{"title":"Analyzing the innovation ecosystem of China's major science and technology projects: From the ecological and systems science perspective","authors":"Kun Wang , Yu Feng , Siyao Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100156","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100156","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The National Major Science and Technology Projects in China are characterized by government leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and international cooperation. However, challenges such as insufficient innovation capacity and inadequate commercialization of scientific achievements are becoming increasingly prominent. This paper adopts the conceptual framework of natural ecology to examine these projects. By utilizing theories and methods from ecology and systems science, we draw an analogy between the innovation ecosystem of China's national major science and technology projects and the structure of ecological systems, analyzing the interrelationships among the components of the innovation ecosystem and establishing the four-level model. The findings indicate that collaboration and policy guidance among the enterprise, research, and auxiliary innovation layers promote scientific output and innovation, while the external environmental layer provides robust support and safeguards, collectively driving the development of the innovation ecosystem. We study the operational mechanisms of the innovation ecosystem in depth, identifying mechanisms of competitive symbiosis, coordination, and sharing. These mechanisms work together throughout the project management process, offering new insights for enhancing the scientific and effective management of these projects. The national innovation ecosystem and high-quality development mutually reinforce and complement each other. As a critical pathway to high-quality development, our study provides new approaches to addressing the challenges of insufficient innovation capacity and the difficulty in translating scientific achievements into practice, contributing to the optimization of resource allocation, and the deep integration of technological innovation with economic and social development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142425898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevan M. Rowe , Stephen Jonathan Whitty , Anita Louise Wheeldon
{"title":"The Pragmatic Comportment Compass: Rethinking projectification in public sector projects","authors":"Kevan M. Rowe , Stephen Jonathan Whitty , Anita Louise Wheeldon","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100152","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100152","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study explores the relationship between public sector project managers and their organizations' formal project management processes. Utilizing Heidegger's concept of ‘practical comportment,’ we develop the ‘Pragmatic Comportment Compass,’ which identifies four primary modes of this relationship: to use, manipulate, circumvent, and suffer. Based on qualitative data from a focus group of nine experienced project managers in the Australian state government, our findings reveal a tendency to prioritize the public good over strict protocol adherence. This results in adaptive strategies that respond effectively to complex public service realities, ensuring project progress. Our findings challenge the conventional definition of projectification, proposing an alternative that emphasizes the importance of discretion and strategic flexibility. We align this alternative with the principles of street-level bureaucracy and contingency theory, highlighting the necessity for situational responsiveness and resilience in navigating the bureaucratic and procedural obstacles inherent in public sector projects.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666721524000371/pdfft?md5=6e304fcfc6e0bb47ee0e86120aa227ae&pid=1-s2.0-S2666721524000371-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142172510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bridging the gap: Reintegrating legal perspectives into project management","authors":"Armando Castro , Tristano Sainati","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>While legal topics have been acknowledged by project management academics, scholarly engagement between project management and the law needs to be further developed. This paper examines the intersection of law and project management addressing the growing complexity and multifaceted nature of contemporary projects and their impacts on society. It starts by reviewing previous project management research that has considered legal themes, such as contracts, delivery, disputes, governance, procurement and compliance. Subsequently, the importance of the context of the project is also briefly considered, with a recognition of its influence on the nature and resolution of legal disputes within projects and emerging themes. Then the legal foundation of projects is explored and the concept of legal projects and portfolios is proposed. The paper concludes by inviting the interdisciplinary research community to establish a new line of inquiry that explores the legal dimensions of project management and how project management can influence the legal profession and research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666721524000395/pdfft?md5=0b0480782683d340d3f013b2bbbdf996&pid=1-s2.0-S2666721524000395-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142229445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing stakeholders for implementing innovations: The case of a flood protection project in Kenya","authors":"Johan Ninan , Louis Nelen , Lisanne Middelbeek , Sunar Sutarto Hardjosusono , Dominique Kromwijk , Tristan Cheaz , Lillian Kalela","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100153","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100153","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Innovative projects, such as those for flood protection in developing countries, are urgent, stakeholder intense, and need to be carried out even in contexts where sufficient governance frameworks are not in place. This research seeks to understand how innovative projects can be implemented in weak institutional contexts by focusing on managing stakeholders in the single in-depth case study of the implementation of the SLAMDAM innovative project in the Isiolo County in Kenya. Following the analysis of 12 semi-structured interviews with 27 different stakeholders and 7 observations of stakeholder interactions, we answer the following questions: 1) what are the challenges during implementation of the innovation projects in weak-institutional contexts? 2) how are these challenges addressed through strategies? 3) how can we theorize the relationship between challenges and strategies in weak institutional contexts? The challenges include community resistance, information fragmentation, disjoined efforts, and governance inefficiency. Theoretically, we highlight how ad-hoc workarounds are operationalized in weak-institutional contexts and how they can lead to lasting changes by building governance frameworks in the long term. Practically, this research offer valuable guidance for practitioners involved in innovative projects, particularly in developing countries with weak institutional frameworks.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100153"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666721524000383/pdfft?md5=63556267682b629c7541de56460ae1e4&pid=1-s2.0-S2666721524000383-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142172511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ulohomuno Eze Afieroho , Yongkui Li , Yilong Han , Mladen Radujkovic
{"title":"Meta-organizing and responsibilization: Government strategies for community engagement and high-quality development in public–private megaprojects","authors":"Ulohomuno Eze Afieroho , Yongkui Li , Yilong Han , Mladen Radujkovic","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100151","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100151","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Community engagement is essential for creating social value and fostering high-quality development in megaprojects. However, organizing such engagement within public-private partnerships is particularly complex in weak institutional contexts, such as those found in sub-Saharan Africa. Existing research often depoliticizes community engagement, overlooking the critical role of government. Additionally, empirical studies on this phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa remain scarce. In this study, we adopt a governmentality lens and a design science research method to identify meta-organizing and responsibilization as governmental strategies for organizing community engagement in weak institutional contexts, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an embedded case study of a megaproject in Nigeria, we develop two sets of design principles that form a transformational community engagement framework. Our findings have implications for community engagement practices in megaprojects within weak institutional contexts and contribute to mainstream external stakeholder engagement research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266672152400036X/pdfft?md5=942442d7f3d62ca3cfd14fdabbc53d5f&pid=1-s2.0-S266672152400036X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142167442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mega research infrastructure as a driver for high-quality development and innovation: Promoting scientific cooperation and interdisciplinarity","authors":"Ying Xing , Yuejia Wu , xiao Xiao , Daojuan Wang , Ling-ling Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100150","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100150","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mega research infrastructures, as megaprojects, play a crucial role in promoting high-quality development, particularly in relation to innovation. They contribute to the development of disciplinary layouts and scientific collaborations. Additionally, during the operational phase of a infrastructure, maximizing efficiency and ensuring sustainable development become key aspects of project management. The operation of mega research infrastructures involves increasing levels of interdisciplinarity, interagency collaboration, and cross-regional cooperation. Therefore, it is essential to further clarify the characteristics of scientific collaboration within these facilities and understand the current status and evolving trends of disciplinary and collaborative networks. This work serves as a fundamental and necessary endeavor. In this study, we employ social network analysis methods to investigate the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility as a case study. We analyze the network structure and evolution of its collaborative and disciplinary networks from 2009 to 2022. The findings reveal the enormous potential and value of mega research infrastructures in promoting scientific research cooperation and development. They emphasize the need for increased attention and support for instrument scientists by facility managers, as well as the importance of expanding collaboration areas and formats to enrich the range of disciplines involved. The contribution of this study lies in its systematic analysis of the evolutionary process of collaborative and disciplinary networks within mega research infrastructures. It reveals the scientific value of these facilities in driving scientific research cooperation and interdisciplinary integration, providing a scientific basis for project management and policy formulation in the operational phase of mega research infrastructures. The research will align the strategic development direction of mega research infrastructures with the requirements of high-quality development and deepen the foundational role of mega research infrastructures in supporting high-quality development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100150"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143093203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Biyanka Ekanayake , Johnny Kwok Wai Wong , Alireza Ahmadian Fard Fini , Peter Smith , Vishal Thengane
{"title":"Deep learning-based computer vision in project management: Automating indoor construction progress monitoring","authors":"Biyanka Ekanayake , Johnny Kwok Wai Wong , Alireza Ahmadian Fard Fini , Peter Smith , Vishal Thengane","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100149","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Progress monitoring is crucial for effective project management, particularly in construction projects. The adoption of computer vision with deep learning expedites automation, accuracy, and efficiency in construction progress monitoring by overcoming the challenges of laborious, and error prone manual methods. While there is growing attention on developing computer vision based deep learning models for construction progress monitoring, deployment platforms for project managers are lacking. Using computer vision, this study develops a Mask Recurrent Convolutional Neural Network deep learning model. It utilizes progress images of drywall construction from two indoor construction sites and tests the model on a third indoor site in Sydney, Australia. The model is capable of automated as-built visual detection and work-in-progress measurement. The study also provides an understanding on the deployment process of the deep learning model on a cloud-based platform called Streamlit. By developing a model tailored for automatically quantifying work-in-progress of indoor construction elements and detailing the process of deploying that model on a cloud-based platform, this study significantly advances digitalization of construction project management. Project managers, stand to benefit from these advancements by gaining access to more accurate and automated construction progress monitoring for better decision-making.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666721524000346/pdfft?md5=751509091c96c5620340e94eaab7fa2c&pid=1-s2.0-S2666721524000346-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142058330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hamdi Bashir , Rana Musa , Hassan Ahmed Al Zarooni , Udechukwu Ojiako , Salah Haridy , Mohammad Shamsuzzaman
{"title":"Social sustainability in action: An explorative study of practices in construction project management","authors":"Hamdi Bashir , Rana Musa , Hassan Ahmed Al Zarooni , Udechukwu Ojiako , Salah Haridy , Mohammad Shamsuzzaman","doi":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100148","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.plas.2024.100148","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The significance of recognizing social sustainability practices for the successful management of projects is increasingly acknowledged. However, to what extent these practices are actually implemented within project management has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. To address this gap, an empirical study was conducted to investigate the usage of social sustainability practices and explore any disparities in their implementation between domestic and international construction firms in the United Arab Emirates. This study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining interviews and a structured questionnaire. Through the interviews, 32 social sustainability practices were identified. Subsequently, a questionnaire was used to collect data from project managers representing 259 firms. The analysis revealed several key findings: 1) social sustainability practices are adopted at varying rates; 2) twelve practices, primarily concerning fundamental human rights and labor ethics, are uniformly employed by both domestic and international firms; and 3) international firms are more likely than their domestic counterparts to regularly implement the other 20 social sustainability practices. These findings develop new knowledge on the implementation of social sustainability practices and advance the understanding of how firm origin influences the adoption of these practices. Additionally, the findings and their implications provide valuable guidance for policymakers and project leaders looking to incorporate social sustainability practices into their operational strategies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":101050,"journal":{"name":"Project Leadership and Society","volume":"5 ","pages":"Article 100148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666721524000334/pdfft?md5=da3acc678507d2aff63d02c6d8bd9345&pid=1-s2.0-S2666721524000334-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141963520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}