Project governance: "Schools of thought"

Michiel Christiaan Bekker

doi:10.4102/sajems.v17i1.595

Abstract

The terminology, definition and context of project governance have become a focal subject for research and discussions in project management literature. This article reviews literature on the subject of project governance and categorise the arguments into three schools of thought namely the single-firm school, multi-firm school and large capital school. The single-firm school is concerned with governance principles related to internal organisational projects and practice these principles at a technical level. The multi-firm school address the governance principles concerned with two of more organisations participating on a contractual basis on the same project and focus their governance efforts at the technical and strategic level. The large capital school consider projects as temporary organisations, forming their own entity and establishing governance principles at an institutional level. From these schools of thought it can be concluded that the definition of project governance is dependent on the type of project and hierarchical positioning in the organisation. It is also evident that further research is required to incorporate other governance variables and mechanisms such as transaction theory, social networks and agency theory. The development of project governance frameworks should also consider the complexity of projects spanning across international companies, across country borders and incorporating different value systems, legal systems, corporate governance guidelines, religions and business practices.

Highlights

Since the late 1990s the term project governance has attracted much attention and debate in the project literature
The quest to define and apply project governance is fuelled by the growing frustration of large capital project failure (Flyvbjerg, Bruzelius & Rothengatter, 2003:12-21; Miller & Lessard, 2000:14) and the realisation that project management at a technical and operational level should be complemented and supported at strategic and institutional management levels (Klakegg & Artto, 2008)
The definition, framing and practice of project governance can be influenced by the corporate environment within which the project is managed

Summary

Introduction

Since the late 1990s the term project governance has attracted much attention and debate in the project literature. Addressing governance acknowledges the role projects play in the overall organisational performance and the interactions between the multiple actors responsible for the various project and organisational activities (Sanderson, 2012:432). Given this increased attention and intense debate, providing a state-of-the art overview of the literature is timely and appropriate. From the literature some tendencies towards preferred points of departure for constructing project governance definitions and constructs are emerging. Given the uncertainty surrounding the definition, and contextualisation of project governance the question remains whether the current available information and literature on the topic can be categorised and funnelled into common ‘schools of thought’?. The paper provides a conclusion and recommendations for future research in the field of project governance

Categorisation of project governance concepts

Categorisation of project governance ‘schools of thought’

Conclusion

Recommendations for future research