Choosing Your Words Carefully: Leaders’ Narratives of Complex Emergent Problem Resolution

Havermans, L.A.; Keegan, Anne

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2014.16708abstract

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…They further argue that there is a need for project managers to create structures within which these competing narratives might be managed. Havermans et al (2015) are much stronger in terms of their reliance on narrative theory, and notably place language at the very centre of project organising. They further draw convincingly from narrative sources such as Boje et al (2004) to argue that language is constitutive of organisational reality rather than merely representative.…”

Section: Value Creation From a Narrative Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Value creation in projects: Towards a narrative perspective

Green

Sergeeva

2019

International Journal of Project Management

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It is contended that value is a social construct, and that the processes of social construction are rooted in language. On this basis we argue that value creation is a process which lends itself to interpretation from a narrative perspective. Previous attempts at value creation have been promoted under the label of 'value management'. There are two approaches which are identifiable in the literature. The first is based on the traditional narrative of value engineering (aka Hard VM) and is primarily directed towards cost reduction. The second more recent variant is labelled 'soft' value management (Soft VM) and is primarily directed towards the achievement of a shared understanding of the value criteria relating to an individual project. The two approaches are critiqued in terms of their underlying assumptions and it is suggested that they are best understood as different forms of narrative. The emerging literature on value creation is similarly critiqued in accordance with the adopted narrative perspective. The distinction is made between formalised narratives of value on the level of the organisations involved in the project coalition and the anecdotal stories which individuals use to make sense of their own lived experiences. Emphasis is given to the ways in which different narratives interact, and to the way in which they remain contestable over time. Particular attention is given to the confluence between storytelling and identity work.

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Section: Value Creation From a Narrative Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In truth, with few notable exceptions (e.g. Havermans et al, 2015), the potential of narrative methods remains almost relatively unexplored.…”

Section: Recommendations For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value creation in projects: Towards a narrative perspective

Green

Sergeeva

2019

International Journal of Project Management

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“…This case illustrates how different relevant social groups or stakeholders attribute different meanings to an ISD project and construct different assessments as a result of underlying organizational dynamics, power relations and cultural norms. Havermans et al (2015) drew attention to the use of language in framing the issues and stories around projects as a vital tool in shaping projects and reaching problem resolution. They analysed project managers’ narratives of emerging problems to explore the storylines they construct as well as the way that they affect the collaborative efforts of different groups and the ways they can lead to project failure or success.…”

Section: Research Perspectives On Isd Project Failurementioning

confidence: 99%

Review and critique of the information systems development project failure literature: An argument for exploring information systems development project distress

Baghizadeh

Ćećez-Kecmanović

Schlagwein

2019

Journal of Information Technology

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High failure rates of information systems development (ISD) projects continue to trouble organizations and information systems practices. Such a state of affairs has been of great concern for the information systems discipline for decades, motivating information systems researchers to focus on and extensively study ISD project failure. However, the increasing complexity and uncertainty of ISD projects and contemporary system development processes are challenging ISD project failure scholarship. In this article, we ask the questions: What are the contributions and weaknesses of the extant ISD project failure/success literature? What are potential avenues to move the ISD literature forward? To answer these questions, first, we present a literature review that assesses research contributions within the major perspectives on ISD failure (i.e. rationalist, process and narrative). While the extant research within all perspectives make significant contributions to knowledge, we find that researchers remain preoccupied with ‘project failure’ as an end state of an ISD project. They pay little attention to problematic situations arising during ISD projects before they become failed projects. Based on the review and critique of the literature, we then argue that there is a significant benefit in extending research focus from ISD project failure to ‘ISD project distress’, which we define as a harmful project condition involving dynamic and fluid constellation of critical problems that are difficult to identify, understand and resolve. While ISD project distress is an increasingly perilous and consequential phenomenon, little is known about its nature and potential responses. Drawing from the sensemaking literature, we propose a multilevel theoretical framework for understanding the nature and sources of ISD project distress that provides a foundation for exploring early detection and timely response. We demonstrate the theoretical and practical relevance of the concept of ISD project distress and propose a corresponding research agenda.

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“…Stories can be a way to understand complex processes (Brown, Gabriel, & Gherardi, ; Browning & Boudès, ; Kurtz & Snowden, ). Stories can play a role in sensemaking (Czarniawska, ; Tsoukas & Hatch, ), in solving problems (Brown & Duguid, ), as well as in the decision making and guiding actions that follow (Havermans, Dorst, & Den Hartog, ). Stories can combine knowledge and translate it into ideas (Bartel & Garud, ), and they can play a role in the creative process by developing personas and scenarios (Madsen & Nielsen, ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Innovation Journey and the Skipper of the Raft: About the Role of Narratives in Innovation Project Leadership

Enninga

Lugt

2016

Project Management Journal

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I NTRODUCTION ■ T he need for innovation in organizations is hardly questioned, although in practice it appears to be difficult to accomplish, as many innovation projects fail. Although an innovation project is quite distinct, it still meets the definition of a project: "a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result" (Project Management Institute, 2008 , p. 5). The biggest difference between innovation projects and other types of projects is the innovation project ' s exploratory character (Lenfle, 2008 ; March, 1991 ). This makes the project less structured, less predictable, and more complex. van de Ven, Polley, Garud, and Venkataraman ( 2008 ) use the word journey as a metaphor to describe this exploratory process. The cover of their book shows six men paddling a raft through whitewater rapids, suggesting an expedition off the beaten track: rough from time to time, but exciting.According to the literature, innovation leadership can refer to two distinct groups. Taking the strategic perspective, innovation leadership can refer to the top executives of an organization, or, at the operational project level, it can refer to the individual project manager. The strategic level is about doing the right projects, whereas the project level is about doing the project right (Cooper, 1996 ; Lundin et al. , 2015 ). In this article, we take the second perspective, that of the innovation project leader who has to get the project right. The role of the project leader is essential to the project ' s success (Aronson, Shenhar, & Patanakul, 2013 ; Sarin & O ' Connor, 2009 ;Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011 ). The innovation project leader is the skipper of the project, who has the challenging job of steering the raft through the rapids.In recent years, the use of stories and storytelling has gained attention as a tool for managing complex organizational processes. This article explores the role stories could play in an innovation project and the ways an innovation project leader might use stories in his or her daily practice to manage the multidimensional challenges of an innovation project, with its sometimes paradoxical or contradictory demands. The article is based on a case study of the development of the first Heineken BeerTender. With this article, we contribute to the project management literature, specifically regarding the roles that stories could play in managing the sometimes competing aspects that an innovation project leader must manage. This study offers innovation project leaders information about the role and use of narratives in leading an innovation project. The stories described in this article may offer innovation project leaders inspiration and learnings from another project, just as the innovation project leader in this case study also learned from another project. an innovation project leader uses stories in practice. We found a variety of stories that relate to all four processes. We argue that the roles of stories can be divided into three different aspects: the story, t...

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Choosing Your Words Carefully: Leaders’ Narratives of Complex Emergent Problem Resolution

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Value creation in projects: Towards a narrative perspective

Value creation in projects: Towards a narrative perspective

Review and critique of the information systems development project failure literature: An argument for exploring information systems development project distress

The Innovation Journey and the Skipper of the Raft: About the Role of Narratives in Innovation Project Leadership

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