Relationships among interpersonal conflict, requirements uncertainty, and software project performance

The influence of ethical leadership and team learning on team performance in software development projects

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of team learning processes (information acquisition, information processing and information storage and retrieval) on team performance in software development projects and to assess the effect of ethical leadership and its influence on these processes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined 354 software development project teams in Thailand. A quantitative study was conducted through a Web-based survey, with structural equation modelling used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results of this study revealed that ethical leadership is positively correlated with the team learning processes of information acquisition, information processing and information storage and retrieval. However, only information processing and information storage and retrieval are positively related to team performance. The results indicate that ethical leadership has a positive direct effect on team performance. The results also show that the positive relationship between ethical leadership and team performance is partially mediated by team learning processes, namely, information processing and information storage and retrieval.

Research limitations/implications

This study highlights the importance of ethical leadership and guides managers towards considering the characteristics of both ethical leadership and team learning processes for enhancing team performance in software development projects.

Originality/value

This is the first study to the best of authors’ knowledge to examine the role of team learning processes in mediating the relationship between ethical leadership and team performance, particularly concerning software development projects. The present research contributes to the literature on team performance management, emphasising the manner in which ethical leadership can result in team learning and team performance. The findings of this study can be used to encourage organisations to develop ethical leadership behaviours and team learning processes in software development projects.

Interpersonal conflict at work and knowledge hiding in service organizations: the mediator role of employee well-being

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the effects of interpersonal conflicts in the social workplace on various rationalized, knowledge-hiding behaviors in service organizations. This research also examines employee well-being as a mediator to explain the effects of interpersonal conflicts at work on knowledge-hiding behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

First, relevant literature provided the theoretical basis for the conceptual model that links the core constructs of this research. A quantitative study collected data from 395 employees of a global consulting firm with a branch located in a developing country. Finally, an analysis of the structural equation modeling with MPlus 7 software tested the measurement and the structural model.

Findings

The results of this study suggest that interpersonal conflict at work influences knowledge-hiding and that employee’s well-being mediates this relationship. In other words, employees strategically choose what knowledge-hiding behaviors to use – such as evasion or “playing dumb” – to cope with the lack of well-being caused by high interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.

Originality/value

Although contextual and individual factors may trigger knowledge-hiding behavior at work, the current literature has overlooked the combined effects of such factors, especially in service settings. Knowledge hiding in service organizations is a weakness that can lead to significant economic losses, especially in firms that are intensively knowledge-based. Thus, it is necessary to identify the antecedents of knowledge-hiding behavior to deter low performance in these organizations.

Investigating the relationships among team emotional intelligence, trust, conflict and team performance

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to enhance understanding of the relationships among team emotional intelligence (EI), trust in team, conflict in team and team performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 389 team members from 84 project teams in large-scale construction projects was surveyed.

Findings

Findings showed that team EI is positively associated with team performance. In addition, trust and conflict in the team mediate the association between team EI and team performance.

Practical implications

The ability to perceive one’s own and others’ emotions significantly increases the likelihood of team performance by increasing trust in a team and reducing conflict. Therefore, managers can use these findings to boost team performance and reduce conflict in their teams.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the better understanding of the relationship between team EI and team performance in large-scale construction projects. In addition, this research is an empirical investigation into the mediation variables linking EI to team performance.

Corruption as a Source of Government Project Failure in Developing Countries

This study explores how corruption impacts the failure of government projects in developing countries with evidence from the Ghanaian context. This study solicits the perceptions of project management practitioners (14), contractors (6), government officials (clients; 5), and the general public (5) on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption influences government project failure on all the failure criteria that were used for the evaluation. However, corruption influences failure at two different levels: project management and product phase. At the project management level, corruption has direct influence, while at the product phase level, the influence is indirect.

Lessons from a Successful Data Warehousing Project Management

This article provides an overview of project management aspects of a data warehouse application implementation. More specifically, the article discusses the project's implementation, challenges faced, and lessons learned. The project was initiated with an objective to redesign the procurement data pipeline of a data warehouse. The data flows from enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to enterprise data warehouse (EDW) to reporting environments. This project was challenged to deliver more quickly to the consumers with improved report performance, and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) in EDW and data latency. Strategies of this project include providing continuous business value, and adopt new technologies in data extraction, transformation and loading. The project's strategy was also to implement it using some of the agile principles. The project team accomplished twice the scope of previous project in the same duration with a relatively smaller team. It also achieved improved quality of the products, and increased customer satisfaction by improving the reports' response time for management.

Does Real Options Reasoning Support or Oppose Project Performance? Empirical Evidence from Electronic Commerce Projects

There is a consensus among scholars that real options reasoning is crucial for improving project performance but there has been little empirical support thus far; hence, we explore how real options reasoning may influence project timeliness, efficiency, and effectiveness. Our longitudinal analysis of 110 electronic commerce projects, drawn from new technology ventures, indicated the differential effects of real options reasoning on project performance. We find that higher uncertainty does not always lead to a greater use of real options reasoning. Although perceived environmental state uncertainty is positively linked to real options, perceived environmental effect and response uncertainty are not.

Influence of Project Partnering on Stakeholder Role Ambiguity and Project Manager Risk Perception in Information System Projects

Project partnering is an efficient management intervention for enhancing software project performance. Empirical studies have shown that project partnering can effectively reduce role ambiguity during project development; however, these studies focused only on user-related problems. We conducted a matched triplet questionnaire survey of 102 software project managers, users, and developers to examine how project partnering enhances project performance via the risk perception and role ambiguity of certain key stakeholders. Results demonstrate that project partnering affects managers’ risk perception and certain key stakeholders’ role ambiguity, which in turn influences project performance. The findings provide new insight into the impact of risk perception and role ambiguity on project management.

Closing the Stakeholder Expectation Gap: Managing Customer Expectations toward the Process of Developing Information Systems

Whereas expectations concerning both process and product are essential for information system development (ISD) project success, research has focused on end-user expectations toward the product. Based on semi-structured interviews, we shed light on the relevance of process expectations for customer satisfaction in ISD projects, concrete customer expectations toward the process, and approaches for managing these expectations. Our study provides means to manage customer expectations and thus increase the likelihood of customer satisfaction.

Antecedents of Relationship Conflict in Cross-Functional Project Teams

Relationship conflict is a pervasive phenomenon in cross-functional project teams. Although previous studies have demonstrated the dysfunctional effect of relationship conflict, the direct drivers of relationship conflict in cross-functional project teams remain unclear. To address this gap, a literature review and an advisory group discussion were performed to identify the antecedents of the relationship conflict framework. Afterward, a structural equation model (SEM) was used to confirm the influence of such antecedents on relationship conflict. Intrapersonal diversity, uncertain project task, organizational culture diversity, and inappropriate behavior positively influence relationship conflict. These findings help researchers better understand the drivers of relationship conflict as well as open a gateway for practitioners to control and manage relationship conflict for a successful cross-functional project.

Differences between Clients’ and Vendors’ Perceptions of IT Outsourcing Risks: Project Partnering as the Mitigation Approach

Information technology (IT) outsourcing has been a business practice for more than two decades. Researchers have suggested successful risk management as a key factor in successful IT outsourcing projects implementation. The documented investigations, however, have mainly addressed risk management only from a single perspective of either clients or IT vendors. Considering only one perspective allows for an omission of possible risks considered critical by the other party, as suggested by agency theory. This study explored the potential perception inconsistency regarding the risks between the client and the vendor for IT outsourcing projects by using a quasi- Delphi approach. The analysis results indicated some inconsistencies in the risks perceived by the two parties: (1) the clients regarded (a) lack of vendor commitment to the project and (b) poor vendor selection criteria and process as top critical risks but the vendors didn't; and (2) on the other hand, the vendors perceived (a) unclear requirements and (b) lack of experience and expertise with project activities as significant risks but the clients didn't. Insights into how the client and the vendor perceive risks may help both parties determine how to partner and manage project risks collaboratively to succeed in outsourcing.

Shared leadership in projects: a matter of substance over style

Purpose

This paper aims to advance understanding of the conditions under which shared leadership would contribute to successful outcomes in projects and factors associated with its development.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that draws on existing research on shared leadership in teams and the literature on the characteristics of soft projects, to put forward a number of testable propositions to form the basis of future research in this area.

Findings

The assumptions underpinning style perspectives of leadership and their usefulness for projects are called into question given the ambiguity and complexity with which the majority of projects now have to contend. Instead, shared project leadership is suggested to be better suited to respond to the dynamic and changing circumstances characteristic of most projects.

Research limitations/implications

Three major areas of research are proposed that focus on external factors enabling shared leadership, internal factors enabling shared leadership, and shared leadership processes. Longitudinal, qualitative studies that capture the contextual variables and conditions that influence shared leadership in projects are suggested to enhance our theoretical understanding of this systems‐level perspective on leadership.

Originality/value

Style leadership perspectives have dominated research on leadership in projects offering a parochial and narrow understanding of the contribution leadership perceived more broadly can make to the effectiveness of projects. The propositions put forward in this paper aim to extend our theoretical understanding of shared leadership specifically within project contexts.

Alignment between social and technical capability in software development teams

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of alignment at the team level. Because teams are important in software development projects, the paper focuses on studying the influence of alignment between the social and technical capabilities on software development team performance. Drawing on socio‐technical theory and software product development literature, the paper aims to identify social and technical capabilities for software development teams.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data from 192 software development teams were analyzed. The profile deviation approach was used to calculate alignment.

Findings

The findings suggest that misalignment between capabilities negatively impacts product and process performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study provides an intellectually coherent view in studying software development team performance. The study contributes to the literature by assessing alignment needs at the team level.

Practical implications

The study provides a holistic view for studying team capabilities and guides software development team leaders and managers to consider both the social and technical aspects in assessing team performance.

Originality/value

Alignment or misalignment is mostly studied in the literature from a macro level/organizational perspective. There exists a gap in the literature for studying alignment at more granular levels such as between various business sub‐units or within teams. The study addresses the gap by studying alignment within teams.