Influences of management practices in the temporary organisation and their effect on value

Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

Purpose: This thesis explores management practices in temporary organisations and their influence on value. In doing so, it examines a premise advanced by other researchers that coordinating labour and promoting best-practice communications are pathways to unlocking value at enterprise level and in the socio-economic sense.Design: For the purpose of accumulating data, two case studies conducted over six years and focused on separate projects, each significant in scope and complexity, were theorised as temporary organisations. At different points in time, each business was either implementing change externally or undergoing its own change.Findings: While neither temporary organisation formally defined or articulated value, the ensuant research indicates that targeted management practices had a propensity for its generation, primarily through constructive stakeholder relationships, by coordinating labour especially in times of change, and by implementing enhanced communications techniques such as feedback loops. It suggests that management practices influence social value in this setting and contribute to company profit—a hallmark of value theory—bringing benefits to the immediate enterprise and society. These case studies led to the determination that culture, both organisationally and ethnically, catalysed emergent value. Furthermore, by reapplying accumulated knowledge points to intellectual assets and clearly defining labour strategies, both within the temporary organisation and as part of its change mandate, these praxes continue to positively influence value creation.Limitations: While this research provides insights on praxes promoting value within a temporary organisation, certain characteristics of the case-study model as applied emerge as limitations. These potentially include interviewee worldviews, restricted range of management practices considered, or reduced data selection for analysis. Financial data over a range of years following the research period would compensate the limited time period of the research confirming value generation. Limitations on cultural interaction experienced by local employees may have been reduced by strategically addressing tendencies identified. Finally, the nebulous nature of value itself presents limitations, the most intractable arising out of variance over time. Consequently, those governing a temporary organisation are obligated to periodically assess its value boundaries.Future Research: To assist in visualising the tasks involved, an alternative paradigm to articulate value is provided in this thesis, in advancement of a quest to promote intrinsic worth within the greater entity. Future researchers, and practitioners for that matter, in applying and developing this paradigm, will further uphold the virtues of a temporary organisation as a means to value creation, bringing with their contribution a certain cachet in terms of its wider application.Contribution to Industry: While it was established that management practices have the proclivity to generate value, temporary organisations could begin promoting the virtue of their strategic application in order to harness the power that lies in them. While empirical, the paradigm advocated in this thesis is proposed for adoption by a Project Management Standards Authority, such as PMBOK or PRINCE2, as part of a Benefits section. Independent of any such guidance, temporary organisations are urged to implement this paradigm in their own right, the better to incorporate management practices with a view to generating value beyond organisational decrees.
Date of Award18 Feb 2022
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University Of Strathclyde
SupervisorSteve Paton (Supervisor) & Peter McKiernan (Supervisor)

Cite this

'