Virtual Project Quality Management
Your interim term paper should focus on the GAPS in the literature, i.e., what is not known or unclear on the topic you have chosen.
Do include the relevant framework/model/s and be sure to list the source of all figures/tables under the respective figure/table and the title above it. You need more current (less than 3 or 4 years old) and relevant peer reviewed journal references.
The key is to coherently present concepts and views and integrate the ideas. Please ensure that the manuscript’s flow and the transitions between sections is smooth. Below are a few suggestions regarding the various sections to consider. These recommendations pertain to both form and content of the material, and are described under the following categories:
The ‘Abstract’ Section
Problems:
The abstract lacks focus. It does not state the problem it is addressing in a coherent manner. The description is more detailed than necessary at this stage.
Recommendations: To capture the interest of the audience, the abstract should, in deadpan style, present a terse summary of the entire paper incorporating the important contents, concepts, and results of the paper. The abstract could be more focused by succinctly stating these as follows.
A thumb-rule to write a good abstract is:
Use one sentence to describe the entire paper.
Then use one sentence each to describe the problem or issues, the method, the data, analysis, if any, results,
and conclusions.
Move the secondary details to the main thesis of the paper.
SAMPLE ABSTRACT
This manuscript introduces the Chaos Theory as a means of studying information systems. It argues that the Chaos Theory, combined with new techniques for discovering patterns in complex quantitative and qualitative evidence, offers a potentially more substantive approach to understanding the nature of information systems in a variety of contexts. Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the underlying assumptions and theoretical constructs through the use of the Chaos Theory will not only inform researchers of a better design for studying information systems, but also assist in the understanding of intricate relationships between different factors.
First, the authors describe what the manuscript is about. (This manuscript introduces the Chaos Theory as a means of studying information systems.)
They summarize the content of the manuscript. (It argues that the Chaos Theory, combined with new techniques for discovering patterns in complex quantitative and qualitative evidence, offers a potentially more substantive approach to understanding the nature of information systems in a variety of contexts.)
Then, they explain their purpose or objectives for writing the manuscript. (Furthermore, the authors hope that understanding the underlying assumptions and theoretical constructs through the use of the Chaos Theory will not only inform researchers of a better design for studying information systems, but also assist in the understanding of intricate relationships between different factors.)
Note: Your abstract does not necessarily need to be three sentences like the sample above – but it will need to be between 100-150 words – nor does it need to be worded the same way. Use your own words, but capture the idea behind this sample abstract.
The ‘Introduction’ Section
Problems:
The introduction does not describe the problem the manuscript is addressing before the reader’s attention is lost. There are several assertions without accompanying empirical evidence or logical reasoning. Only if an assertion could be proven or argued, should it be written.
The introduction section has to address what the paper will do, how it will do it and why-convincingly enough to arouse interest in the audience.
The overview of the methodology of the research is not substantive.
The scope and roadmap of the paper are not adequately described.
It may also be useful to include a results preview.
Recommendations: The introduction must be carefully constructed that explains the nature and value of the contribution succinctly. The introduction section has to address what the paper will do, how it will do it and why-convincingly enough to arouse interest in the audience. The introduction must state very briefly the following to draw the targeted audience’s interest:
State the primary problem the research is addressing for its stakeholders and the cause of the problem.
What are the options to address the problem?
What is the best solution that the manuscript advocates?
Who is the targeted audience of the paper?
What specific problems do each of the stakeholders face? Of these, which specific issues does the research thesis promises to address?
Then succinctly describe the contribution of the paper and the value of the contribution. This paragraph must say what new information the paper has created and how it can be utilized by its targeted audience to turn the findings into knowledge. An example of contribution paragraph from another publication is reproduced for your convenience:
[This paper makes a contribution to project management (PM) research in several ways. To our knowledge it reports on the first use of "event study" methodology in PM research. This methodology is well regarded in the accounting and finance literature, has a wide following, and has many potential uses for the investigation of research problems in PM.
This is also the first study to examine the impact of announced PM investments on the
value of the firm from the perspective of the investor, as measured by daily returns in the
firm’s equity securities.
The study provides evidence that, on the whole, the market does not react positively to
announced PM investments, suggesting that such investments do not systematically
provide higher than required industry rates of return. However, PM investments classified
as innovative did result in positive reactions, suggesting that investors expect such
investments to provide abnormal returns.
This research is expected to be very interesting to researchers focusing on the business
and economic impacts of PM investments and substantially interesting to PM researchers
in general. It may be moderately interesting for sophisticated PM managers and
practitioners who are interested in the expected impact of PM investment announcements
on stock market returns.]
The body of the manuscript
The literature review should be reasonably detailed. While presenting a view on the topic, the author/s should cite information that should not appear as assertions not substantiated with appropriate sources. The manuscript should be balanced by drawing from a broader literature with sources quoted. While doing so, focus on the research question, rather than discussing about other issues in detail. Expand the literature review. Based on this literature review and synthesis, present a research framework/model (if possible) and
clearly describe the theory upon which the research model has been derived. Derive your research propositions rigorously and refer to the extant literature to support your argument. Include relevant research framework/s.
Please include a section on Implications for Research and another section on Implications for Management before the Conclusion section.
The Implications for Research section should include the following:
Contributions of your research paper to the existing body of knowledge
Limitations of your current study
Directions of future research to extend your current study or research topics related to your study
The Implications for Management section should include the key takeaways for Management--actionable items for practice. You may include:
Key takeaways for managers
Lessons learned for managers
Memo to the CEO/Board of Directors (although you do not have to write it in a format of a memo but the message should be included in this section)
What is the difference between an Executive Summary and a Conclusion section:
The Executive Summary is similar to (not the same as) the abstract since generally the exec summary is used by practitioner/semi-practitioner journals such as Harvard Business Review and abstracts are used by refereed academic journals such as Journal of Asia-Pacific Business (see example of an abstract that I have provided in my feedback to the teams working on the research paper). The Conclusions section should summarize the key findings/key takeaways from your team project. It is important NOT to introduce any new ideas/points in the Conclusions section. See example at the following URL:
http://nexus(dot)umn(dot)edu/Posters/Poster-Birnbaum.pdf
The CONCLUDING SECTION should summarize the findings of the arguments of the previous sections, warn the reader of the limitations of the conclusions, and derive implications for the literature, action to be taken, and method of application
Finally, may I suggest that you pay close attention to the following: 1. Greater clarity in the definition of your research constructs. Very importantly, greater coherence in the research objectives, literature review, and research framework are called for. 2. The literature review needs to be more concise and focused on the research objectives. 3. The theoretical foundation of the research needs to be made clear. Specifically, the theoretical grounding of the research constructs/factors, and the rationale for the arguments/propositions needs significant improvement. I hope that the above concerns could help you improve upon the conceptualization of the research, and help to strengthen your term paper for the next iteration/draft.
Action Items:
(1) State the research question/s in the Introduction section---what is not known in the existing literature. Also state the organization/structure of the paper
(2) The majority of your references need to be from peer reviewed academic journals that are less than 3 to 4 years old and in APA format. You may include seminal/classic articles that are older (e.g., to cite releavnt theoretical frameworks/models).
(3) After you have completed the paper, you can expand upon the abstract
(4) Do include the Implications for Management and a separate section for Implications for Research (limitations of the research and future research directions)
(5) The literature analysis is good--focus on the key research framework and more recent (less than 3 years old) research from academic journals for in-depth analysis and synthesize it in your paper.
Virtual Teams Quality Management
Name:
Institution:
Course:
Date:
Abstract
The use of technology has dramatically revolutionized the world economies. They have changed the way that basic processes in any many areas are carried out and one of these areas is in project management. Over the years, project management has benefited from the technological inputs allowing project managers to control their project processes with higher success rates. Specifically technology has been pivotal as the field moves towards virtual projects management. Teams can still work on projects while halfway across the globe. The main focus of the paper is on breaking the focus from technology and considering one of the most crucial elements of quality management within any project, human resources. Regardless of how advances the technology is, it is the human element that determines the success of the project. This paper evaluates the importance of the human element in a virtual project as a breakaway from the technological marvels and applications within the field.
Introduction
Technology is a pillar that is undeniably one of the strongest pillars in business process and management. More importantly, technology has had subtle impacts when it comes to project management. Projects are no longer limited and time and special differences. Projects managers now have the luxury of forming teams by bringing on board members that are across the globe from one another. Virtual team management is a reality today thanks to technology. Teams can collaborate their efforts with one another from across the globe and never have to step into a boardroom together, physically. Every other member makes their contribution from wherever they are and collaborate with the rest and the team leader to effectively manage projects (Hamilton, Hodgkinson & Byatt, 2018). This is a field that has elicited massive research into ways of integrating the various project management processes using technological advances to enhance ever other element. What is important in this paper though is the elements of virtual project management that relate to the human factors. Much of the research in the past have concentrated on the technological tools of collaboration, while neglecting the human touch in the project management. This is not to refute that technology is a crucial element when it comes to the virtual project management and quality enhancement in the teams’ efforts. Rather, it is to bring out the most crucial part of any team, the human resources (McEwan, Ruissen, Eys, Zumbo & Beauchamp, 2017). This is a crucial component of the virtual project management, the quality of any results are dependent on the team rather than the tools that they have at their disposal, more significantly (Hamilton, Hodgkinson & Byatt, 2018). To achieve the objectives of the paper, the research mainly dwells on the past research findings, by qualitatively evaluating the insights against the theme of the paper to establish information that has been presented in the field. The paper makes significant contribution to the field of project management relative to developing more profound insights into the most crucial factors of quality control. This is a paper that target the project managers and researchers in general as it provides insightful information and more importantly proposes a shift in focus, when evaluating quality in virtual project management. It is expected to be quite interesting in the sense that, it offers the researchers a shift of focus into the future of virtual teams and enhanced quality and also triggers a debate in the ranks of project managers and practitioners in reference to their focus when it comes to maintaining quality in virtual teams.
Literature Review
Over the years, companies have been taking part in virtual teams when working on different projects or even parts of projects as the resources and objectives demand. Virtual project management has also grown over the years, with advances in the technology sector. Growing at very fast rate, technology has impacted the way that teams are able to collaborate their efforts. There is a subtle level of flexibility that comes with the virtual teams. This allows organizations and project managers to increase their level of productivity as they get the best talent in a virtual team. They are able to harness their abilities working as individuals and more importantly, they are able to pool their capabilities when it comes to working as a team or teams. In the growing interest of the ability to have teams working from across the world, there is also need establish ways of enhancing the level of performance relative to quality project management. Shopee Dube and Carl Marnewick point to the idea of establishing the element of performance within a team. This ties in to the efficiency of a virtual team (Dube & Marnewick, 2016). Largely, the efficiency of a virtual team is the basic premise of its formation in the first place. For every project manager, getting the ultimate team means getting the most efficient team to bring to fruiting the project of their organization and achieve all the objectives set out with the least among of resources and maximum results.
‘Literature reveals that more research is needed to explore the various ways to enhance the performance of virtual project teams (Anantatmula & Thomas 2010; El-Tayeh, Gil & Freeman 2008; Gordon & Curlee 2011; Idrus, Husin & Sodangi 2011; Nader et al. 2009). Previous research on virtual project teams has focused on general team performance, team outputs and outcomes (Krasnikov & Jayachandran 2008). Studies by Sosik and Jung (2002) only indicate aspects of team performance, such as decision quality and the length of time to reach a decision, quality of the team products and creativity. Team members’ satisfaction and experience whilst working on specifc projects were examined by Powell et al. (2004).’
According to Gamage in the research, The Impact of Project Management in Virtual Environment: A Software Industry Perspective, there is need to enhance the various elements of communication using the right ICT tools (Gamage, 2016). However they also mention a number of elements that are crucial to project management especially where virtual teams are involved. Gamage, further points to the fact that there is need to employ agile project management approaches (Gamage, 2016).
‘Agile approaches are used to help businesses respond to unpredictable. "They provide opportunities to assess the state of play and the direction of the project at different points over time" (Amorim and Sousa, 2014, p. 871). "Having cross-linked, self-organized teams and a flat organizational structure allows agile teams to closely collaborate without needless complications"(Papadopoulos, 2015, p. 456). Agile methodology has frequent releases and its move to with flexible changes of stakeholders or clients. It always welcome to changes.’ (Gamage, 2016)
The ability to be agile also relates to the element of being adaptable to the changes that are in the industry and reining in the demands associated with the objectives of the company. However, it is also important to note that, even with all the agility and applications, it is the human element that matters most when it comes to the implementation. With the right human resources base, any company can be in a position to implement any level of project management processes (Marković, Radović-Markovic & Minović, 2015). This is relative to the fact with the right skills and even the basic technology advancements, the team is able to bring out the innovativeness, solutions development and most importantly skills to adapt. It is crucial for the project managers to be in a position evaluate the scope of their project and the resources that they need to be in a position to accomplish the objectives of the same (Basiouni, Tan & Ali, 2017).
The key elements of a virtual team are largely associated with the technological advances along with the collaboration tools (Davidekova & Hvorecky, 2017). These are unmistakably crucial given that they form one of the pillars of virtual teams operations. However, at the base of the formation of a virtual team lies the human elements. The qualities that make the members of the team efficient and stand out. They are part of what a manager first establishes as a need before the setting up the team. It is the elements such as the level of reliability, comfort, social interaction, motivation, cooperation communication, trust and leadership (Dube & Marnewick, 2016). These are elements that are more tuned to the success of a virtual team than anything else (Owonikoko, 2016). They are factors that tie in with the human element more than they do with the level of technology applied. It is important that managers are able to find these qualities and engage them in their teams to bring the very best of results possible in any given project. This is considering that no amount of technology can surpass say quality communication abilities and protocols (Pinto, 2018). Neither can technology advances surpass the element of reliability on the part of the team members (Dube & Marnewick, 2016).
If a team member is not reliable, there is no love of technology that is going to change that. This is simply an innate characteristic that affects the way that the person at the personal level is able to interact with those that they meet and more importantly those that they are working with to establish quality results. This is also a view that is closely associated with the research findings that Shopee Dube and Carl Marnewick (Dube & Marnewick, 2016). In their research, they use these factors as part of their performance determination criteria. This further points to the impact that these elements have when it comes to the determination of how a team is effective. This translates into the element of quality management in sense that, relative to the findings of the research in question, teams are evaluated on their effectiveness which is a crucial aspect of putting together a virtual team; a project manager needs to know if a team is going to be in a position to achieve quality results of the assigned projects. More importantly at the individual level, the manager needs to evaluate the way that each member is able to interact with the objectives of the project by interacting with the members effectively.
Most of the companies that have virtual teams, tend to have global projects. As such, they have to establish teams that are on site and others with different set of skills that their office may not offer. It is also quite cheap compared to sending out scores of teams out to the global markets where a company wants to establish operations (Lin, Standing & Liu, 2008). This means that companies have to work in the complex environment that the virtual teamwork. Where they send out their team members, they have to collaborate their efforts to achieve the project objects. As such, either way, companies have to work within this space to achieve some of the most fundamental objectives with a minimalist approach.
The basic process of working with a virtual team is enshrined in a number of processes. The first ones being in the pre-project phase. In this phase, managers in the various virtual teams, have to establish the teams that they are going to be working with relative to the various objectives of their projects. The basics for a winning team include a diverse composition. The level of diversity dictates the level of ...
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