research projects on organization development

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Organization Development: Theory, Research, and Practice

To him who devotes his life to science, nothing can give more happiness than increasing the number of discoveries. But his cup of joy is full when the results of his studies immediately find practical application. There are not two sciences. There is only one science and the application of science, and these two activities are linked as the fruit is to the tree. Louis Pasteur Organization Development (OD) is the practical application of organization science. Drawing from several disciplines for its models, strategies, and techniques, OD focuses on the planned change of human systems and contributes to organization science through the knowledge gained from its study of complex change dynamics. The field follows Kurt Lewin’s two dicta, “In order to truly understand something, try changing it.” and “There is nothing as practical as a good theory.” The interplay between scientific theory development and its application makes OD an exciting and vibrant part of organization studies. Although a substantial number of important contributions have been made, the field has had its problems, some of which have plagued it from the beginning. Many of OD’s problems relate to its relative newness as an academic field; it has been in existence slightly more than three decades. Some derive from the enormous complexity that exists in the processes OD attempts to map. Consequently, OD’s theoretical base is unsettled; there are blurred conceptualizations of the OD process and inadequate understandings of its underlying change mechanisms. In add ion, significant questions about the robustness of OD research methods cast doubt on the validity of many research findings. Moreover, the tendency to emphasize action over systematic evaluation of OD’s — effects results in a less than desired data base for the field. Finally, the field has, for some, a “messianic” rather than scientific flavor because of its normative humanistic value-based roots. These factors make the field a difficult as well as challenging arena for both research and practice. The purpose of this chapter is to capture some of the vitality and complexity of OD and to present its theory, practice, and research in such a way that the reader can better comprehend the essence of the field, where it is now, and where it is headed. We begin with brief introductory comments on organizational change as a construct and a definition of Organization Development. We expand on this definition by presenting a perspective on organizational change based on Porras’ (Porras, 1986, 1987; Porras & Silvers, 199 1) organizational framework. A discussion of OD theory follows, concentrating on two types, change process theory and change implementation theory. Next, we broadly describe the vast array of intervention techniques currently popular in the field and discuss a few in depth. Then, we describe research findings on the effects of OD, and discuss what OD does and does

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Creating Action Research Quality in Organization Development: Rigorous, Reflective and Relevant

• Original Paper
• Published: 14 November 2013
• Volume 27 , pages 523–536, ( 2014 )

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• David Coghlan 1 &
• A. B. Shani 2 , 3  

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The purpose of the paper is to present a framework that enables action researchers to create quality action research projects within the organization development (OD) domain using the broad criteria of being rigorous, reflective and relevant and so contribute to the realm of practical knowing. What constitutes good quality action research within OD is a difficult question, given the broad range of approaches that operates in a wide variety of settings and with great diversity. It advances specific dimensions by which action researchers can create, review and assess quality in action research work. This integrative framework and criteria are practical tools to enable action researchers to create quality action research in OD.

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School of Business, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

David Coghlan

Orfalea College of Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA

A. B. Shani

Department of Management, Economic & Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

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Coghlan, D., Shani, A.B. Creating Action Research Quality in Organization Development: Rigorous, Reflective and Relevant. Syst Pract Action Res 27 , 523–536 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-013-9311-y

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Published : 14 November 2013

Issue Date : December 2014

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-013-9311-y

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Organizational Development Research Paper Topics

This guide aims to provide students with a comprehensive list of organizational development research paper topics divided into 10 categories, expert advice on how to choose the best topics, and tips on how to write a successful research paper. Organizational development is a critical aspect of modern workplaces, and students studying this field often need to write research papers to explore various aspects of it. Additionally, iResearchNet offers custom writing services designed to help students produce high-quality, well-researched papers on any organizational development topic. By following the steps outlined in this guide and utilizing iResearchNet’s services, students can produce research papers that contribute to the field and provide valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and industry professionals.

Introduction to Organizational Development Research Paper Topics

In modern workplaces, organizational development plays a critical role in creating a healthy and productive work environment. Students who study organizational development often need to write research papers to explore various aspects of this field, ranging from leadership and change management to employee motivation and performance.

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The purpose of this guide is to provide students with a comprehensive list of organizational development research paper topics divided into 10 categories, expert advice on how to choose the best topics, and tips on how to write a successful research paper. Additionally, iResearchNet offers custom writing services designed to help students produce high-quality, well-researched papers on any organizational development topic.

By following the steps outlined in this guide and utilizing iResearchNet’s services, students can produce research papers that contribute to the field and provide valuable insights for academics, policymakers, and industry professionals. Whether you are just beginning your research or are well underway, this guide will provide you with the tools and resources you need to succeed in your research paper on organizational development.

100 Organizational Development Research Paper Topics

Organizational development research paper topics can cover a wide range of issues and areas within the field. To help students choose a topic that aligns with their interests and research goals, we have compiled a list of 10 categories of organizational development research paper topics.

Leadership and Management:

• The impact of leadership style on organizational culture
• Cross-cultural leadership: Challenges and opportunities
• The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership
• Effective strategies for managing remote teams
• The impact of gender on leadership styles and practices
• Leadership and innovation: Strategies for fostering creativity in the workplace
• Transformational leadership: An analysis of its impact on employee motivation
• The relationship between ethical leadership and employee well-being
• The role of shared leadership in team performance
• The impact of leader-member exchange on employee job satisfaction

Organizational Change:

• Managing organizational change: Best practices and strategies
• Overcoming resistance to change: A case study analysis
• The impact of organizational change on employee motivation and job satisfaction
• Change management in the public sector: Challenges and solutions
• The role of communication in change management
• Change management in mergers and acquisitions: Lessons learned
• Change management in healthcare organizations: A case study analysis
• The role of leadership in successful change management
• Change management in non-profit organizations: Strategies for success
• The impact of technology on change management in organizations

Employee Motivation and Performance:

• The impact of job design on employee motivation and performance
• Employee engagement: Best practices for fostering a motivated workforce
• The role of rewards and recognition in employee motivation
• The impact of organizational culture on employee motivation and performance
• The relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover
• The impact of work-life balance on employee motivation and performance
• Performance management: Best practices for setting and measuring employee goals
• The role of leadership in employee motivation and performance
• The impact of workplace diversity on employee motivation and performance
• The relationship between employee motivation and organizational performance

Organizational Culture and Climate:

• The impact of organizational culture on employee behavior
• Building a positive organizational culture: Best practices and strategies
• The role of communication in shaping organizational culture
• The impact of organizational culture on customer satisfaction
• The impact of leadership on organizational culture and climate
• Organizational climate: A conceptual framework for analysis
• The role of conflict resolution in shaping organizational culture
• The impact of employee diversity on organizational culture and climate
• The impact of job design on organizational culture and climate
• The impact of technological change on organizational culture and climate

Human Resource Management:

• The impact of HR practices on employee performance and job satisfaction
• Talent management: Strategies for identifying and retaining top talent
• The impact of training and development on employee performance
• The role of HR in managing workplace diversity and inclusion
• The impact of HR technology on employee recruitment and retention
• Employee benefits and compensation: Best practices for designing and implementing programs
• The impact of performance management systems on employee engagement and performance
• HR policies and procedures: Best practices for designing and implementing effective programs
• The role of HR in managing employee health and wellness
• The impact of employee engagement on organizational performance

Organizational Communication:

• Communication and leadership in organizations
• Effective communication strategies for remote teams
• The role of communication in conflict resolution in organizations
• Cross-cultural communication in multinational organizations
• Communication and organizational change
• Communication and employee engagement
• Communication and decision-making in organizations
• Communication and knowledge management in organizations
• Communication and organizational culture
• Communication and ethical issues in organizations

Organizational Culture:

• Developing a strong organizational culture for improved productivity
• The role of leadership in shaping organizational culture
• Measuring and assessing organizational culture
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational culture
• The influence of national culture on organizational culture
• Managing culture change in organizations
• Creating an inclusive organizational culture
• Culture and diversity in the workplace
• The impact of organizational culture on customer experience

Human Resource Development:

• Employee training and development programs
• Talent management and succession planning
• The role of HRD in organizational change management
• Strategies for developing a diverse and inclusive workforce
• The impact of technology on HRD practices
• The role of HRD in performance management
• Employee retention strategies
• HRD and knowledge management
• The role of HRD in career development
• HRD and employee engagement

Organizational Leadership:

• Leadership styles and their impact on organizational culture and performance
• Developing effective leadership skills in organizations
• Gender and leadership in organizations
• Leadership development programs
• Ethical leadership in organizations
• The impact of transformational leadership on organizational change
• Authentic leadership and employee engagement
• The role of leadership in promoting innovation in organizations
• Distributed leadership in organizations

Organizational Change Management:

• The process of organizational change
• Resistance to change and how to overcome it
• Change management strategies for successful implementation
• The role of leadership in managing organizational change
• The impact of technology on organizational change management
• Managing change in a global context
• Change management and employee engagement
• Communicating change in organizations
• The role of organizational culture in change management
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational change management

The categories of organizational development research paper topics discussed above are just a few of the many areas that can be explored. Students can use these topics as a starting point to identify research areas that interest them the most, and they can then tailor the research paper to their specific academic and professional interests. It is also important to remember that organizational development is a constantly evolving field, and new topics are emerging all the time. Therefore, it is crucial for students to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the field to identify new and relevant research topics.

Choosing an Organizational Development Topic

Choosing a research paper topic can be a challenging task for students, particularly in a complex and evolving field like organizational development. Here are some expert tips to help students choose an appropriate topic for their research paper:

• Identify Your Area of Interest : The first step in choosing a research paper topic is to identify your area of interest. Organizational development is a vast field, and there are many areas to explore. It is essential to choose a topic that aligns with your academic and professional interests.
• Read Widely : The next step is to read widely to identify the latest trends and research gaps in the field. Academic journals, books, and conference proceedings are good sources of information for students to keep abreast of the latest research.
• Consult with Your Professor : It is advisable to consult with your professor or academic advisor for guidance on choosing a research topic. They can offer insights and recommendations on suitable topics based on your academic background and interests.
• Narrow Down Your Topic : Once you have identified an area of interest and read widely, narrow down your topic to a specific research question. A specific research question will help you focus your research and keep it within manageable limits.
• Consider Practical Implications : Organizational development is an applied field, and research should have practical implications. Students should choose a research topic that has practical implications for organizations and can contribute to the development of effective organizational practices.
• Ensure Feasibility : It is essential to ensure that the research topic is feasible within the given time and resources. Students should consider the availability of data, access to research participants, and research methods when choosing a topic.
• Seek Inspiration : Inspiration for a research topic can come from a variety of sources, such as current events, case studies, and personal experience. Students should look for real-world problems and challenges facing organizations to identify relevant research topics.
• Be Creative : Finally, students should be creative when choosing a research topic. The field of organizational development is constantly evolving, and there is always room for innovative research ideas. Students should not be afraid to explore new and exciting areas of research.

In conclusion, choosing a research paper topic is an important step in the research process, and students should take the time to carefully consider their options. By following the expert advice outlined above, students can choose a research topic that aligns with their interests and has practical implications for organizations.

How to Write an Organizational Development Research Paper

Organizational development is an interdisciplinary field that requires both theoretical and practical knowledge. To write a successful research paper in this field, students need to have a clear understanding of the theoretical foundations of organizational development, as well as the practical tools and methods used to implement change within organizations. In this section, we will provide expert advice on how to write an effective organizational development research paper.

• Choose a topic : The first step in writing a research paper in organizational development is to choose a topic that is both interesting and relevant to the field. This can be a challenging task, as there are numerous topics to choose from within the field of organizational development. To narrow down your topic, consider the following questions: What are the current issues facing organizations today? What are the areas of organizational development that need improvement? What are the latest trends in the field of organizational development? Once you have identified a topic, make sure it is specific enough to be manageable, but broad enough to allow for sufficient research.
• Conduct research : The next step is to conduct research on your chosen topic. This can involve reading academic journals, books, and other sources related to organizational development. It is important to keep track of the sources you use, as you will need to reference them in your paper. In addition to academic sources, it can also be useful to conduct interviews with experts in the field or to observe real-world examples of organizational development in action.
• Develop a thesis statement : Once you have conducted your research, it is important to develop a thesis statement that summarizes the main point of your paper. This should be a clear and concise statement that outlines the argument you will be making in your paper. Your thesis statement should be based on your research and should be supported by evidence.
• Outline your paper : Before you start writing your paper, it can be useful to create an outline. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your paper is structured logically. Your outline should include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence, supporting evidence, and a concluding sentence.
• Write your paper : Once you have created an outline, it is time to start writing your paper. Your introduction should provide background information on your topic and should end with your thesis statement. The body of your paper should present your argument and should be supported by evidence from your research. Each paragraph should focus on a single point and should be structured logically. Your conclusion should summarize your main points and restate your thesis statement in a new way.
• Revise and edit : After you have written your paper, it is important to revise and edit it. This can involve checking for grammar and spelling errors, as well as ensuring that your paper is structured logically and makes sense. It can also be useful to have someone else read your paper and provide feedback.

In summary, writing a successful organizational development research paper requires careful planning and attention to detail. By following the steps outlined above, students can produce a well-researched and well-written paper that demonstrates their knowledge of the field.

iResearchNet Writing Services for Organizational Development Research Papers

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We offer a wide range of features to ensure that your paper meets your needs and exceeds your expectations. Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy when you choose iResearchNet for your organizational development research paper:

• Expert degree-holding writers : Our writers hold advanced degrees in organizational development, and they have years of experience in writing research papers on a variety of topics related to the field.
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• Top quality, customized solutions : We guarantee that the paper you receive will be of the highest quality and tailored to your specific needs.
• Flexible pricing : We offer flexible pricing options to fit your budget, and we never compromise on quality.
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At iResearchNet, we understand that students face numerous challenges when writing research papers. These challenges range from selecting the right topic to conducting in-depth research and writing a high-quality paper. As a result, we offer custom research paper writing services to help students overcome these challenges and produce high-quality papers.

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Managing Ideas, People, and Projects: Organizational Tools and Strategies for Researchers

Samuel pascal levin.

1 Beverly, MA 01915, USA

Michael Levin

2 Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Suite 4600, 200 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155-4243, USA

Primary Investigators at all levels of their career face a range of challenges related to optimizing their activity within the constraints of deadlines and productive research. These range from enhancing creative thought and keeping track of ideas to organizing and prioritizing the activity of the members of the group. Numerous tools now exist that facilitate the storage and retrieval of information necessary for running a laboratory to advance specific project goals within associated timelines. Here we discuss strategies and tools/software that, together or individually, can be used as is or adapted to any size scientific laboratory. Specific software products, suggested use cases, and examples are shown across the life cycle from idea to publication. Strategies for managing the organization of, and access to, digital information and planning structures can greatly facilitate the efficiency and impact of an active scientific enterprise. The principles and workflow described here are applicable to many different fields.

Graphical Abstract

Information Systems; Knowledge Management

Introduction

Researchers, at all stages of their careers, are facing an ever-increasing deluge of information and deadlines. Additional difficulties arise when one is the Principal Investigator (PI) of those researchers: as group size and scope of inquiry increases, the challenges of managing people and projects and the interlocking timelines, finances, and information pertaining to those projects present a continuous challenge. In the immediate term, there are experiments to do, papers and grants to write, and presentations to construct, in addition to teaching and departmental duties. At the same time, however, the PI must make strategic decisions that will impact the future direction(s) of the laboratory and its personnel. The integration of deep creative thought together with the practical steps of implementing a research plan and running a laboratory on a day-to-day basis is one of the great challenges of the modern scientific enterprise. Especially difficult is the fact that attention needs to span many orders of scale, from decisions about which problems should be pursued by the group in the coming years and how to tackle those problems to putting out regular “fires” associated with the minutiae of managing people and limited resources toward the committed goals.

The planning of changes in research emphasis, hiring, grant-writing, etc. likewise occur over several different timescales. The optimization of resources and talent toward impactful goals requires the ability to organize, store, and rapidly access information that is integrated with project planning structures. Interestingly, unlike other fields such as business, there are few well-known, generally accepted guidelines for best practices available to researchers. Here we lay out a conceptual taxonomy of the life cycle of a project, from brainstorming ideas through to a final deliverable product. We recommend methods and software/tools to facilitate management of concurrent research activities across the timeline. The goal is to optimize the organization, storage, and access to the necessary information in each phase, and, crucially, to facilitate the interconnections between static information, action plans, and work product across all phases. We believe that the earlier in the career of a researcher such tools are implemented and customized, the more positive impact they will exert on the productivity of their enterprise.

This overview is intended for anyone who is conducting research or academic scholarship. It consists of a number of strategies and software recommendations that can be used together or independently (adapted to suit a given individual's or group's needs). Some of the specific software packages mentioned are only usable on Apple devices, but similar counterparts exist in the Windows and Linux ecosystems; these are indicated in Table 1 (definitions of special terms are given in Table 2 ). These strategies were developed (and have been continuously updated) over the last 20 years based on the experiences of the Levin group and those of various collaborators and other productive researchers. Although very specific software and platforms are indicated, to facilitate the immediate and practical adoption by researchers at all levels, the important thing is the strategies illustrated by the examples. As software and hardware inevitably change over the next few years, the fundamental principles can be readily adapted to newer products.

Software Packages and Alternatives

A Glossary of Special Terms

Basic Principles

Although there is a huge variety of different types of scientific enterprises, most of them contain one or more activities that can be roughly subsumed by the conceptual progression shown in Figure 1 . This life cycle progresses from brainstorming and ideation through planning, execution of research, and then creation of work products. Each stage requires unique activities and tools, and it is crucial to establish a pipeline and best practices that enable the results of each phase to effectively facilitate the next phase. All of the recommendations given below are designed to support the following basic principles:

• • Information should be easy to find and access, so as to enable the user to have to remember as little as possible—this keeps the mind free to generate new, creative ideas. We believe that when people get comfortable with not having to remember any details and are completely secure in the knowledge that the information has been offloaded to a dependable system and will be there when they need it, a deeper, improved level of thinking can be achieved.
• • Information should be both organized hierarchically (accessible by drill-down search through a rational structure) and searchable by keywords.
• • Information should be reachable from anywhere in the world (but secure and access restricted). Choose software that includes a cell phone/tablet platform client.
• • No information should ever be lost—the systems are such that additional information does not clog up or reduce efficiency of use and backup strategies ensure disaster robustness; therefore, it is possible to save everything.
• • Software tools optimized for specific management tasks should be used; select those tools based on interoperability, features, and the ability to export into common formats (such as XML) in case it becomes expedient someday to switch to a newer product.
• • One's digital world should be organized into several interlocking categories, which utilize different tools: activity (to-dos, projects, research goals) and knowledge (static information).
• • One's activity should be hierarchically organized according to a temporal scale, ranging from immediate goals all the way to career achievement objectives and core mission.
• • Storage of planning data should allow integration of plans with the information needed to implement them (using links to files and data in the various tools).
• • There should be no stored paper—everything should be obtained and stored in a digital form (or immediately digitized, using one of the tools described later in this document).
• • The information management tasks described herein should not occupy so much time as to take away from actual research. When implemented correctly, they result in a net increase in productivity.

The Life Cycle of Research Activity

Various projects occupy different places along a typical timeline. The life cycle extends from creative ideation to gathering information, to formulating a plan, to the execution for the plan, and then to producing a work product such as a grant or paper based on the results. Many of these phases necessitate feedback to a prior phase, shown in thinner arrows (for example, information discovered during a literature search or attempts to formalize the work plan may require novel brainstorming). This diagram shows the product (end result) of each phase and typical tools used to accomplish them.

These basic principles can be used as the skeleton around which specific strategies and new software products can be deployed. Whenever possible, these can be implemented via external administration services (i.e., by a dedicated project manager or administrator inside the group), but this is not always compatible with budgetary constraints, in which case they can readily be deployed by each principal investigator. The PIs also have to decide whether they plan to suggest (or insist) that other people in the group also use these strategies, and perhaps monitor their execution. In our experience, it is most essential for anyone leading a complex project or several to adopt these methods (typically, a faculty member or senior staff scientist), whereas people tightly focused on one project and with limited concurrent tasks involving others (e.g., Ph.D. students) are not essential to move toward the entire system (although, for example, the backup systems should absolutely be ensured to be implemented among all knowledge workers in the group). The following are some of the methods that have proven most effective in our own experience.

Information Technology Infrastructure

Several key elements should be pillars of your Information Technology (IT) infrastructure ( Figure 2 ). You should be familiar enough with computer technology that you can implement these yourself, as it is rare for an institutional IT department to be able to offer this level of assistance. Your primary disk should be a large (currently, ∼2TB) SSD drive or, better, a disk card (such as the 2TB SSD NVMe PCIe) for fast access and minimal waiting time. Your computer should be so fast that you spend no time (except in the case of calculations or data processing) waiting for anything—your typing and mouse movement should be the rate-limiting step. If you find yourself waiting for windows or files to open, obtain a better machine.

Schematic of Data Flow and Storage

Three types of information: data (facts and datasets), action plans (schedules and to-do lists), and work product (documents) all interact with each other in defining a region of work space for a given research project. All of this should be hosted on a single PC (personal computer). It is accessed by a set of regular backups of several types, as well as by the user who can interact with raw files through the file system or with organized data through a variety of client applications that organize information, schedules, and email. See Table 2 for definitions of special terms.

One key element is backups—redundant copies of your data. Disks fail—it is not a question of whether your laptop or hard drive will die, but when. Storage space is inexpensive and researchers' time is precious: team members should not tolerate time lost due to computer snafus. The backup and accessibility system should be such that data are immediately recoverable following any sort of disaster; it only has to be set up once, and it only takes one disaster to realize the value of paranoia about data. This extends also to laboratory inventory systems—it is useful to keep (and back up) lists of significant equipment and reagents in the laboratory, in case they are needed for the insurance process in case of loss or damage.

The main drive should be big enough to keep all key information (not primary laboratory data, such as images or video) in one volume—this is to facilitate cloning. You should have an extra internal drive (which can be a regular disk) of the same size or bigger. Use something like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to set up a nightly clone operation. When the main disk fails (e.g., the night before a big grant is due), boot from the clone and your exact, functioning system is ready to go. For Macs, another internal drive set up as a Time Machine enables keeping versions of files as they change. You should also have an external drive, which is likewise a Time Machine or a clone: you can quickly unplug it and take it with you, if the laboratory has to be evacuated (fire alarm or chemical emergency) or if something happens to your computer and you need to use one elsewhere. Set a calendar reminder once a month to check that the Time Machine is accessible and can be searched and that your clone is actually updated and bootable. A Passport-type portable drive is ideal when traveling to conferences: if something happens to the laptop, you can boot a fresh (or borrowed) machine from the portable drive and continue working. For people who routinely install software or operating system updates, I also recommend getting one disk that is a clone of the entire system and applications and then set it to nightly clone the data only , leaving the operating system files unchanged. This guarantees that you have a usable system with the latest data files (useful in case an update or a new piece of software renders the system unstable or unbootable and it overwrites the regular clone before you notice the problem). Consider off-site storage. CrashPlan Pro is a reasonable choice for backing up laboratory data to the cloud. One solution for a single person's digital content is to have two extra external hard drives. One gets a clone of your office computer, and one is a clone of your home computer, and then you swap—bring the office one home and the home one to your office. Update them regularly, and keep them swapped, so that should a disaster strike one location, all of the data are available. Finally, pay careful attention (via timed reminders) to how your laboratory machines and your people's machines are being backed up; a lot of young researchers, especially those who have not been through a disaster yet, do not make backups. One solution is to have a system like CrashPlan Pro installed on everyone's machines to do automatic backup.

Another key element is accessibility of information. Everyone should be working on files (i.e., Microsoft Word documents) that are inside a Dropbox or Box folder; whatever you are working on this month, the files should be inside a folder synchronized by one of these services. That way, if anything happens to your machine, you can access your files from anywhere in the world. It is critical that whatever service is chosen, it is one that s ynchronizes a local copy of the data that live on your local machine (not simply keeps files in the cloud) —that way, you have what you need even if the internet is down or connectivity is poor. Tools that help connect to your resources while on the road include a VPN (especially useful for secure connections while traveling), SFTP (to transfer files; turn on the SFTP, not FTP, service on your office machine), and Remote Desktop (or VNC). All of these exist for cell phone or tablet devices, as well as for laptops, enabling access to anything from anywhere. All files (including scans of paper documents) should be processed by OCR (optical character recognition) software to render their contents searchable. This can be done in batch (on a schedule), by Adobe Acrobat's OCR function, which can be pointed to an entire folder of PDFs, for example, and left to run overnight. The result, especially with Apple's Spotlight feature, is that one can easily retrieve information that might be written inside a scanned document.

Here, we focus on work product and the thought process, not management of the raw data as it emerges from equipment and experimental apparatus. However, mention should be made of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs), which are becoming an important aspect of research. ELNs are a rapidly developing field, because they face a number of challenges. A laboratory that abandons paper notebooks entirely has to provide computer interfaces anywhere in the facility where data might be generated; having screens, keyboards, and mice at every microscope or other apparatus station, for example, can be expensive, and it is not trivial to find an ergonomically equivalent digital substitute for writing things down in a notebook as ideas or data appear. On the other hand, keeping both paper notebooks for immediate recording, and ELNs for organized official storage, raises problems of wasted effort during the (perhaps incomplete) transfer of information from paper to the digital version. ELNs are also an essential tool to prevent loss of institutional knowledge as team members move up to independent positions. ELN usage will evolve over time as input devices improve and best practices are developed to minimize the overhead of entering meta-data. However, regardless of how primary data are acquired, the researcher will need specific strategies for transitioning experimental findings into research product in the context of a complex set of personal, institutional, and scientific goals and constraints.

Facilitating Creativity

The pipeline begins with ideas, which must be cultivated and then harnessed for subsequent implementation ( Altshuller, 1984 ). This step consists of two components: identifying salient new information and arranging it in a way that facilitates novel ideas, associations, hypotheses, and strategic plans for making impact.

For the first step, we suggest an automated weekly PubCrawler search, which allows Boolean searches of the literature. Good searches to save include ones focusing on specific keywords of interest, as well as names of specific people whose work one wants to follow. The resulting weekly email of new papers matching specific criteria complements manual searches done via ISI's Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The papers of interest should be immediately imported into a reference manager, such as Endnote, along with useful Keywords and text in the Notes field of each one that will facilitate locating them later. Additional tools include DevonAgent and DevonSphere, which enable smart searches of web and local resources, respectively.

Brainstorming can take place on paper or digitally (see later discussion). We have noticed that the rate of influx of new ideas is increased by habituating to never losing a new idea. This can be accomplished by establishing a voicemail contact in your cell phone leading to your own office voicemail (which allows voice recordings of idea fragments while driving or on the road, hands-free) and/or setting up Endnote or a similar server-synchronized application to record (and ideally transcribe) notes. It has been our experience that the more one records ideas arising in a non-work setting, the more often they will pop up automatically. For notes or schematics written on paper during dedicated brainstorming, one tool that ensures that nothing is lost is an electronic pen. For example, the Livescribe products are well integrated with Evernote and ensure that no matter where you are, anything you write down becomes captured in a form accessible from anywhere and are safe no matter what happens to the original notebook in which they were written.

Enhancing scientific thought, creative brainstorming, and strategic planning is facilitated by the creation of mind maps: visual representations of spatial structure of links between concepts, or the mapping of planned activity onto goals of different timescales. There are many available mind map software packages, including MindNode; their goal is to enable one to quickly set down relationships between concepts with a minimum of time spent on formatting. Examples are shown in Figures 3 A and 3B. The process of creating these mind maps (which can then be put on one's website or discussed with the laboratory members) helps refine fuzzy thinking and clarifies the relationships between concepts or activities. Mind mappers are an excellent tool because their light, freeform nature allows unimpeded brainstorming and fluid changes of idea structure but at the same time forces one to explicitly test out specific arrangements of plans or ideas.

Mind Mapping

(A and B) The task of schematizing concepts and ideas spatially based on their hierarchical relationships with each other is a powerful technique for organizing the creative thought process. Examples include (A), which shows how the different projects in our laboratory relate to each other. Importantly, it can also reveal disbalances or gaps in coverage of specific topics, as well as help identify novel relationships between sub-projects by placing them on axes (B) or even identify novel hypotheses suggested by symmetry.

(C) Relationships between the central nervous system (CNS) and regeneration, cancer, and embryogenesis. The connecting lines in black show typical projects (relationships) already being pursued by our laboratory, and the lack of a project in the space between CNS and embryogenesis suggests a straightforward hypothesis and project to examine the role of the brain in embryonic patterning.

It is important to note that mind maps can serve a function beyond explicit organization. In a good mapped structure, one can look for symmetries (revealing relationships that are otherwise not obvious) between the concepts involved. An obvious geometric pattern with a missing link or node can help one think about what could possibly go there, and often identifies new relationships or items that had not been considered ( Figure 3 C), in much the same way that gaps in the periodic table of the elements helped identify novel elements.

Organizing Information and Knowledge

The input and output of the feedback process between brainstorming and literature mining is information. Static information not only consists of the facts, images, documents, and other material needed to support a train of thought but also includes anything needed to support the various projects and activities. It should be accessible in three ways, as it will be active during all phases of the work cycle. Files should be arranged on your disk in a logical hierarchical structure appropriate to the work. Everything should also be searchable and indexed by Spotlight. Finally, some information should be stored as entries in a data management system, like Evernote or DevonThink, which have convenient client applications that make the data accessible from any device.

Notes in these systems should include useful lists and how-to's, including, for example:

• • Names and addresses of experts for specific topics
• • Emergency protocols for laboratory or animal habitats
• • Common recipes/methods
• • Lists and outlines of papers/grants on the docket
• • Information on students, computers, courses, etc.
• • Laboratory policies
• • Materials and advice for students, new group members, etc.
• • Lists of editors, and preferred media contacts
• • Lists of Materials Transfer Agreements (MTAs), contract texts, info on IP
• • Favorite questions for prospective laboratory members

Each note can have attachments, which include manuals, materials safety sheets, etc. DevonThink needs a little more setup but is more robust and also allows keeping the server on one's own machine (nothing gets uploaded to company servers, unlike with Evernote, which might be a factor for sensitive data). Scientific papers should be kept in a reference manager, whereas books (such as epub files and PDFs of books and manuscripts) can be stored in a Calibre library.

Email: A Distinct Kind of Information

A special case of static information is email, including especially informative and/or actionable emails from team members, external collaborators, reviewers, and funders. Because the influx of email is ever-increasing, it is important to (1) establish a good infrastructure for its management and (2) establish policies for responding to emails and using them to facilitate research. The first step is to ensure that one only sees useful emails, by training a good Bayesian spam filter such as SpamSieve. We suggest a triage system in which, at specific times of day (so that it does not interfere with other work), the Inbox is checked and each email is (1) forwarded to someone better suited to handling it, (2) responded quickly for urgent things that need a simple answer, or (3) started as a Draft email for those that require a thoughtful reply. Once a day or a couple of times per week, when circumstances permit focused thought, the Draft folder should be revisited and those emails answered. We suggest a “0 Inbox” policy whereby at the end of a day, the Inbox is basically empty, with everything either delegated, answered, or set to answer later.

We also suggest creating subfolders in the main account (keeping them on the mail server, not local to a computer, so that they can be searched and accessed from anywhere) as follows:

• • Collaborators (emails stating what they are going to do or updating on recent status)
• • Grants in play (emails from funding agencies confirming receipt)
• • Papers in play (emails from journals confirming receipt)
• • Waiting for information (emails from people for whom you are waiting for information)
• • Waiting for miscellaneous (emails from people who you expect to do something)
• • Waiting for reagents (emails from people confirming that they will be sending you a physical object)

Incoming emails belonging to those categories (for example, an email from an NIH program officer acknowledging a grant submission, a collaborator who emailed a plan of what they will do next, or someone who promised to answer a specific question) should be sorted from the Inbox to the relevant folder. Every couple of weeks (according to a calendar reminder), those folders should be checked, and those items that have since been dealt with can be saved to a Saved Messages folder archive, whereas those that remain can be Replied to as a reminder to prod the relevant person.

In addition, as most researchers now exchange a lot of information via email, the email trail preserves a record of relationships among colleagues and collaborators. It can be extremely useful, even years later, to be able to go back and see who said what to whom, what was the last conversation in a collaboration that stalled, who sent that special protocol or reagent and needs to be acknowledged, etc. It is imperative that you know where your email is being stored, by whom, and their policy on retention, storage space limits, search, backup, etc. Most university IT departments keep a mail server with limited storage space and will delete your old emails (even more so if you move institutions). One way to keep a permanent record with complete control is with an application called MailSteward Pro. This is a front-end client for a freely available MySQL server, which can run on any machine in your laboratory. It will import your mail and store unlimited quantities indefinitely. Unlike a mail server, this is a real database system and is not as susceptible to data corruption or loss as many other methods.

A suggested strategy is as follows. Keep every single email, sent and received. Every month (set a timed reminder), have MailSteward Pro import them into the MySQL database. Once a year, prune them from the mail server (or let IT do it on their own schedule). This allows rapid search (and then reply) from inside a mail client for anything that is less than one year old (most searches), but anything older can be found in the very versatile MailStewardPro Boolean search function. Over time, in addition to finding specific emails, this allows some informative data mining. Results of searches via MailStewardPro can be imported into Excel to, for example, identify the people with whom you most frequently communicate or make histograms of the frequency of specific keywords as a function of time throughout your career.

With ideas, mind maps, and the necessary information in hand, one can consider what aspects of the current operations plan can be changed to incorporate plans for new, impactful activity.

Organizing Tasks and Planning

A very useful strategy involves breaking down everything according to the timescales of decision-making, such as in the Getting Things Done (GTD) philosophy ( Figure 4 ) ( Allen, 2015 ). Activities range from immediate (daily) tasks to intermediate goals all the way to career-scale (or life-long) mission statements. As with mind maps, being explicit about these categories not only force one to think hard about important aspects of their work, but also facilitate the transmission of this information to others on the team. The different categories are to be revisited and revised at different rates, according to their position on the hierarchy. This enables you to make sure that effort and resources are being spent according to priorities.

Scales of Activity Planning

Activities should be assigned to a level of planning with a temporal scale, based on how often the goals of that level get re-evaluated. This ranges from core values, which can span an entire career or lifetime, all the way to tactics that guide day-to-day activities. Each level should be re-evaluated at a reasonable time frame to ensure that its goals are still consistent with the bigger picture of the level(s) above it and to help re-define the plans for the levels below it.

We also strongly recommend a yearly personal scientific retreat. This is not meant to be a vacation to “forget about work” but rather an opportunity for freedom from everyday minutiae to revisit, evaluate, and potentially revise future activity (priorities, action items) for the next few years. Every few years, take more time to re-map even higher levels on the pyramid hierarchy; consider what the group has been doing—do you like the intellectual space your group now occupies? Are your efforts having the kind of impact you realistically want to make? A formal diagram helps clarify the conceptual vision and identify gaps and opportunities. Once a correct level of activity has been identified, it is time to plan specific activities.

A very good tool for this purpose, which enables hierarchical storage of tasks and subtasks and their scheduling, is OmniFocus ( Figure 5 ). OmniFocus also enables inclusion of files (or links to files or links to Evernote notes of information) together with each Action. It additionally allows each action to be marked as “Done” once it is complete, providing not only a current action plan but a history of every past activity. Another interesting aspect is the fact that one can link individual actions with specific contexts: visualizing the database from the perspective of contexts enables efficient focus of attention on those tasks that are relevant in a specific scenario. OmniFocus allows setting reminders for specific actions and can be used for adding a time component to the activity.

Project Planning

This figure shows a screenshot of the OmniFocus application, illustrating the nested hierarchy of projects and sub-projects, arranged into larger groups.

The best way to manage time relative to activity (and to manage the people responsible for each activity) is to construct Gantt charts ( Figure 6 ), which can be used to plan out project timelines and help keep grant and contract deliverables on time. A critical feature is that it makes dependencies explicit, so that it is clear which items have to be solved/done before something else can be accomplished. Gantt charts are essential for complex, multi-person, and/or multi-step projects with strict deadlines (such as grant deliverables and progress reports). Software such as OmniPlanner can also be used to link resources (equipment, consumables, living material, etc.) with specific actions and timelines. Updating and evaluation of a Gantt chart for a specific project should take place on a time frame appropriate to the length of the next immediate phase; weekly or biweekly is typical.

Timeline Planning

This figure shows a screenshot of a typical Gantt chart, in OmniPlan software, illustrating the timelines of different project steps, their dependencies, and specific milestones (such as a due date for a site visit or grant submission). Note that Gantt software automatically moves the end date for each item if its subtasks' timing changes, enabling one to see a dynamically correct up-to-date temporal map of the project that adjusts for the real-world contingencies of research.

In addition to the comprehensive work plan in OmniFocus or similar, it is helpful to use a Calendar (which synchronizes to a server, such as Microsoft Office calendar with Exchange server). For yourself, make a task every day called “Monday tasks,” etc., which contains all the individual things to be accomplished (which do not warrant their own calendar reminder). First thing in the morning, one can take a look at the day's tasks to see what needs to be done. Whatever does not get done that day is to be copied onto another day's tasks. For each of the people on your team, make a timed reminder (weekly, for example, for those with whom you meet once a week) containing the immediate next steps for them to do and the next thing they are supposed to produce for your meeting. Have it with you when you meet, and give them a copy, updating the next occurrence as needed based on what was decided at the meeting to do next. This scheme makes it easy for you to remember precisely what needs to be covered in the discussion, serves as a record of the project and what you walked about with whom at any given day (which can be consulted years later, to reconstruct events if needed), and is useful to synchronize everyone on the same page (if the team member gets a copy of it after the meeting).

Writing: The Work Products

Writing, to disseminate results and analysis, is a central activity for scientists. One of the OmniFocus library's sections should contain lists of upcoming grants to write, primary papers that are being worked on, and reviews/hypothesis papers planned. Microsoft Word is the most popular tool for writing papers—its major advantage is compatibility with others, for collaborative manuscripts (its Track Changes feature is also very well implemented, enabling collaboration as a master document is passed from one co-author to another). But Scrivener should be seriously considered—it is an excellent tool that facilitates complex projects and documents because it enables WYSIWYG text editing in the context of a hierarchical structure, which allows you to simultaneously work on a detailed piece of text while seeing the whole outline of the project ( Figure 7 ).

Writing Complex Materials

This figure shows a screenshot from the Scrivener software. The panel on the left facilitates logical and hierarchical organization of a complex writing project (by showing where in the overall structure any given text would fit), while the editing pane on the right allows the user to focus on writing a specific subsection without having to scroll through (but still being able to see) the major categories within which it must fit.

It is critical to learn to use a reference manager—there are numerous ones, including, for example, Endnote, which will make it much easier to collaborate with others on papers with many citations. One specific tip to make collaboration easier is to ask all of the co-authors to set the reference manager to use PMID Accession Number in the temporary citations in the text instead of the arbitrary record number it uses by default. That way, a document can have its bibliography formatted by any of the co-authors even if they have completely different libraries. Although some prefer collaborative editing of a Google Doc file, we have found a “master document” system useful, in which a file is passed around among collaborators by email but only one can make (Tracked) edits at a time (i.e., one person has the master doc and everyone makes edits on top of that).

One task most scientists regularly undertake is writing reviews of a specific subfield (or Whitepapers). It is often difficult, when one has an assignment to write, to remember all of the important papers that were seen in the last few years that bear on the topic. One method to remedy this is to keep standing document files, one for each topic that one might plausibly want to cover and update them regularly. Whenever a good paper is found, immediately enter it into the reference manager (with good keywords) and put a sentence or two about its main point (with the citation) into the relevant document. Whenever you decide to write the review, you will already have a file with the necessary material that only remains to be organized, allowing you to focus on conceptual integration and not combing through literature.

The life cycle of research can be viewed through the lens of the tools used at different stages. First there are the conceptual ideas; many are interconnected, and a mind mapper is used to flesh out the structure of ideas, topics, and concepts; make it explicit; and share it within the team and with external collaborators. Then there is the knowledge—facts, data, documents, protocols, pieces of information that relate to the various concepts. Kept in a combination of Endnote (for papers), Evernote (for information fragments and lists), and file system files (for documents), everything is linked and cross-referenced to facilitate the projects. Activities are action items, based on the mind map, of what to do, who is doing what, and for which purpose/grant. OmniFocus stores the subtasks within tasks within goals for the PI and everyone in the laboratory. During meetings with team members, these lists and calendar entries are used to synchronize objectives with everyone and keep the activity optimized toward the next step goals. The product—discovery and synthesis—is embodied in publications via a word processor and reference manager. A calendar structure is used to manage the trajectory from idea to publication or grant.

The tools are currently good enough to enable individual components in this pipeline. Because new tools are continuously developed and improved, we recommend a yearly overview and analysis of how well the tools are working (e.g., which component of the management plan takes the most time or is the most difficult to make invisible relative to the actual thinking and writing), coupled to a web search for new software and updated versions of existing programs within each of the categories discussed earlier.

A major opportunity exists for software companies in the creation of integrated new tools that provide all the tools in a single integrated system. In future years, a single platform will surely appear that will enable the user to visualize the same research structure from the perspective of an idea mind map, a schedule, a list of action items, or a knowledge system to be queried. Subsequent development may even include Artificial Intelligence tools for knowledge mining, to help the researcher extract novel relationships among the content. These will also need to dovetail with ELN platforms, to enable a more seamless integration of project management with primary data. These may eventually become part of the suite of tools being developed for improving larger group dynamics (e.g., Microsoft Teams). One challenge in such endeavors is ensuring the compatibility of formats and management procedures across groups and collaborators, which can be mitigated by explicitly discussing choice of software and process, at the beginning of any serious collaboration.

Regardless of the specific software products used, a researcher needs to put systems in place for managing information, plans, schedules, and work products. These digital objects need to be maximally accessible and backed up, to optimize productivity. A core principle is to have these systems be so robust and lightweight as to serve as an “external brain” ( Menary, 2010 )—to maximize creativity and deep thought by making sure all the details are recorded and available when needed. Although the above discussion focused on the needs of a single researcher (perhaps running a team), future work will address the unique needs of collaborative projects with more lateral interactions by significant numbers of participants.

Acknowledgments

We thank Joshua Finkelstein for helpful comments on a draft of the manuscript. M.L. gratefully acknowledges support by an Allen Discovery Center award from the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (12171) and the Barton Family Foundation.

• Allen D. Revised edition. Penguin Books; 2015. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity. [ Google Scholar ]
• Altshuller G.S. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers; 1984. Creativity as an Exact Science: The Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems. [ Google Scholar ]
• Menary R. MIT Press; 2010. The Extended Mind. [ Google Scholar ]

Organizational culture and project management methodology: research in the financial industry

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

ISSN : 1753-8378

Article publication date: 30 March 2021

Issue publication date: 9 August 2021

Organizational culture has an impact on various activities in organizations, including project management (PM). The aim of the study is to answer the following research questions: RQ1: what significance is attributed to organizational culture compared to the objective project characteristics when choosing the dominant PM methodology in organizations? RQ2: which type of organizational culture is preferred for successful implementation of different PM methodologies? RQ3: what kind (if any) of relationship exists between the dominant type of organizational culture in organizations and the dominant PM methodology?

Design/methodology/approach

The author surveyed 100 project managers working in the financial industry in Poland with the use of personal structured interviews. The competing values framework (CVF) concept authored by Cameron and Quinn was used.

Project managers find organizational culture more important than objective project characteristics when choosing the dominant PM methodology in an organization. Although statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between the preferred type of organizational culture and PM methodology, there is no significant relationship between the existing type of organizational culture and the PM methodology which prevails in the company.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should investigate other industries and other typologies of organizational culture.

Practical implications

The paper provides recommendations for management practice on how to shape organizational culture in the context of successful PM with the application of different PM methodologies.

Originality/value

This study fills a gap in the theory of PM by identifying and empirically verifying the theoretical linkage between the type of organizational culture and PM methodology.

• Human resource management
• Management approach
• Corporate culture
• Project success
• Organizational behavior
• Project competencies
• Eople in project-based organizations

Piwowar-Sulej, K. (2021), "Organizational culture and project management methodology: research in the financial industry", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business , Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 1270-1289. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-08-2020-0252

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Katarzyna Piwowar-Sulej

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

The interest of researchers and practitioners in intangible management factors increased in the 1980s. Other types of noneconomic reasons which can affect the success or failure of an enterprise were investigated ( Webster and Jensen, 2006 ). Among these factors, organizational culture was of particular interest ( Alvesson, 1990 ).

Organizational culture represents the collection of beliefs, values, norms, attitudes and assumptions which dominate in a company and which do not have to be formulated. This set of elements influences people's behavior and the accomplishment of their tasks ( Schein, 1990 ). The culture which connects people in an organization remains very closely linked to the organization's performance ( Denison and Mishra, 1995 ; Martins and Terblanche, 2003 ; Mathew, 2007 ; Lucas, 2006 ; Hartog and Verburg, 2004 ). This is the key factor in fulfilling the company's mission and implementing its strategy while improving organizational efficiency and managing transformations.

Radical changes in the functioning of organizations have occurred within the last few decades. The increasingly uncertain and competitive environment and the growing expectations of customers and employees have forced companies to introduce changes. Repetitive, routine operations are gradually losing importance in favor of unique and complex activities – i.e. projects ( Piwowar-Sulej, 2020 ). In the 1990s, Drucker wrote that in 20 years, a typical large company would have half as many managerial levels and particular tasks would be performed by specialists focused on specific projects, functioning alongside traditional departments ( Drucker, 1992 ). Today, even in those industries where traditionally repetitive activities have been the basis of their operations, projects are beginning to play an increasingly important role.

One example of such an organization is a financial company. Every day, the main processes related to sales, e.g. loans and after-sales service, are carried out. Ancillary processes include administrative activities. The purpose of subsequent projects is, e.g. to open a new branch, to launch a new product or to develop an advertising campaign. Project initiation in organizations based on traditional structures involves the need to mobilize resources which belong to multiple organizational units, for the objectives to be carried out in a specific time frame and to be managed by project managers. An employee frequently performs a dual role: as a specialist in his/her line department and as a project team member.

A project can be defined as an “endeavor in which human, material, and financial resources are organized in an innovative way to carry out an extraordinary scope of work, in line with the defined specifications, within cost and time constraints, to achieve a positive change determined by quantitative and qualitative goals” ( Turner, 1993 , p. 8). Project management (PM), in turn, is the “application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques in relation to project activities in order to meet or exceed the needs and expectations of stakeholders associated with the project” ( Ward, 2000 , p. 468).

Projects can be managed in accordance with guidelines presented in PM methodologies. These methodologies are referred to as guides to the types of documentation and eligibilities necessary to complete particular project stages. The literature on the subject offers two general approaches toward running projects: traditional (managerial) and modern (agile, adaptive, dynamic or light). The traditional approach has its roots in the 1950s, while the modern one is from the 1990s. Traditional methodologies describe major processes and present, in a systematized way, a set of verified management techniques. Moreover, they imply that each stage of the project can only be initiated when the previous one has been fully completed. They also stress the completeness of documentation. Such an approach has become insufficient over the years, especially for software development projects ( Berger and Beynon-Davies, 2009 ). In the agile approach, the actions are adapted on an ongoing basis. The differences between these two approaches to PM should be also expressed in organizational culture because one of the main causes of project failure presented in the literature on the subject is that the organizational culture in which projects have to be delivered is not suitable for projects ( Larson and Gray, 2011 ).

The aim of the study is to present the significance of organizational culture as a factor which determines the choice of PM methodologies and the relationships between the two. In the first section of the paper, previous research in the literature on the linkages between organizational culture and PM issues is presented. This was the basis of the research questions. The second section, i.e. the empirical part of the paper, presents original research with its methodology, results and discussion. The paper ends with conclusions, limitations and directions for further research. It contributes to the scientific knowledge by (1) identifying and describing the linkages between the type of organizational culture and the type of PM methodology, (2) verifying the assumption through original research findings and (3) presenting directions for future research.

Literature background

Organizational culture and successful project management.

Organizational culture – like the subconscious – affects the aspirations, attitudes and behavior of employees. It focuses their actions along routine tracks in a nonverbal, imperceptible manner. Therefore, culture can be used to encapsulate all that is omitted from a written contract, offering it up as an all-encompassing psychological contract to address different situations ( Camerer and Vepsalainen, 1988 ). By influencing and consolidating certain attitudes and behaviors of employees, it may not be conducive of effective actions – it may even counteract them. Obviously, it can also support the functioning of an organization by facilitating human interactions.

Organizational culture is a concept which combines all of the various activities undertaken in an enterprise (including PM). This means that the implementation of PM can result in transformations in organizational culture. In turn, attributing the proper characteristics to an organizational culture beforehand can lead to favorable circumstances for the implementation of PM. The Organizational Competence Baseline ( International Project Management Association, 2016 ), as a guideline for setting up an appropriate organization for PM, emphasizes organizational alignment, which includes processes, structures and culture. Kerzner (2000) states that PM is more similar to a culture than policy or procedures. Finally, Cleland states that “project management meets the need for providing an organizational focus not found in the traditional form of organization. However justified, project management should not be used until the leaders of the organization are committed to its use and are willing to prepare a suitable culture for project management to germinate and grow” ( Cleland, 1994 , cited in Du Plessis and Hoole, 2002 ).

The literature on PM presents the issue of a specific culture, which covers strictly defined features that support the implementation of changes in an organization or in teamwork. At this point, however, it is worth emphasizing that in papers addressing the problem of PM, such terms as “project culture,” “project management culture,” “project climate” and “project environment” function interchangeably ( Du Plessis and Hoole, 2006 ). The climate, in turn, is only an external, easily observable layer of culture and stands for the subjective feelings of employees when referring to the atmosphere in the workplace ( Ostroff et al ., 2012 ).

The review conducted by Henrie and Sousa-Poza (2005) spanning the years 1993–2003 indicated that culture was not a widely reported or discussed topic in PM literature (journals specializing in PM). Today, we can say that various cultural aspects of PM are a popular research topic. A total of 557 documents were returned in a search of the Scopus database on February 28, 2020, with the following combination of queries: TITLE-ABS-KEY (“project management” AND “culture”) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, “ar”) AND (LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA, “BUSI”) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, “English”). Another situation is when we search using more detailed terms like “project management culture” or “project culture”. The query “TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘project culture’) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, ‘ar’) AND (LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA, ‘BUSI’) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, ‘English’)” resulted in 33 documents and “TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘project management culture’) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, ‘ar’) AND (LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA, ‘BUSI’) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, ‘English’)” resulted in only in seven articles.

For example, Belassi et al . (2007) found a significant relationship between culture, a positive work environment with strong leadership and the success of projects for developing new products. A “positive work environment” refers to the perception of employees that it is their performance which matters most to their organization and that they feel free to open dialogues with their bosses. “Strong Leadership” means that long-term goals are the focus of all of top management's decisions and that employees are encouraged to keep trying if they fail in the process of creating something. Data for this research were collected from 95 manufacturing companies in the USA.

Ajmal and Koskinen (2008) discussed the impact of organizational culture on knowledge transfer in “non-project businesses” who adopt a “project-style” approach. The problem of such organizations is that knowledge created in one project is not transferred to future projects. The authors stated that for effective knowledge transfer in project-based businesses, it is the organizational culture must be ready to accept and adopt new ways to transfer knowledge. The role of project managers is to form one project culture out of differing organizational and professional cultures and to promote effective knowledge management.

The findings of Nguyen and Watanabe (2017) in the construction industry show that alignment of goals, the commitment of contractors and a focus on workers all lead to better performance and satisfaction among those involved. Labor productivity can be predicted using only two indicators of culture: contractor commitment and a cooperative attitude. In order to predict learning performance, goal alignment, trust and contractor commitment are key.

Morrison et al . (2008) provided evidence that organizational culture correlates with the effectiveness of PM. In particular, one should look to the relatively strong link between effective PM and such values as respect and interfunctional integration. Their study was conducted among matrix organizations representing a wide variety of industries. The majority were civil engineering consultancy firms (28%), while the other participating organizations were from the defense industry (17%), the government sector (14%), the industrial engineering and manufacturing sector (14%) and the finance and insurance industry (10%); the remaining participants (17%) came from the mining, national parastatal, telecommunications and information technology (IT) industries.

In turn, Graham and Englund (1997) outlined their eight factors which lead to successful projects: strategic emphasis, upper management support, project planning support, customer/end-user input, project team development, project execution support, communication and information system and organizational support. With these factors in place, teamwork and interfunctional tasks are emphasized, conflicts are identified and resolved and perfection is the driving force ( Larson and Gray, 2011 ).

In addition, project culture is based on values such as mutual trust, respect, open communication and risk and conflict tolerance of the disciplines, combined with a flexible, results-based approach and support and faith in making the right decisions, kindness and adherence to professional ethics ( Pinto and Slevin, 1987 ).

Some researchers have addressed the issue of national culture's influence on project outcomes. Building on Hofstede's work ( Hofstede, 1998 ), they feel that national culture shapes organizational culture, which, in turn, affects the execution of projects. Hofstede delineated such cultural dimensions as power distance, the degree of uncertainty avoidance, individualism and collectivism and long- or short-term orientation. Attention is primarily drawn to projects carried out by international teams and the fact that education in cultural differences can be necessary for them to be successful ( Shore and Cross, 2005 ). For example, the high power distance typical of people from Hong Kong can lead to the acceptance of inequality and the legitimacy of power groups within a project ( Rowlinson and Root, 1996 ). The impact of national differences on the specific tasks which make up PM, e.g. risk management, has also been analyzed. Risk is perceived and dealt with differently in different cultures. For example, one commonly held notion about Polish culture is the avoidance of uncertainty. This cultural trait can result in many rigorous terms and conditions being included in agreements with contractors ( Liu et al ., 2015 ).

National culture is also thought to play a role in the use of PM, in terms of the level of knowledge in this field and the extent of staff involvement in project work, as well as the adaptation of project discipline by individuals and groups. There is evidence that this deployment negatively correlates with both power distance and uncertainty avoidance but does not correlate with measures of individuality or masculinity ( Bredillet et al ., 2010 ).

There are many typologies of organizational cultures. Some of these locate organizational culture within the intensity scale of one feature (e.g. Hall's concept, ( Hall, 1976 )). Others are more complex, based on more than one dimension (e.g. the typology of Cameron and Quinn (2011) ). For example, Kivrak et al. (2014) used Hall's typology ( Hall, 1976 ) to illustrate how national culture determines knowledge sharing in an international project team. This typology distinguishes high- and low-context cultures. The messages in a low-context culture are unambiguous and fairly accurately reflect the speaker's intentions, requiring little additional context and leaving little room for interpretation. In the case of high-context communication, the message can be ambiguous and can constitute a strong barrier in the process of tacit knowledge sharing, according to some studies. Such cultural features as hierarchy and competition can also be an obstacle to knowledge sharing in international project teams. Kivrak et al. (2014) also showed that collectivism is conducive to knowledge sharing, though only within a project team (not with outsiders).

Silva and Gomes (2015) conducted research focusing on the typology of cultures proposed by Handy (1983) , who identified four characteristic types of organizational culture: power-, role-, goal- and people-oriented cultures. It is worth noting here that the goal culture is directly referred to as the task or project-oriented one. Organizations oriented toward goals treat tasks and their implementation as the most important issue. Individual competences and their contributions to specific actions are what matters most. Teams which follow these principles are able to easily adapt to the requirements of the situation. Groups and task teams are formed for specific purposes which determine the point behind their existence. Such a team works fast and makes decisions quickly. Individual team members enjoy flexibility and freedom but also face the responsibility for their work. The effects matter. Mutual relationships are usually quite loose, based more on the value of skills and input than age and formal status. The focus on action allows problems to be solved through discussions and negotiations, which provides a sense that solutions are created together. Such teams usually thrive in a dynamic and highly competitive environment. The qualitative research based on surveys with 12 respondents carried out by the abovementioned authors shows that diverse cultural types are present in different organizations which implement projects. The characteristics of the particular industry (e.g. energy, government or university) are important here. In addition, projects can be successful when other factors – apart from culture – also affect this success (e.g. selection of an appropriate PM methodology).

Although the studies presented above were focused on the cultural typologies by Hall and Handy, the hypothesis can be formulated that the typology of organizational cultures by Cameron and Quinn (2011) is most often discussed in studies addressing PM problems, although the output of management sciences includes numerous classifications of organizational cultures. The assessment tool proposed by these authors, the competing values framework (CVF), allows a company to identify a dominant cultural type across six key characteristics: dominant characteristics, leadership, human resources management (HRM), organizational glue, strategic emphasis and criteria of success. The CVF explains the complex nature of culture according to two dimensions: internal/external focus and stability/flexibility structure. These two dimensions create four quadrants, which represent four culture types: clan, adhocracy, hierarchy and market.

Clan culture is connected with a friendly, almost family-like atmosphere. A manager is treated as a mentor. The glue of an organization is loyalty and tradition. The key to success is usually taking care of the needs of clients and employees. The values are teamwork, participation and consensus.

Adhocracy comes from the Latin term “ad hoc,” which means “for this special purpose” and by extension and improvised. Adhocracy is a corporate culture which is based on the ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions – which can we define as agility. Organizations with such culture are characterized by flexibility, creativity, employee empowerment and an emphasis on individual initiative (with risk-taking). Although corporate levels exist in an adhocracy, they are less strictly defined than in more hierarchical environments. In a more general sense, adhocracy contrasts with bureaucracy, which is characterized by inflexibility and a rigid adherence to rules.

Hierarchy culture means a working environment which is structured and formalized. Employees use defined procedures in carrying out their everyday tasks. The values are effective coordination and order. The primary goal is to maintain effective functioning and stability, and the results are achieved by performing tasks efficiently. Success is defined by good planning and low costs.

Finally, market culture focuses on customer satisfaction and shareholder value. It emphasizes targets and deadlines. People are competitive and focused on goals. Leaders are hard drivers, producers and rivals. They can be tough with high expectations. The emphasis on winning keeps the organization together. Reputation and success are the most important. Long-term focus is on rival activities and reaching goals. Market dominance, achieving goals and great metrics are the definitions of success. Competitive prices and market leadership are important. The organizational style is based on competition.

For example, the research conducted by Yazici (2009) in the USA involving 86 project managers in 76 companies indicated a strong correlation between clan culture and high project effectiveness and overall organization performance. It appears that this type of culture – one focused on employee participation, social cohesion, shared values, commitment and high morale – guarantees that project goals will be achieved, client expectations will be met within the adopted time frame and satisfaction among team members will be high. Among the hypotheses presented by Yazici, attention should be paid to one in particular: “Project maturity and organizational culture have a joint impact on project implementation.” This joint impact, however, was not confirmed by the study. In total, 56% of the respondents were from the service sector (IT, banking, education, healthcare, consulting, retail and utility); 34% were from the manufacturing sector and only 10% were from government or construction.

Adhocracy and clan cultures have positive effects on tacit-oriented knowledge management strategy ( Keskin et al. , 2005 ). Wiewióra et al. (2012) in their research focused on knowledge management in projects. It was confirmed that clan culture – which promotes a collaborative environment in which people are encouraged to communicate – facilitates knowledge sharing between project team members. In turn, market culture, centered around such values as competitiveness, achievements and the focus on performance measurements, will probably hamper knowledge and skill sharing within the project. However, according to a study by Piwowar-Sulej (2014) , projects can be also successfully completed in organizational cultures with dominant “hierarchical-market” features.

Similar conclusions were drawn by Mashiane (2013) , who conducted research in a division of telecommunications company. The questionnaire was based on the management skills assessment instrument (MSAI) developed by Cameron et al. (2006) and on the project management culture assessment tool (PMCAT) developed by Du Plessis (2005) . A market-oriented culture was identified as the dominant one in the organization under study. This was not surprising for the researcher because the organization provides infrastructure hosting solutions and technical support to external clients. The strategy of the organization focuses on the market or on clients, and success is defined in terms of client satisfaction and retention. The second most dominant type of culture was adhocracy.

Finally, according to 50 human resources (HR) specialists from medium-sized and large companies, the most suitable culture for PM is adhocracy ( Piwowar-Sulej, 2016 ). These results are surprising in the context of new developing HRM concepts, such as sustainable HRM, which promotes long-term orientation and HR development ( Stankevičiūtė and Savanevičienė, 2019 ; Piwowar-Sulej, 2021 ). It should be mentioned that in the long run, adhocracies can turn out to be effective organizations, though they do not offer stable workplace environments.

Project management methodologies

As mentioned before, there are two main types of PM methodologies, i.e. the traditional one (Project Management Body of Knowledge – PMBoK – or Prince2) and the modern/agile one (which is more flexible, e.g. Scrum). Table 1 presents a comparison of these two approaches to PM.

The traditional methodology involves the mechanistic division of work, with an underlying assumption of manageability and predictability ( Saynisch, 2010 ). This approach is synonymous with the waterfall methodology. It was first outlined in 1970 by Royce, an American computer scientist and director at Lockheed Software Technology Center in Texas, as a response to managing the increasingly complex nature of software development. This approach takes the perspective that rigorous, hierarchical control best manages complexity.

The waterfall methodology is sequential. One phase continues downstream into the next stage. Each stage in this process is self-contained. The project work starts by collecting and analyzing requirements, designing a solution, implementing the solution and fixing any issues. The initial phases of the project are intended to set the stage for all project work, as well as establishing the project's scope and the requirements that are necessary to deliver it ( Thomas and Fernández, 2008 ). It is also heavily focused on requirements. One needs to have a crystal clear idea of what the project will demand before proceeding further. There is no room for correction once the project is underway.

Agile is a term which formally came into being in 2001 when several IT representatives released the “Agile Manifesto” during a meeting of 17 major players of new software development methodologies in Snowbird, Utah. Agile means “able to move quickly and easily” or “able to think quickly, mentally acute, or aware” ( Dictionary.com, 2020 ). Agile is used as a term which characterizes a given way of thinking (mindset) about complex task management (from projects to entire organizations), including openness toward change and high flexibility. The notion is also used in relation to all agile PM methodologies (e.g. Scrum, Extreme Programming or the dynamic systems development method), which are based on principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto ( Agilemanifesto.org, 2020 ).

The reason for declaring the Agile Manifesto was the increasing number of failed software development projects which were based on the waterfall approach. The inefficiency of the waterfall approach was and is connected with one of the basic assumptions of this model, i.e. focusing on delivering an IT project in the form which was specified in the first stage. Moreover, a project is carried out in organized, distinct and – in most cases – lengthy stages which makes it difficult to verify results in the course of the project. This way of working is not conducive to a culture of cooperation and ongoing communication, and it has a negative impact on the end result of a project.

The essence of agile PM lies in the fact that a project's goals are defined in less detail at the start of the project. The project schedule is also prepared approximately. The work is divided into equal iterations with assigned parts of the project scope. “In the beginning a team undertakes the most important functions, while leaving the least important ones for the end. Less important demands can later be omitted on the basis of the results of already finished iterations, the client's changed wishes/requests, the performers' proposals, or changes in the environment. A detailed specification of the iterations' products and precise scheduling of the iterations (the way of implementing, tasks, hours of work, performers, etc.) is created at the beginning of each iteration, taking into account the current results, new insights, the client's new wishes, or the ideas of developers, as well as changes to the original assumptions and requirements” ( Stare, 2014 , p. 297). The project team – not the formal project manager – is responsible for the execution plan and making the iterations.

Scrum is one of the agile PM methodologies. It implements working in “sprints” of 30 days and also focuses heavily on daily meetings (“daily scrum”) which are typically held in the same location and at the same time of day (preferably in the morning). The formal role of a project manager does not exist. There is a role of Scrum Master: a person who helps the team perform at the highest level. He/she also protects the team from both internal and external distractions and tries to fulfill Scrum values. The ideal size for a development team is between three and nine people, not including the Scrum Master and product owner. The team is self-organizing, cross-functional and as a team has all the skills necessary to create a product increment. There is no formal hierarchy within the teams. Scrum recognizes no titles for development team members, regardless of the work being performed by the person. Team members choose the project tasks themselves according to collective agreements, their skills and other factors (e.g. time). People who work on a team cannot be involved in other projects ( Schwaber and Sutherland, 2017 ).

Andersen (2006) states that an organization should apply methodologies assigned to specific types of projects. According to Cohen (2019) , traditional PM methodologies are best for short, simple projects, projects with clear and fixed requirements and projects with changing resources that depend on in-depth documentation, while the agile approach is appropriate for projects with no fixed end (with only a general idea of a product), when the project needs to accommodate quick changes and if collaboration and communication are more important than planning. Cohen emphasizes not only objective project characteristics, e.g. duration or complexity (with its many dimensions, see ( San Cristóbal et al. , 2018 )), but also organizational values (bureaucracy vs collaboration). The significance of organizational culture in comparison to objective project characteristics seems to be an interesting research topic.

Taking into account the objective project characteristics, it is worth noting that there is no common agreement on this issue. For example, Jovanović and Berić (2018) found that general characteristics of traditional methodologies (e.g. Project Management Institute [PMI] or International Project Management Association [IPMA]) make them more suitable for larger and more complex projects, such as investment or manufacturing, while agile methodologies are more appropriate for use in IT projects and some smaller and less complex projects, such as devising various studies, project reports, etc. Stare (2014) noted that almost all research studies published between 1999 and 2009 and focused on the agile approach referred to IT projects.

Špundak (2014) states that there are factors other than the characteristics of projects which determine the choice of PM methodology. Traditional PM methodologies are recommended if there is a lack of agreement between project team members or a huge fluctuation of project team members during the course of the project or if the contact between team members is more virtual. It is also possible that the nature of cooperation with external partners (contractors or suppliers) will be an important criterion in the selection of an appropriate PM methodology.

The relationship between specific features of organizational culture and PM methodology is an interesting research problem, as well. The features of “project management culture” presented above, such as trust or open communication, are so general that they will stimulate projects regardless of the PM methodology used. When trying to assess a relationship between a culture and a methodology, it is worth taking into account cultural differences – which are highlighted in organizational culture typologies.

Llanos et al . (2017) found that adhocracy culture has more positive impact on organizational agility than clan culture. On the basis of above-presented characteristics of agile PM, one can state that they are similar to clan culture or adhocracy culture, while the features of traditional PM are similar to hierarchy culture. However, at this point, it is worth highlighting the fact that the hybrid PM approach is currently being implemented as a combination of traditional and agile PM methodologies. In general, this new approach takes the best parts of both waterfall (e.g. a work breakdown structure) and agile (speed and leanness) and combines them in a flexible but structured approach. In hybrid, the planning is done using the waterfall approach, while the execution and delivery are handled by the agile method ( Cooper, 2016 ).

What significance is attributed to organizational culture compared to the objective project characteristics when choosing the dominant PM methodology in organizations?

Which type of organizational culture is preferred for successful implementation of different PM methodologies?

What kind (if any) of relationship exists between the dominant type of organizational culture in organizations and the dominant PM methodology?

Research methodology

This study investigates a subject that is rooted in two academic disciplines: HRM (and/or organizational behavior) and PM. Figure 1 presents the stages of the research process used for the purposes of this study. An exploratory and descriptive research design was chosen in order to identify the determinants of the choice of PM methodology and the abovementioned relationships between different factors and PM methodologies. The interpretative approach was used in this study, which means that the perceptions of the cultural factor from the viewpoint of practicing project managers were recognized as important ( Du Plessis and Hoole, 2006 ).

In order to eliminate biases, one should take into account the significant differences in organizational environment and types of projects. Thus, the research included 100 project managers working in different companies from the same industry. Companies from a given sector are influenced by the same external factors (the industry macroculture) – legal regulations – for example.

The respondents were employed in medium-sized and large enterprises (i.e. those which employ over 50 people) of the financial sector in Poland (banking, financial services, leasing and factoring). This industry implements many technological innovations in the form of projects. Important projects are aimed at developing security and risk management. The convenience for customers using financial services is also changing. Around 7–8 years ago, new-generation IT systems began to appear, replacing the previous ones which were based on a tabular approach. It was understood that the client not only needs accounting statements but also wants to learn how to spend and invest their money. Personalized solutions are also important. New products and services are constantly emerging. In addition, due to the changing and very restrictive legal regulations (e.g. regarding protection of personal data), companies are forced to implement changes in processes and IT systems. One can state that these regulatory projects take top priority and are often selected at the expense of other nonregulatory projects. The PM maturity level in the financial industry is high – in comparison with other industries in Poland ( Wyrozębski et al ., 2012 ).

According to data from the Central Statistical Office, in 2018, this sector consisted of main players such as 15 banks with private capital, 13 insurance companies, 47 companies specializing in credit intermediation or lending from their own funds, 11 factoring companies and 38 leasing companies ( Statistics Poland, 2019 ). It is worth noting that many companies run more than one business activity at the same tame (e.g. credit and leasing intermediation or leasing and factoring).

In order to collect the contact information of respondents, companies were selected from a list created from information accessible in secondary sources (listings of companies, websites, industry newsletters, etc.). The research, based on a quantitative approach, was conducted in December 2019 and January 2020. In the process of gathering information in the survey, the personal structured interviews (paper-and-pencil interview [PAPI]) method was used. The direct contact with respondents helped to avoid misunderstandings about the questions. Interviews with each of the respondents lasted about three hours. The interview questionnaire was designed for the purposes of a larger research project. This paper presents only the results which are pertinent to the chosen research questions and cultural typology, based on the CVF.

Statistical analyses were conducted with the use of IBM SPSS software. For the purpose of this paper, Pearson's chi-squared test and the Kruskal–Wallis test were used. These tests examine the relationship between two variables when at least one is qualitative. The chi-squared test allows the researcher to examine the significance of differences in percentage structures. It is based on comparing observed values (i.e. those obtained in the study) with expected values (i.e. those assumed by the test if there were no relationship between the variables). If the difference between the observed and expected values is large (statistically significant), it can be stated that there is a relationship between the two variables.

For the correct interpretation of the findings of the quantitative research, the in-depth interview method was used. Such interviews can provide much more information which builds a context to previous outcome data. They offer a more complete picture of the state and causes of a research problem. In total, three direct, unstructured interviews with project managers (from a bank, a leasing company and a credit provider) were used. Each of them lasted about one hour.

Results and discussion

At first, it is worth presenting the general characteristics of the industry in question. The CVF has already been discussed in relation to organizational culture in banking by Thakor (2015) , though the author did not conduct any empirical research on this topic. He only presented the assumptions of the CVF concept and implications for managers in banking. In turn, Barth (2015) showed that different types of organizational culture have different preferences for risk-taking. He found that banks with a market-oriented organizational culture have higher excess returns. Finally, Joseph and Kibera (2019) found that clan and hierarchy are the dominant cultural types in the microfinance industry in Kenya.

During the interviews conducted for this study, the dominant and secondary cultural types in the companies were identified. Table 2 shows the three cultural types which were indicated as being the dominant cultural type in the respondents' organizations as well as the dominant PM methodology used in the companies under study. Analysis revealed similar findings to above-presented resulted from research by Joseph and Kibera (2019) .

Clan culture – emphasizing development of shared understanding and commitment instead of a formalized communication process – is the most popular cultural type. At the same time, the cultural type most often indicated as a secondary one was market culture (54 responses). This type of culture is a results-oriented one. The “second” culture type in the survey was defined as one which simultaneously coexists with the first but is less expressed. The commonality between hierarchy culture and market culture is that both focus on stability and control. The difference lies in the fact that market culture promotes fast changes, while hierarchy lends itself more to incremental changes. In turn, adhocracy and market cultures have an external focus in common. The most interesting result is the combination of clan and market cultures because they are focused on completely different issues. The latter is focused on the outside of an organization, differentiation and fast changes, while the former focuses on flexibility, integration and long-term changes. These contrasting cultural types are combined in the form of employee participation (clan) linked with costumer focus (market). They can be also found together in hybrid PM methodology, which was the most popular one in the companies under study ( Table 2 ).

The in-depth interviews demonstrated that hybrid methodology was implemented because of problems with other, previously used PM approaches. At the beginning, the waterfall approach was used. A few years ago, agile PM methodology was implemented as a trendy new approach. However, numerous barriers have been noticed in the successful development of projects. Despite many years of working together, the employees had significant problems carrying out their new roles or even problems transferring their current roles to the new model. Other barriers were the unavailability or insufficient availability of internal clients and communication problems. The dominant position of traditional methodologies in the organization is associated with certain employee habits. The implementation of novelty in the form of agile moved them out of their comfort zone. The hybrid approach provided compliance with employee expectations, which is a characteristic of clan culture.

In addition, the priorities in some organizations change quite often (adhocracy culture) because of changes in legal regulations and – in the case of leasing companies – changes in the operations of the banks which finance the assets. The agile approach seems to be the most suitable in such situation. In turn, “hierarchical” banks had to meet the challenges in terms of ensuring the agile model's compliance with legal requirements. Official legal regulations emphasize a strong and active role of the bank's management board in the decision-making process and in the organization of day-to-day operations (hierarchy). The agile model assumes a limited role of the managing body. The management board is supposed to set the strategic goals but without interfering or supervising – choosing the way the goals are met. The hybrid approach allowed organizations to reconcile the business and legal requirements.

Respondents were asked about which factor has a greater impact on the project methodology used in the organization. They had the three following options to choose from: organizational culture (OC), project characteristics (e.g. duration, complexity, innovativeness and scope of cooperation with external partners) (P) and equal importance of organizational culture and project characteristics (OC + P). The results are shown in Table 3 .

The findings are partially in line with Špundak's (2014) statement that there are other factors than projects' characteristics which influence the choice of PM methodology. Organizational culture is seen to be a more important factor ( n  = 41) than objective project characteristics ( n  = 27) in the context of choosing the dominant PM methodology in organizations; however, a chi-squared test did not reveal any significant relationships between the factors taken into account ( χ 2 [4, N  = 100] = 5.40; p  = 0.249).

The research therefore shows that other factors or a bundle of factors should be taken into account when analyzing the basics of decision-making on the choice of a particular PM methodology. Špundak (2014) believes that the company size can play a role. He hypothesizes that large organizations are more likely to use the traditional approach because it helps them to control the work. However, the respondents who participated in this study worked in medium-sized and large companies, and the most frequently reported PM methodology was a hybrid one. As indicated in the in-depth interviews, such factors as the vogue for new PM approaches and the need to reconcile employees' needs (maintaining of tradition), business requirements (implementing innovations) and legal regulations are of great importance.

Results of previous research which utilized the CVF emphasized relationships between clan culture and project effectiveness ( Yazici, 2009 ) and clan culture and knowledge sharing in a project team ( Wiewiora et al. , 2012 ). The presented research shows clan culture in a slightly different context. Table 4 presents the types of organizational culture that are preferred for successful implementation of different PM methodologies.

Within the traditional PM methodology, hierarchy culture (70%) was considered to be the most appropriate environment; clan culture followed by adhocracy is considered being the most appropriate environment for agile approach. The results are reverse in relation to findings obtained by Llanos et al . (2017) in their research on the impact of organizational culture on the organizational agility. Contrary to expectations, this research also revealed a positive link between hierarchy culture and agile Approach. As Llanos et al . (2017) stated, such findings may suggest that certain features inherent to hierarchy culture lead to more agile management. Finally, according to the respondents, a successful implementation of hybrid PM methodology requires an adhocracy culture. The relationship between preferred cultural types in the context of different PM methodologies is statistically significant ( χ 2 [4, N  = 100] = 81.47; p  < 0.001).

These findings were compared with the cultural types indicated as dominant in the respondents' organizations. Due to the low number of indications of the “Market culture” variant ( Table 2 ) as the dominant cultural type, a reliable measurement with the chi-squared test of the relationships between all cultural types and PM methodologies in the organizations studied was not possible. However, focusing on only the three most popular types of organizational culture, it can be stated that there is no significant relationship between existing dominant cultural types and existing dominant PM methodology ( χ 2 [4, N  = 91] = 1.02; p  = 0.907).

Next, a series of Kruskal–Wallis tests was conducted in order to examine whether there is a relationship between the dominant culture and the indicators of project effectiveness (see Table 5 ). The respondents noted the percentage of successful projects, taking into account criteria such as time, budget and scope requirements and achieving client, team member and supplier satisfaction.

Project success strictly depends on team members commitment ( Araujo and Pedron, 2014 ), and Acar (2012) found that clan and adhocracy cultures have positive effects on employees' commitment. This study did not confirm previous findings that only clan culture ensures high project effectiveness ( Yazici, 2009 ). The analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the types of dominant cultural type and “Project completed within the project scope requirements” ( X 2 [3] = 10.75; p  = 0.013). The follow-up pairwise comparison showed that the project managers who chose hierarchy as the dominant cultural type (mean = 93.94; median = 100) regarded project completion to be more successful than those who chose clan as the dominant culture (mean = 87.77; median = 90; p  = 0.030). No other statistically significant differences were found. The reason for these discrepancies can be a national culture and composition of team members related to their individual values. Yazici (2009) conducted research in the USA, while this paper presents research conducted in Poland. For respondents – project team members – the best cultural environment for traditional PM can be hierarchy; however, people working in projects can represent individual values congruent with adhocracy-specific values. This congruency contributes to organizational performance outcomes ( Titov and Umarova, 2017 ).

As was highlighted during the in-depth interviews, measuring the impact that culture may have on project outcomes is difficult. The level of project success is influenced by many factors, both endogenous and exogenous. Internal factors include the competencies of the project team and individual values of team members. The competences – according to the respondents – seem to be the most important factor since highly skilled project managers and project team members can deliver high-quality project outcomes, despite an unfavorable organizational culture.

Conclusions, implications and directions for further research

This research contributes to knowledge by showing a linkage between the type of organizational culture and the type of PM methodology. In answer to RQ1 , it can be said that organizational culture is seen as the most important factor which determines the PM methodology used as the standard in organizations. When it comes to RQ2 , the results of both theoretical studies and empirical research show that the most appropriate cultural type for traditional PM is hierarchy. Clan culture is most suitable for agile PM approach, while adhocracy is best for hybrid PM methodology. Nevertheless, in practice, there is no relationship between the dominant type of organizational culture and the dominant PM methodology ( RQ3 ). Moreover, projects – taking into account five out of the six project success indicators – are equally likely to be successfully completed, despite differences in organizational cultures.

There are several recommendations for management practice based on this research. Firstly, organizational culture can be developed intentionally ( Gagliardi, 1986 ; Bendak et al. , 2020 ). There is still room for improvement in the field of project effectiveness. The missing percentage of successfully completed projects could be made up with a more suitable organizational culture. Therefore, it is worth determining both current and expected cultural types by the use of survey and/or interviews among project team members and other employees. On this basis, managers should take up actions which will stimulate a cultural transformation of the company. They have to play a role of ambassadors of changes ( Kane-Urrabazo, 2006 ).

If, for example, organizational culture should have more clan features, managers should turn to their employees, find what people value, use open feedback in order to collect employees' ideas and allow them to act. Inspirational motivation (by, e.g. trust and pushing decisions to the lowest levels, allowance for mistakes) and individualized consideration effects clan culture ( Chan, 1997 ; Acar, 2012 ). Design of the workspace is also important. In clan culture, teams have to interact effectively with one another. Therefore, smaller footprints should be allocated to the individual than the team and workstation panel heights should be lower, if not nonexistent ( ISS, 2020 ). In turn, transformation into more hierarchical culture requires buttoning up processes, ensuring clear goals for teams and individuals and a workspace which provides a sense of stability. Management-by-exceptions also effects hierarchy culture ( Acar, 2012 ).

Secondly, human competencies are of the utmost value. A good understanding of the cultural aspects of PM is also emphasized. Conscious project managers and highly skilled team members will be able to deliver a high-quality product despite an unfavorable organizational culture. There is a need to develop not only technical but also cultural competences. The importance of these competencies has been so far discussed but mainly in the context of multinational projects ( Isern, 2015 ; Vlahov et al ., 2016 ). Training in this issue is a developmental field for educational institutions.

This paper has two main shortcomings, though it nevertheless provides directions for future research. Firstly, the sample population in this study was collected from project managers working for companies in the financial industry in Poland. In order to extend the applicability of the findings, more samples from different industries – and even from different countries – should be studied. Secondly, all respondents were project managers who volunteered to participate in this research. They subjectively assessed the dominant and coexisting cultural types of their companies. Since the companies were of medium and large size, their organizational culture may be fragmented. This means that different divisions of the organizations can represent slightly different cultural types. Future studies could overcome such a limitation. Further triangulation of the methods and the involvement of more respondents from a single company can be used in order to achieve more objective measures and to identify the mechanism of choosing the PM standards. Further research can also adopt different cultural typologies than those presented by Cameron and Quinn.

The research process

Traditional vs agile project management – own study based on Špundak (2014) , Cohen (2019) , Piwowar-Sulej (2020 )

Cultural types regarded as dominant and the popularity of different PM methodologies in respondents' companies

Factors taken into account in the decision-making process about appropriate PM methodology – frequency distribution

Cultural types matched with PM methodology – frequency distribution

Dominant cultural type and project success – results of Kruskal–Wallis test

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Acknowledgements

The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under the program “Regional Initiative of Excellence” 2019–2022 project number 015/RID/2018/19 total funding amount 10,721,040.00 PLN.

Corresponding author

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Focused Research Organizations: A New Model for Scientific Research

Scientific research and development often occurs in starts and stops: insights and innovations grow rapidly out of new research fields, but over time, the low hanging fruit is picked off, bottlenecks arise, and progress dwindles. Overcoming these bottlenecks can be extremely rewarding because of the potential to trigger a cascade of follow-on research. Yet, university labs and commercial organizations are not always incentivized to tackle these challenges. Academic incentives disfavor medium- to large-scale teamwork across disciplines and projects with a low possibility of publishable results, while commercial profit motive precludes the production of public goods, so projects that fall in between academic and commercial incentives often go untouched.

Enter Focused Research Organizations (FROs), a new type of non-profit research organization designed for this middle ground. FROs are structured like start-ups with tightly coordinated, medium-sized teams that allow them to engineer and scale solutions in a way for which university labs are ill-suited. FROs focus on solving well-defined challenges to produce public goods that are neither profitable nor publishable: processes, tools, and datasets that enable the use of new research methods and accelerate the pace of scientific research. Successful large-scale research collaborations of the past like the Large Hadron Collider and the Human Genome Project could be considered similar such projects since they produced tools and datasets that enabled new particle physics and genomics research, though they’re of a far larger size and scope. While we may only fund one or two such large scale projects in each generation, there are plenty of mid-scale problems that could be economically solved with a FRO.

From Convergent Research

Launched in 2021, Convergent Research is a non-profit organization dedicated to incubating and funding new FROs, and their work is growing: in March of this year, Forbes reported that Convergent Research received $50 million in philanthropic commitments to launch two new FROs, doubling the size of their small portfolio. Convergent Research FROs are now:

• developing tools to map all of the neural circuits in the brain and advance neuroscience, 
• identifying the unintended/unknown molecular targets of every approved pharmaceutical drug to improve drug development and repurposing, 
• developing technologies to scale protein analysis by 100x and accelerate proteome biology research, 
• and creating open source tools for life scientists to conduct synthetic biology research on a more diverse set of microorganisms. 

While Convergent Research has so far only funded FROs working in the life sciences, this research model can be applied to bottleneck research problems in any field. 

Convergent is also not the only organization experimenting with this model though: the UK government’s new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), inspired by Advanced Research Projects Agencies (ARPAs) in the U.S., plans to fund FROs as part of its strategy. ARIA will be the first governmental program to fund FROs, and hopefully not the last. Philanthropic funding simply cannot compare with the scale of government funding for scientific research. As the largest science funder in the world, the U.S. federal government provides enormous potential to expand the number of FROs that get launched over the next decade to accelerate scientific progress. 

To help agencies conceptualize the types of scientific and engineering problems that FROs can address, FAS and Convergent Research have come together to create a database of vetted FRO proposals from researchers across the sciences. These proposals tackle a range of problems from developing neuromorphic AI hardware using superconducting optoelectronic networks to building open-source computational infrastructure for the monitoring, reporting, and verification of ocean-based carbon removal . Curious agencies can look to our database for inspiration on how FROs can fit into their particular research priorities. If any agency finds a proposal particularly compelling, we welcome them to reach out to FAS or to the proposal authors for more details.

As federal agencies begin developing their FY25 budget proposals this month, those that fund scientific research—the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—should follow in the UK’s footsteps and request pilot funding for FROs to complement their more traditional research programs. Because of their potential to unlock bottlenecks and improve overall research productivity, FROs can be a means of enabling more scientific progress with less funding under the new budget deal.

Beyond agency interest and funding, Congressional authorization can also help launch FROs within the U.S. government. All of the agencies mentioned above have the Other Transactions Authority (OTA) necessary to pilot FROs, except for the USDA and NOAA. (AgARDA  within USDA does have OTA, but it currently lacks funding.) Thus, Congress should prioritize providing the USDA and NOAA with OTA for R&D such that the agencies can not only experiment with FROs, but also other novel research models that are useful for their mission but are not traditional grants or contracts. For all science agencies, explicit Congressional authorization to fund FROs would motivate and assure agencies of their legal authority to fund FROs, since some agencies, like the DOE, have been historically more conservative in their use of OTA than others.

Science funding agencies are biased against risk, making transformative research difficult to fund. Forecast-based approaches to grantmaking could improve funding outcomes for high-risk, high-reward research.

With a PhD in materials science, a postdoc position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a stint as a AAAS Fellow, Dr. Shawn Chen has had a range of roles in the research community.

Like climate change, the societal risks from AI will likely come from the cumulative impact of many different systems. Unilateral commitments are poor tools to address such risks.

Despite the uphill battle the country is facing, Dr. Schlaerth feels optimistic about the future possibilities of industrial decarbonization.

IResearchNet

Organizational Development Topics

Organizational development (OD) is a field of professional practice focused on facilitating organizational change and improvement. The theory and practice of OD is grounded in both the social and behavioral sciences. The field originated in the 1960s and has been evolving ever since. This evolution has been influenced by a wide range of disciplines including social psychology, group dynamics, industrial-organizational psychology, participative management theory, organization behavior, the sociology of organizations, and even clinical psychology. Read more about  Organizational Development .

Organizational Development Research Topics

• Attraction-Selection-Attrition
• Advanced Manufacturing Technology
• Balanced Scorecard
• Compressed Workweek
• Entrepreneurship
• Flexible Work Schedules
• Globalization
• High-Performance Organization
• Learning Organizations
• Mergers, Acquisitions, Strategic Alliances
• Organizational Change
• Organizational Climate
• Organizational Communication, Formal
• Organizational Communication, Informal
• Organizational Culture
• Organizational Image
• Organizational Politics
• Organizational Resistance to Change
• Organizational Sensemaking
• Organizational Socialization
• Organizational Structure
• Outsourcing
• Sociotechnical Approach
• Strategic Planning
• Survivor Syndrome
• Terrorism and Work
• Theory of Action
• Total Quality Management
• Virtual Organizations
• Workplace Injuries
• Workplace Safety

As a result, the application of OD tools and methodologies (of which there are many) are carried out by a wide range of professionals. For example, although some I/O psychologists also consider themselves OD practitioners, there are many others practicing OD with for-profit and nonprofit client organizations with educational backgrounds as diverse as education, philosophy, training, the military, and human resources. In part, this level of diversity of backgrounds is because of an initial lack of agreement and formal training regarding the nature and boundaries of the field. Today, however, formal training in the field does exist, in doctoral and master’s-level programs as well as professional development curricula, including professional certification groups and training firms. In any case the value of the field of OD to continually embrace new perspectives, practitioners, and approaches is one of its defining characteristics; however, it is also a source of discussion among those currently practicing in and writing about the field.

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• What Is R&D?
• Understanding R&D
• Types of R&D
• Pros and Cons
• Considerations
• R&D vs. Applied Research
• Who Spends the Most?

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• Business Essentials

Research and Development (R&D) Definition, Types, and Importance

Investopedia / Ellen Lindner

What Is Research and Development (R&D)?

The term research and development (R&D) is used to describe a series of activities that companies undertake to innovate and introduce new products and services. R&D is often the first stage in the development process. Companies require knowledge, talent, and investment in order to further their R&D needs and goals. The purpose of research and development is generally to take new products and services to market and add to the company's bottom line .

Key Takeaways

• Research and development represents the activities companies undertake to innovate and introduce new products and services or to improve their existing offerings.
• R&D allows a company to stay ahead of its competition by catering to new wants or needs in the market.
• Companies in different sectors and industries conduct R&D—pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and technology companies generally spend the most.
• R&D is often a broad approach to exploratory advancement, while applied research is more geared towards researching a more narrow scope.
• The accounting for treatment for R&D costs can materially impact a company's income statement and balance sheet.

Understanding Research and Development (R&D)

The concept of research and development is widely linked to innovation both in the corporate and government sectors. R&D allows a company to stay ahead of its competition. Without an R&D program, a company may not survive on its own and may have to rely on other ways to innovate such as engaging in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or partnerships. Through R&D, companies can design new products and improve their existing offerings.

R&D is distinct from most operational activities performed by a corporation. The research and/or development is typically not performed with the expectation of immediate profit. Instead, it is expected to contribute to the long-term profitability of a company. R&D may often allow companies to secure intellectual property, including patents , copyrights, and trademarks as discoveries are made and products created.

Companies that set up and employ departments dedicated entirely to R&D commit substantial capital to the effort. They must estimate the risk-adjusted return on their R&D expenditures, which inevitably involves risk of capital. That's because there is no immediate payoff, and the return on investment (ROI) is uncertain. As more money is invested in R&D, the level of capital risk increases. Other companies may choose to outsource their R&D for a variety of reasons including size and cost.

Companies across all sectors and industries undergo R&D activities. Corporations experience growth through these improvements and the development of new goods and services. Pharmaceuticals, semiconductors , and software/technology companies tend to spend the most on R&D. In Europe, R&D is known as research and technical or technological development.

Many small and mid-sized businesses may choose to outsource their R&D efforts because they don't have the right staff in-house to meet their needs.

Types of R&D

There are several different types of R&D that exist in the corporate world and within government. The type used depends entirely on the entity undertaking it and the results can differ.

Basic Research

There are business incubators and accelerators, where corporations invest in startups and provide funding assistance and guidance to entrepreneurs in the hope that innovations will result that they can use to their benefit.

M&As and partnerships are also forms of R&D as companies join forces to take advantage of other companies' institutional knowledge and talent.

Applied Research

One R&D model is a department staffed primarily by engineers who develop new products —a task that typically involves extensive research. There is no specific goal or application in mind with this model. Instead, the research is done for the sake of research.

Development Research

This model involves a department composed of industrial scientists or researchers, all of who are tasked with applied research in technical, scientific, or industrial fields. This model facilitates the development of future products or the improvement of current products and/or operating procedures.

$42.7 billion of research and development costs later, Amazon was granted 2,244 new patents in 2020. Their patents included advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing.

Advantages and Disadvantages of R&D

There are several key benefits to research and development. It facilitates innovation, allowing companies to improve existing products and services or by letting them develop new ones to bring to the market.

Because R&D also is a key component of innovation, it requires a greater degree of skill from employees who take part. This allows companies to expand their talent pool, which often comes with special skill sets.

The advantages go beyond corporations. Consumers stand to benefit from R&D because it gives them better, high-quality products and services as well as a wider range of options. Corporations can, therefore, rely on consumers to remain loyal to their brands. It also helps drive productivity and economic growth.

Disadvantages

One of the major drawbacks to R&D is the cost. First, there is the financial expense as it requires a significant investment of cash upfront. This can include setting up a separate R&D department, hiring talent, and product and service testing, among others.

Innovation doesn't happen overnight so there is also a time factor to consider. This means that it takes a lot of time to bring products and services to market from conception to production to delivery.

Because it does take time to go from concept to product, companies stand the risk of being at the mercy of changing market trends . So what they thought may be a great seller at one time may reach the market too late and not fly off the shelves once it's ready.

Facilitates innovation

Improved or new products and services

Expands knowledge and talent pool

Increased consumer choice and brand loyalty

Economic driver

Financial investment

Shifting market trends

R&D Accounting

R&D may be beneficial to a company's bottom line, but it is considered an expense . After all, companies spend substantial amounts on research and trying to develop new products and services. As such, these expenses are often reported for accounting purposes on the income statement and do not carry long-term value.

There are certain situations where R&D costs are capitalized and reported on the balance sheet. Some examples include but are not limited to:

• Materials, fixed assets, or other assets have alternative future uses with an estimable value and useful life.
• Software that can be converted or applied elsewhere in the company to have a useful life beyond a specific single R&D project.
• Indirect costs or overhead expenses allocated between projects.
• R&D purchased from a third party that is accompanied by intangible value. That intangible asset may be recorded as a separate balance sheet asset.

R&D Considerations

Before taking on the task of research and development, it's important for companies and governments to consider some of the key factors associated with it. Some of the most notable considerations are:

• Objectives and Outcome: One of the most important factors to consider is the intended goals of the R&D project. Is it to innovate and fill a need for certain products that aren't being sold? Or is it to make improvements on existing ones? Whatever the reason, it's always important to note that there should be some flexibility as things can change over time.
• Timing: R&D requires a lot of time. This involves reviewing the market to see where there may be a lack of certain products and services or finding ways to improve on those that are already on the shelves.
• Cost: R&D costs a great deal of money, especially when it comes to the upfront costs. And there may be higher costs associated with the conception and production of new products rather than updating existing ones.
• Risks: As with any venture, R&D does come with risks. R&D doesn't come with any guarantees, no matter the time and money that goes into it. This means that companies and governments may sacrifice their ROI if the end product isn't successful.

Research and Development vs. Applied Research

Basic research is aimed at a fuller, more complete understanding of the fundamental aspects of a concept or phenomenon. This understanding is generally the first step in R&D. These activities provide a basis of information without directed applications toward products, policies, or operational processes .

Applied research entails the activities used to gain knowledge with a specific goal in mind. The activities may be to determine and develop new products, policies, or operational processes. While basic research is time-consuming, applied research is painstaking and more costly because of its detailed and complex nature.

Who Spends the Most on R&D?

Companies spend billions of dollars on R&D to produce the newest, most sought-after products. According to public company filings, these companies incurred the highest research and development spending in 2020:

• Amazon: $42.7 billion
• Alphabet.: $27.6 billion
• Huawei: $22.0 billion
• Microsoft: $19.3 billion
• Apple: $18.8 billion
• Samsung: $18.8 billion
• Facebook: $18.5 billion

What Types of Activities Can Be Found in Research and Development?

Research and development activities focus on the innovation of new products or services in a company. Among the primary purposes of R&D activities is for a company to remain competitive as it produces products that advance and elevate its current product line. Since R&D typically operates on a longer-term horizon, its activities are not anticipated to generate immediate returns. However, in time, R&D projects may lead to patents, trademarks, or breakthrough discoveries with lasting benefits to the company. 

What Is an Example of Research and Development?

Alphabet allocated over $16 billion annually to R&D in 2018. Under its R&D arm X, the moonshot factory, it has developed Waymo self-driving cars. Meanwhile, Amazon has spent even more on R&D projects, with key developments in cloud computing and its cashier-less store Amazon Go. At the same time, R&D can take the approach of a merger & acquisition, where a company will leverage the talent and intel of another company to create a competitive edge. The same can be said with company investment in accelerators and incubators, whose developments it could later leverage.

Why Is Research and Development Important?

Given the rapid rate of technological advancement, R&D is important for companies to stay competitive. Specifically, R&D allows companies to create products that are difficult for their competitors to replicate. Meanwhile, R&D efforts can lead to improved productivity that helps increase margins, further creating an edge in outpacing competitors. From a broader perspective, R&D can allow a company to stay ahead of the curve, anticipating customer demands or trends.

There are many things companies can do in order to advance in their industries and the overall market. Research and development is just one way they can set themselves apart from their competition. It opens up the potential for innovation and increasing sales. But it does come with some drawbacks—the most obvious being the financial cost and the time it takes to innovate.

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• Published: 21 July 2023

Linking leadership development programs for physicians with organization-level outcomes: a realist review

• Maarten Debets 1 ,
• Iris Jansen 1 ,
• Kiki Lombarts 1 ,
• Wietske Kuijer-Siebelink 2 , 3 ,
• Karen Kruijthof 4 ,
• Yvonne Steinert 5 ,
• Joost Daams 6 &
• Milou Silkens 7 , 8  

BMC Health Services Research volume  23 , Article number:  783 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Hospitals invest in Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) for physicians, assuming they benefit the organization’s performance. Researchers have listed the advantages of LDPs, but knowledge of how and why organization-level outcomes are achieved is missing.

To investigate how, why and under which circumstances LDPs for physicians can impact organization-level outcomes.

We conducted a realist review, following the RAMESES guidelines. Scientific articles and grey literature published between January 2010 and March 2021 evaluating a leadership intervention for physicians in the hospital setting were considered for inclusion. The following databases were searched: Medline, PsycInfo, ERIC, Web of Science, and Academic Search Premier. Based on the included documents, we developed a LDP middle-range program theory (MRPT) consisting of Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations (CMOs) describing how specific contexts (C) trigger certain mechanisms (M) to generate organization-level outcomes (O).

In total, 3904 titles and abstracts and, subsequently, 100 full-text documents were inspected; 38 documents with LDPs from multiple countries informed our MRPT. The MRPT includes five CMOs that describe how LDPs can impact the organization-level outcomes categories ‘culture’, ‘quality improvement’, and ‘the leadership pipeline’: 'Acquiring self-insight and people skills (CMO1)', 'Intentionally building professional networks (CMO2)', 'Supporting quality improvement projects (CMO3)', 'Tailored LDP content prepares physicians (CMO4)', and 'Valuing physician leaders and organizational commitment (CMO5)'. Culture was the outcome of CMO1 and CMO2, quality improvement of CMO2 and CMO3, and the leadership pipeline of CMO2, CMO4, and CMO5. These CMOs operated within an overarching context, the leadership ecosystem, that determined realizing and sustaining organization-level outcomes.

Conclusions

LDPs benefit organization-level outcomes through multiple mechanisms. Creating the contexts to trigger these mechanisms depends on the resources invested in LDPs and adequately supporting physicians. LDP providers can use the presented MRPT to guide the development of LDPs when aiming for specific organization-level outcomes.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Hospitals are offering leadership development programs (LDPs) to physicians to ensure the delivery of high-quality, accessible, and affordable patient care [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. For example, 65% of academic health centers in the United States provide formal LDPs [ 1 ]. Evidence shows that these LPDs can benefit individual-level outcomes (e.g., enhanced leadership knowledge), team-level outcomes (e.g., better teamwork), and organization-level outcomes (e.g., less complications) [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. At the same time, researchers have focused less on describing how and why LDPs produce these outcomes. While some studies are instrumental in explaining the links between LPD components and individual-level and team-level outcomes [ 11 , 12 ], knowledge of how and why LPDs achieve organization-level outcomes is limited [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. This lack of knowledge may exist because it is challenging to systematically investigate how LDPs produce organization-level outcomes, due to the heterogeneity of LDPs and the organizational contexts in which they operate [ 5 ]. Realist reviews can account for this complexity as they aim to explain how and why interventions work in particular contexts to generate outcomes [ 13 ].

This realist review builds on previous research by investigating how and why LPDs impact organization-level outcomes, which we, based on studying the literature on LDPs, define as outcomes that reflect changes in culture, quality improvement in patient care or organizational processes, and the leadership pipeline at the organizational level. The leadership pipeline refers to the availability of a pool of well-prepared leaders, i.e., the organization's leadership succession bench. Motivating physicians to lead and realize organization-level outcomes is important, as they have the medical expertise to identify quality improvement opportunities, access to scarce healthcare resources, and possible positions to persuade other healthcare professionals to adjust their way of working [ 3 , 14 , 15 ]. The competency-based framework, CanMEDS, states that physicians as leaders engage with others to contribute to a vision of a high-quality healthcare system and take responsibility for delivering excellent patient care [ 16 ]. Hospitals led by physicians perform better on quality of care but do not outperform CEOs with economic or managerial backgrounds regarding resource management and financial performance [ 17 , 18 ].

A few studies tried to unravel how LDPs produce organization-level outcomes. Two systematic reviews provide insight into LDPs’ design considerations and the likelihood of achieving these outcomes [ 2 , 5 ]. Geerts et al. found that LDPs with multiple learning approaches, project work, and mentoring most reliably produce organization-level outcomes [ 5 ]. In contrast, Lyons et al. found no clear associations between LDPs’ content and achieving organization-level outcomes [ 19 ]. One realist evaluation aimed to describe the impacts of a LDP on participants and the organization [ 19 ]. It provided information on how stakeholders’ perceived the working mechanisms of that LDP and insight into critical enablers (e.g., senior management support) and barriers (e.g., time constraints) [ 19 ]. However, extensive evidence about how and why LDPs for physicians lead to organization-level outcomes is lacking. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following research question: how, why, and under which circumstances can LDPs for physicians impact organization-level outcomes? LDP providers may use this knowledge to optimize LDPs for physicians and more effectively realize hospitals’ ambitions, including improved patient care.

Realist reviews aim to understand how complex interventions work (or not) and how intervention components interact to generate outcomes [ 13 , 20 , 21 ]. Realist reviews are suited when an explorative focus is needed to identify how and why complex interventions work [ 13 , 20 , 21 ]. This is especially true when other methods, such as meta-analyses, are inadequate because interventions are heterogeneous, have multiple components, and are implemented in different organizational contexts [ 13 , 20 , 22 ] – which is the case for LDPs [ 5 ]. Both systematic and realist reviews employ a systematic search and screening of the literature [ 20 ]. However, whereas systematic reviews focus on determining whether interventions are effective, realist reviews adopt an explanatory analysis discerning why interventions may or may not be successful, under what circumstances, and for whom [ 20 ]. Following realist methodology, ‘program theories’ use Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) configurations (hereafter CMOs) to explain how specific contexts (C) and mechanisms (M) work together to generate outcomes (O) [ 13 , 20 , 21 ]. Realist researchers develop program theories at various abstraction levels, ‘normal’ program theories provide the most granular explanations about how and what works in specific settings [ 13 , 23 ]. Middle-range program theories (MRPT) are more abstract and apply to broader settings [ 13 , 23 ]. We developed an MRPT, given the heterogeneity in LDPs and the organizational context in which they are conducted.

Developing a program theory helps to determine the review’s scope and structure the findings. Successful realist reviews begin with an initial program theory and end with a more refined program theory [ 13 , 20 , 21 ]. We inspected relevant systematic reviews to develop our initial MRPT (Supplementary material A ) [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. In this initial MRPT, we were able to identify important design choices (e.g., needs assessments), contextual factors (e.g., safe learning environment), and ingredients for potential mechanisms (e.g., improved confidence) to impact organization-level outcomes (e.g., enhanced patient care). However, in this initial MRPT, we could not distinguish between particular contexts and mechanisms that work together to generate specific organization-level outcomes. To answer our research question and refine our MRPT, we designed this study following the RAMESES guidelines [ 21 , 22 ] and four iterative steps formulated by Pawson et al. [ 20 ]. These steps are described below.

Clarify scope

The research team formulated the research question using realist terminology (how, why, under what circumstances) and investigating the literature on LDPs for physicians. We conducted a pilot search (screening titles and abstract and full text articles), after which we extracted data and conducted an analysis of 10 key articles. Key articles were selected through discussion in the research team, which assessed the articles’ relevance to the research question, link to our initial MRPT, and methodological rigor. The purpose of this was to get acquainted with the literature and potential theories explaining the working of LDPs. Consequently, based on theoretical (e.g., changing perspectives on physician leadership) and practical (e.g., feasibility given the resources of this study) arguments, we decided to narrow the scope of this review, which is considered best practice [ 21 ]. We narrowed this review's scope by considering documents published between January 2010 and March 2021 from various hospital settings, e.g., academic, non-academic, public, private. We excluded studies with resident physicians only and those focusing on educational leadership (see Table 1 ).

Search for evidence

The search strategy was developed over time in multiple sessions with a librarian (JD). Using VOS viewer [ 24 ], we were able to iteratively focus our search by discussing the inclusion or exclusion of several search terms [ 25 ]. The findings of our exercises to get acquainted with the literature, pilot screenings, and focusing the scope of this review informed our final search strategy. We searched for various combinations and synonyms of the words: leadership, program, development, and physician in the following databases: Medline, PsycInfo, ERIC, Web of Science and Academic Search Premier. Supplementary material B presents the comprehensive search strategies.

Appraise primary studies and extract data

Eligibility criteria.

Table 1 presents the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this review. Only documents (grey literature and scientific studies, hereafter articles or studies) describing and evaluating a leadership intervention were included. We defined a leadership intervention as an educational course, curriculum or program that included one or more interventions for which developing leadership skills, attributes, or competencies was the primary goal. Studies on leadership-related topics, such as collaboration or quality improvement, that did not explicitly use the term leadership were excluded. The LDPs had to focus on physicians working in hospitals: secondary (community hospitals) and tertiary care (academic medical centers and teaching hospitals). Included articles had to describe the interventions’ content sufficiently, i.e., the duration of the intervention, topics addressed, and learning methods used. The results of the leadership intervention had to be reported on a level beyond participant satisfaction (> Kirkpatrick’s level 1) [ 26 ].

Data screening process

Articles were screened in two steps: 1) title and abstract screening and 2) full-text screening. The main author and a research assistant (ResA) independently screened all titles and abstracts in four batches. MD and ResA resolved conflicts by discussion until consensus. Members of the research team (IJ, KL, WK, KK, YS, MS) were consulted for doubtful cases or when no consensus was reached. Rayyan QCRI software facilitated the title-abstract screening [ 27 ].

For full-text screening, MD and ResA used a screening template and independently assessed each eligibility criterion in the following order: 1) physicians, 2) hospital context, 3) leadership intervention (focus), 4) outcomes adequately reported, and 5) intervention sufficiently described. The reviewers terminated full-text screening when a criterion was not met. Full-text articles were screened in six batches, and for doubtful or conflicting cases, the research team was consulted. We adjusted the PRISMA Flow Diagram to present the different phases of our systematic search and screening process [ 28 ].

Data extraction

Two data extraction forms were developed based on a pilot screening and analysis conducted within the research team. The first extraction form was an Excel file with multiple potential CMOs in the columns and the included studies in rows. From each study, fragments that evidenced the context, mechanism, or outcome were extracted (Table 2 ). The second form was a table in Word extracting the main study and LDP characteristics. The first author extracted information in batches (five to ten studies), which was verified multiple times by the research team who also read and extracted data fragments for subsets of the data.

In addition, and in line with realist review guidelines [ 21 ], MD assessed the rigor (high/low) and relevance (high/low) of included articles. The assessment of relevance was based on the article’s contribution to the MRPT; rigor was about the trustworthiness of results in relation to the methods used. As systematic reviews indicated that the overall study quality of LDP evaluations is low [ 2 , 4 ], this exercise was mainly performed to obtain insight into the relative rigor and relevance of the studies in our sample. The most rigorous and relevant articles – both scoring high on rigor and relevance [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] – received the most weight during data synthesis.

Synthesize evidence and draw conclusions

During and after data extraction, an iterative process of theory refinement was performed. This meant integrating and refining all potential CMOs from the data extraction sheet towards a smaller set of CMOs relevant to the abstraction level of the research question, i.e., focusing on explaining organization-level outcomes. The most robust and relevant articles formed the foundation of this reconfiguration exercise and therefore received the most weight. A study provided evidence for a CMO if it included proof of at least the C and M, or C and O, or M and O. Moving up the abstraction ladder was complicated due to the diversity of reported LDP outcomes and the different methods researchers used to classify outcome-levels, e.g., own classification [ 36 ] or Kirkpatrick’s approach [ 34 , 35 ]. Based on discussions within the research team and the iterative process of theory refinement, we identified three organization-level outcomes categories for our final program theory: culture, quality improvement (patient care and organizational processes), and the leadership pipeline. MD led the iterative process of theory refinement which encompassed going back and forth between included studies, extracted documents, and revising CMO formulations. Multiple sessions with the research team were conducted until we reached consensus about a final set of CMOs.

In total, 3904 titles and abstracts and 100 full-text articles were screened (Fig.  1 ). Of these articles, 59 were excluded based on exclusion criteria. During the synthesis of evidence, three articles were excluded from the final results because they were not informative to our MRPT based on relevance.

Screening procedure

Characteristics of included LDPs

Thirty-eight articles were included to inform our MRPT (Supplementary material C ) [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. These articles reported on 35 unique LDPs, Footnote 1 23 took place in the United States [ 31 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 39 , 40 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 65 , 66 ], 5 in the United Kingdom [ 19 , 35 , 41 , 54 , 64 ], 2 in the Netherlands [ 38 , 67 ], 2 in Australia [ 49 , 52 ], 1 in Canada [ 53 ], 1 in Iran [ 46 ] and 1 in multiple countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa [ 42 ]. Twenty-one LDPs were classified as in-house programs [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 43 , 44 , 47 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 66 ], meaning that they were conducted within, and developed for, participants from one healthcare institution or system (multiple hospitals within one region). Fourteen LDPs were classified as external programs [ 33 , 35 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 51 , 53 , 65 , 67 ]. The profiles of the (post-residency) physicians participating in LDPs were diverse in terms of medical discipline, being a faculty member, level of seniority, and having a formal leadership role (e.g., medical director). The duration of the LDPs varied from one day [ 41 ] to two years [ 45 , 62 ]. Twenty-seven LDPs had a time span of 6 months or more [ 19 , 32 , 34 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 62 , 63 , 65 , 66 ]. Most LDP’s primary goal included training physicians to realize organizational change and improve healthcare [ 19 , 31 , 33 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 54 , 57 , 59 , 60 , 63 ] or prepare them for leadership roles and strengthen the organization’s leadership pipeline [ 40 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 52 , 61 ]. With one exception [ 41 ], all LDPs used multiple learning methods with diverse content delivered to participants. Examples of frequently included topics were: leadership theory and styles, quality improvement, health systems, emotional intelligence, group dynamics, negotiating and conflict management, quality improvement, and administrative skills. Studies on LDPs reported a great diversity of outcomes between and within programs, on different levels. For example, Bhalla et al. reported enhanced quality improvement skills and the outcomes of quality improvement projects on diverse domains [ 39 ], whereas Berghout’s et al. primary outcome was describing how LDP participation adjusted physicians’ leadership identities [ 38 ].

• Middle-range program theory

Figure  2 presents our MRPT, which summarizes how, why, and under which circumstances LDPs for physicians can impact the organization-level outcome categories: culture, quality improvement, and the leadership pipeline. Figure  2 shows that LDPs are embedded within and interact with an overarching context: the leadership ecosystem. The leadership ecosystem encompasses all factors surrounding a LDP that may impact physicians’ leadership development and the sustainability of perceived outcomes, including funding, infrastructure (e.g., alignment with other training programs, clear career paths), culture (e.g., recognizing the value of program participants, role models), human resources (e.g., educators, coaches), and post-program activities (e.g., alumni networks, follow-up learnings). Leadership ecosystems aid physicians in transferring their learnings to the workplace after program participation and therefore help to sustain outcomes. Studies of in-house and external LDPs illustrate that adequate leadership ecosystems prevent skill attrition [ 42 , 61 ], enhance the uptake of leadership behaviors [ 19 , 38 , 57 ], and contribute to the durability of quality improvement projects [ 39 , 51 , 59 ]. Especially LDPs with a relatively long duration or those that were conducted regularly (e.g., annually) seemed to interact with the leadership ecosystem by producing tangible and intangible resources, e.g., quality improvement project outcomes, trained program staff, and networks with external speakers or institutions [ 31 , 36 , 59 , 60 , 63 ]. The following description illustrates this:

“ Previous [name LDP] graduates serve as coaches for current attendees, which helps broaden the learning resources for new students and reinforce previous training for coaches. ” [ 59 ]

The leadership ecosystem determines whether LDP providers can introduce intervention components adequately to create a particular learning context for participants. Figure  2 presents critical design aspects of LDPs that contribute to creating specific learning contexts that enhance the likelihood of initiating mechanisms and realizing organization-level outcomes. For example, within some leadership ecosystems, it might be more challenging to create a constructive feedback context through assessment tools than in others. However, the extent to which such a context is realized determines the likelihood of physicians acquiring self-insight and adopting a people-oriented leadership style, benefitting the organization’s culture (CMO 1). Figure  2 presents the five identified CMOs, which are the main body of our program theory. Table 3 spells out each CMO and shows which studies provide supporting evidence for each CMO. The CMOs are depicted linearly to illustrate the main pathways of how and why LDPs achieve organizational outcomes and to be instrumental to LDP providers. The two-way arrows illustrate that the outcome categories may influence each other. In their paper, Smith et al. illustrate the interaction between the outcome categories ‘leadership pipeline’ and ‘the organization’s culture’ [ 63 ]:

“The [name of LDP] was an important vehicle to prepare and promote women for intra-departmental leadership progression, creating role models in leadership positions and thus enhancing the value and culture of the organization.”

In the remainder of this Results section, we elaborate on each CMO. Footnote 2 Supplementary material D provides more precise insight into the data, i.e., original text fragments from included studies, backing up this program theory (CMOs, the interconnectedness of outcomes categories, leadership ecosystems).

Acquiring self-insight and people skills (CMO1)

Self-assessments and modules on emotional intelligence or self-awareness gave physicians feedback on their personality traits and leadership behavior [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 57 , 58 , 61 , 62 , 67 ]. The perception of a safe learning environment allowed physicians’ to share their feelings [ 64 ]. Various tools were used to gather feedback, one example of such a tool is the Dominance Influence Steadiness Contentiousness (DISC)-360 degrees assessment [ 34 , 43 ]. These tools were most effective when physicians were coached to interpret feedback constructively [ 19 , 43 , 45 , 57 , 58 , 64 ]. Feedback enhanced physicians’ insight into their leadership strengths and weaknesses [ 57 , 58 , 61 ]. In particular, co-workers’ feedback helped physicians to adjust their leadership behavior to the preferences and needs of the people they lead [ 19 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 44 , 47 , 61 ], i.e., a people-oriented leadership style. For example:

“It made me more confident as a leader and yet more willing to listen to others and give credit to them for their ideas.” [ 36 ]

Physicians with a people-oriented leadership style listened better [ 37 , 47 , 54 , 61 , 67 ] and acknowledged others’ contributions [ 36 , 47 ]. Consequently, such a leadership style led to more effective communication and collaboration, which benefitted the organization’s culture [ 19 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 43 , 47 , 58 ]. For example, Vitous et al. showed that a LDP positively changed the culture within a surgical department due to promoting people-oriented leadership [ 37 ]. Rask et al. suggest that a critical mass of LDP (ex-)participants is needed to achieve culture change [ 60 ].

Intentionally building professional networks (CMO2)

A cohort-based training model, having multiple meetings over time, protected time to interact, and working in teams on projects facilitated interaction between participants [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 35 , 36 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 55 , 57 ]. Some LDPs intentionally used these principles to stimulate networking [ 32 , 36 , 45 , 48 , 50 , 55 ], while for others building professional networks seemed an unintended outcome [ 34 , 35 , 53 , 61 ]. Other LDP aspects – i.e., in-house vs. external, selecting participants and speakers – influenced the professional networks’ composition and resulting outcomes. For example, in-house programs with participants from multiple departments stimulated interdepartmental networks and collaborations within the organization [ 19 , 36 , 57 ]. In contrast, networks from external programs functioned as a non-power-based source of advice and personal support [ 48 ], sometimes with global reach [ 48 ], or led to lasting research collaborations [ 55 ]. The following illustrates how an in-house LDP stimulated networking:

“I met people who I still have interactions with. That was the best. I made connections helpful from both work and personal perspectives. After 3 or 4 of the meetings, people were comfortable with each other and could say whatever.” [ 31 ]

As a result of networking, physicians gained insight into the perspectives of other professions (e.g., managers) and perceived the value of their efforts and skills [ 19 , 31 , 34 , 37 ]. Professional networks led to the breakdown of silos between departments and improved inter-professional collaboration [ 19 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 57 ]. These networks established support structures for physicians [ 34 , 35 , 48 , 61 ]. Physicians used the obtained contacts to overcome various challenges, start collaborations [ 31 , 34 ], and avoid duplication of efforts [ 19 ]. Lastly, there were indications that professional networks enhanced participants' visibility within the organization, contributing to career advancement [ 31 , 50 , 51 ]. In these ways building professional networks benefitted culture, quality improvement, and the leadership pipeline.

Supporting quality improvement projects (CMO3)

LDPs that incorporated quality improvement projects led to improvements in various domains [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 39 , 43 , 49 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 59 , 60 , 63 ], for example: improving efficiency in inpatient or emergency department settings, enhancing transitional care among patients, and reducing hospital-acquired infections or improving sepsis care [ 39 ]. Quality improvement projects were described as innovation incubators as they led to innovative ideas to combat healthcare organizations' challenges [ 40 , 43 , 57 ].

Quality improvement projects that were in line with the strategic priorities of the organization were more likely to be successful [ 19 , 32 , 39 , 43 , 51 , 56 , 59 , 60 , 63 ]. This is because such alignment enabled physicians to obtain buy-in from management, project funding, and other required resources [ 19 , 43 , 51 , 60 ]. In-house LDPs facilitated alignment between projects and institutional priorities [ 31 , 32 , 34 , 43 , 59 , 60 ]. Matching physicians’ motivation and institutional priorities took up to 8 weeks in a LDP with project work in external organizations [ 56 ]. Ongoing project management or coaching allowed physicians to create buy-in among colleagues and persevere when facing implementation barriers [ 19 , 32 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 51 , 56 , 60 ]. Daniels’ et al. study further illustrates this [ 42 ]:

“She [the participant] referenced the important ongoing support her mentor provided in helping her implement the project. She stated that ‘My primary mentor was an obstetrician like myself....he would sit down with me to figure out what needed to be done [on the project]”

Adequate support from colleagues and management, and the availability of sufficient resources (e.g., funding, protected time, facilities) were critical for projects’ quality improvement success [ 19 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 59 ]. When support and resources diminished or were taken away altogether, often after LDP completion, positive outcomes faded or projects ceased to exist [ 19 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 51 , 56 , 57 , 59 ].

Tailored LDP content prepares physicians (CMO4)

LDP providers tailored LDPs’ content to physicians’ needs and expertise by employing needs assessment and rigorous selection and nomination procedures [ 32 , 37 , 39 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 53 , 58 , 66 ]. To this end, longitudinal programs used participating physicians’ feedback [ 31 , 36 , 39 , 43 , 48 , 55 , 58 , 59 , 62 , 65 ]. Two LDPs had separate tracks with different content based on physicians’ leadership expertise [ 60 , 66 ]. Experiential learning methods accommodated physicians’ needs for leadership development in the workplace [ 32 , 35 , 36 , 41 , 43 , 49 , 55 , 60 ].

Tailored LDP content prepared physicians for leadership roles because the content was perceived as relevant and required for adequate professional performance [ 19 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 41 , 47 , 49 , 52 , 66 ]. Physicians who found the content irrelevant did not perceive LDP’s to be beneficial [ 19 , 34 , 37 ]. After LDP participation, physicians reported enhanced knowledge and skills, attitudes [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 39 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 47 , 49 , 50 , 53 , 58 , 60 , 61 , 66 ], organizational literacy [ 35 , 36 , 49 , 53 ], confidence and self-efficacy as a leader [ 34 , 35 , 41 , 47 , 58 ]. Moreover, researchers investigating two specific LDPs, reported that physicians’ leadership identity shifted: from an ‘individualistic’ towards a more ‘collaborative’ identity [ 38 , 62 ]. Physicians were also motivated and considered competent to assume new leadership roles [ 19 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 44 , 52 , 55 , 60 , 61 , 66 ]. The study of Fernandez et al. illustrates further [ 33 ]:

“ Interestingly, a large majority of respondents reported receiving a promotion or other similar expansion of role opportunity since completing the course, and all who reported such a job expansion indicated that the skills learned in the course helped prepare them for the new opportunity. ”

Supporting physicians after participation in a LDP, e.g., through coaching or formalized career trajectories, seemed vital for physician leaders to remain at the organization and be willing to assume leadership positions [ 19 , 31 , 32 , 38 , 57 ].

Valuing physician leadership and organizational commitment (CMO5)

Physicians felt honored to be selected for LDPs [ 34 , 43 ] and recognized the opportunity to participate as a sign that the organization believed in them [ 44 , 50 ]. They considered LDPs to symbolize the hospital's investment in developing its ‘own’ leaders [ 36 , 44 ]. The competitiveness and prestige of LDPs enhanced these perceptions [ 32 , 36 , 43 , 44 ]. According to physicians, the presence and support of (senior) management during LDPs showed that the organization regarded leadership development as a priority [ 19 , 52 ]. The availability of adequate resources indicated that the organization earnestly invested in leadership development [ 19 , 43 ]. As a result, physicians felt more connected and committed to the institution [ 32 , 34 , 43 ] and assumed new leadership roles [ 19 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 44 , 52 , 63 ]. The following description illustrates this CMO:

“ Across interviews, the participants stated that they felt their involvement in the leadership development program was an investment by the Center in their personal development and growth. They perceived that the investment meant that the Center believed in them. The participants agreed that their engagement was positively impacted by this perception. This is important to physicians because they do not like to stay in the wrong or be unappreciated. ” [ 44 ]

Underrepresented groups in leadership positions, felt especially appreciated and assumed new leadership roles [ 31 , 36 ]. Several LDPs targeted underrepresented groups to achieve a more diverse leadership pipeline [ 31 , 36 , 50 , 61 , 63 ].

Main findings – middle-range program theory

This study resulted in a MRPT explaining how, why and under which circumstances LDPs for physicians impact organization-level outcomes. The MRPT presented considers three organization-level outcome categories: culture, quality improvement, and the leadership pipeline. For enhancing culture, a person-oriented leadership style and professional networks were important mechanisms triggered respectively by contexts that provided physicians with feedback on their leadership style and facilitated interaction between participants. Well-supported quality improvement projects endorsed by the organization enabled physicians to create buy-in and persevere when facing challenges, increasing the likelihood of quality improvement. Also, professional networks aided quality improvement by mobilizing resources within organizations. LDPs enhanced the organization's leadership pipeline by preparing physicians for leadership roles. Tailoring LDP’s content to physicians' needs and expertise facilitated the firing of this mechanism. Organizations showing appreciation of physician leaders through LDPs, promote commitment of the physicians to the organization and thereby strengthen the leadership pipeline. Professional networks benefitted the leadership pipeline because potential physician leaders gained visibility. Lastly, the leadership ecosystem is crucial to realizing and sustaining organization-level outcomes.

Explanation of main findings

We further explain our MRPT by elaborating on the concept of a ‘leadership ecosystem’ and the five identified CMOs. Other researchers have recommended that healthcare organizations view leadership development as an ecosystem rather than an isolated course or program [ 68 ]; our MRPT reveals why considering the leadership ecosystem is crucial for impacting organization-level outcomes. In this study, the leadership ecosystem encompassed all factors surrounding a LDP that may impact physicians' leadership development and sustaining organization-level outcomes, including funding, infrastructure, culture, human resources, and post-program activities. By considering the leadership ecosystem, LDP providers can ensure that LDPs’ objectives match the resources available. Moreover, adequate leadership ecosystems help physicians transfer LDP learnings to the workplace. A LDP interacts with the surrounding leadership ecosystem, for example, when alumni serve as coaches for the next cohort of participants [ 59 , 63 ]. Von Thiele et al. confirm the importance of an ecosystem for designing interventions with maximum impact [ 69 ]. Other studies report the constraints of inadequate leadership ecosystems, such as physicians intending to leave the organization because their skills are underutilized [ 35 , 38 ]. Therefore, it is crucial to consider leadership development in its broader context.

The finding ‘ Acquiring self-insight and people skills (CMO1) ’ confirms that co-workers’ feedback is crucial for enhancing physicians’ professional performance, especially regarding people skills [ 12 , 70 ]. For LDPs in hospitals where physicians are not used to receiving feedback, it might be more challenging to create a constructive feedback context than in hospitals where physicians regularly receive feedback on their professional performance [ 71 , 72 ]. In many healthcare systems, feedback systems and cultures have been implemented with positive effects on physicians’ professional development and performance [ 72 , 73 , 74 ]. In this review, co-workers’ feedback gave physicians insight into their leadership style and the needs of the people they lead, making them adopt a people-oriented leadership style. Researchers have shown that people-oriented leadership styles can promote positive workplaces and enhance healthcare professionals’ occupational well-being [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. People-oriented leadership styles among physicians may be underdeveloped as traditional medical training generally devotes little attention to these skills; it usually focuses on solving medical problems and autocratic leadership in emergencies [ 78 , 79 ]. However, since the introduction of competency-based professionalism frameworks, medical schools are revisiting curricula to pay attention to novel leadership competencies. While one leadership style is not universally best – a crisis may require a directive style [ 79 ] – LDPs seem able to identify and address underdeveloped leadership competencies in physicians – people skills – with benefits to the organization.

Interestingly, ‘ Intentionally building professional networks (CMO2) ’ impacted all outcome categories. Leadership development researchers consider intentionally building communities as best practice [ 9 ]. According to social capital theory (SCT), professional networks are social capital as they produce resources relevant to the individual and organization [ 80 ]. For example, we found that professional networks provide a support structure for physicians and mobilize resources for quality improvement. Three types of social capital can be distinguished: bonding social capital (e.g., relationships between physicians from one department), bridging social capital (e.g., relationships between physicians from different departments or organizations), and linking social capital (e.g., relationships physicians and the hospital's board (different hierarchical levels)) [ 81 ]. Based on our findings, LDP providers may develop a particular 'type' of social capital via recruitment and selection of participants. Also, professional networks seemed mainly beneficial to organization-level outcomes when participants came from the same organization. Professional networks with people from other organizations may gain importance as hospitals and policymakers see inter-organizational collaborations as a way to promote the quality and cost-efficiency of patient care [ 82 , 83 , 84 ].

Previous researchers have shown the importance of quality improvement work in LDPs for realizing organization-level impact [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. The finding ‘ Supporting quality improvement projects (CMO3) ’ confirms this and simultaneously shows that quality improvement projects are only likely to succeed with adequate support (e.g., coaching, protected time). Physicians working in cultures where their colleagues regard medical tasks as superior and relatively unrelated to quality improvement may face the most resistance to implementing quality improvement projects [ 38 , 85 ]. While there is abundant evidence that quality improvement projects can effectively target specific organizational priorities [ 5 , 39 , 59 ], hospitals should not include them in LDPs without careful thought. This is because sufficiently supporting quality improvement projects requires significant resources per participant (high dose [ 86 , 87 ]). As a result, these LDPs often target high-potential physician leaders to participate (low reach [ 86 , 87 ]). Some LDP providers may reduce the resources spent per participant (low dose) to reach a larger number of physicians (high reach) and a critical mass within the organization. Strategic HRM researchers suggest that different development approaches are needed based on the uniqueness and expected return of the human capital to be developed [ 88 ]. Providers of LDPs for physicians may use such frameworks for determining the optimum between reach and dose concerning realizing organization-level goals.

Our result, ‘ Tailored LDP content prepares physicians (CMO4) ’, shows LDPs' ability to realize one of its primary purposes: to prepare physicians for their leadership roles and strengthen the organization's leadership pipeline. Notably, this CMO shows that a ‘whole-person’ approach to developing and preparing physician leaders is needed. Such an approach includes attention to physicians’ knowledge, skills and attitudes, leadership identity, confidence, and self-efficacy as a leader. Previous studies have recommended incorporating insights from professional identity formation theory into leadership development interventions [ 38 , 89 , 90 ]. Bandura’s self-efficacy theory [ 91 ] and review findings [ 92 ] show that confidence and self-efficacy are vital to effective leadership. Physicians with high self-efficacy view issues at work as challenges that should be managed rather than avoided due to perceptions of inadequate skills [ 91 ]. This aligns with the concepts of resilience and a growth mindset, as physicians possessing these qualities have the resources to deal with adversities and see them as an opportunity to learn and grow [ 93 , 94 ]. When physicians believe in themselves and grow as leaders, they are more willing to expand their leadership roles. They experience that they can change things they thought were unchangeable, indicating a sense of psychological ownership over the working environment, which has its roots in self-efficacy, self-identity, and belonging [ 95 , 96 ]. Psychological ownership may benefit organizational performance and physicians’ well-being and may develop due to enhanced organizational literacy or expanded responsibilities in leadership roles [ 95 , 96 ].

According to Meyer and Allen, affective commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in, the organization [ 97 ]. Employees with strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to. According to the literature, this is based on an exchange relationship [ 97 , 98 ], reflecting our finding ‘ Valuing physician leadership and organizational commitment (CMO5) ’. This CMO showed that when physicians felt valued as leaders by the organization through investing in their professional growth, they reciprocated this favor by assuming leadership roles. CMO5 may become even more critical for the next generation of physicians as they highly value personal development and sense-making [ 99 ]. Surprisingly, this exchange mechanism seemed most effective for underrepresented groups in leadership positions, e.g., women and participants from the Asian Pacific region. These groups may not have experienced the same leadership opportunities due to ingrained institutional disadvantages [ 100 , 101 ]. Striving for equal leadership opportunities for all individuals regardless of their gender or background is not only the morally right thing to do, but establishing an inclusive and diverse leadership pipeline should also be high on hospitals’ agendas considering organizational performance [ 102 , 103 ].

Strengths and limitations

This realist review is the first to comprehensively investigate why and how LDPs for physicians impact organization-level outcomes in hospital settings. One strength of this realist review was the diverse research team with expertise in physicians’ professional performance, medical education, leadership development, strategic human resources, sociology, and realist review methodology. Other strengths were conducting a pilot search, screening and analyzing key articles, and developing our search strategy iteratively with a librarian.

The results of this realist review should be considered in light of several limitations. First, the generalizability of our MRPT to other healthcare professions and settings may be limited due to its focus on physicians, the hospital setting, and the fact that most included studies come from Western countries. Mainly including studies from Western countries, brings a particular perspective on leadership, which might have influenced our findings. On the other hand, our MRPT has a higher abstraction level than ‘normal’ program theories and applies across broader settings [ 23 ]. Moreover, multiple LDPs included physicians and other healthcare professionals as participants (see Supplementary material C ). Additional research is needed to investigate whether our program theory is generalizable to other health professions and settings.

Second, the publication bias in the literature about LDPs for physicians might have influenced our results [ 2 , 4 ]. Our program theory may not fully capture the aspects of LDPs that do not work and might overestimate the likelihood of some contexts and mechanisms to produce outcomes. However, all the mechanisms found are grounded in broader theoretical perspectives.

A third limitation of this study pertains to the lack of grey literature. Most included documents were scientific articles, although we also incorporated grey literature [ 19 , 57 , 62 ]. While our search strategy enabled for retrieval of grey literature within the inspected databases, there is much information available on the internet about LDPs. Inspecting all these sources was deemed unfeasible given the resources of this study.

Implications for research and practice

This study presented a LDP MRPT about the working of LDPs for physicians in hospital settings regarding organization-level outcomes. Researchers could further verify and refine our MRPT for physicians and other healthcare professionals. For example, they could investigate the relative strengths of the CMOs found and start with investigating more fine-grained CMOs, i.e., linked to specific outcomes at the organizational level. High-quality LDP evaluations facilitate this endeavor. We encourage researchers and LDP providers to employ methods such as realist evaluations to collect more precise knowledge on contextual factors, working mechanisms, and program aspects that do not work. More insight into specific inputs (e.g., costs, time investments) in relation to LDP outcomes is needed as it allows for better judgments on ‘what works’. Only a few studies indicated LDP’s costs [ 34 , 39 , 43 , 52 , 56 ], an important aspect of effective programming. Also, more objective data on LDP outcomes are welcomed in addition to most self-perceived evidence, for example, comparing the promotions of physician LDP participants against a control group to evaluate improvements in the leadership pipeline.

Another important direction for future research is the relationship between LDP participation and physicians’ well-being [ 75 , 104 ]. In this review, well-being outcomes were largely absent, which is surprising, given the alarming burnout levels reported among physicians [ 105 ]. Professionally fulfilled physicians are needed to navigate challenging healthcare developments, such as aging populations with comorbidities [ 106 ]. Future research could specifically investigate the effects of LDPs on the well-being of physicians and the people they lead. Moreover, these studies can consider adverse well-being outcomes, e.g., enhanced workload due to the LDP or dissatisfaction due to peers not recognizing their leadership qualities.

Furthermore, the results add to the existing literature by not only revealing what ‘ingredients’ may be needed for effective LDPs, but also describing ‘how to prepare the meal’. That is, how and why LDP aspects in certain contexts trigger mechanisms and generate results. Improved understanding of LDPs for physicians may enable LDP providers to develop more effective LDPs and fit-for-purpose evaluations. According to our MRPT, the following topics are essential for LDPs for physicians in hospital settings aiming to impact organization-level outcomes: 1) acquiring self-insight and people skills, 2) intentionally building professional networks, 3) supporting quality improvement projects, 4) tailoring LDP’s content to physicians’ needs and expertise, 5) valuing physician leadership and organizational commitment, and 6) ongoing leadership development embedded in a leadership ecosystem. Guidelines for designing effective leadership interventions [ 5 , 9 , 69 ] recommend related topics and may also be instrumental to LDP providers. In addition, LDP providers could include modules on healthcare providers' well-being and incorporate positive (e.g., professional fulfillment) and negative (e.g., burnout) well-being indicators in the program evaluation.

This study offers a MRPT explaining how, why, and under which circumstances LDPs for physicians impact the organization-level outcomes: culture, quality improvement, and the leadership pipeline. The MRPT includes one overarching context, the leadership ecosystem, and five CMOs. Ongoing leadership development within a leadership ecosystem is crucial to realizing and sustaining organization-level outcomes. Moreover, creating learning contexts that fire the working mechanisms of LDPs often requires adequate support and resources for participating physicians. This MRPT may guide the development of LDPs for physicians to realize specific hospital ambitions effectively. Hospitals need a solid physician leadership pipeline to cope with major developments in healthcare. By valuing physician leaders and investing in their leadership development, hospitals can create a cadre of physician leaders who want to go the extra mile for the organization and the patients they serve.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

Here we cited Hopkins et al. for the Stanford Leadership Development Program and Daniels et al. for the Afya Bora Fellowship as more than one study reported on these LDPs.

Note that referencing may not be exhaustive. In the process of theory refinement, the main goal was backing up the program theory with supporting evidence and not counting the frequency of occurrence.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank Mariam Ali for her contributions to the screening process of this study.

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MD: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Methodology; Project administration; Visualization; Writing—original draft. IJ: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing—review & editing. KL: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Methodology; Supervision; Writing—review & editing. WK: Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing—review & editing. KK: Formal analysis; Writing—review & editing. YS: Formal analysis; Investigation; Writing—review & editing. JD: Data Curation; Writing—review & editing. MS: Conceptualization; Formal analysis; Methodology; Writing—review & editing.

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Supplementary Information

Additional file 1: supplementary material a..

Initial middle-range program theory.

Additional file 2: Supplementary material B.

Comprehensive search strategies.

Additional file 3: Supplementary material C.

Characteristics of included LDPs and studies. Note: subsequent rows with a light grey background indicate that the studies in these rows describe the same LDP.

Additional file 4: Supplementary material D.

Evidence backing up MRPT. Note: we do not exhaustively give all possible available fragments from studies that might support our MRPT. Note: we included studies in this table if they included information on the C and M, or C and O, or M and O, of the proposed CMO.

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Debets, M., Jansen, I., Lombarts, K. et al. Linking leadership development programs for physicians with organization-level outcomes: a realist review. BMC Health Serv Res 23 , 783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09811-y

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The Long-Run Impacts of Public Industrial Investment on Local Development and Economic Mobility: Evidence from World War II

This paper studies the long-run effects of government-led construction of manufacturing plants on the regions where they were built and on individuals from those regions. Specifically, we examine publicly financed plants built in dispersed locations outside of major urban centers for security reasons during the United States' industrial mobilization for World War II. Wartime plant construction had large and persistent impacts on local development, characterized by an expansion of relatively high-wage manufacturing employment throughout the postwar era. These benefits were shared by incumbent residents; we find men born before WWII in counties where plants were built earned $1,200 (in 2020 dollars) or 2.5 percent more per year in adulthood relative to those born in counterfactual comparison regions, with larger benefits accruing to children of lower-income parents. The balance of evidence suggests that these individuals benefited primarily from the local expansion of higher-wage jobs to which they had access as adults, rather than because of developmental effects from exposure to better environments during childhood.

We are grateful to Anna Aizer, Daniel Bernhardt, Allison Ehrich Bernstein, Mark Borgschulte, Eric Chyn, James Feigenbaum, Claudia Goldin, Bhash Mazumder, Walker Hanlon, Edward Glaeser, Nathaniel Hendren, Taylor Jaworski, Réka Juhász, Lawrence Katz, Patrick Kline, Dmitri Koustas, Brian Kovak, James Lee, Trevon Logan, Robert Margo, Nathan Nunn, Lowell Taylor, and seminar participants at Harvard University, UIUC, Purdue, the Upjohn Institute, CEU, JKU-Linz, Marquette, UCL, Berkeley, Texas A&M, University de Montreal, UVA, MIT, NIU, UBC, Iowa, BEA, Pitt, ITAM, Colmex, the Bank of Mexico, and participants at workshops and conferences between 2016 and 2023 for helpful comments. We are grateful to Sunny Liu and Andrea Atencio De Leon for excellent research assistance. The authors are grateful for generous support from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the W.E. Upjohn Institute. This report is released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion. Any views expressed on statistical, methodological, technical, or operational issues are those of the author and not necessarily those of the US Census Bureau or the National Bureau of Economic Research. Results disclosed under DRB # CBDRB–FY24–0120.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Global climate change poses an existential threat to peace and prosperity in Liberia. As the oldest republic in Africa, Liberia has navigated a treacherous path to stability, weathering civil conflict, economic volatility, and health emergencies. But unlike past trials, the climate crisis cannot be relegated to one chapter of Liberia’s development story.
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• This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) examines Liberia’s development trajectory through the lens of the country’s vulnerability to climate change. It identifies Liberia’s development risks and opportunities, models various scenarios of climate impact and intervention, and proposes ways to strengthen resilience and finance climate actions that support Liberia’s development aspirations of inclusive growth and poverty reduction.

If nothing is done, climate change could shrink Liberia’s economy by 15% and push 1.3 million people into poverty by 2050. Implementing just a few adaptation interventions could boost agricultural productivity and enhance climate resilience of almost 800.000 people. Priority climate actions will need to respond to essential infrastructure needs, human development promotion, sustainable land management, and climate risk and readiness.

The report proposes four themes of climate actions:

• Climate risks and readiness . It is critical that there is a policy shift toward an integrated approach that encompasses climate finance, readiness, and coordination. Given Liberia’s vast natural capital, the potential for carbon markets and benefit sharing of climate financing is immense.
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• Sustainable landscape management . Liberia's forestry, mining, and agriculture sectors face intertwined challenges and opportunities in sustainable land management.

Inadequate access to finance is a key barrier to meeting Liberia’s climate and development goals. While concessional finance will be essential, deepening the domestic capital market offers a way to diversify financing mechanisms and attract foreign investments. However, the investment challenge will require building institutional capacity across the government and developing an enabling environment that can unlock (private) finance. The private sector must not only finance but take a leading role in bringing in innovative climate solutions in production processes and services delivery. Climate change poses complex challenges in Liberia, but there is room for optimism. Climate action can play a leading role in Liberia’s development story.

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Organizational Capacity Development Consultancy USAID Mali Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Platform

Social Impact, Inc. (SI) is a global development management consulting firm. We provide monitoring, evaluation, strategic planning, and capacity-building services to advance development effectiveness. We work across all development sectors, including democracy and governance, health and education, the environment, and economic growth. Since 1997 we have worked in over 100 countries for clients such as US government agencies, bilateral donors, multilateral development banks, foundations, and nonprofits.

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On November 10, 2022, USAID/Mali awarded the five-year Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Platform contract to SI. The purpose of the MEL Platform is to provide technical and advisory services to design and carry out various monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities for USAID/Mali. This contract has three major components: 1) USAID/Mali monitoring support through a Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) mechanism; 2) Evaluation Services and Surveys; and 3) Collaborating, Learning, and Adaptive Management and Communication Services.

The MEL Platform will assist USAID/Mali and its partners in generating empirical data and fostering learning and knowledge management through a participatory process to support stronger results and improve evidence-based programming. These efforts will facilitate informed program management decisions, shape the longer-term strategic direction of programs and decision-making within the Mission, and enable USAID/Mali to comply with USAID’s monitoring and evaluation guidance as mandated in the Automated Directives System (ADS), especially in ADS 201. The principal customers for this MEL Platform contract will be USAID/Mali staff, other USG agencies, USAID implementing partners, Malian Government counterparts, and relevant offices in USAID/Washington.

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SI is seeking consultants to support capacity development for five MEL local firms in Mali. This consultancy requires in-person work as training sessions will be held in Bamako. International consultants specializing in Organizational Capacity Development that meet the specified qualifications are encouraged to apply. T he tentative period of performance (POP) for this consultancy is June 1 – November 30, 2024, and the expected level of effort (LOE) is 60 days.

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Under the supervision of the MEL Platform Chief of Party (COP) in Mali, the selected consultancy firm will work directly with the Senior Learning Specialist in Bamako and Social Impact HQ Technical Advisors to design and implement this capacity development activity. The consultant is ultimately responsible for designing all training modules and develop the capacities of Malian MEL firms on the following modules:

• Governance and legal structure
• Financial management and internal control systems
• Administration and procurement systems
• Human resources systems
• Program management
• Project performance management
• Organizational management and sustainability

Other responsibilities include:

• Leading the development of all required organization development modules in line with USAID’s requirements for NUPAS.
• Delivering all training sessions within the agreed timeline.
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• Developing and submitting a report for each session held.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business Administration, with a focus on Organizational Development or related area.
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• Demonstrated knowledge in the design of effective curriculum and instructional approaches on organizational capacity development.
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La cheffe de la protection du hcr insiste sur la nécessité d'un soutien immédiat au sahel pour éviter l'aggravation de la crise, support urgently needed to avert a deeper sahel crisis, unhcr’s protection chief warns [en/ar], mali | humanitarian needs and response plan 2024.

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In his welcome remarks, WTO Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam said: “It is more important than ever today to provide tangible support, through the STDF, to farmers, producers, traders, and governments of developing countries to overcome disruptions in global supply chains, maintain the smooth flow of trade, and ensure that countries can continue to be competitive in global markets”.

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For example, in Togo the STDF and COLEAD have worked to strengthen the country's SPS system, resulting in improved knowledge and practices among producers and exporters, and a reduction in interceptions of Togolese fruit and vegetable exports into the European Union.

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“The impacts of the STDF-funded Penja pepper project in Cameroon are real. It fostered job creation, increased revenues of actors along the value chain thanks to increased compliance with international market requirements and improved production practices. As a result of the Protected Geographical Indication registered in the EU, Penja pepper is now highly valued by European consumers,” said Ambassador Salomon Eheth of Cameroon.  

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Serbians are petitioning against a planned luxury project backed by Trump son-in-law’s firm

People set on a truck a Russian flag, that reads: “Pray to God, hold on to Russia”, prior to a rally in front of the former Serbian army headquarters, destroyed during NATO’s bombing campaign, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Serbia marks the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A huge billboard that shows Serbian soldiers and reads: “We serve Serbia!” displayed on the former Serbian army headquarters, destroyed during NATO’s bombing campaign, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Serbia marks the 25th anniversary of beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A huge billboard that shows Serbian soldiers reading: “We serve Serbia!” displayed on the former Serbian army headquarters, destroyed during NATO’s bombing campaign, in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Serbia marks the 25th anniversary of beginning of the NATO air-campaign in 1999, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — An opposition group in Serbia launched a petition Monday against a real estate development project that would be financed by the firm of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the site of the former Serbian army headquarters destroyed in a NATO bombing campaign in 1999.

Earlier this month, Kushner confirmed reports that his company plans to finance the project in central Belgrade. It would feature a high-rise hotel, a luxury apartment complex, office spaces and shops.

The petition asks Serbia’s government to respect the law, which says the building can only be returned to its original function. It also calls for the Museum of Serbian History to be established there.

“Construction of a hotel on the site of this building is illegal and represents the destruction of our dignity,” the Kreni-Promeni (Move-Change) opposition movement said. Its statement said 10,000 people signed the petition in less than 24 hours.

Pro-Trump government officials in Serbia have welcomed the project, but the opposition and many in the general public have spoken out against it.

For many, the site of the bombed-out army command building is a potent symbol of Serbia’s resistance against what they called NATO aggression 25 years ago.

Serbian forces fought a 1998-99 war with ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which was then a Serbian province. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died until a 78-day, U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign pushed Serbian troops out of Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but the government in Belgrade doesn’t recognize its neighbor as a separate country.

Earlier this month, the Albanian tourism ministry acknowledged it received an investment project application from Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, to turn a former military base on Sazan Island in the Adriatic Sea into a resort. Prime Minister Edi Rama said Albania was proud to have attracted such interest.

Associated Press writer Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, contributed to this report.