Whitepapers

Performance Techniques: Reflective Practice and Action Learning—Alexandra Secerbegovic

Performance Techniques: Reflective Practice and Action Learning as Leadership Developmental Tools in the Pursuit to Improve Project Performance within the Project Organisation
The purpose of this article is, using a literature review, to discuss the processes of Reflective Practice and Action Learning using a project based organisation as a case study and to discuss the advantages and importance of these processes to improving project performance through leadership development. Some of the barriers to effective implementation within such workplaces will also be discussed. The article will first provide the definition and importance of both Reflective Practice and Action Learning. This is then followed by linking these processes with the concept of the Learning Organisation in order to create an environment where leadership development is encouraged as part of employee engagement attract and retain strategies and the overall continuous improvement process.

The organisation used for this article is an Australian medium sized oil and gas company. A project based organisation undertaking exploration, construction and eventually operations of assets. The organisation does not currently undertake Action Learning, however realises that if it is to attract and retain skilled project managers, then it must offer a strong leadership development program, because a high salary is no longer the sole motivating factor for many project managers. It is my belief that this case study organisation will benefit from implementing a leadership development program based on Reflective Practice and Action Learning because the future of improving their projects is not just going to be through traditional technical training of their project managers but raising it to the next level.

Author: Alexandra Secerbegovic
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

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)

Military strategies for better resource planning—Jerry Manas

Ten proven military strategies for better resource planning
Custer’s Last Stand, otherwise known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn, has almost become synonymous with failure. The year was 1876, and Custer was part of an army campaign to force Native American tribes off the gold-rich lands in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

He’d been warned that the territory was well defended by thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians (as they were called at the time, thanks to the early European settlers in the New World mistakenly believing they were in India). Instead of planning a surprise attack or waiting for reinforcements as he was ordered, he decided to charge full speed ahead with all his troops toward the Little Bighorn River, in what is now Montana. As could be expected, they were easily defeated, with Custer and all 265 men in his regiment losing their lives, save for a sole half-Indian scout.

What can we learn from this about resource management? On the surface, the failure lesson seems obvious: Don’t go fool-heartedly into a sure failure where you’re grossly understaffed and all the odds are against you (a mistake organizations seem to make on a regular basis). But as we dig deeper, there’s more to this story.

Author: Jerry Manas
Review status: N/A

Project Performance Improvement—Dominic O’Brien

Project Performance Improvement
This paper explores the challenge of sharing knowledge across a team within the context of a broadcast industry project, demonstrating a shift of thinking (metanoia) in learning. During the project a Collaborative Design Model of regular individual and group reflection was developed, that assisted in expanding the level of shared knowledge and creativity within a team. The model shares the outputs of individual reflection with the whole team which then acts as a catalyst to drive innovation that can benefit the project. Hence the model is a key foundation for building a learning organization that can generate deeper knowledge. A critical part of the model is the use of a time linked semi structure management approach, a form of light touch supervision. This supervision style provides a clear definition of objectives, regular monitoring and direction without overpowering the team. This allows for the growth of a creative environment in which innovation can flourish. The benefits of this approach are examined in the paper and include creative problem solving and tacit knowledge sharing.

Author: Dominic O’Brien
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Psychology and Project Management—Raveendran Ranganayagalu & Dr Manikantan Poonkundran

Psychology and Project Management
Project Management usually has a framework and methodologies which are being followed for successful project management. While the framework and methodology is vital for project management, the human aspect of the project management too has to be taken into consideration since this human aspect has an important role to play in the way the projects are managed.

Projects are managed by individuals who are unique in themselves and hence each individual manages his or her project in his or her own unique way. A same project if given to two individuals will be managed in two different ways. This is because the psychological aspects of the individuals such as perception and emotions vary hugely and play a pivotal role in many processes like problem solving and decision making which affects the way the projects are handled in the real world. This aspect may sometimes result in the difference between success and failure of the project. This paper aims to study the relationship between the psychological aspects of the individuals and how it affects the way the projects are being handled by different individuals in the world of project management.

Author: Raveendran Ranganayagalu & Dr Manikantan Poonkundran
Review status: Version 1, IBM India

Internal Work Package Handovers and Effective Knowledge Transfer—Russell Dunn

Internal Work Package Handovers and Effective Knowledge Transfer
Work-packages are often handed over or transferred internally peer-to-peer within the project team, such as when team members leave the project, or when management re-shuffles responsibilities. This paper reflects on the apparent shortcomings experienced by the author when using traditional dot-point style handovers, by identifying and analysing the knowledge transfer process at play. The distinction is made between information and knowledge when considering the underlying importance of harvesting the team member’s tacit knowledge obtained from in-depth involvement and association with a particular work-package. When attempting a smooth transition or handover of a complex work-package, context and purpose are found to be key elements required to be explicitly conveyed in order for the receiving peer to achieve empowerment with actionable knowledge and the capacity to act. A pragmatic approach is taken to develop high level tools and recommendations that could be implemented within a project team environment when aiming to optimise a smooth and effective transition while mitigating the adverse effects of lost project knowledge due to poor knowledge transfer practices.

Author: Russell Dunn
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Learning through Reflection while implementing an Agile software development methodology—Beatrice Ngo

Learning through Reflection while implementing an Agile software development methodology
This reflective report explores the topics of ‘reflection’ and ‘learning through reflection’ within the context of the project environment within one of Australia’s major telecommunications companies (hereby referred to as ‘The Company’).

The project was to develop and deploy a comprehensive new software development methodology within The Company; a methodology based on the Information Technology paradigm of ‘Agile Software Development’.

Implementing Agile methodology within The Company involved:
—Industry and vendor engagement to develop a comprehensive ‘best practice’ Agile methodology and framework which also met the specific needs of The Company.
—Training for staff within the large Information Technology department of The Company.
—The implementation of new metrics and measures to reflect on, and validate the success of, the new methodology.

The Agile methodology implemented within The Company incorporates a significant amount of reflective practice in the form of ‘retrospectives’. A retrospective is “a meeting held by the project team at the end of a project or process to discuss what was successful about the project or time period covered by that retrospective, what could be improved, and how to incorporate the successes and improvements in future iterations or projects”. The retrospective process:
—Is an example of Social Learning.
—Is an example of Experiential Learning.
—Is not an example of Problem-Based Learning.

The Company achieved several benefits through the use of reflective practice in the form of these retrospectives – such as:
—Increased trust within the project team.
—More effective reflection on work performance.
—More effective project debriefings.

Through reflection over time, The Company learnt various lessons in terms of ‘common ailments’ regarding their Agile projects, and suitable cures for each issue.

‘Learning through reflection’ could have improved the outcome of this project in various ways, such as:
—Allowing the project team to achieve ‘double-loop learning’.
—Allowing team members to learn from their failures.
—Slowing the pace of learning, allowing proper comprehension.
—Allowing ‘deep’ learning to take place.

Author: Beatrice Ngo
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)

Reflective Practices in Agile development of the On-Demand Virtual Lab—Phi Bang Nguyen

Reflective Practices in Agile development of the On-Demand Virtual Lab
The focus for this paper is to investigate reflective practices in an Agile software development project – The On-Demand Virtual Lab. It aims to understand how Agile development has been used in a technically complex ‘proof-of-concept’ project.
This paper uses a systems thinking approach to understand the components of this On-Demand Virtual Lab. Both using a hard systems approach to understand the technical issues, as well as a soft systems approach to understand the personal issues.
The investigation found that there were weaknesses in understanding the complexity and length of this project. There was a lack of support from management, as well as a lack of knowledge transfer.

Finally, the paper presents two reflective tools, known as Agile-Jazz and Agile-ECG that have been demonstrated to be beneficial for teams involved in complex projects. Agile-Jazz is an enhanced management structure, which brings stakeholders together to reflect and understand the problems, and seek solutions together. Agile-ECG classifies the reflection into Emotions, Cognition and Growth – providing a convention to reflection and aiding discussion within the team.

Author: Phi Bang Nguyen
Review status: Postgraduate assignment (University of Technology Sydney)