This study explored the management of university-industry collaborations (UICs). Although increasingly important for delivering innovation in many sectors, policy research has expressed concern about the detailed performance of these inter-organisational arrangements. Moreover, although well researched as a knowledge-based economic phenomenon there is much less equivalent managerial research, especially from the perspective of university scientists. Therefore, owing to the paucity of such research, this thesis investigated the adoption of particular project management (PM) practices by university scientists and their subsequent impact on innovative project performance. Four research questions were defined and they were developed, refined and tested within a two-stage process.

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Globalisation has always been researchers' main concern and interest over a long period of the time. One effect of globalisation is that the composition of project teams had become increasingly diverse. The differing national cultural backgrounds of members increases the complexity of team composition, which regulates the success of the project performance. Research has shown that diverse teams outperform homogenous ones. Other studies have investigated the impact of national culture on projects. But our knowledge of how effectively companies can manage a complex, multicultural team project is inadequate and limited. Furthermore, theoretical and empirical studies concerning how the national cultural diversity of teams can impact project performance are limited. Most of the studies are qualitative, either focusing on one country or discussing one aspect of culture, and mainly considering team performance. To fill this gap, this study investigates the national cultural factors that influence multicultural project teams and determine the cultural dimensions that impact on project performance. In particular, it examines the influence of five national culture dimensions developed by Hofstede on multicultural team complexity variables including integration, communication, trust and knowledge-sharing, and to recognise how these factors are related to project performance. The territory chosen for this study was the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as all of these nations rely intensely upon an expat workforce because of the lack of both skilled and unskilled manpower in the local market. A survey instrument was extracted and developed from previously validated questionnaire scales. Pilot testing was conducted to ensure the scales, format and contents of the survey instrument were appropriate. A range of project team members were targeted, and 329 valid questionnaires were returned. The data obtained was analysed by using two widely used statistical software tools, SPSS and AMOS. The data analysis steps included reliability (Cronbach's alpha) and validity (Confirmatory Factor) analysis. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the entire model. By using SEM, it was possible to test the parsimonious nature of the model, identify the model, determine whether it makes theoretical sense, and examine its fit to the data. The relationship between national culture, team performance and project performance was analysed using path analysis as part of the SEM. The research outcome showed that national culture has a significant impact on the team performance, especially on integration, communication, trust and knowledge sharing, which will also moderate the relationship between national culture and project performance. The finding of this research study confirmed that there is a relationship between national cultural differences and project success. Understanding the cultural differences among team members, who are from different national cultural backgrounds, is an essential aspect of managing projects successfully. Moreover, mismanaging or ignoring cultural differences of the team members may lead to project failures. Furthermore, the outcomes have obviously shown that the optimal project performance is accomplished when the entire project team is thoroughly integrated and incorporated with the project purpose. This study contributes to the literature by delivering a deeper understanding of the cultural issues that influence the performance of multicultural project teams in GCC countries. In addition, it provides greater insight into national culture within projects context, in particular providing empirical evidence that different nationalities have different cultural orientations and that these different cultural orientations are associated with different levels of performance. In practice, the findings will assist project directors and managers in similar countries to further recognise the role of national culture in the context of enhancing project performance. In particular, project directors and managers can undertake an assessment of their teams' national cultural background and based on that, forecast the probable team and project performance. Where necessary, action can be taken to manage or even change the cultural orientation in terms of the attitudes and behaviours of project teams. This research expressed the views of professionals who work in a multicultural environment on the extent to which national cultural dimensions may affect the outcome of a project.

The thesis on topic Event Management - solution of event project, field IT and logistics deals with the real project realized by company with particularly logistic branch, where the author is working. Whole thesis is about event, which was realized from November 2011 till March 2012. The aim of this thesis is to highlight problems linked to the project and event management and also to point out which methods are used in relation to the very realization of logistic forum. The reader of this thesis should be able to find out what the preparation, realization and implementation of the project contain and in which way might be used. Theoretical part clarify what the project and event management contains, which methodics are normally used and try to map different concepts of project and event management and what principles should be followed. Practical part deals with a real event, how gradually progressed in the implementation and project plan will be compared with the reality. This thesis is based on empiric method, especially on kind of empiric method -- project. For solving the main goal of thesis is used basically interpretation method - to show whole process of making this event. The conlusion and as a matter of fact hypothesis is to prove succesful realization based on theoretical principles of project and evetn management.

O planejamento deficiente e a falta de envolvimento do proprietário na execução do planejamento são causas críticas dos atrasos e estouros de orçamento que caracterizam a fase de obras dos empreendimentos públicos de construção de edificações. No entanto, como a execução do planejamento nos órgãos públicos afeta os resultados de prazos e custos da fase de obras é uma questão não esclarecida. Neste contexto, este trabalho discute a execução dos processos de planejamento de empreendimentos da Cia Paulista de Obras e Serviços, uma empresa de economia mista do Governo do Estado de São Paulo, que gerenciou 398 empreendimentos públicos de construção de 1992 a 1999. O enfoque é sobre os efeitos do planejamento nos resultados da fase de obras em relação a prazo e custo. Os dados foram coletados através de entrevistas com gerentes de empreendimento e fiscais de obras; através de consulta a arquivos eletrônicos e documentos; e pela observação direta do pesquisador no período de 1995 a 1999. O resultados obtidos apontam que os prazos e custos são afetados pela deficiência da estrutura analítica na descrição do escopo; pelas estimativas de prazo e custo deficientes que mascaram os resultados; pelos editais com deficiências; pelas programações e orçamentações simplificadas e não integradas; pelas deficiências no planejamento organizacional e comunicação que atrasam as tomadas de decisão; por um planejamento de qualidade focado no produto; e pela ausência de planejamento de risco. Ao final são propostas algumas recomendações às organizações públicas para melhorar o planejamento de seus empreendimentos de construção / Poor planning and lack of owner envolvement in the execution of the planning are critical causes of the delays and cost overruns that characterize the phase of civil works of the public construction projects. However, how public agencies’ planning execution affects the time and cost results of the phase of civil works is a question not clarified. In this context, this work discuss the execution of the project planning processes of Cia Paulista de Obras e Serviços, a state owned company of the São Paulo State Government, which managed 398 public construction projects from 1992 to 1999. The approach is on the effect of the planning in the results of the phase of civil works in relation to time and cost. The data were collected through interviews with project managers and inspectors of civil works; through consultation in electronic archives and documents; and through direct researcher’s observation in the period from 1995 to 1999. The results achieved point that time and cost are affected by poor work breakdown structures in the description of the project scope; by poor time and cost estimates that disguise the results; by poor procurement documents; by simplified and not integrated scheduling and budgeting; by deficiencies in the organizacional planning and communication that delay decisions taking; by a planning of quality focused in the product; and by absence of risk planning. At the end, some recommendations to the public organizations are proposed to improve the planning of their construction projects.

Os principais conceitos de gerenciamento de portfolio de projetos, ou simplesmente PPM (Project Portfolio Management), desenvolveram-se a partir da evolução das práticas de gerenciamento de projetos e desenvolvimento de produtos. O trabalho traz uma revisão da literatura nessa área, com o levantamento dos principais modelos de PPM e uma análise crítica para a construção do quadro teórico. Depois de pouco mais de 40 anos de estudos, ainda são poucos os modelos portfolio específicos da área de projetos. Foram identificados e analisados cinco modelos. No Brasil, o desenvolvimento deste tema ainda é emergente, dado que os primeiros estudos foram realizados no início da década de 90 e vêm se tornando mais freqüentes na década atual. Apesar do desenvolvimento acadêmico, as técnicas de PPM são novas para as organizações e seus resultados não foram empiricamente testados. Neste estudo, foi realizado um levantamento exploratório com 31 respondentes de diferentes organizações e quatro estudos de caso com empresas de diferentes segmentos, em diferentes estágios de PPM, com o objetivo de identificar as principais práticas de PPM adotadas, o estágio de implementação e a relação entre as práticas e os resultados obtidos. Os principais resultados deste estudo indicam que o PPM ainda é pouco presente nas organizações e, quando é, não apresenta medidas claras dos resultados obtidos com este processo. A falta do PPM pode ser um dos fatores que dificultam a implementação adequada das ações estratégicas definidas pelos executivos. O desdobramento das ações estratégicas em projetos e a delegação da responsabilidade pela execução dos projetos aos níveis inferiores, de forma desestruturada, promovem conflitos desnecessários, com perda de energia da organização.Já a falta de medição dos resultados obtidos dificulta a implementação das práticas de PPM nas organizações, pois não dá segurança aos executivos de que os recursos aplicados em PPM trarão benefícios à organização. / The main concepts of project portfolio management, or just PPM, have been developed based on the evolution of project management and product development practices. This work shows a literature review on this area, with a survey on the main PPM models as well as a critical analysis to build a theoretical frame. After 40 years of studies, there are few portfolio models specific to the project management area. This work has identified and evaluated five models. In Brazil, the development of this theme is emergent, beginning on the 90\'s and growing fast in the current decade. Although their academic development, the PPM techniques are new for most of the companies and their results were not empirically tested. This study demonstrates an exploratory survey with 31 executives from different organizations and four case studies with companies from different segments, in different stages of PPM. Its objective was to identify the main PPM practices adopted, its implementation stage and the relations between those practices and the obtained benefits. The main research results propose that PPM is still rarely present on the organizations and, when it appears, there is no clear measure of obtained results. The PPM absence may be one of the factors to hamper the correct implementation of strategic actions defined by the executive team. The unfolding of the strategic actions into projects and the structureless delegation of implementation responsibility to mid-level managers creates unnecessary conflicts, with loss of organization\'s energy. On the other hand, the absence of measurement hampers the PPM practices implementation because there is no evidence to executives of PPM benefits to the organization.

Research submitted to the faculty of engineering and built environment, university of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master of science in building ( Project Management in construction) / The construction industry is one of the key drivers of economic development in any country. Yet the prevalence of construction project delays and cost overruns continues to be a worldwide chronic problem within the industry. The aim of this study is to evaluate the extent of application of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) by construction project managers (CPMs) within South Africa’s built environment. The increase acceptance of project management as a profession indicates that the application of knowledge, processes, skills, tools, and techniques can have a significant impact on project success. Hence, it is imperative to ascertain whether or not CPMs in South Africa built environment are structurally applying PMBOK® Guide’ processes, tools and techniques when managing their construction projects. This study uses the term “structurally applying PMBOK® Guide” to mean appropriate application of the PMBOK® Guide’s knowledge, processes, tools and techniques. The sample population consists of 120 CPMs within South Africa’s built environment drawn from the nine provinces of South Africa. The result of this study confirm conclusions of previous studies that the prevalence of construction project delays and cost overrun is still high in South Africa’s built environment. The results also show that some CPMs do apply the PMBOK® Guide partially, but that, in general, CPMs do not apply the PMBOK® Guide structurally. The findings indicate that this limited structural application of the PMBOK® Guide is one of the major reasons for the prevalence of project delays and cost overruns within South Africa’s built environment. Therefore, this study stresses that stakeholders within South Africa’s built environment and in particular the South African Council for the Project and Construction Manager Professions (SACPCMP) should take measures to address these prevailing challenges attributable to inadequate PMBOK® Guide application as demonstrated in this study. Amongst the measures to address these challenges, this study recommends: firstly, the introduction of the PMBOK® as a compulsory component of a Construction Project Management course. Secondly, that the SACPCMP considers the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional exam as one of the Pr. CPM registration requirements as a demonstration of improved theoretical knowledge. Finally, that the built environment fraternity should review the structure of the Built Environment Bill of Quantity so that it is strictly aligned with the Work Breakdown Structure approach. This will assist CPMs to appropriately estimate and control the schedule and cost of each piece of work to avoid project delays and cost overruns. Key words: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), generally recognised, structurally, Built Environment, Construction Project Managers (CPMs). / GR2017

Information technology (IT) projects are often inadequately resourced with human talent. Researchers found that 70% of all IT projects worldwide fail. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore the strategies used for the successful management of the human resource planning of IT projects. Using purposeful sampling, 5 IT project managers and 5 IT directors from organizations located in the northeastern region of United States were selected for this study. The resource-based theory provided the conceptual framework. Data were collected using semistructured interviews conducted face-to-face and by telephone. For this study, data triangulation included project documents to strengthen the findings obtained from the 2 groups of participants. Categorization of findings involved the assessment of human capacity for the skills of the project, forecasting of project requirements, availability of resources, and securing project members. Four thematic categories emerged from the data analysis: common strategies employed for success, strategies employed in reaching success, strategies or factors identifying key barriers, and strategies that work best in managing. The implications of this study for positive social change include enhancing the social evolution of the organization by increasing the ability to hire more employees, reducing the unemployment rate, and benefiting society. The results of this study may provide benefits directly stimulating economic progress.

Many project managers and business leaders lack effective strategies to manage information technology (IT) projects, which may inhibit business leaders from successfully implementing IT changes. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that IT leaders use to successfully implement IT projects. The target population consisted of IT leaders in IT organizations located in the Saint Louis Metro East area. The conceptual framework consisted of the general systems theory and the coordination theory. Data collection included organizational documents and semistructured interviews with 6 qualified participants. Data analysis included coding and thematic analysis, member checking, and methodological triangulation. The 4 themes emerging from the data analysis included (a) effective communication, (b) project planning, (c) project execution management, and (d) project closure. The themes highlighted practical strategies to effectively manage the implementation of IT projects. Findings may enhance the organization's position and provide additional employment opportunities in the community.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / Construction projects are deemed to be complex due to the uncertainties in-volved in such projects. The project management literature has outlined chal-lenges that are found in construction projects. It points out that major challenges and problems found in construction projects include cost and schedule overruns. To achieve construction project success a project has to be completed within cost, time and quality standards or performance. To attain success has always been difficult due to the lack of skills and competencies required by construction project managers. A project manager that has the desired competencies to effectively manage cost, time and quality standards in construction projects is needed. Poor management of construction projects is not only in South Africa but it’s a global challenge. Through the combination of qualitative and quantitative research method (also known a mixed method) this study evaluates project manager’s competencies with the objectives of determining the appropriate competencies that could assist a project manager to excellently execute construction projects. This thesis points out that for an effective project manager to successfully manage construction projects requires to have high strength on leadership competency to provide pro-ject leadership, communication competency to direct a way forward in a project and problem solving competency to provide feasible solutions. Provision of project leadership refers to a project manager upholding effective working relationships with colleagues, influencing others to work without being pressurised and provision of vision for the team to know their direction. Direct a way forward in a project refers to a project manager effectively communicating project objectives, speaking to encourage team members to perform tasks effi-ciently and listen actively. Provision of feasible solutions refers to a project man-ager having an ability to identify a problem, seeking best solutions when dealing with problems and exhibiting creativity in problem solving.