Pooled, Sequential & Reciprocal dependence

Motivation An article on this topic already exists on the wiki. However, I believe I can improve/supplement this article on a number of points: 1) Elaborate on the application potential of the different types of dependencies. 2) Supplement the original theory, from James D. Thomson’s Organizations in Action, with today’s perspective on it (how the theory has evolved). 3) Take the theory from its original focus on project management and discuss its application potential on program and portfolio management levels. 4) Describe dependencies’ ability to work as a Risk Management tool

The topic is highly relevant to our case, and I hope this can be used to write a better article as well as prove useful on the case work.

Abstract (Draft)

A project consists of a series of tasks that need to be executed in order to complete it. The way these tasks are arranged in relation to each other will come down to their dependence. According to James D. Thompson, task dependence can be distinguished into three types: Pooled, Sequential and Reciprocal. For a Project Manager dependencies can be a powerful tool in managing the complexity of a project. Using dependencies to characterise tasks in a project will help to determine the sequence of which tasks should be completed in order to optimise time use, resources, workers, etc. A way dependencies are not used much yet is on the levels above project management, namely program and portfolio management. Here, dependencies could prove useful in terms of optimising efficiency in a program or portfolio setting, spanning across several projects. All this will be explored in greater detail and described in the article.

Annotated Bibliography

Bilgin, G. et al. (2017) “Handling project dependencies in portfolio management,” Procedia Computer Science, 121, pp. 356–363. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.11.048. - Article on applying dependency management on a cross-project portfolio level

Knotten, V. et al. (2015) “Design management in the building process - A review of current literature,” Procedia Economics and Finance, 21, pp. 120–127. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/s2212-5671(15)00158-6. - Article looking at the current practices of using dependencies

Kwan, T.W. and Leung, H.K.N. (2011) “A risk management methodology for Project Risk Dependencies,” IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 37(5), pp. 635–648. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/tse.2010.108. - Article on identifying dependencies between risks in order to create better risk management

Lemak, D.J. and Reed, R. (2000) “An application of Thompson's typology to TQM in service firms,” Journal of Quality Management, 5(1), pp. 67–83. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/s1084-8568(00)00013-4. - Article on how to apply the theory of Thompson, J.D. in an untypical setting. Here a service firm

Lundberg, C.C. and Thompson, J.D. (1967) “Organizations in action.,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 12(2), p. 339. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2391555. - The original introduction of the Pooled, Sequential & Reciprocal dependence theory