کاربرد روش های نگاشت شناختی در تحقیقات مدیریت پروژه

Projects are complex temporary entities that exist to achieve an objective for the owner/client/sponsor. Whilst there are many systems and techniques used to progress project management, less is known about the way that the management of a project is understood by those involved. This paper explores a range of methodological approaches, drawn from the area of managerial and organisational cognition (MOC), employed to understand more fully and rigorously the broader attributes of the Management of Projects (MoP) beyond the more execution orientated Project Management (PM). The dataset used are 11 construction projects within the United Kingdom with varying levels of complexity, size and scope. By deploying methodologies such as computer-aided content analysis and causal mapping, the layers of complexity were first separated and then distilled. We conclude by reflecting on the value in adopting primarily qualitative methodologies to multi-organisational, case-based research enquiries.

Whilst many projects are carried out on a daily basis within a single organisation and with minimal formality, there are at the other extreme, complex projects that are multi-organisational and significant in terms of the resources the project consumes, the outputs the project produces and legacy of outcomes that it leaves [1]. The ‘management of projects’ (MoP) school of thought [1] builds on the more traditional execution orientated project management school of thought (for example [2]) by broadening the required range of expertise, from the technical to the strategic and by exploring the front-end project issues [3] and [4]. MoP is practised widely in a number of sectors such as aerospace, defence, information and communication technology, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, process engineering, and construction. Here, MoP (obviously including first class PM) is business critical to the organisations that exist to serve these markets and achieving project success is paramount. This means that in addition to delivering projects to the traditional project management metrics of time, cost, and quality/performance, one must also take account of the greater variety of specific success criteria that each set of sponsors/clients/users will have, typically orientated to the strategic or policy intent that drove the initial need for the project [5]. In this world of projects there is a powerful argument for exploring projects in the construction industry. The size of the construction industry in many modern economies remains large. The economic contribution is typically in the range 5–10% of GDP and the sector involves a large range and number of companies registered, workers employed, and training required. The projects that are the industry’s delivery mechanism remain a challenge in terms of achieving ex ante aims and expectations for clients and other key stakeholders. This is reflected in the stock market valuation of many publicly-listed construction companies. In this context, this paper explores a range of qualitative methodological approaches drawn from the area of managerial and organisational cognition (MOC), employed to understand more fully and rigorously the attributes of issues that have now fallen under the term ‘The Management of Projects (MoP)’ in the construction sector. Four research enquiries were conducted, each exploring specific aspects of a total of 11 construction projects in different environments. Each had a specific focus in an area of the projects that had been poorly researched at the time. These were: (1) The management of design. (2) The issue of conversion of building structure for alternative use. (3) The modern use of heritage buildings. (4) The challenges of a modern procurement practice. These separate research endeavours reflect a growing interest in the earlier stages and strategic imperative underpinned by those that have adopted an MoP frame of reference, and this is reflected in the revisions to the bodies of knowledge that serve the profession of project management [6] and [7]. With this expanding understanding of project issues and challenges, the social science researcher is faced with the requirement to comprehend the complexities, and of determining a clear and coherent picture of what is contained within the project and its management. The context for the four research enquiries was to understand more about specific issues facing those that managed projects. The enquiries accepted without challenge that those individuals who were involved in the projects explored were best placed to explain what they understood to be the nature of the project, its processes, issues, and remedies. In so doing, it was beyond the research enquiries’ objectives or remits to examine where these individuals derived their underpinning knowledge, beliefs, or assumptions. The experimentation with MOC orientated methods and the apparent success of the results is hence proposed as an additional contribution to the methodological body of knowledge that can be considered by others researching this or a similar area of study.

This paper has sought to demonstrate both the challenge and opportunity that exists when dealing with real-world, complex management-based research enquiries. At its core lies the detailed study of a project. Projects are all around modern societies and economies, and project management is now a recognised management discipline. Yet for the researcher or scholar, the exploration of projects has always been somewhat fraught with the concern that the project exploration will end up being confined to the interesting, yet unconvincing scientific argument as the data is qualitative and the analysis often partial and biased. The four detailed research enquiries that have been summarised in this paper have each chosen to accept the challenge of applying rigorous and defensible methodologies to highly detailed case study based topics. The identification and application of the MOC suite of methodological approaches, centred on the use of cognitive mapping was found to be worthy of experimentation. The results were found to be valid and valuable at an individual level, both from the perspective of the detailed research enquiry with the practitioner and the academic community. This paper has brought these four individual applications together to reveal the general usefulness of the approach for those that seek to answer their own questions of projects or other similar complex managerial environments. Its strengths are that it has traceability from initial interview to final summary and all stages in between. Its graphical output is intuitive and capable of further interrogation and understanding. The disadvantages are that it is difficult to independently validate or verify, remains labour intensive, requires data manipulation to enhance the final visual value and has to have the cooperation and patience of those involved in order to yield the maximum opportunities to provide the insight originally sought.