An island of constancy in a sea of change: rethinking project temporalities with long-term megaprojects
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Brookes, N
Sage, D
Dainty, A
Locatelli, G
Whyte, J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper examines the organizational phenomena of long-term projects. While research literature frames projects as “temporary organizations”, megaprojects have long initiation and delivery phases, lasting years sometimes decades, and deliver capital assets that are used for decades or centuries. Instead of short-duration activity within a fixed organizational context, these projects involve multiple temporalities, combining more and less temporary forms of organizing in the process of enactment. Using an example of a long-term infrastructural megaproject, a wind-farm, to illustrate the phenomenon, we contribute by articulating different temporalities associated with the delivery project, life-cycle; stakeholder organizations that set up the project; and special purpose vehicles through which it is delivered. Implications of these temporalities for project management research and practice are discussed with reference to understandings of risk and knowledge. We argue that focus on long-term projects and their multiple temporalities opens up new ways of thinking about projects as temporary organizations.
Date Issued
2017-10-01
Date Acceptance
2017-05-22
Citation
International Journal of Project Management, 2017, 35 (7), pp.1213-1224
ISSN
0263-7863
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1213
End Page
1224
Journal / Book Title
International Journal of Project Management
Volume
35
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd, APM and IPMA. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786317306385
Subjects
Temporalities
Long-term projects
Stakeholders
Temporary organizations
risk
knowledge
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-06-07