Dynamics of multi-level programme integration in a strategic programme: the case of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in France

Abstract

Our human societies are facing major challenges (climate change, pandemics) to which the scientific field of project management is trying to provide answers. Work on the projectification and programmification of society confirms that projects and programmes are privileged organisational forms that contribute to the transformation of socio-technical systems responsible for the main functions of our economies. The aim of this article is to analyse the interaction dynamics of programme integration in project systems and operational systems within the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in France, which enabled the rapid and effective transition to a global vaccine supply chain capable of immunising 80% of the French population. Our results present a model of multi-level programme integration dynamics resulting from two systems integration mechanisms: macro-micro systems integration and meso-micro systems integration. These results show that the lifecycles of project systems and operational systems were intertwined during the vaccination campaign, combining systems integration and operational integration through a dynamic of destabilisation and adaptation. This entanglement enabled major functional changes in the French vaccination chain. Our approach is original in that it sheds light on the relationships that exist at the boundary between projects and operations, which are organised as socio-technical systems. The challenges posed by the need to transform such systems open promising research prospects for the management of strategic programmes with a societal impact.