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This process article reports on the use of Gioia data structures as a visual boundary object in project management research. Gioia data structures work as effective boundary objects that span a research team’s geographical distance in a virtual setting as an artifact for promoting visual collaboration in project management research. We demonstrate the use of boundary objects as generative tools for cross-disciplinary teams to share a common design method. While boundary objects have been used in project management studies, we extend their use to support collaborative research in project management.

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper illustrates one researcher's experience of applying design science research (DSR) to the nexus between systems thinking and project scheduling. Project management has become increasingly popular in the decades since its advent but has changed little in that time. This is especially true because of its signature technique, project scheduling. Scheduling research however is vibrant and modern and even includes dynamic concepts such as learning curves in schedule construction. However, justifications for acquiring this level of systems literacy have not yet convinced the practice community. A similar gap is identified in management science, and a literature review yields two potential solutions: dissolving the subjective-objective divide by adopting Critical Realism and using DSR as a framework for producing artefacts. This paper outlines how these concepts were applied to project scheduling, resulting in a new method for schedule construction that allows an expanded range of concepts to be included.

© Copyright 2019 Jeff Scales. All rights reserved. Scheduling is central to the practice of project management and a topic of significant interest for the operations research and management science academic communities. However, a rigour-relevance gap has developed between the research and practice of scheduling that mirrors similar concerns current in management science. Closing this gap requires a more accommodative philosophy that can integrate both hard and soft factors in the construction of project schedules. This paper outlines one interpretation of how this can be achieved through the combination of discrete event simulation for schedule construction and system dynamics for variable resource productivity. An implementation was built in a readily available modelling environment and its scheduling capabilities tested. They compare well with published results for commercial project scheduling packages. The use of system dynamics in schedule construction allows for the inclusion of generative mechanisms, models that describe the process by which some observed phenomenon is produced. They are powerful tools for answering questions about why things happen the way they do, a type of question very relevant to practice.

Scheduling is central to the practice of project management and a topic of significant interest for the operations research and management science academic communities. However, a rigour-relevance gap has developed between the research and practice of scheduling that mirrors similar concerns current in management science. Closing this gap requires a more accommodative philosophy that can integrate both hard and soft factors in the construction of project schedules. This paper outlines one interpretation of how this can be achieved through the combination of discrete event simulation for schedule construction and system dynamics for variable resource productivity. An implementation was built in a readily available modelling environment and its scheduling capabilities tested. They compare well with published results for commercial project scheduling packages. The use of system dynamics in schedule construction allows for the inclusion of generative mechanisms, models that describe the process by which some observed phenomenon is produced. They are powerful tools for answering questions about why things happen the way they do, a type of question very relevant to practice

© 2015 by the Project Management Institute. Mixed methods research is increasingly being used in business and management disciplines, in spite of positivist traditions. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) to examine the types of mixed methods approaches being used, and (2) to determine the quality of the reporting of mixed methods studies published in the field of project management. A retrospective content analysis of articles from three ranked project management journals was undertaken for a sample period of 2004 to 2010. Our findings suggest the field of project management is in need of capacity building in relation to the good reporting of mixed methods studies.

Project management (PM) researchers have traditionally used quantitative methods in their research due to the origins of this practice-based discipline in defence and engineering. Although qualitative methods are starting to be used in PM research, most of the qualitative research reported tends to use case studies. Recently, there has been a call for PM researchers to use more novel methods to increase the variety of methods used by the researcher in the field contributing to its further development (Drouin, Muller and Sankaran 2013; Cameron, Sankaran and Scales 2015). A review of papers presented at the International Research Network on Organizing by Projects (IRNOP) conference in Berlin in 2009 showed a surprising trend that papers presented at these conferences used more qualitative methods in comparison with articles published in key PM journals. This paper analyses articles published over the past six years in a comparatively new PM journal, since its inception, to explore whether the new journal has motivated PM researchers to overcome their methodological inertia and broaden the variety of research methods they use. A mixed methods prevalence study was undertaken on articles published in the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business (IJMPiB) from 2008 to 2014 (n=265). The findings point to methodological inertia in the majority of research but also an unusually high proportion of the use of mixed methods. Future research is needed to add finer granularity to the analysis.

Project management (PM) researchers have traditionally used quantitative methods in their research due to the origins of this practice-based discipline in defence and engineering. Although qualitative methods are starting to be used in PM research, most of the qualitative research reported tends to use case studies. Recently, there has been a call for PM researchers to use more novel methods to increase the variety of methods used by the researcher in the field contributing to its further development (Drouin, Muller and Sankaran 2013; Cameron, Sankaran and Scales 2015). A review of papers presented at the International Research Network on Organizing by Projects (IRNOP) conference in Berlin in 2009 showed a surprising trend that papers presented at these conferences used more qualitative methods in comparison with articles published in key PM journals. This paper analyses articles published over the past six years in a comparatively new PM journal, since its inception, to explore whether the new journal has motivated PM researchers to overcome their methodological inertia and broaden the variety of research methods they use. A mixed methods prevalence study was undertaken on articles published in the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business (IJMPiB) from 2008 to 2014 (n=265). The findings point to methodological inertia in the majority of research but also an unusually high proportion of the use of mixed methods. Future research is needed to add finer granularity to the analysis.

Mixed methods research is being touted as the third methodological movement which is characterised by a growing body of theoretical and methodological frameworks and a body of cross disciplinary literature. Prominent mixed methodologists/authorities have championed the movement, which has strong footholds in the fields of education, health and nursing, and the social and behavioural sciences. The establishment of mixed method specific journals, research texts and courses and a growth in popularity among research funding bodies all indicate the growing trend in the adoption of mixed methods. Mixed methods research is being used and reported within business and management fields, despite the positivist traditions attached to certain business and management disciplines. This paper has used a retrospective content analysis of journal articles from three ranked journals from the field of project management: International Journal of Project Management (IJPM), the Project Management Journal (PMJ) and the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (IEEE_TEM). The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence rates of mixed methods in project management and to investigate the quality of mixed methods research within this field. Implications for further research are discussed, along with some guidelines to justify and describe how mixed methods have been used in project management research papers.

Gunn oscillations in gallium arsenide were simulated dynamically on a computer. By using different doping profiles, it was possible to simulate different modes of oscillation; e.g., the 'dipole' and 'charge accumulation mode.' Other space-charge configurations, which can exist in principle, would not nucleate spontaneously and repetitively in the computer simulation. The analysis was one-dimensional. The important nonlinear function expressing electron velocity as a function of electric field was assumed known in advance; no attempt was made to derive it as part of the analysis. In fact several different functions were used in order to determine what effect a change in v(E) function would have on the oscillations. The two modes mentioned above were also studied to determine the effects of changes in doping level, bias voltage, and interaction with the external circuit. With more than one nucleation center present in a sample, it was found that the center nearest the cathode tended to control the oscillation. The computer simulation gave qualitative verification to theoretical rules such as the minimum density-length product rule, and the 'equal area' rule. In addition a maximum density-length product was found for accumulation mode oscillations. Also a type of high frequency oscillation was found to occur at a voltage just below the threshold for normal dipole oscillations. (Author)

The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.

The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries.

This study focuses on how practitioners view learning activities in projects and how these activities are influenced by the approach or emphasis espoused in different reference texts. The perceived importance of learning lessons in projects was surveyed in the literature, establishing the difficulties encountered, various methods for process improvement and the realities of current practice. The practices of individuals working within two major project management frameworks used in developed English-speaking economies were compared. A survey was constructed to address the question. Data from a pilot survey support the theory that the PMBoK and PRINCE2 are not perceived as synonymous and that differences will be more evident with a larger dataset. Inferences are drawn linking the pilot survey to the outcomes of previous studies and making recommendations for further research.

This study focuses on how practitioners view learning activities in projects and how these activities are influenced by the approach or emphasis espoused in different reference texts. The perceived importance of learning lessons in projects was surveyed in the literature, establishing the difficulties encountered, various methods for process improvement and the realities of current practice. The practices of individuals working within two major project management frameworks used in developed English-speaking economies were compared. A survey was constructed to address the question. Data from a pilot survey support the theory that the PMBoK and PRINCE2 are not perceived as synonymous and that differences will be more evident with a larger dataset. Inferences are drawn linking the pilot survey to the outcomes of previous studies and making recommendations for further research.