Prior research has indicated that knowledge integration is essential for succeeding with large-scale transformation (LST) projects. However, research has largely ignored the processual properties of knowledge integration. This article embarks on the notion of knowledge entrainment and demonstrates the criticality of the processual nature of knowledge integration. Through a comparative qualitative case study of two LST projects in the healthcare sector, two knowledge entrainment strategies were identified (the evidence-based strategy and the innovation-based strategy). Data analysis uncovered triggers, practices, and outcomes of the two knowledge entrainment strategies. Additionally, the central role of temporary project management offices (PMOs) for arranging knowledge entrainment within the LST projects is demonstrated.

The organization of innovation labor is undergoing major changes in technology-based and engineering-intensive industries worldwide. Those changes reflect fluctuating market demands and increasing task uncertainty, and they are characterized by three related developments: externalization of the workforce, development of new types of employment relations, and greater use of technical consultants. These trends have led to the technical and engineering consulting (TEC) industry becoming a major player in the organization of innovation labor and thus also in the development and transfer of engineering knowledge. Determining what underlies the growth of this industry and the performance of TEC firms requires a better understanding of their nature and capabilities. Our paper builds on an in-depth case study—spanning multiple organizational levels and incorporating 50 interviews with a leading Scandinavian TEC firm's top managers, middle managers, consultant managers, individual consultants, and clients as well as field observations and diary studies. These data lead us to posit two central capabilities associated with innovation labor in technical and engineering consulting: swift transition and knowledge cycling. The interplay between these capabilities, each of which arises from interactions between the firm level and the individual level, seems crucial for the successful development, organization, and supply of innovation labor and engineering knowledge.

This paper introduces the notion of "temporal boundary spanning" and highlights the key role of project management in resolving temporal tensions among partners participating in interorganizational projects (IOPs). The present study, which is based on data from 93 IOPs undertaken within a major change program, relies on in-depth, semi-structured interviews, observations, and detailed analyses of written documents and procedures from those IOPs. Based on the data, we inductively develop a practice-based theory that identifies three main practices (framing, synchronizing, hyping) used to resolve the central temporal tensions observed in the studied IOPs. In that respect, the paper offers novel insights into the role and practice of project management in IOPs. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.

Institutions are long-term and stabilizing mechanisms of social interaction that provide much of the groundwork for projects as temporary systems. Due to amassed change ambitions in contemporary projects, not least reflected in their increasing complexity, such systems to a greater extent revolve around processes of institutional change. This development sparks scholarly inquiries emphasizing the need for better understanding the linkages between projects and institutions, and how projects cope with and trigger institutional change. This introductory paper seeks to provide a background and backdrop to the study of the interlinkages between projects and institutions – to demonstrate how they are mutually constituting each other. However, this paper also points to various problems associated with them and the process in practice, and what problems require particular scholarly attention. Further, we discuss how the papers of this special issue inform a revised research agenda for the study of projects and institutions, and how they help us better understand some of the identified challenges.

This chapter addresses individual project competence as a key element in the process of knowledge integration in research and development projects. It argues for an individual and contextual turn in knowledge integration research based on two observations: that individuals play an increasingly important role in knowledge integration processes, and that knowledge integration processes change with new kinds of project contexts. Hence, it argues for a more fine-grained analysis of different kinds of project contexts. More particularly, requirements on individual project competence (for knowledge integration in traditional and agile projects respectively) are elicited. It is suggested that in a traditional project context, liminality competence, planning competence and a focus on swift socialization are needed, along with T-shaped skills. In an agile project context, on the other hand, flexibility competence, managerial competence and a focus on building long-term relations, together with M-shaped skills, are required.

Att arbeta i projekt är vardag för många i dagens arbetsliv, framför allt i ingenjörstunga utvecklingsorganisationer där verksamheten nästan uteslutande organiseras i projektform. Utveckling och problemlösning sker genom att individer från olika kunskapsområden möts och brottas med problemen tillsammans. Genom integration av olika kunskapsområden utvecklas nya produkter, nya system, ny teknik – och ny kunskap genereras. I denna utveckling står kunskapsintegrerande individer i centrum. Tidigare forskning har belyst utmaningar med samarbete över kunskapsgränser, där till exempel studier av projektbaserat arbete framhävt de svårigheter som kan uppstå på grund av att projektarbete innebär tillfälliga uppdrag och tillfälliga samarbeten. Man har också försökt beskriva vilka förmågor som individer behöver utveckla utöver sitt specifika kunskapsområde för att bli effektiva kunskapsintegratörer. Våra forskningsresultat tyder på att olika typer av projektarbete också ställer olika krav på individernas kunskapsprofil. I spåren av nya former av projektorganisering väcks nya frågor kring djup specialistkunskap kontra bred generalistkunskap, och i detta kapitel ger vi en inblick i framväxande idéer om olika kunskapsprofiler hos kunskapsintegrerande individer.