Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A pragmatic sociological examination of projectification

A pragmatic sociological examination of projectification Boltanski and Thevenot’s Economies of Worth framework and the project world introduced by Boltanski and Chiapello are well known in the fields of sociology and organization theory, but have been largely ignored in the project management literature. The purpose of this paper is to introduce them into the literature on projects and projectification.Design/methodology/approachThe framework and the project world are described in detail and compared with two streams of writings that are well known in the field of project management: Making Projects Critical and the project as a complex self-organizing emergent network.FindingsThe paper shows that the framework and the project world are relevant to research in project management and the understanding of the projectification of society.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework and the concepts presented could be used in both conceptual and empirical research in project management, particularly the analysis of projects in which disputes occur among stakeholders. Several paths that future developments could follow are identified.Practical implicationsThe framework can be used to better understand disputes and identify how they can be resolved or compromises can be found.Social implicationsThe analysis by Boltanski and Chiapello showed that the evolution of management practice is linked to changes in society and in the dominant ideology.Originality/valueThe paper introduces a very valuable framework into the project literature. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Managing Projects in Business Emerald Publishing

A pragmatic sociological examination of projectification

Download PDF
16 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/a-pragmatic-sociological-examination-of-projectification-XzwHxSSHH0
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
1753-8378
DOI
10.1108/ijmpb-03-2018-0038
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Boltanski and Thevenot’s Economies of Worth framework and the project world introduced by Boltanski and Chiapello are well known in the fields of sociology and organization theory, but have been largely ignored in the project management literature. The purpose of this paper is to introduce them into the literature on projects and projectification.Design/methodology/approachThe framework and the project world are described in detail and compared with two streams of writings that are well known in the field of project management: Making Projects Critical and the project as a complex self-organizing emergent network.FindingsThe paper shows that the framework and the project world are relevant to research in project management and the understanding of the projectification of society.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework and the concepts presented could be used in both conceptual and empirical research in project management, particularly the analysis of projects in which disputes occur among stakeholders. Several paths that future developments could follow are identified.Practical implicationsThe framework can be used to better understand disputes and identify how they can be resolved or compromises can be found.Social implicationsThe analysis by Boltanski and Chiapello showed that the evolution of management practice is linked to changes in society and in the dominant ideology.Originality/valueThe paper introduces a very valuable framework into the project literature.

Journal

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 13, 2019

Keywords: Project tools and techniques; Project networks; Conflicts; Critical management studies; Organization theory; Project complexity; Social theory

References

  • Do project managers have different perspectives on project management?
    Andersen, E.S.
  • The social reality of organizational project management at the interface between networks and hierarchy
    Aubry, M.
  • La collaboration wiki: critiques, justifications et perspectives
    Barondeau, R.
  • Criticizing and justifying participation in wiki collaboration
    Barondeau, R.; Hobbs, B.
  • An empirical identification of project management toolsets and a comparison among project types
    Besner, C.; Hobbs, B.
  • Contextualized project management practice: a cluster analysis of practices and best practices
    Besner, C.; Hobbs, B.
  • Project management and national culture: a Dutch–French case study
    Bony, J.
  • The getting of wisdom: the future of PM university education in Australia
    Bredillet, C.N.; Conboy, K.; Davidson, P.; Walker, D.
  • Project managers and career models: an exploratory comparative study
    Bredin, K.; Söderlund, J.
  • The logic of institutional logics: insights from French pragmatist sociology
    Cloutier, C.; Langley, A.
  • The agility construct on project management theory
    Conforto, E.C.; Amaral, D.C.; da Silva, S.L.; Di Felippo, A.; Kamikawachi, D.S.L.
  • Aligning capability with strategy: categorizing projects to do the right projects and to do them right
    Crawford, L.; Hobbs, B.; Turner, J.R.
  • Sub-theme 29: justifying the organization: dealing with conflicting economies of worth and legitimacy struggles
  • Management in the project-oriented society
    Gareis, R.
  • A history of project management models: from pre-models to the standard models
    Garel, G.
  • Foundations of project management research: an explicit and six-facet ontological framework
    Gauthier, J.-B.; Ika, L.
  • Project studies: what it is, where it is going
    Geraldi, J.; Söderlund, J.
  • La négociation des contributions dans les wikis publics: légitimation et politisation de la cognition collective
    Goldenberg, A.
  • A complex adaptative perspective on learning within innovation projects
    Harkema, S.
  • The other side of projects: the case for critical project studies
    Hodgson, D.; Cicmil, S.
  • Making projects critical 15 years on: a retrospective reflection (2001-2016)
    Hodgson, D.; Cicmil, S.
  • Great expectations and hard times: the paradoxical experience of the engineer as project manager
    Hodgson, D.; Paton, S.; Cicmil, S.
  • Learning from international development projects: blending critical project studies and critical development studies
    Ika, L.A.; Hodgson, D.
  • The projectification of everything – projects as a human condition
    Jensen, A.; Thuesen, C.; Geraldi, J.
  • Profiling project complexity: insights from complexity science and project management literature
    Kiridena, S.; Sense, A.
  • The underlying theory of project management is obsolete
    Koskela, L.; Howell, G.
  • ‘Projectification’ of the firm, the renault case
    Midler, C.
  • Projectification and its consequences: narrow and broad conceptualisations
    Packendorff, J.; Lindgren, M.