The Department of Management Science (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow)
will be holding a series of seminars, the first two of which are detailed
below:

Tuesday 29 May 2001
Towards a transferable methodology for managing strategic change by
projects Speaker: Lynn Crawford, Director of Program, Project Management,
University of Technology, Sydney.


5.30 pm for 6 pm

Blackett Room 886 Graham Hills Building,
40 George St, Glasgow


TOWARDS A TRANSFERABLE METHODOLOGY
FOR MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE BY PROJECTS
A presentation by Lynn Crawford
Based on a paper by
Lynn Crawford and Kerry Costello,
Project Management and Economics Program, University of Technology, Sydney,
Australia


ABSTRACT


In the transition to project based management within complex dynamic
environments, a basic premise is that each industry organisation,
professional discipline and individual, must cast off the shackles of
accepted functional barriers, traditional roles and processes.  As each
project is unique, so is the experience of each organisation as it embraces
the project management approach.  Nevertheless, successful implementation
of strategic change by projects requires an organised process (methodology)
grounded in shared professional expertise/experience.

Conventional project management wisdom has looked to frameworks and
processes developed within technical paradigms (‘hard’ project processes)
to manage projects within organisations irrespective of the characteristics
and nature of particular projects.  However, in many projects the ‘what’
and/or the ‘how’ may not be well defined, leaving project managers’ options
open on goals or methods or both.

The experience of a collaborative University and industry research team
working with New South Wales Government Agencies, where internal and
external factors have created opportunities for participation in strategic
change projects, is leading to a re-examination of project management
theory and practice.  One collaboration involves developing and applying a
strategic approach to managing multiple interdependent ‘soft’ projects to
achieve an agency’s organisational change commitment (Agency A).  Here the
research plan was essentially ‘hard’ but its achievement is being
underpinned by the creation and application of innovative strategies and
tools aimed at capturing and sharing project management information,
competencies and experiences and supporting effective project management
learning.  The methodology, which is being progressively advanced through
action research, is being applied to assist in developing a strategic
project management capability across Agency A.

Another collaboration is contributing to the transition of an agency, parts
of which have been traditionally involved in the management of ‘hard’
construction projects into an across the board Management by Projects
approach (Agency B).  Management by projects is seen as facilitating an
organisation wide focus on results and an organisational structure that has
flexibility to respond rapidly to internal and external environmental
changes.

In the spirit of action research, this paper reflects upon the experience
of the collaborative research team in developing and applying a model using
Soft Systems Methodology to make sense of the project management
transformation process underway in both agencies.







Tuesday 5 June 2001
Modelling, Making Inferences and Making Decisions: The Roles of Sensitivity
Analysis

Speaker: Simon French, University of Manchester Business School.

5.30 pm for 6 pm

Blackett Room 886 Graham Hills Building,
40 George St, Glasgow

The common theme that unites sensitivity analysis researchers is that we
all use techniques of sensitivity analysis. But do we notice that just as
our use of the techniques unites us, the context of that use may
distinguish us? We use sensitivity analyses for many different purposes:
e.g.
* to build and explore of models;
* to support the elicitation of judgemental inputs to an analysis;
* to develop efficient computational algorithms;
* to design experiments;
* to guide us in making inferences, forecasts and decisions;
* to explore and build consensus; and
* to build understanding.
More importantly, do we realise that the manner in which we use sensitivity
analysis in serving one purpose may be inappropriate to serve another? Thus
in this paper, I categorise and explore the use of sensitivity analysis,
and in doing so I hope to provide a guide to a bludgeoning literature.
Keywords: Bayesian methods, decision analysis, elicitation, expert
judgement, inference, melding, Monte Carlo, sensitivity analysis,
uncertainty analysis