An argument for infrastructure system stewardship: A new zealand transportation case study in benefit management

C Blom,P Guthrie

doi:10.2495/tdi-v1-n4-611-623

Abstract

© 2017 WIT Press. Benefits are intrinsic to infrastructure and the public sector, yet these remain a problem for many infrastructure sectors (including transportation), organizations and countries. Much of the focus upon benefit management targets project delivery; by contrast, this study considers system-level benefit management using a transportation case study from New Zealand. In so doing, it investigates why the matter of benefits might be so problematic, and in what way this might affect the integration of projects into the extant system. The research shows system-level coordination and integration are being lost within the 'tactical strategy' of programmes and initiatives. In turn, this is creating a 'red queen'-like busyness without a real understanding of whether anything has been achieved relative to the intended or necessary outcomes being sought. System stewardship has therefore been advanced as an appropriate response to systemlevel complexity and a potential enabler of strategic agility and adaptive capacity.

Highlights

Benefits are intrinsic to infrastructure and the public sector
This article advances that earlier research by investigating system-level benefit management in further detail
3 METHODOLOGY This study transects the organization by completing a ‘deep dive’ across three levels of benefit management: how benefits are framed in strategy; how visible benefits are at board level; and what happens to benefits within projects

Summary

Introduction

Benefits are intrinsic to infrastructure and the public sector. benefit management still remains an area of concern to the wider infrastructure industry. Blom and Guthrie [1] found benefit management to be a commonly shared issue for a wide range of practitioners across infrastructure sectors (including transportation), organizations and countries. They observe that whilst there is an: overarching issue [that] relates to the long-term performance of infrastructure and thence the alignment of infrastructure governance and operations, this really amounts to how organisational structure and business practice define or shape engineering decision-making and infrastructure outcomes. Auckland Transport was formed in 2010 from a restructuring of local and regional governments and has planned a capital investment programme of NZ$60 billion (equivalent to approx. €38.6 billion) over the three decades (Auckland Transport [2])

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion