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In megaprojects, changes in scope and organization may occur continuously. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how actors in a project network make sense of a safety-related process innovation introduced during the design phase.

An inductive single case study of an ongoing nuclear power plant project in Europe was employed to elucidate sensemaking processes using a narrative approach.

The empirical analysis yielded nine distinct narratives regarding the innovation each advancing a different account of the rationale for implementing the new method, and the subjects, objects and implications of the change. The findings suggest that actors’ differing framings of innovation may increase ambiguity and equivocality.

These insights augment existing knowledge of innovation management and system safety in safety-critical megaprojects by revealing project actors’ discrepant sensemaking processes with regard to innovations. To successfully manage sensemaking and its consequences for innovation adoption, managers need to take account of any such discrepancies in sensemaking processes.

The purpose of this study is to create a framework to analyze approaches for coordination, adaptation and safeguarding of exchanges in interorganizational project networks.

An analysis framework to analyze governance in project networks was created based on a systematic review of existing literature. The framework was applied to analyze governance approaches used in a large infrastructure project implemented with an alliance project delivery method to illustrate the practical validity of the framework.

The analysis framework categorized governance in project networks in six dimensions: goal setting, rewarding, monitoring, roles and decision-making, coordination and capability building. A set of questions for each governance dimension was created and the analysis framework was applied in the context of a project alliance.

The focus of this research is on governance internal to a project network. The authors identified dimensions of governance in project networks and related governance approaches based on a systematic literature review. The practical applicability of the framework was validated in a single case study setting.

The paper introduces a concept of governance in project networks, which takes the perspective that all actors that have an influence on project implementation are part of an interorganizational project network. The focal organization may have had a significant role in the design of governance, but governance also emerged from the network structure of companies and the interactions among them. The analysis framework created in this research can be used to design and analyze governance in different type of project context.

The paper introduces a concept of governance in project networks, which takes the perspective that all actors that have an influence on project implementation are part of an interorganizational project network.

This paper proposes an evolutionary approach to developing smart and safe organizations based on an alignment of two frameworks, an integrated safety culture model and an intelligent organizational systems model. It argues that diversity of propensities, defined as innate tendencies in individuals or groups to behave in particular ways shapes the potential for growth and evolution of organizations. It highlights the critical role of human systems and leadership in maintaining coherence and dealing with the challenges of increased complexity as organizations evolve.

The paper aligns the Intelligent Organizational Systems (IOS) evolutionary model and the Design for Integrated Safety Culture (DISC) model to describe evolutionary development of safety practice in organizations. The result is an ‘evolution matrix’, that reveal the links between safety performance and organizational evolution.

Development of an organization's capacity for safety consciousness through diversification of propensities and different cohering leadership capabilities gives organizations a new way of improving safety.

The evolution matrix can be used by leaders to systematically assess and enhance system capacity for addressing safety challenges.

The paper represents the first attempt at exploring the conscious development of safety‐critical organizations from an evolutionary perspective. It advances understanding of how organizations can evolve safely within ever‐changing environments.