主题：Maximizing Business Value ThroughProjects:Doing less and achieving more

报告人：Dr. Thomas Lechler，ASSOCIATEPROFESSOR; DIRECTOR OF PHD PROGRAM，STEVENS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY

Thomas Lechler，博士，史蒂文斯理工学院技术管理学院终身副教授，学院博士项目负责人。毕业于德国卡尔斯鲁厄大学，获商业管理博士学位。自2000年开始任教于史蒂文斯理工学院，主要研究兴趣为：项目管理、创新管理、创业管理。在《IEEETransactions on Engineering Management》、《Research Policy》等学术期刊上发表论文10多篇。

报告摘要：Empirical data show that projects remain over time and overbudget. In this paper we argue that many of the delays and ultimate failuresare related to common problems in resource allocation strategies. Managers toooften tend to allocate all available resources to projects until full capacityis reached. Or to say it differently: they try to implement as many projects aspossible with a given amount of resources.

Inan economic climate where managers are forced to do more with fewer employeesand smaller budgets, this sometimes feels like the only solution. But how,then, do you react when problems arise? If all resources are allocated, thereis no possibility to react when the unforeseen happens in one of the projects.Other projects inevitably suffer, as delays to the one project trickle down toeverything else in the company’s pipeline, resulting in less value producedfrom the project portfolio.

Thesolution may be as simple as it is unintuitive: In planning projects, managersare better off having a reserve of idle resources available than they areallocating 100% of resources to the portfolio at the start.

Applyingsimulation studies, we compared the value contribution of different resourceallocation strategies and determined, in particular, conditions to maximize therealized value of given project portfolios. Our research found that having abuffer of idle resources yields substantially higher value and return oninvestment than full allocation of resources. Those extra resources areutilized when problems build due to the inevitable risk (variation) inherent inproject execution, obviating the need to divert resources from other projectsto meet deadlines, which leads to value destruction.

Buffersdon’t come without cost, of course — managers are essentially managing for riskin projects by building into their budgets extra resources to be made availableon a contingency basis — but our research demonstrates that having a bufferultimately results in much higher value overall.

Inthe hypothetical case of no project risk, where future resource requirementsare known with certainty, the highest project value is of course produced whenthere is no buffer and 100% of resources are utilized from the start, withresources allocated to every project in the portfolio. In the real world,however, where risk is a given, project value decreases sharply as risk(variation) is introduced.  We find,however, that by employing a 10% buffer (resources allocated initially to 90%of the projects), overall value hardly changes with increasing risk.

Inaddition, during the execution of a project, when a task is “stuck”and requiresmore resources, buffers can “make up” the slack, allowing for better projectexecution. Consequently, the schedule variance of the entire project portfoliocan be minimized, as well as the number of projects that get behind scheduledue to delayed tasks.

Ourstudy also shows that another contributor to value creation is the avoidance ofmultitasking. Contrary to popular belief, the higher the level of multitaskingwithin a multi-project system, the less value could be created.

Ultimately,it’s higher-level planning and resource allocation by managers that winds upsaving costs and delivering more predictable results, leading to projects thatare on time and within budget, and that deliver improved returns on investment.

主持人：黄志烨 副教授  工程管理系主任

时 间：2014年6月3日 14:00-16:00

地点：中央财经大学学术会堂 603会议室