Alhazmi, Khaled Awadh H. (2014) Information systems project work in a Saudi organisation : an ethnographic study. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study examines IS project trajectories in a Saudi organisation showing how the project is shaped and re-shaped in day-to-day activities. Three project features are adapted to characterise project phenomena: project complexity, embeddedness and project learning.

Accordingly, the first objective is to investigate project complexities showing how they are dynamically changed due re-defining project properties of goals, methods, deadlines and team relations. The second objective is to understand the interactions between project members and external groups and individual from the surrounding context and how those interactions shape and re-shape local project context. The third objective is to analyse the challenges which bound project members’ knowledgeability.

The research methodology incorporates a self-ethnography over twelve months of participation and observation study of three IS projects in a Saudi organisation. Structuration theory is used to guide the research philosophically and to offer an analytical perspective to understand collected data. Structuration theory is implemented to highlight the dynamic nature of project trajectories taking into consideration that project is not a result of an isolated local context or shaped only according to surrounding organisational procedures: rather project trajectories are results of a series of recursive interactions between the project’s local and surrounding contexts, where project member’s knowledgeability plays a role in informing actions.

This research can be considered as a theoretical contribution to IS project management literature. This study is situated in new project management literature as distinct from dominant traditional project management prescriptions. This study suggests a view of the project phenomenon merging the three separate project features: project complexity, embeddedness and learning. On the methodological level, this study introduces the project phenomenon as an ethnographic object stressing its dynamic and social nature embedded in daily activities. Finally, on the context level, this study contributes towards compensating for the paucity of studies about the context of Saudi Arabia in project management and management studies in general.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Information technology projects -- Saudi Arabia, Project management -- Saudi Arabia
Official Date:	May 2014
Dates:	Date Event May 2014 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Merali, Yasmin ; Simms, Melanie
Extent:	431 leaves
Language:	eng

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