Setting tolerance limits for statistical project control using earned value management

Project control has been a research topic since decades that attracts both academics and practitioners. Project control systems indicate the direction of change in preliminary planning variables compared with actual performance. In case their current project performance deviates from the planned performance, a warning is indicated by the system in order to take corrective actions.Earned value management/earned schedule (EVM/ES) systems have played a central role in project control, and provide straightforward key performance metrics that measure the deviations between planned and actual performance in terms of time and cost. In this paper, a new statistical project control procedure sets tolerance limits to improve the discriminative power between progress situations that are either statistically likely or less likely to occur under the project baseline schedule. In this research, the tolerance limits are derived from subjective estimates for the activity durations of the project. Using the existing and commonly known EVM/ES metrics, the resulting project control charts will have an improved ability to trigger actions when variation in a project׳s progress exceeds certain predefined thresholdsA computational experiment has been set up to test the ability of these statistical project control charts to discriminate between variations that are either acceptable or unacceptable in the duration of the individual activities. The computational experiments compare the use of statistical tolerance limits with traditional earned value management thresholds and validate their power to report warning signals when projects tend to deviate significantly from the baseline schedule.     

Dramatically reducing cycle times through flash development

The reduction of cycle time has emerged as a fundamental element of new product development strategy. Many companies look solely at speed enhancement and increase the human, capital and technical resources allocated to development projects. However, additional resources do not guarantee significant reductions in cycle time. As well as speed enhancement activities, there exist two other sets of activities that are key to shortening the development cycle: those that act to prevent delays (friction) in the development process and those that define the scope of the final outcome (direction). This paper describes flash development as an alternative approach to reducing product development cycle times. Flash development works by creating a process that focuses on speed, friction and direction. The process is illustrated through an analysis of the Galileo Project at Nortel Networks.     

Linear solution schemes for Mean-SemiVariance Project portfolio selection problems: An application in the oil and gas industry

We study the Mean-SemiVariance Project (MSVP) portfolio selection problem, where the objective is to obtain the optimal risk-reward portfolio of non-divisible projects when the risk is measured by the semivariance of the portfolio׳s Net-Present Value (NPV) and the reward is measured by the portfolio׳s expected NPV. Similar to the well-known Mean-Variance portfolio selection problem, when integer variables are present (e.g., due to transaction costs, cardinality constraints, or asset illiquidity), the MSVP problem can be solved using Mixed-Integer Quadratic Programming (MIQP) techniques. However, conventional MIQP solvers may be unable to solve large-scale MSVP problem instances in a reasonable amount of time. In this paper, we propose two linear solution schemes to solve the MSVP problem; that is, the proposed schemes avoid the use of MIQP solvers and only require the use of Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) techniques. In particular, we show that the solution of a class of real-world MSVP problems, in which project returns are positively correlated, can be accurately approximated by solving a single MILP problem. In general, we show that the MSVP problem can be effectively solved by a sequence of MILP problems, which allow us to solve large-scale MSVP problem instances faster than using MIQP solvers. We illustrate our solution schemes by solving a real MSVP problem arising in a Latin American oil and gas company. Also, we solve instances of the MSVP problem that are constructed using data from the PSPLIB library of project scheduling problems.     

Organizational Learning under Organizational Impermanence: Collaborative Ties in Film Project Firms

In the last two decades a lot of research has been devoted to unveiling the processes through which organizations learn and store knowledge. This research is typically concerned with organizations lastingly engaged in the provision of goods or services. Permanency is usually presumed in order for the encoding of inferences from history to take place. But what if organizational permanency cannot be assumed ex-ante? Project firms represent an interesting case in point. A project firm is a transient form of organization that ceases to exist as soon as its single target is achieved, as such it does not exhibit stable structures nor does it exhibit ostensible history-based paths upon which to build its choices and nurture its organizational knowledge. This apparent paradox can be resolved, in part, by extending the view from the isolated project to the relational context in which project firms operate. Using longitudinal data from the U.S. feature film industry, we show that the process of organizational formation and dissolution that characterizes this context is underpinned by patterns of enduring collaborations among interdependent industry participants. We build on these findings to speculate on processes of learning and remembering that interpenetrate project firms’ boundaries, by being embedded within a texture of stable interpersonal ties.     

基于CMM与OPM3的软件项目关键成功因素分析

本文在对软件项目管理和项目管理成熟度模型发展讨论的基础上,根据中国项目项目管理知识体系以及我国软件企业中软件项目管理和软件能力成熟度模型的发展中所出现的问题,总结和归纳了影响软件项目管理的31个关键影响因素,建立了软件项目管理三层次模型。通过对软件项目管理人员以调查问卷的形式收集数据资料,利用因子分析验证了软件项目管理三层次模型的正确性和可行性,以期通过软件项目管理提高我国软件企业CMM等级。     

中小企业IT应用及其绩效的实证分析

IT应用是解决当前中小企业管理问题的有效措施,但对此方面的研究仍然很少。本文运用创新扩散理论(DOI)对中小企业的IT应用及其绩效进行了理论分析,并对理论分析的结果运用SAS进行了实证研究。研究的结果表明,IT采用动因对IT应用准备、IT应用特性对IT项目实施、IT应用准备对IT项目实施、IT项目实施对IT应用绩效有显著的正影响作用;与有关文献的观点相异,IT采用动因对IT应用绩效有显著的负影响作用;而IT采用动因对IT项目实施,IT应用特性对IT应用绩效则无显著的影响作用。     

Credential Effects and the Returns to Education in China

Using the China Household Income Project (CHIP) data for 1995 and 2002, we examine the returns to education in China, separating out credential effects from pure years‐of‐schooling effects. The results are broadly consistent with the implications of China moving towards a market‐oriented economy: increasing returns to education where both years of schooling and credentials from completing key phases are rewarded; a decline in the importance of credentials as firms have more discretion to select the best‐suited employees irrespective of their credentials; more emphasis on credentials in the state sector; less emphasis on credentials for long‐tenured employees for whom the employer has more opportunity to assess productivity without relying on credentials; and a greater importance of credentials for females for whom the value of such signals may be more important.     

A new model for successful management of engineering design firms — “superpositioning”

A SuperPositioning model for successful management of engineering design firms is discussed which allows firms to be categorized within a matrix bounded by two primary drivers, their engineering Design Techology (how they do their work) and their Values (the primary reward thrusts or motivations of the owners). Technologies are separated into Strong Idea (Brains), Strong Service (Gray Hair) and Strong Delivery (Routine Procedure). Values are divided between Practice Centered Business and Business Centered Practice.The firm's Design Technology affects the optimal way it should handle Project Design, Project Decision Making, Middle and Lower Level Staffing, Markets, What it Sells, What it Can Charge, and Best Management Style. Its choice of Values impacts the Organization Structure, Organization Decision-Making, Staffing at the Top, How it Markets, Best Clients, Marketing Organization, Profit Strategy, Reward and Management Style. Firms that optimize their strategies for these elements to match their choice of drivers are observed to perform better for their clients and in terms of their owner's satisfaction.     

大型水利工程移民教育资源布局决策问题研究

本文首先分析了几年来我国黄河小浪底、长江三峡、南水北调等大型水利工程的移民教育资源规划中存在的问题。然后,提出了移民教育资源规划的分类、规划的原则。最后,建立了大型水利工程移民学校布局多目标鲁棒定量决策模型、给出了算例,并对结果进行了讨论分析。本文给出的移民教育资源布局的均衡性、稳定性、优先性、效益性和整体性等原则要求,以及基于这些原则的学校选址决策方法有助于政府在移民教育布局决策的科学化。     

Strategic management step by step

This paper summarizes the application of Strategic Decision Making Process in a small company. The project described is an example taken from in-company projects conducted by the CAPITB Management Advisory Unit across the industry sectors and was part of the Strategic Decision Making Process Research and Project Work Programme.It describes the stages and work involved in the development and implementation of the Company's strategy and also identifies some of the benefits and problems which stemmed from the work.     

Predicting project approvals: A case of grants from the National Science Council of Taiwan

Project selection is an important task for organizations in achieving their missions using limited budgets and resources. Whether or not a project will be approved is also of primary concern to the applicants. This paper predicts whether a project will be approved for cases where the criteria for evaluating it are known while the scoring system is not. The idea is to construct a frontier function for the approved projects from past performance on the criteria. The relative distance between a proposed project and the frontier serves as an indicator of the possibility that the project will be approved. Data from the Management II Division of the National Science Council of Taiwan in the Topic Research Project are collected to illustrate this approach. From the percentile of the distance measure, an applicant is able to predict the possibility that their project will be approved. Since professors with different levels of experience and different research areas have different research performance, these factors are taken into account in the prediction. A Malmquist productivity index analysis is also conducted to investigate the performance improvement of the applicants in research between two periods.     

Performance management change in archaeological sites: The case of Herculaneum Conservation Project

This study focuses on the issues relating to the implementation of management accounting systems in complex settings such as archeological sites. The aim is to understand the conditions under which the implementation of performance management systems (PMS) may enable cultural organizations to fulfil their multiple objectives and the factors which play a crucial role in such dynamics. Focusing on the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP) the study explains how PMS came to be implemented having been made acceptable to all parties involved. The Middle Range Theory as developed by Broadbent and Laughlin (Accounting control and controlling accounting: interdisciplinary and critical perspectives, Bingley, Emerald, 2013) was utilized to explore how the PMS change took place in the HCP, and focus on the factors influencing this process. The findings reveal that the change in the PMS benefited from the involvement of a multidisciplinary Specialist Work Group. This involvement reduced the natural tendency to resist the forces of change and increased the commitment of the various groups of stakeholders to the new culture. The findings reveal how PMS were developed in the context of a multifaceted approach to change, allowing us to draw both theoretical and practical lessons that may be brought to bear in other complex contexts.     

企业项目管理中的企业文化

企业价值目标是企业文化的核心,对其它文化元素具有决定性的影响,。现代项目管理发展成为一系列的工作价值观和一种独特的、与传统管理有显著区别的管理哲学。企业项目管理是根植于企业文化的土壤之中的,企业文化为企业项目管理提供软环境,是企业项目管理的重要支柱。     

PORTFOLIOS OF RISKY PROJECTS

The problem of selecting a portfolio from a set of independent risky business ventures is formulated in terms of maximization of the risk-adjusted (certainty-equivalent) profit of the portfolio, based upon the exponential utility function. Objects of investment include fractional participation (risk sharing) in projects with other firms, where costs and returns are shared in the same proportion. The method assumes that project costs are certain. Project revenues are uncertain, and any probability function for revenue can be used.     

面向创新的项目导向型企业体制与机制的集成模型与方法

本文通过对天津、河北和山东部分企业的研究发现,我国现有企业在自主创新方面存在企业组织体制和管理机制方面的问题.为解决这些问题,我国企业需要建设一种面向创新的项目导向型企业模式.国际最新的研究结果可以证明,这种新型企业是我国创新型国家建设和知识经济发展所需项目导向型社会的基本单元.本文全面讨论了这种面向创新的项目导向型企业组织体制和管理机制问题,以及建设这种自主创新企业所需的集成模型和方法.     

Perfect Circular Arc Coloring

The circular arc coloring problem is to find a minimum coloring of a set of arcs of a circle so that no two overlapping arcs share a color. This NP-hard problem arises in a rich variety of applications and has been studied extensively. In this paper we present an O(n² m) combinatorial algorithm for optimally coloring any set of arcs that corresponds to a perfect graph, and propose a new approach to the general circular arc coloring problem.Partially supported by Project 02139 of Education Ministry of China.Supported in part by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project No. HKU7054/03P) and a seed funding for basic research of HKU.     

项目关联分析与宏观知识挖掘

简要介绍了后评估为"特优"的国家自然科学基金项目《项目管理中项目关联分析与立项决策支持系统研究》的研究内容、研究思路和研究特点以及部分研究成果,包括文本处理与文本建模研究、关联分析的事例推理研究、宏观知识挖掘研究,知识生产线的研究与开发4个方面。     

Identifying Social Interactions Through Conditional Variance Restrictions

This paper proposes a new method for identifying social interactions using conditional variance restrictions. The method provides a consistent estimate of the social multiplier when social interactions take the “linear‐in‐means” form (Manski (1993)). When social interactions are not of the linear‐in‐means form, the estimator, under certain conditions, continues to form the basis of a consistent test of the no social interactions null with correct large sample size. The methods are illustrated using data from the Tennessee class size reduction experiment Project STAR. The application suggests that differences in peer group quality were an important source of individual‐level variation in the academic achievement of Project STAR kindergarten students.     

项目经理激励报酬机制与企业监督博弈分析

项目经理的投机行为可以通过监督或激励来缓解。本文建立了有关项目管理中的国有企业监督与项目经理行为之间的模型,并运用此模型分析了项目经理的激励机制、项目经理的行为和企业监督之间的关系,并为如何有效地避免项目经理的投机行为,改进当前激励报酬形式提供了一种分析工具。     

Labels and leaders: The influence of framing on leadership emergence

In two studies, this paper examines the influence of task framing on leadership emergence in mixed-gender dyads. In Study 1, we found that males are more likely to emerge as leaders when a paper-folding task is framed as masculine (i.e., Building Project) relative to feminine (i.e., Art Project). Furthermore, females are more likely to emerge as leaders when a paper-folding task is framed as feminine relative to masculine. In Study 2, we conceptually replicate these results using a weaving task (framed as Knot-Tying Task vs. Hair-Braiding Task) and find that perceived competence is the mechanism through which task framing affects leadership emergence. Taken together, these results suggest that task framing can influence the emergence of leaders because of changes in perceptions of competence. These findings are discussed in the context of related theoretical findings and managerial implications are elaborated on.