The purpose of the study on which this paper is based was to conduct a performance evaluation of student learning for an introductory course in project management in a higher educational institution in Norway. This was done by utilizing performance measurement philosophy to evaluate perceived student learning after a project-based assignment was applied as an instructional tool. The evaluation was conducted at the end of the semester to determine whether it facilitated learning effectiveness by providing an authentic learning experience. Relevant learning criteria were identified from existing literature and were measured by means of a questionnaire survey. Ten measurement scales were established using a 5-point Likert scale. The survey was then rolled out for the same subject for two consecutive semesters for just over 100 project management students. The results indicated that the incorporation of project-based assignments has a positive impact on student learning, motivation, and performance both in the short and long term. The study finally revealed that the incorporation of project-based assignments enables the creation of real-life experiences, which further stimulates the creation and development of real-life competencies.

This paper presents insights gained from a simulated project-based assignment in a project management course at NTNU. The simulated project-based assignment was developed in order to provide students with a first-hand understanding of the management challenges incurred in digitalization projects. The goal of the assignment was to help the students to have an overall view of the underlying concepts in digital development projects using other methods than lectures. In this paper, we present an account of the experiences gained from conducting this experiment. The paper describes the implemented simulated environment. The paper then presents the results of evaluating the effectiveness of the methods ability to provide students with sound and authentic understanding of key success factors for developing and implementing digitalization projects.

This study expounds existing literature on digitalization projects taking a one-dimensional view on people at organizational, project and individual levels. Through a systematic literature review, we highlight and contrast the impact of soft factors on the implementation and adoption of digitalization projects. Four core enablers were identified and contrasted at different organizational levels in an integrated framework for successful implementation and adoption of digitalization projects. Findings indicate that both adoption and implementation of digitalization projects have similar core enablers at organizational level, significantly different actions that need to be taken at project level and slightly different characteristics at individual level. Moreover, eight critical soft factors were identified for successful implementation and adoption of digitalization projects. The findings provide valuable insights to practitioners and enable controlling the highest value factors to increase the success rate of digitalization projects and to identify the core elements that need attention at various organizational levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review that expounds the extent of knowledge available on success factors within the context of digitalization projects taking the single dimensional focus on people at different organizational levels.

Purpose: This research fills a gap in digitalization project studies by exploring them through the lens of organizational learning. It investigates the impact of uncertainty on digitalization project success and the role of absorptive capacity.Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach is adopted, incorporating qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative part assesses how uncertainty affects digitalization project success, while the quantitative side explores absorptive capacity as a mediating factor between adaptability to uncertainty and project success.Findings: The qualitative results uncover challenges facing digitalization projects under uncertainty and suggests coping strategies at individual, project, and organizational levels. Quantitative results show that both potential and realized absorptive capacities significantly mediate the link between adaptability to uncertainty in the environment and project success.Originality/value: This research offers new insights into digitalization project studies, merging organizational learning theory with a mixed-methods approach. It highlights how uncertainty and absorptive capacity influence digitalization project success.

Over the past three decades, an increasing trend has been observed in research related to the consideration of human factors instead of solely based on the traditional aspects of project and operations management. However, much of the research done to date on human aspects has been conducted in developed countries in Europe, America and Australia, leaving developing countries, especially those in Africa, deprived of similar research. The purpose of the paper is to bridge this gap in knowledge by comparing the soft factors in the two contexts in order to provide an understanding of whether they have the same level of importance, regardless of their differences in economic, social and environmental aspects. The authors used semi-structured interviews to identify the critical soft factors for optimum performance of maintenance operations at a natural gas processing plant in Tanzania. The uncovered soft factors included top management engagement and oversight, trainings, ergonomics, collaboration, safety and security, recognition programs, and education and career growth. There was a high degree of conformity between the soft factors uncovered in the Tanzanian context and those in other African countries and other developing countries around the world. However, there was also conformity between the soft factors uncovered in developing and developed countries, which only differed in the level of the emphasis they placed on implementation.

There is a common consensus in project management literature that managing the soft factors in digitalisation projects is a critical success factor. It is also suggested that enabling the digital transformation in organisations requires addressing carefully various forms of soft factors. The objective of the paper was to build on the current body of knowledge regarding the role of soft factors in digital transformation and to identify and present a retrospective analysis of the soft factors that have contributed to challenges of a major digitalisation project in the health sector in Trondheim-Norway. The major finding from the case study suggest that although commitment by top-management is a critical factor to drive and implement digital transformation, this commitment alone might be counterproductive if it is not balanced with other critical factors such as thorough understanding of the impact of the project on the workload and work process of various end-users of the system. The findings further showed that commitment is also counterproductive if not balanced with the ability to respond and act upon concerns emanating from the end-users. Finally, the study proposed a framework to enable the understanding of the interconnection between various soft factors in digitalisation projects and the impact of this interconnectivity.