Managing emergent changes: ad hoc teams’ praxis and practices
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business
ISSN: 1753-8378
Article publication date: 2 July 2018
Issue publication date: 15 August 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how emergent changes are handled in research and development (R&D) projects. R&D projects’ business potential lies in their exploration of the unknown; conversely, this makes them uncertain endeavours, prone to emergent changes.
Design/methodology/approach
Uses a single-case-study design, based on a projects-as-practice perspective and a soft systems methodology (SSM) analysis, to map how ad hoc R&D teams handle emergent changes, specifically the solution identification and assessment phase and the implementation plan. An R&D project in the power industry, involving over 250 engineers, was analysed.
Findings
This paper shows how emergent changes are handled differently from initiated changes during the decision-making phase. The system analysis shows that the most critical factors for managing these changes are: collective reflection between project parties; and including experienced engineers in implementation-plan reviews.
Practical implications
The results are of relevance both to R&D managers aiming to improve team performance and to general project management. Informal notions of emergent changes can be formalised in the change request process. Weaknesses in the project team’s organisation are highlighted, and details of how of how to mitigate these are provided.
Originality/value
Combines engineering-design and project-management research on emergent changes, adding to the former regarding people–organisational and strategic issues. Furthers understanding of the projects-as-practice approach and emergent change (deviations) handling by ad hoc teams in a project environment. SSM has not previously been used to explore aspects of projects-as-practice, and this is a novel way of adding to the body of knowledge on project praxis and practise.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all of those, primarily from industry, who contributed to the data collection for this research. Their knowledge and insights are the foundation of these findings. We would also like to thank the KK Foundation for funding this research through Mälardalen University’s Innofacture research school and the XPRES project. In a collaborative effort, the first author was responsible for empirical data collection, while the second and third authors aided in the analysis efforts, as well as data collection. The fourth author facilitated the research and contributed to the discussion and validation.
Citation
Sjögren, P., Fagerström, B., Kurdve, M. and Callavik, M. (2018), "Managing emergent changes: ad hoc teams’ praxis and practices", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 1086-1104. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-12-2017-0163
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited