Public place branding in municipalities is increasing in frequency and consists of multiple stakeholders, which enhances the role of communication in this type of project. The research question is how does project communication impact risk management and goal achievement in public place branding projects? This is answered by the main purpose of this study, which is to increase the understanding of the project communication’s role in risk management and goal achievement in public place branding projects. In order to gain this understanding the thesis has had a qualitative case study with an inductive approach. The focus of the theoretical framework is including place branding, project management, strategic alignment, goal achievement, risk management, and project communication. As a case for the study the project Destination South Lapland has been chosen. The project aims to establish a destination enterprise for the region, and includes four municipalities from the counties of Västerbotten and Jämtland. The focus has been to investigate differences in perceptions and handling regarding goals and risks between the strategic and operational level, and how communication is interrelating these areas. The main conclusion that we can draw from the study is that project success factors are based on the projects goals and that project communication of goals, roles, and risks has an impact on goal achievement. The study shows that project communication is what interlinks the success factors and thus enables public place branding projects to achieve its goals. Project risk management and risk assessment was also found as success factors in public place branding projects. Project communication was therefore also found to incorporate risk management into the project strategy, which facilitates public place branding projects in achieving their goals.

Main goal of this thesis is to design module of communication for a small company specializing in development of complex software. There are communication problems in project management, that result in loss of important informations. I will present the theoretical principles of project communication and use them to identify main problems. Using this conclusions I will design a new internal system module and install it into organization, then i will summarize feedback received from employes. At the end of the thesis i will evaluate benefits for the organization.

<p>Background: The knowledge-based theory proposes that knowledge and how it is managed is an important factor for determining the competitiveness of corporations. Project-based organisations are often put forward as a fast and flexible way of managing knowledge. The prioritizing between different tasks and projects in such organisations is to a large extent done by the individuals. In addition, electronic communication technology enables large amounts of information to travel far and fast. The bounded rationality of the human brain, the flood of information and the multitude of tasks pose a big challenge for project-based organisations. Communication is crucial for efficient project work and given this background it is interesting to examine how individuals in project-based organisations use different communication channels.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore individual communication behaviour in a project-based organisation and from these understandings create a practical framework for discussing and actively managing project communication.</p><p>Research method: The gathering of empirical data was done through a case study of the Converting Standard Line Project – TBA at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient in Lund. The case study consisted of observations and 20 qualitative interviews conducted with the project members, the project manager and representatives from senior management.</p><p>Results: The choice of communication channel was governed by the relative relation between individual gain and individual attention cost and high social presence media such as face-to-face interaction were more preferred than suggested by existing theories. Moreover e-mail had characteristics that made it more than a communication channel and therefore more popular than suggested by existing theories. Finally the study proposes a project communication framework that can be used as a platform for active management of project communication and thereby enabling a more efficient use of the limited attention budget of each individual.</p>

Background: The knowledge-based theory proposes that knowledge and how it is managed is an important factor for determining the competitiveness of corporations. Project-based organisations are often put forward as a fast and flexible way of managing knowledge. The prioritizing between different tasks and projects in such organisations is to a large extent done by the individuals. In addition, electronic communication technology enables large amounts of information to travel far and fast. The bounded rationality of the human brain, the flood of information and the multitude of tasks pose a big challenge for project-based organisations. Communication is crucial for efficient project work and given this background it is interesting to examine how individuals in project-based organisations use different communication channels. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore individual communication behaviour in a project-based organisation and from these understandings create a practical framework for discussing and actively managing project communication. Research method: The gathering of empirical data was done through a case study of the Converting Standard Line Project – TBA at Tetra Pak Carton Ambient in Lund. The case study consisted of observations and 20 qualitative interviews conducted with the project members, the project manager and representatives from senior management. Results: The choice of communication channel was governed by the relative relation between individual gain and individual attention cost and high social presence media such as face-to-face interaction were more preferred than suggested by existing theories. Moreover e-mail had characteristics that made it more than a communication channel and therefore more popular than suggested by existing theories. Finally the study proposes a project communication framework that can be used as a platform for active management of project communication and thereby enabling a more efficient use of the limited attention budget of each individual.

No description available.

<p>The use of mobile and wireless Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in geographically distributed project organizations appears to be an appropriate application of new technical capabilities in an existing business environment. But to successfully introduce and adopt a suitable mobile ICT-based project communication platform in an existing operational setting involves a complex framework of socio-technical issues that have to be considered.</p><p>This Licentiate thesis presents the results of an ongoing doctoral research project. The study explores the implementation process of mobile computing tools at Sweden’s largest construction company, with the aim of improving information management and project communication of production site operations in construction projects. The research project highlights the interdependencies between the creation of usefulness and its resulting benefits. It emphasizes user-oriented implementation as the enabling process for realizing technology fit and user acceptance of the mobile computing tools, as well as achieving long-term benefit and business value of the ICT investment.</p><p>The studied case specifically addresses the neglected mobile and flexible information needs and communication demands of management staff at construction sites. The fundamental issue is to identify what the usefulness perspective of mobile computing for construction operations consists of relating to both technology and the different groups of people who are supposed to use it. Generic access, mobility of project data and individual adaptation of information and communication resources are technological aspects that are emphasized and discussed in the context of creating usefulness and benefit of mobile computing in construction projects. The often present political dimension of ICT implementation within an organization is also highlighted. The socio-technical introduction and adoption process of mobile computing involves balancing various perspectives and agendas inherent on different organizational levels in order to achieve an acceptable outcome for all the actors involved.</p><p>Topics for further research are discussed and refined relating to the ongoing case study and the conceptual framework presented.</p>

Previous research has shown that internal communication can be linked with how motivated a project team is, but research that shows examples of how this works is missing. This paper therefore aims to study how two different IT projects are working with internal communication. By analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, we wanted to study how these could be linked to the project team's motivation. In doing so, we wanted to be able to give examples of how projects could work with internal communication to motivate their project teams.  Essay questions of the study are:  How does the internal communication occur in the projects?  Which strengths and weaknesses are to be found in the internal communication?  How does the internal communication influence the project members' motivation?  To fulfill the purpose of the study it was needed informants interviews with the project manager for each project to access the facts, and respondent interviews with the project members from each project for accessing opinions. The results from the interviews show that both projects have effective communication, even if it looked different, and doesn't quite agree with what previous research recommends. Among other things, a clear communication structure is missing in one of the projects. Evaluation of the communication is missing in both projects. And in several cases also guidelines for the formal communication are missing, such as for the document management, through the system SharePoint. In both projects, the informal communication plays an important role and that both project teams are located close to each other seems tobe a recipe for successful communication. The project members are in favor of the communication and that fact made it natural to find links to the components that create motivation. Among other things, belonging and self-determination have been shown to be created by internal communication. However, there are other components, such as development and competence that have been more difficult to find examples of. This suggests that a certain amount of motivation can be achieved through functioning communication but also other motivators are needed in a project.

Economic instabilities in our country over the past few decades and improvement in communication technologies, have encouraged Turkish construction firms to utilize business opportunities in foreign countries. However, working abroad brings with it certain risks and problems. The aim of this thesis were to define and clarify problematic factors during the design stages in international design projects (IDP), to collect relevant suggested solutions and to try and determine the sources of these factors. The survey starts with general problems and/or factors which affect international projects and continues to examine whether these problems are the same as those faced in the architectural field. Also, the place of the Turkish construction industry in the world market, the reasons for the increase in international projects and the problems which might be faced while executing IDP have formed the scope of this thesis. To this end informal interviews were carried out with managers and design professionals of architectural firms, based in Ankara, which were involved in international projects, in order to determine types of problems encountered in execution of IDPs. The first questionnaire was based on insight gained from these interviews. Thereafter, the results of the first questionnaire formed the basis of the second questionnaire, which was delivered more extensively. According to the research carried out in this study, the major effective factors in execution of IDPs could be listed as, cultural differences, communication within the project team, information technologies, standards and regulations, client and local authorities and economical situation of target country.

Stories have always been present in the life of people as a part of their culture, it is a rather ancient narrative technique. The message delivered in a form of a story is specifically appealing to listeners, which makes it a powerful communication tool. The thesis explores storytelling practices in project management by answering the question: “How project managers use storytelling in new business process implementation in ICT projects?” The choice of the topic was driven by the gap in the literature and the choice of context was chosen by the level of maturity of project management in ICT industry. Within the framework of interpretivist research paradigm, the data was collected by interviewing ten project managers of new business process implementation in ICT projects. The thesis findings suggest that storytelling in implementation of new business processes in ICT projects is used in formal and informal forums in written and verbal format. Project managers use storytelling to pursue several goals: making sense of ICT projects, human resource management, promoting adaptation to new business processes, knowledge management and attracting new customers and investments into ICT projects. Storytelling in ICT projects is also limited by storytelling conditions, such as organizational culture, extent of change, governance structure. Storytelling in projects is subject to challenges, such as logistics and timeliness of practices. From the practical point of view, the thesis explores storytelling as an effective communication tool that can be used for multiple goals in project management. It allows adding storytelling to the requirement list of new soft competences of project managers. The thesis has bridged a literature gap between storytelling and project management, which opens new theoretical perspective of interpreting the reality in projects and creates space for further research.

Sammanfattning Planprocessen har den senaste tiden legat i fokus för ett antal utredningar och rapporter. Den bostadsbrist som råder i bl.a. Stockholm påverkas av långa planprocesser som kan sträcka sig upp till fem år eller mer. Även konkurrensen mellan små och stora byggherrar påverkas då endast de större byggherrarna har resurser att ta sig igenom de långa planprocesserna. Vissa förändringar som ska effektivisera processen har gjorts i den nya PBL som infördes den 2 maj 2011, men det finns även andra faktorer som påverkar längden och smidigheten hos processen. I detta examensarbete har sju detaljplaner från olika kommuner i Stockholms län valts ut och studerats. De personer som varit handläggare på kommunen respektive projektledare hos exploatören har intervjuats kring olika aspekter av planprocessen, och huvudsyftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka åsikterna kring dessa aspekter. De intervjuade har fått svara på frågor kring tidsåtgång, lagstiftning, samarbete och kommunikation.  Ett delsyfte har även varit att studera tidsåtgången från initiering till antagande för de utvalda detaljplanerna. Resultatet av studien visar att tidsåtgången för de utvalda planprocesserna varierar mycket. Med initieringstiden inräknad varierade tidsåtgången mellan 29 och 84 månader fram till antagandet. Initieringstiden, som är svårdefinierad, spelar en stor roll för tidsåtgången och medelvärdet av initieringstiden utgör 35% resp. 27% av den totala tidsåtgången, beroende på om det är med eller utan planprogram. Resultatet från intervjuerna berör en rad aspekter. Politikens roll och kommunens organisation är faktorer som kan påverka planprocessen på olika sätt, både gällande tidsåtgången men även styrningen av tjänstemännen. De enskilda handläggarnas roll påverkar också planprocessen i hög grad. Det ställs höga krav på handläggarna att de genomför processen på ett korrekt sätt och personliga egenskaper är viktiga. Handläggarna får även en roll som projektledare i planprocessen och det ställer ytterligare krav på dem. Detaljstyrningen i detaljplanerna är en viktig fråga för både kommuner och exploatörer och verkar till en viss grad styras av den tillit och samarbete som finns mellan kommunen och exploatören, och utgör en garanti för kommunen att exploatören utför det han utlovat. Länsstyrelsen är den remissinstans som har mest att säga till om i planprocessen och har en tendens att fördröja den med månader p.g.a. långa handläggningstider, och detta skapar frustration hos både exploatörer och handläggare / The planning process in Sweden has been the topic of a number of recent studies and reports. The lack of housing in cities, for example in Stockholm, is affected by long detail planning processes which can span up to five years or more. This also affects the competition between small and large housing developers, since only larger companies have the resources to endure the long processes. Some changes that are meant to improve the efficiency of the process have been made to the new Planning and Building act which was introduced on the 2nd of May 2011, but there are also other factors that affect the length and flexibility of the process. Seven detailed development plans from different municipalities in Stockholm County have been studied, and interviews have been held with both the developer and the planning official at the municipality for each plan. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the planning officials’ and the developers’ views on different aspects of the planning process. The examined aspects are time, legislation, cooperation and communication. Another purpose is to study the time taken for the planning process from initiation to adoption of the chosen plans. The result from the study shows that the time for the chosen plans varies greatly. The time varied between 29 and 84 months, including the initiation time. The initiation time, which is often difficult to define, has major effects on the time taken. The mean value of the initiation time is 35% and 27% respectively of the total time taken, depending on if a planning program was used or not. The results from the interviews touch a number of aspects. The role of politics and the municipality’s organisation are factors that can affect the planning process in different ways, both in the time taken and in the control of the officials. The planning officials’ role also affects the planning process to a high extent. There are high demands on the officials to perform their work in a correct way and their personal abilities are important. The planning officials also have the role of project leader for the planning process, which puts further demands on them. The level of detail in the detailed development plans is an important question for both municipalities and developers. The level of detail is, to some extent, dependent on the level of trust and cooperation that exists between the developer and the municipality. Furthermore, the level of detail in the detailed development plans work as a guarantee for the municipalities that the developer will execute the project in the promised way. The County Administrative Board is the referral body that has most influence in the planning process and the results shows that they can prolong the process by months due to long processing times. This is something that creates frustration among both developers and planning officials.