The Frontiers of Project Management Research

Chapter 20: Managing Risks in Projects with Decision Technologies

Chapter 21: Analysis of External and Internal Risks in Project Early Phase

Chapter 22: Improved Owner-Contractor Work Relationships Based on Capital Project Competencies

Chapter 23: Project Stakeholder Mapping—Analyzing the Interests of Project Stakeholders

Chapter 24: Project Risk Management—The Required Transformations to Become Project Uncertainty Management

Chapter 25: A Comparison of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) and Critical Chain (CC) Buffering Techniques

Chapter 26: Cross-Impact Analysis of Information Technologies and Project Management Knowledge Areas in the Building Design Process

Chapter 27: Managing Technological Innovation Projects—The Quest for a Universal Language

Chapter 28: Deriving the 2^nd and 3^rd Dimensions of the BCWS

Introduction

The final section of the book offers a variety of current, state-of-the-art project management techniques. In this section, issues of both a behavioral and technical nature are examined. They offer some important guidelines for improving project management practice.

• Timothy Lowe and Richard Wendell have developed a decision model for minimizing the risks associated with a variety of project management decisious. Their decision tree model, employing a variety of branching options, offers both research directions and practical applications for scientists and practitioners. Chapter 20—Managing Risks in Projects with Decision Technologies.

• M. Alquier, E. Cagno, F. Caron, V. Leopoulos, and M. A. Ridao also address the nature of risk management, focusing particularly on risk identification and analysis during the early and late phases of project development. Using the Project Risk Management (PRIMA) model, they offer guidelines for developing risk-driven approaches for risk analysis and management. Chapter 21—Analysis of External and Internal Risks in Project Early Phase.

• Stuart Anderson, Shekhar Patil, and G. Edward Gibson, Jr. present a new methodology for examining the owner-contractor work relationship, the Owner-Contractor Work Structure (OCWS) model. Their paper discusses the development and validation of the model, and its variety of uses and benefits in practice. Chapter 22—Improved Owner-Contractor Work Relationships Based on Capital Project Competencies.

• Graham M. Winch and Sten Bonke identify a process for stakeholder identification and management, the Stakeholder Mapping methodology. Through detailed conceptual development, they highlight the need for detailed stake-holder identification using a mapping model similar to the one they espouse. Chapter 23—Project Stakeholder Mapping: Analyzing the Interests of Project Stakeholders.

• Chris Chapman and Stephen Ward apply their expertise in project risk management to an essay on the general movement from risk management to the more generalized paradigm of uncertainty management. Their work is an important reconceptualization of an important topic as risk/uncertainty management continues to play a key role in modern project work. Chapter 24—Project Risk Management: The Required Transformations to Become Project Uncertainty Management.

• Van Gray, Joe Felan, Elizabeth Umble, and Michael Umble focus on an important and timely topic: the diffusion of Critical Chain project scheduling techniques in a number of project organizations. Through a comparison of Critical Chain and Drum-Buffer-Rope techniques, they identify and consider the unique and value-adding features underlying the Theory of Constraints as it is applied to project scheduling and control. Chapter 25—A Comparison of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) and Critical Chain (CC) Buffering Techniques.

• H. Murat Gunaydin and David Arditi apply their research to the specific domain of construction project management as they consider the vital role that information technologies play in project management. Applying a multiple methodology research design, they uncover a number of important effects resulting from the use of information technologies in the design phase of building projects. Chapter 26—Cross-Impact Analysis of Information Technologies on Project Management Knowledge Areas in the Building Design Process.

• Bob Mills, Alan Langdon, Chris Kirk, and Janis Swan present their recent development, the Time-Block Innovation Project System or TIPS, as a technique that focuses on project portfolio management using sequenced blocks of time, rather than blocks of activities. Using results from research with twenty-five projects and project managers, the authors demonstrate the efficacy of their approach for better monitoring and control in technological innovation projects. Chapter 27—Managing Technological Innovation Projects: The Quest for a Universal Language.

• Suhrita Sen advances the theory and practice of project control through the development and application of earned value analysis. Her research reports on applications of her methodology to the problems of accurately assessing budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS) analyses. Chapter 28—Deriving the 2^nd and 3^rd Dimensions of the BCWS.