Project Performance Improvement—Charlotte Tanner

Project Performance Improvement
The emergence of Open Source Software and the broader Communities of Practice are leading the way in terms of creating new dynamics and paths to knowledge creation. Whilst these communities of practice increasingly include global virtual teams, the teams themselves have not yet reflected the highly connected, non-hierarchical structures of Communities of Practice in their own methods and approaches to managing projects. Through the process of reflective practice, global virtual teams have within their power the ability to seek out new ways of thinking and collaborating not just within their own virtual teams, but also within the broader Open Source Software Community.

The project environment of global virtual teams can create barriers to communication, but the shared context of the team itself, can act as a catalyst for transforming knowledge from tacit to explicit by increasing the points of connection within the team. By the sharing of knowledge, teams are able to build trust within the team, which leads to improved performance of the team. Whilst the emergence of new methodologies such as Agile within Project Management seeks to deal with the rapidly evolving development of new software, whereby the end ‘product’ is not always clearly defined when a project commences, does provide a workable approach to Project Management, problems can still arise within the way the team interrelates with one another. The next stage of the process should be a reflection on the way in which teams interact and how new knowledge is created.

Author: Charlotte Tanner
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Integration of Reflective Practice—Gerard Datoc

Integration of Reflective Practice And Knowledge Within The Organization
In today’s organizations, it becomes vital to be able to adapt to the changing markets as it develops an incline for new and more innovative products or services. Companies spend countless money and human resources in improving the way they achieve results and develop a structure for continuous improvement plans. An extensive percentage of this is dependant on the teams who are the drivers of success for every organization; hence through my research I endeavour to tackle the qualities of successful teams in how they structure knowledge and reflective practices that are the drivers behind these accomplishments. Through coaching and mentoring, reflecting on our experiences can further develop how an individual can process data and turning that into knowledge.

Individuals may have years of experience but that a learning experience is more beneficial for both the individual and the organization. There are challenges in bringing cohesion regarding the transference of explicit and implicit knowledge through training sessions. By integrating reflection within organizations and marrying that with knowledge, organizations contributes to improving business processes and further defining business objectives. The application of David Kolb’s Learning Cycle and incorporating that as part of reflective practices of an organization can manifest benefits in how any organization can develop knowledge management practices. Reflective practices foster growth on many levels and create an avenue for situations that require problem-solving skills. It is evident that reflection also enhances our skill sets and how we instigate resolutions and possible actions.

Author: Gerard Datoc
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Developing inclusivity from within a project team

In her previous posts on project team inclusivity, Elissa Farrow wrote on how change needs to start with reflection. Here she describes what a team needs to do to put that into practice.

Inclusivity through reflective practice on project teams

In her last post, Elissa Farrow wrote about inclusivity rather than diversity on teams. To build inclusive project teams we need to understand our own views, values and beliefs through some reflective practice.