Building Leadership in Project and Network Management (eBook)

Hans-Werner Franz is a senior researcher and consultant. He is an Executive Board member of the Professional Association of German Sociologists (BDS) as well as the Managing Director of the European School of Social Innovation (ESSI). His well-established track record includes numerous publications on total quality management, organisation development, social innovation and vocational training.Christoph Kaletka is a senior researcher and member of the management board at the Sozialforschungsstelle (Social Research Center) of the Technical University of Dortmund (TU Dortmund), Germany. His main fields of work are social innovation and digital inclusion. He holds a PhD in communication science and is a lecturer at TU Dortmund’s faculty of rehabilitation science, with a focus on social innovation.Bastian Pelka is a senior researcher and project manager at Sozialforschungsstelle (Social Research Center) of the Technical University of Dortmund (TU Dortmund), Germany. He is working on the question how every person can profit from digital technologies and how the digital world could be made usable for everybody. Employing mainly qualitative research methods, he is specialized in stakeholder involvement in research and innovation. He is a lecturer at TU Dortmund’s faculty of rehabilitation science, with a focus on digital inclusion and empowerment. Ruggiera Sarcina is a senior researcher and consultant, business development manager at the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada. Her focus is on projects dealing with local development policies, cluster development, and innovation and internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Contents 6
About the Authors 11
1: Introduction to the Second Edition 13
The Book 13
The Projects 15
2: Messages for Facilitators and Lateral Leaders 17
2M1 The Functions and Roles of Network Facilitators 17
2M1.1 Network Facilitator 17
2M2 Moderation as a Role 19
2M2.1 The Goal of Moderation 19
2M2.2 The Tasks of Moderation 20
2M2.3 Host 20
2M2.4 Co-ordinator 20
2M2.5 Animator 22
2M2.6 Referee 23
2M3 Visualisation: Why and How it Helps You to Understand and Remember 25
2M3.1 Why Visualisation Helps 25
2M3.2 How Visualisation Helps 28
2M4 Basic Concepts of Perception and Communication 31
2M4.1 Sharpening Perception 33
2M4.2 Four Dimensions of Personal Communication 35
2M5 Basic Concepts of Learning and Competence 37
2M5.1 Learning 37
2M5.2 Competence 37
2M5.3 Learning Loops 42
2M6 The Concept of Responsibility 43
2M7 Basic Concepts of Organisation and Co-operation 45
2M7.1 Organisation 45
2M7.2 Co-operation 46
2M8 Basic Concepts of Management and Leadership 47
2M8.1 Managers 47
2M8.2 Leaders 47
2M8.2.1 Task 48
2M8.2.2 Group 48
2M8.2.3 Individual 49
2M9 Communities of Practice and Self-organisation 49
2M9.1 Communities of Practice 49
2M9.2 Self-organisation 50
2M9.3 Communities of Practice 50
2M9.4 and Communities of Performance 52
2M10 Basic Concepts of Knowledge and Knowledge Management 53
2M10.1 Knowledge 53
2M10.2 Competence Development 55
2M11 Project Work as a Work Style 56
2M12 The Nature of Quality: Continuous Improvement, Continuous Learning 58
2M12.1 Quality Definition of ISO 8402 (Used for ISO 9001 and 9004) 58
2M12.2 Total Quality 59
2M12.3 Elements of Management Quality 60
2M12.4 A Basic Theory of Quality 62
2M13 Basic Concepts of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) 64
2M14 Basic Concepts of Networks and Clusters 66
2M14.1 Networks 66
2M14.2 Clusters 66
2M14.3 Co-operative Agreements 67
2M14.4 Networking in Clusters 67
2M15 Learning Networks: Constructing Social Capital 68
2.M15.1 Networks and Social Capital 69
2M15.1.1 Learning Networks? 69
2M15.1.2 Can Organisations Learn? 69
2M15.1.3 Networks of Organisations 70
2M15.1.4 Learning in Networks: Constructing Social Capital 70
2M15.2 Levels of Functioning 72
2M15.3 Mechanisms of Functioning-and Learning 73
2M15.4 Mechanisms of Actualisation and Learning 74
2M15.5 Co-opetition Networks 75
2M15.6 Network Management as Facilitation 77
2M15.6.1 Learning in Networks 77
2M15.7 Six Dimensions and Action Principles of Network Management 78
2M15.8 Conclusions 84
2M16 Reminder-Konrad Lorenz Dixit 85
3: Didactics and Curriculum 86
3.1 Making Learning Easy: Facilitation and the Didactics of Action Learning 86
3.1.1 Introduction 86
3.1.2 What Do We Mean by Learning? 89
3.1.3 What Is Teaching? 95
3.1.4 What Is Good Teaching? 96
3.1.5 Eight Characteristics of Facilitative Didactics 97
3.1.6 More on Action Learning Didactics in this Book 99
3.2 A Curriculum of Action Learning: The Modules 100
4: Tools 123
Introduction 123
4A Improving Communication 126
4A.1 To-do Form 126
4A.1.1 To-do Minutes 126
4A.1.2 Other Uses 127
4A.2 Contract with Myself 127
4A.3 Chairing Vs. Moderating 128
4A.4 The Setting of Workshops 129
4A.4.1 Location and Space 129
4A.4.2 Equipment 130
4A.4.3 Food and Beverages 132
4A.5 The Planning of Workshops and Learnshops 133
4A.6 Learnshops or Learning Laboratories 136
4A.7 The Start-up Tool 137
4A.8 Warming Up or Ice-Breaking Methods 138
4A.8.1 Workshop (5-12 People) 140
4A.8.2 Kick-off Workshops (5-12 People) 140
4A.8.3 Larger Groups Meeting for the First Time 140
4A.9 Angles and Corners 141
4A.10 Brainstorming 142
4A.11 Brainwriting 144
4A.12 World Café 145
4A.13 Open Space 148
4A.14 Learner Satisfaction Analysis 151
4A.14.1 Smileys 152
4A.15 Learnshop Evaluation Annex: Learnshop Reporting Scheme 154
4A.16 Preparing a Meeting as a Chairperson 156
4A.17 Preparing an Online Meeting as a Chairperson 159
4B Collecting Information 162
4B.2 Semi-standardised In-depth Interviews 165
4B.3 Case Studies: Methodological Guidelines of Context Analysis 167
4B.4 Focus Groups 170
4B.5 Yellow Pages 173
4C Planning and Managing Projects 174
4C.1 SMART Five Basic Rules for Planning a Feasible Project 174
4C.2 Countdown Planning 175
4C.3 STEPP: Specific Tool for Excel-based Project Planning 176
4C.4 GOPP: Goal-oriented Project Planning 178
4C.5 Flow Chart 180
4C.6 Gantt Diagram 182
4C.7 Starting Projects 184
4D Analysing Problems and Preparing Decision Making 188
4D.1 Mind Mapping 188
4D.2 The Five Satisfactions (Stakeholder Analysis) 190
4D.3 Customer and Supplier Needs Analysis and Planning 193
4D.4 Flow Analysis and Planning 196
4D.5 Skill Needs Analysis and Planning 198
4D.6 SWOT Analysis Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats 200
4D.7 PEST Analysis: Picturing The Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technical Environment 202
4D.8 Cause and Effect Diagrams 204
4D.9 Force Field Analysis 205
4D.10 The Five Whys 206
4D.11 3C: Case Consultation with Colleagues 208
4D.12 Six Thinking Hats 211
4D.13 Pen Portrait 212
4D.14 Prioritisation: First Things First 213
4D.14.1 List of Options or Decisions 214
4D14.2 Decision Cross Importance Vs. Urgency 214
4D14.3 Diamond Ranking 215
4D14.4 Criteria-Based Decision Matrix 216
4D14.5 Plus-Minus-Implications 217
5: Growing Experience: From Unconscious Incompetence to Unconscious Competence 218
5.1 The SME ACTor Project Experience 219
5.1.1 Becoming a Facilitator: An Empowerment Process 219
5.1.2 Starting a Networking Project: The Context Analysis 224
5.1.3 Planning a Learnshop 228
5.1.4 Moderating a Learnshop 230
6: E-facilitating: How to Make Digital Learning Possible for Every Learner 236
6.1 ICT Based Co-operation and Learning 237
6.1.1 Social Media and Learning 237
6.1.2 Learning Theories-and How They Connect to Social Media 238
6.1.3 Practice: ICT Based Co-operation and Learning 242
6.2 Methodological Approaches Towards Community Based Learning 244
6.2.1 Spaces: Where to Acquire Digital Competences 244
6.2.2 People: The E-facilitator Profile 247
6.2.3 The E-facilitator Curriculum 249
6.2.4 Three Examples of Social Innovation Based Resources for Vocational Training 253
6.3 Final Remark 257
7: SME Internationalisation and the Role of Facilitators 258
7.1 About Internationalisation as a Decisive Competitive Factor for SMEs 258
7.1.1 Internationalisation 258
7.1.2 Internationalisation for SMEs 259
7.1.3 Obstacles SMEs Have to Face 259
7.2 Facilitating the Internationalisation Process 261
7.2.1 Selling Abroad or How to Become an Exporting Company 261
7.2.2 Facilitating at Two Levels 262
7.2.3 Facilitating the Decision-making Process at the Macro Level 264
7.2.3.1 Selecting the Target Market 264
7.2.3.2 Assessing the Degree of Export Readiness 266
7.2.3.3 Dashboard: A Specific Tool for Preparing, Monitoring and Improving the Company Performance 267
7.2.3.4 Lowering the Barriers 270
7.2.3.5 The Macro Level Facilitation Process: Recommendations and Final Remarks 271
7.2.4 Facilitating the Decision-making Process at a Micro Level 271
7.2.4.1 Assessing the Company Readiness on the Target Market 272
7.2.4.2 From the Fieldwork: The Self-assessment Check List 272
7.2.4.3 Preparing to Enter a Foreign Market 273
7.2.4.4 Entering a Foreign Market 274
7.2.4.5 Rooting in a Foreign Market 275
7.3 Facilitating Internationalisation Processes in SMEs: Recommendations and Final Remarks 276
Glossary 277
References 284