Marcel Veenswijk Professor Management of Cultural

ChangeVrije Universiteit Amsterdam

The Culture of Project Management

NETLIPSE, Zurich, October 20th

IntroductionThe Culture of Project Management. Understanding Daily Life in Complex Megaprojects

Is Culture relevant for Projects….?

• ‘All over the place’ where people work together;

• Driver of collaboration between (public and private) partners;

• Defines environmental orientations and generates identity;

• More general: • Interpretation web which frames processes of

internal integration and external adaption

A Cultural Perspective on Mega-Projects

‘Organizations as Cultures’:• Multi-layered configuration; • Shared meaning; • Rooted in history; • Reproduced and modified in interaction;• Manifest on different layers of reality.’

5

• Artifacts:- Symbols, Rituals, Language

• Values and norms:– orientations of awareness (environment,

organization, clients)

• Basic Assumptions:– Implicit assumptions (time and space)

Layers in organizational culture

‘When/Why is Culture an ‘issue’ in Projects’

• Economic crisis:quest for new concepts• Explosive studies Peters&Waterman and

Deal&Kennedy• Downselling ‘grand narrative’ rational

management• ‘Birth’ integration perspective culture:• - all noses same direction• - shared core value programs• - new corporate culture ‘Monday morning’

Research COM study 2005-2010

• Consequences of ‘cultural contraction’ in aftermath Parlementairy inquiries (5 countries)

• Symptoms: • A lack of trust relation between public sector ‘client’

organization and private companies• Procedural unclearness in the various tendering stages• Insufficient insights in necessary public versus market

competences• ‘We need new cultural stuff’• Conclusion: focus on diversity and cultural pitfalls

Concepts Cultural Change: Integration or Differentiation?

IntegrationUnityCooperationCentral ActorAmbiguity outOn the same

page

DifferentiationDiversityConflictArenaAmbiguity inFlowers in the field

Anthropological Research: Participation in the Field

• ‘In depth’ study 15 Megaprojects worldwide

• Multi-discipliary team Social Scientists• 5 PhD projects• International collaboration (ICAN,EI,RF,

NGI)• Concentration on ‘Cultural Risks’• Intervention driven

Dominant Cultural ‘Pitfalls’

• 1. Ignoring Cultural interfaces in Projects

• 2. Blinded by Mirrors of ‘Display Doctrine’

• 3. Blocking Dilemmas of Daily Practice• 4. Denying Cross-Cultural Diversity

(PPP)

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2007

Gideon’s tribe Diplomats

Culture wars

(1) Ignoring Cultural interfaces in Projects: Case Environ

.Gideon’s tribe Diplomats

Competences creative, dealing with chaos, entrepreneurial, independent, result oriented, young, non-bureaucratic

risk avoidance, diplomatic, empathetic, trustworthy, control

Cultural values InnovationUnorthodoxuniqueness

lawfulness, integrity,reliability

Consequences:1. Rivalising ‘truth claims’2. Emergent Culture wars’3. Risk ‘deadlocks’

2. Blinded by Mirrors of ‘Display Doctrine’

Consequences: -Reproduction ‘frontstage’system language-Suffering Selznick’s syndrom

(3) Blocking Dilemmas of Daily Practice

• ‘Surviving The Competing Values Arena’• The loneliness of the Project-director• The Tragedy of the Environmental

Manager• The Paranoia of the Financial Expert• The Fixation of the Legal consultant• The Manic state of the Contract-Manager

Mapping the Cultural blocks

Legal expert:Voice:-Thoroughness

Environmental Manager voice:- Societal/customer interest

Financial expert:.Voice:- Security- Predictability

Contract manager:Voice:- ‘Getting things done, no matter what’

External orientation

Internal orientation

ProductProcess

(4) Denying Cross-Cultural Diversity Private Partners

Sectoral: Trapped in Institutional ImagesRivalizing management stylesMutual DistrustNational:Cultural differences in Europe (Anglo-Saxon/Rheinland/Latin model)

Why Second LifeRecent Intervention Research on Public Private Collaboration: ‘The Second Life Experience’

‘Creating a playground for interaction’

• Action focuses Learning Experience in ‘Backstage culture’

• Platform for collaboration and networking;• Open to External Influences;• Simulation of Projects in condensed Time and

Space Frames: tendering procedure underground Dutch Economic Hotspot;

• Unique Possibilities for Monitoring and Evaluation (VU bought own Research Island);

• Enabling Virtual Ethnography;

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Conclusions

• Megaprojects are made by human beings

• Each project phase needs employees with specific competences

• Project culture needs to be managed during the life cycle of a megaproject

• Reflexivity is needed to change old rituals and behaviour in the infrastructure sector