Dr Ofer Zwikael

Associate Professor, School of Management, Marketing and International Business, Australian National University

Associate, Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research

Background

Dr. Ofer Zwikael is a researcher, educator and consultant in the field of project management. Dr. Zwikael is a senior lecturer at the Victoria Management School. Prior to joining Victoria, he acted as the head of the department of management of technology at the Holon institute of technology and a staff member at the graduate school of business at Netanya academic college, Israel. He also led project and program groups in private organizations, as well as in government, both in Israel and in Europe.

Ofer has a first degree in Industrial Engineering from Ben-Gurion University and an MBA in Business Administration from Tel-Aviv University. His PhD thesis included the development of a model for project planning assessment in organizations. Ofer is a certified project manager professional (PMP) and acted for two years as a vice president (research) in the Israeli chapter executive board of the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Areas of Interest

1. Managerial cultural differences
2. Project management
3. Operations management
4. Quality of planning
5. Team development

Other

Education

Academic experience

2008 – Today – Assocaite Professor,

School of Management, Marketing and International Business; College of Business and Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

2006 –2008 – Senior Lecturer,

Victoria Management School , Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

2004 – 2005 – Lecturer ,

Hamburger Business School, Netanya Academic College, Israel.

2003 – 2004 – Head, Department of Management of Technology,

Holon Academic Institute of Technology, Israel. The department has 400 undergraduate students and 20 faculty members reporting to me.

1999 - 2003 – Adjunct Lecturer (MBA students),

Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, Tel-Aviv University.

2003 – 2004 – Adjunct Lecturer,

School of Management, Ben-Gurion University, Israel.

1999 – 2000 – Adjunct Lecturer ,

Department of Industrial Engineering, Ariel College.

1999 – 2005 – Lecturer, Head of the Project Management Program,

Department of Management of Technology, Holon Academic Institute of Technology.

1992 – 1993 – Research Assistant,

Department of Industrial Engineering & Management , Ben-Gurion University , Israel .

Professional experience:

2000 – 2005 – Project management trainer, project management courses in Israel and Europe.

2003 – 2004 – Project management consultant, R&D Unit, Israeli Police.

1999 - 2000 – Project management consultant and an account manager in an
international consulting firm (United Management Technologies). A Project manager of IT projects (e-Commerce and EU programs), England.

1996 - 1999 – Project Manager, Israeli Navy . Developing new organizational

processes, managing engineering projects, including an ERP (SAP) implementation .

1993 - 1996 – Planning and control resources officer, Israeli Navy.

Selected Publications

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. (2004). Evaluating the Quality of Project Planning: A Model and Field Results. International Journal of Production Research , 42 (8), 1545-1556.

Zwikael, O., Bar-Yoseph, B. (2004). Improving the Capabilities of Project Team Management using the Gestalt Cycle of Experience. Team Performance Management Journal, 10 (7/8), 137-144.

Zwikael, O., Shimizu , K., Globerson , S. (2005). Cultural Differences in Project Management Processes: A Field Study . International Journal of Project Management, 23 (6), 454-462.

Zwikael, O. (2006). A Road Map towards Customer Satisfaction. Innovative Marketing , 2 (1), 37-44.

Zwikael, O., Cohen, Y., Sadeh, A. (2006). Non-Delay Scheduling as a Managerial Approach for Managing Projects. International Journal of Project Management , 24 (6), 330-336.

Publications in refereed journals

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S., Raz, T. (2000). Evaluation of Models for Forecasting the Final Cost of a Project. Project Management Journal, 31 (1), 53-57.

Globerson, S., Zwikael, O. (2002). Impact of the Project Manager on Project Management Planning Processes. Project Management Journal, 31 (3), 58-64.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. (2004). Evaluating the Quality of Project Planning: A Model and Field Results. International Journal of Production Research , 42 (8), 1545-1556.

Zwikael, O., Bar-Yoseph, B. (2004). Improving the Capabilities of Project Team Management using the Gestalt Cycle of Experience. Team Performance Management Journal, 10 (7/8), 137-144.

Zwikael, O., Shimizu , K., Globerson , S. (2005). Cultural Differences in Project Management Processes: A Field Study . International Journal of Project Management, 23 (6), 454-462.

Zwikael, O. (2006). A Road Map towards Customer Satisfaction. Innovative Marketing , 2 (1), 37-44.

Zwikael, O., Cohen, Y., Sadeh, A. (2006). Non-Delay Scheduling as a Managerial Approach for Managing Projects. International Journal of Project Management , 24 (6), 330-336.

Chapters in books

1. Globerson, S. & Shtub, A. (2003). "Planning Control", a chapter in the book: “Project Management - Planning, Execution and Control”, Dyunon, Tel Aviv, Israel (in Hebrew).

Papers accepted for publication (refereed journals)

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. Benchmarking of Project Planning and Success in Selected Industries . Benchmarking - an International Journal . Accepted for publication April 2005. T o be published in Vol. 14 (2) 2007.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. (2006). From Critical Success Factors to Critical Success Processes. International Journal of Production Research, 44 (17). Accepted for publication December 2005. To be published in 2006.

Zwikael, O. Al Qaeda's Operations - Project Management Analysis. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Accepted for publication March 2007. To be published in 2007.

Papers submitted for publication (refereed journals)

Sadeh, A., Zwikael, O. The Impact of Risk on Project Planning and Success. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management (IJRAM). June 2005.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. Relative Importance of Project Management Knowledge Areas . International Journal of Operations & Production Management (IJOPM) . May 2005.

Cohen, Y., Sadeh, A., Zwikael, O. An Efficient Technique for Finding the Shortest Non-Delay Schedule for a Resource-Constrained Project . European Journal of Operations Research. October 2004.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. How to improve project management in the service sector – lesson learned from inter-industry benchmarking. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management (M&SOM) - special issue in Empirical Science in OM. January 2005.

Tilchin , O., Zwikael, O., Distributed System of Project Quality Management , Journal of Operations Management. March 2005.

Ben-Yshai, R., Zwikael, O., Macro-Midro-Micro - The "Triple-M" Model for Analyzing Complex Organizations , Organization Science , December 2004.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. Achilles heel of software development management . International Journal of Information Technology and Management (IJITM) . January 2005 .

Zwikael, O. Successful Project Management: The 9/11 Case. International Journal of Project Management . March 2006.

Paper published in refereed conference proceedings

Zwikael, O. 1998. “Forecasting the final cost of a project”. The 2nd Conf. of the Israeli Chapter of PMI (Project Management Institute). Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Zwikael, O. 1998. “Method evaluation for forecasting the project’s cost”. The 10 th IEM (Industrial Engineering and Management) Conf., Haifa, Israel.

Zwikael, O., Linenberg, Y. 2000. “Improving the project alignment with the business’ drivers”. The 3 rd European Project Management Conf., Jerusalem, Israel.

Zwikael, O. 2000. “CMM – The next generation”. The Millennium Int’l. Conf. of the Society for Quality. Jerusalem , Israel .

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2001. “Evaluating the quality of project planning” The 5 th Conf. of the Israeli Chapter of PMI, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2002. “Project management planning quality”. 12 th IEM Conf., Haifa , Israel .

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2002. “Comparing project management planning capabilities between organizations in Israel”. The 6 th Conf. of the Israeli Chapter of PMI, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2002. “Improving the project planning quality in the organization by training”. The 9 th Conf. of training in Israel (HR Journal)
Ramat-Gan, Israel, p. 59-61.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2002. “Evaluating planning maturity in project environment”. The 5 th European Project Management Conf., Cannes, France.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2002. “Assessing the quality of project planning”. PMI Annual Seminars and Symposium, San Antonio, Texas, US.

Zwikael, O. 2004. “The comparison of project management capabilities among countries”. The 6th Int’l. Research and Practical Conf.: The Role of Project Management in the Development of Competitive Society, Riga, Latvia.

Cohen Y., Sadeh A., Zwikael O. 2004. “A new approach for generating project activities on arcs network”, The 9 th International Workshop on Project Management and Scheduling (PMS 2004), Nancy, France, p. 80-83.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2005. "Critical planning processes for project success", PMI Asia Pacific, Singapore, 6 pages.

Cohen Y., Sadeh A., Zwikael O. 2005. “An efficient technique for finding the shortest non-delay schedule for a resource-constrained project”, Proceedings of the 14th Industrial Engineering Research Conference (IERC 2005), Atlanta, GA, US.

Zwikael, O. 2005. “Identifying critical planning processes”. The 9th Conference of the Israeli Chapter of PMI, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Sadeh, A., Zwikael, O., Cohen, Y., "The shortest makespan for a non-delay resource constrained project", ORSIS (Operations Research Society Israel) conference, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Globerson, S., Zwikael, O. 2005. "Improving the plan of your project", VPM05 (Vantagem and Project Management) Conference, Lisbon, Portugal.

Gonen, A., Zwikael, O. 2005. "A Project Management Simulation (PMSIM) Game", IFORS 2005 Conference (Association of European Operational Research Societies), Honolulu, Hawaii, US.

Cohen Y., Sadeh A., Zwikael O. 2005. New efficient heuristic for resource constrained project scheduling, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Production Research (ICPR), Salerno, Italy.

Zwikael, O., Globerson, S. 2006. “Improving project planning – A model and study results”. The 14 th Conference of IEM, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Frank, M., Zwikael, O., Boasson, M. 2006. “System thinking of engineers and project managers”. The 10th Conference of the Israeli Chapter of PMI. Tel-Aviv, Israel, To be presented, 10 June 2006.

Zwikael, O. 2006. “Project Management Critical Success Factors – The next Generation”. Australia & New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Operations Management Symposium. To be presented 7 June 2006, Wellington, New Zealand.

Frank, M., Zwikael, O., Boasson, M. 2006. “Assessing Interest for Systems Engineers and IT Architects' Job Positions”. The 18th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics, Baden-Baden, Germany. To be presented August 7 -12, 2006.

Cohen, Y., Sadeh, A., Zwikael, O. 2006. “Finding the shortest non-delay schedule for a resource-constrained project”. The 14 th Conference of IEM, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Zwikael, O. 2006. “ International and industrial PM benchmarking: strengths and weaknesses”. The 3 rd International Conference on Project Management (ProMAC2006), Sydney, Australia. To be presented 27-29 September.

Peer Esteem

1998 – Magazine article, “Improving your forecasting capability for project cost”, in “News in management” magazine, Tel Aviv University, entitled p. 8-9 (in Hebrew).

2001 – Research grant, “maturity models for project management”, awarded by the president of Holon Academic Institute of Technology.

2002 – Newspaper article, by Zehava Dovrat in “Globes-financial news” daily

newspaper, entitled “It is all about organizational support”, describe my research, 8/10/2002, p. 18. (in Hebrew).

2002 – Magazine article, “Quality of project plan assessment”, in the “Management” magazine, June-July, 2002, p. 28-30 (in Hebrew).

2003 – Executive board member - Project Management Institute (PMI) Israeli chapter.

2003 – Book invited review, “Simulation to Industrial Engineers”, Prof. Moshe Polshtak, The Open University (in Hebrew).

2003 – Best lecturer prize, Holon Academic Institute of Technology.

2004 - 2005 – An elected vice president (research), PMI’s Israeli chapter.

2004 – 2005 – Committee member, Human resource management in high tech organizations, Holon Academic Institute of technology, Israel.

2004 – Project management certification - PMP (Project Management Professional) certification, PMI.

2005 – The most popular paper , as chosen by the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) - "Critical planning processes for project success" (Zwikael & Globerson).

2005 – Best of congress papers - an article, including an interview with me was published in the PMI's magazine PMNetwork, covers the paper "Plan what you preach", August, 2005, p. 52-56.

Contribution to Research Environment

Invited guest lecturer , PMI’s Chapter Meeting. “Project control”. Tel-Aviv, Israel, November 2000.

Student supervision - Three undergraduate students, which were under my supervision, won the prize for the best final project in the department of Management of Technology. The project entitled "Innovation in start-up companies-STARTOV" was also published in the “Industrial Engineering” newspaper, July 2001, p. 40.

Chair, Programme Committee , "Water and environmental management" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, November 2003.

Chair, Programme Committee , "Business culture in the globalization era" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, December 2003.

Chair, Programme Committee , "Developing quality and excellence in organizations" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, January, 2004.

Chair, Programme Committee , "ERP management" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, April 2004.

Chair, Programme Committee , "Intellectual property in industry" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, May 2004.

Chair, Programme Committee , "The HR manager as a strategic partner in the organization" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, June 2004.

Chair, Programme Committee , "Organizational changes and their impact on industrial relationship" conference, Holon academic Institute of Technology, Israel, June 2004.

Chair, Conference Committee , "Research in project management", Netanya Academic College, Israel, December 2004.

Member, Conference Committee , “ANZAM – Operations management conference, Wellington, New Zealand, June 2006.

Member, Conference Committee , the 1st ICEC & IPMA Global Congress on Project Management; 5th World Congress on Cost Engineering, Project Management and Quantity Surveying, Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 2006.

Track Chairman , The 5 th Conf. of the Israeli Chapter of PMI, Tel-Aviv , Israel , May 2001.

Track Chairman , the 9th Conference of the Israeli Chapter of PMI. Tel-Aviv, Israel, May 2005.

Conference Paper Reviewer , Australia New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Operations Management Symposium, Wellington, New Zealand, June 2006.

Journal Reviewer , IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management Journal, 2004–2006.