Search results

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze important parts of the contemporary development of project research and to outline plausible and desirable directions for the future.

This is accomplished through a review of the “Scandinavian School of Project Management” and “Rethinking Project Management,” which is complemented with a set of questions distributed to 27 active researchers within the project research field from around the world.

Through the analysis the authors show how the two streams have more similarities than differences, despite the fact that they have been initiated in very different contexty 8ts and ways. The authors could also conclude that the “Scandinavian School” appears stronger on the international scene than in the Nordic countries, and that general perception of what the “school” stands for has changed and been blurred with time. Based on the analysis the authors also proposed the need for a broad, more coherent research effort in terms of a multi-perspective research program on projects and temporary organizations. The essence of this would be: an action research profile to improve practice and foresee the future; a combined research focus on institutional change and project practice to ensure both theoretical and empirical progress; and a strong global perspective to further enrich both theory and practice.

This research has obvious limitations in terms of empirical scope and response selection. The questionnaire results should therefore be interpreted with care.

The value of this research lies in its reflective nature and the proposed trajectory of the project research domain.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and analysis of the legacy of Christensen and Kreiner's (1991) literally classic Projektledning: att leda och lära i en ofullständig värld (Project Management: to manage and learn in an incomplete world).

The paper is based on a three‐step theoretical analysis deduced from the mentioned classic. The first step provides an overview of the content where the core ideas of the book are derived. This is followed by an analysis of the legacy and impact on theory, empirical approaches, and education. Finally, three main takeaways from the book are discussed.

In tracking the legacy, the paper analyses, discusses, and illustrates how the Scandinavian approach to projects has evolved. It pinpoints the two core insights of the book; the importance of understanding the impact of the institutional environment on operations, and embracing uncertainty as a natural part of everyday organizational reality. Based on these insights it is shown how the book has expanded the theoretical contributions towards a focus on temporary organisations and everyday practice, how it has helped to make situated empirical research matter, and how it has influenced education to deal with real‐life project challenges.

This paper investigates a book available only in the Scandinavian language and thus only available for a Scandinavian research community. As such the review is written from a Scandinavian perspective, with the limitations in terms of objectivity to the book that follow from that.

The main lessons discussed in relation to the heritage from the book are: an increased focus on the details of organizing, situated multi‐level case‐studies, and situation‐sensitive teaching methodologies. The paper argues that an increased understanding of projects should start with a detailed multi‐level analysis of temporary organizing to provide a sound foundation on which to base future research and teaching.

The paper provides an understanding of the origins and diffusion of underpinning ideas of the Scandinavian approach to project management.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to the research note on the article “A theory on temporary organizations” by reminding readers about the lack of timelessness in the social sciences and alluding to some alternative theory formulations.

By describing/analyzing the context within which “A theory” was developed, the notion that any theory is a child of its time is explicated. Thus, an understanding for the need for reconsideration and reconstruction in social science theory is created.

A necessary step in the work is to come up with ideas as to how crucial elements get transformed and is related to social development. The argument is that when it comes to the use of the word project is under change which creates a tension as to the appropriate realm for a theory of temporary organizations. A theory building on the notion of end state appears to be useful.

A theory incorporating the notion of end state opens up for new ideas on how to manage projects. The traditional project management guidelines might inhibit good solutions to focused behavior. An end state approach is more open for changes in the environment and in ambitions.

The theme opens up for less rigid approaches in relation to traditional project management. The crucial role that planning beforehand is considered to have will be transformed to other mechanisms, triggering planning and rethink.

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the consequences of the diffusion of generic project management knowledge.

This paper is conceptual in its nature, using short examples of four different areas (education, research, certification and practice) to show the diffusion of project management knowledge throughout these areas.

In this paper the authors argue that relevance may be lost at two levels. The first loss occurs when the practice of project management is transferred, through generalisation and standardisation, into what is generally known as “Best Practice”. The second occurs when “Best Practice” is transferred back to where it is applied (education, research, certification and practice).

The risk of losing relevance has consequences for what one bases one's assumptions of the nature of projects upon. If the assumptions are based on standardized knowledge, without critically assessing its correctness, the likelihood of producing less relevant research is higher.

With the risk of losing relevance the authors argue that anyone involved in the areas of education, research, certification and practice needs to be cautious of how they perceive and work with the standards. There is a risk that the knowledge becomes even less relevant and students and practitioners are therefore less prepared for reality.

This paper is part of the literature critiquing the standardization of project management knowledge but it is distinct in terms of how the diffusion processes are perceived and utilized in a project setting.

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the interface between projects is of particular interest when organizing development projects. It offers a theoretical discussion of translation and inscription phases, not only because they are important to the understanding of mobilizing action in development projects, but also because they are crucial in a chain of sequential projects that are organized as responses to new situations.

The paper uses illustrations of development projects in public management in Sweden to discuss a fundamental organizing problem of projects: how project delimitation and formation take place.

The paper has focused on organizational change and development projects regarding environmental and health care organization renewal projects. It has analyzed how such projects are organized and linked to context. Development problems and their solutions cannot be divided into a functional structure since they overlap and demand attention by a multitude of perspectives during translation.

It is theoretically interesting to highlight certain slices of the organizational reality in projects. The paper has chosen a project perspective and focus at the beginning and end of projects. In theoretical terms, it has chosen to call these phases translation and inscription.

Projects are different compared with permanent organizations due to the existence of beginnings and endings. On the one hand, permanent organizations are normally “going concerns” where the start is back in history and the end is clouded in a distant future. On the other hand, in a project, translation and inscription phases are unavoidable as they are triggered by the specific conditions underlying beginnings and endings.

Projects with clear boundary‐overlapping character cannot be judged with concepts stemming from the methods of construction project management. In contrary, the paper argues that there are two other concepts that can better explain the special organizing problems invoked by the cases cited here: translation and inscription.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a different and partly new strategy is needed in order to make research on projects relevant and interesting to a wider scientific community, including organisation and management theory.

The aim is accomplished through a mystery‐focused process that identifies what is not explained and continuously confronts empirical data with theoretical explanations in an interactive manner.

Based on a phenomenology‐stimulated meta‐analysis of the field of project research, the paper outlines an alternative view of the field of project research and four streams of research, each of which is represented by its own scope, focus, audience and “taken‐for‐granted” assumptions. The streams are: in search of best practice, in search of legitimacy, in search of inspiration and in search of contribution.

The paper suggests that, in order to make an true impact on management and social science theories in general, projects must be redefined as objects of study rather than the raison d'être. The inherent paradox, and the conclusion of the paper is that, in order to become more relevant for a broader research community, projects must be reduced to an empirical illustration, a case among others.

The paper provides a meta‐analysis of the project management research field and offers new insights into challenges that need to be addressed in order to make project management research relevant for a wider management research community.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and to summarize a PhD thesis that contributes to the understanding of how boundaries are organized in early phases of new product development. The thesis explores the reality of project member's attempts to create a shared vehicle platform. The author also reports his PhD “journey”.

Research reported here is based on a qualitative study through combinations of interviews, observations, and document studies. Data were gathered during three months at two different sites in two different countries. A practice approach was implemented where the daily work activities of project members were studied.

It was concluded that organizing of boundaries should be understood as being affected by tensions and characterized by iterations that cross all types of organizational boundaries. The theory of Concurrent Boundary Enactment is therefore proposed as an answer to how the organizing of boundaries should be understood.

The study shows how project members in parallel organize technologies, structural units, and work processes. Thus, the study focuses on the complexity of organizing boundaries. There is a need to perform more of this type of practice‐based, high complexity studies so that more profound organizing patterns can be understood.

Actors in projects are closely attached to brands' core values. This core value attachment should be seen as both at strength and a weakness. It is seen as strength because core value attachment calls for compassion and dedication. It is seen as weakness since this type of attachment also makes it difficult to create synergies between brands. Therefore, brand managers should try to find least common nominators that bring together dispersed brand value statements.

By studying multiple boundaries between functions, projects, projects and the permanent organization, projects and steering committees, projects and external organizations, it has been possible to illustrate the everyday complexity which follows by creating a shared vehicle platform between two organizations that compete and collaborate at the same time. Earlier research studies usually only concern one of the boundaries.

The purpose of this editorial is to reflect on the growing interest of situated project research.

The editorial is conceptual and relies on published work and the articles included in the special issue.

With this special issue it is found that practice‐based studies, also called Projects‐as‐Practice studies, interested in the everyday activities of project practitioners, are multi‐faceted and rich. What may also be seen is that practice‐based studies are not yet a coherent area. However, it is more important that practice‐based studies allow researchers to understand the organization less as an entity and more as a socially‐accomplished task.

Several implications for research are offered, including the need for studies that emphasize the small details of organizing, and that practice‐based studies are not restricted to a certain methodology but depend on what a particular paper tries to accomplish.

With an ever‐growing stream of research focusing on projects the guest editors argue that it is about time to look into the details of organizing. This could be accomplished through a number of ways but in this special issue it is proposed that approaching traditional areas with a conscious naivety when asking the questions may do it. For the practitioner, the special issue offers important insights into how things are done in practice, which may be used as a mirror or reflection upon their own practice.

This editorial and special issue offer insights for any academic interested in understanding projects differently.