Spencer, Carolyn (2004) Cognitive schemata and project manager regulation of unplanned change: Categorical analysis of structured interview reports. PhD thesis, Griffith University, Australia.
Abstract
A significant risk area for project sponsors is managing unplanned change. Theorists of organisational behaviour have attempted to understand the circumstances of how activity change occurs on projects and have identified the significant impact that time has on activity. This current research takes the study of cognition into the real world setting of project management at a level of analysis that is viable across diverse projects and industries to study project manager regulation of unplanned change. The project managers' cognitive representation of meaningful aspects of a project (their 'cognitive schemata'), which guides activity change during the project, was investigated and the effect of feedback evaluated in order to address the central research question of what triggers change on group projects. In the present research, leading edge projects from six major Australian industries (telecommunications, banking and insurance, information technology, railway signalling, inorganic chemistry and construction) were monitored at three key points through their lifecycle to understand how feedback impacts on project activity through the project manager's cognition leading to change. Six key categories of feedback were identified, which potentially represented the foci of project-related schemata, within a project management mental model. These were validated as important indicators for project management performance by a panel of Australia's leading experts in project management. Sixteen project managers participated in the field study, with their verbal reports being collected through structured interviews (incorporating a 'laddered' interview technique), which were developed and piloted across diverse projects for this purpose. Interview data were coded for analysis in terms of sensitivity to each of the six feedback foci and one control category, for five types of feedback and five types of change. Reliability of the content coding was checked through independent coding and found to be high. The research investigation was conducted within a schematic information processing conceptual framework developed for application within the domain of project management. Strong evidence was found that linked key schemata to the hypothesized effects of feedback. Overall, the effects were found to be general across all industries, individuals and projects. A contrasting effect was observed for one type of feedback where schemata were poorly developed in inexpert project managers, which raised the issue of measurable differences in behaviour arising from project management competency. The findings of strong relationships between the variables led to the proposed model of project manager cognition, which reveals an underlying structure in the schemata between key areas of sensitivity to feedback and unplanned change. The model is proposed as underpinning observed behaviour in this and prior research and suggests a relationship between competency and change regulation.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Hine, Trevor and O'Gorman, John |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | organizations; organisational; change; planned; unplanned; project management; cognitive schemata; cognition; Australia; feedback; organisational psychology |
| Index terms: | mental model, Australia, organizational behaviour, project manager, information processing, project management, insurance, investigation, lifecycle, project management competency, banking, interview, project sponsor, field study, conceptual framework, information technology, organizational psychology, cognition, regulation, telecommunication, evidence |
| Subjects: | psychology, economic analysis, evaluation and assessment methods, cognitive psychology, research methods, theoretical framing, Geography, communication, project delivery, data science, business, data collection methods, profession, computing systems, sociology, political science, professional development, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Project Management, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Governance, Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here