Project Governance Structures Research Articles

Public Private Partnership and Sustainable Development in Murang’a County, Kenya

This research interrogates the relationship between Public Private Partnership (PPP) and sustainable development in Murang’a County, Kenya. The research utilised descriptive and inferential statistics. The target population of this study were the 10 PPP projects that have been implemented in Murang’a County as at August 2023. The unit of study were the county government officials and private sectors partners for each PPP project. Census was used in this study where all the 10 PPP projects in Murang’a County were involved in this study. Regression results revealed that project financing, project service quality, project governance, and project environmental sustainability together account for 93.5% of the variation in the sustainable development in Murang’a County. The explanatory power of the model was statistically significant at a p value of 0.000. Further, the results revealed that project financing (β = 0.326, p < 0.000); project service quality (β = 0.273, p < 0.000); project governance (β = 0.356, p = 0.004); and project environmental sustainability (β = 0.687, p < 0.000) had a positive and significant effect on sustainable development in Murang’a County, Kenya. Based on the findings, it is recommended that there should be an enhancement in project governance structures and financial management practices, rigorous adherence to environmental sustainability, and a relentless focus on improving service quality to ensure the successful implementation of sustainable development projects.

Managerial agency (re)producing project governance structure and context: Public-private partnerships in the Netherlands

Project managers activate their agentic powers in the (re)production of project governance structure and the institutional context of projects. By examining three ongoing Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects within the Dutch policy path, we provide evidence that managers aim to improve their working conditions when enacting three project governing practices: upscaling issues, adapting, and reproducing. Additionally, we show that public project managers mobilized as a group of interest within the public parent organization are able to influence the policy context and improve their control position for future PPP agreements. We identify "emerging associativity" and "ideological legitimization" as core processes of managerial agency, deployed in project practice and influencing institutional contexts.

A cross-national comparison of the project governance frameworks in two Nordic countries

A strong public project governance structure is instrumental to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of projects in the public domain. The Norwegian State Project Model is an example of such a structure; a standardized classification of projects into stages, with defined decision points, where requirements regarding documentation are specified. In Iceland, the public project governance structure has been criticised. This paper investigates the Icelandic framework by comparison to the Norwegian framework, through a desk analysis of both structures. Furthermore, the features and perceived utility of the Icelandic project governance structure are assessed by interviewing selected public stakeholders who are representatives of seven important organizations in the public sector. The study indicates that there is a significant difference between the frameworks where the Icelandic framework is lacking crucial elements of what constitutes best practices in modern project governance. In view of extensive plans for investments in infrastructure in the coming years, there is an urgent need for reforming the Icelandic project governance structure.

Olympic and Paralympic Games Project Structure and Governance

The Olympic and Paralympic Games is a megaproject that involves huge investment and time effort from public and private entities to take place, which has been facing issues to find host candidate cities recently. This paper focus on the private side of the megaproject and discuss the Organizing Committee for Olympic Games (OCOG) project governance and structure taking advantage of Rio2016 case to detail project phases, reporting and governance structures. The paper presents the OCOG as a single purpose entity (SPE) and uses Rio2016 as a case study. A multi-method qualitative research was conducted to understand OCOG project environment and particularities. The role and participation of International Olympic Committee (IOC) in OCOG daily life could be improved to support the pressure for Games cost reduction, as well as, to increase the Games hosting attractiveness. This work contributes for the Olympic Games project environment understanding by future OCOGs

1356Translating urban health research in Bangkok: partnership framework for building capacity in monitoring liveability

Abstract Focus of Presentation This poster outlines a partnership framework for developing a web-based liveability indicators monitoring system for Bangkok, Thailand, as a mechanism for translating urban health research into urban planning and policy. We reflect on our partnership with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, including its critical success factors and framing around the Sustainable Development Goals, and provide an overview of the capacity building program supporting the use of the indicators in practice. Findings In total, 65 indicators were calculated for Bangkok and housed in a web-based urban liveability portal. A series of capacity building activities, including face-to-face meetings, webinars and online presentations, supported the use of these indicators in monitoring liveability. Numerous critical success factors were identified, such as having a bilingual liaison as well as two working groups within the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Conclusions/Implications This partnership provides a framework for other cities seeking to translate urban health research and progress the Sustainable Development Goals through building capacity in monitoring liveability. Future international partnerships should seek to engage partners through a mix of face-to-face and online activities and develop project governance structures (e.g. bilingual project liaison) that enable the prioritisation of local knowledge. Key messages This partnership provides a framework for translating urban health research into urban planning and policy, with relevance for other cities globally. It resulted in the mapping of 65 liveability indicators across Bangkok.

Governing Collaborative Project Delivery as a Common-Pool Resource Scenario

When collaborative project delivery models such as integrated project delivery (IPD) combine project resources, share decision-making rights, and distribute risk-and-reward among participants, the project can be conceptualized as a common-pool resource scenario. Multiple project appropriators have contractual rights to withdraw units from the shared resource system (i.e., the project budget). This theorization suggests project managers avoid the tragedy of the project by crafting effective self-governance structures in the face of pluralism. Using IPD as an example, this article suggests these project governance structures reflect Ostrom’s design principles for the successful governance of long-enduring common-pool resource scenarios.

Sustainability of Youth Empowerment Projects: The Role of Project Governance in Makueni County, Kenya

The sustainability of projects, as indicated in literature, hinges on the effective governance of projects and their diverse stakeholders. Studies have documented evidence of both significant and insignificant effects of project governance-sustainability outcomes but such studies lack empirical justification in Kenyan context. It is against this backdrop that this study investigated the relationship between project governance and sustainability of youth empowerment project in Kenyan context. From a survey of 196 respondents who were project managers and youth leaders involved in Youth Empowerment Projects, data were collected and thereafter analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings from the analysis revealed that the composite construct of project governance significantly predicted sustainability of Youth Empowerment Projects in Kenyan context (R = .863, R 2 =.745, p = 0.000). In addition, each of the variables that made up the composite construct of project governance had significant effect on sustainability of Youth Empowerment Projects (stakeholder management: β = .173, t = 2.313, p = 0.022; governance structure: β = .659, t = 8.159, p = 0.000; project team diversity: β = .298, t = 3.728, p = 0.000). The study concludes and recommends that stakeholders in Youth Empowerment Projects such as county governments in Kenya and Non-Governmental Organisations to put in place effective project governance structures in terms of stakeholder management mechanisms, properly established governance structures and strategies to improve project quality as these aspects significantly improve sustainability of the established projects. Keywords: Project Governance, Sustainability, Youth Empowerment Projects, Non-governmental Organisation, Kenya. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-20-14 Publication date: October 31 st 2020

Conceptualizing Sustainability Governance Implementation for Infrastructure Delivery Systems in Developing Countries: Success Factors

Infrastructure delivery processes possess the potential to negatively influence sustainability. To curb the incidence of these processes within infrastructure delivery systems, the enthronement of an effective project management and governance framework becomes imperative. This led to the emergence of literature on sustainable project management practice. However, studies seeking to modify existing project governance structures in like manner remain limited. This study contributes to this emerging discourse on the utility of project governance competencies in facilitating sustainable infrastructure delivery. To achieve this objective, this study identifies critical success factors central to the design of effective sustainability governance structures of a typical infrastructure delivery (ID) system with the assistance of a cybernetic system framework—the viable infrastructure delivery systems model (VIDM). Adopting a qualitative multi-case study research design, this study deploys semi-structured interviews for data elicitation through purposively sampled interviewees within the identified cases and a document review. Qualitative content analysis (QCA) was deployed for data analysis. Findings from this study provide success factors for designing effective sustainability governance structures for ID systems. It is expected that the findings from this study will contribute to the emerging discourse concerning sustainability governance of ID systems.

Knowledge coevolution: generating new understanding through bridging and strengthening distinct knowledge systems and empowering local knowledge holders

The effective and appropriate bridging of Western science with traditional or Indigenous knowledge is an ongoing discussion in the literature and in practice. The discourse transitioned from separate knowledge system to knowledge integration and most recently to knowledge co-production. We argue it is the moral and ethical responsibility of Western scientists working in and with Indigenous communities to make a concerted effort to collectively create mutually advantageous new knowledge while strengthening traditional knowledge and considering the normative impacts of Western science methods. Our knowledge coevolution framework provides guidance for achieving this in a flexible manner that can be applied to an array of research programs. Project governance structure, steps for implementation, checks and balances, and challenges are presented within the context of research project execution. We then illustrate application of the model throughout a harvest study conducted in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada.

Republic of Poland

This capacity development mission follows on two earlier missions conducted by the Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) of the International Monetary Fund. These missions covered the development of a Standard Chart of Accounts (SCoA) and the Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF) that are part of the wider Public Financial Management reforms the Polish government is implementing. These reforms will improve consistency in reporting and provide a stronger basis for understanding the financial position of the general government. It will also help attain the medium-term objective of reducing the structural deficit to 1 percent of GDP by 2021. The mission commends the Polish Ministry of Finance (MoF), for the high level of commitment to the reforms. This commitment was evidenced in various actions and activities of government, including public pronouncements by the Minister of Finance. Also, the progress made with the implementation of the recommendations of the earlier missions was noted. Most notable was the establishment of the Budget System Reform (BSR)1 Project Governance Structures, the progress that various working groups have made with research on their respective topics, and the changes to the Budget Regulation of January 2019 to accommodate medium-term planning. This is supported by the high level of knowledge and expertise displayed by staff working on these reforms.

O efeito da governança de projetos e da gestão da realização de benefícios na estratégia das organizações: uma análise multigrupo sob o prisma de indicadores de desempenho

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o efeito da Governança de Projetos e da Gestão da Realização de Benefícios na Estratégia Organizacional, potencializado por indicadores de desempenho de projetos. Um modelo estrutural com relações entre Governança de Projetos, Gestão da Realização de Benefícios, Sucesso de Projetos, Estratégia Organizacional e efeito moderador de indicadores de desempenho de projetos foi proposto. A amostra do estudo consistiu em 113 respondentes que atuam profissionalmente com gestão de projetos. As análises foram realizadas por meio da Modelagem de Equações Estruturais, com estimação pelo método dos “Mínimos Quadrados Parciais”. Os resultados da pesquisa indicaram relações significativas entre as variáveis latentes, com exceção da relação entre Governança de Projetos e Sucesso dos Projetos, também foi confirmado o efeito moderador que os indicadores de desempenho de projetos exercem na relação entre o Sucesso de Projetos e a Estratégia Organizacional. Ao final do trabalho é proposto um modelo de estrutura de Governança de Projetos direcionada à Estratégia Organizacional sob o contexto da Gestão da Realização de Benefícios e utilizando indicadores de desempenho de projetos em uma perspectiva multidimensional envolvendo todo o contexto estratégico da organização.

Project governance and portfolio management in government digitalization

PurposeThis paper aims to increase the current understanding of the connection between operational level information and communication technology (ICT) projects and national level digital transformation by researching how project governance structures and practices are applied in an e-government context.Design/methodology/approachAn elaborative qualitative study through public documentary analysis and empirical multi-case research on Finnish central government is used.FindingsThe study constructs a multi-level governance structure with three main functions and applies this in an empirical setting. The results also describe how different governance practices and processes, focusing on project portfolio management, are applied vertically across different organizational levels to connect the ICT projects with the national digitalization strategy.Originality/valueThis study integrates project governance and portfolio management knowledge into public sector digitalization, thus contributing to project management, e-government and ICT research streams by improving the current understanding on the governance of ICT projects as part of a larger-scale digitalization. This study also highlights perceived gaps between current governance practices and provides implications to managers and practitioners working in the field to address these gaps.

Imitation and adaptation: lessons from a case study of a metro rail project in India

Oversight arrangements which articulate technical, contractual and organizational decisions in a project domain constitute project governance. In the light of rapid globalization and an increasing number of complex, pluralistic and heterogeneous projects, the need for contingent project governance arrangements which bridge both stability and temporality of project decisions is emphasized in the literature. Nevertheless, inadequate attention has been paid to study how these governance arrangements are actually set up on contemporary projects. We use a combination of institutions-based and practice-based lenses to develop arguments on how governance arrangements are initially selected and replicated or revised, thereby leading to the emergence of order in project governance structures. We gather empirical evidence by qualitatively studying the shaping of project governance structures in a metro rail project in India. Our data show how the project promoters drew from the Delhi Metro’s governance structures to make technical, contractual and organizational decisions in the Chennai Metro, and then contested or stabilized these structures within the project field through situated interactions. Consequently, we identify 11 underlying mechanisms of sustenance and change of governance arrangements and project norms. By bridging both generic and contextual governance perspectives, the study underlines the role of situated “governing” in (re)creating governance structures.

Modeling Three-Party Interactional Risks in the Governance of Public–Private Partnerships

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) involve a variety of project governance structures. Common among all these varied structures is the long-term contractual period between multiple public and private entities. The increased uncertainty of a long-term contract duration coupled with the involvement of multiple stakeholders proves to be a challenge to the development of risk strategies for PPPs. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically frame the risks associated with these projects and explore their dynamics. These risks often arise due to the organizational dynamics from the interactions between stakeholders in varied risk scenarios. In this paper, a methodology is proposed to systematically identify risks in PPP projects, model the organizational dynamics associated with the interactional risks using game theory, and simulate these models to observe a range of potential outcomes. The proposed combined approach can help planners prepare for a range of complex and uncertain scenarios and enable stakeholder management in PPP projects. The current literature is extended in this paper by integrating risk identification and framing with modeling and simulation and expanding the analysis of interactions from the current focus on two parties to three. A case study of the Indiana Toll Road was performed to showcase the application of the proposed approach.

Collaborative Learning to Improve the Governance and Performance of Infrastructure Projects in the Construction Sector

Collaborative learning helps construction organizations adapt their governance structures (GS) to maximize project performance (PP). Although previous studies indicated that governance directly influences performance, and that learning directly influences performance, there is little deductive evidence exploring the relationship between all three variables, especially at a high level of disaggregation. A conceptual model is developed based on the literature, which defines collaborative learning capability (CLC) as an absorptive capacity that construction organizations develop to explore, transform, and exploit knowledge through 18 specific learning routines. These routines influence formal and informal governance types and, ultimately, three different performance metrics for projects. This study is based on a survey of 320 experienced practitioners on Australian collaborative infrastructure projects in the construction sector. Statistical tests demonstrated that the CLC measurement scale developed by the authors is reliable and valid. CLC in this context is found to be based on 18 confirmed individual learning routines, organized into six learning factors and three learning phases. The study confirmed CLC influences PP through project GS. However, the usage intensity of individual learning routines was found to be lacking on Australian collaborative infrastructure projects. The specific and important role of CLC in PP has been highlighted for the first time, but construction organizations need to invest more heavily in their CLC through stronger mobilization of individual routines.

Network Dynamic Analysis Method for Project Governance Risk Control

A network dynamic analysis (NDA) method is developed in this paper to reveal the inherent mechanism of project governance risk control, which integrates the method of social network analysis and system dynamics. Specifically, project governance structure was expressed as a social network in which the nodes indicate each stakeholder in the project and the relationships between nodes represent stakeholders’ risk control responsibility for the other party. The method of system dynamics is applied to capture the change of risk factors and the resulting adjustment of network relationships. To show how the NDA method is applied to project governance risk control, a simulation example is given and results indicate valuable theoretical and practical implications.

Co-Creating Neighbourhoods for Health: An Inverted Socio-Ecological Approach

The Active Neighbourhoods Canada (ANC) project employs a participatory urban planning process to aid communities in articulating local strengths, weaknesses and future desires for streets and public spaces. Each project results in a community-driven plan for increasing active transportation and community vibrancy by intervening in the public realm. Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Innovation Strategy, ANC recognizes the unequal distribution of both power and public realm investment between communities with high or medium incomes, compared to those experiencing poverty and a higher burden of chronic illness. ANC provides a framework for supporting low-income communities by partnering with local organizations and developing resident engagement methods to assess qualitatively how people experience their community and quantitatively how they travel. Throughout, emphasis is placed on providing opportunities for engaged residents to develop their understanding of public participation, active transportation and urban planning and empower them as local advocates through engaged project governance. Much attention has been brought to the issue of implementing public health interventions that successfully engage different levels of the socio-ecological model to facilitate healthy behaviour; particularly the neglected and complex higher levels of this nested hierarchy (the institutional, community and policy/environment levels). Through our three-phased participatory process, ANC intervenes at the individual and interpersonal levels by empowering local residents and engaging marginalized voices to build a consolidated report on local knowledge, community assets, issue areas and future goals; at the community level by supporting a collaborative inter-sector project governance structure that links diverse organizations and people; and finally at the policy or environmental level through professional engagement with municipal staff in planning, engineering and local city councilors to implement elements of community-driven neighbourhood plans. A highlight of the ANC process is how this multi-pronged intervention attends to the interaction that exists between levels of this model. Specifically how our process builds momentum at lower levels of the hierarchy to create capacity in intervening at the more distal levels of local environments and policy. This presentation will link practice with theory by describing our process and outcomes in varied municipal contexts while making overt links to the theoretical knowledge base of an inverted social ecological model. Through these links we will provide real world examples of the role community action research can play when negotiating the challenging goal of attending to individual/interpersonal, community, environment and policy impacts within a single public health intervention to increase active transportation.

Coping with lack of authority

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and explore alternative coping strategies that may compensate for the limitations of weak governance structure in a product development project.Design/methodology/approachThe findings are based on a single case study, including interviews and documents, of a product development project that consists of two interlinked projects in a large multinational company.FindingsTwo distinct procedures are identified to cope and manage effectively when there are weak project governance structures. The first procedure is a horizontal process of operational consensus-seeking where conflicts between projects are negotiated and resolved through communication between independent actors such as two project managers who are at the same hierarchical level within the same organization. The second process is a vertical process of strategic escalation where issues that have failed to be resolved are shifted upwards to a new hierarchical level where a new round of operational consensus-seeking is attempted.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper complements the existing understanding of project governance with a project-as-practice perspective. Based on the findings the authors suggest that project governance needs to be nuanced in its understanding since a too-structured approach may in fact increase tensions in an organization.Practical implicationsPractical insights include how organizations may work with its project governance structures in order to avoid tensions. The authors suggest that, in particular, politically sensitive situations may be avoided by weak rather than strong governance structures.Social implicationsThe authors find that weak governance structures may be efficient for the organization, but harmful to personnel, who become too focused on the task at hand.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge very little research has been attributed to project governance from a practice approach. Moreover, most attention has been given to strong structures, thereby not examining the positive implications of weak structures.

Clash of the Titans: Temporal Organizing and Collaborative Dynamics in the Panama Canal Megaproject

Recent studies of temporary organizing and project-based work explain how organizational actors establish and maintain clear role structures and harmonious relations in the face of precariousness by engaging in stabilizing work practices. This focus upon ‘order’ undervalues conflict-ridden negotiations and power struggles in temporary organizing. This paper demonstrates that in temporary organizing conflict and order may exist in tandem. Drawing close to the collaborative dynamics in a large-scale global project, we analyse the political struggles over role patterns and hierarchic positioning of client and agent in the temporary organization of the Panama Canal Expansion Program (PCEP). In such projects, the agent typically takes the position of project leader. In this case however, the client was formally in charge, while the agent was assigned the role of coach and mentor. The diffuse hierarchy triggered project partners to engage in both harmony-seeking social and discursive practices and to enter into conflict-ridden negotiations over authority relations in the everyday execution of the PCEP project. Our study contributes to existing literatures on temporal organizing by presenting a case of simultaneous practices of harmonization and contestation over mutual roles and hierarchic positions. We also show that studying collaboration between project partners involves, not merely analysing project governance structures, but also offering a context-sensitive account of everyday social and discursive practices. Finally, we reflect on a view of ‘permanence’ and ‘temporariness’ as themselves contested categories and symbolic sites for struggle.

Barriers towards integrated product development — Challenges from a holistic project management perspective

The basis for product development in many large industrial companies is a traditional project management method positing non-overlapping phases, independent activities, and a dedicated project team. Research findings indicate that the use of integrated product development methods increases performance compared to traditional methods in contexts of complex problem solving, which are disruptive and non-linear. Even though integrated product development has been the focus of a large number of research studies, these studies mostly focus on identifying success criteria and improving performance, while the requirements for implementing integrated product development remain under-researched. This study takes a more holistic project management perspective and identifies both the challenges and the requirements of successful implementation through an in-depth case study. It was found in a chosen case company that successful implementation requires awareness and skills of integrated product development in senior management, as well as a set of cross-organizational project governance structures.