Information Management Barriers in Complex Research and Development Projects: an Exploratory Study on the Perceptions of Project Managers

Abstract

Many organizations depend on the success of rapidly deployed, limited time frame and multipartner projects as an important element of their business strategies. Information management is regarded as a critical and upmost important issue, especially in projects. Complex projects require additional team collaboration and a consistent information management strategy to support the development of the project. This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study on information management barriers in complex projects, particularly focusing issues and difficulties recognized by project participants and managers. Our study intends to fill the gap in empirical research regarding this subject and to provide new insights for project managers of complex projects to devise more effective information management strategies and tools to set up and run information technology platforms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Collaborative conceptualisation processes in the development of lightweight ontologies

“…Both of these goals are problematic. R&D projects are usually complex projects where information management poses considerable challenges related to the management of the project itself: difficulties in controlling documentation, information overload, dispersion of information among different institutions and participants, difficulties in updating and adapting information, lack of time for efficient information management and the codification process of information (Santos et al, 2012). Further challenges arise from the need to capitalise the knowledge created during a project execution, aiming to continuously improve the organisational performance.…”

“…The major causes for the above referred problems lie in the simplistic or inadequate content organization and classification structures used in the platforms, together with the adopted strategies (processes) to promote information sharing. As suggested by Santos et al (2012) and Pereira et al (2013), information and knowledge management in complex projects, to be effective, require that the project members share a core conceptual model encompassing the domains, processes and tasks of the project. If an important conceptual misalignment between partners is detected, this means that some partner may find it difficult to understand and use the adopted information organisation model.…”