The praxis of ‘alignment seeking’ in project work

The fallacies of non-agility: Approaching organizational agility through a dialectical practice perspective

Complexity, paradox, tension, and contradiction are increasingly seen as permeating all aspects of organizational life. Yet despite ongoing advancement, both our understanding of the nature of complexity and how to use this increased appreciation of it in practice are still developing. In this spirit, this article considers organizational agility and how to achieve it. Here, current discussions of organizational agility have failed to sufficiently address the fundamental tensions inherent in learning stemming from conflicting goals and incentives, evident in an ongoing discussion of theory-informed approaches for bringing about organizational agility. In this article, we claim that incorporating a dialectical perspective of learning would provide a means of understanding the successes and failures of practices aimed at bringing about agility. We consider the maligned dialectic, four fallacious ways of thinking that hinder agility, and the extent to which these can be overcome. As evidence, we present a case of Agile implementation in which one of the authors acted as a consultant and involving a large-scale social change. Considering this from a dialectical perspective, we discuss ways that dysfunction in achieving agility might be reduced through disruptive interventions, such as Agile.

Stakeholder Analysis in the Feasibility Process of Projects: A Structural Evaluation of the Power-Oriented Relationship

The feasibility process of public construction projects is under the influence of stakeholders, who give direction to public resource allocation. Therefore, the analysis of stakeholders in this process is critical. An inductive qualitative approach was adopted using the grounded theory method to provide a theoretical explanation of stakeholders’ behaviors. Under the insight of structuration theory, the results indicated that the challenges are derived from various interrelated factors, leading to the emergence of improper participation as a macro-structural phenomenon with multilateral interaction with a power-oriented relationship as a micro behavior in the feasibility process at the agency level.

Project Is as Project Does

The purpose of the article is to further develop the processual approach in project management theorizing. The article introduces Gadamer’s (2004) play ontology as a novel perspective used to describe microactivities in a project environment. Play ontology refers to the back-and-forth movements of seemingly mundane microactivities as they unfold during a project. The findings of the study suggest that sensitivity to the microactivities allows considering dissonant or indecisive events as vital and constructive project elements. Play ontology offers new ways for conceptualizing a project as a process: as something that emerges through practical activities as a dynamic and complex phenomenon.