هماهنگ سازی دانش و مدیریت پروژه: پروژه های تحول عظیم

An increasing number of change processes and initiatives are organized and implemented as projects, often through the formation of ‘large-scale transformation projects’ (LST), involving a great number of specialists, departments, partners, development work, and knowledge bases. The theoretical foundation that supports the choice of managing change as projects and, in effect, the role of project management has received surprisingly little attention in the current literature. In this paper, we present a model where the success of change initiatives is explained by the quality of project management, which in turn is determined by the quality of knowledge integration. The outlined model highlights knowledge integration as a process determined by the scope and speed of change, which typically result in problems with synchronization of activities within an LST project. Our model draws on the idea of ‘knowledge entrainment’ to explain the fact that different parts (organizations, teams, individuals) tend to develop different time orientations and hence rely on different cycles of knowledge processes. This has important effects on the absorptive capacity of the involved parts of the project and the amount of information and knowledge that the project can digest. This paper discusses different knowledge-entrainment mechanisms and their effects on the role and practice of project management. Empirical data from an LST project in Posten, one of Northern Europe’s largest messaging and logistics operators, illustrate the model. The paper contributes to the analysis of the relationships between knowledge integration and time, particularly in LST projects.

Change processes and change management are perhaps two of the most discussed and researched topics in management and organization studies. Despite the many studies, articles and books that have summarized the key lessons learned from change initiatives throughout the world, their ensuing results and the eminence of change management have been questioned and sometimes even severely criticized. In particular, some researchers have called for closer scrutiny of the practice of change.

This paper develops a model of knowledge integration that takes time conditions into account with special emphasis on LST projects. We argue that previous research has paid too little attention to two important aspects of time conditions: (1) the role of time when it comes to deadlines and other time-related control mechanisms significant in the practice of project management, and (2) the role of time during the project process. Thereby we identify two parts of knowledge-based theorizing that we think are critical for the understanding of LST projects, namely (1) that knowledge integration in these settings is affected by time conditions (Okhuysen and Eisenhardt (2002), and thus (2) that absorptive capacity is a dynamic phenomenon. The latter part is considered to be particularly important to improve our understanding of knowledge integration operating in the context of LST projects. This new model contributes to two important questions relating to project management theory, i.e. why do projects exist and what is the ‘value’ and ‘role’ of project management (Söderlund, 2004). The inclusion of time factors in our model and specifically time conditions makes it possible to understand why change processes are organized as projects and, along similar lines, how to interpret the role and practice of project management in this kind of project. By pointing to various measures taken by project management we argue that many of these activities are actually ways of stimulating and orchestrating knowledge integration and implementing the sense of urgency generally produced by a challenging deadline. However, such measures, to be productive, must be followed by other measures. In our discussion we point out the importance of various types of knowledge arenas that function as public meeting places for knowledge integration (Nonaka and Konno, 1998). These observations show the role of knowledge entrainment in understanding the capacity of deadlines and knowledge arenas in organizing complex change projects. This generally points out the need to bring deadlines and other time-based controls into the analysis of project management and knowledge integration, but perhaps equally important, how the rhythm and pace of knowledge processes are tied together within the project. Knowledge entrainment is thereby closely associated with how much knowledge a project can digest and effectively use. Project management practice oriented towards establishing knowledge entrainment can then foster heedful action (Weick and Roberts, 1993), i.e., action that considers the action of others, the system-wide coordination of other sub-projects and other project workers, and the efficient use of time. In other words: action that is both knowledgeable and synchronized. The knowledge integration interpretation put forth here stresses the role of project management in integrating the various knowledge processes of a project and the need for skillful combinations and entrainment of knowledge processes. Accordingly, LST projects are then very much a change strategy adopted by management for facilitating knowledge integration during time constraints, and stimulating reflection and cooperative behavior among project participants. A general interpretation of the New Posten project would be that both top management, by setting a challenging deadline, and project management, by formulating and implementing various types of milestones and enforcing the deadline during project implementation, had effects on knowledge integration in the project. In our view, the concept of knowledge entrainment captures both the role of projects in change processes and the role and practice of project management in orchestrating knowledge integration within the project. Management relied on a variety of instruments to guide the evolutionary knowledge process, including ‘visionary meetings’ to discuss the technical solution, ‘exhibitions’ to detect errors in the design of postboxes and the technical solutions, ‘pilot implementations’ to rehearse and ensure the quality of the implemented solution and roll-out process. Co-location contributed to a living memory of what had happened at meetings and prototype sessions as well as to come up with improved ways of integrating knowledge in the project. The co-location mechanism also had the effect of contributing to the sense of urgency to create a time focus within the project. Looking at our model more broadly, organizing change by the use of projects might have further effects with regards to time. An LST project would most likely both affect the perception of time during its implementation and lead to different concepts of time after its termination (long-term, strategic effects). Thus, organizing change in projects may generally contribute to bringing about increased awareness of time limits – an awareness that has positive effects on knowledge integration, not only during the course of the project, but also afterwards.