It has shown to be a challenge for many actors in the retail industry to adapt to the constantly changing consumer behavior. This challenge is argued to partly be caused by the industry’s pattern to work in silos. Cross-functional projects are the opposite of silos because they involve project members from several different departments that come together to work towards a common goal. Cross-functional projects promote knowledge sharing and are frequently used in development projects to adapt to a constantly changing business environment. This study aims to identify and understand some of the challenges that hinders actors within the retail industry to meet the constantly changing consumer behavior the industry is facing by doing a case study of a development project (Project A) with a cross- functional character in a large Swedish retail company (Company A). 11 interviews were conducted with various project members and several findings were made of the different challenges Project A had faced. One of the challenges was related to the project members struggle to balance their regular work with the work in the project which lead to low motivation from the project members to contribute to the project. Another finding was the challenge to synchronize the different activities in the project. However, the main finding of this thesis is that many of the challenges that occurred were due to Company A’s lack of project competence. How project competence has a direct influence on the project outcome is the theoretical contribution of this thesis to the existing literature and for this a revised model is proposed.

The aim of this research is to test the effect of different project complexities and project management competence of project managers in public sector mega engineering projects of Pakistan and their effect on project performance. This research study is applied in Pakistan. Complexities in a project are inevitable. These cannot be controlled or eliminated but one can have their better understanding to counter them resulting in better project performance.  Quantitative research techniques have been applied for this particular research study. A total of 100 questionnaires were handed out among respondents, of which 82 survey questionnaires were useful for further analysis. Hypotheses have been developed to test the effect of variables of  project management competence on project performance and subsequently the effect of Technical, Organizational and environmental complexity on project performance.   Results show that project management competence have a positive effect on project performance, like leadership, management skills, communication, ethics, honesty have a strong impact on project performance. Secondly, Technical and organizational complexity have a negative effect on project performance whereas hypothesis of environmental complexity has not supported the project performance.  Further, a number of complexities were high ranked. For instance, goals, tasks and market conditions were ranked very high with respect to their impact on project performance.  This study contributes theoretically in the field of project management and on practical level study will not only help the Practioners in the field of PM, but also helpful for project managers of mega engineering projects. On societal level this study may help the Government intuitions in formulating rules and regulations such as PM certifications that can improve the project performance.

The number of project-based organizations has increased in recent times, as has the teaching method of project-based learning. These two phenomena are related but little research has been conducted to examine the relationship between them, especially from a skills development perspective. Hence the first purpose of this study is to compare the skills that are necessary for work in a project-based organization with the skills that are developed in learning through project-based learning. Furthermore, the pandemic brought on a digitalized work environment for students in higher education.  Therefore, the second purpose of the study is to examine the changes in skills development during digitalization, especially for students who work with project-based learning.    A dual case study conducted in a qualitative manner has been administered to acquire both the project-based organization and the project-based learning perspective. To gain these perspectives, three students at Linköping University, who have worked extensively with project-based learning, and three employees at the project-based organization WSP Sweden AB were interviewed. The interview data was then thematically categorized and discussed.   The results suggest that communication and collaboration skills were developed by working through project-based learning. These skills were also specifically pertinent for work in a project-based organization. However, they were more difficult to develop during digitalization while they grew more important for project-based organizations. Moreover, it was found that tacit knowledge was more relevant for work at WSP Sweden AB, while explicit knowledge was more relevant for studies at Linköping University. During the digitalization of the Covid-19 pandemic, group constellations and project team constellations had significant similarities, while motivation occurred differently in project-based learning compared to project-based organizations.