exploring strategy translation in projects
TRANSCRIPT
EXPLORING STRATEGY TRANSLATION IN
PROJECTS
A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
2016
Mazen Mohammed Ali Melebari
School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Civil Engineering,
The University of Manchester
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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ 2TABLE OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. 6LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS ......................................................................................... 7LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... 8LIST OF THE ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. 9ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. 11DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... 12COPYRIGHT STATEMENT .................................................................................... 13ACKNOWLEDGMENT ........................................................................................... 14DEDICATION ........................................................................................................... 15LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ....................................................................................... 16
CHAPTER ONE..................................................................................................................17
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................171.1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW ............................................................................... 171.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND FOCUS OF THE STUDY ............................ 191.3 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES .......................................................... 191.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................. 201.5 RESEARCH PROPOSITION .......................................................................... 201.6 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK .......................................................................... 211.7 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 221.8 THESIS STRUCTURE .................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER TWO.................................................................................................................24
LITERATURE REVIEW PART I: STRATEGY FROM A CAPABILITIES
PROSPECTIVE...................................................................................................................242.1 OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 242.2 CAPABILITIES PERSPECTIVE .................................................................... 242.3 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS - VISION AND MISSION ............ 252.4 STRATEGY DEFINITION AND STRATEGIC PLANS ............................... 282.5 STRATEGY THEORIES AND PERSPECTIVES .......................................... 312.6 DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING PROCESSES OF STRATEGY .......... 332.7 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION ................................................................ 35
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2.8 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND THE BALANCED SCORECARD
........................................................................................................................ 382.9 PROJECT MANAGEMENT ........................................................................... 442.10 PROGRAMME AND MULTIPLE PROJECTS MANAGEMENT .............. 492.11 PORTFOLIO, AND PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (PPM) ..... 502.12 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION OBSTACLES, CHALLENGES, ISSUES
AND PROBLEMS .................................................................................................... 542.13 ISSUES OF PROJECTS, MULTIPLE PROJECTS, PROGRAMME, AND
PPM ........................................................................................................................ 582.14 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR ASPECTS ............................................. 662.15 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR IMPLEMENTATION ................... 682.16 CLOSING THOUGHTS ................................................................................ 69
CHAPTER THREE............................................................................................................72
LITERATURE REVIEW PART II: STRATEGY FROM A PRACTICE
PROSPECTIVE...................................................................................................................723.1 OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 723.2 PRACTICE PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................ 723.3 TRANSLATION THEORY AND THE STRATEGY .................................... 773.4 VEHICLE AND MODEL OF THE TRANSLATION .................................... 803.5 TRANSALTION AS COMMUNICATION TOOLS ...................................... 833.6 STRATEGY AS PRACTICE (SAP) ................................................................ 853.7 CLOSING THOUGHTS .................................................................................. 90
CHAPTER FOUR...............................................................................................................93
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS......................................................................934.1 OVERVIEW ..................................................................................................... 934.2 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES .......................................................... 934.3 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES ........................................................................ 944.4 RESEARCH PARADIGMS ............................................................................ 954.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 984.6 RESEARCH APPROACH: INDUCTIVE ..................................................... 1014.6.1 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES: INTERVIEWS AND
DOCUMENTS ........................................................................................................ 1034.6.2 SECURING ACCESS .................................................................................. 1034.6.3 INTERVIEW METHODS ........................................................................... 105
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4.6.4 OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS ..................................................................... 1074.6.5 OBSERVATION .......................................................................................... 1094.6.6 DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................. 1094.7 RESEARCH STRATEGY: MULTIPLE CASE STUDY .............................. 1104.8 UNIT OF ANALYSIS ................................................................................... 1124.9 DATA PREPRATION ................................................................................... 1134.9.1 CODING AND TEMPLATE ANALYSES ................................................. 1134.10 CROSS REFERENCES AND TRUTH VALUE ......................................... 1154.11 ETHICAL CONDUCT ................................................................................ 1164.12 SUMMARY ................................................................................................. 116
CHAPTER FIVE...............................................................................................................118
PHASE ONE INTERVIEWS..........................................................................................1185.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 1185.2 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1185.3 PLANNING AND DESIGNING OF THE PHASE-ONE INTERVIEWS ... 1195.3.1 SECURING DATA ACCESS ........................................................................ 1195.3.2 INTERVIEWED ORGANISATIONS ........................................................... 1195.3.3 PARTICIPANTS’ PROFILES ....................................................................... 1205.4 DATA PREPARATION ................................................................................ 1245.5 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................. 1245.6 SUMMARY OF PHASE ONE ...................................................................... 131
CHAPTER SIX..................................................................................................................133
PHASE TWO INTERVIEWS........................................................................................1336.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 1336.2 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1336.3 PLANNING AND DESIGNING THE PHASE TWO INTERVIEWS ......... 1356.3.1 SECURING DATA ACCESS ........................................................................ 1356.3.2 INTERVIEWED ORGANISATIONS ........................................................... 1356.3.3 PARTICIPANTs’ profiles .............................................................................. 1366.4 DATA PREPARATION ................................................................................ 1386.5 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 1396.6 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................ 1706.7 SUMMARY OF PHASE TWO ..................................................................... 172
CHAPTER SEVEN...........................................................................................................173
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CASE STUDIES.................................................................................................................1737.1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 1737.2 CASE STUDY: IT PROJECTS ..................................................................... 1747.3 SUMMARY OF CASE STUDY: IT PROJECTS .......................................... 1787.4 CASE STUDY: CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS .......................................... 1807.5 SUMMARY OF CASE STUDY: CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS .............. 183
CHAPTER EIGHT...........................................................................................................186
DISCUSSIONS...................................................................................................................1868.1 DISCUSSTION .............................................................................................. 1868.2 TRANSLATION CHALLENGES IN PROJECTS ....................................... 1898.2.1 CHANGE ........................................................................................................ 1908.2.2 INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCES ....................................................................... 1928.2.3 THE ROLE OF THE OBJECTS .................................................................... 1948.3 IMPROVING THE TRANSLATION OF THE PRACTICE ............................ 197
CHAPTER NINE...............................................................................................................200
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH..........................................................2009.1 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................ 2009.2 REFLECTIONS ON THE GENERAL PRPOSITIONS AND THE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................ 203• 9.2.1IMPLICATIONSFORTHESTRATEGYMAKER....................................................................205• 9.2.2IMPLICATIONSFORPROJECTMANAGEMENTPRACTITIONERS..............................206• 9.2.3IMPLICATIONSFORTHEORYOFTRANSLATION.............................................................207
9.3 LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................. 2079.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ............................. 208APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 217APPENDIX A - INFORMED CONSENT FORM .................................................. 218APPENDIX B - INSURANCE ASSESSMENT FORM ......................................... 220APPENDIX C - PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET .................................. 222APPENDIX E - ETA STRATEGY II GUIDELINES - DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
AND SITE VISIT .................................................................................................... 224
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Table of Figures
Figure1.1:ResearchFrameworktoFulfiltheGapinKnowledge.....................................21Figure2.1:Conceptualframeworkforstrategytheoriesandperspectives..................37Figure2.1:OriginalStructureofBalancedScorecard(R.Kaplan,2008:1254)............40Figure2.2:Translatingmission,values,andvisionintoDesiredOutcomes(Kaplan
andNorton,2008:73).......................................................................................................................41Figure2.3:OutcomesofStrategyDevelopmentProcesses.................................................42Figure2.4:ProblemsofStrategyImplementation(PellegrinelliandBowman,
1994:126).............................................................................................................................................45Figure2.5:ProjectManagementApproachforStrategyImplementation
(PellegrinelliandBowman,1994:127)......................................................................................46Figure2.6:ProjectLifecycleProcess(GrayandLarson,2008).........................................47Figure3.1:TranslationconceptualframeworksCzarniawska(2002)...........................80Figure3.1:TheoriesRelatedtotheFieldofSAP(Jarzabkowskietal.,2007)...............87Figure3.2:ConceptualFrameworktoAnalyseSAP(P.Jarzabkowskietal.,2007:11)
.................................................................................................................................................................88Figure4.1:FourfoldResearchParadigms(Saundersetal.2012:141)...........................96Figure4.2:TheResearchDesignProcess..................................................................................99Figure8.1:ChallengesofStrategyTranslation....................................................................189Figure9.1:ReflectionsonConceptualFrameworkforSAP.............................................205
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List of Photographs
Photograph1:SignboardofVocationalInstituteProjectinEta....................................229
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List of Tables
Table2.1:Referencetableofarticlesforstrategyimplementationchallenges..........55
Table2.2:ObstaclestoStrategyExecution(Hrebiniak,2008)..........................................55
Table2.3:ChallengesofimplementingformulatedStrategy(Hrebiniak,2008;
Sterling,2003;Heideetal.,2002)...............................................................................................57
Table2.4:Referencetableofprojectimplementationchallenges...................................59
Table2.5:majorchallengesofprogrammemanagementpractice(Shehuand
Akintoye,2010).................................................................................................................................59
Table2.6:ProblemAreasofmulti-projectenvironments(ElonenandArtto,2003)61
Table2.7:Implementationchallengesforpracticingproject/programme/portfolio
management(ShehuandAkintoye,2010;ElonenandArtto,2003;Cooperetal.,
1999;Cooperetal.,1998)..............................................................................................................63
Table3.1:summaryofstrategyperspectivesbothcapabilitiesandpractice..............92
Table4.1:TwoPhasesinterviewscomparision...................................................................100
Table4.2Mappinginterviewquestionswithresearchobjectives................................108
Table5.1:ParticipatingOrganisationsinPhaseOne.........................................................120
Table5.2:PhaseOneInterviewees’Profiles.........................................................................121
Table5.3:PhaseOneFindingsExperiencedbytheCaseStudyOrganisations..........131
Table6.1:CaseStudyOrganisationsinPhaseTwo.............................................................136
Table6.2:ProfileofPhaseTwoInterviewees......................................................................137
Table7.1:summaryoftranslationprocessinITProjects................................................179
Table7.2:summaryoftranslationanalysisinConstructionProjects.........................185
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List of the Abbreviations
MVV Mission, Vision and Values
BSC Balanced Scorecard
HBR Harvard Business Review
ROI Return on Investment
IRR Internal Rate of Return
PPM Project Portfolio Management
PMBOK Project Management Body of Knowledge
PMI Project Management Institute
APM Association of Project Management
ANT Active Network Theory
SAP Strategy as Practice
STS Science and Technology Studies
SCE Saudi Council of Engineering
SABIC Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation
PMO Project Management Offices
PgMO Programme Management Offices
PMP Project Management Professional
PgMP Programme Management Professional
HE Higher Education
MENAFN Middle East North Africa Networks
IBS Individual Banking Sector
EMC Executive Management Committee
SGA Stage Gate Approach
BCM Business Case Model
CA Coupling Approach
SWOT Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
IT Information Technology
EPM Enterprise Project Management
CAPS Centre for Advanced Projects Support
VPP Vice President for Projects
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BTG Business Transformation Group
VP Vice President
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Abstract
Strategy Translation in Projects
Mazen Mohammed Ali Melebari, University of Manchester, PhD
Many management studies report poor implementation of organisational strategy into practice (Yukl and Lepsinger, 2007; Li et al., 2008) and the absence within the literature of the question of how to translate strategy into effective practice provides the encouragement for this study. There are suggestions that by adopting a project management approach, organisations can better implement their overall strategies, meaning that what they do is properly and totally aligned with their goals (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). However, recent studies have concluded that project management makes little contribution to the achievement of organisational objectives, and possibly causes failure in this respect (Young and Grant, 2014). That said, Young and Grant (2014) have not provided any detailed information on the reason for such failure. At the same time, some management studies have revealed a number of challenges that confront organisations when approaching strategy implementation. Given these observations, this study aims to explore how organisations in Saudi Arabia are practising project management. It does so by adopting a qualitative method, involving thirty (30) face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews undertaken in two phases with five organisations from the banking, property development, and higher education sectors. Two exploratory case studies (IT and Construction) were used to investigate the translation challenges in respect of strategy and project management implementation. From these, the study has identified a number of challenges confronting the participating organisations, and shows these challenges to be inter-related. Furthermore, it arrives at an understanding of why these challenges arise by investigating how the practice has been translated in these organisations. The tools and materials which resulted as objects from the translation are used to establish common knowledge, but are insufficient to create a clear view of the strategy within the participating organisations. Three main challengers related directly to the translation of project management practice emerged, namely: change, individual influences, and the role of the objects. The study makes several recommendations to improve the translation concept so that strategy implementation and overall project management practice can be enhanced. Additionally, it makes recommendations for further research to continue the efforts in this field of enquiry.
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Declaration
No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning.
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Copyright Statement
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Acknowledgment
First and the foremost, all thanks to Allah Almighty for helping me, providing me with faith, and for giving me the patience to complete this study. I would like also to thank my country for sponsoring me during my study. Special thanks go to the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme, for sincere and generous support during my PhD Journey. Indeed, this has been a long journey that seemed sometimes to be never ending. Looking back, I remember there were moments when I almost surrendered but then Allah gave me the strength to carry on; and also sent many people to me to offer support so that I could overcome that difficult time. There are many people to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude for their encouragement and support. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Paul W Chan, for his continuous guidance and advices, which has been fundamental in shaping the thesis. I would also like to acknowledge the help of Faculty administration member, Ms Beverly Knight. Secondly, I am very thankful to those organisations, managers, and individuals who participated in the study during the data collection phase. Special thanks are due to the University Vice President for Projects, and all presidency staff members, for their support in facilitating data collection and enabling the fieldwork. Thirdly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my friends and colleagues. Special thanks to Dr Syed Waqar, and Dr Abdullah Al-Shehri, for their encouragement and emotional support during the hard time I experienced in completing this thesis. Finally, I thank my family members for their sincere prayers and encouragements. Last but not least, I would like to express my profound thanks to my lovely wife Najla Jan and my beloved children for their patience and support during my study.
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Dedication
To my father’s soul.
To my mother’s soul, who passed away last year before witnessing my
graduation.
To my lovely wife Najla.
To my beloved son Mohammed and my sweetie daughters Maya, Sara, and
Leen.
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List of Publications
a) Conference Papers
1. Melebari, Mazen “Projects Execution Challenges in Private Sector Organizations in Saudi Arabia”. The 5th Saudi International Conference (SIC2011). Published in SIC2011, The University of Warwick, Coventry, 23th – 26th Jun 2011.
b) Posters
1. Melebari, Mazen “Challenges Facing Projects Execution in Private Sector Organizations in Saudi Arabia”. The 5th Saudi International Conference (SIC2011). Published in SIC2011, The University of Warwick, Coventry, 23th – 26th Jun 2011.
2. Melebari, M., Chan, P. “The Contribution of the Performance Management of Multiple Projects in Achieving Organisation Strategy ”. Post Graduate Research Conference, School of MACE, The University of Manchester, 11th June 2009.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW
It has been argued that the adoption of a project management approach would
help in realising organisational strategies (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994).
Since that claim, project management has become increasingly important as
more work is continually organised through projects and programmes (Winter et
al., 2006). Accordingly, many frameworks, models, and concepts based on the
project management approach have been developed and practised that aim to
offer better connectivity between projects and organisation strategies (Dietrich
and Lehtonen, 2005). The project management approach provides a process by
which organisational strategies can be translated into goals and objectives; that
said, the implementation is not necessarily straightforward as many challenges
are encountered in practice (Shehu and Akintoye, 2010; Elonen and Artto,
2003).
Recent research has concluded that project management contributes little or less
than expected in realising organisational strategy. The research conducted in the
public sector by Young et al. (2012), and replicated by Young and Grant (2014)
in the private sector, which examined the effectiveness of project management
frameworks, referred to systematic deficiencies of these frameworks as vehicles
for achieving organisational strategy, but did not provide much explanation of
the reasons for these shortcomings. Additionally, Winter et al. (2006) observed
that project management research attracts criticism for its lack of relevance to
practice.
Given the dynamic, and complex nature of strategy implementation, more
attention is being accorded to the way in which strategy is translated into reality,
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and various researchers have made an effort to understand this process from the
practice perspective. These efforts need to be linked directly with the strategy as
practice (SAP), and theory of translation. Jarzabkowski (2004) emphasises that
the SAP concept embodies the idea of strategy as something that organisations
and people do rather than possess. And the concept of translation is a vehicle to
describe how the idea of SAP moved around the globe, according to
Czarniawska and Sevon (2005). No practice or institution can travel unless it is
simplified and materialised, and hence this must occur for it to be capable of
moving from one place and time to another (Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005;
Czarniawska, 2002). Using the theory of translation and the concept of SAP,
this study aims to explore the process of project management to understand how
the practice has been simplified and materialised. The study has taken the work
of Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville conducted in 2011, which views strategy
from capabilities and practice perspectives, the former being focused on routines
as whole ‘entities’, and the latter focused on the ‘parts’ of routines.
To summarise, it can be seen firstly, that there is lack of research in the area of
strategy implementation, as the organisational management literature
concentrates more on identifying issues and challenges related to strategy
formulation. Secondly, there is a need for project management research to relate
to practice, since it mostly reports the capabilities perspective, based on linear,
analytic, and rational approaches intent upon planning, scheduling, and
controlling parts of the project, whereas in the real world projects are
undertaken through the efforts of humans and objects within a social context,
thereby being implemented in a dynamic and frequently-changing environment.
Clearly, therefore, there is a requirement for a better appreciation of the
challenges associated with strategy implementation, and there is a strong
rationale for a study like this one that goes beyond the exploration of the usual
obstacles and challenges to include the practice perspective, which has a
significant influence in furthering our understanding of real project
environments.
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1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND FOCUS OF THE STUDY
From what has been said so far, it can be seen that recent research findings
support the notion that project management contributes little to the eventual
realisation of organisational strategy, and that project management frameworks
seem to suffer from systematic deficiencies, the reasons for which are not
described (Young et al., 2012; Young and Grant, 2014). Furthermore, Winter et
al. (2006) have observed that project management research attracts criticism for
its lack of relevance to practice.
Hence, it is apparent that the research problem is double-sided. On one side,
strategy is not a fully-formed entity that exists for straightforward
implementation but is rather mediated through individual actors and objects or
artefacts that in themselves have resulted from the strategy translation process.
The capabilities perspective acknowledges that individuals are involved in the
processes but neglects the influences of both individual actors and objects. On
the other side, in the specific case of project management, criticism is made
because of its lack of relevance to practice; essentially it is viewed as a ‘black
box’ mainly interested in what routines accomplish in the effort to achieve
organisational goals. Consequently, this study concerns itself with the theory of
translation, and an exploration of how the approach is being translated in the
real project world, thereby emphasising what happens inside the ‘black box’ and
how practice and routines are enacted on a day-to-day basis.
1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The study aims to explore how project management is practised in a real project
environment, and to understand the influences of the translation model on the
implementation. It takes Saudi Arabian organisations that use project
management as the vehicle for implementing their organisational strategy, as the
data collection sites. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives are
identified:
a) To review the relevant theoretical perspectives on strategy and project
management, with particular emphasis on implementation.
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b) To evaluate the usefulness of the project management approach in
achieving organisational strategy in Saudi Arabia.
c) To investigate the challenges confronting project management
implementation through practice and translation theory.
d) To explore the models used in translating both strategy and the project
management approach in practice.
e) To examine the roles and implications of objects in strategy
communications.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to accomplish the above objectives, several questions which emerge
after a comprehensive review of the literature related to strategy implementation
and project management (in particular the translation of the practice) are
formulated as research questions, these being:
1 Why does the project management approach make only a small
contribution, if any, to the achievement of organisational strategy?
2 How is organisational strategy being translated?
3 What is the translation model used for translating organisational strategy
and project management?
4 Who is involved in the translation of strategy and project management
practice?
5 What are the translation challenges?
6 What objects are produced for communicating organisational strategy?
7 How do these objects connect to the individual daily activities within the
entire organisation?
1.5 RESEARCH PROPOSITION
The propositions made in this study are driven from the review of the literature
(Chapters Two and Three). In this respect, there are two propositions to be
explored, these being: firstly, successful strategy implementation can be
achieved through a project approach; and secondly, in project-oriented
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organisations, the project management approach would be implemented
differently.
1.6 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The study draws on the work of Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville (2011), as
seen in Figure 1.1. This figure depicts the gap in knowledge associated with
strategy as viewed from the capabilities and practice perspectives, and indicates
how this study intends to bridge that gap through a consideration of the strategy
as practice (SAP) and the theory of translation.
Figure 1.1: Research Framework to Bridge the Gap in Knowledge
Gap Neglects the influences of individual actors and objects
Fails to uncover what inside the ‘black box’
• Understanding the role of individual actors and objects • Exploring what is being travelled? Is it the actual practice
of project management or only the name of the practice? • Using the theory of translation for better understanding of
practice challenges
Capabilities Perspective
Deliberate approach Strategy delivered as
intended Focus on routine as
'Black Box'
Practice Perspective
Emergent approach Response to market
changes Focus on what inside
the 'Black Box'
SAP and the Theory of Translation
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1.7 PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
In order to answer the research questions posed in Section 1.4, and consequently
to achieve the aim and objectives presented in Section 1.3, a qualitative
approach is proposed, in which both secondary and primary data are obtained.
Secondary data come from an in-depth literature survey, while primary data are
gathered from an empirical exercise with two case studies of organisations in
Saudi Arabia. These organisations serve as the context for exploring strategy
and project management implementation, and the methodology involves 30
interviews with individuals, documentary analysis, and non-participant
observation.
1.8 THESIS STRUCTURE
The thesis is presented in nine chapters and a brief indication of the content of
each is now given.
Chapter One: this presents an overview of the research work, the aim,
objectives, and the research questions that study seeks to answer.
Chapter Two: this conducts a review of relevant management literature on
strategy from capabilities perspective.
Chapter Three: this provides a review of relevant literature review on the
strategy from practice perspective with emphasis on the theory of translation.
Chapter Four: this discusses in detail, the qualitative research methodology
adopted in the study to achieve the research objectives.
Chapter Five: this presents an analysis of the initial findings of the exploratory
interviews that constitute Phase One of the empirical work. Additionally, it
explains the process of data gathering, data analysis and the techniques used.
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Chapter Six: validates the findings of the Phase One interviews and provides the
results gained from the in-depth analysis of the interviews conducted in Phase
Two of the empirical work.
Chapter Seven: presents two case studies undertaken in five organisations in
Saudi Arabia namely: IT projects, and construction projects.
Chapter Eight: offers a general discussion of the challenges related to the
translation of the practice that results from case studies.
Chapter Nine: this draws a conclusion, and makes recommendations
Several appendices, which are pertinent to the thesis are attached at the end.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW PART I: STRATEGY
FROM A CAPABILITIES PROSPECTIVE
2.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter reviews the literature pertaining to strategy from capabilities lens.
It introduces the concept of strategy, and the processes of strategy development,
and implementation. Various management tools are available for translating the
strategy into routine activities through performance measurement, balanced
scorecards and project management approaches that presented and discussed,
and as part of this discussion different concepts associated with project
management, such as projects, programmes and portfolios, are elaborated upon.
2.2 CAPABILITIES PERSPECTIVE
Capabilities are one of common terms that associated with strategy and
management topics. However the meaning can be translated depending on the
use of the word (McCabe, 2010). This study takes the benefit of work of
Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville conducted in (2011), which viewing strategy
from capabilities and practice perspectives, where capabilities perspective
focused on routines as whole “entities” and the practice perspective focused on
the “parts” of routines. Number of pervious studies has reviewed to establish
common understanding with related terms. Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville
(2011) define capabilities as range of processes, actions, and skills a firm do at
any time to manage targeted performance. Capabilities sometimes used
interchangeably with routines that seen as performance targets, which providing
mechanisms for control and bases for replication.
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Organizational economists tend to treat routines as a “black box,” mainly
interested in the purpose or motivation for routines and their impact on firm
performance (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011). Routines viewed as
building blocks of the capabilities with repetitive and context-dependent
characteristics. Repetitive activities in combinations with other resources
constitute the organizational capabilities (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville,
2011). Organizational capabilities defied as social complex routine that
determine the performance by transforming the inputs into significant outputs.
There are two types of capabilities, ordinary that related to typical operations,
and dynamic, which involve creation and change (Winter, 2003; Helfat et al.,
2007). Zollo and Winter (2002: 348) define dynamic capabilities as “systematic
patterns of organizational activity aimed at the generation and adaptation of
operating routines”. Dynamic capability focuses on the effectiveness of
performed activities involves a well-managed cluster of activities what some
call a ‘people strategy’. For that reason says Feiler and Teece (2014), it have to
be developed ‘in-house’ through a set of activities and cognitive processes
focused on the organization’s own routines. Dynamic capability is important
concept in the strategy literature, which defined as a meta-process that
coordinates a number of processes, best practices or competencies to manage
comprehensively and systemically, something that is strategically vital to
organisation, including strategy development ‘formulation’ and execution
(Feiler and Teece, 2014). The next sections discuss in details processes and best
practices for strategy development and execution from capabilities lens.
2.3 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS - VISION AND MISSION
The importance of mission, vision and strategy has been acknowledged in many
organisations around the globe. Mission expresses the reason why the
organisation exists; vision is describing in words the futuristic image of an
organisation, and strategy defines the way the organisation believes it can reach
that state. These tools are considered to be essential in guiding the whole
organisation down the appropriate pathway to the desired goals (Naaranoja et
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al., 2007). McCabe (2010) belief that mission is broad in term of intention and
wording that sets directions but does not provide particular targets. Thus,
mission needs to be connected with particular objectives, which can provide
managers with something allows them to translate broad vision into tangible
result McCabe(2010). For more than three decades, scholars have argued that
vision is important to leadership and strategy implementation. Some scholars
point out that vision building is intended to create a fundamental, ambitious
sense of purpose, which to be pursued over the years (Kantabutra and Avery,
2010). Various management literature highlight clearly the importance of the
vision, however, the process of vision development is not defined in a generally
agreed-upon manner (Kantabutra and Avery, 2002). This is a critical problem
because the way in which vision is defined influences the way it is adopted by
practising managers and studied by scholars (Kantabutra and Avery, 2010).
The definition of ‘vision’ varies in management and leadership literatures, but
essentially it is conceived of as “an idealised future goal state, as a plan for
future goal attainment, and as an image of the future that articulates the values,
purposes, and identity of followers” (Strange and Mumford, 2005:122). It is the
emphasis placed on the construction of a distinct image for a group’s or an
organisation’s future that binds these different definitions together (Strange and
Mumford, 2005). And this observation has led to the argument that vision
involves a set of beliefs about how people should act, and interact, to make
manifest some idealised future state (Strange and Mumford, 2005). As vision is
a common terms associated with capabilities, capabilities perspective paying
relatively less attention to individual agency in routines (Parmigiani and
Howard-Grenville, 2011). Zollo and Winter (2002) argued that capabilities must
developed ‘in-house’ through a set of activities and knowledge processes
focused on the organization’s own routines (Zollo and Winter, 2002). Scholars
of capabilities perspective acknowledge that individuals are involved in this
complex processes with generally assumption that routines operate as intended.
However, capabilities perspective omits the influences of individual agency that
complex in nature (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011).
27
Usually, vision statements are presented in one or two sentences that define the
mid- to long-term goals of the organisation. According to Kaplan and Norton
(2008), such statements should be market-oriented and expressed in futuristic
terms. Feiler and Teece (2014) stated that dynamic capabilities do not just
emerge and are more than something that firms do well. In the same perspective,
vision does not just emerge and are more than things that organization does well
(Feiler and Teece, 2014).
Vision is comprised of an ambitious goal that challenges all employees and that
simultaneously requires an organisation to possess strong leadership that can
move it from the status quo to the future target place. It provides a high-level
description of how an organisation intends to create value in the future (Kaplan
and Norton, 2008). There is no doubt that vision is crucial for many
organisations. However, these organisations need to ask themselves how
effective their vision is (Kantabutra and Avery, 2010). According to many
leadership scholars, senior managers need to distinguish between ‘strong’ and
‘weak’ vision to ensure effectiveness. This is particularly important in
organisations where people down the managerial line must share the same
vision as senior managers and executives (Kantabutra and Avery, 2010).
In the same context, Professor Stephen R. Covey considered a shared vision as a
main ingredient of organisational success, highlighting that the root reason of
organisations fail is that its members do not share a common vision (Covey,
2004). As emphasised above, capabilities perspective acknowledged that
individuals are involved in the processes but omits the influences of individual
agency. Moreover, capabilities perspective assumes that routines operate as
intended; however, practice perspective does not share the same assumption.
The presence of a clear vision is the starting point in the development of strategy
that drives effective implementation. Powerful visions indicate the long-term
prospect for the business, and the future environment in which it functions. In a
28
business situation, the vision must be one that offers a view of a better future,
otherwise it will not possess any power to inspire staff members or attract their
commitment (Kantabutra and Avery, 2010). Visions that can be considered as
powerful, through their ability to make a significant impact on customer and
employee satisfaction, have certain characteristics including: conciseness,
clarity, abstractness, challenge, future orientation, stability, and desirability or
the ability to inspire (Kantabutra and Avery, 2010). Hence, it can be understood
that vision is a vital when establishing any organisation. As Kantabutra and
Avery (2010:37) stated: “we know that vision is the starting point of any
organisational transformation process, and should underpin business strategy”.
This brings the discussion to the issue of strategy, since that in itself, must be
understood in all its facets. Consequently, the concept of strategy, and questions
concerning how it is created, who is involved in it, to whom it created, how it
functions and why, are elaborated upon in the following sections.
2.4 STRATEGY DEFINITION AND STRATEGIC PLANS
“Understanding what is strategy has been complicated by the proliferation of the number of schools of strategic thought and by undisciplined, even the reckless use of the term” (Porter, 1996:61).
There is a general agreement among strategy scholars about the nuances
differences of the strategy based on the personal interpretation “translation” of
the definition McCabe (2010). Taking this in consideration, the above quotation
expressing the dilemma of strategy definition, as it appears not to be a
straightforward. Thus, we need to look at what managers actually doing when
they are involved in strategy in order to define strategy precisely. The classical
view of the strategy rooted back to the early days of writing about war
(Patanakul and Shenhar, 2012). The word of strategy used in military as means
to organise soldiers in best way to win the battle McCabe (2010). Whilst, in
business the definition of strategy is used in the same way where resources are
organised to compete effectively McCabe (2010).
29
In business, Daft (1998:53) defined strategy as “a plan for interacting with a
competitive environment to achieve organizational goals”. Strategy defined here
as design or plan constructed to achieve a company’s goals and objectives. It
embodies the way in which those goals and objectives will be realised, what
operational units will be used, what resources will be needed, and how those
resources will be acquired. It is obvious that resources are the centrals to the
design of all strategy, since a strategy by itself cannot achieve anything at all.
Strategy formulation is important, and due to it importance, there is belief the
tasks of strategy development can be done only by senior managers McCabe
(2010). However, implementing strategy is responsibility of lesser seniority
managers. The belief that strategy can be developed by senior managers and
based on rigid application, rational decision of top-down approach has become
dominate says McCabe (2010). So, senior managers at the top-level of an
organisation developing strategy that directs managers at lower level of same
organisation.
Successful strategy is about exploiting opportunities that offered potential
market. This required a full dedication from those concerned managers who
should not hampered by the daily operational issues. This thought supported by
management scholars who believes managers in particular at executive levels
were expected to be dedicated for the to the pursuit of efficiency and
effectiveness. Thus, once senior managers of an organisation have taken
strategically decision the remaining managers are responsible to implement
theme (McCabe, 2010).
The main purpose of developing the strategy is to clarify how the vision can be
achieved (Kaplan and Norton, 2008). To simplify, an organisation might set
goals that it wants to achieve, so the strategies define the way to achieve these
goals, and hence, are called strategic plans. The strategic plan is defined as “a
document that articulates a set of goals in various aspects of an organization,
specifies action plans or items, and proposes in some case a set of measures to
30
track progress towards those specified goals in given period of time” (Hwang
and Suarez, 2005:73). From practice perspective, this set of documents portrays
an organisation as an actor with clear targets and with the capacity to achieve
them (Hwang and Suarez, 2005). The strategic plan is formal to the extent that
its goals and objectives are specified and that it provides indicators for gauging
the progress (Hwang and Suarez, 2005). So, plans and documents are a new
form, ‘objects’, or ‘artefacts’ that representing a strategy. However, the formal
nature of the strategic plan does not mean there is uniformity among such plans.
Indeed, strategic plans vary according to the number of organisational
dimensions or aspects to which they apply. Further, in the business world,
strategic plans vary widely with regard to both formality and scope (Hwang and
Suarez, 2005). Likewise, strategic goals also vary, but it is true to say that they
mostly fall into two categories, these being ‘promotion’ and ‘aspiration’ (Hwang
and Suarez, 2005). Promotion aims to promote and strengthen an organisation’s
internal capacity by making technological improvements and implementing
effective human resource management, for example, while aspiration aims to
move the organisation forward into its desired position or to solidify its position
in the industry.
From the project perspective, there are various definitions in the literature
relating to strategy. The optimal definition of project strategy, is one provided
by Artto et al. (2008:8), who state that such strategy is: “[d]irection in a project
that contributes to success of the project in its environment”. This definition
encompasses all types of project strategy, and the important in that it includes
four particular elements, these being: direction, contribution, success, and
environment (Artto et al. 2008).
At this point, two questions become immediately apparent, which are:
o Is strategy existing as real thing that ready for implementation, or not?
o If not, why do organisation strategies fail to achieve the intended goals?
31
Answers to these questions have been provided by Czarniawska (2007:353) who
said:
“When I was starting my career as a researcher in organisation studies in the 1970s, the word I heard most often was ‘structure’. Structures were this and structures were that; they had to be built or they had to be changed; they were too rigid or too flexible, but they were always at the centre of attention. Soon, however, they began to give way to ‘strategies’. Then, in the 1980s, ‘strategies’ were shelved and replaced by ‘cultures’”(Czarniawska, 2007:353).
In modern organisation every action, plans, and decision called a ‘strategy’
(Patanakul and Shenhar, 2012) or capabilities that organisation do
systematically at any time to manage targeted performance (Parmigiani and
Howard-Grenville, 2011). Taking in consideration that “strategy is a process,
not a destination” (Pugh and Bourgeois III, 2011), it is a linear analytical
process, the main outcomes of strategy formulation and planning being
descriptive documents that are used in developing a direction that differentiates
a company’s position (Kaplan and Norton, 2008). Thus, strategy is not done
deal thing that exist for straightforward implementation. Consequently, it is
necessary to ask why strategy objects ‘descriptive documents’ do not succeed in
being achieved, and why many organisations still continue to formulate strategy.
In the following section, explore the theories of strategy and prospective for
better understanding of how strategy is developed and what function it serves.
2.5 STRATEGY THEORIES AND PERSPECTIVES
In major strategy texts, there is general agreement that there are only two
theoretical approaches for strategy, namely: deliberate and emergent (McCabe,
2010). Both strategy approaches described in the following:
Deliberate strategy assumes that there can be a logical and structure approach
to the planning and delivery of intended outcomes. According to Lynch, there
are four area ‘theories’ for deliberate strategy: Industry and environment based
theories, resource based theories, game based theory, and cooperation and
network based theories. However, this approach is challenged and criticised due
to its rational and logical assumption.
32
Emergent strategy uses of experiment and learning from experience as
alternative approach for deliberate. In emergent approach strategy is usually
developed in response to changes that may occurs to the market or environment.
The final objective of this approach is fuzzy and can be always changed to suite
the market situation. According to Lynch there are four areas ‘theories’
associated with emergent approach: survival based theories, uncertainty based
theories, human resource based theories, and innovation and knowledge based
theories.
Consequently, there are four perspectives for strategy approaches, namely:
classical, evolutionary, processual, and systematic.
Classical uses deliberate approach and belief that strategy is predetermined
process and planned based on desire to maximise the outcomes. Thus
maximizing profit is the key motive for achieving objectives.
Systematic uses deliberate approach that rejects profit is main motive for the
outcomes. In this perspective, culture and power influenced by social systems
that organization operates and relevant market they serves. In this prospective,
multiplicity outcomes ‘pluralism’ is the object.
Evolutionary uses emergent approach based on belief that organisations
survival and prosperity are depending on their ability to response quickly to
market situation. They also seek to maximize the outcomes using process that
developed or ‘emerge’ during the practice.
Processual uses emergent approach and proponent of classical perspective that
beliefs market, people, and organisations as being far from perfect entities. This
perspective “accepts that strategy is a matter of accommodation of multiplicity
of outcomes needed to satisfy both those involved in and the opportunities that
present themselves in the market”.
Regardless of chosen strategy approach or perspectives, successful strategy is
about exploiting opportunities that offered a potential market. This required a
full dedication from those concerned managers who should not hampered by the
33
daily operational issues. Management scholars believe managers in particular at
executive levels were expected to be dedicated for the pursuit of efficiency and
effectiveness. Thus, once senior managers of an organisation have taken
strategic decisions, the remaining managers are responsible to implement theme
McCabe (2010). Developing strategy is important, and due to that, there is a
belief this task can be done only by senior managers McCabe (2010). However,
implementing strategy is responsibility of lesser seniority managers. So, senior
managers at the top-level of an organisation developing strategy that directs
managers at lower level of same organisation.
In the following section, explore the development process as a means of
promoting an understanding of how strategy is developed and what function it
serves.
2.6 DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING PROCESSES OF STRATEGY
Over the past three decades numerous frameworks have been introduced to ‘do
strategy’, to help organisations to clarify their visions and make them
implementable (Pugh and Bourgeois III, 2011). Essentially, these frameworks
embrace the notion that the connection between the vision and the strategy is
vital if the organisation is to realise that vision at some point in the future. But
what dose Pugh and Bourgeois means by saying ‘do strategy’? Is this means to
develop a plan or actually doing strategy ‘makes it work’? Thus, as mentioned
earlier, we need to consider what managers actually doing when they are
involved in strategy in order to define strategy precisely.
There are many different frameworks and methodologies for strategic planning
and management. However, they tend to follow a similar pattern and to have
common attributes. In general, the strategy development process is divided into
two parts: strategy formulation and strategic planning (Kaplan and Norton,
2008).
• Strategic Formulation uses either deliberate or emergent approach
that consists of strategic analysis activities for both external and
34
internal environments. The task of developing strategy can be done by
senior managers only McCabe (2010). Strategy formulation divided
into two main analysis activities, both external and internal.
§ External analysis. Assesses the macro-economic elements such
as economic growth, interest rates, currency, regulation, etc. The
five forces of Michael Porter, and PESTEL, are examples of
well-known models and frameworks used to conduct external
analysis.
§ Internal analysis. Examines an organisation’s own performance
and capabilities and identifies the sequence of the process
required to deliver products or services to the customer. Value
chain analysis and Activity Based Cost (ABC) are examples of
the tools and frameworks.
Once the internal and external analyses have been performed, the
strategy team conducts a SWOT (Strengths, Weakness,
Opportunities, and Threats) analysis to understand the key issues that
the organisation must address when formulating the strategy.
• Strategic Planning focuses on ‘strategy implementation’ by
translating the formulated strategy into policies and procedures for
achieving the grand decision. Once senior managers have taken
strategic decisions the remaining managers are responsible to
implement theme McCabe (2010). Implementation involves all levels
of management in moving the organisation toward its vision. The
process seeks to create a fit between the organisation’s formulated
goal and its on-going activities. Because implementation involves all
levels of the organisation, it results in the integration of all aspects of
the firm’s functioning.
As mentioned earlier, it should be borne in mind that “strategy is a process, not
a destination” (Pugh and Bourgeois III, 2011). It is a linear analytical process,
35
the main outcomes of strategy formulation and planning being descriptive
documents that are used to develop a direction that differentiates a company’s
position (Kaplan and Norton, 2008). Thus, strategy is not ‘done deal’ thing that
exist for straightforward implementation. Feiler and Teece (2014) supported this
by saying capabilities do not just emerge and are more than something that firms
do well. Focusing on the effectiveness of performed processes, implementation
is complex process that involve people across all organisation levels and results
in creating new objects or ‘artefacts’, however, capabilities have relatively less
attention to individual agency and artefacts influences (Feiler and Teece, 2014).
The below section discusses the aspects related to the strategy implementation.
2.7 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
It is important to remember that developing and implementing strategy is a
closed-loop process and interdependent in which each part of the system
influencing every other part (McCabe, 2010; Kaplan and Norton, 2008).
Implementing strategy is the responsibility of lesser seniority managers that uses
deliberate ‘perspective’ approach that assumes deliberate predetermined choices
with intention to create particular actions McCabe (2010:7).
When talking about strategy implementation it is crucial to know whether we
are ‘execute’ or ‘implement’ a strategy? Is ‘getting things done’ what we mean
by implementation or execution? Ken Favaro (2015) has asked these questions
at the beginning of his article published recently in Harvard Business Review
(HBR). It is important to have a clear understating about the differences
between both words before going further with study topic. The distinction
between strategy implementation and execution has very less attention by
business leaders (Favaro, 2015), as there is no specific articles could be fond
that highlighted the differences. Favaro (2015) stated “there are meaningful
distinctions between strategy, implementation, and execution that are helpful to
running a company or business in the real world. Ignoring, blurring, or getting
them wrong creates sloppy thinking, deciding, and doing at all levels of an
organization”.
36
Favaro (2015) summarise the differences by saying, if organisation has the
capabilities, enterprise advantage, and business portfolio it wants, its strategy is
implemented, then all decisions and activities required for turning strategic
choices into reality defined as strategy implementation. On the other hand,
strategy execution consisting all decisions and activities organisation undertakes
in order to turn implemented strategy into commercial success.
Of course, a strategy can never be fully implemented as planned because
everything that organisation necessarily assumed when formulating it as in a
constant state of flux. However, there will always be a gap between organization
current situation and what their strategies call for. Closing that gap is
“implementation.” Says Favaro (2015). Consequently, through this study, we
decided to use ‘implementation’ as word that refers to ‘getting strategy done’.
Strategy implementation requires an organisation to translate the inspirational
language and tone of vision or strategy into a form of words that allow for
implementation. Unfortunately, many organisations fail to become what they
want because they cannot translate their formulated strategy into an
implementation strategy that will actually bring them tangible results (Cascella,
2001; Hrebiniak, 2006). And this is purely because managers are trained to
formulate strategy, they receive no instruction on how to implement it
(Hrebiniak 2008).
The critical point that should be highlighted first is that ‘implementation’ is a
process, which results in a series of decisions or actions over a certain period.
Successful implementation requires the effective management that adopt
changes and that must focus on the wider picture. It is not easy to execute
decisions but the execution of decisions is indeed critical for strategic success.
That said, implementation is often poorly managed by organisations (Hrebiniak,
2008), and the reason, apart from a lack of managerial training already
mentioned, is that as noted by Warnock (2000), strategy is itself characterised
by multiple options, multiple paths, and multiple outcomes, and hence,
37
implementation is much more complex than would be the case if there were a
linear solution.
Figure 2.1 represent the conceptual framework that summarise the theories of
strategy formulation and implementation along those typically charged with
responsibility.
Strategy Formulation Strategy Implementation Strategy
Outcomes
App
roac
h
Deliberate Approach
• Industrial Based Theory
• Resource Based Theory
• Game Based Theory
• Corporate Based Theory
Emergent Approach
• Survival Based Theory
• Uncertainty Based Theory
• HR Based Theory
• Innovation Based Theory
Peop
le C
harg
ed Top-level management
Senior managers
CEO, Strategy team
Middle- to- low level management
Lesser-seniority managers
Function manager,
Front-level staff
Executives Seniority-level Front-line
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework for Strategy Theories and Perspectives
General management studies acknowledged that strategy implementation has
affected by people, thus the assumption of rationality is suspected says McCabe
(2010:7). Furthermore, implementation process evolving people across
organisation levels and results in creating new form or object, however,
Translation
Stra
tegi
c O
bjec
tives
& G
oals
38
capabilities has relatively less attention to individual agency and artefacts
influences. Focusing on the effectiveness of performed processes this involves a
well-managed cluster of activities that sometimes called a ‘people strategy’
(Feiler and Teece, 2014). Implementation, which is the common way of
describing the process of translating strategy into tangible results and
maintaining efficient, reliable operations, is regarded as one of the essential
challenges for leaders in today’s business environment (Yukl and Lepsinger,
2007).
Strategy implementation is complex for the reasons just outlined, and
consequently the field requires attention from researchers who can ultimately
provide guidance. Indeed, in order to develop the ability to implement strategy
successfully, managers need direction in the form of a logical, theoretical model,
which they can adopt. As noted by Hrebiniak (2008:23),“without guidelines,
execution becomes a helter-skelter affair”.
Having identified these as useful tools practiced by those organisations under
the investigation, this study discusses the three indicated below in details:
• Performance Measurement Systems and Balance Scorecards
• Project and Programme Management
• Project Portfolio Management
To understand the role of these tools mentioned above, and how the tools
themselves help in translating the strategy, their nature and function is
elaborated upon in the following sections.
2.8 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND THE BALANCED
SCORECARD
In today’s volatile markets many organisations in many industries are
confronted by huge challenges to their survival, and as noted, in order to
overcome these, they are adopting newer management systems to clarify their
vision and strategy and translate them into action (Fernandes et al., 2006). One
such management system is Performance Measurement and this is currently
39
attracting a great deal of interest among both industrialists and academics alike.
Among the different models of Performance Measurement, the Balanced
Scorecard (BSC) is one approach that is popular and is cited by the Harvard
Business Review (HBR) as one of the most important management tools to
emerge over the last 75 years (Fernandes et al., 2006; Bourne and Neely, 2003).
There are, however, numerous balanced performance measurement frameworks
and management processes for the design of performance measurement systems
(Bourne et al., 2002).
Generally, performance measurement is introduced as an approach that controls
business; implements strategy effectively, measures success continuously, and
encourages feedback on the strategy. In a study by Haapasalo et al. (2006) it was
found that all organisations that had a BSC system in place were satisfied with
the system, and that what problems did exist were related to the creation of the
strategy or vision, the applicability of those, or the ineffective use of the
company’s own activities.
Of the many models and applications of performance measurement that are
available, the BSC is the most dominant, hence it is important to learn more
about this and to find out why it enjoys this prominent position. Within the
literature there is some ambiguity surrounding the BSC (Speckbacher et al.,
2003), but for the purposes of this study, the definition proposed by the
originators of the concept, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, two Harvard
professors who introduced the idea in 1992, is used. According to Kaplan and
Norton, the starting point for the development of the BSC concept was the idea
that traditional performance measurement systems were adequate in the
industrial age, but not in today’s information age (Kaplan, 2008; Kaplan and
Norton, 2006). Traditional performance measurement uses an accounting model
of the firm based purely on financial measures and a linear additive framework,
but this does not capture intangible assets that have no financial value. Customer
loyalty and staff knowledge are examples of such intangible assets that are
40
usually associated with products or services delivered by an organisation, and
that are measured by units rather than currency (Speckbacher et al., 2003).
Kaplan and Norton (2008) viewed corporate strategy as a specific way of
linking tangible and intangible assets. In this, they stress that value does not
ordinarily reside in any specific intangible asset, but rather, is created by a
strategy that unites a set of both tangible and intangible assets in a specific way
(Speckbacher et al., 2003; Kaplan, 2008). This is can be done by formulating
strategic objectives with respect to four perspectives, these being: ‘financial’,
‘customer’, ‘internal business process’, and ‘learning and growth’. These four
perspectives are shown in Figure 2.1 that depicts the structure of the BSC.
Figure 2.1: Original Structure of Balanced Scorecard (R. Kaplan, 2008:1254)
From this it can be seen that the BSC retains financial metrics as the ultimate
outcome measures for company success, but supplements these with metrics
from three additional perspectives (customer, internal process, and learning and
growth) that are proposed as the drivers for generating long-term shareholder
value (Kaplan, 2008).
The BSC was not the first model to advocate the use of non-financial measures
to motivate, measure, and evaluate company performance as the means of
translating vision and strategy. Indeed in a study conducted in 2003 by
Speckbacher et al., three types of BSC were identified as follows:
41
• Type I BSC: a specific strategic performance measurement system
containing financial and non-financial measures and objectives.
• Type II BSC: a system that describes the company’s strategy using a
sequential cause-and-effect logic to link tangible and intangible assets.
• Type III BSC: a system that implements the organisation’s strategy
through action plans and/or ‘target setting’ and links it with the reward
system.
However, all three types share the common objective of aiming to implement
the strategy by defining the objectives, creating action plans, and monitoring
results (Speckbacher et al., 2003). It is true to say that many organisations have
implemented the approach and learned how to use these performance
measurement system tools within their overall management systems to drive the
implementation of their corporate strategy (Kaplan, 2008).
Figure 2.2: Translating Mission, Values, and Vision into Desired Outcomes
(Kaplan and Norton, 2008:73)
The process of translating the mission, vision, and strategy into strategic
initiatives and objectives, is envisioned in Figure 2.2, from which it can be seen
that the process start with the creation of the mission, the core values, and the
42
vision (MVV). These things are then translated into strategy, which in turn, is
translated through the BSC into measurable initiatives and objectives.
It has been mentioned already that Pugh and Bourgeois III (2011) make the
point that strategy is a process and not a destination, and this is appreciated
through Figure 2.3, which depicts the outcomes of the development process via
the BSC. This begins with translating the MVV statements into tangible
outcomes, and moves to translate the strategy into plans, objectives, initiatives,
and measures. All of these stages in the process are documented in detailed
plans, which should be communicated throughout the organisation in various
styles such that all members are aware of the organisational vision and can
connect with it. As mentioned earlier, these plan and documents resulted form
translation processes are a new form or ‘object’ that aim to clarify and
communicate strategy. The question is, dose artefacts including various types of
documents and plans helped in creating a shared vision across the whole
organisation? Dose this translated outcomes helped in communicating strategy
effectively?
Figure 2.3: Outcomes of Strategy Development Processes
Kaplan and Norton (2008) mention that the literature on strategy formulation
and development can be overwhelming with its many approaches and schools of
thought, but as noted by Yukl and Lepsinger (2007:3), “a brilliant strategy is of
little value unless it can be implemented effectively”. Moreover, as noted by
Mission, Values,
Vision (MVV)
Statement
Strategic Plans Balanced
Scorecards
Statement
1-2 sentences
Objectives
Measures
Full Plans Many Pages
Game Plans
SWOT
Few Pages
43
Sterling (2003:27) “effective implementation of an average strategy, beats
mediocre implementation of a great strategy every time”.
There is no doubt that formulating strategy is difficult. However, “[m]aking
strategy work, executing or implementing it throughout the organisation is even
more difficult” (L. G. Hrebiniak, 2006:12). Without effective implementation,
no business strategy can succeed. And since most managers know far more
about formulating strategy than they do about implementing it, finding ways to
improve implementation is an important task for today’s leaders (Yukl and
Lepsinger, 2007; Hrebiniak, 2006).
The benefits to be obtained from the use of a BSC approach depend upon what
it is used for, how well it is designed, and how it is applied. Actually, there are
many organisations using the BSC in many different formats, but there are two
distinctly different applications, these being operational control on the one hand,
and strategic management on the other. However, even with the increased
adoption of a strategy implementation system based on the BSC, a gap still
exists between the formulation of high level strategic plans and their effective
implementation by frontline departments, process teams and employees (Kaplan
and Norton, 2008).
This knowledge gap is recognised in some recent studies that have revealed a
number of problems and difficulties confronted in the implementation of
performance measurement systems, which are just beginning to be recognised,
and as pointed out by Bourne and Neely (2003), there are big differences
between the published approaches to designing performance measurement
systems, and the implementation of those systems, and this applies in particular
to the implementation of the BSC. In all approaches, little reference is made to
the softer aspects of change that challenge the implementation of a performance
measurement system. Furthermore, Kaplan and Norton identified four barriers
to the implementation of performance measurement systems, each of which is
centred on the strategy, as follows (Kaplan and Norton, 2008):
44
• Vision and strategy are not actionable
• Strategy is not linked to departments, teams, and individual teams
• Strategy in not linked to resource allocation
• Feedback is tactical and not strategic
Furthermore, Hacker and Brotherton (1998) highlighted some traditional
challenges found in the management of change literature concerning
implementation of the BSC such as lack of leadership and resistance to change
(Hacker and Brotherton, 1998).
As a performance measurement tool, the BSC originally offers an effective way
to implement strategy, yet recent studies have revealed a number of issues
facing the adoption of the BSC. Essentially what occurs is that the organisation
may shift its focus from implementing its strategy, placing all its efforts into
implementing the BSC.
To sum-up, the problems mentioned above about the BSC and in particular,
implementation, bring the discussion back to the crux of the study, which is
concerned with the challenges to strategy implementation. And in this
connection, an important question can be raised, that being, why when there are
many management theories and models, do organisations still fail when trying to
implement strategy. In the next section, the author will attempt to find an answer
to this thought-provoking question by discussing another promising tool for
translating strategy. This tool is basically, the concept of project management.
2.9 PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project management approach serve as primary capabilities for an organisation
respond to change that maintain its competitive edge (Dietrich and Lehtonen,
2005). Many organisations today operate almost entirely on a project platform,
in which the use of efficient, tactical and operative control tools ensures that
projects are run in accordance with the business visions and intended goals of
45
the organisation (Raisanen and Linde, 2004). From capabilities perspective,
projects as individual stand-alone entities, or as a part of a wider group of
projects, are used to support the overall organisation position in the future, by
changing obsolete and inefficient structures.
Poor organisation performance has been studied to understand the causes of the
result. The failure in the conventional approach to strategy implementation is
due to senior management’s use of the existing organisation structure and
system as depicted in the below Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4: Problems of Strategy Implementation (Pellegrinelli and Bowman,
1994:126)
The great success of the project concept in managing construction and
information technology (IT) activities, has caught the attention of management
researchers. Consequently, a study conducted by Pellegrinelli and Bowman
(1994) recommended that by adopting the project and programme approach,
organisations can ensure greater success. The project approach offered here acts
as a translation vehicle to achieve most organisational strategies by implanting
new behaviour that helps organisational members to perform outside the the
exisiting organisational bureaucracy, process, and culture.
46
Figure 2.5: Project Management Approach for Strategy Implementation
(Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994:127)
Figure 2.5 demonstrates the project approach by translating strategy into action
in a process which is far superior to traditional management approaches. The
new behaviour is embedded in two key project roles, these being those of the
client and the project manager. This aproach is assumed to help senior
management to implement the strategy perfectly (Pellegrinelli and Bowman,
1994). Nevertheless, when implementing strategy using the project approach it
is important to take into consideration, two associated difficulties, namely: the
interdependences of project activities and the continual learning associated with
them (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). From capabilities perspective, project
management approach acknowledged that individuals are involved in the
processes but omits the influences of individual agency. Moreover, it assumes
from the beginning that routines operate as intended; however, practice
perspective does not share the same assumption.
Having a clear understanding of the meaning of strategy from the project
perspective is fundamental to the establishment of a strong basis before going
further with different aspects of the research. From the capabilities viewpoint,
strategy is defined as “a plan for interacting with a competitive environment to
achieve organizational goals” (Daft, 1998:53). To simplify, an organisation
might set goals that intends to achieve, so the strategies define the way to
47
achieve these goals. From project perspective, however, there are many
definitions of project strategy. That said, the definition provided by Artto et al.
(2008:8) already indicated as “direction in a project that contributes to the
success of the project in its environment” is useful since it is designed to
include various types of project strategies that may vary from one project to
another. The importance of this definition lies in the four elements - direction,
contribution, success, and environment (Artto et al. 2008), which are described
as follows:
Direction interprets one or several explicit elements including: goals, plans,
guidelines, methods, tools and other controlling devices.
Contribution refers to the assumption that the chosen direction has an effect.
Success refers to how well the project is able to accomplish its goals.
Environment refers to the boundaries outside, between, and within the project.
Considering the strategy as a project, the intended strategy could be
implemented though the processes of the project management or through the
project life cycle, which is itself another approach to describe the unique
characteristics of a project. Basically, a project can be conceived of as being
implemented in four sequential phases as depicted in below Figure 2.6 by Gray
and Larson (2008).
Figure 2.6: Project Lifecycle Process (Gray and Larson, 2008)
Gray and Larson (2008), explain these phases as follows:
• Defining: in this stage the project specification, objectives and team
members are defined.
• Planning: in this stage project objectives are scheduled into activities.
Based on this it is determined as to when the project activities will have
Defining Planing Execution Delivery
48
the deliverables ready, the expected benefits of the project and the
requirement for budget and manpower.
• Execution: this is the core stage of the project lifecycle, where the
project output or delivery actually takes place. During the execution
process, project activities are assessed against the initial plan to assure
that they are on the right track in terms of time, budget and quality.
• Delivery/Closing: this is the last stage where the project goal is
achieved and the end product delivered to the customer.
Furthermore, the fifth edition of PMBOK® published in (2013), identified three
types of project role for the project management office (PMO) that determines
the degree of control provided as follows:
• Supportive: Serves as a repository for the project by providing a
template, training, best practice, and lessons learned from previous
projects. The degree of the control provided by this type of PMO is low.
• Controlling: Provides support and the required compliance by adopting
a project management framework using various methodologies and
tools. The degree of control provided by this type of PMO is moderate.
• Directive: Manages the project directly and has the authority to act as
the key decision-maker through the life cycle of the project. The degree
of control provided by this type of PMO is high.
This study exploring whether the organisations under the investigation have
decided in ahead the role of the PMO they would like to translate/implement in
their organisation or not?
Furthermore, Payne (1995) argued that books on project management have
written with assumption that the projects are managed as single project.
However, in business world, an organisation runs in multiple projects and
portfolio environment rather than as a single project. The following sections
49
explain various terms used within project management and consider concepts
such as ‘programme’ and ‘project portfolio management’ that are usually used
in the project environment. The issues and challenges associated with each
approach are discussed too.
2.10 PROGRAMME AND MULTIPLE PROJECTS MANAGEMENT
Often, ‘project’ and ‘programme’ terms are used interchangeably in the practical
world, thereby sometimes leading to confusion. Both projects and programmes
have similar attributes like objectives, plans and resources, which are used to
achieve project goals. The only real difference is in their scope and timeframe
(Gray and Larson, 2008), since programmes can be on-going over many years
and projects have usually reached their conclusion within such timescales.
The term ‘programme management’ and ‘multi-project management’ are,
however, closely related (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999). Indeed, there are
similarities between many definitions of programme management, and portfolio
management (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999). Turner (1999:347), for example,
emphasises that “in a programme, projects form a coherent group of projects
that are managed in a co-ordinated way, for added benefit”. He adds that
programme management includes the management of interfaces between
projects and resources as well as balancing the responsibilities aligned with
corporate objectives.
Gray and Larson (2008:6-7) define a programme as “a series of co-ordinated,
related, multi-projects that continue over extended time and are intended to
achieve a goal”, and programmes management is conceived as “the process of
managing multi, on-going, interdependent projects” (Rajegopal et al., 2007:14).
Programme management is also a powerful way of co-ordinating projects that
have a shared business aim, and is an important method of ensuring that the
organisation gains the maximum benefit from integrating its project
management activities (Morris, 2004).
50
2.11 PORTFOLIO, AND PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
(PPM)
Portfolio is a financial term used usually in the investment and stock industry.
The idea behind using this term within project management is concerned with
the desire to deal with projects precisely as investments. From a financial
perspective, portfolio managers are always looking at the performance of their
portfolio of investments, i.e. this may be calculated by common financial
techniques such as Return on Investment (ROI), Internal Rate of Return (IRR),
and the pay-back period.
Whether dealing with a single project or a group of projects, it is necessary for
the manager(s) to align time, scope and cost in order to support the overall
organisational position in the future. The idea of strategy is implicit in this style
of working since underpinning all the approaches is the idea that the projects are
linked with the organisation’s long-term strategy because in themselves they are
‘the right projects’ for the organisation (Elonen and Artto, 2003). Various
literatures discuss the concept of project portfolio management, project portfolio
being defined by them all as a group of projects that compete for scarce
resources and are conducted under the sponsorship or management of a
particular organisation. Cooper and colleagues (1998) stated three main
objectives of portfolio management, namely: the maximisation of the value of
the portfolio, linking the portfolio to the strategy, and balancing the portfolio
(Cooper et al. 1998).
From product research and development perspectives, Cooper et al. (1999:333)
views portfolio management as “making strategic choice, in other words, which
market, product and technology business will invest in”. It helps to determine
which product or development project that has to be chosen from all proposed
projects, taking into consideration the need to achieve the right balance between
numbers of projects and the available resources (Cooper et al., 1999). Moreover,
portfolio management focuses on three main goals as follows (Cooper et al.
1998):
51
• Maximising value. Ensuring that only the high value project goes into
the portfolio.
• Balance. Ensuring that the entire portfolio has the right mix of the
projects to develop a balanced portfolio.
• Strategic direction. Ensuring that all the projects within the portfolio
are strategically aligned.
Archer and Ghasemzadeh (1999) define a portfolio as a group of projects
sponsored by a particular management of the organisation. These projects are
carried out with limited resources from the sponsor to meet the organisation’s
requirements such as the need for profitability. However, profits should be
achieved properly without exceeding the allocated resources be they people,
budget, time, etc. (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999).
Sometimes the terms ‘project portfolio management’ (PPM) and ‘programme
management’ are substituted for each other in practical situations. Indeed, both
portfolio management and programme management focus on prioritising
resources and optimising the business benefit. However, they are fundamentally
different, since whilst it is true that programme and project management are
about executing projects in the right way, PPM is concerned with selecting and
undertaking the right project by considering projects as an investment portfolio.
So it is the nature of the project that is important inside PPM and not just how it
is implemented. Furthermore, programme management is more involved with
day-to-day management, whereas portfolio management is more periodic and
strongly analytical (Morris, 2004; Oltmann, 2008).
According to Rajegopal et al. (2007:10), PPM is a “paradigm shift in thinking”.
It empowers and helps the business by establishing a clear line of sight from the
top-level view right down to the individual project layer. In other words, PPM is
management of the collection of projects and programmes in which an
organisation invests to implement its strategy. Accordingly, PPM is presented as
a set box of programmes and projects (Rajegopal et al., 2007).
52
Gray and Larson (2008:520) defined PPM as “the centralized management of
projects to ensure that the allocation of resources to projects is directed toward
projects that contribute the greatest value to organization goals”. The
collection of programmes and projects within an organisation is recognised as a
‘portfolio’. This portfolio embodies the entire image of an organisation’s
direction that is responsible for delivering the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Levine (2005) views PPM as more than an extended application of project
management, defining it as a set of business practice that connects projects with
strategies, resources and executive oversight of the enterprise. Without this
connectivity, project efforts are directed towards ‘doing the project right’ even if
the on-going project is not actually the ‘right project’ for the organisation. In
addition, “The PPM process will move us closer to zero failed projects. The
objective is to reduce the terminated projects to zero” and provide structure and
process for project governance (Levine, 2005:3). In particular, PPM brings
about changes for the better in the organisational culture especially in terms of
communication and decision-making (Levine, 2005).
The primary objective of PPM is to identify, select, finance, monitor, and
maintain the portfolio balance, by ensuring an appropriate mix of projects to
achieve organisational goals and objectives. It involves the aggregation of costs,
risk and the returns of all projects within the portfolio. Based on the provided
information, a portfolio management approach helps organisations to make the
optimal decisions concerning whether to fund a new project or continue
financing on-going projects. It is able to do this because in terms of benefits and
cost, portfolio theory can clearly assess the exchange among competing
investment opportunities and risks (Hutchings, 2009).
From a quality perspective, PPM is perceived as a continuous decision process
that strategically supervises the allocation of resources in respect of the many
different projects comprising the portfolio. Clearly, the quality of project output
53
is always affected by the quality level of the resources at the disposal of the
project, which means that when assigned resources to project activities are
inadequate, project outcomes will be influenced negatively. The PPM process
aims to maximise the portfolio value by improving resource utilisation via
effective resource allocation such that sufficient resources are continually
directed towards the most beneficial projects (Hunt and Killen, 2008).
Project managers use the PPM process within organisations to describe methods
for analysing and managing groups of current or proposed projects. The main
concerns of PPM are focused on two fundamental points (Hayes, 2003), as
follows:
• Effectiveness: which revolves around maximising the benefits by
choosing the right projects or terminating less valuable projects, and
eliminating those that are redundant.
• Efficiency: which requires executives to provide support and direction
by allocating the necessary funds and resources for the selected projects,
and to promptly respond to performance issues to prevent any
unnecessary project delays.
The literatures on the implementation of corporate strategy via portfolios,
programmes, and projects are varied, patchy, and incomplete. Furthermore,
there is little on the basic practical details of implementation. Both PMBOK and
APM lack in the details provided in this respect. Frome capabilities perspective,
PPM described here viewed as a “black box” that mainly interested in what
routines accomplish toward organizational goals (Parmigiani and Howard-
Grenville, 2011). And whilst the literature on portfolio management is quite
thorough, the treatment is primarily from an analytic viewpoint (Morris, 2004),
which assuming process and routines operate as intended (Winter,2003).
However, practice perspective, does not share this assumption. Scholars from
capabilities perspective sometimes acknowledge that actors are involved and
that the processes are complex (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011).
Consequently, there is a need for practice perspective to investigate how project,
54
programme, and PPM is being implemented in the real project world, with
emphasizes inside the “black box” by focuses on how routines are enacted in the
day-to-day. Particularly, how it helps those organisations in managing and
aligning projects with business strategy. Moreover, there is a need to explore
whether these organisations choose to establish single or multiple portfolios for
managing their projects, and what the implications are of the chosen approach.
As mentioned earlier that implementation is not necessarily straightforward and
not done deal thing; and many challenges are encountered the approach in real
projects and businesses world. Thus, it is useful to discuss the challenges
encountered practitioners in practice. The following two sections discuss in
details these challenges encountered implementation of strategy and project
management approaches in practice.
2.12 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION OBSTACLES, CHALLENGES,
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS
“The real reasons why strategies fail are varied. Fortunately, the causes can often be anticipated and the pitfalls can be avoided” (Sterling, 2003:27).
Strategy itself is frequently an umbrella that permits a range of options rather
than a clearly and tightly defined set of goals (Morris, 2004). Thus, as the
intended ‘deliberate’ strategy moves to the implementation the desired
objectives might be dissipated, changed, or even demonstrate their inability to
be achieved, long before the expected benefits are due to be realised
(Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994). In fact, there are many reasons why strategy
is not implemented properly, all of which stem from the numerous challenges to
the implementation. In this matter, below Table 2.1 summarises the articles
carried during the literature reviews, which discussed the challenges
encountered strategy implementation ordered by article date.
55
TABLE 2.1: REFERENCE TABLE OF ARTICLES FOR STRATEGY
IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES Article /Year Year Author(s) No. of
challenges
Obstacles to Strategy Execution 2008 Hrebiniak (2008) 12
Translating strategy into effective implementation: dispelling the myths and highlighting what works
2003 Sterling (2003) 6
Exploring barriers to the successful implementation of a formulated strategy
2002 Morten Heide, Kjell Gronhaug, and Simen Johannessen
7
Commenting on two surveys conducted by Wharton-Gartner, and Wharton-
Executive Education respectively, Hrebiniak (2008) notes that twelve challenges
to strategy implementation were revealed, eight of which were ranked as the top
five in both surveys. Hrebiniak (2008) summarises the results in Table 2.2.
TABLE 2.2: OBSTACLES TO STRATEGY EXECUTION (HREBINIAK,
2008) No. Strategy Execution Obstacles
‘Challenges’
Wharton-
Gartner
Survey
N=243
Wharton-
Executive
Education
N=200
Top 5
Ranking
Either
Survey
1. Inability to manage the change or
the resistance to change
1 1 √
2. Trying to execute strategy that
conflict with current organization
hierarchy or power of structure
2 5 √
3. Poor information management
between individual or business unit
handling the strategy execution.
2 4 √
4. Unclear communication of
responsibility or accountability
4 5 √
5. Poor or vague strategy 5 2 √
6. Lack of ownership of strategy 5 8 √
7. Lack of guidelines or models for
guiding the strategy
7 2 √
56
8. Lack of awareness of
organizational structure in the
execution structure
9 5 √
9. Lack to generate buy-in on critical
execution steps or actions.
7 10
10. Poor intensives to support
execution objectives.
9 8
11. Insufficient financial resources 11 12
12. Lack of upper management support
of strategy execution.
12 11
In article published in 2003, Sterling identified below six challenges for strategy
implementation as reasons for failure:
1. Unanticipated market change
2. Lack of management support (lack of support from the CEO)
3. Lack of individual commitment – the phenomenon of the “Emperor’s
new clothes”
4. Lack of focus or lack of alignment between strategy and projects
5. Poor strategy or lack distinctiveness
6. Insufficient financial resources
Furthermore, Morten Heide et al. (2002) has identified below seven barriers as
challenges for strategy implementation ordered by frequency, namely (Heide et
al., 2002):
1. Communication
2. Organisational structure
3. Learning and knowledge
4. Personnel
5. Cultural
6. Political
7. Resources
57
Based on what have been said, below Table 2.3 lists all challenges facing
strategy implementation that discussed by three articles and will be used during
the experimental phases of this study. Nonetheless, all these challenges or
failure are anticipated as Sterling (2003:27) did also criticise these reasons for
failure, stating, “most common cited causes of failure are either myth or excuses
that gained their creditability from being repeated”.
And it is the case that there is much research offering advice to implementers
wishing to remove these failure factors (Sterling, 2003). Also Kaplan and
Norton (2008) stressed that strategy implementation needs an architecture that
can link the strategy with the operation. In this respect, they state: “Strategy
execution requires an architecture that integrates the strategies and operations
of diverse units scattered throughout an enterprise” (Kaplan and Norton,
2008:45) .
TABLE 2.3: CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING FORMULATED
STRATEGY (HREBINIAK, 2008; STERLING, 2003; HEIDE ET AL., 2002)
Implementation challenges confronts
formulated strategy
Hrebiniak
Sterling Morten Heide
& colleagues
1. Inability to manage/anticipate the
change or the resistance to change
√ √
2. Trying to execute strategy that
conflict with current organization
hierarchy or power of structure
√ √
3. Poor information management
between individual or business unit
handling the strategy execution
√ √
4. Unclear responsibility or
accountability
√ √ √
5. Poor or vague strategy √ √
6. Lack of ownership of strategy √
7. Lack of guidelines or models for
guiding the strategy
√
8. Lack of awareness of organizational √
58
structure in the execution structure
9. Lack to generate buy-in on critical
execution steps or actions
√ √
10. Poor intensives to support execution
objectives
√ √ √
11. Insufficient financial resources √ √ √
12. Lack of upper management support
of strategy execution.
√ √
13. Communication √
14. Organizational culture √
As this study is focusing on understanding the implementation challenges of
project management approaches in practice, following section discuses
challenges encounter the implementation of multiple-projects, programme, and
project portfolio management.
2.13 ISSUES OF PROJECTS, MULTIPLE PROJECTS,
PROGRAMME, AND PPM
The adoption of the project and programme approach was recommended in the
mid-1990s as a new approach to strategy implementation, and one which would
result in greater organisational performance (Pellegrinelli and Bowman, 1994).
Undoubtedly, attention was turned to the new approach since survival in today’s
business environment requires quick decision-making, better allocation of
resources, and a clear focus. Without this last feature, problems can be
magnified. Indeed, this is supported by first rule of the fifth disciplines, who
according to Senge (1990:57) believe that “today’s problems come from
yesterday’s solutions”. In fact, there are many studies have listed a numerous
challenges (obstacles/barriers/issues/problems) to the implementation of
project/programme/portfolio management approach; however, as mentioned
earlier most of these challenges are anticipated. In this matter, below Table 2.4
summaries the number of highlighted challenges listed in each article by date.
59
TABLE 2.4: REFERENCE TABLE OF PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
CHALLENGES Article /Year Year Author(s) No. of
challenges
Major challenges to the successful
implmentation and pracice of
programme management in constuction
enviroment
2010 Zayyana Shehu, and
Akintola Akintoye
28
Problems in managing internal
development projects in
multi-project environments
2003 Elonen and Artto 22
Portfolio Management For New
Products
1999&
1998
Cooper, Robert G
Edgett, Scott J
Klein schmidt, Elko J
7
Management of multiple simultaneous
projects: a state-of-the-art review
1995 Payne 5
Project and programme management like other management approaches
confronts with many challenges in implementation and practice. Shehu and
Akintoye conducted research on UK construction industry in (2010) and they
fond 29 challenges that confronts the practice of programme management. In
order to reduce the list into more manageable number, factor analysis of Kaiser-
Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test has conducted and reduced the list into six factors that
confronts programme management practice. These factors being: strategy focus,
human and communication, financial, leadership and commitment, strategy
awareness, and benefits understanding. Below Table 2.5 is rotated factor matrix
that contains these major challenges (Shehu and Akintoye, 2010).
TABLE 2.5: MAJOR CHALLENGES OF PROGRAMME
MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (SHEHU AND AKINTOYE, 2010) Factor Challenges
Strategy focus Lack of cross-functional working
Lack of alignment of project to strategy
Lack of coordination between projects
Conflicting project objectives
60
Defining clear mission for the programme
Lack of programme delivery infrastructure
Lack of relevant training
Human and communication Perception among PM that programme serves as an obstacle to
accomplish project on time
Resistance to organisational change
People constraint
Lack of knowledge of portfolio management techniques
Lack of human/finance to analyse project data
Financial Initial funding and on-going operational costs
Lack of financial skills of projects
Financial constraints
Lack of clear company strategy
Lack of appropriate way to measure project benefits
Leadership and
commitment
Lack of knowledge to evaluate risks
Frequent changes of projects scope
Lack of business leaders commitment
Late delivery of projects
Lack of cross-functional communication
Strategy awareness factors Too many unrelated projects
Disappointment with final programme benefit
Presenting a detailed description of intended role of PMO
Lack of understanding of value proposition
Benefits awareness factors Lack of understanding of programme management
Lack of awareness of associated benefits
Whilst there have been a few studies that have addressed the general problems
of a multiple project approach to implementation, such studies are rate in the
specific case of internal development projects. Indeed, Elonen and Artto (2003)
were unable to find any studies that directly focused on the issues and problems
associated with the management of internal projects. However, some studies
have identified certain common problems encountered by companies developing
new products through project selection and portfolio management. The
researchers involved are specifically: Cooper et al. (1999) and Cooper et al.
(1998), and the seven persistent challenges are noted as being:
61
1. No link between strategy and project selection.
2. Poor-quality portfolio; this occurs when too many new product projects
are weak, or when the selection criteria are not in place in respect of
mature projects.
3. Reluctance to kill projects, such that project remain until the end of the
development work, even if their implementation is no longer justified.
4. Scarce resources. This obviously happens when numbers of on-going
projects are inappropriately mapped to the available resources.
5. Choosing easy and quick projects. This is a result of traditional bottom-
up approaches, as companies have a tendency to implement the short-
term, easy, and cheap projects.
6. Information overflow and the amount of available information for
making a decision may be confusing, irrelevant or inaccurate.
7. Decision-making based on power when there are in fact, many
interdependencies that require committee decisions.
Based on cause-effect analysis, Elonen and Artto (2003) used these above
problems as the starting point to understand the causes for their research, which
aimed to investigate causes associated with problems within the management of
internal development projects in the context of multiple projects. In his study,
six problem areas emerged as indicated in below Table 2.6:
TABLE 2.6: PROBLEM AREAS OF MULTI-PROJECT
ENVIRONMENTS (ELONEN AND ARTTO, 2003) Problem areas Challenges
Inadequate project level
activities
Improper implementation of the pre-project phase
Infrequent monitoring of project progress
Too long projects that are difficult to plan realistically
Lacking resources,
competencies and methods There are no adequate methods or guidance for portfolio
evaluation and project planning and management
Continuous shortage of resources, lacking commitment to the
project work
Inadequate competencies to manage a project
62
Lacking commitment, unclear
roles and responsibilities. The roles and the responsibilities between the portfolio
decision makers and the other parts of the organisation are not
clear
Management does not seem to support project work
Roles are not clear between the steering committee, the project
team and the project managers
Inadequate portfolio level
activities Projects were overlapping both within one portfolio and
between portfolios
Projects were not integrated into each other
The roles and the responsibilities of the portfolio manager is
not clear
No feedback given to the project level
Reluctance to kill undesired projects
In adequate information
management Lack of transparency in project information and its quality
Information does not flow fluently
Personnel is not clearly informed about when information
should be delivered
No common database for the projects
Inadequate management of project-oriented business
Project work is often given a second priority and not rewarded
equally to the other tasks
Strategy owner for the portfolio is not defined Rapid and recurring changes in roles, responsibilities or
organizational structure
Organisational levels and bodies are entitled to set up projects
In the same context, in multiple and concurrent projects environments the
number of projects are multiple; however, the teams are much smaller, and
project members actually remain in their function according to Payne (1995).
They have to consider a number of interface dealings with their project team, on
an individual basis, and not through their department head. And some team
members may work on several different projects, so they have to work with
multiple interfaces Payne (1995).
Different groups of individuals placed in one environment can create slightly
different cultures. This can cause culture problems for senior management if the
possibility of sub- and conflicting workplace cultures is not considered in the
63
early stage of a project (Payne, 1995). Consequently, Payne (1995) brought his
wide experiences in the field of project management and classified the
challenges to multiple projects within five categories, known as the ‘five Cs’,
being: capacity, complexity, conflict, commitment, and context. The common
elements between the five categories stated above are based on the intra-
organisational relations within the projects. In other words, they are all
underpinned by relationships between people and the organisation within which
they work. However, Payne have not provides much details of issues associated
with each of categories mentioned above; as he was more interested in
understanding the complexity. Thus, these categories will not be considered in
this study.
Based on what have been said, below Table 2.7 summaries the challenges facing
strategy implementation through the practice of project, programme, and PPM
approach, which will be used during the experimental phases of this study. As
this study are focusing on the practice of project management approaches, below
Table 2.7 used as the basis for the conducted interviews when exploring the
challenges facing organisations in Saudi Arabia during projects implementation.
This framework helps to define and code the problems when conducting these
interviews, which intend to find answers to the following two research
questions:
• What are the challenges and issues facing projects in practice?
• What is the source of these challenges?
TABLE 2.7: IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES FOR PRACTICING
PROJECT/PROGRAMME/PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT (SHEHU AND
AKINTOYE, 2010; ELONEN AND ARTTO, 2003; COOPER ET AL., 1999;
COOPER ET AL., 1998) Challenges of Project
Implementation
Shehu and
Akintoye
Elonen
and Artto
Cooper &
Colleagues
1. Insufficient human resources or
lack of competent professionals
√ √ √
64
2. Project selection and decisions
based on power of hierarchy
√ √ √
3. No clear links between the
strategy and the project
√ √ √
4. Lack of the strategy
communication and awareness
√ √
5. Lack of communications
between the upper management
and lower staff
√
6. Lack of centralised IT software
to handle and share project
information
√ √
7. Inadequate capacity planning or
lack of resources allocation
√
8. Changes in project scope √ √
9. Project/programme management
responsibilities and roles are
overlapping
√ √
10. Lack of process or incorrect
practice of the
project/programme/PPM
management
√ √ √
11. Conflict between the
organisation structure and the
project execution
√ √
12. Changes in strategy √
13. Lack of the upper management
support for project management
roles
√ √
14. Insufficient financial resources √
15. Internal conflicts and lack of
team spirit
√
16. People resistance to change √
17. Project complexity √ √
18. Lack of cross-functional
working
√ √
19. Lack of programme delivery
infrastructure
√
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20. Lack of relevant training √
21. Lack of knowledge of portfolio
management techniques
√ √ √
22. Lack of appropriate way to
measure project benefits
√ √
23. Lack of knowledge to evaluate
risks
√
24. Presenting a detailed description
of intended role of PMO
√
25. Late delivery of projects √
26. Disappointment with final
programme benefit
√
As mentioned by Sterling (2003) who claimed that most of the challenges or
‘causes of failure’ to be simply excuses for poor performance that had gained
creditability as genuine challenges merely by the fact that they were repeatedly
encountered. In comparison, the number of the challenges confronts the
implementation of project approaches were more than strategy implantation, as
it represents issues at operational level. Moreover, the challenges listed in Table
2.7 that confronts the implementation of project management practice were
occurred during the strategy implementation and repeated previously in Table
2.3 except cultural differences. This is supported by Pellegrinelli and Bowman
(1994) that sugessted to use project and programme approach that would helps
organisational members to perform outside the the exisiting organisational
bureaucracy and culture.
Regardless to the number of challenges, this study is much interested in
exploring strategy translation through the practice of project management. Thus,
listing these challenges has less contribution to the knowledge as many of the
management studies have mentioned previously most of them. Nonetheless, this
study will use challenges list in Table 2.7 as the basis for the Phase Two
interviews that to be conducted when exploring the challenges facing projects
organisations in Saudi Arabia. This list would help in define and label the
problems when conducting these interviews.
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2.14 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR ASPECTS
Bacharach and Lawler (1980) highlighted organisational life as being based on
exchange and dependency or ‘interdependent’ relationships. These
interdependencies, power, conflicts, and shared responsibilities are part of the
business life cycle in every organisation. In respect of organisational conflicts,
there are different types and sources of these, and it is very important to
appreciate the possibility of these arising and to diagnose them when they do.
Often the damaging relationships that emerge from conflict result from both
intra- and inter-organisational reasons.
The organisational culture is an important management instrument in terms of it
providing a means of negotiation, co-ordination, and integration (Lax and
Sebenius, 1986). As mentioned already, in those projects where teams are small,
staff members find themselves dealing with many other personnel, and human
behaviour often needs to be mediated.
Daft (1998) notes the importance of the human resource, noting that the main
sources of organisational conflict are scarce resources and unclear
responsibilities, and in respect of scare resources, he identifies money, supplies,
people, and even information. In the real world, most organisations encounter a
certain degree of resource scarcity and interdependences that leads to an
increase in conflicts (Herbs et al., 2008). Therefore, intra-organisational theory
plays a major role in resolving such issues of shortage in resources. It has many
objectives, one of the most important being how to deal with a shortage of
resources (Herbs et al., 2008).
Conflicts occur in every organisation, especially in a multi-project environment,
and as such they make for unstable relationships among individuals. Payne
(1993) observes the different types and sources of organisational conflict,
making the point that it is important for managers to understand the potential for
these and be aware of how to diagnose them. Despite the variety in the character
of conflicts, however, all types of conflict lead to unwanted results which in
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themselves work to the detriment of efforts to align strategy with
implementation (Payne, 1993).
In considering this intra-organisational conflict, it can be seen that this occurs
between parties within an organisation, and can concern the structure of the
organisation, the location of formal authority, and the way jobs are designed.
There are four types of intra-organisational conflict: vertical conflict, horizontal
conflict, line-staff conflict, and role conflict (Hellriegel et al., 1989). Each of
these is now described:
• Vertical conflict. This occurs between parties at different hierarchical
levels within the organisation, for instance between an employee and a
manager who is trying to maintain overall authority. The employee may
think that by reducing his/her powers through micro-management, the
manager is infringing the employee’s right to control some aspects of
his/her work.
• Horizontal conflict. This happens between employees or units within
the same hierarchical level. There are many potential causes of conflict,
such as disagreement of ideas or decisions being taken with which the
whole unit or units on the same level do not agree.
• Line-staff conflict. This occurs between support staff and other staff
within the same department. For instance, conflict in the perception of
staff and line managers when staff members take decisions without
considering their line managers’ opinions. In such circumstances, line
managers may feel threatened, believing that employees are trying to
reduce their (line managers’) authority over the project concerned.
• Role conflict. This arises when there is an expectation that at least two
different tasks will be performed within the same timeframe.
All conflict levels are inter-related and can trigger each other. For example,
intra-personal conflict may lead to inter-personal conflict if individuals act
aggressively or with hostility towards others (Hellriegel et al.,1989). Current
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study, also explores the implications of these characteristics on chosen
organisations for this study in Saudi Arabia.
2.15 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR IMPLEMENTATION
As mentioned earlier, there is a wealth of research that offers advice concerning
the means by which to overcome failure factors in respect of implementation,
and one checklist which has been proposed as a summary of critical success
factors (CSFs) in this respect, is that produced by Sterling (2003). Sterling’s
(2003) critical success factors for translating strategy into effective
implementation emerge as a set of recommendations as follows:
1. Align organisational design and capabilities with the strategy.
2. Consider potential competitor reactions to the strategy.
3. Involve managers in the strategy development process.
4. Engage in consistent and persistent communication.
5. Action planning and budgeting.
6. Monitoring and accountabilities.
7. Symbolic actions or encouragement.
8. Alignment of information resources with the strategy.
Hrebiniak (2008) has approached the issues from the viewpoint of what
managers should be engaged in when trying to rise to the challenges posted by
implementation of strategy. In this respect, he argues that they should be:
1. Developing a model to guide the execution.
2. Understanding how the creation of the strategy affects the execution of
the strategy.
3. Managing change and culture effectively.
4. Understanding the power of influence and using it for execution success.
5. Fostering information sharing and co-ordination through the
development of the organisational structure.
6. Establishing effective controls and feedback systems.
7. Knowing how to create an execution-supportive culture.
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8. Exercising execution-biased leadership.
Above CSFs’ or ‘advices’ can been seen as recipes for success that would be
helpful for those are involved in the implementation process. There are much
studies offering advices to implementers wishing to remove these failure factors
(Sterling, 2003). However, these advices considered as temporay solutions for
curing todays problems as this supported by first rule of the fifth disciplines, and
according to Senge (1990:57) who believe that “today’s problems come from
yesterday’s solutions”. Therefore, above recipes for success have less
contribution as they were repeated in many of organisation and management
studies, more importantly is how these recipes have been translated in practice
for better strategy implementation. As Kaplan and Norton (2008) stressed that
strategy implementation needs an architecture that can link the strategy with the
operations. The next Chapter will discusses strategy from practice perspectives
and aspects related to translation theory, in order to explore how strategy and
project approach translated in practice.
2.16 CLOSING THOUGHTS
This chapter has conducted a review on published works relating to organisation
and management studies on strategy from capabilities perspective. Regardless of
the dilemma of strategy definition, strategy from the researcher’s viewpoint can
be perceived as a road map designed by senior managers in order to express
their organisations’ vision. Considering vision as futuristic image inscribed in
the mind of senior managers i.e. ‘CEO’ of an organisation, strategy guides
organisation members in understanding how the final image will be drawn or
achieved. If the futuristic image was blurry, so too will be the strategy;
therefore, the vision and mission of an organisation must be clear to all
organisation members.
There is general agreement that there are only two theoretical approaches for
strategy, deliberate and emergent. Deliberate approach assumes that there can be
a logical and structure approach to the planning, and outcomes delivery to be as
70
intended. Emergent approach developed usually in response to changes that may
occurs to the market or business environments. Once the senior managers have
taken the required strategically decisions the remaining managers at less
seniority levels are responsible to implement theme. The belief that senior
managers can manage strategy has become dominant, and based on rigid
application and rational decision of top-down approach. Capabilities perspective
acknowledged that individuals are involved in the processes but omits the
influences of individual agency. Moreover, capabilities perspective assumes that
routines operate and deliver as intended. However, various studies revealed a
number of challenges associated with the implementation, which contradicts
with the capabilities assumptions and this supported by practice perspective.
Bearing in mind that strategy is a process and not a destination, it’s become
clearer that strategy is not a done deal thing, and as capabilities do not just
emerge, and are more than something those firms do well. Focusing on the
effectiveness of performed processes, implementation is complex process that
involves people across organisation. As a part of the process, translation of
strategy or project management practice that usually results in producing new
form, documents ‘objects’ or artefacts. However, capabilities perspective dose
not discussed the influences and the effectiveness of these objects or ‘artefacts’.
It has been argued that by adopting a project management approach,
organisations can ensure greater success for strategy implementation. The
literatures on the implementation of projects, programmes, and projects
portfolio management are incomplete and lacks to the basic practical details of
approach implementation. Frome capabilities perspective, these approaches
viewed as a ‘black box’ that mainly interested in what routines accomplish
toward organizational goals. Consequently, there is a needs for practice lens to
explore how these approaches are being implemented in the real project world,
with emphasizes inside the ‘black box’ on how routines are enacted in the day-
to-day.
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Despite of the revealed challenges that facing project, programme, and projects
portfolio management in practice, some studies offered advices to overcome
these challenges during the implementation as recipes for success. However,
these challenges and advices have less contribution as they were repeated in
organisation and management studies; more importantly is how these recipes
have been translated and communicated in practice.
Thus, this research needs for practice lens to get insight the aspects associated
with strategy in particular: individual agency, artefact, and the ‘black box’ of the
approaches. The next chapter will elaborate on the strategy from practice
perspective.
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CHAPTER THREE
LITERATURE REVIEW PART II: STRATEGY
FROM A PRACTICE PROSPECTIVE
3.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter presents the second part of the literature review carried-out during
the study, which focuses on strategy from practice perspective. It presents the
theoretical and the fundamental concept of the strategy from practice lens, the
theory of translation and models. Additionally, it offered theoretical
perspectives that relate to the practice through strategy as practice (SAP).
3.2 PRACTICE PERSPECTIVE
The practice perspective in the organizational and management literature rose
from the gap between the theories of what ‘people say they do’ and ‘what
people actually do’ (Whittington, 1996). In this study, the needs for exploring
strategy form the practice lens rose from the limitation of the capabilities
perspective to discover the influences of individual actors, artefacts, ‘black box’
of the organisational routines that associated strategy. This gap supported by the
study of Paul Feiler and David Teece (2014) that summarises the differences
between the capabilities and practice that lays on their fundamental assumption.
Capabilities perspective pay attention particularly to organisation routine and
how they build to form capabilities, how create value, and the transferability
within and between an organisations. On the other hand, practice perspective
focus on individual actors and artefacts influences on routines performance, how
routine is been created and the role of the artefacts on routine stability and
change. Capabilities perspective acknowledged the change with more interest in
stability. In contrast, the practice perspective view both change and stability is
possible (Feiler and Teece, 2014).
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The practice perspective on organizational is grounded in the work of Feldman
and Orlikowski (2011) that study “the everyday activity of organizing”
(Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011: 1), which based on works of social theorists
mainly Bourdieu and Giddens (Bourdieu, 1977, 1990; Giddens, 1984), who
describes how everyday practices are accomplished, reinforced, or changed .The
emphasis of a practice perspective on routines is on the internal workings of
specific routines in specific organizational contexts. It is concerned more about
the effectiveness of strategist than the organisation, and is built heavily on the
insight process but from a managerial level (Whittington, 1996). Feldman and
Pentland (2003) argues that this focus on internal workings open the ‘black box’
of organisational routines and conceptualize them as being made of interacting
parts.
The main question asked within practice perspective is ‘what does it take to be
an effective strategy practitioner?’ Clearly, this concern with how strategy
practitioners behave and interact actually in the business world. Strategy
practitioners including organisation individual actors from multiple levels as
well powerful external actors like consultants and regulators (Jarzabkowski and
Whittington, 2008). Obviously, strategy is not a fully formed thing that ready
for implementation but it mediated through individual actors who involved in
the translation and through objects or artefacts that resulted from the translation
process. Both individuals and objects are useful stuff for communicating
strategy and have influences on how things translated and communicated. Thus,
strategy practitioner ‘ individual actors’ at all organisation levels and strategy
documents ‘objects’ will be used as unit of the analyses for investigation in this
study.
Empirical studies conducted in (2011) from the practice perspective, to capture
situated action and develop an understanding of how routines came to life in
particular organizations (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011). In each
study the authors make an effort to generalise the theory, and beginning to build
a coherent body of understanding around three main areas. First, several studies
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have built theory on the role of individual actors and agency in shaping routines.
Second, a few studies have investigated the role of artefacts in routines. Finally,
a few studies have focused on the embeddedness of organizational routines in
other sides of organizational life. These three areas are discussed in details in the
following.
• Individual actors and agency
There are two assumptions to be considered underlying practice theory and
their implications for work on routines. First assumption, practice
approaches highlight human actors and agency, seeing people’s everyday
actions as consequential in “producing the structural contours of social life”
(Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011: 2). Scholars working in this tradition seek to
access specific actions of people’s behaviour placed in specific places and
times, and based on generalized principles of how action might unfold in
other settings. The second assumption emphasis on, to what extent the
patterns remain stable versus change over time. The core assumption is that
“phenomena always exist in relation to each other, produced through a
process of mutual constitution” (Feldman & Orlikowski, 2011: 3). Mutual
constitution suggests that structures including routines, institutions, and
other social orders are the product of human action, however, human action
is controlled and enabled by these actual structures (Giddens, 1984).
The practice perspective on routines portrays them as both emergent and
generative; emergent that comes only through being performed by actors and
generative or ‘ reproductive’ that maintain their own continuity or change
((Feldman, 2000); Feldman & Pentland, (2003)). Some studies suggest that
routines provide stability while the surrounding organizational structures and
practices facilitate adaptation (Karim& Mitchell, 2000). On other hand some
scholars views routines as a basis for organizational change through learning
and demonstrate how routines can affect firm boundary decisions. This view
supported by works of Karim and Mitchell (2000), Mitchell and Shaver
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(2003), and Zollo and colleagues (2002). In the next, we turn into empirical
studies on artefacts from the practice perspective.
• Artefacts or ‘Objects”
Few empirical studies have investigated the role of artefacts in routines
performance (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011). Artefacts referred
by some as non-human actors, either as representations or material entities;
representations including documents like policy, plans and standard
operating procedures, while material entities like computer software and
physical spaces (Parmigiani and Howard-Grenville, 2011). Artefacts could
signal routines performances and enable their replication. However, earlier
empirical work around artefacts demonstrating that artefacts do not
necessarily act as expected in encoding or indicating routines (Parmigiani
and Howard-Grenville, 2011). These empirical works suffer from the same
challenges that found artefacts either matter a great deal, or not at all, for
specific routines.
Based on these few studies, and insights from others, artefacts appear to
have an important, but somewhat ambiguous role, in routines (Howard-
Grenville [2005]). Sometimes they matter a great deal; at other times, they
only minimally encode a routine and do even less to influence its on-going
use. The role of artefacts in routines continues to be an exciting area of study
in work done from the practice perspective. Some scholars are using actor
network theory (ANT) to theorize the interactions between human and non-
human actors (D’Adderio, 2008; Pentland & Feldman, 2008a). In the next,
we turn into empirical studies on embeddedness from the practice
perspective.
• Embeddedness
First empirical paper conducted by Feldman in 2003, notes the importance
of the organizational context to the performance of routines, arguing that
performances within and outside the routine itself shape the dynamics of the
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routine. The context in which routines are embedded shapes their use.
However, change in organizational routines may be difficult to accomplish
when the change is inconsistent with people’s understandings of how the
organization works (Feldman, 2003).
Routines are embedded in cultures, technologies, and coordinative structures
within an organization are become more resistant to change over time. From
a form of planning ‘road-mapping’ routine, actors’ intentions, their
background and artefacts influence situated routine performances and may
provide stability or produce change over time (Howard-Grenville, 2005).
The implication is that routines have internal dynamic or ‘drives’ for their
reproduction that rely neither on mindless, habitual performance as a source
of stability nor on external shocks as a source of change (Gersick and
Hackman, 1990; Meyer, 1982). Even seemingly stable routines that do not
change over time are regarded as the effortful accomplishments of actors
(Pentland and Rueter, 1994: 488). Mutual constitution also implies that
“stability and change are different outcomes of the same dynamic, rather
than different dynamics” (Feldman and Orlikowski, 2011:6).
Overall, above reviewed empirical studies on practice perspectives provide
important descriptions and details on how routines operate and change. These
studies confirm that everyday actions are significant for performance, and
change or stability of routines. Moreover, these studies shows that who performs
a routine is very important to how that routine is enacted (Parmigiani and
Howard-Grenville, 2011). However, as commented by Parmigiani and Howard-
Grenville (2011: 440) “A second common element, also consistent with practice
theory, is that authors further uncover the internal dynamics of routine
reproduction”. Following sections attempts to uncover the black box of internal
dynamic of routines through further theoretical concepts including translation
theory and strategy as practice (SAP).
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3.3 TRANSLATION THEORY AND THE STRATEGY
In linguistic debates concerning the status of translation, arguments are
presented as to whether translation is an art or science. From a scientific point of
view, translation is perceived as seeking to create some kind of objective
description of phenomena (Bell, 1991). It is the expression in another language
of what has been expressed in a different, source language, described by Bell
(1991:6) as “the replacement representation of a text in one language by a
representation of an equivalent text in a second language”. However, as noted
by Bell (1991), the replacement does not necessarily mean a literal translation
since it can be the case that different linguistic structures and vocabulary prevent
this.
The emergence of translation theory used in social sciences, was borrowed from
Michel Serres, who introduced it in his series of Hermes books (Serres and
Brown, 2002). In his conception, Serres views translation as “a generalized
operation, not merely linguistic, and it takes many different forms. It may
involve displacing something, or the act of substitution; it always involves
transformation. Consequently, that which is involved in translation be it
knowledge, people or thing – has uncertain identity. Each act of translation
changes the translation and what is translated” (Czarniawska and Sevon,
2005:8). This idea adopted by both Michel Callon and Bruno Latour,
sociologists in the areas of science and technology. Callon used this notion
primarily in Actor Network Theory (ANT), and emphasised its homologising
effects, stating: “[translation] postulates the existence of a single field of
significations, concerns and interests, the expression of a shared desire to arrive
at the same result. …Translation involves creating convergences and
homologies by relating things that were previously different” (Callon, 1980:
211).
In this sense, we can consider organisational vision as a ‘shared desire’ – a
situation that an organisation aims to achieve in the future and pursues by
translating the ‘desire’ (vision) into strategic goals/objectives. This is an
78
identical view to that put forward by translation theory. However, by comparing
what organisations want, that is to say their ‘shared desire’, and what they
actually achieve, the ‘outcome’ of the daily activities, it becomes obvious that
the desire and outcome are different. Czarniawska and Sevon (2005:8)
substantiated this by saying “the desire to become similar might be at its
origins”. Considering, individual actors as factors involved within the process
of translating the strategy, it becomes clear that the practice angle is an
important one to the research.
Latour (1986) was not certain about the results of the translation. Indeed, he said
that “the spread of time and space of anything - claims, orders, artifacts, goods-
is in the hand of people; each of these people may act in many different ways,
letting the token drop, or modifying it, or deflecting it, or betraying it or adding
to it, or appropriating it.”(Latour, 1986:267). But actually, Latour’s idea about
translation explains precisely what happens to an organisation’s vision and
strategy in the process of translating these into strategic plans. Clearly, at the
start of the process, all participants will have had the same desire, but the result
of personal inputs may well render the ‘translated strategy’ as somewhat remote
from the original desire. The best way to understand this point is to treat
translation as a form of communication, or a message passing between points.
Contemporary rhetoric around communication holds the term as an unalloyed
either good communication or miscommunication, where good communication
is good and miscommunication is an error or a disaster (Serres and Brown,
2002).
In 1996, Czarniawska and Sevon adopted Latour’s approach to understanding
translation in an attempt to comprehend the continuous circulation of
management ideas and practice. In reporting their observations they said:
“With our contributors, we watched how management ideas translated into objectives (models, books, and transparencies), sent to other places, translated into new kind of objectives, and sometimes in actions, which, if repeated, might have stabilized into institutions. […] We have noticed that the
79
concept of translation is a good way to describe the emergence and construct of various types of connections around the globe exactly because it is polysemous: albeit usually associated with language, it also means transformation and transference”(Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005:8).
They continued by saying that the main point was that when things moved from
one place to another, they are subject to change. This change is due to the
transformation of the idea into new type of objects or the movement into new
place. Moreover, Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) believed that translation is
associating directly with symbolic or ‘material’.
“Thus, translation is a concept that immediately evokes symbolic associations, while at same time being stubbornly material: only a thing can be moved from one place to another and from one time to another. Ideas must materialize, at least in somebody’s head; symbols must be inscribed, otherwise, it is bound to be ephemeral” (Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005:9).
Consequently, organisation strategy must be understood, remain in people’s
minds, and connected with their daily activities through the concept of idea
materialization; otherwise the strategy would be ephemeral.
“A practice or institution cannot travel. It must be simplified and abstracted into an idea, or at least approximated in a narrative permitting a vicarious experience, and therefore converted into words or images. Neither can words nor images travel until they have materialised, until they are embodied, inscribed or objectified, as only bodies or things can move in time and space” (Czarniawska, 2002:7).
The notion of materialising an idea by converting it into words and images in
order to enable its transfer across time and space is a critical part of the strategy
translation. Below Figure 3.1 presents the translation concept of practice that
proposed initially by Czarniawska (2002) is based on two fundamental steps:
simplification and materialisation. However the frequent application of the
translation concept could change the original practice or could be viewed
differently at different levels of the organisation.
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Figure 3.1: Translation Conceptual Frameworks (Czarniawska, 2002)
3.4 VEHICLE AND MODEL OF THE TRANSLATION
Czarniawska and Sevon, (2005) asked the question of what puts the vehicle of
translation in motion, to which Callon (1980) responded by saying it was the
shared desire that served as the motivator. Behind the translation there is
imitation, a fundamental learning mechanism used by all people since childhood
(Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005). However, how does any person know what to
imitate? In other words, what to translate and what not to translate?
At the same time, the more imitated something is, the less attractive it becomes
with time. However, there is always a room ‘for new fashion’ for subsequent
translation according to Czarniawska and Sevon (2005). The circular ‘spiral’
process produces massive variety of different results. It is easy to say that an
idea must be materialised in order to travel across time and space, and it is not
very surprising to see that this can happen by turning the idea into an object
such as a documents, forms, plans and picture. However, the question being
asked once the idea has been materialised, what is spreading the idea? And is it
the form and documents, or the content of the idea that is being disseminated, in
the case of organising practice. One thing that travels easily and with great
speed is a name.
The empirical study conducted by Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) on Sweden’s
state administration, shows how the idea and the experience of the UK economy
Practice
Simplification
Materialisation
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arrived in Scandinavia that faithfully follows the UK example but has never
used the name. On the other hand, organisations and people do different things
and call it the same name. The best example for that is the state of Victoria in
Australia which imitated the best value reform from UK but did it in its own
way (Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005). In the same sense, an organisation
borrows one of the many management concepts or models for strategy
implementation, depending on its particular needs. In this connection, various
project management models have been used by many organisations as vehicles
for implementing strategy, as has already been indicated. Thus, the study will
also investigate what has travelled in the case study organisations, asking the
question of whether it has simply been the name or the whole practice ‘concept’.
As well as names and forms, practice also travel when incorporated in human
bodies or prescribed in detail. The provoking question here is what is actually
translated in the case of, for example, strategic plans and websites? Is what
appears in such documentation a written description of action (practices) or is it
merely an artefact, a symbol purely for show. This question posed by
Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) before they indicate that the next question is
concerned with who is doing the translation – ‘the travel agent’ as it were. And
clearly, the answer can vary from an external consultant working for a given
organisation, to organisational members themselves (i.e. the people who are
responsible for the practices to emerge from the strategy) (Czarniawska and
Sevon, 2005). Consequently, another aim of the present study is to explore who
is playing the role of the travel agent in organisations under the investigation,
and the implications of that.
It must be borne in mind that the theory of translation accepts that the translation
activity is a normal part of human daily life, enacted unconsciously by people to
understand their environment. This supported by Senge (1990:3) said that
“[f]rom a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment
the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more
manageable”. Usually, people break down any complex or unclear idea into
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smaller ideas in order to make them more comprehensible. This is what most
organisations do in order to make their strategy more understandable by
individuals within the organisation and more manageable for those in charge of
delivery. In this effort, organisations make use of many management tools and
models that are available to help translate their strategies into actions, but they
often do so without considering the consequences, and there are implications of
such an approach. In this matter, Senge (1990:3) argues that “we pay a hidden,
enormous price […] we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a larger whole.
When we then try to ‘see the big picture, we try to re-assemble the fragments in
our minds, to list and organize all the pieces’”. He continues by quoting the
physicist David Bohm, saying, “the task is futile - similar to trying to
reassemble the fragments of a broken mirror to see a true reflection” (Senge,
1990). The outcome of the frustration experienced in this matter means that after
a while we give up trying to see the whole altogether.
One thing is clear, that strategy does not exist as done deal thing that can be
achieved as one whole piece. Therefore, strategy cannot travel from the status of
an idea or plans into that of implementation without some form of simplification
(Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005). The ‘travel agent’ can be considered as the
implementation model, as this agent purports to help organisations by breaking
down, or translating, the shared vision into objectives and actions, and this
applies whether the ‘agent’ is selected from within the organisation, or
outsourced through external individual/agency coming to the issue on a
consultancy basis. In this respect, Gray and Larson (2008) defined two
approaches in particularly to outsourcing, these being, the traditional one and
the partnering one. The traditional approach is similar to the master-slave
relationship that exists between the owner and the provider; whereas, the
partnering approach involves all parties working together as partners and
sharing the ultimate goals of success. This study investigates the process of
translating the strategy, whose in charge for the strategy translation, and
explores what organisations do to communicate and keep themselves connected
with the big picture.
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3.5 TRANSALTION AS COMMUNICATION TOOLS
In this respect, strategy implementation is a multi-level process involving people
at different levels throughout the organisation, but as confirmed in a recent
survey conducted by Harvard University, it occurs through a top-down
approach. This observation supported by Cunha et al. (2011:491) who noted that
“strategy still comes from the top, and hierarchy can hurt execution”. They also
argue that members operating at the base and the frontline of an organisation are
very important. Thus ignoring this segment at organisation level has a cost or
‘hidden cost’ on the execution (Cunha et al., 2011). The centrality of hierarchy
in the strategy implementation debate is clear. Unsurprisingly, the disconnection
between the formulation and the implementation of the strategy is also obvious.
In this respect, Cunha et al. (2011:492) argue that “strategists still formulate,
the rest still execute, and there is no conjuncture between formulating and
executing”. The problem with this approach is that the principle of scientific
management is time dependent, and the emergence of new organisational forms
is knowledge-intensive rather than work-intensive. Furthermore, the hierarchy
or traditional top-down approach affects the implementation and limits the
usefulness and applicability of the strategy implementation (Cunha et al., 2011).
Therefore, it is necessary to seek alternatives to the traditional approach and to
show how these are able to bridge the formulation and implementation gap.
From what have been said, the top-down strategy approach is dominant in most
of organisational and management studies; in which senior managers initiate the
ideas and sets direction for the organisation. However, the implementation of
the strategy is with those managers and staff who are lesser-seniority in the
organisation, and the separation between activity of strategy development and
the implementation stands as the main challenge to the effectiveness of the
overall process. Hrebiniak (2008:7) confirmed this structural fact, by saying
“[e]very organization, of course, has some separation of planning and doing, of
formulation and execution. However, when such separation becomes
dysfunctional - when planners see themselves as smart people and treat the
doers as ‘grunts’- there clearly will be execution problems”.
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In this matter, the most crucial dimension to be improved is the communication
flow between the senior managers ‘strategy-makers’ at the top-level of an
organisation and the less-seniority ‘strategy-implementers’. Porter (1996)
emphasises the need for clear communication and constant discipline if strategy
is to be properly implemented, and Hussey (1996:11) says that “[i]t is the task
of ensuring that others in the organization understand, support and eventually
share the vision. The vision cannot be understood unless it communicated, and
cannot be communicated unless it is defined in a coherent way”. It is very
important that all employees, whatever their level, feel passion, and inspired by
their organisation strategy.
In order to shift employees’ thinking from doing without understanding into
strategic visioning, Hussey (1996) proposed the ‘envisioning’ idea that proposed
as a method for improving the translation concept. Hussey (1996:10) defined
envisioning as a “process of developing a coherent view of the future in order to
form an overarching objective for the organisation. […] Vision is an
appropriate first step for implementation at various levels in the organisation,
and will be as critical for the leader of a business unit, or the head of a
section”. On the other hand, proposing the concept of envisioning in the
translation concept, the translation would represent a coherent view of the
practice or strategy. Additionally, it would help in improving the visualisation of
the ‘shared vision’ by encouraging the imagination of employees across the
entire organisation. “Imagination is about improving the ability to see and
understand the situation in new ways” (Morgan, 1997:2).
Carroll (2000:183) argued that imagination plays a major role in leadership,
saying “[n]ew things must first be imagined. Likewise, imaginative failure
entails certain consequences”. The importance of the imagination in improving
employees’ understanding is emphasised by Gillen (2000:146) who stated that
“[l]eaders of learning must encourage the employees’ implementing strategies
to see and understand situations in new ways. This is the ability to allow
employees to change the old practices of bureaucratic organizations and
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produce new self-organizing systems”. Furthermore, the importance of the
imagination is based on offering pragmatic insights that help to resolve many
dilemmas associated with strategy implementation (Carroll, 2000).
3.6 STRATEGY AS PRACTICE (SAP)
As mentioned earlier, the ‘practice’ approach in the management literature rose
from the gap between the theories of what people say they do and what people
actually do. This practice perspective is concerned more about the effectiveness
of the strategist than the organisation, and is built heavily on the insight process
school but from a managerial level (Whittington, 1996). Jarzabkowski
(2004:529) emphasises the importance of practice by saying “we should
examine strategy not as something a firm has, but something a firm does”.
Practice theory is used to explain people’s behaviour by putting the practice as
the first object of research. Meaning is formed by doing and that is not an
independent state of mind. Bourdieu proposes a theory of practice that is to
“transcend the objectifying standpoint of the other two sorts of knowledge by
constructing the ‘generative principle’ of practice, by situating itself within the
very movement of accomplishment” (Acciaioli, 1981:26). Similarly, strategy as
practice (SAP) focuses on the strategy-maker from social lens. Strategy-makers
or ‘strategists’ use their practical daily skills for formulating a strategy;
however, little is known about how they do this, or indeed about how they
acquired the skills to do it. This appreciation of the reality opened a new
direction of thought from the practice perspective that was concerned more
about the effectiveness of the strategist than the organisation (Whittington,
1996). SAP considers strategy as something that organisations are involved with
developing and implementing everyday (Whittington, 2006). This view does
require, however, that the social context must taken into account since at the
micro-level of strategy the actors are not acting in isolation. Indeed, in the real
world “actors are not acting in isolation but are drawing upon the regular,
socially defined modes of acting that arise from the plural social institutions to
which they belong” (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007: 6).
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According to Jarzabkowski and Whittington (2008), studies on SAP are not
intended as a prescriptive for improving practice by providing explanations of
activity and consequences. Rather, they are concerned with explanatory theory,
which benefits from familiarity and reliability, attempting to reflect accurately,
what happens in actual practice (Jarzabkowski and Whittington, 2008). Whilst
people formulate and implement strategy, strategy theory is populated with
multivariate analysis of industry-level effects upon firm performance. However,
the absence of human/individual actors and their actions in most strategy
theories has increased the dissatisfaction of conventional strategy research
(Jarzabkowski and Spee, 2009).
“[m]uch of the social infrastructure, such as tools, technologies and discourses, through which micro-actions are constructed has macro, institutionalized properties that enable its transmission within and between contexts, whilst being adopted and adapted differently within micro-contexts” (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007: 6).
In SAP, tools and technologies enables transmission between micro-actions and
macro across the contexts. Consequently, two questions arise here, what are the
theories behind SAP? Does it require any further theory from the sociological
disciplines? Jarzabkowski et al. (2007) argue that SAP as a field is characterised
less by what theory is adopted than by what problem is explained. As such,
many problems posed in existing strategy research, such as those concerned
with dynamic capabilities, the resource-based view, the knowledge-based view,
and strategy process theory might be illuminated by a practice-based approach
to their study (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007). Therefore, the field does not requires
a new theories, but build upon a range of existing theories to explore the
strategy problems and to develop novel methods and research designs for their
study (Balogun et al., 2003).
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Figure 3.1: Theories Related to The Field of SAP (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007)
Moreover, additional advance explanations of how strategy is accomplished
using these different levels and units of analysis are required. The empirical
research into SAP has drawn upon the diverse theoretical resources available in
areas such as practice, sense-making, cognition, culture, power, narrative and
discourse theory as depicted in Figure 3.1 (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007).
From the theory of practice, Whittington (2006) proposes three elements that
may be isolated: praxis, practice, and practitioners; each one comprises a
different analytic choice and entry into the field of SAP (Jarzabkowski et al.,
2007). Many practice theorists have identified one or more of these elements in
their studies as discrete but inter-related social phenomena. There has been
impressive empirical progress given the promising state of SAP fields.
However, the ongoing challenges of SAP remain in those contributions of this
field that may yet be developed by further exploring the issues raised by the key
research questions and grounding these within the integrative framework that
involves three parameters praxis, practices and practitioners and their
relationships. As Jarzabkowski (2004) suggested, further empirical research is
required, and this study has been explicitly framed and designed to address the
SAP research agenda. Figure 3.2 briefly depicts this overview of praxis,
practices and practitioners, which provides a conceptual framework, and which
simultaneously be used to link some of the key questions within a SAP research
SAPRelatedTheories
Practice
Power
Naritive
DiscoursesCulture
Cognition
Sense-Makaing
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agenda.
Figure 3.2: Conceptual Framework to Analyse SAP (P. Jarzabkowski et al.,
2007:11)
Each of parameter in the framework is defined below.
Praxis: This is an emphatic term that describes the flow of human action in
which strategy accomplished within an institution. “Praxis comprises the
interconnection between the actions of different, dispersed individuals and
groups and those socially, politically, and economically embedded institutions
within which individuals act and to which they contribute” (P. Jarzabkowski et
al., 2007:9). This definition is very important and plays a major role in building
the understanding of the human actions and interactions that constitute the
framework of SAP. It indicates that praxis is both an embedded concept that
may occur at different levels from the institutional to the micro, and also
dynamic, shifting fluidly through the interactions between levels (Jarzabkowski
et al., 2007). It takes into consideration the fact that human actions and activities
are not singular but reflective of the pluralistic nature of society.
Practice: The social, material and tools that strategy work done through.
Reckwitz (2002) describes practice as type of routine behaviour that consist of
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interconnected elements. Reckwitz (2002:249) defines practice as “routinized
types of behaviour that consist of several elements, interconnected to one
another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, ‘things’ and their
use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of
emotion and motivational knowledge”.
Practitioners: These are the individual actors who act upon practice.
“Practitioners are thus interrelated with practices and praxis. They derive
agency through their use of the practices ways of behaving, thinking, emoting,
knowing and acting prevalent within their society, combining, coordinating and
adapting them to their needs in order to act within and influence that society”
(Reckwitz, 2002:249).
Strategizing occurs between praxis, practice, and practitioners and referred for
doing strategy. Therefore, in order to develop a richer understanding of these
three elements, it is vital to explore the correlation between them. Moreover, it
is important to examine strategy not only at the organisational level but also to
analyse the social dynamics between the elements at the institutional, and,
particularly, the sub-organisational levels of activity, which are still weakly
operationalised in much strategy research (Jarzabkowski et al., 2007). As a
practice-based approach, SAP constitutes an attempt to get close to practitioners
and their activities in order to gain a deeper understanding of what actually
happens when people engage in practices. The approach seeks to bridge the gap
between the strategy and the practice by engaging deeply in the empirical details
of organisational life in reality (Whittington et al., 2003; Jarzabkowski and
Spee, 2009;Whittington, 1996). However, recent research by Splitter and Seidl
(2011:99) draws on the theory of Bourdieu, and criticises the practice-based
approach by saying, “it is unclear to what extent and under what conditions
practice-based research would prove relevant to practitioners”. In the same
context, scholars argue that most practice-based strategists are unaware of their
inevitably ‘scholastic view’ which is the cause of the gap between strategy
research and praxis (Splitter and Seidl, 2011).
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From the project perspective, SAP represents the efficiency of daily activity of
actors and how these activities are linked with the organisation. By focusing on
project management as approach for strategy implementation, this study
explores how practitioners translate the practice, how interconnected with each
other, what social infrastructural material/tools/procedures they use to do this,
determining whether they help in connecting employees’ daily activities with
organisational goals.
Tools are not necessarily applied instrumentally, their use being shaped both by
social and political dynamics between actors and by the particular characteristics
of the tool itself. Strategy tools are defined as “numerous techniques, tools,
methods, models, frameworks, approaches and methodologies, which are
available to support decision making within strategic management” (Clark,
1997: 417). Within these tools are frameworks such as Porter’s five forces, core
competences and various other matrices and models (Spee and Jarzabkowski,
2009). In deed, powerful actors may use tools specifically to constrain the array
of strategic choices (Spee and Jarzabkowski, 2009). In the same sense, strategy
tools are employed differently in order to provide a common language for
organisational conversation. Thus, it is important to understand how translation
outcome or ‘objects’ is communicated? And how this understood by different
management levels within the organisation. Existing research confirms that
strategy tools are indeed used in practice, but such studies offer only limited
clues about how they are used.
3.7 CLOSING THOUGHTS
This chapter has presented the second part of the literature review, which
explores strategy from practice perspective. It has covered various aspects
related to practice perspective including (i.e individual actor, artefacts, and
embeddedness), which missed in capabilities perspective. The tension between
the strategy formulation and implementation viewed through theory of
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translation and SAP, thereby weakening the connectivity between the daily
activities of individual actors and organisation vision or the ‘big picture’.
It was confirmed in this chapter as in the previous one, that strategy defines as a
road map drawn by strategists to enable them to achieve the organisational
vision. As the vision being the big picture of organisation in the minds of senior
managers relating to where the organisation should be heading. The strategic
plans are artefacts that drawn up by strategists to portray the objectives, which
must then be translated into a set of manageable action plans. In this
‘translation’ exercise, the theory of translation has been shown to be useful, and
specifically, the process is seen to unpack the inter process of practice and how
it been translated and who is in charge for the translation.
The outcomes of translation process including documents, procedures and
strategic plans, are representing artefacts for communicating strategy and
connecting individual actors with an organisation big picture. When the various
organisational actors are presented with a big picture only, the task they face in
implementation is seen to be very difficult. So too, when they are confronted
with many detailed plans, because in this case they are faced with the task of
reassembling all the fragments into the big picture. This whole process can
result in the organisational actors forgetting or losing the connections with the
original vision, and ending up with a blurred picture of what is necessary.
Bearing both literature chapters that summarised in Table 3.1, it become clearer
that strategy are not a fully formed things ready for implementation but it
mediated through individual actors and objects that involved in the translation
process. Both individuals and objects are useful stuff for communicating
strategy and have influences on how things translated and communicated.
Strategy practitioner as ‘individual actors’ at all organisation levels and strategy
documents as ‘objects’ will be used as unit of the analyses for investigation in
this study.
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TABLE 3.1: SUMMARY OF STRATEGY PERSPECTIVES BOTH
CAPABILITIES AND PRACTICE
Strategy Capabilities Perspective Practice Perspective
Approach Deliberate Emergent
Assumption • Strategy delivered as intended • Acknowledged the role of
individual actors/agency
• Response to market and environment changes
• Acknowledged the influences of individual actors and objects
Focus on Routine as whole ‘black box’ What inside ‘black box’
Challenge Not flexible to changes of markets or business environments
Unclear about the role of individual actors and objects in strategy communication
Gap Neglects the influences of individual actors and objects
Fails to uncovering what inside the routine ‘black box’
Bearing all the literature in mind, the next chapter discusses in detail how this
study achieves its objectives, by adopting a particular research design and
method.
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CHAPTER FOUR
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
4.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the research methods that were used in the study. It
provides a general overview of the research design together with the
researchers’ reasoning in respect of his choice of case study organisations, the
methods used for data collection, and the data analysis. It also presents research
methodology used in this study by giving an overview of the empirical work. In
doing this, it discusses the design of the research, the strategy followed, and how
the fieldwork was actually conducted, from the start to the finish.
4.2 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
It is important to briefly reflect on the research aims and objectives presented in
Chapter One before elaborating on the research design and methodology. In this
respect, it was stated in Chapter One, that this study aims to explore how project
management approach being implemented in real project environment, and
understand what are the influences of the translation model on the
implementation.
By focusing on the implementation, this study explores various approaches and
models used in translating strategy within projects environment. Additionally,
understanding how the practice of the project management has been translated,
it explores the problems associated with the approach in each industry. Given
the need for a better understanding of the challenges associated with strategy
implementation, this research applying the translation lens on strategy and
practice implementation in a real projects-oriented environment in such a way as
to include the practice perspective. The next sections present information
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relating to the research philosophy, methodology, and techniques that have been
adopted in order to suit the context and aims of this study.
4.3 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES
Saunders et al. (2007) stated that a research philosophy embodies important
assumptions about the way the researcher using it to view the world (Saunders
et al., 2007). This assumptions or positions will underpin the research strategy
and methods that will have significant impact on how we understand what we
are investigating (Saunders et al., 2012). In this matter, we are exploring two
major ways of thinking underpin philosophical issues that related to this study,
these being: epistemology and ontology, which discussed briefly in below:
• Epistemology concerns what constitutes acceptable knowledge in the field
of study; in another words, how do we know what we know? In this matter,
below are four assumptions or stances of what could constitute knowledge in
brief:
o Positivism relates to the philosophical stance of the natural scientist.
This entails working with an observable reality and the end product
can be law-like generalisations similar to those in the physical and
natural sciences. This means reality represents by ‘objects’ or facts
that exist external to the social entities (Saunders et al., 2007;
Saunders et al., 2012).
o Realism is the essence of what the senses show us is reality, where
objects have an existence independent of the human mind. Focus on
explaining within a contexts (Saunders et al., 2007; Saunders et al.,
2012).
o Interpretivism is necessary for the researcher to understand the
differences between humans in our role as social actors. Concerns
about feeling and impression motivating the actions (Saunders et al.,
2007; Saunders et al., 2012).
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o Pragmatism integrating different perspectives to interpret the data,
this view focused on practical applied research (Saunders et al.,
2012).
• Ontology is about the research views of the reality or nature of the reality. It
concerned with the nature of social phenomena as entities. In this matter,
below are four assumptions or stances of what could constitute knowledge in
brief:
o Objectivism is the ontological position, which holds that social
entities exist in reality external to social actors (Saunders et al.,
2007).
o Subjectivist represent that social phenomena are created from the
perceptions and consequent actions of social actors. The meaningful
attached to those phenomena by social actors within the organisation
and that need to be understood (Saunders et al., 2007).
o Pragmatism holds that the most important determinant of the
research philosophy adopted is the research question (Saunders et al.,
2007).
o Realism is objective exist independently from human though and
beliefs, but interpreted by social conditioning (Saunders et al., 2012).
4.4 RESEARCH PARADIGMS
Saunders et al. (2012) extended their views of research philosophy to explore
the concept of research paradigm, which defined as the way of examining the
social phenomena to gain particular understanding and explanation that can be
attempted (Saunders et al., 2012:141). Below Figure 4.1 a fourfold
categorisation offered by Burrell and Morgan (1982) for research paradigms
namely: interpretive, radical humanist, functionalist, and radical structuralist.
Saunders et al. (2012) emphasised that research paradigms developed by Burrell
and Morgan (1982) are helpful in summarising and clarifying the epistemologies
and ontologies, which represents the belief systems of management and business
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researchers based on two dimensions: ontology of research and nature of
society.
Figure 4.1: Fourfold Research Paradigms (Saunders et al. 2012:141)
The first conceptual dimension represents the ontology of research including
objectivist and subjectivist perspectives. Objectivist assumes that social entities
exist in reality external to social actors, whereas is subjectivist assumes that
social phenomena are constructed from the perceptions and consequent actions
of social actors. The meaningful attached to those phenomena by social actors
within the organisation and that need to be understood (Saunders et al., 2007).
The second conceptual dimension of research paradigms represents the nature of
society including radical change and regulation perspectives. Radical change is
relates to judgement about the technique organisational affairs should be
conducted and provide suggestions to make major changes to normal order of
things. Whereas, regulation perspective is less judgmental and seeks to explain
the situation in which the organisational affairs regulated and provide
suggestions to improve things within existent framework.
Figure 4.1 developed by Burrell and Morgan (1982) have offered fourfold
categorisation of research paradigms namely: interpretive, radical humanist,
functionalist, and radical structuralist that discussed in below.
Radical Change
Regulation
Subj
ectiv
ist
Obj
ectiv
ist
Radical
Humanist
Radical
Structuralist
Interpretive
Functionalist
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• Radical structuralist paradigm is located on the objectivist and radical
changes dimensions, which concerned with objective entities and
involved in understanding the existent structure patterns of organisation
such as hierarchies and reporting correlations to which this may create
conflicts.
• Functionalist paradigm is located on the objectivist and regulation
dimensions in which most of the management and business research
operates. The key assumptions would be making here that organisations
are rational entities, in which rational explanation propose solution to
rational problems.
• Interpretive paradigm located in subjectivist and regulation dimensions
and clearly refers to philosophical position of interpretivism. Far for the
rational thinking, interpretive paradigm attempts to understanding the
fundamental meanings attached to organisational life by involving in
organisations daily activities in order to explain what is going on, rather
than changing things.
• Radical humanist paradigm located in subjectivist and radical changes
dimensions that attempt to understand the meanings of social phenomena
from subjectivist perspectives of practicing social actors. Researchers in
this paradigm are would be concerned with changing the status quo.
Turning strategy implementation into understanding the ways in which the
intended strategic objectives of management derailed for unseen reasons, even
though these reasons may not be apparent to those involved with the strategy.
This study attempting to understand the organisation life concerning the
meanings constructed with the practice of project management in chosen
organisations. Therefore paradigms located in subjectivist dimensions as
ontological perspectives are more appropriate. Interpretive and radical humanist
paradigms are concerned with the meaningful attached to those phenomena by
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social actors within the organisation and that need to be understood. However
radical humanist concerned with changing the status quo and this study are not.
Thus, this study adopts the interpretive paradigm to understand and explain what
is going on and how is strategy and project been translated, in order to generate
fresh insights into real-life through daily involvement in organisation’s
activities.
4.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The term ‘methodology’ refers to “the way in which we approach problems and
seek answers” (Taylor and Bogdan, 1998:3). From a social science perspective
this term applies to the way in which the research is conducted when
assumptions, interests, and the purpose of the research have been debated
(Taylor and Bogdan, 1998).
In practice, a research design describes a flexible set of guidelines that connect
the theoretical paradigm to strategies of enquiry and/or techniques of collecting
the empirical material for the study. It refers to how the researcher addresses the
two critical issues of the representation and legitimation of the study (Denzin
and Lincoln, 1998). Additionally, it incorporates the rationale for conducting
the research and presents the sequence of activities involved within it, giving
reasons for that particular order.
As exploratory study, the design based on qualitative method in which the
research is divided into two phases as shown in below Figure 4.2.
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Figure 4.2: The Research Design Process
As mentioned earlier in this section, the research divided into two phases that
summarised in Below Table 4.1. Through semi-structured interviews, Phase One
designed to establish a basis for the views of practitioners concerning the
challenges and issues facing strategy implementation in the real world. The data
of Phase One analysed as soon as it been collected using template that
developed during the literature review of Chapter Two. Phase Two designed to
Literature Review
Form Research
Questions?
Yes
Research Design & Template Creation
1st Phase Interviews: Initial Exploration of Strategy
Practice and Examination of Project Management
Further Research
Needed?
Yes
Redefine Research Design & Template
No
2nd Phase Interviews: In-depth Exploration of Practice
Translation and Building Case Study
No
No
Write
Conclusions?
Investigating Strategy Implementation
Through Projects
Initial Findings
Findings and Recommendations
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validate the initial findings of the previous phase and to establish further in-
depth understanding of translation process of both the strategy and project
management practice, through both semi-structured and unstructured interviews.
TABLE 4.1: TWO PHASES INTERVIEWS COMPARISION Interview Phase Interview One Interview Two
Purpose Exploring the effectiveness
project management
approach in chosen
organisations
Conduct in-depth interviews to
validate Phase One findings and
explore the practice of project
management approach
Interview
methods Semi-structured
Semi-structured and
un-structured interview
Site visit
Documents
No. of
organisations 5 5
Organisations
industry
Banking (2)
Property Development (1)
Oil (1)
Petrochemical (1)
Banking (2)
Property Development (2)
University (1)
No f the
interviewees 5 25
Theory SAP Translation
The data of Phase Two analysed using the redefined template that developed
during the literature review of Chapter Two and Three.
Phase One explores the gap between the theory and practice of strategy
implementation in the context of project management. The interviews in Phase
One conducted on five organisations that belong to four industries namely:
property development, banking, oil, and petrochemicals. All chosen
organisations are familiarised with international project management approaches
of PMI, and they ‘practicing’ the project management approach for
implementing their organisation strategy. However projects type, size, and the
way of doing project are not the same. The data of Phase One has been analysed
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as soon it been collected and the findings from this phase together with the
findings from the on-going literature reviews constitute the bases for Phase Two
of the study. As mentioned, the second phase of this study is designed to
establish further in-depth understanding the process of strategy and translation
of project management practice, and by considering the human dimensions of
these challenges from a practice perspective.
Thus, the two interviewed organisations within Phase One are replaced by two
new organisations in Phase Two in order to accomplish the research objectives
outlined in Chapter One. This replaces organisations from oil and petrochemical
by property development and Higher Education (HE). In the case of the HE, the
university selected are involved in a big expansion project that includes
construction projects for building a new university from scratch in order to
achieve strategy objectives of the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia.
The case study organisations are selected to explore strategy implementation
through a project management approach. However, the continuity between
Phase One and Phase Two ensured through the study.
4.6 RESEARCH APPROACH: INDUCTIVE
In inductive approach researchers collect data then explore themes or issues then
follow-up works and seeks to build up theory that is adequately grounded in
collected data (Saunders et al., 2012). The logic behind inductive conclusion,
that known premises are used to generate untested conclusion. Saunders et al
stated “data collection is used to explore phenomena, identify themes and
patterns and create a conceptual framework” (Saunders et al., 2012:144).
The inductive approach is well known and associated with qualitative research,
which has in itself, the main goal of obtaining a better understanding of the
nature of the problem being studied. This better understanding can be realized
by exploring the attributes and meanings that individuals or groups associate
with a particular social or human problem (Creswell, 2009). Inductive approach
applied in this study is concerned with collecting and analysing data, and as a
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result of analysing that data, developing some element of theory. There are
many reasons for adopt the qualitative approach Creswell (2009), however we
listed only six of them that related to this study:
1. The research question tends to be open-ended questions, which mostly
starts with a how or why and aims to find a description of what is going
on.
2. The topic needs to be explored because the variables to explain
participants’ behaviour are not apparent, and therefore, theory needs to
be developed.
3. A holistic picture of the topic does not exist or is unavailable, so a
detailed view of the topic needs to be obtained.
4. Individuals need to be studied in their natural settings.
5. There is an interest by the writer in participating him/herself in the study
and in producing literature about the phenomenon.
6. There is a need to spend extensive time and resources on the data
collection.
Thus, the qualitative research approach has a naturalistic nature, being adopted
in the real world, and it is chosen because of these characteristics. In the same
sense, data collected by using several methods taking in consideration the
human aspect of the study’s participants. Qualitative research is emergent in
nature, which means that it uses inductive logic or reasoning to move from a
particular to a more general statement, and then to theory. Furthermore,
qualitative research design is flexible allowing modification during the research
process as shown in above Figure 4.2, which response to the emerging findings.
Since the aim of this study is to explore the strategy implementation in project-
oriented environments by gaining an in-depth understanding of the reasons of
challenges in various industries, the researcher will act as an explorer, seeking to
appreciate the experiences shared by people who are actually involved in these
situations. In such circumstances the qualitative approach is appropriate and
essential for this study, as this type of research is fundamentally interpretive
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which means that it focuses on descriptive analysis and interpretation.
However, it is important to acknowledge that qualitative research is not an easy
option to take when considering whether to adopt a qualitative or quantitative
approach. Qualitative research requires the researcher to study the problem in
depth, which is both time and resource-demanding (Creswell, 1998). The
following sections elaborate more on the qualitative research methods and
techniques used in this study.
4.6.1 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES: INTERVIEWS AND
DOCUMENTS
This section introduces the various research techniques used during this study for
data gathering.
4.6.2 SECURING ACCESS
According to Stake (1995:57), “almost always, data gathering is done on
somebody’s ‘home grounds’. Most educational case data gathering involves at
least a small invasion of personal privacy”. At the beginning of this research,
the author has attempted to get access for one of UK bank through the support
of the supervisor; however these tries were not go through. There is no doubt
that getting access to UK organisations, and in particular banks, is very difficult
and time-consuming. Consequently, the researcher has chosen to conduct this
research in Saudi Arabia where securing access to targeted organisations are
faster and more easier than UK. Considering the global implication, this study
decided to chose only organisation that familiarised with international project
management approaches such PMI and prince2. As well, adopting project
management approach as means for implementing their organisation strategy.
Two main criteria were used for targeted organisations, these organisations were
strategy-driven, and project-oriented.
A brief description of the characteristics of each are provided below:
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• Strategy-driven: well-established organization with clear vision,
mission and long-term strategies, and which is involved in the strategy
implementation process.
• Project-oriented: organisation that familiar with project management
approaches, which uses project management as an approach to
implement their organisation strategies.
Once the access to organisation secured, it was difficult to acquire
organisational data. This means it is important to secure access to the study
subject as the first step in data gathering, and it should be borne in mind that this
could be a long process. In this study, access was secured through the following
two channels:
• Individual efforts
Direct communication for the part of the research happened by approaching
people or departments through the researcher own personal networks.
• Enlisting the efforts of the Professional Association
The Saudi Council of Engineering or (SCE) is organised professional body
intended to promote the engineering profession, develop and upgrade its
standards, and the standards of practitioners. It operates under the
supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, has its headquarters in Riyadh,
and has other branches in the Kingdom’s main cities.
Both these channels were used to secure a group of interviewees, in order to gain
the maximum possible response. At the beginning of the research, access was
obtained through individual efforts, and the required data was collected partially
from targeted companies. The researcher also approached the SCE to gain
access to the engineering organisations in Saudi Arabia, but the process was
extremely long and drawn out, and the responses were slow. Consequently, this
study continued by the researcher using his own personal networks.
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4.6.3 INTERVIEW METHODS
A great deal of qualitative material comes from talking to people whether it is
through formal interviews or casual conversations. There are three types of
interview, namely: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. The three types
are discussed in detail as follows:
• Structured Interviews
The aim of structured interviews is to gain a quantitative result from the
participants. Structured interviews or ‘quantitative research interviews’
are used to collect quantifiable or ‘statistical’ data. In this type of
interview, the researcher usually uses a questionnaire with the
interviewees, thereby asking each person an identical set of prepared,
piloted, and refined questions. The interviewer asks each interviewee the
questions exactly as they appear on the questionnaire, so each participant
is asked the same questions, in the same tone, and in the same order.
This means that the interviewer does not show any bias in asking the
questions (Cauvery et al., 2003). Structured interviews are suitable for
identifying general patterns in descriptive studies and can also could be
used in a statistical sense to understand the relationships existing in an
explanatory study (Saunders et al., 2007).
The simplest way to conduct this type of interview is to ask the interviewee
questions that require only short pre-coded answers (a simple yes or no, or an
indication on a scale of responses) so that the researcher merely has to tick a box
on a standardised template (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008; Saunders et al., 2007).
After the data analysis, the researcher can present the results in a statistical
format such as through percentages or numbers. From these results, the
researcher can generalise, provided that large numbers of such interviews are
undertaken (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008).
• Semi-Structured Interviews
In semi-structured interviews, the researcher conducts the interview with
a list of prepared questions, but those questions can vary from one
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interview to another. This means that the researcher can delete or add
questions, and may also change the sequence of the questions depending
on the interview. Usually, the interviewer records the interview by
making an audio recording or by taking notes. Therefore, semi-
structured interviews could be used in relation both to an exploratory
study and to an explanatory study in order to understand the relationship
between variables that result from a descriptive study (Saunders et al.,
2007).
• Unstructured Interviews
Unstructured interview are informal, which represent the opportunity for
the researcher to investigate in-depth a general area of interest.
Sometime it refers to in-depth interviews that allow the interviewee the
talk freely about events or opinions related to research topic. This would
open up new dimensions of a problem and uncover clues that are based
on personal experience (Saunders et al., 2007; Cauvery et al., 2003).
Researchers use unstructured interviews in relation to an exploratory
study to determine what is happening and to seek new insights (Robson,
2002). These interviews are used in research where the researcher has a
clear idea about the aspects s/he wants to explore but does not have
either a prepared list of questions s/he wants to ask or a definite order in
which s/he wants to gain information. In this situation, the interviewee is
free to talk about events, behaviour and beliefs, which are related to the
research topic (Saunders et al., 2007), and may even introduce ideas that
are outside the research topic but which the interviewer feels may lead to
some other fruitful outcome.
This research was performed using semi-structured interviews for Phase One of
the study, and both semi-structured and unstructured interviews by speaking to
both senior managers and project managers. And during Phase Two of the study,
where a more in-depth understanding of the implementation challenges was
sought, more people were interviewed including people from senior management
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to front-line staff. In conducting the interviews, the researcher established a
good rapport with the interviewees to win their confidence, and efforts were
made not to be obtrusive in any way during the interview encounter in order that
the researcher did not impose his ideas upon the interviewees.
4.6.4 OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
A question that does not provide a set of fixed options for the answer, is called an
open-ended question, and this type of question was chosen for the study. Open-
ended questions give a respondent the freedom to answer the question in the way
s/he likes, and have the advantage that the respondent is allowed to express
his/her thoughts and feelings without being forced to follow specific or pre-
defined answers. The question structure allows for flexibility so the respondent
may give as much detail as s/he wishes (Cauvery et al., 2003). This requires of
course, that all answers should be fully recorded since essentially the interviewee
is engaged in story-telling. In this respect, the researcher believed that a better
understanding could be gained by using open-ended questions, as they would
allow for people who were actually involved in the situations of interest to him,
to say as much as they wished about their experiences.
Open-ended questions are powerful methods of exploration and are particularly
useful to ask before research objectives are defined. They can also be used when
the research issues are complex or the related dimensions are hazy, or when the
researcher is engaged in a pilot survey. The main disadvantage of this type of
question is the difficulty of analysing the data, since the more data that is
available, the harder it is to perform the analysis, and this implies that the
researcher should design a coding frame to classify all the answers in order to
have better clarity (Cauvery et al., 2003).
As exploratory studies considered as valuable ways to ask open-ended questions
to discover what is happening and gaining insights about a topic of interest. It is
useful to clarify the understanding of the problem especially if unsure of precise
nature of problem. Exploratory studies can be conducted through number of
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was including literature reviews, interviews, focus group interviews. Interviews
approaches are likely to be unstructured and rely on the quality of contribution
of the participants that help guiding the next stage of the research. The
advantage of exploratory research is it fixable and adaptable to change Saunders
et al. (2012).
Below Table 4.2 list the main questions asked during Phase One interviews that
links each question with relevant research objective:
TABLE 4.2 MAPPING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WITH RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES Asked Questions Related Research Objectives
• What are the methods of project
management do you implemented in
your company?
a) To review the relevant theoretical
perspectives on strategy and
project management, with
particular emphasis on
implementation.
• If you have your own way, what the
things you do to make life better in
terms of “project management”?
• If there is a different strength of
projects, how projects are connected?
b) To evaluate the usefulness of
project management approach in
achieving the organisational
strategy in Saudi Arabia.
• What are the issues and the challenges
you are currently facing in your
company? Can you give me some
examples?
c) To investigate the challenges
confronting project management
implementation through practice
and translation theory.
• How project initiation process is started?
• What are the types of the projects your
do?
• Are all these types of projects executed
by your company or by contractors?
• How projects are connected?
d) To explore the models used in
translating both strategy and
project management approach in
practice.
• What do you do? What is your role in
the projects?
• What is your nature involvement in the
projects?
e) To examine the roles and
implications of objects on strategy
communications.
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4.6.5 OBSERVATION
The first knowledge of the universe begins with observation as oldest method
used a scientific investigation (Cauvery et al., 2003). The observation technique
is suitable for research that focuses on people’s behaviour. It involves the
systematic observation, recording, description, analysis and interpretation of
what people actually do.
As a research technique, observation is classified into five types based on the
methods used and the type of control, these being: participant observation, non-
participant observation, non-controlled observation, controlled observation, and
organisation observation (Cauvery et al., 2003). However, this study employed
organisation observation that known as field observation. When deciding to
conduct a study based on field observation, a researcher must be aware of
whether or not the organisation under investigation will allow observation by an
outsider. This kind of observation is bounded by time, place, and people that to
be observed by the researcher. The researcher (or ‘field worker’) must be very
cautious about all the factors present once the observation begins, especially
when observing complex phenomena (Cauvery et al., 2003).
In the present study, field observation is used as a secondary source of data
collection and is conducted at the interview site where possible, in order to
understand the influence of team distribution and the workplace environment on
the project performance and communications.
4.6.6 DOCUMENTS
Documents are perceived as sources of ready data, which can be easily accessed
by the imaginative and resourceful investigator (Merriam, 1998). Secondary
data from websites, and when available from within organisations, were
gathered and used in the data analysis process. The documents were mainly
about the organisational structures, missions, visions, strategies, goals, and
plans. However, there is an inherent problem with the use of documentation
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when investigating multiple case study organisations, and that is quite simply
that owing to different organisational structures and reporting mechanisms, there
is often no uniformity in the types of documents available, and this means that
the opportunity to compare and contrast may be lost. Moreover, documents may
be produced but available in one organisation and not in another due to
confidentiality rules. These obstacles were indeed met in this study because in
some organisations documents were available, in others they were not in
existence, and in yet others there were confidentiality issues and documents
were not released. Hence the comparison of situations between the case study
organisations was impeded.
4.7 RESEARCH STRATEGY: MULTIPLE CASE STUDY
There are many different approaches that are undertaken in qualitative research,
which in itself is used mainly in the field of social, behavioural, and health
sciences. Creswell (1998:27) highlights five traditions that reflect the types of
qualitative research approach frequently used, namely, “a biography, a
phenomenology, a grounded theory, an ethnography and a case study”.
The need for case study arises from the desire to understand complex social
phenomena as the method allows the investigator to retain the holistic and
meaningful characteristics of real-life events, such as individual life,
organisational and managerial processes, neighbourhood change, international
relations, and maturation of industries (Yin, 1993).
In defining case study, Merriam (1998:2) stated it to be: “a basic design that
can accommodate a variety of disciplinary perspectives as well as philosophical
perspectives on the nature of research itself. A case study can test a theory or
build a theory, incorporate random or purposive sampling, include quantitative
and qualitative data”.
Sometimes case study is referred to as fieldwork, field research, or ethnography.
Case studies examine complex phenomena through in-depth analysis of a
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limited number of details and inter-relationships. Additionally, case study is an
intensive description and analysis of a phenomenon or social unit such as an
individual, group, institution, community, or organisation that is bounded by
time and place. The case study is characterised by the unit of analysis rather
than by the topic of the investigation, and because of this, the approach is
sometimes combined with other types of qualitative methods (Creswell, 1998).
The case study provides a systematic way of looking at events, collecting data,
analysing information, and reporting results. It focuses on researching details in
the situation being investigated in order to gain sufficient information to explain
the unique characteristic of each case study (Ghauri et al., 2005). Case studies
focus on process, context, and discovery rather than outcomes, a specific
variable, or a confirmation. They may be carried out on multi-sites or within one
site; collective case studies examine more than one case (Creswell 1998). When
conducted with organisations rather than individuals, case studies consider the
organisation as a social unit that is bounded by time and place, and which can be
examined in depth by exploring the behavior of organisational members. Case
study should be suitable to the nature of research question and objectives, in
particularly should provide answers to why questions’.
Yin (2009) distinguished between four approaches of the case studies based on
the two distinct dimensions:
• Single case versus multiple cases
• Holistic case versus embedded case
Considering the first dimension, single strategy used to present critical and
unique case study. Whereas, multiple case studies (between two and three) are
likely to produce more evidence and are chosen because of its capacity to
demonstrate one or both forms of replications Saunders et al. (2012). Yin’s
second dimension, holistic verses embedded, which refers to the unit of analysis.
Holistic case study, the research treating the organisation as whole, equally if
the research examining a number of the logical sub-units within chosen
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organisation then the case predictably involve more than one unite of analysis
which called embedded case study. Unit of analyse will discussed in details in
the next section.
This research uses multiple case study approach as a research strategy to explore
the strategy implementation in the project management context, with focus on
translation theory within three different industries in Saudi Arabia that results
from both interviews Phases (1 & 2).
Through multiple case studies, the researcher is able to obtain an understanding
of the phenomena of strategy translation, and to recognise and reveal the
specific and novel features of strategy translation within each organisation in the
different industries that are included in this study. By this, the researcher
ensured the continuity between both phases interviews and case studies.
Case studies can vary in nature, but the type adopted for this research is the
exploratory (comparative) case study. The aim of conducting comparative case
studies was to offer more compelling evidence of convergent and/or divergent
responses in respect of strategy and practice translation. Two case studies were
undertaken based on project types, these being: IT, and Construction. The unit
of analysis and the criteria for choosing these organisations are explained in the
following sections.
4.8 UNIT OF ANALYSIS
As mentioned, Yin’s second dimension refers to the unit of analysis. Holistic
verses embedded, in holistic case study the research treating the organisation as
whole; equally if the research examining a number of the logical sub-units
within chosen organisation then the case predictably involve more than one
unite of analysis which called embedded case study.
Identifying the unit of analysis in any research project is extremely important, as
noted by Yin (1993:10) who stated that: “No issue is more important than
defining the unit of analysis. […] for time periods of undetermined duration -
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you must clearly define the unit of analysis at the outset of your study. […] Thus
the entire design of the case study as well as its potential theoretical
significance is heavily dominated by the way the unit of analysis is defined”.
In order to answer the research questions, five different organisations from the
population of Saudi Arabian industries were chosen in total. Bear in mind, two
main criteria were used in choosing the case study organisations, these
organisations were strategy-driven, and project-oriented. Utilizing the idea for
theory of translation to uncover what inside the practice or ‘Black Box’. The
unit of analysis are based on the findings of practice perspective presented at the
end of Chapter Three, there are two sub-unites of analyse concerned this study
and needs to be examined inside the logical entity of chosen organisations.
These units of analyses are:
• The role Individuals
• The role of objects associated with translation
4.9 DATA PREPRATION
The analysis of data involves organising data, developing themes, interpreting
the data, and finally, writing the results. In total, for this study, the data for
analysis emerged from 30 interview transcripts, site visits, non-participant
observations, and the review of documents and information from the
organisations’ websites including organisations’ vision, mission, and strategic
plans. This information was used to establish an understanding of how strategy
had been translated into projects, and also to generate the emerging themes.
Thus, a template was developed to organise the data thematically for the
purpose of analysis and interpretation.
4.9.1 CODING AND TEMPLATE ANALYSES
“A code is a label attached to a section of text to index it as relating to a them or issue in the data which the researcher
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has identified as important to his or her interpretation” (King, 1998:119).
Categories or label can be developed in advance by consulting the literature
review and this known as concept-driven category, or from collected data that
called data-driven category or can be used both. Identifying categories is the
first activity for analysing the data that allows rearranges the original data into
analytical categories in which each category given name that referred as code or
label (Saunders et al., 2012).
Template analysis is widely used approach associated with qualitative research
methods, which known as ‘codebook analyses’ or ‘thematic code’(King, 1998).
Template analysis does not describe a single, clearly delineated method, but
rather refers to a varied and related group of techniques for thematically
organising and analysing textual data. The analysis starts by producing a list of
codes or a ‘template’ by the researcher, so that the data can be organized in a
way that represents themes identified in the textual structure, and that in
themselves represents the relationships between those themes as defined by the
researcher (King, 2004). The spirit of this approach, researcher produces a list of
codes or template that representing themes identified in their textual data. Some
of theses code identified prior, but researchers will update the list as reads and
interprets the data (King, 1998).
The rationale for using the template analysis technique is that it is a flexible set
of techniques in terms of data collection with less specified procedures. It helps
in developing conceptual themes and clustering them into broader groupings,
and enabling cross-case analysis to produce a master theme. It is also suited for
research that aims to compare (in a simple and easy way) different types of
sector/industry and companies applying the project approach (King, 2004).
The main disadvantage of the approach is the lack of supportive literature for
the technique in comparison to the other available methods of analysis, such as
grounded theory and discourse analysis. This might cause the researcher to be
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uncertain about the analytical decision that should be made, or it could lead to
the generation of very simple or complex templates. Consequently, this could
lead to the loss of the individual voice in the analysis of aggregated themes
(King, 2004).
The planning of the analysis of the data began at early stage through the
formulation of interview questions in a way that helped in categorising the data
collected during the interviews. After the pilot stage interview, the number of
the questions was limited to eight and these were revised to form more general
categories. From what said, Table 2.7 that placed in Chapter Two is representing
the templates for analysing the data were developed according to the literature
review, initial research questions, and the transcripts of the Phase One and Two
interviews. Moreover, new themes emerged during the fieldwork and the
transcripts of the 2nd Phase interviews are based on practice and the idea
translation placed through Chapter Three.
4.10 CROSS REFERENCES AND TRUTH VALUE
To enhance the truth-value and reliability of this study, the researcher developed
the following measures:
1. The question types used in this study are based on the open-ended
question in order to allow the interviewee to tell the story from his or her
own perspective. The importance of the stories in organisational studies
has recently been recognised. Stories are powerful research instruments
that open valuable windows into the emotional and symbolic lives of an
organisation (Gabriel and Griffiths, 2004).
2. The researcher used the quotes from the interviewees’ answers in the
analysis in order to capture the interest of the reader and present the
actual comments.
3. As this study using a case study strategy, using multiple sources of data
is required such as interviews, site visits, documentation, and
information from the organisations’ websites in which is called
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triangulation (Saunders et al., 2012). The use of multiple data sources
collected at different points at time helps to ensure that the researcher
has not studied only a small part of the research problem, as well to cross
reference different perspectives of the issue under investigation.
4.11 ETHICAL CONDUCT
Within each organisation a request to gain access to conduct the interviews with
members of staff was made. Approval was granted from all the organisations in
various ways, i.e. by email, letter, or verbally, and it was believed that the nature
of the questions which did not request any sensitive information, encouraged the
co-operation of organisations in this respect (Please see Appendices D and E).
Additionally, confidentiality in terms of the name of the organisation and those
who agreed to be interviewed was also guaranteed at the beginning of the
process.
Another ethical issue to be considered is the individual’s right to choose whether
or not to answer any questions during the interview process. All interviewees
were informed that they had the right not to answer any of the questions at any
time during the interview. Prior to the actual interview, the exact purpose of the
interview was explained, interviewees were clearly advised about the average
time required to answer the questions, and consent to record the interview was
requested. In all cases, this was granted (Please see Appendix A and Appendix
C). Furthermore, complete anonymity was guaranteed to all interviewees in an
effort to encourage their honesty.
4.12 SUMMARY
This chapter has discussed the research design of this study and all the aspects
related to the research methods, methodology, and the use of case studies as a
research strategy. The methods used to collect data were confirmed as being
interviews, site visit, and documents. Additionally, the chapter indicated that
the process of analysing and categorising the large volume of data secured by
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these methods, and ‘templates’. Finally, issues of validity and reliability in
respect of the collected data were considered, and assured through the two
measures of the cross-reference, and ethical conduct.
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CHAPTER FIVE
PHASE ONE INTERVIEWS
5.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter provides the analysis and initial findings of the Phase One
interviews conducted during the study between July and September 2010. Since
the approach of project management promised to deliver organisational strategic
objectives, the first phase interviews were carried out to explore the challenges
facing this approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior
management and project managers in the private and semi-private sector in
Saudi Arabia. The interviews began after the researcher had undertaken the
literature review and generated the research questions, and it was believed that
at this point they would enable the researcher to explore the challenges and
problems related to each organisation. Within this chapter there is also a
discussion of the data gathering, and data analysis process and techniques.
5.2 INTRODUCTION
The convenience and purposive sampling strategy, discussed in the previous
chapter in Section 4.5, was adopted for the semi-structured interviews in Phase
One. Convenience sampling was used in recognition of time and logistical
constraints, but this decision did not result in any compromise on the quality of
the interviewees or the procedure. The interview guide was prepared with the
research questions in mind, and the researcher aimed for clarity in the questions
in order to obtain a meaningful response and to ensure that the duration of the
interviews was not excessive. The schedules of those involved in projects are
usually very busy with various activities and tasks, and hence, the interview
guide was designed to restrict the duration of the interview to a maximum of one
and a half hours. Additionally, it was formulated and revised in consultation
with the researcher’s supervisor and associate research students. Initial
interviews were conducted with the associate students to verify the clarity of
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questions and assess the time required for the interview, and to become familiar
with the process. Initially, the interview guide consisted of six questions but a
further two questions were later added, taking into account the flow of the
interviews.
5.3 PLANNING AND DESIGNING OF THE PHASE-ONE INTERVIEWS
Since Phase One of the study aims to explore the challenges facing the strategy
execution through the project approach, it was decided to interview individuals
from organisations familiar with implementing project management approaches.
In the following sub-sections, the planning and design of Phase One of the study
including securing access to information, organisations and participants
information, data preparation, analysis, and discussion, are presented in detail.
5.3.1 SECURING DATA ACCESS
Initially, it was very challenging for the researcher to secure access to
organisational data through the interview process, as it was actually difficult to
arrange the interviews. It was necessary to take a variety of factors into
consideration in this respect, such as the managerial levels of the participants,
and the organisations’ standing in term of project size, types, and numbers of
on-going projects in their portfolios. The total number of interviews in Phase
One were five, however, seem reasonable given the exploratory nature of the
exercise, and through these people the researcher also obtained the assurance
that they would participate in Phase Two of the study to ensure the continuity
between the both interviews phases.
5.3.2 INTERVIEWED ORGANISATIONS
After access was secured, confidentiality of the data was the main concern of all
interviewed managers and directors. In this respect, the researcher assured
everyone involved that the data obtained from interviewees would be
completely confidential and used only for the research purpose. The names of
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the companies and the personnel interviewed were consequently classified as
confidential in accordance with good research ethics. Table 5.1 presents the
alias for the participating companies in Phase One, indicating also the industry,
project type, and the project management team members. The alias given to
each company is used throughout the entire thesis.
TABLE 5.1: PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS IN PHASE ONE Given Company
Name
Industry/Sector Project Type Project Team
Size
Alpha Banking IT 15
Beta Banking IT 5
Gamma Property Development Construction 10
Delta Oil IT and Construction 100+
Epsilon Petrochemicals Construction --
The number of the project managers in both the banking and property
development sectors are between 5 and 15, and in the oil sector 100+. The
project management role in the petrochemicals industry is outsourced to
consultants, and therefore, the number of project managers is not known. The
project types are varied; in the banking sectors the majority of projects are
internal development projects and mainly related to IT. However, in the
property development and petrochemicals sectors the project type is external
and mainly construction-related. Finally, the oil sector has a mix of both types –
IT (telecommunications) and construction projects.
5.3.3 PARTICIPANTS’ PROFILES
Table 5.2 indicates the profiles of interviewees. The interviewees’ industries
were selected in consultation with the supervisor, keeping in view the broad
spectrum of the research topic. As Phase One investigating the project
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management approach in practice, people with extensive industrial experiences
was required, senior personnel were interviewed.
TABLE 5.2: PHASE ONE INTERVIEWEES’ PROFILES Company Participant Role Experiences On-going
Projects Industrial Projects
Alpha Manager - Project Portfolio
Management (PPM)
15 10 100+
Beta Head - Project
Management Office (PMO)
25 20 50+
Gamma Manager – PMO 22 15 100+
Delta Senior Project Manager 20 15 100 +
Epsilon General Manager 30 25 --
The range of industrial experience amongst the interviewees was from 15 to 30
years, and their project experience was between 10 and 25 years. The on-going
projects for selected organisations ranging from 50 to over 100. The industrial
includes Banking, Property Development, Oil, and Petrochemicals. The
organisations were chosen based on their familiarity with the project
management concept, as the main objective of Phase One is to explore the
challenges faced by organisations implementing a project management
approach.
The same interview questions were asked of all the interviewees; however, the
way the questions were asked was refined as the interviews progressed. Most of
the interviewees gave the permission to voice record their sessions in order to
assist in the transcription and post-interview analysis.
The first part of the interview covered biographical data, qualifications,
company information, and job experience. An exploration of the project types
and the roles within those projects was made via the next two questions.
Thereafter, the connectivity of multiple projects within each interviewee’s
overall organisation portfolio was investigated. The fifth question explored the
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challenges and the issues associated with the projects, and additional questions
were then asked according to the responses given, for elaboration. The final
question asked interviewees for their opinions regarding potential improvement
areas, and any recommendations they wished to make to resolve any of the
issues they had identified.
Initially, eleven interview requests were sent to senior managers from various
Saudi industries in both the private and semi-private sectors, including banking,
construction, property development, water utilities, oil and petrochemicals.
However, only six managers expressed their willingness to participate in the
research, and in the final event, only five were actually interviewed. These came
from four industries: banking, property development, oil, and petrochemicals. A
brief personal profile of each of the interviewees in Phase One is provided as
follows:
• Project Portfolio Manager at Alpha Alpha is one of the oldest and well-established banks in Saudi Arabia. The
participant was appointed as manager for PPM in Alpha Bank in 2009. His
role within the project was throughout (i.e. from the initial ideas to project
closure), and involved daily communications with wide range of
stakeholders across the bank including sector and division heads. The
participant has more than fifteen years’ experiences in various levels of
project management. He holds a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering and
many professional certificates.
• Head of Project and Programme Management Office at
Beta Beta is another well-established bank in Saudi Arabia. The interviewee had
recently joined Beta bank, having been employed mainly in London by
project management consultancy organisations, like Compaq, HP, Accenture
and Deloitte. This interviewee has more than twenty years’ experience at
various managerial levels of project management. His role within the project
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was from initiation until closure, and required daily communications with a
wide range of stakeholders across the bank including sector and division
heads. His background is in computer science and holds an MBA degree
from the University of London.
• Project Management Office Manager at Gamma Gamma is a newly established property development organisation. The
interviewee from Gamma has more than twenty years’ experience at various
managerial levels of project management, and in different industries. He is a
certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has a Programme
Management Professional (PgMP) from the PMI. His involvement in the
project is from initiation to closure. The interviewee’s role requires
extensive communications with a wide range of stakeholders across the
company and with third parties. He obtained an MSc degree in Industrial
Engineering in 2009.
• Senior Project Manager at Delta Delta is one of the famous oil companies in the region. The interviewee
from Delta is involved in many telecommunications projects that are
complex in nature. He has also been involved in two mega projects over the
last fifteen years of his work experience with Delta. His role requires
extensive communication and co-ordination with various stakeholders
within and outside of the company. He has a BSc degree in Electrical
Engineering obtained in the USA and is also certified in PMP terms.
• General Manager (GM) at Epsilon Epsilon is one of the petrochemicals companies working under the umbrella
of the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). The interviewee
from Epsilon works as the General Manager, and he has an important
managerial role at different levels within the organisation. He was also
involved in the process of establishing two petrochemical manufacturing
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sites over the last fifteen years of his work experience with Epsilon. His role
requires extensive communication and co-ordination with various
stakeholders within and outside of the company. He has a BSc degree in
Engineering from the KFUPM in Saudi Arabia.
5.4 DATA PREPARATION
Before beginning the analysis, the collected data was prepared in a suitable
format. In the preparation of data gathered through exploratory interviews of the
kind generating much qualitative information, the two main steps are
transcribing and coding. Each Phase interview was transcribed to aid the
analysis, and then the entire text was reviewed and then coded according to the
theme of the answer. The codes were listed based on previous studies about
project challenges and problems that were discussed in Chapter Two. Table 2.7
were used to help convert the interviews into meaningful information.
5.5 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The analysis of the Phase One interviews was carried out when all available
audio data files had been transcribed, and coded such that the results were
meaningful. In conducting this analysis, the information provided in existing
studies concerning the challenges and problems related to strategy and project
implementation, presented in section 2.12 and in sub-sections of Chapter Two,
was used as a theoretical support. Table 2.7 were used to code all interviews into
meaningful information based on the theme of the answers provided by the
participants in this phase.
Regardless of the organisations and the industries to which they belonged, all
participants acknowledged the project management approach as a good
approach that used to implement their strategy. Most of these organisations
tended to implement the project management method and were aware of
international best practice such as PMI. Indeed, they had dedicated departments
called Project /Programme Management Offices (PMO) to deliver the strategy
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objectives through the successful implementation of projects. This confirmed by
the following quotations:
“Once the project is approved in term of budget and capacity, then we move to the second process initiate the project through the PMI PLC. (Initiation, planning, execution, control)” Beta, Head of PMO
“The SCO are responsible to create organization strategy and the board are in charge to translate this strategy to projects ' project initiation' .PMO is part of the board to follow up the project with the dedicated project manager. […] My role is (PMO) manager (PMO: program management office). So we over seen the whole projects and programme; we make sure that project delivered on time and on budget and within scope.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Moreover, organisations from banking and property development were familiar
with the concept of Project Portfolio Management (PPM). However, this
familiarity did not mean they implementing the concept in the same way.
Recently, Alpha had adopted PPM to overcome the traditional challenges of the
project management approach that the organisation had encountered in the past.
The concept was customised in a way that fitted the organisation structure by
creating one portfolio for each sector. This confirmed by the following
quotations from the interviewees concerned:
“Alpha is structured on sectors, therefore we have a single portfolio for each sector. So we have multiple portfolios, one for each sector. Also we have a portfolio especially for the departments that do not belong to any sector. .” Alpha, PPM Manager
In Gamma, the project management was implemented through programme
management approach. However they call it ‘portfolio’ to connect set of projects
together.
“In Gamma we implement programme management methods. However, we used the term ‘portfolio’ to refer to set of projects related together.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Nevertheless, having the project management approaches in place did not mean
these organisations have challenge free implementation for their strategic
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objectives. Phase One interview have revealed a number of traditional
challenges that confronts these project-oriented organisations. These challenges
discussed in the following paragraphs.
In Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon insufficient human resources or lack of
competent resources for the project were the greatest challenges occurring in
these organisations. Also the lack of sufficient capacity planning was relevant
indirectly to the lack of human resources issue. This supported by the following
quotations:
“There are no professional mechanism for capacity planning and resources allocation per project and initiative. IT recourses / man-days planning is not professional enough to avoid problem during the execution to make them go smoothly.” Alpha, PPM Manager “Lack of resources. For example I have system that developed and ready but the qualified people to test this system are not in the bank. So we have to recruit a qualified staff to do the job and that takes 3-4 months. Thus results in delay in delivering the project.” Beta, Head of PMO “[…] we have lack of the expertise, this is the first time we build city from the scratch and therefore we need expertise in every aspect not only construction. […] and lack of resources in term of people we have only '200' staff.” Gamma, PMO Manager
“The nature of the our project requires expertise in petrochemical that mostly not available in local market. So, we look abroad for hiring experts and if we managed to get the competent person, the hiring process is long.“ Epsilon, GM
In the same sense, the insufficient financial resources were highlighted clearly in
petrochemical and property development industries due to size and type of
projects they involved in. Gamma confirmed this challenge as below:
“[…] the company is PLC and has no income from this project because the city not operating yet. Therefore the challenge is to generate revenue before finishing the capital budget. So they have to build the city gradually and to
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generate revenue at the same level to pay the shareholder. The infrastructure project cost huge money ' billions'. Therefore, they get a loan from the government to resolve project finance issue.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Alpha and Gamma highlighted the changes in strategy or project scope as major
challenge that overwhelming the organization, even though the change was for
the best. This confirmed by following quotations:
“Changing of the scope is main issue facing this approach, which affects the whole project it’s like killing the project.” Alpha, PPM Manager “[…]at the beginning and this is was very big strategic mistake; they start to build residential building. So they start the design for residential towers, resorts, recreation, and they start selling it to the people. After while 'two years' they fond that this was very big strategic mistake based on several facts.[…] Therefore, they change their strategy after the facts.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Regardless to the project management approach that being adopted in these
organisations, this phase revealed number of challenges was related directly to
the practice of project management approaches. For instance, lack of the top
management support to the project management, inadequate project activities,
reluctance to stop low value project, and no clear accountability for a single
project. Theses challenges supported by the following quotation:
“Another bigger issue with portfolio is about the reporting line, our portfolio managers are not reporting to the portfolio office in the bank. What ever I explained to you before about the role of project portfolio management, that what should be done and that what presented by the core team when they brought the portfolio management as an idea to be implemented in the bank. However what is going on is not that at all. […] The involvement in the initiative from itself is not part of the portfolio management.” Alpha, PMO Manager
“[…] the alignment with strategy is one of the issue I facing right now. We have people who are execute but they don’t know where they are from their strategy.” Beta, Head of PMO “[…] in order to make PMO functioning effectively it should
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be focus of strategic rather than the tactics […]. The point I would like emphasis here that for a single project we have a lot of accountable persons, so the accountability is not strong enough. There is no clear accountability for a single project, which is a real problem. The responsibilities are overlapping.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Furthermore, most of mentioned above challenges are inter-related and lead to
each other. For example the absence of management support for the project
activities could lead to hierarchy power that influences the decision on project
selection, which could affect badly on the allocated resources. This supported by
the following quotations:
“Every division head try to use his power to influence the sector head to get the approval of his project not as per to strategy not to the process of the portfolio management.[…] when the projects going on, some of the senior mangers decide to add/remove services or options for running project. This decision will cause again change in the scope of the project and capacity issue.” Alpha, PMO Manager
Consequently, the lack of centralised project software to handle and share
project information was obvious in banking and property development
organisations. Indeed, the importance of management software as a supportive
tool for the entire project management approach was neglected in these
organisations. This challenge is not critical as highlighted in the below
quotations, but it does directly affect the ability to get accurate information for
monitoring the project activities, and it does therefore, indirectly cause poor
project management practice. This issue confirmed by the following quotations:
“Introduce software tools that manage the idea from the initiation till it translation to the execution and to project post implementation process, which we don’t have and it’s really very important to have.” Alpha, PPM Manager “[…] in very professional and matured environment or ‘organization’ you will find what is called ‘PM tools’ i.e. MS Project and other. In my environment, people are scared of new tools because they have their own operations and daily activities, and when you impose new tools on them you have to report and stuff like that. […] In term of tools I use MS. Office
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(Excel, PowerPoint and SharePoint). I do have the software as tool of project management but I don’t use it because people are resisting using it. I would like to keep things simple.” Beta, Head of PMO “[…] we use mainly PowerPoint and excel sheet to report our project status in weekly basis as we get information from the project managers. […] we don't have tools which is a problem. Also all generated report is out-dated.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Even though the entire interviewed organisations in Phase One were
familiarised with various approaches related to project management in particular
PMI, this familiarity with project management approaches or PPM did not mean
correct translation of the approach or the practice. For instance, the PMO in
Alpha and Gamma was established originally to support both organisations to
deliver strategic projects. However, in practice the function of the PMO in
Alpha was far away from what it originally created for. This is confirmed
explicitly by the quotation:
“[…] Whatever I explained to you before about the role of project portfolio management, that’s what should be done, and that is what presented by the core team when they brought the project portfolio management as an idea to be implemented in the bank. However, what is going on? is not that at all.” Alpha, PPM Manager
In the same sense, the role of the PMO in Gamma limited to reporting function
about the project progress. Somehow, this limitation reduces the value of PMO
function within the organisation. Regardless of the approach, without fully
committing to all processes within the project management approach, the
organisation will not realise the benefits of the practice. The following quotation
highlights the issue:
“In order to make PMO function effectively it should be the focus of strategic rather than the tactics. It should have a valuable output and not only a report. No one will understand the value of PMO if they are just seeing PMO as a reporting unit. There is no doubt how important it is to have a report and dashboard; however, it will be a problem if this is the only output of the PMO unit.” Gamma, PMO Manager
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Based on what been said, the majority of the challenges revealed during the
Phase One interviews were related directly to the practice of the project
management approach. Alpha and Gamma have very notably quotations in
regards to translation of the practice on the following:
“[…] Whatever I explained to you before about the role of project portfolio management, that’s what should be done, and that is what presented by the core team when they brought the project portfolio management as an idea to be implemented in the bank. However, what is going on? is not that at all.” Alpha, PPM Manager “There is no doubt how important it is to have a report and dashboard; however, it will be a problem if this is the only output of the PMO unit.” Gamma, PMO Manager
Eventually, this leads to a project management approach that is not based on
good practice, and that does not help the organisation to obtain the benefits it is
hoping for. Recalling the idea of translation presented in Chapter Three, only the
practice name of project management is being translated and travelled to those
organisations. This is supported by Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) by saying
organisations and people do different things and call it the same name
(Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005).
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5.6 SUMMARY OF PHASE ONE
Phase One of this study revealed 15 challenges encountered the participated
organisations in Saudi Arabia that outlined in below Table 5.3.
TABLE 5.3: PHASE ONE FINDINGS FOR ORGANISATIONS FROM
SAUDI ARABIA
Phase-One Collective Challenges/Problems
Insufficient human
resources or lack of
competent resources
for the project
Inadequate activities
of project
management/ project
portfolio management
(PPM)
Conflict between
the organisation
structure and the
project execution
Lack of centralised
project software to
handle and share
project information
Lack of senior
management support
for the project
management roles
Inadequate capacity
for planning and lack
of resources
allocation
No clear
accountability for a
single project
Project selection
process based on
hierarchy power and
not based on
strategy
Insufficient financial
resources
No clear links
between the strategy
and the project
Lack of strategy
communication or
awareness
Changes in project
scope
Changes in strategy Reluctance to stop or kill low value projects or non-strategic projects
Internal conflict and lack of team spirit
Challenges outlined above in Table 5.3, represents the themes of empirical data
related exclusively to participants working in Saudi Arabia organisations.
Considering the geographical location of the participants, there are particular
extant cultural issues and therefore the findings cannot be generalised.
Moreover, above listed challenges revealed nothing new, as most of the
challenges listed above similar to those mentioned in previous studies. It is
notable that Sterling (2003) claimed these challenges or ‘causes of failure’ to be
simply excuses for poor performance that had gained creditability as genuine
challenges merely by the fact that they were repeatedly encountered.
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Nonetheless, the initial result of this research confirming both studies of Young
et al. (2012) and Young and Grant (2014), which indicates a defects in project
management approach. Most importantly, listed above challenges revealed from
the project-oriented organisation are directly related to the translation process of
the practice of project management rather than the project management itself.
Accordingly, the researcher continue another set of interviews by applying the
translation concept to gain in-depth understanding of two particular translation
processes firstly, the simplification, and secondly, the materialisation that
associated with the practice translation inside these organisations.
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CHAPTER SIX
PHASE TWO INTERVIEWS
6.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter provides an analysis of the data gathered from the Phase Two
interviews conducted between July and September 2011, and June and
September 2012. The purpose of these interviews was to validate the initial
findings of the Phase One interviews and explore in depth, the issues associated
with the practice of translating the organisational strategy via the project
management approach. In Phase Two, Twenty-five (25) semi-structured and
unstructured interviews were conducted with five organisations from three
industries namely: Banking, Property Development, and Higher Education
(HE).
Being informed by the outcomes of the Phase One interviews, the second phase
interviews focused on obtaining in-depth understanding of two things through
the practice lens and the idea of translation presented in Chapter Three: firstly,
the strategy translation process, and secondly, the project management approach
in facilitating the translation concept in these organisations.
6.2 INTRODUCTION
The decision to proceed to the Phase Two interviews was made after
considering the results of Phase One of the study, which it became clear that the
oil and petrochemicals industries were not suitable for the research, and for that
representatives from other industries were required. The problem with the oil
and petrochemicals interviews related to the heavy work schedules of the
desired interviewees as these individuals had very busy work diaries that
involved frequent abroad trips, thus making them relatively inaccessible.
Moreover, the geographical location of the sites involved the researcher himself
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in a great deal of time travelling. Consequently, the oil and petrochemicals
industries were dropped from the Phase Two interviews, and the property
development and higher education were included instead, as both selected
organisations within these industries are project-oriented. In this respect, the
researcher added a giant property developer, and university from Saudi
Arabia’s. The property development organisation was chosen because it had
extensive experience of executing government mega-projects and managing
various construction projects. In respect of the university selected, this case
organisation had witnessed huge expansion projects, thereby being of direct
relevance to the research. The banking and property development organisations
from Phase One continued through into Phase Two. During this later phase,
supervisors were consulted to ensure that those interviewed represented a wide
range of employee levels, and industrial background, and that they had a good
theoretical knowledge of project management.
Based on the researcher experience of conducting the Phase One interviews,
certain questions were modified and/or omitted to retain their focus and
relevance, and to improve on the clarity. The interview guide was accordingly
prepared, bearing in mind the need to obtain a meaningful response, and to
restrict the duration of the interviews to a period that would be acceptable to
those participating. Also, it was found in Phase One that people involved in
projects were usually busy and having a variety of activities and tasks to
complete in given time-frames, so the interview guide was designed to ensure
that the interview would not exceed one and a half hours. The interview guide
was designed and revised in consultation with the supervisor (See Appendix C).
The purpose of the Phase Two interviews was to validate the challenges and
problems revealed in the Phase One interviews, and to investigate the practice of
project management approach in these selected organisations. By this, the
researcher ensured the continuity between both interviews phases.
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6.3 PLANNING AND DESIGNING THE PHASE TWO INTERVIEWS
Given the intention of the Phase Two interviews to confirm the implementation
issues that emerged in Phase One, this second round of interviews included a
wide range of individuals who were able to provide detailed information about
the processes. Included were employees ranging from executive general
managers to junior staff from the banking, property development, and higher
education industries, all of whom were believed to help the researcher in
investigating strategy translation issues through the various applied management
approaches. The following sub-sections describe in detail the planning and
design of Phase Two (i.e. securing the access to information, the selection of
organisations and participants, and data preparation) of the study.
6.3.1 SECURING DATA ACCESS
Securing access to organisational data continued to present a substantial
challenge during Phase Two of the study, a feature that was particularly difficult
given that two of the industrial sectors had been replaced, and the researcher
essentially had to start from the beginning with two organisations that newly
entered. Nonetheless, the researcher worked to build a rapport with the
managers of each participating organisation, and to obtain from them, an
assurance that the further fieldwork planned for Phase Two would be facilitated.
By this, the researcher ensured the continuity between both interviews phases.
In total, there were (25) interviews conducted during Phase Two. Most of the
interviews conducted within the premises of concerned organisations. In
addition, the researcher reviewed documents during one site visit as a means of
gaining an in-depth understanding of the research problems. It is believed that
the interviews, documents reviewed, and the one site visit enabled a data
saturation level that met the study’s requirements.
6.3.2 INTERVIEWED ORGANISATIONS
Confidentiality of the data was the main concern of all those interviewed. In this
respect, an invitation letter was sent to participants and the interviews were
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arranged via email (See Appendix D). The interview protocol was explained at
the beginning of the interview (See Appendix C), and some of interviewee
signed an informed consent form (See Appendix A). The researcher gave an
assurance that all interview data would remain confidential and to be used only
for the purpose of this particular research study. Consequently, the names of the
participating companies and the individual interviewees were classified as part
of the agreement concluded between both parties and in according with research
ethics. Table 6.1 presents basic information about the case study organisations
in Phase Two of the study, using pseudonyms to protect the anonymity of the
companies. As can be seen from Table 6.1, the number of projects on an annual
basis ranged from 50 to 100+ in the participating organisations.
TABLE 6.1: CASE STUDY ORGANISATIONS IN PHASE TWO Given Company
Name
Industry Project Type On-going
Projects
Alpha Banking IT 100+
Beta Banking IT 50+
Gamma Property Development Construction 100+
Zeta Property Development Construction 100+
Eta Higher Education Construction 60+
6.3.3 PARTICIPANTS’ PROFILES
Below Table 6.2 presents the roles, background, and industrial sector of the
interviewees in Phase Two. The group of interviewees was comprised of a wide
range of employees in order to obtain varied views on the process. Indeed,
interviewees ranged from executive general managers to junior staff in each of
the four sectors represented (banking, property development, and higher
education).
TABLE 6.2: PROFILE OF PHASE TWO INTERVIEWEES
Alias Industry Participant’s Role Background
Alp
ha
Ban
king
Vice President, IBS - Strategy Office Engineering
Manager - Project Portfolio Management
(PPM) - Project Management Office (PMO)
IT and Business
Manager - Project Management Office
(PMO)
Engineering
Project Manager - PMO Engineering
Bet
a
Ban
king
Head - Project Management Office (PMO) Computer Science,
MBA
Project Manager 1- PMO Accountant
Project Manager 2- PMO Engineering
Project Manager 3- PMO Engineering
Gam
ma
Prop
erty
Dev
elop
men
t Executive General Manager Engineering
Manager -Project Management Office (PMO) Engineering
Senior Architect Architect
Development Director Engineering
Development Deputy Engineering
Zeta
Prop
erty
Dev
elop
men
t
Director, Centre for Advanced Projects
Support (CAPS)
Engineering, PhD
Senior Project Manager - CAPS Engineering
Projects Manager 1- CAPS Engineering
Projects Manager 2 - CAPS Engineering
Quality Engineer - CAPS Engineering
Eta
Hig
her E
duca
tion
Vice President for Project (VPP) Engineering, PhD
General Director-University Projects Engineering, PhD
Department Manager of Projects Engineering
Strategy Implementation Supervisor- VPP
Office
Engineering, PhD
Project Manager, Branch 1 Development Engineering
Project Manager, Branch 2 Development Engineering
Project Manager of Strategy Implementation Engineering
Site Manager for Campus Projects -
Consultant office
Engineering
Construction Engineer - Consultant office Engineering Engineer-Consultant office Engineering
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It can be seen from above Table 6.2 that the background of the interviewees in
the banking sector was varied, including engineering, IT, and business, whereas
in the other two organisations industries, the interviewees mainly came from
engineering backgrounds. All respondents were asked to choose from the
projects that had worked on in the past or were working on at the time of the
interview. Being able to choose their own project for discussion presented
interviewees with a degree of freedom that enabled them to talk spontaneously
and allowed the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of the project
management processes in place, and the associated challenges.
6.4 DATA PREPARATION
Before beginning the analysis, the collected data was prepared in a format
suitable for the procedure. Whilst some data were collected through
documentary review and the site visit, the data in Phase Two mainly originated
from the interviews. The interview is a common technique in exploratory
research, and the analysis of data obtained usually follows a particular pattern.
Firstly, it is necessary to transcribe an interview and then to code the data
obtained. The processes of transcription and coding data are the two main steps
within the data preparation stage. So, the interviews in Phase Two were
transcribed by listening to the audio files, and then the entire text of each was
reviewed and subsequently coded according to the themes discussed within the
interviews.
The codes were based on Table 2.7 that collected from previous studies
investigating project challenges and problems placed in Chapter Two. The
process of coding represents a useful way to convert the outcomes of interviews
data into meaningful information. Furthermore, the documentary review (from
websites) and observations made during the site visit helped in clarifying and
understanding the organisational situation. In terms of documentary review,
there was no set pattern for each organisation. Rather the researcher read what
was available in terms of strategy documentation and related information
published on the organisations’ websites and/or printed in booklets and reports.
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One site visit for the Eta organisation was conducted during Phase Two. To
complete the process of data preparation, the three interviews that were
conducted in Arabic were translated into English, and the comments made
during the site visit were also produced in a text format.
6.5 DATA ANALYSIS
Data obtained from this phase interviews was then analysed to establish the
types and natural of project each organisation was engaged in, the way in which
the organisations developed strategy, the approach used to translate strategy, the
involved staff, whether any techniques were used in the translation of strategy
and practice, and at what level in the organisation the project head was placed.
The in-depth analysis of data conducted based on two factors:
• Strategy translation
• Practice translation of project management
The analysis presented below in alphabetic order based on the given name for
each organisation.
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• Alpha Alpha is belongs to bank industry that adopting project management aimed at
realised the organisational strategy. Alpha strategy is to increase its
attractiveness to such organisations, and hence generate more revenue for itself.
This strategy is translated into various projects and initiatives to make itself
attractive to private and semi-private organisations seeking financial support.
Most of Alpha’s projects are internal development projects, designed either to
enhance existing services or to provide new products.
• Strategy translation
Alpha has deliberate strategy approach operated on a top-down basis determined
by the structure of the bank, with top management views predominating. The
Executive Management Committee (EMC) conducts a periodic meeting to
review strategy and decides the direction to be taken and the required initiatives
to facilitate the required resources. This EMC and Strategy Forum plays a major
role in translating the strategy and deciding the direction and the initiatives
adopted. This was elaborated on by the interviewee as being the first step in the
translation of the strategy. Four strategy heads from each sector meet with the
Planning and Finance Office to review the strategy and cascade it down the
organisation. The EMC and Strategy Forum are representing the translation
processes that are used to establish the discussion and to share information
within Alpha so that the translation of the strategy can occur.
“The EMC conducts a periodic meeting to decide the initiatives and the directions of the bank based on market research and economic reports. The main objectives of these initiatives are either to generate revenues or to cut the cost. Based on this, the direction will be decided; and these initiatives translated to project whether IT or business project. […]We have now what we call it strategy forum. In the strategy forum, every strategy heads from different sectors meet with the planning and finance office to cascade down the strategy or build a review”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
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Alpha employees are involved directly in strategy development and
implementation. However, the management recognise that there is variance
between formulation and implementation, and the senior manager interviewed
believed that this gap between the development of the strategy and its
implementation represented the main problem. Given the concern about the
variance between the formulation and the implementation in Alpha, the bank
management proposed several new approaches to try to resolve issues that arose
during the implementation. The first of these approaches was called the Stage
Gate Approach (SGA), which aimed directly to resolve the implementation gap
through the use of a Business Case Model (BCM). The output of the SGA and
the BCM are examples of objects resulted from the translation that are brought
into play to establish shared goal within the organisation and allow different
groups to collaborate on a common task to achieve the organisation’s target. The
interviewee considered these approaches would help in resolving the gap, as
indicated in the following comment:
“In our bank, we develop strategy then jump to implementation, and this is the problem. […]Recently, the bank introduced a new approach called the Stage Gate Approach (SGA), which aims to fill the gap between strategy formulation and implementation. […]After identifying the objectives, the initiative will be created through the Stage Gate Approach, which is a process to validate the generated idea through a Business Case (BC) model. This BC goes through a number of validation checks before it goes to the implementation”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
The concern of strategy translation was the fact that there were changes
introduced to the initiatives during the actual implementation, which affected
the plans.
“Usually the bank vision is not changed from one year to another, our vision is constant. The strategy of the bank lasts for three years. However, the strategic goals and initiatives could be changed, which is been cascaded.[…] Strategy is on-going exercise and change over the time based on the market. The direction is known but the initiatives changed as you go” (Alpha, IBS- Strategy Office, Vice President).
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The Coupling Approach (CA) is the second approach that aims to overcome the
issue of change being introduced to the initiatives. This approach links the
approved initiative with the annual operating plan by obtaining the required
budget. It represents a second layer of translation process to validate the
initiative pre-implementation, and the interviewee believed it served as a
reservoir for all the initiatives generated.
“Every department has an annual operating plan (AOP) that is linked with the fiscal year. To resolve the change issue, the AOP is linked with the strategy as a couple; but not a tight couple. The main purpose of coupling the strategy with the AOP is to get the initiative ready for the implementation. By this, not every initiative will get budget in the AOL, only the one that passes the business case process in SGA. Furthermore, it will keep as reserve for the all initiatives that may be generated”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
The third approach was called Business Architecture, and the interviewee
emphasised the features of this approach, which maps the initiatives using five
elements that ensure better success for the implementation. These mapping
elements are: the financial situation, capability, readiness, internal enablers, and
external providers. In fact, the Business Architecture approach proposed here is
based on the Balanced Scorecard BSC concept. However, the practice is used
but the name is not used.
“This idea is driven from the Construction and Civil engineering when constructing a building. It has been used in the IT, which uses a blueprint concept. Similarly, we will use a business architecture and blueprint concept in the bank. If I have a set of initiatives, before I move to the implementation, I should do a mapping. The mapping will be against four elements within the bank including the finance situation. These four elements of mapping are: Capability, Readiness, Internal Enablers, and External Providers”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
The communication team in Alpha utilises various channels to communicate the
strategy and directions including discussion, meetings, internal newsletters and
the portal. The results of the meeting with the CEO are communicated directly
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through the senior managers to their colleagues. The used material used here are
example of the objects resulted from the translation.
“There is a communication team working with the management on communicating our strategy and direction. They utilise the events, town-hall, periodical news, discussion, and portal; they also utilise all media available to communicate the direction, vision, and mission. Also, there is a quarterly review meeting between senior managers and the CEO. In this meeting he discusses the 'status quo' of the bank and the senior managers are conveying the messages to their fellows. Senior managers should cascade the vision, mission and the strategic goals. However, each business area is already involved in the initiatives” (Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
• Practice translation of project management
In Alpha, the lack of success of the previous PMO model was replaced with a
new model called the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), which
aimed to resolve the issues associated with its predecessor by having a number
of dedicated project managers responsible for centralising the projects and
strategically directing them. However, it was considered that the number of
these project managers was still insufficient.
“Before one and a half year, the bank started a new exercise called Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), and this is a centralised project management system. EPMO have a number of project managers who can be seconded to do projects. The number of the project managers is not enough, thus some of the business managers are managing some of the projects. The big and strategic project goes to EPMO, and the remaining projects are left for sector portfolio”(Alpha, Project Manager). “We have strategic goals that are translated into strategic initiatives, which can carry a set of projects, or programme and projects, or programme. So, with programme and projects, we define the initiative, set of activities under the initiatives. As well the business case is carrying out exactly what we want doing includes budget, cost, goals, and requirement” (Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
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In addition to the EPMO, Project Portfolio Management (PPM) represents
another means of conducting sector projects. Recently Alpha adopted PPM to
overcome the challenges associated with the traditional project management
approach. The concept was customised to fit the organisational structure by
creating one portfolio for each sector. Consequently, the bank ended up with
multiple portfolios rather than a single portfolio that integrated projects within
the organisational strategy.
“The big and strategic project goes to EPMO, and the remaining project is left for the sector portfolio. […] Now we have a Project Portfolio Management (PPM). […] Across the bank there are portfolio managers in the PPM connected directly to the strategic office. Every sector in the bank has a portfolio. Bear in mind, all the projects in the portfolio are strategic projects. The projects reported through the PPM to the bank portfolio, which goes to EMC and bank IT committee”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
“After conducting some studies on ideas, the portfolio manager gets initial approval to implement this idea as projects in order to get final approval from the division heads. After that all listed projects should be prioritised according to the sectors and then across the whole bank. The CEO should approve this list too, to get the final list of the projects. […] The bank structured based on sectors, therefore we have multiple portfolios, one per sector. Moreover, there is a portfolio especially for the departments that do not belong to any sector”(Alpha, PPM Manager).
Consequently, the customisation of PPM in Alpha ended up with multiple
portfolios rather than a single portfolio that integrated projects within the
organisational strategy. Therefore, the interviewee believed that the main idea of
the PPM approach and the way it had been translated in Alpha were totally
different, which did not help the organisation to achieve the benefits it was
hoping for.
“If you want me to extend this to the bigger issue, it is in the organisation itself, where the issue of role itself. […]Whatever I explained to you before about the role of project portfolio management, that what should be done and that what presented by the core team when they brought the portfolio
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management as an idea to be implemented in the bank. However what is going on is not that at all”(Alpha, PPM Manager).
In Alpha, the middle management thought that the current efforts and approach
of project and portfolio management were insufficient to overcome the
challenges presented by the previous project approach. As well the top
management believed the main challenge to practice translation was the lack of
process and the leadership to guide the implementation. So, it is clear that the
process of PPM practice was not in place or was not travelled as part of the
translation, and only the name of the practice was travelled.
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• Beta Beta is belongs to bank industry that adopting project management aimed at
realised the organisational strategy. In Beta, strategy development is top-down.
Senior managers formulate the strategy and cascade it throughout the
organisation for implementation by those in more junior positions. The Head of
the PMO had only recently joined the bank and when interviewed, indicated that
he thought the business cases were used as techniques to translate the bank’s
strategy. In Beta the selection process in respect of projects is based on the
strategy and the PMO team forms part of the committee.
• Strategy translation
In Beta the business cases are used as the first step for translating the strategy
and to establish the discussion and communication between various groups
within the organisation so that they can collaborate and together achieve the
bank’s strategy.
“The programme and project management are there to implement ‘execute’ the strategy. […]I filter the projects with something called project committee, to filter and approve projects that will go to the execution this year. […] I had been involved in the project from the beginning as business case. So we filter the business cases to know what is match with the strategy of the bank”(Beta, Head of PMO).
In Beta the development of the strategy and the implementation is part of the
bank’s role. The interviewee stressed the importance of considering the market
situation in order that a realistic strategy could be formulated. The linkage
between the bank strategy and the projects was seen as quite direct, since
projects were created in total alignment with the strategy.
“We evaluate the strategy based on many factor and report that to senior management and they are in charge to discuss it with the CEO and the board to take the required decision. […] The formulated strategy should be realistic based on the current market situation and achievable; not promising the
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moon. First of all we confirm our strategy and then we create the required project to achieve these strategies”(Beta, Head of PMO).
“The bank in order to move to next level they have vision; we have consolidated list of projects at the top level at ‘strategy level’; this strategy office we called it transformation group who control all this projects”(Beta, PMO, Project Manager 1).
• Practice translation of project management
The project management process starts once the committee’s approved the
business case submitted by a project manager has been obtained. Project
selection and prioritisation are made based on the alignment of the project with
the organisational strategy. And once the committee’s approval has been given,
the financial resources and the capacity planning are allocated for the project.
Beta thereby applies a typical project management process borrowed from PMI.
The initiation of the business case is a collaborative effort between the project
manager and the business owner who requested the project. The business case
provides information concerning the business such as the current situation, the
needs, and the benefits accruing to the bank after implementation, thus
incorporating a justification for asking the bank for support. The document
resulted from business case considered as objects that allows collaboration
between people in Beta to work together on a common task.
“The first part of the process is project or portfolio of projects is to put framework; how to select them and then how prioritize, and that kind of things. Once the project is approved in term of budget and capacity, then we move to the second process initiate the project through the PMI PLC (Initiation, planning, execution, control)”(Beta, Head of PMO).
The head of the PMO elaborated on three project management models: support,
control, and execution. Currently Beta implements only the support model as
role but the new management hopes to implement all three models in the future
with the help of competent project managers. However, both interviewed project
managers thoughts they paly the execution role.
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“There are three types of roles for project and programme management, depend on the model you chose to implement. We have three models: support, control, and execution. […]I take the office and there was only support. I'm trying to have support and control. So I'm setting the new governors to take up the methodology that every project manager in the bank should follow”(Beta, Head of PMO). “In the past between 2008 and 2009, PMO was only playing the role of supporting the project and we have project manager assigning in every business unit; the business owner is also the project manager ‘not experienced project manager’ but we assist them, […] but now we are doing execution also; as project manager we manage project from initiation to closure” (Beta, PMO, Project Manager 1). “Now we shifted to another approach where PMO will execute the project and business is only the stakeholders. […] We are going to somehow maturity process and I think we are more mature now than before; but still we don’t have a solid project management methodology”(Beta, PMO, Project Manager 3).
Moreover, Beta project managers themselves emphasised that these models
were not yet authorised, and that the outcome was variance in the practice of the
project management from one project manager to another.
“In initiation for example, we prepare a business case not all the project manager do that, but in my project I do that. […] Some time we are forgetting this however we are becoming more mature than the past. In the past we don’t have methodology, there is no process, or single process to follow when implements the project. Some project has a business cases and some don’t have, we just do it” (Beta, PMO, Project Manager 1).
“There is no approved process that says I should do that or this; we have only guidelines tell do this and that for example for initiating project. Up to my knowledge, there is no written approved process that everyone should follow and you could share it with your team in the bank. There is nothing like that till know […] we have methodology and process but not approved yet”(Beta, PMO, Project Manager 3).
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In Beta, weekly meetings, memo, and project status reports are used to monitor
project progress and to keep the stakeholders updated. Hence, these meetings
and reports represent objects used for share project information. However, the
project manager considered the report to be only useful for updating top
management. Furthermore, there is no specific technique are used for translating
the practice of project management.
“In regards to the monitoring, we have a steering committee for the stakeholders and our chief operation officer (COO) attending this meeting and this happening every week. Also we have the project status report that sent to the whole stakeholder in particular the group heads and division managers. Because from my experience in the project, we met with the most of the stakeholders on daily bases and they are already updated on the project; so, we don’t need to update them” (Beta, Strategy Office, Project Manager 2).
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• Gamma
Gamma is belongs to property development industry and the strategy
development and implementation was dominated by the structure of the
company and the owners’ intentions. The strategy reviewed through the
company’s website and prospectus (2011) described the strategy development
process in brief, from which it was established that the new management
thinking is for Gamma to align its direction with the government vision that
aims to accommodate more religious visitors in the old area of Makkah. To
achieve this, the original plan of the Gamma project was to operate as a land
converter, parcelling different pieces of land for sale to investors. However, that
plan has changed and now the company’s strategy is to become a property
developer.
• Strategy translation
Gamma has a deliberate strategy approach operated on a top-down basis
determined by the Chairmen. The 2011 Prospectus confirmed that two
consultants had been assigned to assist in the strategy development process,
which was undertaken by conducting a SWOT analysis. Furthermore, Gamma
team members were also involved in developing and translating the strategy, but
the goals and approaches were changed over time by senior managers and this
negatively affected the progress of the project. The information on Gamma
website and the Prospectus are example of the objects resulted from the strategy
translation and the role of these objects will be examined during this phase.
“We are also involved in strategizing and optimizing the resources that we have. For instance the basic cooling, we don’t have enough money for cooling and that clear, and rather than trying to do everything by ourselves, we ended-up to bring investors into the project. […] Our projects have had the chance of bringing investment with the investment and better chance of success”(Gamma, Development Director).
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In Gamma, the top management uses weekly meetings as objects to
communicate and review strategy progress. These meetings and the discussion
used to create a common language for organisational conversation.
“Everybody, almost on daily basis or a weekly basis, we have to look into our strategy, what is going on? How it would be implemented? How we are going to move forward with it? […] I appointed as General Manager for this project from several months, and I’m aware about our strategy to a certain level” (Gamma, Executive General Manager). “We believe that we are part of the whole role. By doing a control on progressive business, having a forum or meetings to check on the status, the adjustment issues and to be able to provide clear direction at the right time, that is one of the key items that difficult for every business” (Gamma, Development Director).
• Practice translation of project management
The business owners has translated the strategy and agreed to begin executes the
project as one phase. Gamma signed contracts of project execution as one phase
with two local giant contractors over the 36 months between January 2008 and
January 2011. The interviewed project architect believed that proceeding project
execution as a one-phase was a major challenge from the financial and
management perspective, which was discovered by top management two years
after commencing the project, at which point the decision was made to divide
the project execution into a number of phases.
“Actually I believe this the main problem with this project from the beginning. From the architectural point of view, it’s of course divided into parts not one part; it’s not one part as one tower. From the construction point of view, it was handed from the beginning as one phase; I believe this was our main problem. This is a problem phasing the project. After two years of the project, they started now phasing the project. They understand this issue and admit that we cannot handle as one project from a financial point of view, from constructions, and from follow up. You need more than three or four project management firms to control such big projects as one phase. So now this project has been divided into phases” (Gamma, Senior Architect).
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Later on, the management team introduced a new multi-phase strategy to
achieve the project’s goals. The Development Director thought that by breaking
down the project into phases and then into smaller projects, there would be a
better chance of success. Here, the practices of the programme and project
portfolio management have been translated through the idea of breaking down
the phases, but it was only the practice that travelled and not the name.
“[…] It became clear that the project of 2.2 Million Square Meters (SM) have been broken down into phases. And it became clear that the amount of money to be brought in, has to be within the appetite and capacity of the market. We have to bring around 15 billions in one go, and no banks will take such risk. But if we break it down into 4 billions and we do a multiple strategy, you will be able to have a better chance of success” (Gamma, Development Director).
The approach of breaking down the project into smaller projects was borrowed
from the interviewees’ experiences on a similar development project in
Malaysia in the belief that this would resolve the capabilities and resource issues
as a number of medium-sized contractors would be involved. It was also
believed to elevate the knowledge level and the experiences of these local
medium-sized companies that would be valuable in the projects in the next
phase. The Development Director elaborated on the practice of ‘split wealth’ as
example to simplify the practice to translate the approach and share the
knowledge. Split wealth is about breaking a big project into smaller projects that
can be executed by local medium-sized companies with supervision from
international expert company. Using such a translation technique of the practice,
the company would achieve the desired result and at the same time enable
knowledge transfer in the medium-sized companies. Furthermore, Gamma
would benefit from these medium-sized companies in the next phase projects.
However, only the Malaysian practice of breaking down the project into smaller
practices travelled, and the name of ‘split wealth’ not being used. “We come from practice back in Malaysia that we need to split the wealth. We need to bring in experts from many sites.
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When we put these together for instance project like this worth about 6.5 or almost 7 billions, we have broken-down 7 billions for selling them into one thousand different companies, consultants, contractors and multiple people that were involved in the project. This enhances the capabilities of the local companies, because the size of the project is not so big; I mean the med-size companies, med-size consultant, and then med-size suppliers will be part of this. And with that we used such skills to enhance the capacity of the professionals of the country, so when will go for phase-two and phase three these same companies will do it. And that are how we have more wide distribution of wealth and more wide distribution of knowledge” (Gamma, Development Director).
“When we did the twin tower and we brought by the government, we just finished Canary works. Twenty people from the expert company putting as key managers then we put in with our team to do knowledge transfer. By the time ‘ the third year’ expect phasing out this people; then our management the locals staff coming in, remember that we learnt from them, we went to the same steam with them, so there is no gap in experience working and how to do work” (Gamma, Deputy of Development Director).
The responsibility for project management was held by different partners in
Gamma. At the beginning, the contractor ‘designer’ was involved as well as
undertaking his normal responsibilities, and then later another partner take the
control. Thus, the translation of the project management practice was done
through both partners. However, the interviewees believed that the project
management role was unclear and difficult to enact.
“From our side, the role was not clear as a project manager because we start the project as design developer and then they add project management to our role. So it’s difficult to be the project manager and also design reviewer, and design developer this is very different. I believe it’s not common and as a project manager you cannot involved in any other decision, you cannot involve in any other design development requires by client. […] But in our case we were both the project manager and also the design developer to achieve this kind of modification required to do this, and this is very difficult. Very difficult because at sometimes it takes you from the original scope to the other, and of course it will be our problem not anyone else.[…] sometimes we wearing two hats,
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the hat of project manager and the hat of designer development” (Gamma Senior Architect).
“The time we left the project our role was as project management consultant, however now we are the builder. […] So we shift our role from being project management consultant to become part and parcel of the client” (Gamma, Development Director).
Gradually, Gamma has come to realise the importance of clarity in the project
management role, and top management has decided that in the case of a project
running for a limited time, hiring a consultant is the best option. Thus, it was
decided to assign the project management role to international consultancy
company. Using this approach, each partner has a specific role and the project
management is undertaken with the international consultant acting as the
translation agent. However, some interviewee considered this decision to have
been made purely for political and financial reasons.
“This project is a short period project. For example, you build, operate it, maybe we will be under them and later on as a facility management operation, but it is only one time, you are going to build it and that’s it; then you leave. There are no other new buildings. So, we don’t have to have the entire group of people and later on you tell them okay bye, bye. […] You cannot manage it your-self, you have to have a consultant and your-self to manage it with you. And most important thing, you must have a project manager to manage it. […] It can be the consultant or it could be as a project manager” (Gamma, Executive General Manager).
“You need professional project managers to be on the job because we cannot explain ourselves to bring anything, we cannot hire 200 people in Makkah, it’s difficult. But if we engage professional companies, we can do the investor role. And after completing the development of this project, we don’t have a headache on how to deal with these people and tell them to go home”(Gamma, Development Director).
“There were some political and financial issues, some banks recommended to hire international project manager for project finance, that’s why we replaced by Internationally Project Management Consultant Company and changed our role to be design developer again”(Gamma, Senior Architect).
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The Development Director thought that the international consultants would
travel to the site with their own experts. Consequently, these experts play a key
role in translating the practice and in providing a common language for Gamma.
However, in fact the organisation did not gain the benefit from outsourcing the
role of project management for international company, since the international
experts did not travel to their site to offer expertise, and the relationships was
little, since the actual project manager assigned was a local individual. The
interviewee believes that the appointment of an international consultancy
organisation was not the best option as had been thought in the first place.
“What we saw when we bring the international project management consultant here? Our consultant is one of the largest project management consultancy services in the world not only here and in construction management may probably from top five. So, we thought that we brought the engineers of this International from American but fact was not that at all. […] By bring in this International consultant we were looking to bring in the experts. Unfortunately, it was only the name that came. Because the people brought into project were from around the same region as expected, and I will not say anything about these people. […] So, if you put another company name, you will not know the differences; because we have the name but we don’t have the people or the experts” (Gamma, Development Director).
It was clear that there was a disconnection between the project manager hired by
the international consultancy, and the actual headquarters of the consultancy in
the USA. The interviewee believed that the lack of expertise and competent
project managers was the main reason for the project delay. He considered that
the main issue with the project management consultant was the lack of
competent project managers who were definitely required for such a mega
development project.
“We been client and been ended up teaching team of the project management consultant how to manage project. However, at that stage cancelling the consultancy contract would not be a very good strategy, and the solution is not simple too. We tried to contact first the international management office of the consultant at the U.S. to see if we have other options. That explains why we did not want to
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bring another new consultant. We preferred to maintain them, but what we are trying to do, is changing the people. Last year we went to Dubai and we interviewed few people and hired the good one” (Gamma, Deputy of Development Director). “We have lack of the expertise. […]. There is no knowledge share between the local company and the mother company. And lack of resources in term of people we have limited staff […] Also project never finished on time, projects always delayed which is an indication to weak project management skills or lack of competent project managers”(Gamma, PMO Manager).
• Zeta
Zeta is another example of organisation being contractor for over eight decades
and changed to be a property developer. Zeta undergone a huge transformational
strategy to change from family business contractor to be a property development
organisation deals with mega and fast track projects in Saudi Arabia. The
researcher consulted Zeta’s website hoping to review the organisation hierarchy,
vision, mission, and strategy, but unfortunately this type of information was not
published there. Consequently, organisation strategy was obtained through the
interviews, which took place in Zeta’s main office in Jeddah. Zeta changed its
strategy to become more proactive or emergent, which they making proposals to
government for projects that were aligned with the vision of the country’s
leaders.
• Strategy translation
Being a family business organisation, Zeta demonstrates emergent strategy
approach based on innovative theory in which the way forward is dictated by the
Chairman and the interests of the family members. The interviewee believed
that besides the traditional way of doing business, Zeta also sought potential
business based on the Chairman’s vision.
“The strategy is dominant by the chairman and it is part of the commitments for our networks. Well, of course we still go on bid, 92% of all our projects are office competition. And we bid and we had reached a point that we could capture the projects that we want, and here you get into this strategy and to the operational mix and you see how the chairman, for example if our strategy is to enter the Jordanian market and even if entering Jordanian market would end-up to loss five millions Jordanian Dinars. It is part of the strategy when we write-off the project, whenever we work a job and we do our work better and see how it does”(Zeta, CAPS Senior Projects Manager).
Recently, Zeta has undergone a transformational strategy to take the
organisation from a family-owned business in construction to a building
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development organisation, which initiates, finances, and executes its own
projects.
“Now we believe that our identity has been transformed into building developer; we initiate our own projects, we finance our own projects we certainly build and we can do a lot of things that not a typical of contracting”(Zeta, Director of CAPS). “From few billion Riyals turn-over in year into tens of billions of Riyals turn-over; from simple highway projects and expressways into building the highest skyscraper in the world”(Zeta, CAPS Senior Projects Manager).
In considering how Zeta had managed its transformational strategy, the
interviewees identified four main components of the strategy that enabled the
identity change. The first component was concerned with leadership, it being
noted that Zeta aimed to be a leader in the sector. The second was to be
specialised in fast track mega. The third was the effort and will to transform
itself from contractor into builder developer. And the fourth was a desire to be
social responsible to the Saudi community. The interviewees stressed that the
reason behind this strategy was the desire to reconcile the family business and
show a strong commitment to social networking.
“I think I can define our strategy in four different areas. The first point I should have made about some time ago I want to be a leader in my sector. So many people says I want to be the leader, to be number one and this has always been controversial which is better to be number one or number two or number three. […] But I think the first component across strategies is to be the leader. The second one, we would focus only on mega fast track projects and that's very important later on we’ll explain as we talk about it. Third strategy is to transform from pure contracting to a builder developers. And the fourth component is a new commitment to Saudi community”(Zeta, Director of CAPS).
• Practice translation of the project management
Recently, the Chairman of Zeta had established a new department called the
Centre for Advanced Project Support (CAPS). The interviewees perceived the
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CAPS as a vehicle for Research and Development, and as providing a strong
support for excellence within strategy development and implementation by
linking the strategy with the operations. Therefore, the translation of the practice
is happening through CAPS.
“What we do is soft work, and from here we don’t pour concrete, we don’t burn steel, we don’t procure hardware, we don’t do anything in the project, but I think I can say that what I'm doing in jobs really around technical and commercially type feasibility studies of questions or issues of projects that the organisation is interested in. This R&D hat and I'm wearing on behalf of R&D”(Zeta, CAPS Senior Projects Manager). “The emphasis we see it from the literature on CAPS, we are targeting the top and the bottom, we are supporting the development for this strategy, and then again we are focusing on the operational excellence at the operational level. But we are really trigger, support, coordinate, facilitate the improvement of project management direction”(Zeta, Director of CAPS).
It was also believed that being in its early stage of existence, the CAPS was
setting out to play the role of knowledge centre where all project stakeholders
both individuals and divisions, could share and exchange their project
experiences and knowledge. Thus, the CAPS is playing the role of translating
the practice that facilitates knowledge sharing within Zeta.
“We consider ourselves at early stage, we just started actually. Our ultimate goal is eventually as a partnership; we will have a portal in the company where all the project operational directors, project engineers and their assigned tasks of a project to be able to access the portal and download all the related plans, documents as our opponents companies are have; in other words we would not want out project managers to start from scratch. We wanted to capture all the experience internally and then once project is launched then we will get on the previous experience, because most of the projects are similar in nature“(Zeta, CAPS Projects Manager 1).
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In Zeta, the CAPS Director thought the project management process to be very
simple. It begins as soon as the work for any particular project is formally
agreed, and one of the three major divisions is assigned to take the lead. The
division is appointed according to the project type, with projects being allocated
on the basis of division speciality. These three divisions are physically located
in one building, thereby allowing for better communication and collaboration
between their various members. The interviewee believed this made the
operational processes very straightforward. Once assigned a project, the project
manager begins to communicate with the Human Resource Department to start
the process of allocating the required resources for the project.
“The way we do things is very simple. Let’s say the project we want to do, or we can do, or we were contracted to do; we picked one of our three divisions and that division is allowed to collaborate with other groups. So at the end if one division is strong in electrical mechanical, it comes above the electrical mechanical section of the council. And from there the division has a collection of power plants and the company hierarchy is what you see here in this building and then there are three operating divisions that are located outside this building and the top man has an office in this building and co-ordinates. Then they divide their work into the projects, so you see at the division, what will the project manager in development projects like our department here help each other. Who deals with the soft issues of designing management packages of the projects from beginning to end”(Zeta, Director of CAPS). “They identify a project manager, and the project manager working with our recruitment department to bring people from anywhere around the world. So it becomes a typical project management process how do we get the resources, how do we plan the project, how do we allocate the resources, and how do we appoint the work and then how do we evaluate them and do all of this stuff, so that’s the way we do our work”(Zeta, CAPS Projects Manager 1).
Zeta has two approaches to execute mega projects successfully. These are
known as ‘zoning’ or ‘sub-zoning’, and vertical construction. Both approaches
are representing the process for translating the practice used in mega projects.
The zoning concept is about breaking down a project into zones, and assigning
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independent project managers for each zone so that these smaller zones work as
separate projects that are being completed in parallel with each other. The
zoning and sub-zoning approach is comparable with the practice of
programme/multiple concurrent projects. Here the practice could be seen to
have travelled, although the name given to the practice was different.
Irrespective of differences in nomenclature, however, the virtual construction
used for the practice of zoning is considered as object.
“By zoning, we break up projects into zones, we make every zone a project, and we put a project manager and completely independent, we know that it is possible it is horizontally spread like housing project; I have 2000 villas, every 300 villas is a project, and it’s one of the things like that. […] 3000 villas is a lot, and we cannot do that in one go. […] We discovered that now there is virtual construction software that will allow us to build a bridge on the computer before we go to the site, and we see it, we found it, and we used it at Jmarat project”(Zeta, CAPS Senior Projects Manager). “With virtual construction you stimulate, you read the project within hour. Let’s say I want to build this steel and I want to put this item here and you managed to put it. Suddenly, you want to put the last steel and it does not fit because it doesn’t have a place to go, what I do about it? In the old days we discovered it when we were doing it. However, virtual construction is a very powerful tool; sub-zoning is a very powerful tool, I think we believe that a combination of decentralization of certain project measurement activities and centralization of certain project measurement activities are a must to make things happen; like procurement, you don’t go and sub divide a project into fifteen sub projects and tell everyone to go procure his stuff and things like that especially from design and wholesalers stuff. So I think the most exciting part of our work is that we are challenged with infeasible demands but we are aware of what we are talking about. And as we hit, as we try different approaches we know some of the workers might talk about it”(Zeta, CAPS Quality Engineer).
• Eta
Eta is Universities falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher
Education. The university’s vision, mission, and other information were viewed
through the university website and used in this case study. Currently Eta is
undergoing a huge expansion projects including the construction of four new
universities.
• Strategy translation
The interviewees and the strategy document confirmed that Eta has deliberate
strategy approach operated on a top-down basis determined by the university
vision. Top management across the university were involved directly in the
development and translation process with participants from outside the
university boundaries for better views of the situation. The strategy development
was done using SWOT analysis techniques throughout three workshops and
Balance scorecards technique used for strategy translation that utilise meetings
and workshops to create a common language between different groups to
achieve the organisation goals. Strategy Document analysis place the Appendix
(E).
“In regards to the strategy development we conducted three workshops and spent between 3-6 months for developing our strategy. The first workshop was dedicated only to put the vision, values and mission, so includes the top management and stakeholders such executives. The junior engineers were not included in these workshops because we are putting the strategy for five years so we need to get the inputs from the executives. Moreover, this workshop was conducted offsite to take the participants out from the daily routine environments and to make sure that they come with fresh mind. Based on the MVV resulted from first workshop, in the second workshop we starts to put the strategic goals objectives and the SWOT Analysis. In order to get better views of the current organisation picture, the SWOT analysis includes participants from out of the university boundaries such as contractors, consultant and suppliers. In the third workshop, the SWOT outcomes used to identify the strategic dimensions, strategic objectives and goals, and then the execution plans. After that we starts to put specifics objectives that utilizing the strength points to take the advantage of the opportunity, and
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empowering the weakest point and at the end uses this specific objective to avoid or confront the challenges. Then we start to put details for the execution plan”(Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor- VPP Office).
In Eta the management uses various objects for communicating the strategy of
the university and the presidency of the projects. This includes workshops,
sessions, monthly meeting, printed document and internal website. Moreover,
recently Eta launched new software called MARZ that developed to follow-up
the university strategies. The interviewee thoughts these approaches would help
in connecting their daily activities with the university strategy. Recurring
meeting, MARZ and strategy plans considered as objects produced as part of the
translation process ‘simplification’ that enables strategy communication and
knowledge sharing within the university members and constrain knowledge
sharing are beyond the university.
“In regards to the strategy development we conducted three workshops to put the mission, vision, goals and execution plans. […] We use several approaches such as sessions, letters, booklet, motivational meeting, and follow-up meeting. […] We do two things to connect our projects and daily activities with our vision through the organisation environment; first we framed our vision and mission statement in every corridors to make sure that every one is aware of it or at least read it once. Second thing all our strategy and objectives have printed in the strategy guideline document. For the strategy communication and monitoring, the university uses eight different approaches including booklet and documents, sessions and workshops, committee meetings, newsletter, MARZ, face-book, letters and annul report.[…] There is Executive Committee head by the VP for projects meets every month with the champions to follow-up the strategy implementation progress and to take the required decision on spot. Champion is like manager; if there is team of six people works on projects we appoint one of them as Champion. There are a number of champions and there is a leader for the champions or champion of champions”(Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor- VPP Office).
However, consultants and contractors members were excluded from this
communication approaches. The knowledge of strategy and cognition remains
within the boundaries of the university staff.
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“The contractor does not cares about the strategic reflections of the project itself; the most important thing for him is the profit and to get his payments. I believed that the consultant should be aware of the strategy as he representing the owner to follow-up the projects strategically. However, the consultant perception of the university strategy is limited and missing the details”(Eta, Site Manager for Campus Projects - Consultant Office).
The top management thoughts above material or ‘object’ would help in
connecting their daily activities of staff at execution level with the university
strategy. However, at execution level, the interviewees are more focused on
project completion rather than understanding the strategic objectives of the
project and this increases the gap between the strategy and the implementation.
“The vision of the university is not clear, even though with this number of projects and measures we have. Sometimes in the committee meeting I shocked when I listen to our executives because there is a big variance between what they thoughts ‘mind picture’ and what we actually do”(Eta, Project Manager of Strategy Implementation). “For my level as engineer, I'm interested to complete the project, once the project completed I will inform them, so the top managers would know which part of the strategy was achieved, and this on our level. For me I deal with this project normally, so I do the similar follow-up as the rest of the projects I have”(Eta, Construction Engineer - Consultant office). • Practice translation project management
The importance of the project management role has been acknowledged from
the beginning of the establishment of the university, and the creation of the
Engineering Department. Eta uses the Balance scorecards for translating their
strategy into projects and initiatives. Strategy document II developed in Arabic
and contains the university strategic plans and list of projects that connected
directly to each strategic objective. The document has been translated into
English language and attached to the Appendix (E) of this study.
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In Eta, the project management role splits between project management
department and the consultants. The interviewees thought the department of
project management roles are mainly coordination and administration. Due to
the expansion projects in the university and the loads of the projects works, the
number of consultants for project management has increased into three
consultants. The interviewees thought that consultants hired mostly in
government projects to the resolve the staff shortage issue. However, by
splitting the project management roles between the VPP and the consultant the
question raised here, whether the practice of project management was travelled
or only the name (Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005).
“Before we have only one consultant who has all the projects at the same time. So all the details, all the specs, everything is with this consultant. Whatever project we have, he will follow the same procedures, the same quality and the same material. Those days we have three consultants; from our side we are doing the coordination between the three consultants. So, whatever approved in the university as materials or sub-contractor we apply it on the three consultants; so we coordinate between the three. We have developed a form that will filled by the consultant in case of seeking to approve new material, or new supplier or something like that. For the materials that used here, all the three consultants follow university standard. In case we have a problem in the location of this campus for example we referred to the location project manager. So, we have only one manager per location who dealing with all the three consultants. So the coordination is happening with the university all the time”(Eta, Department Manager). “We are working understaffing, and this the case for the governmental project. The reason behind that the project extensions happened suddenly without creating vacancies. [..] To resolve the issue we used the outsourcing the project management that have higher level than the construction management. Project management are involved in the process tendering, payment, contractors selection, and the consultant; actually they represent the owners”(Eta, General Director University Projects). “Often, in the government projects there are no enough employees or qualified engineers to do the job. To compensate this shortage they hire a consultant to help them to manage the project and to deliver it in time, within cost, and the
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quality. The university dealing with the administration issues which are related to the invoices and payments. This is what happened unusually because we don’t have enough staff, they hire a consultant with his staff and qualified engineers to make sure that the contractors will submit the project as per to specs on-time, on cost”(Eta, Project Manager, Branch 1 Development).
The consultant of project management is responsible for managing construction
works on-site and will play the role of the translator. If there is an issue occurred
during the project execution, for example between the contractors and the
subcontractors, the issue will be escalated to the project management
department for support. The department interferes to resolve any raised issues
by using two approaches namely black list and the payment guarantor. The
interviewee mentioned that they used successfully these two approaches several
time. Thus the role of the project management department is limited to
coordination and conflict resolution only. Whereas the actually project planning
and performance monitoring are left to the consultants.
“Sometimes the consultant stuck with the contractor or the sub-contractor in issue that they couldn’t resolve; so, the consultant refers the issue to us. A real example, onetime a sub-contractors who approved earlier by the university refuses to submit the project on time due to some problems. Thus, we have interfered to help the consultant; we brought the sub-contractor to discuss the issue. Usually we told him that we will put the company in our black list, and we will never deal with him in future projects. We used this approach many times and things get better. Sometimes we guarantee the sub-contractor money. This approach used if the contractor is not willing to pay to the sub-contractor. So we guarantee that they will get the money by deducting it from the invoice of the contractor. But we will guarantee this just on the time of the payment. Sometimes, the contractor himself is not moving forward due to other project outside the university. The consultant tries so many times to push the project and nothing happens. This time we interfere and we bring the contractor and we give them hard time just only to focus in our project and that takes our time actually, because this happens daily” (Eta, Department Manager).
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The interviewee thoughts appointed projects consultants works as mediator
between the university and projects contractors. The consultant managing
construction works on-site and monitoring the contractors progress as per to the
plan. In case of issue, the consultant reports that to the project management
department who is interferes to resolve the issue. The interviewee believes they
are as one team; therefore both project management department and the
consultant are responsible for managing all the construction projects in the
university.
“All the departments of Vice President for university projects take into account during their work set of values of such as professional excellence, innovation, energy and environment conservation, all of this within the fame of loyalty and Allah's piety and the one teamwork spirit”(Eta, Vice President for Projects). “The consultant helps the university ‘owner’ to manage and deliver the project. The consultant is managing the whole projects and the construction works on-site. Whereas the owner role paying bills and dealing with the administration issues like internal conflicts, delays, and etc. Actually, we are more involved with the consultant in the university. So we are like one team; we are helping the consultant to do his job with the contractor”(Eta, Department Manager).
The interviewee stressed that changes happen sometimes as a desire of the
department ‘end-user’ to follows the technology market in order to align with
the university strategy. Furthermore, the department of the project management
are trying to do the project considering the country strategy that aims to increase
the university’s student capacity too. However, the changes and strategy
alignment has undesirable result in terms of cost and time of the project.
“We try to solve as much as we can because we want to serve the strategy of the university that they want to combine the building with the latest educational equipment. We want to be up to-date and therefore we have to do changes to align wit the strategy. For example, departments like the civil department, they have some equipment that used in teaching the students. If they don’t get the latest equipment, they will be behind and it’s not good. So, we have to do that to align with the strategy. […] Sometimes, because of the strategy of
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the whole country, which aim to increase the number of students’ capacity in the university. We have taken this in our consideration, thus we try to follow this and increase the floors to increase the capacity of the building. So that’s why sometimes we have to take a decision that to increase during the construction. This is actual example of the change we suffer from which we don’t like to do much. But we do it only to serve the strategy of the education. We stay around this strategy and we try to do it without affecting the time but we cannot. If you have any change, the contractors will ask for additional time. Sometime even if you don’t have changes they ask for extra time. So imagine if you ask them to do something extra, they will ask for time extension”(Eta, Department Manager). “Sometimes departments come with new demand based on the market and so forth, so we adopt our system accordingly. For example if we are trying to build new collage according to our master plan and the university decided not to go with building this college and switch to another college; then we have to readjust our plan”(Eta, General Director - University Projects). “The university are focused on having the state-of-art technology in regards to educational building project. Therefore, we have weekly meeting with the department manager to proposing and suggesting a new idea that supporting the education”(Eta, Engineer, Consultant Office).
Even though Eta has a strategy and they trying to execute strategic projects as
much as possible. The interviewees highlighted that some projects change the
scope of VPP strategy that called as ‘rush project’. The rush projects are mainly
serve the university strategy that newly added and not part of the VPP projects.
The interviewee stressed that theses rush projects have special execution path in
term of the finance and monitoring, which known for both project consultant
and contractor. On the other hand, the project manager of strategy
implementation believed that the entire department projects should leads to
realize the objectives of university strategy. However, only 10 % of the projects
are representing the strategic projects of the university and the rest are rush
projects. Therefore strategy project manager thought VPP strategy was poorly
developed. Also, the department manager thought doing rush project is part of
the challenge that consumes the time of the department.
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“We have 57 on-going projects that considered out of the scope of the second university strategy. If these projects are not considered as a strategic projects that mean we have something wrong; or it mean we are work on needs bases and not on strategically bases. On the other hand we only seven projects that serve the second university strategy. Comparing the numbers both strategic and non-strategic projects, I believed that the majority of our projects should serve the university strategy, unfortunately the case here are totally reverse. If we calculate this by percentage, this mean 10 % of our projects are severing university strategy and that means we have a defect in our strategic planning”(Eta, Project Manager of Strategy Implementation). “First of all, the project that serve the university strategy have different path than the none-strategic project. We do strategic project as ‘rush project’ and both the contractor and the consultant knew that from the beginning. The budgeting process of 'rush project' is faster, takes less time and the follow-up happened on daily bases. Also, the contractor will give the permission to work 24 by 7 if that is required”(Eta, Site Manager for Campus Projects - Consultant office). “We are not ready with our contractors here to do the rush projects. And this takes most of our time, because we wish that to do the project in certain time like six months. We tender the project by six months and do the required things but we are suffering from this. Because we are spends so much time on pushing the contractor to complete the project on time. So this takes most of our time”(Eta, Department Manager).
As part of the strategy translation, strategy documents, onsite signboard and
project plans are example of objects resulted from the translation process of
Balanced Scorecards. Regardless of the objects used to connect the daily
activities of university employees with the strategy or to make them thinking
strategically. However, these attempts fail because the employee at the down
levels of the organisation will see only plans and tasks; they cannot see the big
picture of the work they do. Therefore, staff at front levels of the organisation
‘execution level’ sees detailed plans and actions rather than the strategic
objectives. They are recalling measures and forms rather than university vision.
This asserted by Senge (1990) by saying that organisation uses many of
surrounding management tools and models that available to translate their
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strategies into actions without considering the consequences. Thus, when we
then try to see the big picture, we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a
larger whole.
“I have attended the MARZ awareness session and I knew that the university have strategies and objective but I can’t feel it. Furthermore, I cannot imagine how the university would be looks like after 5 or 10 years. The only thing I could think of that all the faculties will have enough capacity in terms of building. […] For my level as engineer, I'm interested to complete the project, once the project completed I will inform them, so the top managers would know which part of the strategy was achieved, and this on our level. For me I deal with this project normally, so I do the similar follow-up as the rest of the projects” Eta, Construction Engineer - Consultant Office. “University strategy plans is very broad and includes more than 11,000 transactions for the implementation and about 159 KPIs for monitoring.[…] we never looked back to check whether this plan will reach to our vision. […] We where focused on our strategic objectives, which comes from the SWOT” Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor - VPP office.
The discussion of Phase Two analysis presented in the below section.
6.6 DISCUSSION
Based on the analysis of the participated organisations that presented in this
chapter, there were consensuses in in using deliberate strategy approach in the
case study organisation except Zeta. Also SWOT analysis as techniques for
strategy development was adopted in three organisations. Alpha and Beta,
which belong to banking industries, execute internal development projects that
mainly related to Information Technology (IT). In these organisations, the
approach of strategy is deliberate. Strategy development is part of the top
management (located within the Strategy Office) role, and consequently, there is
a top-down approach in both Alpha and Beta. The belief that strategy can be
developed by senior managers and based on rigid application, rational decision
of top-down approach has become dominate says McCabe (2010).
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Both organisations use a Business Case as model for translating their strategy.
However, no model been used for translating the practice even though they
follow the project management approach of PMI through the Project
Management Office (PMO). In both banks, PMO are responsible for the
translation of the project practice, including the process and role. Alpha uses
SWOT analysis, whereas Beta does not use a specific technique. Thus, the
project management activities are conducted through the team members of the
PMO.
On other hand, Gamma, Zeta, belong property development industries, and Eta
being higher education. Nonetheless, despite their varying industries, all three
organisations implements mega development projects that are related to
construction works. The strategy development is part of the top management’s
responsibility in Eta, and the responsibility of family members within Zeta,
whereas in Gamma, the strategy is developed through a consultant. SWOT
analysis techniques are used for the strategy development in both Gamma and
Eta. Irrespective of the differences in sources of strategy development, and the
techniques used, however, the approach is top-down in all three organisations,
as the approach has become dominate says McCabe (2010).
In Gamma and Eta the project management activities are undertaken through a
project management consultant, but Zeta has a dedicated project management
department called the Centre for Advanced Projects Support (CAPS). Thus,
practice translation of the projects activities in Zeta are done by the CAPS team
members.
Despite of the organisation industries, all the interviewed organisations use
project management as a vehicle for their strategy implementation, although the
responsibility in this regard varies, being with a dedicated department in one
organisation, and with a consultant in the other two. However, none of the case
study organisations has agreed on techniques or model that would guidelines the
translation of the practice. Clearly the effectiveness of translation of the practice
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was based on the skills and knowledge of the individual represented by function
manager of PMO in these organisations.
6.7 SUMMARY OF PHASE TWO
Through this chapter, there were consensuses in using deliberate strategy
approach in participated organisations. Phase Two validated the initial findings
of the study obtained from Phase One. However, Phase Two interviews aiming
to have in-depth exploration on the challenges associated with the translation of
the strategy and the practice in participated organisations. To do so, an in-depth
analysis of the both interview phases is presented in Chapter Seven through the
two case studies built based on the project types the participated organisations
do.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
CASE STUDIES
7.1 OVERVIEW
This chapter presents two case studies namely: IT Projects, and Construction
Projects, which reflect the type of projects undertaken in the participating
organisations. The case study presented in this chapter arises from information
gathered from both interview phases conducted in three industries within Saudi
Arabia (SA), there being: Banking, Property Development, and Higher
Education. The empirical study was performed using five organisations, and the
total number of interviewees for both case studies was twenty-eight (n= 28). The
names of the organisations and the interviewees are withheld for confidentiality
reasons. As the case study focuses on the project management approach adopted
by the participating organisations to achieve their strategic objectives, two units
of analysis which are associated with the theory of translation are incorporated
as follows:
• The role of individuals
• The role of objects
The details of the case studies are now presented.
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7.2 CASE STUDY: IT PROJECTS
This case study considers projects related to IT. Alpha and Beta, which belong
to the banking industry, execute internal development projects that are mainly
concerned with IT. In these organisations, the strategic approach is deliberate
and the development of the strategy is the responsibility of the top management
(located within the Strategy Office) role. Consequently in both Alpha and Beta
there is a top-down approach. The development of strategy is via SWOT
analysis in Alpha whilst there is no specific technique used in Beta. The belief
that strategy can be developed by senior managers and rigidly applied, explains
why the top-down approach has become dominant, according to McCabe
(2010). The role of the individual and the role of the objects resulting from the
translation process are now discussed.
• The role of individuals
In Alpha and Beta, the strategy approach is deliberate and the development of
the strategy is a responsibility of top management assigned to the Strategy
Office, and hence a top-down approach is evident in both organisations.
Alpha uses various techniques for translating and simplifying the organization
strategy, this includes: Business Management Committee (EMC), Stage Gate
Approach (SGA), Business Case Models (BMC), Strategy Forum, Coupling
Approach, and Business Architectures that borrowed from the Balance
Scorecards. However, Beta uses Business Case Module as technique for strategy
translation. In banking organisations, strategy development and translation is
part of the top management role in particular the Strategy Office.
Considering the variance between the formulation and the implementation of the
strategy, Alpha management proposed several approaches to resolve issues that
arose during the implementation. These approaches were called the Stage Gate
Approach (SGA), which directly intended to resolve the implementation gap
through the use of a Business Case Model (BCM). The interviewee thought
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these approaches were helpful in resolving the gap, as indicated in the following
quotation:
“Recently, the bank introduced a new approach called the Stage Gate Approach (SGA), which aims to fill the gap between strategy formulation and implementation. […] After identifying the objectives, the initiative will be created through the Stage Gate Approach, which is a process to validate the generated idea through a Business Case (BC) model. This BC goes through a number of validation before it goes to the implementation”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
Furthermore, Alpha uses Business Architecture Technique for mapping the
initiatives to ensure better success for the implementation as emphasised earlier
by the interviewee. The Business Architecture Technique used by Alpha has
five elements, including: the financial situation, capability, readiness, internal
enablers, and external providers. In fact, the Business Architecture Technique
proposed here is similar to the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) mentioned earlier in
Chapter Six of this study. However, whilst that practice is evident, the actual
name is never used. Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) confirmed this by saying
that the idea and experience of the practice is present within the organisation
and faithfully implemented but it is not referred to by the words Balanced
Scorecard.
Like Alpha, Beta also uses the Business Case Model as a technique for
translating its strategy in the same way. However, this is not to imply that the
same methods are used within that overall technique.
In both banking organisations, the Project Management Office (PMO) is
responsible for the practice of translating the project management, including the
processes, templates, and definition of the role of the PMO. Thus, the project
management activities are conducted through PMO team members at the middle
management level in both organisations. As noted in the fifth edition of
PMBOK® published in 2013, there are three types of roles for the PMO:
supportive, controlling, and directive, and these roles determine the degree of
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control provided. Both banking organisations acknowledged the differences
between the three types of PMO role, and regardless of their familiarisation with
the project management approach (in particular PMI), neither organisation had
any solid agreement about the actual content of the PMO role and how that
would be implemented across the organisation.
Alpha was seen to be trying to implement full control via the PMO role through
its use of the Coupling Approach (CA) to overcome the changes issue for
introduced initiatives. This approach links the approved initiative with the
annual operating plan by obtaining the required budget as stated by the Strategy
Vice President. However, the PPM manager had a different idea about the role
of the PMO or the PPM, believing this to be limited to one of reporting, or
supporting, as expressed in his comments below:
“To resolve the change issue, the AOP is linked with the strategy as a couple; but not a tight couple. The main purpose of coupling the strategy with the AOP is to get the initiative ready for the implementation”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President). “[…] Whatever I explained to you before about the role of project portfolio management, that’s what should be done, and that is what presented by the core team when they brought the project portfolio management as an idea to be implemented in the bank. However, what is going on? Is not that at all” (Alpha, PPM Manager).
Similarly, Beta has no common agreement across the organisation about the
implementation of the PMO roles, even though the bank was familiar with the
various PMO roles articulated in the PMI PMBOK® published by the PMI. The
PMO head stated that the organisation currently implements the controlling role
for the PMO, but the project manager thought the organisation’s implementation
was actually of a executive or directive PMO. These beliefs were confirmed
explicitly in the following comments:
“There are three types of roles for project and programme management, depend on the model you chose to implement. We have three models: support, control, and execution. […]I
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take the office and there was only support. I'm trying to have support and control” (Beta, Head of PMO).
“Now we shifted to another approach where PMO will execute the project and business is only the stakeholders. […] We are going to somehow maturity process and I think we are more mature now than before; but still we don’t have a solid project management methodology”(Beta, PMO, Project Manager 3).
• The role of objects
The various techniques mentioned as being used for the strategy translation
produce a number of objects resulting from the simplification that are used for
strategy communication. However, in Alpha the objects resulting from one
process could be used by other techniques or go through several validation
processes as confirmed by the Vice President of Strategy:
“[…]After identifying the objectives, the initiative will be created through the Stage Gate Approach, which is a process to validate the generated idea through a Business Case (BC) model. This BC goes through a number of validation checks before it goes to the implementation”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
Both banking organisations use traditional communication materials or ‘objects’
for communicating their strategy or practice. These objects include various
types of printed document such as plans, forms, templates, and other pro-formas
published on the internal Internet ‘portal’. The communication team in Alpha
utilises various channels for communication of the organisational strategy
directions, as a result of the translation process. The outcomes of the meeting
with the CEO are communicated directly by the senior managers to their
colleagues as highlighted in the following comment:
“There is a communication team working with the management on communicating our strategy and direction. They utilise the events, town hall, periodical news, discussion, and portal; they also utilise all media available to communicate the direction, vision, and mission. Also, there is a quarterly review meeting between senior managers and the CEO. In this meeting he discusses the 'status quo' of the bank and the senior managers are conveying the messages to their
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fellows. Senior managers should cascade the vision, mission and the strategic goals. However, each business area is already involved in the initiatives”(Alpha, IBS-Strategy Office, Vice President).
Alpha also evaluates the level of the strategy awareness across the organisation.
In this respect, the Senior Manager believed the current effort to be sufficient.
However, the feedback survey in operation relies on closed questions that lead
to biased answers. For example, survey questions like: Do you understand our
strategy? and Are you aware of the organisation’s direction? provide little
opportunity for any comments other than yes or no. The fact that the survey
questionnaire does not seek any in-depth response means that the outcome
cannot reflect the true understanding possessed by employees.
“We always need feedback to check the understanding; beside that there is a survey to check the satisfaction mainly pre-satisfaction survey. In this survey, some of the questions are related to the strategy understanding. i.e. do you know where is our direction? Is the bank strategy clear for you? The results of this survey will help the bank to assess their weak points related to the vision, and the mission. This survey conducted yearly by the HR with coordination with the whole bank sectors. And I think there is nothing more we can do”(Alpha, IBS- Strategy Office, Vice President).
7.3 SUMMARY OF CASE STUDY: IT PROJECTS
In both banking organisations - Alpha and Beta – there is a top-down approach
to strategy development that begins at the pinnacle of the organisation. The role
of the individual in strategy translation was obvious, as the top management
personnel were involved in the translation using various techniques. For
example the Business Case Model was used in both banking organisations, but
there was no agreement on the techniques used by them for translating the
project management practice. As the translation activities of the practice fall
under the full responsibility of the PMO head, the effectiveness of practice
translation is associated with the skills, experiences, and knowledge of the
practitioner or functional manager of the PMO in both banking organisations.
Having focused on the challenges associated with the translation of the strategy
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and the practice in IT projects, this exploratory case study has identified that the
main challenges to IT projects are concerned with: change, and clarity of the
PMO role in the practice. Table 7.1 summarises the translation process of the
case study on IT projects.
TABLE 7.1: SUMMARY OF TRANSLATION PROCESS IN IT
PROJECTS
Organisation Name Alpha Beta
Strategy Approach Deliberate Deliberate
Strategy Translation
Technique
Executive Management
Committee (EMC), Strategy
Forum, Coupling Approach
(CA), Business Architectures,
Strategy Gate Approach (SGA),
Business Case Model (BCM),
Business Architecture (BA)
Business Case Model
(BCM)
Strategy
Translation Done by
Top management members from
Strategy Office
Top management
members from
Strategy Office
Material Resulted from
Strategy Translation
‘Object’
Plans, Memo, Form, Portal Plans, Memo, Form,
Portal
Challenges of Strategy
Translation Change of the initiative or scope Clarity of PMO roles
Practice Translation
Done by PMO Head PMO Head
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7.4 CASE STUDY: CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
This case study considers construction projects, as three organisations are
involved in this type of activity, these being: Gamma, Zeta, and Eta. Both
Gamma, and Zeta are within the Property Development industry, while Eta is
part of the Higher Education sector. Irrespective of the industry context,
however, all three organisations implement mega construction projects. The
strategy development is part of the top management responsibility in Eta, and
the responsibility of family members within Zeta, whereas in Gamma, the
strategy was developed through an external consultant. SWOT analysis
techniques are used for the strategy development in both Gamma and Eta. The
strategy approach tends to be deliberate in Eta and Gamma and emergent in
Zeta and under the responsibility of family members. SWOT analysis
techniques are used for the strategy development in both Gamma and Eta.
The role of the individual and objects within the translation process are now
discussed.
• The role Individuals
The strategy development is part of the top management responsibility in Eta,
and the responsibility of family members within Zeta, whereas in Gamma, the
strategy is developed through an external consultant. SWOT analysis techniques
used for the strategy development in both Gamma and Eta. Irrespective of the
differences in sources of strategy development, and the techniques used,
however, the approach is top-down in all three organisations. University team
members are engaged in strategy formulation and execution. Balanced
Scorecards (BSC) used in Eta as technique for translating the organisation
strategy goal and objectives. In Eta the translation process is facilitated through
forums and discussions with top and middle management members, and through
the use of the ‘Champion’ leadership model for translating the strategy.
“[…] We use several approaches such as sessions, letters, booklet, motivational meeting, and follow-up meeting. […] We do two things to connect our projects and daily activities with our vision through the organisation environment; first we
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framed our vision and mission statement in every corridors to make sure that everyone is aware of it or at least read it once. Second thing all our strategy and objectives have printed in the strategy guideline document. […] Champion is like manager; if there is team of six people works on projects we appoint one of them as Champion. There are a number of champions and there is a leader for the champions or champion of champions“(Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor- VPP Office). “University strategy plans is very broad and includes more than 11,000 transactions for the implementation and about 159 KPIs for monitoring.[…] we never looked back to check whether this plan will reach to our vision. […] We were focused on our strategic objectives, which comes from the SWOT”(Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor - VPP office).
However, the project management activities are translated through a project
management consultant. Zeta on the other hand, has a dedicated project
management department called the Centre for Advanced Projects Support
(CAPS). Thus, in Zeta the translation of the project management approach is
undertaken by CAPS members. In Gamma, the multi-phases and split-wealth
was used as a model to translate the practice or ‘simplification’ of the
programme and project portfolio management through the phase breakdown
idea. However, only the practice has travelled – the name has not. In Zeta,
zoning and sub-zoning were used as the model to translate the practice
employed in executing ‘fast mega track projects’. The zoning concept breaks
down the project into zones which are then worked upon in parallel. Zoning and
sub-zoning approaches are compatible with the practice of programme/multiple
concurrent projects. Here the practice travelled, but again, the name did not.
The most difficult challenges were associated with changing the strategy and
project scope, and interviewees considered that the simplification of the
university strategy and the engagement of middle management would help to
make the strategy more understandable.
“We have 57 on-going projects that considered out of the scope of the second university strategy. If these projects are
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not considered as a strategic projects that mean we have something wrong; or it mean we are work on needs bases and not on strategically bases. On the other hand we only seven projects that serve the second university strategy. Comparing the numbers both strategic and non-strategic projects, I believed that the majority of our projects should serve the university strategy, unfortunately the case here are totally reverse. If we calculate this by percentage, this mean 10 % of our projects are severing university strategy and that means we have a defect in our strategic planning”(Eta, Project Manager of Strategy Implementation). “First of all, the project that serve the university strategy have different path than the none-strategic project. We do strategic project as ‘rush project’ and both the contractor and the consultant knew that from the beginning”(Eta, Site Manager for Campus Projects - Consultant office).
• The role of objects
Both Gamma and Zeta use traditional materials for communicating the objects
resulting from the practice translation. These objects including various types of
printed document such as plans, forms, booklets or other pro-formas published
on the internal Internet ‘portal’. Additionally, Eta produces various types of
object resulting from the translation process including: strategy document
(Appendix E), plans, forms, measures, and annual reports. Moreover, the
university utilises the latest technology in communicating and following-up its
strategy through software developed in-house, called MARZ and PCM. This
includes the use of social media such as facebook and twitter.
“[…] there is Executive Committee head by the VP for projects meet every-month with the champions to follow-up the strategy implementation progress and to take the required decision on spot. […]Second thing all our strategy and objectives have printed in the strategy guideline document“(Eta, Strategy Implementation Supervisor- VPP Office).
However, these objects have contributed little in terms of strategy
communication as consultants and contractors members have been excluded
from these communication approaches, thereby leaving the knowledge of
strategy and cognition purely within the boundaries of the university staff.
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“The contractor does not cares about the strategic reflections of the project itself; the most important thing for him is the profit and to get his payments. I believed that the consultant should be aware of the strategy as he representing the owner to follow-up the projects strategically. However, the consultant perception of the university strategy is limited and missing the details”(Eta, Site Manager for Campus Projects - Consultant Office).
Moreover, the employee at the execution levels of the organisation only sees
plans and tasks, and is not part of the bigger picture of how the work they
undertake fits in with everything else. This was echoed by one interviewee who
indicated being focused purely on project completion without paying attention
to the project’s strategic objectives. Clearly, this increases the gap between the
strategy development and the implementation.
“I have attended the MARZ awareness session and I knew that the university have strategies and objective but I can’t feel it. […] For my level as engineer, I'm interested to complete the project, once the project completed I will inform them, so the top managers would know which part of the strategy was achieved, and this on our level”(Eta, Construction Engineer - Consultant Office). “Sometimes in the committee meeting I shocked when I listen to our executives because there is a big variance between what they thoughts ‘mind picture’ and what we actually do”(Eta, Project Manager of Strategy Implementation).
Therefore, staff at the lower levels of the organisation (‘execution level’) are
involved with detailed plans and transactions rather than the strategic objectives.
This observation is confirmed by Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) who note that
when an idea has been simplified and materialised into a document, that
document has travelled over the content.
7.5 SUMMARY OF CASE STUDY: CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Irrespective of the industrial context of the three organisations, they all use
project management as a vehicle for implementing their strategy, although the
responsibility in this regard varies, being with a dedicated department member
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in Zeta and Eta, although in Eta the responsibility for the project management is
shared with a consultant. In Gamma the entire responsibility is delegated to a
consultant. However, despite the use of project management as a strategy
implementation mechanism in all three organisations, there is no consensus
among them on the technique or model used for translating the practice. Clearly
the efficiency of practice translation is dependent upon the skills and knowledge
of the functional manager of the PMO in Zeta and Eta, and on the consultant in
Gamma.
In Gamma, the multi-phases and split-wealth was mentioned as a model for
simplifying the practice of the programme and project portfolio management
through the phase breakdown idea. However, only the practice travelled - the
name has not.
In Zeta, zoning and sub-zoning, were used as the model for translating the
practice associated with the execution of ‘fast mega track projects’. The zoning
concept breaks down the project into zones that are worked upon in parallel. The
zoning and sub-zoning approaches are compatible with the practice of
programme and multiple concurrent projects. Here the practice travelled, but the
name has not. As the exploratory case study focuses on exploring the challenges
associated with the translation of both strategy and project management
practice, it is seen that the main challenges associated with construction projects
are limited to: changes in the strategy and project scope, and the minimal
contribution of the produced objects.
Below Table 7.2 summarises the translation analysis of the case study for
construction projects.
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TABLE 7.2: SUMMARY OF TRANSLATION ANALYSIS IN
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Organisation Name Gamma Zeta Eta
Strategy Approach Deliberate Emergent Deliberate
Strategy Translation
Technique SWOT
Impose by
Owners
Balanced Scorecards,
Champion
Strategy
Translation Done by
Top- level
management
members
Family
Business
Owners
Top- level management
members
(Strategy Office)
Material Resulted from
Strategy Translation
‘Object’
Plans, Memo,
Form, Intranet
Plans, Memo,
Form, Intranet
Strategy Document II,
Plans, Memo, Form,
Intranet, MARZ
Challenges of Strategy
Translation
Changes in
strategy and
project scope
Changes in
strategy
Changes in strategy and
project scope, and the little
role of Objects
Practice Translation
Done by Consultant
CAPS Team
Members PMO & Consultant
Practice Translation
Model Split wealth
Zoning and
Sub-zoning -----
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CHAPTER EIGHT
DISCUSSIONS
8.1 DISCUSSTION
Having explored how organisations in Saudi Arabia are practising the project
management approach to achieve their strategic objectives, and done so by
considering how the concept of translation influences that implementation, it is
now appropriate to present a general discussion of the overall research findings.
Hence, the research questions raised in Chapter One of the thesis are answered
through this chapter. For ease of reading, these questions are repeated below:
1 Why does the project management approach make only a small
contribution, if any, to the achievement of organisational strategy?
2 How is organisational strategy being translated?
3 What is the translation model used for translating organisational strategy
and project management?
4 Who is involved in the translation of strategy and project management
practice?
5 What are the translation challenges?
6 What objects are produced for communicating organisational strategy?
7 How do these objects connect to the individual daily activities within the
entire organisation?
To answer the above questions, two groups of interviews were conducted in five
separate organisations, two of which were from the banking industry, two from
the property development industry, and one was a university representing the
HE sector. The data was collected through two phases of face-to-face semi-
structured and unstructured interviews with participants ranging from executive
to junior frontline staff within each organisation. Two case studies presented in
Chapter Seven, namely of IT projects, and Construction projects, confirmed that
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in the main, the approach to strategy is deliberate, using a top-down technique
for both development and implementation, in which either the top management
or owners of the organisations take control. This is evident regardless of the
organisation’s industry, structure, type or size of the projects in which it is
involved. The top-down approach mirrors the traditional method used in these
organisations, confirming that the project concept is not necessarily adopted as a
means for implementing the strategy. There is a fundamental belief that senior
managers can develop the organisational strategy and ensure its implementation
by the strict application of certain processes, and this coincides with the point
made by McCabe (2010) that it is perceived as a rational way forward that has
come to dominate the field.
The study aimed to obtain an in-depth understanding of the translation
challenges in the five organisations mentioned. An associated question posed by
Czarniawska and Sevon (2005), was whether strategy was developed for actual
practice or simply stood as artefact, existing purely for show, and this question
remained in the researcher’s mind throughout the various phases of the study.
Czarniawska and Sevon (2005) suggest that the status of strategy depended
upon who was developing it, that is to say, whether it was a consultant who
conducted the work on behalf of the organisation for agreed benefits, or the
organisation members themselves. However, Czarniawska and Sevon (2005)
were unable to be specific in this matter and indicate whether the employment
of a consultant was better for the organisation than the alternative, and
consequently, a certain amount of vagueness is left and the question remains
unanswered. Moreover, they contemplated the role of strategy objects,
wondering whether they merely stood as artefacts existing purely for show. This
study set out to find a more precise answer to these questions, as is shown in the
following paragraphs.
In this study, three organisations, Alpha, Beta, and Eta were found to be
involved directly in their strategy development and translation through
organisational activities, and in particular, there was direct involvement from the
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top management. In Alpha strategy development was the main responsibility of
the Strategy Office, established entirely for this function, and SWOT techniques
(quantifying the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation) were adopted by
this Office to analyse the internal and external market variables. In Beta,
strategy development and translation was the responsibility of the Business
Transformation Group (BTG), also established purely for this purpose. The
BTG considered the internal and external market variables during their strategy
development process. In Eta, the strategy team was seen to use the SWOT
technique to analyse the organisation’s internal and external environment, and to
identify what opportunities could be exploited and which threats needed to be
avoided.
In contrast, the management of Gamma commissioned a consultant for
developing the organisation’s strategy, and this consultant used SWOT
techniques to address the internal and external environments. However, this
study found no evidence whatsoever that the use of an external consultant
brought valuable benefits to the organisation, since it was apparent that the lack
of internal expertise within Gamma was not compensated for by the external
consultant, and in fact Gamma encountered exactly the same challenges as the
other participating organisations. Clearly the advice from Hussey (1996:12-13)
that an “organization should not be too proud to supplement its implementation
skills from consultancy or other sources where it lacks experiences of what it is
about to do”, is given in the knowledge that hiring a consultant to work
alongside internal teams, brings the opportunity for better strategy formulation
and more successful implementation as the team and the consultant can learn
from each other, and engage in greater knowledge sharing. However, in this
case, there were no perceived benefits.
Regardless of who developed the organisational strategy, the approach was top-
down, being informed by top management or the owners, and this formula
accounted for the absence of any relationship between the formulation and
implementation of the strategy. This reflects the observation made by Cunha et
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al. (2011:491) to the effect that “strategy still comes from the top, and hierarchy
can hurt execution”.
8.2 TRANSLATION CHALLENGES IN PROJECTS
As mentioned earlier, Latour (1986) expressed caution about the result of
translation efforts. Indeed, the point is made by (Czarniawska and Sevon, 2005)
that the translation might not adequately reflect the strategy, and this problem
encouraged deeper investigation of the issue to arrive at a better understanding
of the challenges involved in the activity. The Phase Two interviews were,
therefore, held to assist the researcher to gain more information about the
challenges and issues associated with the translation concept as evidenced
through the use of the project approach. Based on both case studies, the change
in project scope, and the individual inferences were the main translation
challenges for organisations dealing with IT projects; and the change of strategy
and the role of objects were the main translation challenges for organisations
working on construction projects. In total, three sources of challenge emerged in
the translation effort, these being: change, individual influences, and the role of
objects, as depicted in Figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1: Challenges of Strategy Translation
Change
Individual influences The role of objects
Translation
Challenges
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These three challenges are discussed in more detail in the following sub-
sections, and specific instances of their presentation in the two case studies are
cited.
8.2.1 CHANGE
The majority of participating organisations adopted the deliberate strategy
approach, and hence it was not surprising to discover that change presented the
greatest challenge when translating the strategy into practice, because this
approach is insufficiently flexible to accommodate changes in the market or
business environments (McCabe, 2010). However, notwithstanding the fact that
change is anticipated as a challenge, many organisations do not accept that when
change is introduced part way through a process, it has a substantial impact
(Sterling, 2003). This study revealed that change, whether in strategy or project
scope, continues to represent one of the greatest challenges for strategy
translation, and subsequently promotes implementation difficulties.
In Alpha, changes to project scope were a concern of top management, and in
response to that, the Coupling Approach was introduced with the aim of
reducing such change as much as possible. Nonetheless, the change remained a
major challenge for middle managers, and again this was seen to be the fault of
senior managers exercising their power to change the project scope without
considering the consequences. Top management believed that a new process
entitled ‘Benefit Realisation’ was required, in which outcomes could be
compared with original objectives, to determine how much change had actually
occurred throughout the implementation process.
In Beta, change of the project scope functioned as a critical challenge
confronting the project management team. Project managers stressed that top
managers were able to use their power to change the project scope because of
the absence of any monitoring process.
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In Gamma, the initial organisational strategy was to generate revenue by
functioning as a land developer and investor but the owners decided to change
the organisation’s mission such that it became a property developer. Moreover,
the original project execution changed from a one-phase approach into a multi-
phase approach. This particular decision had clear implications on the financial
resources of the organisation, which were stretched beyond their capacity, and
led to the need for further tactical change, such as for example, changing the
consultants and managers leading particular projects.
In Eta, one of the major challenges confronting projects was the change in
project scope or design. Change requests come from the end-users’ desires to
use the latest technology, thereby superseding their original specifications.
Furthermore, ‘rush projects’ contradicting the agreed strategic projects and
interfering with the natural and planned project management process, were
taken on. In this respect, the ‘strategy executors’ at the frontline become irritated
by the need to accelerate their planned activities. Of course, it must be taken into
account that change is sometimes inevitable due to external variables or to the
need to support the competitiveness of the organisation, and that indeed it is
sometimes for the better. Porter (1996) mentioned the role of change in this
respect, stating that new strategic positions mostly arise because of industry
changes. However, Saul (2000:213) observed that “[t]he problem is that some
drivers of change (like technology, cost restructuring, business re-engineering)
are associated in people’s minds with loss for employees, rank, status, overtime,
jobs and so on, and there appears to be a preference to avoid such loss,
notwithstanding the fact that the ultimate loss caused by failure to tackle such
issues could be much greater; i.e. total collapse of the business and loss of all
jobs”.
The problem of the change is twofold. Firstly, during the translation, the new
change is not always reflected in the original big picture, and consequently
organisations try to implement new ideas without appreciating that the big
picture must also be updated. And secondly, frequent changes to the project
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scope cause those at the frontline to wonder whether the strategy was poorly
designed in the first place. Therefore, whenever changes occur, whether they are
good or bad ones, frontline employees become annoyed and discouraged, not
wanting to be part of that change, and in a sense they demonstrate what can be
interpreted as resistance to change. In the same sense, Porter (1996) notes that
the threats to strategy are usually seen to emanate from outside the organisation,
as for instance, advances in technology or alterations in the behaviour of
competitors. There is no doubt that external changes can be the problem, but the
greater threat to strategy often comes from within the organisation.
Considering that on one hand, strategy development is a long and complicated
process, and on the other hand, there is a fast rhythm of external factors, this
study proposes that strategy development should not only focus on the details of
strategic projects but should also leave room for emergent projects as a norm. It
also proposes that organisational leaders should encourage employees to accept
the emergent changes in both strategy and project scope in recognition of the
volatility in the market situation. In this respect, Porter (1996:61) argued
“companies must be flexible to respond quickly to changes. They must
benchmark continuously to achieve best practice”.
8.2.2 INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCES
Regardless of the organisation’s industry, structure, or size, all the case study
organisations use a top-down approach to strategy development in which top
management initiate the ideas and direction for the organisation. However, the
translation of the strategy is the responsible of those with less seniority in the
organisation, and the separation between the activity of strategy development
and the implementation of the strategy stands as the main challenge to the
effectiveness of the overall process. Hrebiniak (2008:7) confirmed this structural
fact, by saying “[e]very organization, of course, has some separation of
planning and doing, of formulation and execution. However, when such
separation becomes dysfunctional - when planners see themselves as smart
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people and treat the doers as ‘grunts’- there clearly will be execution
problems”.
This research confirmed that strategy translation is effected by collaboration
between the top and middle-level management using various available
techniques and models. For instance, Balance Scorecards technique used in
Alpha and Eta, and Business Case Model used in Alpha, Beta. However, the
translations of project management practice in the organisations interviewed
were performed by the PMO manager with no specific techniques guiding these
translations, thereby indicating that the outcomes were influenced by the
individual skills, experiences, and knowledge of the practice possessed by the
manager.
Moreover, such outcomes are problematic since it is crucial for all employees,
whatever their level, to feel some ownership of the strategy implementation
plan, if there is to be any chance of success in the exercise, and in the case study
organisations, it emerged that this was not in evidence. In Alpha, those in
middle management were not part of the committee that made decisions about
the projects the company took on board, and they felt that the organisational
hierarchy wielded power that negatively affected the selection and prioritisation
process. They believed that individuals in top management used their power to
conceal problems associated with projects because they were afraid that if such
problems were to be recognised, this might reflect badly on them and eventually
reduce their authority. Gray and Larson (2008:41) comment on the use of power
in this way, and explain the reason for the lack of proper prioritisation
processes, by saying “[p]rioritizing can be an uncomfortable exercise for
managers. Prioritizing means discipline, accountability, constraints, reduced
flexibility, and loss of power”.
In Eta, even though the top management did not behave in such a way as to
suggest they believed they were above those lower down the organisation,
middle managers nonetheless believed that strategy development was beyond
their role, and was indeed the job of top management. Furthermore, junior
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engineers with responsibility for implementing strategic projects perceived
themselves as ‘doers’ only, and frontline employees simply considered
themselves to be at the ‘execution level’. However, as argued by Cunha et al.
(2011), people operating at the frontline of an organisation are very important,
and the outcome of ignoring the needs of these workers is a ‘hidden cost’ at the
level of strategy execution. Unsurprisingly, the disconnection between the
formulation and the implementation of the strategy is also obvious. In this
respect, Cunha et al. (2011:492) argue that “strategists still formulate, the rest
still execute, and there is no conjuncture between formulating and executing”.
8.2.3 THE ROLE OF OBJECTS
This study demonstrated that strategy was developed and implemented via a
top-down approach, and whilst that in itself was not a problem, there are clear
implications for the communication of strategy across the whole organisation,
and there must be absolute clarity in this respect.
Unfortunately, it was seen that there was no organisation-wide view or
understanding of the strategy, and this was the result of ineffective
communication between the upper and lower management. Objects resulting
from the translation process are intended to establish clear communication, but
this can only be achieved if there is a good communication style that portrays a
definite and clear picture of the strategic objectives to be achieved, and that can
be shared and understood collectively by people at all organisational levels.
According to many leadership scholars, senior managers need to distinguish
between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ vision to ensure effectiveness. This is particularly
important in organisations where it is necessary for individuals down the
managerial line to share the same vision as senior managers and executives
(Kantabutra and Avery, 2010). Hussey (1996) uses the word ‘activating’ to
represent the task of ensuring that others in the organisation understand and
support the common goal or ‘shared vision’. This common goal should be
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defined in a consistent way to be understood, so that later in the implementation
process, common ground can be established between the key players.
In Alpha, the communication team was seen to utilise various objects to
communicate the direction of the organisational strategy and goals. These
objects include the outcome of discussion, meetings, internal events and
newsletters, and the organisation’s portal. Moreover, the main discussion points
and outcomes of the quarterly meetings with the CEO are communicated
directly through the senior managers or department heads. Additionally, Alpha
uses a feedback survey to assess the employees’ understanding of strategy and
the organisation’s direction. However, this feedback survey is conducted
infrequently and uses closed questions that introduce bias into the responses,
which do not adequately reflect the actual understanding possessed by
employees.
As a project-based organisation, Gamma aims to complete its projects on time
and to budget. Thus, top management uses weekly meetings to communicate
and review strategy through project progress review. These meetings and the
discussion within the team are used to create a common language for
organisational conversation. However, no efforts are made to assess the
understanding of strategy among employees, since the top management believe
the team is small enough to spread the message, which is clearly understood as
being ‘to complete the project’.
In Eta, various objects were used to communicate the organisation’s strategy.
These included power point slides of workshops and sessions, printed
documents, plans, forms, and published pages on the internal website.
Moreover, a new software package called ‘MARZ’ had been recently developed
to enable the effective follow-up of strategy implementation. Together, these
various objects were successful in creating an enormous number of objectives,
tasks, and measures. Nonetheless, these objects did fail to construct a clear and
common picture of Eta’s strategy and to clarify the ultimate goal, which would
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have helped in connecting the daily activities of staff with the organisational
strategy. This answered the question posed in the literature concerning whether
objects (including various types of document and plan) were helpful in creating
a shared vision across the whole organisation.
In this respect, Gray and Larson (2008:29) state that “[t]he implementation gap
refers to the lack of understanding and consensus of organisation strategy
among top and middle-level managers”. In Eta, staff at lower levels of the
organisation, at the ‘execution level’, recognised the detailed plans and
transactions, rather than the strategic objectives. In these instances, they simply
recall measures and forms as opposed to envisioning the big picture or the ‘Eta
vision’.
To sum up, the participating organisations used various materials and tools to
communicate the direction of their translated strategy and practice. These
communication tools and approaches are considered as objects that attempt to
create common knowledge and understanding across all levels of the
organisation. However, although these objects are intended to play a major role
in sharing knowledge by facilitating collaboration and communication between
individual actors in diverse environments through drawings, specifications and
reports (Di Marco et al., 2012), the genuine sharing of strategic information
tends to occur through communicative episodes such as discussions and
workshops (Hodgkinson et al., 2006). This study showed most definitely that
these tools and approaches do not make any significant contribution to the
creation of a clear and common view or appreciation of the strategy across the
entire organisation. It may be that the reports and other documents that comprise
these tools may simply be filed away and not perceived as part of the overall
strategy implementation. In this sense, Spee and Jarzabkowski (2009:228)
stated, “strategy tools may be useful for facilitating social interactions between
strategy participants. However, the analyses performed in a specific interaction
may then simply be relegated to a report or document that has little relevance to
ongoing strategy activities”.
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8.3 IMPROVING THE TRANSLATION OF THE PRACTICE
In regard to the project management approach, this study revealed that the role
of the PMO was not defined clearly at the beginning of the translation of project
management practice. This failing has had a major impact on the way that
project management has been undertaken in these organisations. The fifth
edition of PMBOK® published in 2013, identified three types of role for the
PMO, considering these as determinants of the degree of control provided, as
follows:
Supportive: Serves as a repository for the project by providing a template,
training, best practice, and lessons learned from previous projects. The degree of
control provided by this type of PMO is low.
Controlling: Provides support and the required compliance by adopting a
project management framework using various methodologies and tools. The
degree of control provided by this type of PMO is moderate.
Directive: Manages the project directly and has the authority to act as the key
decision-maker through the life cycle of the project. The degree of control
provided by this type of PMO is high.
Four of the case study organisations (Alpha, Beta, Zeta, and Eta) have
established a dedicated department with responsibility for all projects within
these organisations.
In Alpha, various types of project management approach were adopted by the
PMO. The top management thought the variety of project practices that were in
use within the organisation, such as PPM and EPMO, would help in fully
controlling the projects such that they followed the strategic direction of the
organisation. However, the frontline project managers believed the role of the
PMO was purely one of reporting, which confirms that the supporting type has
very low control over the projects. The variance in views between top
management and the project managers in regard to the PMO role was the main
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issue that led to the lack of clarity in terms of the project management role in
Alpha.
In Beta, project management approaches were adopted through the PMO. The
top management was seen to have a clear view about the old role (Supportive)
and the new role (Controlling) that was being implemented, and despite the
project challenges that the organisation certainly faced, it is true to say that Beta
did have a clear understanding of the role it wanted to adopt across the
organisation. Furthermore, the PMO had better engagement in the process of
project selection and prioritisation.
In Zeta, project management approaches were executed through the CAPS that
had recently been established. The intention of the top management was that the
project management role aimed to be that of mediator, linking strategy and
operation. The project approach remains, however, at the early stage of its
implementation, and Zeta does not yet have a clear understanding of which role
will be adopted across the organisation.
In Eta, the project management role was split between the project management
department and project consultants. However, although the project department
within Eta believed it was sharing the role with three consultants who undertook
the project management role, the department’s role was limited to supporting the
consultants in cases where issues arose with the contractors during the project
execution. Eta management considered the project department and the
consultants to be working as one team.
On the other hand, Gamma decided to commission consultants to discharge the
full role of project management, that decision being made in an attempt to
overcome the lack of human resources with expertise in this area. Consultant
commissioning as seen in Gamma represents a type of outsourcing in which
project works are essentially sub-contracted to other companies. There are
advantages to be gained from this approach, including cost reduction, faster
project completion, the ability to use a high level of expertise, and resource
flexibility (Gray and Larson, 2008). Unsurprisingly, both organisations Gamma
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and Eta are dealing with construction projects in which outsourcing is normal in
the construction industry. Gray and Larson (2008:389) note that “[c]ontracting
project work has long been the norm in the construction industry, where firms
hire general contractors who, in turn, hire and manage cadres of
subcontractors to create new buildings and structures”.
Furthermore, Gray and Larson (2008) defined two approaches to outsourcing,
these being, the traditional one and the partnering one. The traditional approach
is similar to the master-slave relationship that exists between the owner and the
provider; whereas, the partnering approach involves all parties working together
as partners and sharing the ultimate goals of success. Considering this
outsourcing approach, in Gamma the consultant relationships were considered
as subscribing to the traditional approach, whereas in Eta they were more
reflective of the partnering approach.
Whether the project management was performed through a dedicated
department within the organisation or by an external consultant, the translation
of the practice was weakened by the absence of technique or model that could
guide it.
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CHAPTER NINE
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
9.1 CONCLUSIONS
This study aimed to explore the practice of project management in Saudi
Arabian organisations, and to understand the influences of the translation model
on the implementation. During this exploration it was necessary to acquire an
appreciation of how strategy is translated and to investigate the problems
associated with that translation. By doing this, the research has gone beyond the
mere exploration of the implementation challenges, to include an examination of
how the theory of translation operates to create a framework whereby strategy
can become alive in a real project-orientated environment.
The exploratory data presented in this study has been collected from five
separate organisations in Saudi Arabia, two from the banking industry, two
engaged in property development, and one from the HE sector. That data was
collected via face-to-face semi-structured and unstructured interviews with
participants ranging from executives to junior frontline staff within each
organisation. The detailed analyses of the data presented in the previous
chapters has led to the following conclusions:
1. The project management approach makes little contribution in achieving
the strategic objectives of an organisation due to weaknesses in the
translation of the practice. This study has shown through the case study
organisations that the project management approach is implemented
differently, either using project and programme management, or project
portfolio management (PPM). Alpha adopted PPM to overcome the
problem of the old project management approach, but it emerged that the
outcomes and benefits of the newly-adopted technique were similar to
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the old one. This was not because the approaches and methods chosen
were the same, but rather because the translation of the practice or
‘simplification’ was poorly performed, and thus ineffective.
2. The study revealed 15 challenges confronting Saudi organisations in
various industries during project implementation. The themes of these
challenges were mentioned in Chapter Two of the thesis when attention
was given to existing research. However, as the empirical study was
conducted with a research sample working in Saudi Arabian
organisations, the findings from it cannot be generalised, as there are
particular cultural factors that relate exclusively to the Saudi Arabian
context.
3. The Balanced Scorecards Technique was used in strategy translation in
Alpha, and Eta, although Alpha did not name the technique as such.
There was no consensus in respect of techniques used for translating the
strategy into achievable objectives in those organisations. That said, all
the participating organisations used the project management approach as
a tool to execute and monitor strategy implementation. Eta used the
Balanced Scorecard as an approach for translating the strategy into
specific objectives and projects, which can then be measured easily
through the project management approach.
4. The majority of participating organisations tend to use a deliberate
approach based on corporate theory. Only Zeta uses an emergent
approach that is founded on innovation theory. The study shows that top-
level management in four organisations were involved in the strategy
formulation. Only Gamma hired a consultant for this purpose.
5. Individuals from top and middle level management were in charge of the
translation of the strategy in these case study organisations. However,
the practice translation was performed by functional managers, in
particular the manager responsible for the PMO. Gamma hired a
consultant for the role of project manager, and Eta shared this role with a
consultant due to certain organisational aspects. Nonetheless, the study
revealed that even with the benefit of an external consultant, these
202
organisations still faced a number of challenges, thereby indicating that
the consultants themselves were unable to bring success in
implementation.
6. This study indicates that the objects make little contribution in respect of
connecting people with the organisational strategy or practice. Strategy
documents, plans, templates, measures, and procedures are examples of
objects resulting from the translation process or ‘materialisation’. The
practice perspective acknowledged the influence of objects but was
unclear about the role of the objects in strategy communication. In Eta,
special software had been developed in-house to track the
implementation of strategy objectives. All organisations participating in
the study were using objects in various formats to link the daily activities
of their staff with their organisations’ strategic objectives, which they
aimed to achieve. These objects resulted from the translation, in
particular from plans and documents that could easily be tracked,
measured, and associated with a responsible person. However, these
objects fail to connect staff daily activities with the organisation’s big
picture because the staff involved were seen to focusing on completing
the list of activities for which they were accountable, rather than
understanding the strategic contribution of their work.
7. Change in strategy and project scope is the main challenge to the
translation of the strategy through the project management approach, and
can often result in undesired outcomes. This is due to the deliberate
strategy approach adopted in most of the organisations. The gap between
the strategy development activity and the implementation of that strategy
arises because of changes that occur to the strategy or the scope of the
project during the implementation. Such changes lead to differences
between the original desire and the translated objectives. In Alpha the
change led to a result that was not aligned with the original objective,
and hence, the management expressed the needs for new process
‘Benefit Realisation’ to trace backward the result. In Gamma the change
resulted in the organisation being drained of financial resources at the
203
beginning of the project. And in Eta the change led to delay in project
completion.
8. In all participating organisations, the lack of communication was
revealed in relation to the strategy, which was not linked appropriately to
the employees’ daily activities, as mentioned earlier. These organisations
used traditional styles of communication based on text format, such as
written documents, plans, and strategy guideline. Furthermore, none of
the organisations, with the exception of Alpha, sought feedback to
evaluate employees’ understanding of these strategies.
9.2 REFLECTIONS ON THE GENERAL PRPOSITIONS AND THE
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Reflecting on the general propositions of this study, it can be seen that two
assumptions were made, the first being that successful strategy implementation
could be achieved within Saudi organisations via the project management
approach, and the second that this approach would be implemented differently.
In respect of the first assumption, the exploratory case studies involved in the
Phase One interviews resulted in the identification of 15 challenges confronting
Saudi organisations in their attempts to implement their organisational
strategies. These challenges are similar to those encountered in the traditional
approach to strategy implementation. Some studies suggest a number of critical
success factors for successful implementation depending upon on the choice of
the project management approaches adopted. However, regardless of the name
of the particular approach selected, organisations still failed to obtain the
ultimate benefits of the said approach due to inadequate translation of the
project management practice.
In terms of the second assumption, the data gathered the five organisations
interviewed and reported in Chapter Six, revealed obvious differences in the
translation activity. The banking sector implemented its project management
through the team members from the PMO. In Alpha there was an attempt to
204
implement a directive role of the PMO through various approaches across the
organisation, but these were used in a supporting role only, whereas in Beta
both the supporting and controlling roles of the PMO were implemented. On the
other hand, Gamma and Eta dealing mainly with construction projects,
commissioned a consultant for their project management activities for
organisational and structural reasons. In Zeta, project management was
undertaken by the recently-established Centre for Advanced Projects Support
(CAPS), but it was clear that the project approach remains in its infancy, and
Zeta does not yet have a clear understanding of which role the PMO will adopt
with all parts of the organisation.
The second assumption was that in Saudi project-oriented organisations, the
project management approach would be implemented differently. The collected
data from five interviewed organisations that presented in Chapter Six showed
obvious differences in translating the project management approach. The
banking sector tended to implement the project management through the team
members from the Project Management Office (PMO). Alpha attempts to
implement directive role of PMO through variety of approaches were seen
across the organisation, but they were used in as supporting role only, whereas
in Beta there was an attempt to implement both supporting and controlling roles
of PMO. On the other hand, Gamma and Eta were dealing mainly construction
projects, and they commissioned a consultant for project management activities
for organisational and structural reasons. In Zeta, project management carried-
out through Centre for Advanced Projects Support (CAPS) that had recently
been established. The project approach is still, however, at the early stage of its
implementation, and Zeta does not yet have a clear understanding of which role
of PMO will be adopted across the organisation.
Recalling the SAP conceptual framework developed by Jarzabkowski et al.
(2007), and discussed in Chapter Three, we can appreciate the presence of three
elements: strategy makers, project management practitioners, and the theory of
translation as depicted in Figure 9.1.
205
Figure 9.1: Reflections on Conceptual Framework for SAP
The detail contained within Figure 9.1 is now discussed.
• 9.2.1 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STRATEGY MAKER
This study confirmed that there are many challenges confronting the
participating Saudi Arabian organisations in using the project management
approach as a vehicle to achieve their organisational strategies. Without doubt,
they do all view strategy development as very important, but they do all fall
short in not devoting the same energy to the issue of how to implement what
they have conceptualised. Strategy development attracts the attention and
support of the top managers, who are not actually responsible for
implementation in an operational sense. Consequently, top management fails to
appreciate that a sound implementation plan is necessary for operational
personnel to follow, as it is they who produce the final outcome of all the
strategy development efforts. Nonetheless, despite the lack of senior
management attention to implementation, efforts by a range of other individuals
throughout the organisation to ensure implementation activities are in evidence.
Praxis
SimpliSicationand
Materialisation
Practitioners
Practices
Strategy Maker
Acknowledge the influences of individuals to improve the communication flow across organisation levels
Theory of Translation
Enhance objects’ roles through pictorial representation
Project Management
Defining the desired role of PMO at the beginning
206
That said, irrespective of such involvement, and all the efforts, approaches and
the use of management tools that purport to fill the gaps, the research findings
provide strong evidence of the gap between strategy development and
implementation. In this matter, the most crucial dimension to be improved is
the role of the objects created to facilitate the communication flow between the
upper management ‘strategy makers’ and the lower management ‘strategy
implementers’. Porter (1996) emphasises the need for clear communication and
constant discipline if strategy is to be properly implemented, and Hussey
(1996:11) says that “[i]t is the task of ensuring that others in the organization
understand, support and eventually share the vision. The vision cannot be
understood unless it communicated, and cannot be communicated unless it is
defined in coherent way”.
• 9.2.2 IMPLICATIONS FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PRACTITIONERS
There are many studies proposing the effectiveness of the project management
approach in achieving organisational strategy, and others proposing a number of
critical success factors for improving implementation, but equally these also
demonstrate that many challenges confront the organisation during project
implementation. Taking into consideration the variations in practising the
project management approach from one organisation to another as revealed in
this study, it can be seen that the main problem is not in the project management
approach itself but rather in the way that the approach has been translated into
workable practice in these organisations. Thus, it is very important that these
organisations give a great amount of attention to the translation concept, so that
the project management approach to be implemented for organisational strategy
can be successful. Moreover, there must be complete agreement from the
beginning on the role of the PMO and whether this is fully in control or shares
control with other functions. Simultaneously, there must be a clear and strict
definition of the responsibilities of all involved in order to avoid the
207
implementation challenges and other organisational conflicts that may occur due
to misunderstandings between the project management stakeholders.
• 9.2.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY OF TRANSLATION
The theory of translation proposed by Czarniawska (2002) suggested that for an
idea to be transported it must first be simplified, and then materialised, so that it
may effectively travel over time and space. This study was conducted within
five organisations in order to explore the role of objects produced from the
translation process of strategy and the project practice adopted by these
organisations. As presented in Chapter Seven, all participating organisations did
indeed follow the theory in this respect, since they did simplify and materialise
their strategies and practice through objects including various document formats
such as strategy guidelines, plans, forms, reports, and templates, which were all
based on textual representation. Consequently, these objects failed to establish a
shared vision because of the lack of embodiment of the idea, and this was
obvious in the number of challenges that remained as revealed during the two
case studies, which demonstrated variance in their results. In order to develop a
consistent view, it is recommended by the researcher to use a pictorial
representation to enrich the textual objects and guide the translation of the
practice through visual representation. This would help in connecting
organisation members with the shared goal they wish to achieve.
9.3 LIMITATIONS
1. The research was conducted in five organisations in Saudi Arabia, and
the conclusions drawn from the data collected from these five particular
organisations are tightly related to these organisations’ particular
institutional and sector settings. Accordingly, the study did not aim to
generalise its results to other settings. Rather, it focused on helping these
precise organisations, and other like organisations, to have a better
understanding of how strategy can be translated through project working,
and how project management can be effectively implemented through
208
the translation concept. In particular, it aimed its findings at senior
managements, strategy-makers, and project management practitioners in
such organisations in Saudi Arabia and other countries where there is a
similar culture.
2. In aiming to explore the challenges associated with translation of
strategy into practice in organisations in Saudi Arabia, the first and
foremost limitations experienced by both the researcher and the
respondents were related to the constraints imposed by time and
distance. These constraints resulted in a relatively small number of
practitioners from the banking industry being available for interviews.
Additionally, the long bureaucratic process involved in gaining access to
participants in the petrochemicals and oil industries was a constraint.
Moreover, the researcher was operating to a specific timescale to meet
with academic regulations, and had particular financial constraints.
Consequently, there were the said limitations on the size of the research
sample.
3. This study has mainly depended on a qualitative approach to the
collection and analysis of data, and the highly intensive nature of the
qualitative design placed limitations on the amount of data that could
realistically be gathered. The findings could have been strengthened by
the additional of more data regarding the participating organisations
which would have generated a greater appreciation of the context in
which they operate, but this would have implied reducing the number of
participants to create a more in-depth focus on just one or two
organisations.
9.4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
1. This study explored five Saudi Arabian organisations representing three
specific industries, namely: banking, property development, and higher
education. These five organisations all operated a project management
philosophy, some being involved with IT projects, and others with
Construction projects. Other industries are engaged in different types of
209
project, and consequently, investigations in such environments may well
reveal new findings. Hence, there is a suggestion to replicate the study in
different industries.
2. This study discovered that strategy and practice translation are facilitated
through discussions during meetings and other forums in which
communication can take place effectively, and hence, knowledge-
sharing is evident. Such opportunities for communication are considered
as boundary objects. Hence, it might be useful to consider other
theoretical perspectives, for instance ANT and boundary objects.
3. It would also be interesting to explore the same cases over several years
with a focus on one or two organisations only to acquire a set of
longitudinal data that would allow for the tracking of a newly-
implemented project management approach. It would also enable the
identification of the means of strategy translation through project
management practice from the beginning, and of the factors that affect
practice.
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APPENDICES
218
APPENDIX A - INFORMED CONSENT FORM
219
220
APPENDIX B - INSURANCE ASSESSMENT FORM
Revised 25 November 2011
Research Involving Human Subjects
Insurance Assessment Form
The University provides insurance cover in respect of research involving human subjects undertaken in the United Kingdom for:
• harm to participants, on a “no-fault” or “non-negligent harm” basis, and • financial loss by participants and participating organisations, on a legal liability basis.
The University also provides insurance cover in respect of research involving human subjects undertaken abroad that does not have a medical content, on a legal liability basis.
Special arrangements are normally required for research involving human subjects undertaken abroad that has a medical content.
For these purposes, medical content means: • treating or preventing disease • diagnosing disease or ascertaining the
existence, degree of, or extent of a physiological or psychological condition
• assisting with or altering in any way the process of conception or investigating or participating in methods of contraception
• inducing anaesthesia • otherwise preventing or interfering with the
normal operation of a physiological or psychological function in order to improve health or wellbeing
• testing medicinal products or devices, or • taking tissue or blood samples.
The insurance cover is available for research sponsored, managed, designed or conducted by, or on behalf of, the University (including research undertaken by students under supervision). For further details, visit http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/insurance/professional-activities/humansubjects.
If you answer “No” to all the questions below, you may assume that cover will be provided by the University, subject to approval of the research by an appropriate research ethics committee and approval of any contract terms by the University Contracts Office.
If you answer “Yes” to any of the questions the proposal will need to be considered by the Insurers as part of the review process by the Research Office. If the insurance cover is confirmed you will be provided with a copy of this form signed by the Insurance Office.
Title of Research: Strategy Translation in Projects
Principal investigator: Mazen Melebari
School: School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Question Yes/No
If any part of the research, or use of the protocol, is to be carried out abroad (including internet-based research that could include respondents from abroad), does it have a medical content?
No
Does the research involve “first into man” use of a medicinal product? No
Do the research subjects deliberately include: • pregnant women? No
• children under five years of age? No
• people with special needs? No
Does the research include medical intervention involving: • investigating a medical device? No
• contraception? No
Is the research to be carried out by other organisations where the University is required by contract to provide insurance cover for the research if it proceeds?
No
Signed (PI): Date: 15 Nov 2012
This form should accompany the proposal when it is submitted to the Research Office for review.
Insurance Office approval (not required if all answers above are ‘No’)
Signed: Date:
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What happens to the data collected? The interviews will be audio-recorded for the purpose of analysis. The interviews will also be transcribed verbatim, and saved as encrypted files in the researcher computer/laptop based at the University of Manchester. How is confidentiality maintained? Data will not be disclosed to a third party under any circumstance, and all information will be treated with the strictest of confidence. Where data is used in academic publications, these will be anonymised. Direct quotations will also be selected based on how typical and general these can be gleaned from the transcripts. Participants will be invited to view and agree to a précis of any draft publication prior to submission. What happens if I do not want to take part or if I change my mind? It is up to you to decide whether or not to take part. If you do decide to take part you will be given this information sheet to keep and be asked to sign a consent form. If you decide to take part you are still free to withdraw at any time without giving a reason and without detriment to yourself. Will I be paid for participating in the research? There is no payment for participating in this research. What is the duration of the research? The interviews are planned to last between 30 and 120 minutes, although this is likely to be longer if you have more information to tell us. Where will the research be conducted? Interviews will be undertaken at a location that is convenient for you. This can be at your office, or in a public place of your choice. Will the outcomes of the research be published? It is intended that the analysis will be published in peer-reviewed conference and journals. Contact for further information Please contact me on email: [email protected], +966 (5) 6553776), or +44 (0) 7533493335 if you require any more information. Or contact my supervisor, Dr. Paul W Chan (email: [email protected], or +44 (0) 774 783 5506) if you require any more information. What if something goes wrong? If a participant wants to make a formal complaint about the conduct of the research they should contact the Head of the Research Office, Christie Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL.
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APPENDIX C - PARTICIPANT INFORMATION SHEET
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APPENDIX D - INVITATION LETTER FOR PARTICIPATE IN THE
RESEARCH
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APPENDIX E - ETA STRATEGY II GUIDELINES - DOCUMENT
ANALYSIS AND SITE VISIT
The document contains 64 pages of A5 (210 x 148 mm) that printed in Arabic
language, as the majority of the employees are Arabic Native speaker. The
guidelines document consists of 14 topics that related to the strategy
development and programme plans for the period between 2010 and 2014. The
language of the document was easy to understand, as Arabic is the first language
of the researcher. Moreover, the conducted interviews with the appointed
strategy implementation supervisor and VPP engineers helps in connecting the
document topics with their activities. Thus, the easiness of the document
language and the interviews helped in translating the document into English as
secondary source for the data.
The first three topics are presents brief introduction about the university and its
faculties, departments and the university achievements. Furthermore, highlights
the development of the department of the projects and its related function units.
An introduction of the strategy development of the vice presidency for projects
and its importance was described in details on the three stages of the strategy
development namely formulation, execution, and the evaluation. Followed by
strategic measurements and controls that help in achieving the long-term
strategic goals. The vision, mission, and stakeholders are highlighted too. The
internal and external environments analysed was conducted based on the SWOT
approach. The results of SWOT analysis was grouped in points as below:
- (S) Strength points: there were six points that considered as a
strength points, these as below:
o The familiarities with the international codes of the construction
o Strong relationships with university departments and with other
external parties
o Top management supports for the new innovative ideas
o Being part of the university top management council
o Having a wide knowledge and the variety of expertise
o The location of the presidency of the projects within the
university in Jeddah province.
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- (W) Weakness points: there were seven points that considered as a
strength points, these as below:
o The lack of staff development plans
o The lack of second row leaders
o The lack of internal organisational structure for the presidency of
the projects and the unclear career path for the staff
o The spatial spacing between departments within the presidency
o The lack of the communications between the project management
department and the department of operation and maintenance
o There are no studies unit in place for research that related to the
construction and building
o Weakness system of performance monitoring
- (O) Opportunities: there were six points that considered as a
opportunities points, these as below
o Increased oil prices and economics boost
o The variety of funding and project financing
o Competences availability the and variety of the expertise
o The ability for the international companies to works in Saudi
Arabia
o The advanced development in the construction and building
technologies and the building safety tools
o The ability for using university lands and assets as local
investment
- (T) Threats: in the document considered as challenges, there were
eight points that considered as main challenges, these challenges as
below
o Unrealistic administrative and finical procedures
o The lack of vision clarity for some projects in the master plan
o Low financial budget for the department of the operation and
maintenance
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o The limited job vacancies
o The current financial policy is limiting the department from
attracting new competent staff or keeping the existent staff.
o The geographical expansion of the university and the expanded
work loads
o Low performance of the local contractors and the consultant
o No integrated database in place for project information
After that, the document elaborate of the strategic dimensions, which is consist
of six keys for realizing the strategic plan namely:
- Administrations development
- Project management
- Operation and maintenance
- Security and safety
- Master plans
- Financial development
Based on the above six strategic dimensions and the SWOT analysis for both
internal and external environment, ten strategic goals were extracted as a focal
point for the strategy plan for VPP. These strategic goals as following:
o Attracts and trains the qualified staff
o Building stimulation environment for the performance and quality
o Provide a reference studies in construction and building domain
o Developing advanced procedures for the project management
o Increasing the financial support for the department of operation and
maintenance
o Reengineering the systems of operation and maintenance
o Develop scientific mechanism for completing the master plan
o Simplify the financial procedures
o Increasing the funds
o Developing a database for financial information
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Based on the above strategic goals, a total of twenty programmes were
developed in which two programmes assigned as maximum for each goal. Six
tables developed per strategic dimension that connects the strategic dimension
with the related strategic goals, the specific objectives, and the executive
programme and the assigned principle. The total programmes and specifics
objectives were summaries per strategic dimension in one table.
To achieve these programme of the strategic plan, the specified objectives were
translated into project using balanced scorecards (BSC), which draws the
relationships between these objectives. BSC graph demonstrates the relationship
between the specific objectives, which grouped into (inputs, outputs, internal
process, and financial). The Inputs helps in building the university
‘infrastructure’, internal process that shows how to take the advantage from the
inputs, and the outputs helps in achieving the stakeholders’ requirements and the
internal process explains how to use the input to produce the output.
The stakeholders are specified: master plan, infrastructure projects, and
operation and maintenance systems. Based on the BSCs and the grouped
objectives, four performance measurements tables developed to achieve the
strategic goals. Based on that, follow-up forms developed to track the progress
of the programmes execution in details. This form compares the planned
progress with the actual progress per year for the whole strategy period (2010 -
2014).
The operating plans tables were placed in the appendices of the strategy
document. This table is similar to project plan, which contains detailed
programme activities by determining project tasks that required for delivering
the project. It contains the task description, principle person, start date, and the
end date.
Comments on VPP Strategy II guideline
After reviewing the strategy document of VPP, there are some comments have
been taken related to the research topic. These comments as below:
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- Initially, the total strategic dimensions were six as listed in page 16,
however in page 23 and thereafter the strategic goal linked only with the
five dimensions. The fourth dimension (Safety and Security) was
eliminated without mentioning the reasons behind that.
- The total strategic goals were ten as highlighted in page 23. To simplify
the strategies and achieve the goals, twenty programmes were
developed, two programmes for each goal as maximum. However, the
details table of each strategic dimension to link the dimension with
goals, with the objectives, programme, and the business justification of
each dimension. The information presented in each table was repeated
and tends to be descriptive, therefore, the details makes the plan so
complicated and not easy to understand. The justification part looks
more descriptive and repeat the same information that present in the
same table and that make it useless in this position.
SITE VISIT
As part of the research approach the researcher conducts a site visit to explore
the process of the project management in the real world. Moreover, exploring
how is the strategy is been translated in Eta and how object are connecting
project with strategy objective. One project was visited in the university campus
and below Photograph 7.1 is the project signboard that contains basic project
information and considered as ‘object’. This includes project name, contract
value, contractor name, consultant agent, date of award, contract signature date,
date of the handover, and the completion date. Moreover, in case of the period
extension, the extension information will be inserted too; this includes extension
period, start and end date of the extension.
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Photograph 1: Signboard of Vocational Institute Project in Eta
Even though this visited project was one of the strategic projects; no information
was displayed on the signboard about the strategy objective of this project or
even the project number as in the strategy guideline book that easily could link
with strategy. Displaying this information would have a significant reflection in
terms of connecting project stakeholders including contractors and consultant
with the strategy visually. Czarniawska and Sevon (2005:9) substantiated this by
saying “Ideas must materialize, at least in somebody’s head; symbols must be
inscribed.” otherwise, it is bound to be ephemeral”. Thus strategy should be
visualize rather than materialise in the project world to ensure better
connectivity.