M.B. Veenswijk

Managing public–private megaprojects: Paradoxes, complexity, and project design

Abstract Recent studies show that despite their growing popularity, megaprojects – large-scale, complex projects delivered through various partnerships between public and private organisations – often fail to meet costs estimations, time schedules and project outcomes and are motivated by vested interests which operate against the public interest. This paper presents a more benign and theoretically-grounded view on what goes wrong by comparing the project designs, daily practices, project cultures and management approaches of two recent megaprojects in The Netherlands and Australia, showing how these projects made sense of uncertainty, ambiguity and risk. We conclude that project design and project cultures play a role in determining how managers and partners cooperate to achieve project objectives to a greater or lesser extent.

Organizing reflexivity in designed change: the ethnoventionist approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the role of intervention‐oriented scientists in the process of organisation development. The paper seeks to contribute to the growing interest in design studies for organisation development and argues that a focus on reflexivity is missing in current debate. The aim of the paper to develop critical reflexiveness for organization design studies by introducing the ethnoventionist approach.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the ideal forms of clinical inquiry, participative action research, ethnography, and the ethnoventionist approach. The ethnoventionist approach is described by its central aspects: a focus on reflexivity, a management (but not managerialist) orientation, commitment to obtaining a deep understanding, connecting the multi‐layered context, and studying in pre‐arranged longitudinal intervals.Findings – The ethnoventionist approach uses organisational ethnographies to facilitate intervention strategies intended to improve or...

Public–private transformations. Institutional shifts, cultural changes and altering identities: two case studies

The central question of this article is which changes in cultural orientation arise during institutional transformation within public–private hybrid organizations. The article presents a theoretical review, using the Dutch interaction model, in which various models of institutional transformation and cultural change are brought up. We present two case studies which are part of an inter–university study of hybridization and processes of privatization.

The importance of power and ideology in communities of practice: The case of a de-marginalized user interface design team in a failing multi-national design company

– The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss some underdeveloped issues in Community of Practice theory and their practical implications for the study of the organization., – The paper shows that, in order to achieve this goal, first the blind spots are identified (such as power issues and the relation of the community with its environment) based on a literature review. Then, a case study is presented, carried out in a large Dutch organization (referred to as the Design Company), which designs and produces complex technology. The focus is on one community of practice (The User Interface Design Team) and the process of its development (internal and external) within a particular environment. The consequences of this development on the environment are examined. The methodology employed is mainly ethnographical observation and qualitative interviews., – The paper finds that the case study demonstrates the relevance of considering such concepts as power, conflict, and ideology in CoP theory. Enriched in this way, CoP theory can account for both the internal and external development of communities (in terms of empowerment), as well as the conditions that constitute a favorable context for such development. It can also explain how the bottom‐up process of change that was induced by the User Interface Design community takes place within the organizational life‐world., – The paper reveals that the insights provided by this research have the potential to enrich the body of knowledge surrounding CoP theory. The results of this research are considered to be useful for organizations that present similar conditions to the one presented in this case study.

Developing new knowledge in collaborative relationships in megaproject alliances: organising reflection in the Dutch construction sector

This paper describes the development of new forms of public- private collaboration by members of a project-based organisation as a Community of Practice (CoP) in the Dutch construction sector. Cost overruns, time delays and corruption have put pressure on the relationship between the government and the construction sector. Political and public actors are forcing the construction industry to develop new cultural practices of collaboration in public-private partnerships. The paper incorporates power relations and shows how public and private partners, together with the researchers, develop an innovative tendering process. Based upon the literature on project-based organisations functioning as CoPs, we show how temporal organisational settings can enable new forms of learning. The specific development of a CoP in the Dutch construction sector has resulted in a 3-D virtual simulation programme which can be used to experience new behaviour and to train people in new approaches.

Changing collaborative practices through cultural interventions

After a parliamentary enquiry into construction industry malpractice, changes occurred in collaborative practices between clients and contractors in megaprojects within the Dutch construction sector. The enquiry meant that both clients and contractors were forced to acknowledge illegal practices of collusion and fraud. For those engaged in public–private relationships, a process followed of attempting to change collaborative practices. Three interventions in collaborative practices are recounted: (1) organizing personal networks between clients and contractors; (2) a competitive dialogue procedure; and (3) the right of withdrawal. These three interventions helped to change ‘first order’ practice, such as increasing mutual trust between client and contractor, supporting a mutual understanding of role positioning and dilemmas, and creating an understanding of the nature of the conflict but failed to change ‘second order’ practices. Two contributions to the understanding of project management are provided. New empirical data are presented on the challenges that public and private partners face in their attempt to implement new collaborative practices. It is shown how power is entangled in the emerging of new collaborative practices. The findings are based on a longitudinal ethnographic study of public–private collaboration in the Dutch construction industry in the period 2006–11.

A storm is coming? Collective sensemaking and ambiguity in an inter-organizational team managing railway system disruptions

ABSTRACT This paper studies the ways in which members of inter-organizational teams collectively make sense of unexpected events and how they decide upon engaging in action. Frequently, ambiguity dominates such change processes aimed to create common understanding. Using the notion of the duality of intrinsic and constructed ambiguity, a detailed analysis of the collective sensemaking efforts of an inter-organizational team of railway coordinators in the Operational Control Center Rail was conducted. Building on team meetings observations during the days preceding a large and potentially disruptive winter storm in December 2013, the case study describes the process of collectively making sense of the disruptiveness of the storm. The findings show that contextual and temporal factors determine whether collective sensemaking unfolds as either a shared or a negotiated process.

Paradoxes of control: the (electronic) monitoring and reporting system of the Dutch High Speed Alliance

Recently, some the large public (transport) infrastructures became an important issue on the Dutch political agenda. It was especially the High Speed Alliance (HSA), one of the major transport infra-structural projects in the Netherlands that attracted a lot of attention. On one hand, this project was highly advanced from a technical point of view; on the other hand, the HSA was characterized by enormous (budgetary, time, and technical) problems. A large part of these problems was supposed to be covered by a complex (electronic) monitoring and reporting system. The system, which was established to exclude uncertainty and risk, created its own uncertainty. In this paper, the authors examine the role of this system in the process of rationalization and control within the HSA-organization by focusing upon the process of sensemaking. The authors argue that the problems within the HSA can best be understood in terms of a paradox: rationalization and control versus local, individual freedom and initiatives. Three major paradoxes have been distinguished: the cost paradox, the control paradox, and the risk paradox.

Framing the Zone: Political Executives Engaging in a Narrative-Framing Contest During Strategic Decision-making

Storytelling is regarded as an important practice within planning processes. Seminal contributions (Throgmorton, 1992, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 12, pp. 17–31; Flyvbjerg, 1998, Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press) as well as recent research (Jensen, 2007, Planning Theory, 6, pp. 211–236; van Hulst, 2012, Planning Theory, 11, pp. 299–318) demonstrate that there are multiple competing stories about the meaning of any specific plan. This paper contributes to this debate by considering stories as building blocks for a collective action frame in the form of a mutual story. Political executives engage in a framing contest in order to influence such a mutual story. Our case study is based on interpretative analysis of contrasting narratives ands shows how political executives negotiate the meaning of a plan in such a way that the chances of its implementation through funding are optimized.

Decision-making as performative struggle : Strategic political-executive practices influencing the actualization of an infrastructural development

– The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of performative struggle through the use of an interpretative case story focussed on a strategic decision-making process concerning infrastructural development. Performativity is about “world-making” (Carter et al., 2010), based on the assumption that conceptual schemes are not only prescriptions of the world, for the practices flowing from these abstract ideas bring into being the world they are describing. The focus on agency and multiplicity in the academic debate on performativity in organizational settings are combined, resulting in the conceptualization of a multitude of performative agents struggling to make the world. , – The methodological approach of this paper is based on an interpretative analysis of contrasting narratives that are told by political-executives in a strategic decision-making process. These narratives are based on in-depth interviews and participant observation. The interpretative case story, exhibiting the strategic decision-making practices of Aldermen, Delegates and Ministers – focusses on the moments of performative struggle based on strategic narrative practices. , – The interpretative case story will exhibit the way in which a multiplicity of agents reflects on the performative dimension of the decision-making process, anticipates on its performative effects and attempts to manipulate the strategic vision that is actualized into reality. Moreover, the agents are not primarily concerned with the actualization of a specific infrastructural project; they are more concerned with the consequences of decision making for their more comprehensive strategic visions on reality. , – The notion of performative struggle has not yet been explicitly studied by scholars focussing on performativity. However, the concept can be used as an appropriate lens for studying meaning making within ethnographic studies on organizational processes such as for instance culture change intervention and strategy formation. The concept of performative struggle is especially useful for understanding the political dimension of meaning making when studying an organizational life-world through the use of ethnographic research. , – The originality of this paper lies in the innovative conceptualization of struggle between a multiplicity of reflexive agents in the debate on performative world-making. Moreover, the incorporation of the perspective of performative struggle within organizational ethnographic research is valuable for the development of organizational ethnographic methodology.