Linzhuo Wang, PhD
Future 50 Honoree of 2024
For driving research that equips project managers to tackle ESG mega-projects
Associate Professor at BI Norwegian Business School | Oslo, Norway
Project Management Scholar Linzhuo Wang may spend most of his time deep in project management research, but he is motivated by the way his work influences real world practitioners to overcome challenges.
Linzhuo’s work focuses on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) projects that have a direct, and often long-term impact on people and communities, and he is especially inspired when project managers find it useful.
“When my research actually can generate impact or make a difference for some of the fields…that are facing carbon dioxide emissions or carbon footprint challenges, it motivates me that my research can mean something,” he says.
An associate professor at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway, Linzhuo, who hails from China, focuses on project governance, resilience, and organizational behaviors of project leaders and team members.
His research recently received funding from PMI and has been shifting toward the topic of resilience in what he terms “large mega projects.” These include things like Olympic games, large bridges, tunnels—projects that are permanently embedded in their environment.
It’s important that they [the projects themselves] are sustainable and also implemented in a sustainable way.
It’s important that they [the projects themselves] are sustainable and also implemented in a sustainable way.
The Covid global economic downturn drove home the different types of challenges that can blindside project managers and threaten the successful delivery of projects, emphasizing the necessity of resilience.
Additionally, as a member of the PMI Academic Insight Team, he’s able to engage in necessary research that isn’t widely or publicly available on best practices for ESG mega projects. “In this rapidly changing time, I think it's important we have research forces dedicated to project management topics,” he says.
Linzhuo loves to focus on cutting-edge research and strives to translate it into relatable information for practitioners. From sustainability to artificial intelligence (AI), Linzhuo thrives on the challenges and triumphs of his work.
“I am lucky that I'm already working on this,” he says. “ESG performance on mega projects is difficult. You have to develop your metrics, your scales, and survey questionnaires to measure them. And it's challenging, but it's inspiring that both academics and practitioners love the topics.”
Much of Linzhuo’s research is underscored by advice given to him by mentor and role model, Ralf Müller, professor emeritus at BI Norwegian Business School’s department of leadership and organizational behaviour.
“Ralf said, no matter the challenges, risks or crisis, you have to deliver. You have to make sure you have results in all of your projects,” Linzhuo says.
In his research, he’s discovered that one of the key drivers of successful, resilient projects is a concept that might sound out of place in project management but is actually essential: mindfulness.
“Mindfulness means that core project stakeholders should focus on the present when they face challenges, and they should be allocating their attention throughout all the stakeholders,” Linzhuo says.
Not only does mindfulness help avoid blame and finger-pointing when things don’t go as planned, but as Linzhuo says, “mindfulness is about the present, on coming up with solutions now and putting the resources to overcome that. And at a later stage it is about consolidating efforts from diverse stakeholders in order to quickly get back to normal.”