indirect way individual’s “Health”, their “Capacity to Influence”, their “Capacity to Acquire New Competences”, and their “Capacity of Meaning-Making”. By analysing the type of influence APM has on these four aforementioned factors, it has been found that it influences positively all of them. This allowed us to conclude that, according to Missimer et al. definition of Social Sustainability, Agile Project Management shows several interconnections to Social Sustainability and that it seems to benefit organisational internal social dynamics making them more socially sustainable. Research limitations: Because of the exploratory nature of the research, the empirical study has been based on a single in-depth case study. However, generalisability of the findings are limited by the inherent limitations of this inquiry strategy. Further researches will allow to verify and eventually expand or complete the proposed model. Originality/value: This research contributes to a detailed understanding of the existing relations between Agile Project Management and Social Sustainability theory. This represents a completely new point of view in the studies of Sustainability of Project Management, suggesting the validity of a new stream of research focusing on Agile Project Management as a new project management process through which promote corporate sustainability.

<p>The construction industry is suffering with many problems nowadays. Many projects are</p><p>getting failed and getting over budget. It has been generally noticed that chaos in</p><p>construction industry is only because of the absence of explicit theory of project</p><p>management. The paradigm of project management in construction is still following mass</p><p>production, which means considering only conversion activities. The present style of</p><p>conventional project management is based on two fundamental theories i.e. management-</p><p>as-planning (for planning and execution) and thermostat model (for control).</p><p>The new philosophy (lean production) considers production both conversion and flow</p><p>processes. The focus of lean production is to reduce flow processes, to improve the</p><p>conversion processes, and to reduce the wastes during production.</p><p>Among all other lean tools, this document is focusing on Last Planner System (LPS) for</p><p>the production control system. In the end of the document, two case studies have been</p><p>mentioned in which it is clearly demonstrated that, when project managers used the LPS</p><p>the value of PPC (percent planned completed) and PF (performance factor) have been</p><p>more salubrious as compared to the absence of LPS during the execution of the project.</p>

The construction industry is suffering with many problems nowadays. Many projects are getting failed and getting over budget. It has been generally noticed that chaos in construction industry is only because of the absence of explicit theory of project management. The paradigm of project management in construction is still following mass production, which means considering only conversion activities. The present style of conventional project management is based on two fundamental theories i.e. management- as-planning (for planning and execution) and thermostat model (for control). The new philosophy (lean production) considers production both conversion and flow processes. The focus of lean production is to reduce flow processes, to improve the conversion processes, and to reduce the wastes during production. Among all other lean tools, this document is focusing on Last Planner System (LPS) for the production control system. In the end of the document, two case studies have been mentioned in which it is clearly demonstrated that, when project managers used the LPS the value of PPC (percent planned completed) and PF (performance factor) have been more salubrious as compared to the absence of LPS during the execution of the project.

Thesis (MAppSci in Project Management) --University of South Australia, 1992

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132-145).

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jul. 14, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Eng.)(Industrial)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.