Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTThe ability to plan and execute projects is a fundamental skill required among managers and business school graduates. In the opening phase of a project, the project team makes decisions about the relative priority of project time, cost, and performance objectives, oftentimes without complete information about customer and stakeholder requirements. Existing project management curriculum assists in developing skills to decide among these priorities in the abstract through paradigms such as the time–cost–performance triangle, with limited attention to the improvement of skills required to develop solutions to these trade‐offs, particularly in uncertain and ambiguous project environments. Further, there is often an underlying bias in project teams toward consideration of the project task and project deliverables and reduced attention to time and cost objectives. This study demonstrates the benefits of a balanced approach to setting project time, cost, and performance objectives using a goal‐based simulation exercise entitled "The Bridge to Project Leadership." Results for 124 project teams illustrate the tendency to ignore this balanced approach, resulting in reduced project performance, even among experienced project managers.

ABSTRACTHealth care has undergone a number of radical changes during the past five years. These include increased competition, fixed‐rate reimbursement systems, declining hospital occupancy rates, and growth in health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations. Given these changes in the manner in which health care is provided, contracted, and paid for, it is appropriate to review the past research on capacity management and to determine its relevance to the changing industry. This paper provides a review, classification, and analysis of the literature on this topic. In addition, future research needs are discussed and specific problem areas not dealt with in the previous literature are targeted.