Chiponde, D; Gledson, B and Greenwood, D (2019) Examining construction and project management perspectives of project-based failure. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 35th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2019, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
Projects are distinctive time-constrained undertakings meant to positively generate benefits for their sponsors and other associated stakeholders. They are delivered by Project-based organisations (PBO’s) whose constituent actors can separately consider achievement in relation to a project 'outputs', 'outcomes', and 'impact'. Within the construction sector for example, contracting organisations typically do not recognise projects that fail to meet their principal cost and time targets as successful, whereas the various sponsors, customers, collaborators, and end-users, may agree, or consider the operational consequences of these same projects as ultimately having been positive. The aim of this work, therefore, was to examine the contrasting and complementary perspectives around project-based failure, held in the construction sector by some of its principal constituent actors: the project manager, and the construction manager. To do this requires greater scrutiny and synthesis of the extant literature within and across, the separate construction management, and project management, knowledge bases. Such activity reveals from each respective area, current understanding of what project failure is, and what the 'root-causes' of project failure are considered to be. The results from this work help inform the design of a dedicated research instrument for the data collection stage of a wider research project, which seeks to understand how failure can support learning and action within project-based organisations.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | failure; organisational learning; performance; success. |
| Index terms: | project-based organization, knowledge base, organizational learning, project failure, project manager, contracting organization, construction sector, project management, construction manager |
| Subjects: | information systems, industry analysis, project management theory and practice, professional development, organization, project completion, profession, practitioner |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Project Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Organizational Design, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here