A Qualitative Case Study on How to Use Project Benefit Managers to Ensure Benefit Realization

SAGE Publications Ltd, London, January 2019

Many organizations establish change projects to ensure the development of the business. However, often organizations have difficulties in measuring whether the business achieved the expected benefit. The ability to explore the case in-depth provided exciting findings on the importance of the project benefit manager’s network when acting in peer-to-peer situations.

https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526467690

Effective Strategies for Transformational Teams in the Danish Retail Banking Sector

ProQuest, June 2017

Successful transformation projects in the retail banking industry focusing on improving customer experiences have yielded a verified increase in earnings per employee. Using the stakeholder theory as the theoretical framework to analyze the interplay between the project team and the base organization during the process of improving customer experiences. The outcome led to the emergence of 3 themes: the ability to verify customer needs through various sources; the ability to engage and mobilize relevant internal stakeholders; and the ability for the transformational team to be agile, improvise, and adaptive to emerging challenges.

https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3764/

Transformation Leaders in the Role as Change Agents

11th. EIASM Colloquium on Organisational Change and Development, Change Management: Change Agents, Vienna (Austria), September 9 - 10, 2016

Presented the paper at the international EIASM conference in Vienna, Austria.

Line managers as Peer Change Agents

Journal of Management and Change, 34/35 (2016), 60-75; co-author Professor Pernille Eskerod

The need for renewal is inevitable in organizations. Research shows, however, that many change initiatives fail. This paper discusses the potential of formally appointing peers, in the form of line managers, to be agents of change and then using them to supplement or join a project team. The paper addresses successful change in the form of user compliance as well as user satisfaction. The unique aspect was that the line managers acted as change managers in peer line managers’ units and not, as in the previous project and traditionally for line managers,
in their own organizational unit. Findings show that line managers have great potential as peer change agents, not least because they have detailed knowledge of the operational processes. The line manager’s network, position in the informal hierarchy, and capacity as a role model are important for success. Close cooperation between the peer change agent, the project team and the next management level seems, however, to decrease the need for these three features.

Enhancing project benefit realization through integration of line managers as project benefit managers

International Journal of Project Management, 34 (2016), 779–788; co-author Professor Pernille Eskerod

Many organizations establish projects to undertake change efforts. However, the aimed-for benefits are often difficult to harvest. A viable way to move the field forward may be to address the who question related to project benefit realization. A case study was undertaken in the international service organization with multi-site branches. The aim of this study was to investigate the potentials of integrating line managers in a formal role as project benefit managers within a project team for enhancing the realization of project benefits. Based on the findings, we claim that line managers as project benefit managers can enhance compliance in project implementation. This is not least due to their detailed knowledge about operational processes. However, the cohesiveness of a project benefit manager’s network, as well as the mutual relationship between the project benefit manager and relevant peer managers, has an importance for the success of the project benefit managers.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.10.009

Future Perspective: Line Managers as Peer Change Agents

9th. EIASM Colloquium on Organisational Change and Development, The Future of Change Management, Essen (Germany), September 12 - 13, 2014; co-author Professor Pernille Eskerod

Presented the paper at the international EIASM conference in Essen, Germany.

Integrering af linjlederne - for god læring og implementering

Projektledelse, Dansk Projektledelse, Tidsskrift, August 2014; co-author Professor Pernille Eskerod