Organizational enablers for governance and governmentality of projects: A literature review

Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Linking Project Management Innovation, Project Governance, and High-Performance Work Practices to Project Success

Project managers seem to be puzzled in resolving the global dilemma of project failures across industries. Hence, the present study introduces project management innovation (PMI) as a determinant of project success (PS) and explores whether project governance (PG) and high-performance work practices (HPWPs), strengthen this relationship. To confirm these propositions, study data using adapted scales were collected from project professionals representing software development companies in the emerging IT industry in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships and encourage PMI-guided solutions for project failures. SEM results statistically validated that project success is positively influenced by PMI, whereas this relationship is significantly strengthened through the moderating influence of PG and HPWPs, respectively. Theoretically, the present research is the first of its kind to introduce and empirically examine these untested relationships between PMI, PG, HPWPs, and PS in a single framework. These novel findings hold strategic value for both project managers and organizational leaders who oversee a range of project portfolios. Long-lasting advantages and superior achievements can be reinvigorated through PMI, after departure from traditional approaches and answering calls for new solutions to new problems in managing projects. Moreover, project governance and HPWPs should be reconfigured to oversee, as well as meet the special needs of each unique project.

Seven Decades of Project Portfolio Management Research (1950–2019) and Perspectives for the Future

Although project portfolio management (PPM) has been on the research agenda for at least seven decades (1950–2019), the number of contributions on the topic continues to grow. Literature reviews help us to integrate and build on what we already know and to understand where we came from. However, reviews proving a shared historical narrative of the discipline are scarce but key. Thus, we trace the literature back to its origin, building and synthesizing our historical narrative into a model. We evaluate what has already happened and what will most likely shape the future.

Project Governance in State-Owned Enterprises: The Case of Major Public Projects’ Governance Arrangements and Quality Assurance Schemes

Societal development is increasingly undertaken as major public projects in different sectors. Project governance is important for strategically successful outcomes; thus, a broad societal perspective should be kept throughout the governance process. State ownership exists in many forms, and major public projects’ governance arrangements differ. Quality assurance is a recommended part of the arrangements, yet knowledge of them is limited. This study investigates relatively recent governance arrangements in state-owned enterprises in Norway, emphasizing their content and organization of quality assurance. The arrangements are compared with the more established “State Project Model”, a governance arrangement set up by the Ministry of Finance in 2000, including major public projects with budgets exceeding USD 110 million. Through case studies, comprising documents and interviews, and using the State Project Model as a reference frame, differences in the studied arrangements’ comprehensiveness were found. Finding the appropriate level of governance is challenging, yet potential for mutual learning and improvement across different arrangements is revealed. For state-owned enterprises with sectoral policy objectives, the government should ensure that political control is not undermined. This study provides recommendations for further improvement of governance arrangements and adds to the general understanding of state-owned enterprises and major public projects’ front-end phase.

Governança de projetos na administração pública: uma revisão sistemática da literatura internacional

O objetivo desta revisão sistemática foi verificar os estudos existentes acerca da governança de projetos na administração pública. Para isso, utilizou-se uma adaptação do protocolo de Tranfield, Denyer e Smart (2003) como norteador da execução da revisão, originalmente com três estágios e nove fases. Os dados foram coletados em duas bases de dados internacionais, a Scopus e a Web of Sience. Após aplicação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão, com auxílio do software EndNote®, chegou-se a uma amostra com 13 trabalhos para análise. Foi elaborada uma caracterização geral dessas publicações, em que se apresentam os periódicos onde estes trabalhos foram publicados, autores, Qualis CAPES, ano de publicação e forma de abordagem. Na sequência, foi realizada uma análise destes trabalhos de maneira que se constatou sete temas principais de pesquisa: interface governança-gerenciamento, propriedade, estruturas de governança, práticas de governança, garantias de qualidade, desempenho e interação governança contratual-relacional. A principal contribuição deste trabalho foi ter verificado o estado da arte sobre a temática e ressaltado que, embora este tema não seja incipiente, a produção sobre ele ainda é escassa e que há um vasto campo para exploração.

How Does Governance Influence Decision Making on Projects and in Project-Based Organizations?

Research on the governance of project management suggests governmentality and governance are associated with improved project performance. However, the mechanism is unknown. We propose that they influence decision making, which, in turn, improves performance. Few articles on governance comment directly on how governance influences decision making. We identify six areas of organizational psychology that influence decision making, and study what research on the governance of project management suggests about how governance influences those six areas. We review 36 articles on the governance of project management published in the past six years in the three main journals in project management.

The Worthy Human Being as Prosuming Subject: ‘Projectified Selves’ in Emancipatory Project Studies

The projectified self is suggested in this article as a way to advance emancipatory project studies toward improved understandings of how individuals in contemporary neoliberal societies are urged to become self-controlling, self-improving, self-commercializing, life-compartmentalizing, and deadline driven. We propose (1) a developed theoretical foundation for studies of the projectified self, based on recent writings on enterprising selves, and (2) the notion of prosumption as a concept for how the worthiness of this projectified self is constructed in a simultaneous process of project-based production and consumption. This is discussed in relation to the on-going studies of social media entrepreneurs.

Evolution of Governance in a Collaborative University–Industry Program

This article presents the emergence and evolution of actors and institutions in a collaborative program from the strategic planning to the execution and delivery phase. The ethnographic study of a collaboration revealed that, while formal regulations are prerequisites for initiating collaborations, further drivers of the interactions between program participants are oriented by path dependency, cultural familiarities, and goal sharing. This article shows that many microdynamics exist among actors and institutions inside the governance structure, co-evolving in parallel with the transition through the program’s phases. There are, however, two main drivers orienting these dynamics: formal regulations and trust.

Project governance and portfolio management in government digitalization

Purpose

This paper aims to increase the current understanding of the connection between operational level information and communication technology (ICT) projects and national level digital transformation by researching how project governance structures and practices are applied in an e-government context.

Design/methodology/approach

An elaborative qualitative study through public documentary analysis and empirical multi-case research on Finnish central government is used.

Findings

The study constructs a multi-level governance structure with three main functions and applies this in an empirical setting. The results also describe how different governance practices and processes, focusing on project portfolio management, are applied vertically across different organizational levels to connect the ICT projects with the national digitalization strategy.

Originality/value

This study integrates project governance and portfolio management knowledge into public sector digitalization, thus contributing to project management, e-government and ICT research streams by improving the current understanding on the governance of ICT projects as part of a larger-scale digitalization. This study also highlights perceived gaps between current governance practices and provides implications to managers and practitioners working in the field to address these gaps.

Toward a Precarious Projectariat? Project dynamics in Slovenian and French social services

Project organization is used extensively to promote creativity, innovation and responsiveness to local context, but can lead to precarious employment. This paper compares European Social Fund (ESF)-supported projects supporting ‘active inclusion’ of disadvantaged clients in Slovenia and France. Despite many similarities between the two social protection fields in task, temporality, teams and socio-economic context, the projects had different dynamics with important implications for workers. In Slovenia project dynamics have been precarious, leading to insecure jobs and reduced status for front-line staff; in France, by contrast, projects and employment have been relatively stable. Our explanation highlights the transaction, more specifically, the capacity of government agencies to function as intermediaries managing the transactions through which ESF money is disbursed to organizations providing services. We find that transnational pressures on the state affect its capacity as a transaction organizer to stabilize the organizational field. In Slovenia, transnational pressures associated with austerity and European Union integration have stripped away this capacity more radically than in France, leading to precarious project dynamics and risk shifting onto project workers.

Toward an Improved Understanding of Agile Project Governance

The purpose of this study is to provide understanding of project governance practices in agile projects. A systematic review of the previous agile literature is conducted to identify and categorize agile project governance practices, which are synthesized in a six-dimensional framework. The study contributes to the literature by contrasting traditional and agile project governance practices and by identifying new practices emerging in agile projects, while also noting remaining gaps in knowledge. The implications of this study enable managers to identify and apply feasible governance practices that can support better agile project performance.

The governance of collaboration in complex projects

Purpose

Inter-organisational collaboration is becoming increasingly important in complex projects; some project customers even formally require evidence of collaborative competence from potential providers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the governance of collaboration and the ways in which it is enacted in practice for complex projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a qualitative analysis of 29 semi-structured interviews, primary data from meetings and events supported by secondary data, including standards and industry-specific contract templates.

Findings

The paper identifies how collaboration can be effectively governed in complex projects through the emerging role of the collaboration standard and its impact on contractual and relational governance mechanisms. The standard sets higher-level institutional guidelines that affect the way in which collaboration is governed in complex projects. It helps formalise informal relational practices whilst also providing guidelines for building flexibility in contracts by including coordination- and adaptation-oriented provisions conducive to collaboration.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the emerging role of the collaboration standard and its influence on contractual and relational mechanisms deployed in complex projects. It shows how the standard can formalise and codify informal collaborative practices and help transfer related learning across projects, thereby contributing towards the dual requirement for standardisation and flexibility in project settings.

Governance of Major Public Investment Projects: Principles and Practices in Six Countries

This article compares the Norwegian scheme for quality assurance of major public projects with similar project governance schemes in five other OECD countries.1 All schemes have been introduced since the turn of the millennium and seem to be fairly consistent with recommendations from the project management literature. There are also a number of differences between the six schemes, for example, with regard to parties and roles, comprehensiveness, flexibility, organization, and whether portfolio management is covered. It is too early to make conclusions about their relative effects, but the evidence thus far indicates that there is much to learn across countries.

Enablers for Organizational Project Management in the Chinese Context

This study aims at exploring the organizational enablers (OEs) for organizational project management (OPM) in the Chinese context. From the resource-based view of firms, we conceptualize OEs as important drivers for the business value creation processes in project-based organizations. The preliminary factor framework was constructed through literature review and expert interviews. Questionnaire surveys elicited 146 responses from Chinese project management practitioners; thereafter, factor analysis was performed to test the OE system empirically. The resulting final OE system contains 49 enablers in nine categories for three management hierarchies; this OE system, constructed by exploratory analysis and verified by confirmatory analysis, comprehensively clarifies the framework of OEs in the Chinese context; it facilitates further investigations into the interaction among OEs and their effects on organization performance. Firm managers may also find this system helpful in formulating identifiable, measurable, and manageable OE frameworks for their own firms, and enabling their organization's strategies with robust OEs.

Ethics, Trust, and Governance in Temporary Organizations

We investigate the influence of governance structures of temporary organizations on the ethical issues faced by its managers, how they respond to these issues, and how that influences trust among stakeholders. A global, web-based survey confirmed earlier research that project managers encounter transparency, optimization, and relationship issues, and identified four additional ethical issue types. Managers' behavior in responding to ethical issues varies by governance structure, their willingness to resolve ethical issues themselves, and the trust between stakeholders. Higher levels of trust are found in stakeholder-oriented governance, which can reduce transaction costs. Implications for practitioners and academics are discussed.