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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study of how a virtual technology burden was created that impacted the professional pilot college student and various colleges/universities that offer professional pilot degree programs. A cascading set of events began as a result of US congressional reaction to a tragic airline accident. The resulting legislation forced the Federal Aviation Administration to publish new rules for first officer qualifications that were unmindful of the recommendations of professional pilot groups for simulation-based training. Ultimately, this placed a financial burden on both the college/university training curriculum and on the professional pilot student. Design/methodology/approach: This paper adopts a case study approach. Findings: Because of US congressional over-reaction, a collegiate system which produced excellent first officer candidates who had below 500 flight hours and who had been demonstrated scientifically to be efficient, skilled, and safe, was upended. The flight hour requirements were increased fivefold with little regard to its impact on the pilot pool. Congressional legislation forced the FAA to create and publish new rules that were unmindful of the simulation recommendations of professional pilot groups and required virtual simulation technology new to the college/university training environment. Originality/value: Traces the effect of government interference into a previously stable continuum of college-prepared airline pilots who are safe and effective.

A model of project capability-building consisting of two interacting levels of learning is presented. It describes the bottom-up, 'project-led' phases of learning that occur when a firm moves into a new technology/market base.

This paper examines how government policy has influenced the pattern of innovation and industrial leadership in the cellular mobile communication systems. It focuses on the US government's role in promoting the early development of the cellular concept in the 1970s, Europe's attempt to take the lead with the promotion of the GSM standard in the late 1980s, and the rise of two rival world-wide standards in the 1990s (Europe's GSM versus America's CDMA systems). The cellular mobile communication system is treated as an example of a complex product system (CoPS). CoPS are large-scale, engineering intensive products that are supplied in unit or batch production and tailored to meet the requirements of particular large users. The purpose of this paper is to show by a single case study how patterns of technological innovation in CoPS may be influenced by policies of direct and indirect government control to promote industrial leadership. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

This paper explains how a class of IT-intensive capital goods called control systems are used to co-ordinate the flow of goods, traffic, materials, funds, services or information through complex supply, production or distribution systems. The paper examines how they increase productivity by improving the utilization of installed capacity, creating economies of system that are distinct from the traditional economies of scale, speed and scope. The paper explains which sectors they are important in, and how innovation in control technologies relates to architectural changes in Large Technical Systems. It is illustrated by case studies of four very different sectors: elevators, retailing, telecommunications and investment banking. While control systems improve efficiency and enable product innovation, they also create reliability problems and can alter the social distribution of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses about the articles in the issue including understanding infrastructure, delivering infrastructure in a changing political environment and innovation in infrastructure project delivery.

The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in the number and type of commodified software tools and packages offered by suppliers. The main thrust of commodification has centered on systems and utilities software. The paper considers to what extent commodification will expand to include those industry-specific applications which have characterized the bulk of in-house or customized software development during the 1980s. The conditions under which particular types of software have already become commodified are examined, and a model of product life cycles is utilized to conceptualize the opportunities for a market to emerge for industry-specific commodified software. Case study material on the genesis and implementation of packaged solutions in financial services is used to reveal the problems in the development of generic commodified industry-specific applications software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research suggests complexity may be a significant factor in a project's failure to achieve cost, time, and quality objectives. In this paper, we examine the project complexity literature to develop a simple framework consisting of structural and dynamic complexity. We use this to compare the complexity of two successful construction megaprojects-Heathrow Terminal 5 and the London 2012 Olympic Park-to consider how the complexity in the two projects was managed. Our analysis reveals differences in the approach to managing structural and dynamic complexity, but identifies common factors that may help project managers achieve positive outcomes for their complex projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the aircraft accident investigation that killed airmail pilot, William E. Lewis, in Reno, Nevada in February 22, 1921, wherein, there was no formal accident investigation or U.S. Post Office Board of inquiry. It mentions an accident investigation of the Lewis incident by undergraduate college class using records from the National Archives and Records Administration and other sources. Also mentioned are postmaster Otto Praeger, Major Reuben H. Fleet, and Benjamin Lipsner.

Over the years, we have seen a growing interest in the use of interorganizational networks as a means to develop and deliver ever more complex products and services. Much of the earlier research was carried out on supply networks - mostly focused on strong lead-manufacturing firms producing mass-produced consumer goods. More recently, attention has been paid to a new model of industrial organization based on systems integration being adopted by many of the world's leading firms, particularly those in high-technology sectors [Hobday et al. (2005)]. The key role of systems integrator is usually played by a prime contractor or a dominant manufacturer. However, there are sectors where structural problems inhibit both the innovation and the development of supply networks and where it is not obvious who should play the systems integrator role. The UK construction sector has long been characterized as fragmented with much of the industry continuing to be structured and constrained by the contracting model that emerged in the early 19th century with the emergence of the professions. These structural problems are often held to contribute to the perceived poor record of innovation in the sector [Winch (1998); Gann et al. (1992)]. This paper analyzes how BAA, a major airport operator and construction client, developed and managed a network of suppliers to deliver both its portfolio of routine capital construction projects and one-off complex mega projects. To achieve its objectives, BAA sets about implementing ways of improving the efficiency of its ongoing capital projects that would enable them to show continuous improvement in performance whilst simultaneously developing the project capabilities required to manage the massive T5 project. These developments enabled BAA to address issues of predictability at the same time as providing an environment that encouraged innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter compares and contrasts the diverse theoretical foundations of two paradigms in strategic project management. The first, older paradigm, draws on foundational ideas about nature (i.e., it is predictable) and human rationality (strategy and implementation are distinct) to conceptualize project management in terms of controlling predictable project processes and their inherent risks, so that project managers can optimize the trade-offs between timing, cost and quality. The second practice-based alternative paradigm conceptualizes people as sources of deterministic behavior in an otherwise often unpredictable world. Projects are key tools that are used to strategically create this predictable behavior, with project plans being used as scaffolding to help co-ordinate the distributed behavior of systemically connected people in space and time as the project proceeds. The chapter highlights how this second paradigm has a more robust scientific basis, shows how it informed the development of the Heathrow T5 project, and draws implications of for future theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this chapter we put projects at the centre stage of firms' activities - i.e. product and process innovation, strategy formulation and implementation, capability building and learning, organizational structure and design, and systems integration (the capability to combine diverse knowledge bases and physical components into functioning systems). Based on the findings of a 10-year research programme into firms producing high-value capital goods - known as complex products and systems (CoPS) - we draw out conceptual insights about project organizing that can inform and contribute to the development and reformulation of more universally applicable formal theories of strategic management and organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dexmedetomidine (Precedex, Hospira, Lake Forest, Illinois), an alpha-2 agonist, mainly is used for sedating mechanically ventilated uncooperative patients in the intensive care setting. It also is being used by anesthesia providers for multiple purposes, including cardio-thoracic surgeries, neurological surgeries, and awake-fiberoptic intubations and for patients with a high risk for airway obstruction. This article reports the investigation of the off-label use of dexmedetomidine as an anesthetic adjunct for a transsphenoidal pituitary tumor resection in an adult. The dexmedetomidine infusion not only provided the patient with added sedation but also decreased the need for narcotics and volatile agents while providing hemodynamic stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Focuses on the technical aspects of information technology (IT) in knowledge management and the political character knowledge. Limits of the codification strategies aimed at making tacit knowledge explicit; Connection between knowledge, power and interests; Arguments on the different aspects of organizational knowledge practices.

Presents a method or management tool for the analysis of and improvement of software-intensive complex products and system called software analysis-software improvement (SA-SI). Management and software challenges in complex product systems; Development of SA-SI approach to complex software; Case example.

Focuses on issues associated with the strategic use of information technology (IT) in the banking sector in Great Britain. Problems in moving from one technological trajectory to another; Review on literature on the competitive advantage and strategic use of IT; Lack of vision in the sector for developing innovative uses of IT.

The changing nature of funding for research groups operating within the higher education sector has forced many such groups to transform themselves into more responsive and effective organizations. Academic research, allied to learning organization concepts creates the potential for action research-based research units working effectively through integrative relations with their research communities. This short case study paper describes the historical development of CENTRIM (the Centre for Research in Innovation Management), based at the University of Brighton, charting the group's development as it tries to identify a learning agenda to form the basis of its research and development activities. Highlights some of the key mechanisms for organizational learning which the centre has developed, some of the enablers and barriers, and the challenges for developing the centre as a learning organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We develop a framework to analyze the multi-level knowledge requirements of complex, major projects in terms of ambidexterity-the ability to exploit (refine existing knowledge) and explore (develop new knowledge). This is an important theme within the wider literature, yet practical operationalization methods for managers and researchers are not evident. We demonstrate the ambidexterity view through an illustrative case study of telecommunications delivery for the London 2012 Olympic Games and show how these concepts can be used to create an effective knowledge strategy. We offer a structure for the analysis of knowledge utilization in projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]