Recent research in project studies showed an increasing attention towards the link between project management and flexibility. Project practitioners are exploring various governance arrangements that can make the project management more flexible. Capital engineering projects, especially large and complex, have often attracted criticism for their performance. A flexible project management approach could help mitigate issues such as environmental uncertainty, which in turn should aid towards better decision making.
The essence of a flexibility is to raise awareness of the changing and dynamic project environment. It is recognized that the complex and changing context of projects makes it impossible to make reliable predictions, and instead of predicting and correspondingly avoiding changes, changes need to be incorporated in the project. In other words: “the project manager should be empowered with flexibility to deal with unforeseen circumstances as they see best, and with the owner giving guidance as to how they think the project should be best achieved.”[1]
Your task
By considering the above, you are asked to produce a report that:
Outlines the dominant/standard project management approach which is based on identifying risks.
Makes a case that challenges the existing approach
Provides a new ideology that drives the organisation owning the project
Summarises the report’s findings and discusses implications of these findings
Produces an actionable agenda.
Note: the report’s narrative should address the two points highlighted in orange above, not just a section.
Word Count/Length
The paper should be 3,300 words (including tables, figures, reference list) in length. A 10% above the word limit is allowed. The paper should draw on theory and concepts and this must be referenced.
