<p> </p><p>The advantages of adopting a new software system for Supply Chain Management (SCM) enable the organization to enhance work efficiency as well as customer satisfaction in the supply chain network. These advantages make enterprises update their SCM system through project as a method of realize their strategic change. This research explores how the project manager leads the project team, a temporarily formed unit with multi-functional members, by looking into three focus concepts of the practice perspective:<em> Practitioner, Praxis, and Practices.</em> The empirical study utilized two projects in the electronics firms as the case study. It was decided that a qualitative approach was the most appropriate method to gather the data based on the practice perspective.</p><p> </p><p>The findings of this thesis support this primacy of communication.  To successfully execute the short duration project for system change, intra-organizational communication has an important part to play in the success of change initiatives. Analysis revealed that the project managers’ soft skills are more important than their knowledge of using project-specific tools or techniques in managing short-duration projects. In the empirical study, the requirements of all project practitioners were not met due to tight schedule and limited resource. However, the project objectives were still achieved on time. Some key success factors were identified, such as top management commitment to the project, correct prioritization of different stakeholders’ power, and involvement of employees as early as possible within the change process. The study concludes that the three focus concepts of the practice perspective interplay during the project process and they contribute to the general framework in the short duration project for realizing strategic change, which can be a reference for industry participants in managing similar projects.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>

The advantages of adopting a new software system for Supply Chain Management (SCM) enable the organization to enhance work efficiency as well as customer satisfaction in the supply chain network. These advantages make enterprises update their SCM system through project as a method of realize their strategic change. This research explores how the project manager leads the project team, a temporarily formed unit with multi-functional members, by looking into three focus concepts of the practice perspective: Practitioner, Praxis, and Practices. The empirical study utilized two projects in the electronics firms as the case study. It was decided that a qualitative approach was the most appropriate method to gather the data based on the practice perspective.   The findings of this thesis support this primacy of communication.  To successfully execute the short duration project for system change, intra-organizational communication has an important part to play in the success of change initiatives. Analysis revealed that the project managers’ soft skills are more important than their knowledge of using project-specific tools or techniques in managing short-duration projects. In the empirical study, the requirements of all project practitioners were not met due to tight schedule and limited resource. However, the project objectives were still achieved on time. Some key success factors were identified, such as top management commitment to the project, correct prioritization of different stakeholders’ power, and involvement of employees as early as possible within the change process. The study concludes that the three focus concepts of the practice perspective interplay during the project process and they contribute to the general framework in the short duration project for realizing strategic change, which can be a reference for industry participants in managing similar projects.

Research on the phenomenon of coopetition described as two competing firms cooperating with the intent to create value have seen a great increase the last couple of years. However, studies exploring intra-firm coopetition have been less popular leaving this research field understudied and in need for further exploration. An intra-firm competition relationship can be defined as when two or more project teams cooperate on a joint project, simultaneously as they are competing for their parents’ firms’ resources. Pursuing such a contradictory relationship is not without challenges and therefore, cooperative and competitive activities needs to be balanced in order to achieve value creation. In the context of an organization based on projects, the dynamic relationship of coopetition poses several challenges for project managers to handle. The purpose of the study was to further generate and assist the development of the theory field of coopetition by gaining a deeper understanding of the coopetitive dynamics on an intra-firm level. In this thesis, we explore How is intra-firm coopetition perceived and handled in order to create value within an organization? By conducting semi-structured interviews, seven project team members from three different organizations in the automobile industry ecosystem, shared their experiences of working project based and being exposed to intra-firm coopetition on daily basis. Our findings suggest that intra-firm coopetition needs to be balanced to support value creation. The analysis of the study was conducted by a project-as-practice lens which supported the understanding of cooperative and competitive activities that the project teams participated in. The respondents perceived cooperative activities as beneficial for organizational learning and stressed the importance of social interactions between project teams. On the other hand, competitive activities were perceived as positive as long as they were held on a healthy level and did not become dominant. Our study advances the research field of intra-firm coopetition by gaining knowledge of underlying factors of cooperative and competitive activities that are sources for tension, and how reaching and maintaining a state of balance is crucial for value creation both for the project team, organization and customer. Keywords: Coopetition, Intra-firm coopetition, project-based organizations, and projects-as-practice.

<p>Project management used to be described as rational and well structured - a notion that builds on a traditional view that project management is about planning, budgeting and controlling. Nevertheless, it has been questioned if this is a full description. Even though project management techniques were developed for large projects, those techniques and models are used today in small projects of short duration - projects that are quite dissimilar to the large ones. The present study takes a practice perspective to investigate what project managers do when they lead such short projects. Its observations and interviews are used to analyze what happens in the everyday life of project managers. Using classical managerial behaviour studies as a foundation, seen through a practice perspective lens, the study finds that the work of project managers in a software development project is fragmented – their time is filled with formal and informal meetings of different kinds and efforts to resist disturbances in the project.</p><p>Three challenges were found in the project manager’s work. The first was to Understand: to create meaning. The plans were clearly defined at the start of the project but as the goals were later re-defined, it was scarcely possible to finalize them before delivery. Contrary to the traditional view that plans are inflexible, these plans were discussed, negotiated and interpreted throughout the project. This was the continuous work of creating both meaning in the plans and a common understanding of the project.</p><p>The second challenge was to Order/coordinate: to manage resources. The project manager reacted to emerging issues rather than acting to prevent things from happening. These reactions led to creative ways of managing and finding solutions to problems. One important way of managing new or changed conditions was to reorganize resources to cover the needs of different teams. The meetings played a central role in this work as arenas for negotiating resources, which became especially evident in times of stress or high workload.</p><p>The third challenge was to Make it in time: to manage time. Time is a central aspect of project management as projects are temporary organizations; they have a beginning and an end. Previous research has found a point in time, in the middle of a project, when the team starts to feel pressured and stressed about meeting their deadlines. For project managers there is always a struggle to manage time, as dates for delivery are one of the things in a project that are not negotiable. In short-duration projects where projects follow each other seriatim, there is an almost constant feeling of urgency; stress and pressure. The project manager used experiential data to determine and plan the amount of time that would be needed to manage changes in the project, intending that the slack created would enable the project to deliver on time. Although changes and deviations were expected, the project manager rarely knew beforehand what they were or when they would come.</p><p>The three challenges, previously described as separated from each other, were observed to be all managed simultaneously. The site, the practitioner and the practices influence daily work practice.</p>

Project management used to be described as rational and well structured - a notion that builds on a traditional view that project management is about planning, budgeting and controlling. Nevertheless, it has been questioned if this is a full description. Even though project management techniques were developed for large projects, those techniques and models are used today in small projects of short duration - projects that are quite dissimilar to the large ones. The present study takes a practice perspective to investigate what project managers do when they lead such short projects. Its observations and interviews are used to analyze what happens in the everyday life of project managers. Using classical managerial behaviour studies as a foundation, seen through a practice perspective lens, the study finds that the work of project managers in a software development project is fragmented – their time is filled with formal and informal meetings of different kinds and efforts to resist disturbances in the project. Three challenges were found in the project manager’s work. The first was to Understand: to create meaning. The plans were clearly defined at the start of the project but as the goals were later re-defined, it was scarcely possible to finalize them before delivery. Contrary to the traditional view that plans are inflexible, these plans were discussed, negotiated and interpreted throughout the project. This was the continuous work of creating both meaning in the plans and a common understanding of the project. The second challenge was to Order/coordinate: to manage resources. The project manager reacted to emerging issues rather than acting to prevent things from happening. These reactions led to creative ways of managing and finding solutions to problems. One important way of managing new or changed conditions was to reorganize resources to cover the needs of different teams. The meetings played a central role in this work as arenas for negotiating resources, which became especially evident in times of stress or high workload. The third challenge was to Make it in time: to manage time. Time is a central aspect of project management as projects are temporary organizations; they have a beginning and an end. Previous research has found a point in time, in the middle of a project, when the team starts to feel pressured and stressed about meeting their deadlines. For project managers there is always a struggle to manage time, as dates for delivery are one of the things in a project that are not negotiable. In short-duration projects where projects follow each other seriatim, there is an almost constant feeling of urgency; stress and pressure. The project manager used experiential data to determine and plan the amount of time that would be needed to manage changes in the project, intending that the slack created would enable the project to deliver on time. Although changes and deviations were expected, the project manager rarely knew beforehand what they were or when they would come. The three challenges, previously described as separated from each other, were observed to be all managed simultaneously. The site, the practitioner and the practices influence daily work practice.

Project management used to be described as rational and well structured - a notion that builds on a traditional view that project management is about planning, budgeting and controlling. Nevertheless, it has been questioned if this is a full description. Even though project management techniques were developed for large projects, those techniques and models are used today in small projects of short duration - projects that are quite dissimilar to the large ones. The present study takes a practice perspective to investigate what project managers do when they lead such short projects. Its observations and interviews are used to analyze what happens in the everyday life of project managers. Using classical managerial behaviour studies as a foundation, seen through a practice perspective lens, the study finds that the work of project managers in a software development project is fragmented – their time is filled with formal and informal meetings of different kinds and efforts to resist disturbances in the project. Three challenges were found in the project manager’s work. The first was to Understand: to create meaning. The plans were clearly defined at the start of the project but as the goals were later re-defined, it was scarcely possible to finalize them before delivery. Contrary to the traditional view that plans are inflexible, these plans were discussed, negotiated and interpreted throughout the project. This was the continuous work of creating both meaning in the plans and a common understanding of the project. The second challenge was to Order/coordinate: to manage resources. The project manager reacted to emerging issues rather than acting to prevent things from happening. These reactions led to creative ways of managing and finding solutions to problems. One important way of managing new or changed conditions was to reorganize resources to cover the needs of different teams. The meetings played a central role in this work as arenas for negotiating resources, which became especially evident in times of stress or high workload. The third challenge was to Make it in time: to manage time. Time is a central aspect of project management as projects are temporary organizations; they have a beginning and an end. Previous research has found a point in time, in the middle of a project, when the team starts to feel pressured and stressed about meeting their deadlines. For project managers there is always a struggle to manage time, as dates for delivery are one of the things in a project that are not negotiable. In short-duration projects where projects follow each other seriatim, there is an almost constant feeling of urgency; stress and pressure. The project manager used experiential data to determine and plan the amount of time that would be needed to manage changes in the project, intending that the slack created would enable the project to deliver on time. Although changes and deviations were expected, the project manager rarely knew beforehand what they were or when they would come. The three challenges, previously described as separated from each other, were observed to be all managed simultaneously. The site, the practitioner and the practices influence daily work practice.

Familjeföretag är unika i den bemärkelse att de har en stark kultur vilket kan ha en positiv effekt på verksamhetens prestation. Kulturen hos familjeföretag är det som utgör den största fördelen eftersom det kan främja förändringsprocesser. Företag som är i tillväxt bör ofta göra förändringar i arbetssätt för att anpassa verksamheten efter de nya förutsättningarna. Projekt främjar innovation i företag vilket i sin tur ofta kan vara en drivkraft för tillväxt. Därmed är det vanligt att företag i tillväxt börjar arbeta i projektform mer intensivt. Projektintensiva organisationer är ett begrepp som innebär att projekt utgör kärnan av ett företag vilket är avgörande för att verksamheten ska gå framåt. Utmaningen för projektintensiva organisationer är att hitta en tydlig gräns mellan projekt- och linjearbete. Att arbeta i projekt innebär att en grupp av människor tillsätts temporärt för att utföra en unik uppgift. Uppgiften är utformad för att uppnå ett specifikt resultat vilket innebär att det även finns särskilda krav som måste uppfyllas. Detta förutsätter att gruppen av människor vet vad som krävs av dem för att nå framgång. För att nå framgång i projekt är det av stor vikt att företagsledningen har tagit fram tydliga direktiv och riktlinjer som minskar osäkerheten hos projektdeltagarna. Därav är det eftersträvansvärt att företagsledningen förser projekten med stöd i form av kommunikationsplaner och system som underlättar arbetssättet. Enligt forskning finns det ett behov av att komplettera befintliga teorier inom projektledning med studier som är praktikbaserade. Detta innebär att fler studier bör fokusera på hur företag hanterar projekt i verkligheten. Det är därför av intresse att undersöka ett företag som är i tillväxt och har gått från att ha ett fåtal projekt till att betraktas som en projektintensiv organisation. För att skapa en djupare förståelse för projekt som arbetssätt, grundar sig denna studie på en kvalitativ observationsstudie i ett familjeföretag som expanderat relativt snabbt på kort tid. Denna studie syftar till att effektivisera arbetssätt i produktutvecklingsprojekt hos Rototilt Group AB genom att undersöka hur en ökad förståelse för hur verksamheten arbetar i verkligheten samt vad som sker i arbetsprocesserna. Resultatet av denna studien visar att en ökad mängd av projekt som är stora och komplexa ställer högre krav på att system och arbetssätt fungerar smidigt. Studien visar också att en tydlig rollbeskrivning och mer strukturerad kommunikation främjar projektprocesserna i produktutvecklingsprojekt. Vidare har studien visat att prestation i projekt kan mätas och genom att göra detta länkas de olika nivåerna i företaget samman. Avslutningsvis är projekt i praktiken ett mycket intressant område som har potential till att utvecklas i framtiden. Detta genom att studera fler företag som arbetar intensivt med projekt och koncentrera sig på vad som faktiskt händer i praktiken.