The use of efficient information systems and technology has not only become a source of competitive advantage, but also a threshold criterion for organizational survival. In response, many organizations are utilizing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems (Baykasoglu and Gölcük, 2017, p. 256). ERP systems are software packages that integrate, centralize and automate a company’s information and commercial operations, regardless of the company’s size, diversity or geographical dispersion (Parr & Shanks, 2000, p. 1). This thesis explores the use of hybrid project management approaches in the context of ERP implementation projects. Hybrid project management approach (PM) involves the blending of traditional and agile project management practices and principles. Although the use of a hybrid PM approach has appeared in research and seems to be utilized in practice, minimal empirical findings have been confirmed due to the infancy of the research topic. Emerging literature emphasizes the importance of context making the point that no single PM approach can be suggested as a “universal best practice” (Highsmith, 2009, p. 23; Leybourne, 2009, p. 524). The ongoing debate between academics and practitioners involves the choice of the PM approach that would lead to maximizing project benefits and achieving project success. Hybrid approaches are becoming increasingly popular as a way of answering the common paradox between flexibility (agile approaches) and structure (traditional approaches). The study was guided by the following research question: How are traditional and agile project management approaches blended in ERP implementation projects and what are the associated impacts? There is very limited research investigating the use of a hybrid project management approach for this type of projects. This study aimed to contribute to the research field, providing new insight to drive future research and useful implications for practitioners. Specifically, this study provides insight on how a hybrid approach is employed in practice, which principles and practices are used throughout the project lifecycle, the critical success factors, benefits, and challenges. Additionally, the factors that should be considered when determining the project management approach for ERP implementation projects are investigated. The findings were supported by the development of a framework and suggestions for future research.   Six in-depth semi-structured interviews with industry experts were conducted to gain insight on their opinions and experience in this specific context. Secondary data was collected, utilizing company documents and websites to support the findings. Following the exploratory purpose of this research and the underlying research question, the qualitative data analysis deployed a combination of a template approach and inspired grounded theory as an analytical tool. The data analysis approach utilized the development of themes a priori from the literature review, however the codes were generated directly through analyzing the collected primary data. Answering the research question, the study’s findings were reflected in a model, which also draws conclusions about how the various themes are related. In this framework, the critical success factors, such as the project team, project manager, and project planning, were considered important for using a hybrid project management approach, irrespective if the project management approach is more predominantly traditional, agile or an even combination. An assessment criterion is provided, to determine the best suited project management approach, including client, project manager and team, project specific, and external factors. The most important and used traditional and agile practices were then identified throughout the implementation phases. Finally, the benefits and challenges of using a hybrid PM approach for ERP implementation projects were outlined.

Background: During the last decades there has been a rapid increase in the desire of being more flexible and responsive, which has paved the way for Agile Project Management – APM. As a consequence of implementing APM into environments previously defined as traditional, it has opened up a discussion of merging APM with Traditional Project Management – TPM. This combination of methodologies is referred to as Hybrid Project Management – HPM, whose aim is to leverage benefits from both APM and TPM. Purpose: Prior research has failed to keep up with this trend. Those that have shed light on this phenomenon have failed to realize the differences between IT and non-IT sectors. With this in mind, and the call for including managers’ perspective on HPM, this study has investigated project managers’ experiences and perceptions of factors that influence hybrid project success in physical product development. In order to address this purpose this study has also investigated how project managers perceive project success. This was done since one must first determine what constitutes project success in order to identify what factors that could bear a potential influence on it. Method: From an interpretivist philosophical standpoint this, exploratory and inductive, study has been carried out through semi-structured interviews with experienced project managers within HPM. Inspired by Grounded Theory, this study has employed purposive sampling and analyzed the data through a grounded analysis technique. Conclusion: This research has successfully identified a range of various factors that influence hybrid projects’ success. Based upon this, a model exhibiting the factors influencing hybrid projects in physical product development could be constructed, as well as a model depicting how project managers perceive hybrid project success. It was found that there is a constant tension between the TPM and APM when merging the two. Instead of identifying one way to optimize the hybrid project, it is more or less about managing this balance between APM and TPM practices. It was also found that project success is a dynamic and subjective concept, rather than the static and additive concept that is often illustrated by contemporary research.

Businesses within the physical product domain seek to transform the way they manage new product development, through more flexible approaches. Traditionally, this was done through a fixed approach, characterized by linear and rigid workflow. In this context, however, a complete transition over to a flexible approach, characterized by iterative workflow and adaptability, is not feasible in most cases. To increase flexibility more suitably, hybrid approaches emerged, which combine elements from fixed- and flexible project management approaches. Existing literature lacks in the area of suitability assessment for when and how to combine these two approaches. Therefore, this exploratory study set out to identify factors that affect the suitability of any of the three approaches, fixed, flexible, or hybrid. The thesis took a qualitative approach, collecting data from semi-structured interviews and company documents. Interviewees included project managers and developers. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings revealed a total of 19 relevant factors within four primary areas, Communication & Engagement, Knowledge & Principles, Contextual Constraints, and Risk & Change Management. Stakeholder- and Team Communication and engagement were shown to be highly influential and recurrent factors. The practical contributions of the thesis aim towards increasing the assessment capabilities amongst managers, trying to determine the suitability of any particular project management approach. By evaluating the factors, conditions regarding the characteristics of a project can be established and more appropriate management approaches can be adopted. / Tillverkande organisationer inom den fysiska produkt-domänen som strävar efter att förbättra sättet de hanterar utvecklingen av nya produkter, kan vända sig till flexibla metodiker. Traditionellt sett gjordes detta genom mer fasta metodiker som kännetecknas av linjära och stela arbetsflöden. I denna kontext är det oftast inte optimalt att helt övergå till ett flexibelt arbetssätt, som kännetecknas av iterativa arbetsflöden. För att öka flexibiliteten på ett mer lämpligt sätt har hybrida metoder utvecklats, vilket kombinerar element från både fasta och flexibla projektledningsmetoder. Den befintliga litteraturen brister när det kommer till lämplighetsbedömning för när och hur organisationer ska kombinera dessa två. Därför syftar denna explorativa studie till att identifiera faktorer som påverkar lämpligheten för någon av de tre arbetssätten: fast, flexibel eller hybrid. Studien använde sig av en kvalitativ forskningsmetodik och samlade in data genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och företagsdokument. Intervjupersonerna inkluderade projektledare och utvecklare inom studierelevanta områden. Analys av samtlig data skedde genom metoden Tematisk analys. Resultaten visade på totalt 19 relevanta faktorer inom fyra huvudsakliga områden: Kommunikation & Engagemang, Kunskap & Principer, Kontextuella Begränsningar samt Risk- & Förändringshantering. Intressent- och Team Kommunikation & Engagemang visade sig vara mycket påverkande och återkommande faktorer. Studiens praktiska bidrag syftar till att öka förmågan hos företagsledare att bedöma lämpligheten hos en specifik projektledningsmetod. Genom att utvärdera faktorerna kan förhållanden gällande ett projekts karaktärsdrag fastställas och mer lämpliga projektledningsmetoder tillämpas.

We know that it is difficult to forecast the future, and the same applies to project management. There are a lot of occurrences that are both predictable and not possible throughout the course of a project. The management of uncertainty is a management method that helps to forecast and adjust to future occurrences. In this context, frameworks and tools have been created to help project managers genuinely understand a project's potential.  The study was conducted as a case study at Rimaster Development in Söderhamn and aimed at discovering sources of uncertainty within their project development that affect project performance. The study is built on both quantitative and qualitative data gathering from a workshop, survey, meetings, and interviews from ten different projects of Rimaster. The study had five respondents who contributed with two projects, each of which they had been a part of previously, one classified as uncertain and one as more certain.  The data were analyzed with the statistics tool SPSS, where variables were computed based on the empirical findings in the uncertainty survey. The result was then presented through uncertainty attribute matrices to identify how each project performed in relation to customer satisfaction as well as time plan and budget. Here, dependent variables were tested, such as if the uncertainty score (the higher value, the more uncertain is the project) influenced project performance. From the data, two categories of projects could be developed: Higher performing projects and lower performing projects. To this, significant analysis of the performance groups was performed to find parameters that were significantly different between the categories. To capture more data to the thesis, each project was then evaluated through an individual project analysis which consisted of analyzing the data from the survey more closely for each project. The findings from this were then supported with qualitative interviews.  The findings in the study suggest that there is a relationship between project uncertainty and lower-performing projects in relationship to time plan and budget. Further, sixteen uncertainty parameters showed to have a significant value in the comparison between higher and lower performing projects. Based upon the data and the analysis of the study, managerial recommendations have been provided to Rimaster on tools and development processes that may assist the organization's uncertainty management and increase their project performance. / Det är allmänt känt att det är omöjligt att tydligt förutsäga framtiden och detsamma gäller projektledning. Det finns många händelser som är både oförutsägbara och riskfyllda under ett projektets gång, där osäkerhetshanteringen är en hanteringsmetod som hjälper till att prognostisera och anpassa sig till framtida händelser. Tidigare forskning inom osäkerhetshantering har utvecklat ramar och verktyg för att hjälpa projektledare att verkligen förstå ett projekts potential.  Studien genomfördes som en fallstudie vid Rimaster Development i Söderhamn och syftade till att upptäcka källor till osäkerhet inom deras utvecklingsavdelning som påverkar projektets prestanda. Studien bygger på både kvantitativ och kvalitativ datainsamling från en workshop, enkätundersökning, möten och intervjuer från tio olika projekt från Rimaster. Studien enkätundersökning hade fem svarande som bidrog med två projekt som de tidigare hade varit en del av, ett klassificerat som osäkert och ett som mer säkert.  Data erhållen from enkäten analyserades med statistikverktyget SPSS där variabler beräknades baserat på empiriska resultat i osäkerhetsundersökningen. Resultatet presenterades sedan genom osäkerhetsattributmatriser för att identifiera hur varje projekt presterade i förhållande till kundnöjdhet samt tidsplan och budget. Här testades beroende variabler som om den osäkerhetspoängen varde projekt erhöll (ju högre värde, desto mer osäkert är projektet) hade en effekt på projektets prestanda. Från analysen kunde två kategorier av projekt utvecklas: projekt med högre prestanda och projekt med lägre prestanda. Utöver detta genomfördes en signifikansanalys av prestationsgrupperna för att hitta parametrar som var signifikanta olika mellan kategorierna. För att samla ytterliga data till avhandlingen utvärderades varje projekt genom en individuell projektanalys som bestod av att analysera data från undersökningen närmare för varje projekt. Resultaten från detta styrktes sedan med kvalitativa intervjuer.  Resultaten i studien antyder att det finns ett samband mellan projektosäkerhet och projekt med lägre resultat i förhållande till tidsplan och budget. Vidare visade sig sexton osäkerhetsparametrar ha ett signifikant värde i jämförelsen mellan projekt med högre och lägre resultat. Baserat på analyseringen av den data studien samlat in så har rekommendationer överlämnats till Rimaster om verktyg och utvecklingsprocesser som kan hjälpa organisationens osäkerhetshantering och därmed öka deras projektprestanda.

This thesis provides a study of an open source software project that focuses on the software development of an e-service in a municipal context. The focus is on environmental factors that either limit or promote the motivation to participate in the open source project, the "Parent-Teacher Meeting" project, a web-based communication and information channel whose purpose is to enhance the contacts between schools and parents. The empirical context is situated at the point where traditional information systems (IS) development meets new perspectives regarding organizational structures and boundaries and, as such, provides example of ongoing cross-organizational activities that break current local organizational standards. The objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of motivational factors for participation and adopts a sociocultural view on the topic motivation to participate. The empirical material was collected through interviews, conversations, and meetings. Being a subproject (i.e. an initiative to develop an open source software application) within a triple helix project I found an extensive number of stakeholders. The choice was made to focus on the application development; thereby a central group of participants within the development project team was found and these became the focus within the study. Moreover, I have, in this thesis, chosen to conduct a contextual description of the participants and the course of events that lead to the start of the project of study. This has been done so as to present the context, which is the focus for this study, to the reader and to be able to use these descriptions within the analysis. I have, methodologically, approached the problem from a descriptive angle with an interpretative character using a qualitative case study design. Within the thesis, the means by which the case study has been conducted is presented; i.e. the decision regarding research focus, design, and my role as researcher. In relation to the data collection, the main source has been semi-structured interviews, which is consistent with an interpretive case study character and in which my intent is to highlight conditions and events that are important to both groups within the development team. To support the investigation of those factors that can explain and assist with the interpretation of my empirical data, my description and interpretations are built on a theoretical framework based on concepts from IS theories and theories relating to human motivation. The framework, self-determination theory (SDT), is used as a lens to direct the focus onto the situated conditions that influence how individuals experience their participation within the software development project. Given the theoretical basis of an analytical comparison of ideal types of software development constructs, together with influences from motivational theories, the analytical framework used for collecting occurrences of motivational behavior and sociocultural conditions has been constructed. After the findings and my interpretation of them with the assistance of my analytical framework have been presented, a discussion and conclusions are then detailed. The conclusions of the study are argued as being relevant as an explanation for the understanding of intrinsic and internalized extrinsic motivation to participate in a hybrid open source projects. The study contributes to our understanding of some of the challenges that are to be considered when putting together and managing systems or software development processes. In this way, the study may provide some basis for improving and meeting new demands regarding how development is adopted in a mixed scenario and this provides valuable knowledge to both practice and IS research. / Grunden för denna avhandling är en studie av ett öppen källkodsutvecklingsprojekt av en kommunal e-tjänst. Fokus ligger på ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på kontextuella faktorer vilka endera hindrar eller främjar motivation för deltagande. Öppen källkodsprojektet ”Föräldramötet” är en webbaserad kommunikations- och informationskanal vars syfte är att öka och förbättra kontakten mellan hem och skola. Denna empiriska kontext är situerad i en punkt där traditionell IS-utveckling möter nya perspektiv på organisationsstrukturer och gränser samt därigenom ger exempel på pågående tvärorganisatoriska aktiviteter vilka bryter mot nuvarande interna organisationsstandarder. Målet för denna studie är att nå en djupare förståelse för deltagandets motivationsfaktorer och anammar ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på ämnet deltagandemotivation. Det empiriska materialet samlades in genom intervjuer, konversationer samt möten. Då Föräldramötetprojektet är ett underprojekt i ett trippelhelixsammanhang visade det sig initialt finnas ett stort antal intressenter. Det gjordes ett val att fokusera på applikationsutvecklingen; genom vilket en central grupp av deltagare inom utvecklingsprojektet identifierades vilka kom att komma i fokus för denna studie. Vidare har jag i denna avhandling valt att göra en kontextuell beskrivning av deltagarna och den händelsekedja som lett fram till bildandet av det studerade projektet. Detta gjordes för att i enlighet med denna studies fokus belysa sammanhanget för läsaren samt för att använda den inom min analys. Jag har närmat mig problemet från en deskriptiv synvinkel med en tolkande karaktär användande mig av en kvalitativ fallstudiemetod. Inom avhandlingen beskrivs tillvägagångssättet för fallstudiens utförande, t.ex. hur beslut fattats angående forskningsfokus, fallstudiedesign och vad min roll som forskare inneburit. I relation till datainsamlingen, har den huvudsakliga källan varit halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Dessa har varit i konsekvens med en uttolkande fallstudiemetod och har i enlighet med min avsikt utformats för att belysa villkor och händelser som har varit betydande för bägge grupperingarna inom projektgruppen. För att stödja undersökningen av de faktorer som kan förklara och hjälpa med tolkningen av mina empiriska data, har jag byggt mina beskrivningar och tolkningar på ett teoretiskt ramverk baserat på koncept från IS-teorier och teorier relaterade till mänsklig motivation. Det teoretiska ramverket ”self-determination theory” (SDT), används som en lins för att rikta brännpunkten mot de villkor som styr hur individer upplever deras deltagande inom det studerade mjukvaruutvecklingsprojektet. Givet den teoretiska bas, som bygger på analytisk karaktärisering av idealtyper av mjukvaruutvecklingsmodeller sammantaget med influenser från motivationsteorier, har ett analytiskt ramverk, för att inhämta instanser av motiverat beteende och sociokulturella villkor, utvecklats. Efter att ha redogjort för upptäckterna och mina tolkningar av dem, med hjälp av mitt analytiska ramverk, presenteras en detaljerad diskussion med slutsatser. Jag argumenterar för att dessa slutsatser är relevanta som en förklaring för förståelsen av inre samt internaliserad yttre motivation för deltagande inom detta öppen källkodsprojekt av hybridnatur. Studien bidrar till vår förståelse för vissa av de utmaningar som måste beaktas när man ska hantera system eller utvecklingsprocesser. På detta sätt kan studien bidra med en bas för att förbättra och möta nya krav på hur utveckling bedrivs i blandade miljöer och även med kunskap för både praktik och IS-forskning. / PECOI