Welcome to the final issue of Volume 2 of the Engineering Project Organization Journal (EPOJ). This issue represents the conclusion of a second successful year for the journal and the beginning of what I believe is a strong future for the journal. It was a great pleasure to see the strong response we have had to the two special issues this year. The double issue edited by Ray Levitt on ?Social and Management Science in Public Engineering Projects' was very well received by the community as evidenced by the large number of article downloads that have occurred. Similarly, the special issue by Dewulf, Kadefors, and Volker on ‘Establishing Collaboration in Public Engineering Projects’ is also receiving significant attention by the community as it highlights the need for greater collaboration within the project community. Together, these issues present both the diversity and depth that characterizes the Engineering Project Organization community. This successful effort is a reflection of the hard work put in by all of the volunteers who work on this journal. Once again, I would like to thank all of the authors and reviewers who have made this second year a success. As we close this second volume, I am looking forward to continuing this diversity in Volume 3. I encourage everybody to continue contributing to the journal as it is only as strong as its contributions.
In this issue, we are excited to present five technical papers. The first paper by Iorio, Taylor, and Dossick continues the broad focus on collaboration and communication introduced in the last special issue by emphasizing the role of facilitators on information transfer in global virtual project networks. The paper highlights the communication patterns of teams that are interconnected through a virtual network and how these teams transfer information from both a team and linguistic perspective. Continuing this focus on teams and collaboration, the second paper by Sage and Dainty places a focus on the role of power within a design organization and how that power dynamic influences both collaboration and creativity. The paper presents an in-depth ethnographic approach to examining these issues from an individual?s perspective. The third paper by Carrillo, Ruikar, Paranamage, and Fuller brings the thread of collaboration to the topic of lessons by emphasizing how organizations can enhance their lessons learned programs to better leverage captured project lessons. This paper also moves into the project focus in this issue by emphasizing the need to build on the lessons that can be captured within the project.
The fourth paper in this issue continues the emphasis on collaboration by emphasizing the need to share knowledge between firms. Levitt, Wang, Ho, and Javernick-Will take a game theory approach to demonstrating why organizations act in certain manners when addressing the need to share knowledge. Finally, the fifth paper in this issue concludes the focus on collaboration by highlighting the challenges and opportunities in public contracting to develop partnerships and collaborations. Set against the backdrop of the Dutch and Swedish construction industries, the paper provides an international perspective on the need to work within contractual limitations to build collaboration.
On behalf of the Editors and Editorial Board, thank you for your continued support of EPOJ and for making Volume 2 a success. We look forward to a successful third volume and continuing to meet the needs of the engineering project organization community. Please contact me or the Editorial Board with any comments regarding this issue.