Project Management and Internal Contracts

Abstract

The increasing complexity of certain projects gives rise to new types of internal contracts inside the firm. These should be seen as supports aimed at a better control of the balance between centralisation and decentralisation and they may also provide indications about how that balance can be achieved. They can also be seen as means of conciliating planning and learning issues, necessary to co-ordinate interdependent activities in a very uncertain environment. In order to analyse these new types of contracts, the authors analyse the role of contracts within project management. This concerns a French firm in the car industry, in which they followed, and contributed to, the setting up of contracts to better master new car design processes and to analyse organisational solutions. The authors discuss the notion of development of coordination necessities in the form of contracting and, focus on learning in this context.