Today, organisations are increasingly using a variety of project management methodologies to effect organisational change. However, appropriate and thorough management of organisational change within the project environment is not inherent in the mechanistic nature of traditional project management, which focuses on the creation of a temporary organisation around a unique organisational issue, with the primary emphasis on the achievement of project milestones, cost and quality parameters. Usually, a change management imperative is not included in the project management methodology and it is therefore neglected, which has a negative impact on the outcome and/or longevity of the project. It was therefore important to identify what the elements of change dynamics in the project management domain are across each project phase in order to assist project managers and teams to manage change dynamics consciously and diligently during the life cycle of the project. The research problem and objectives of the study were informed by a comprehensive literature study, which revealed a need for the development of an assessment tool containing the elements of change dynamics across the four stages of the project life cycle. Triangulation was used to ensure the integrity of the study. This included defining change management elements within the project management domain on the basis of a comprehensive literature study, administering the Delphi technique and applying Lawshe’s content validity methodology. The DeVellis scale development methodology was then applied to the resulting draft assessment tool for the next phase of the research project. The second phase of testing of the diagnostic tool exposed the ‘change management measurement tool’ to the views and opinions of two target population groups, namely some South African and some international project managers with various experience levels from different economic sectors. Various iterations of exploratory factor analysis indicated the primary factors for each of the four phases of the project life cycle whilst identifying the most important change management elements to be retained in the final assessment tool. Item-scale and reliability analysis, together with Tucker’s phi results, confirmed the reliability, internal consistency and structure of the assessment tool, which is comprised of 103 items. Highly intercorrelated items in each of the four project life cycle sections of the assessment tool, namely the conception/initiation, planning, implementation and post-implementation phases were indicated by Cronbach alpha coefficients of 0.937, 0.974, 0.931 and 0.875 respectively. The results of this study contribute to the application of organisational behaviour techniques in the field of project management because the study provides an assessment tool to measure change dynamics during a project’s life cycle. The aim of this study, to contribute to the body of knowledge by developing an assessment tool to link the existing theories of change management/change dynamics to the constructs and dimensions of project management and, more specifically, to the four stages of a project life cycle, has been achieved. The assessment tool that was developed in the course of this study can serve as both a diagnostic tool and a checklist which project managers can use to ensure that sufficient focus is placed on the change management imperative as part of the necessary project management methodology during a project’s life cycle. / Thesis (PhD (Organizational Behaviour))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / PhD / unrestricted

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An initial analysis of sustainable project life cycle management methodologies’ current status highlighted that social and environmental aspects of sustainable development are not addressed effectively. An acceptable model aimed at addressing the various sustainable development aspects from a project management perspective is thus needed. This study’s main research objective was consequently to develop the different elements of such a model for social business sustainability. The research focused on the three main research questions discussed below. Which lifecycles should be considered when evaluating the project’s possible impacts? Projects implement or deliver certain products, which in turn, can produce other commodities sold by the company. The three lifecycles, i.e. project, asset and product, were studied to determine which lifecycles to consider when evaluating projects’ possible impacts. It was concluded that it is specifically the project’s deliverables and its associated products that have economic, social and environmental consequences. These life cycles must therefore be considered as part of the project life cycle when evaluating social impacts. What social business sustainability impacts or aspects should be considered in the project life cycle? A sustainable development framework that can be applied to projects directly to ensure their alignment with sustainable development does not exist at present. A social sustainability assessment framework as part of a sustainability assessment framework for operational initiatives was consequently developed and introduced. The social framework was verified and validated by means of case studies, a survey and a Delphi Technique case study to test the framework’s completeness and relevance. How should project management methodologies be adopted to ensure incorporation of social business sustainability? The research indicated that the various social aspects are addressed in different ways in the individual asset life cycle phase. The social criteria in the framework should therefore also be addressed in different ways in the project management methodologies. A Social Impact Indicator (SII) calculation procedure, based on a previously introduced Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) calculation procedure for environmental Resource Impact Indicators (RIIs), was developed as a method to evaluate social impacts in the project life cycle phases. Case studies in the process industry and statistical information for South Africa have been used to establish information availability for the SII calculation procedure. / Thesis (PhD (Engineering Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

The MA thesis is divided to two basic parts. First of them is dealing with personal, social and professional knowledge of a project manager and the second one is mapping the education of soft skills at Czech universities where the subject of study "Information Studies and Librarianship" is taught. The theoretical part is devoted to project management. The attention is devoted to basic terms from project management's area, it represents the most well-known project methodologies, it defines particular roles of a project manager and most importantly the part is dealing with particular competences, which should be commanded by a project manager. The last chapter of theoretical part is devoted to an analysis of the three most well-known project methodologies. The practical part is mapping the situation at universities - namely which subjects they offer within the education of soft skills and how the teachers are working with the subject. Other activities of universities within the education and the development of soft skills are also given. Further the examples of subjects with the same topic taught at American universities are listed. In the end of thesis the recommendation how to improve the quality of teaching soft skill at Czech universities are given. And also which topics could be put among optional...