Management of flexibility in projects

Olsson, Nils O.E.

doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.06.010

Cited by 143 publications

(139 citation statements)

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“…Our first contribution is to extend earlier work (by Chapman & Ward, 2011;Martinsuo et al, 2014;Olsson, 2006;Pich et al, 2002;Vidal, 2015) to proffer three approaches that project managers adopt when confronting project uncertainty -structural, behavioural and relational. These three approaches are complementary rather than competing; with a combination of all three required to deal with emerging uncertainties before they negatively impact on project delivery.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dualities and dilemmas: contending with uncertainty in large-scale safety-critical projects

Saunders

Sherry

Gale

2016

Construction Management and Economics

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Uncertainty is a fact of project life. Most decisions that are made on a safety-critical project involve uncertainty, the consequences of which may be highly significant to the safe and timely delivery of the project. Based on interviews with project management practitioners on 9 large-scale civil nuclear and aerospace projects, we explore how uncertainty emerges, and how project management practitioners identify, analyse and act on it. We make three important contributions. First, we present three approaches -structural, behavioural and relational -that individuals and organisations can adopt when contending with project uncertainty. Secondly, we characterise nine dualities at play in the management of project uncertainty and thirdly we identify key differences between how civil nuclear and aerospace project managers confront project uncertainty, which have important implications for how projects might be organised in both these industry sectors. Drawing attention to the structural, behavioural and relational approaches to project uncertainty and the tensions that manifest themselves in each approach should enable the project management community to make progress in environments of high uncertainty where situations are often complex, rapidly changing and confusing, and yet where, for reasons of safety, failure is not an option.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dualities and dilemmas: contending with uncertainty in large-scale safety-critical projects

Saunders

Sherry

Gale

2016

Construction Management and Economics

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“…on intermediate containers for ready-mixed concrete); • the possibility of application of the principles of functioning flexible production systems in the concrete industry (Reichelt 1987); • adjustment of the concept of flexible production, previously connected with diverse activities (e.g. from designing and prototype production to computer-controlled manufacturing) to the construction industry (Halpin 1988), upon the example of processing stone materials; • the activities aimed at reduction of non-homogeneity by the superposition of construction processes, illustrated with examples concerning production concentration; • flexibility principles applicable to organizational strategy (Volberda 1999) by pointing out the reasons for using flexibility under changing conditions of execution; • Conception of product and process flexibility in semiconductor fabrication facility management (Gil et al 2005) giving some examples of potential flexibility tactics on tactical and operational level; • application of flexibility in managing construction projects (Olsson 2006) focusing principally on flexibility strategies at the tactical level; • indication of the need to balance the dynamics of the environment with the dynamics of management on the construction site (Telem et al 2006); • indication of both external and internal uncertainty factors justifying the application of flexibility (Mayer and Kazakidis 2007) in relation to the mining industry; • the new approach to uncertainty (and risk) as an element of development (Perminova, Gustafsson, Wikstrom 2008) which requires the management based on 3 key elements: learning from examples and sense-making as enablers of flexibility and quick decisionmaking in response to the analyzed situation. The purpose of the proposed method is to limit the impact of interruptions on planning and realization of building processes through introducing multiple variants of realization methods.…”

Section: Fundamentals Purpose Of the Proposed Methods And Potential Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexibility Approach in Construction Process Engineering / Lankstumas Statybos Proceso Inžinerijoje

Pasławski

2008

Technological and Economic Development of Economy

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Abstract. The issues of environmental impact on building processes constitute a permanent aspect of the building industry, irrespective of various preventive actions (prefabrication, robotics etc.). The proposed method was developed in the course of tracking problems that arise during performance of building processes exposed to weather impact (as an example of interruptions) on construction sites of airports, highways, logistic centres, or installation of tall building facades. The proposed approach is based on creating multiple variants for process realization options, thus enabling adaptation to current realization conditions at particular stages. The studies that have been carried out confirm the advantage of this method over the traditional planning based on a single realization variant.

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“…Olsson (2006) shows the need for tactical flexibility within a defined strategy, and Samset (Chapter 2) points out the danger in seeking predictability. He warns that "prediction [can] become a prescription…it shifts the decision-maker's focus from finding the 13 best solution to …[making] his own idea or prescription come true".…”

Section: Governance In a Turbulent Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decisions Made on Scant Information: Overview

Williams¹

2009

Making Essential Choices With Scant Information

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This chapter brings an overview to an edited book that looks at how decisions can be made at the front-end of major projects, in circumstances where information is usually scant. The book examines how projects can be successfully aligned with the desired direction ProjectsBusiness is becoming increasingly projectized or project-oriented, and global spend on projects is now many billions of dollars annually. Developing new technological products, building new capital assets, or carrying out unique large-scale enterprises all require major projects to be 2 undertaken. The place of projects has become increasingly important in the life of corporations and, indeed, of nations.Projects have always been important in human development. This is true both for projects with a tangible output (e.g. the Pyramids, or the Great Wall of China), and for projects which bring about a change in the organisation of society (e.g. the explorations of Columbus and his "discovery" of America). While society continuously tries to improve incrementally the way it operates, throughout history projects have formed the major stepping stones for step-changes.This has been even more the case in recent decades, and, indeed, projects are becoming more important to industrial life. Even 15 years ago, the preface to Turner (1993) extrapolates from statements by British Telecom to suggest that the annual spend on projects in the UK would be around £250 million.In recent decades, projects have become more complex, in parallel with the growth in complexity of technology. They have also become more time-constrained (Williams, 1999). Moreover, there has been an increase in extremely large projects. Kharbanda and Pinto (1996), for example, list over 40 projects in process in the mid-1990's in India, China and South-East Asia alone, each one forecast to cost over $1 billion. These are mainly construction projects, but engineering projects are also becoming larger in some industries, as the investment needed to develop new products increases (the break-even point of an aircraft development programme is generally held to be at least 300 units, for example).So clearly, projects are becoming important, one well-known definition of ' project' being "a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service" (Project Management Institute, 2000). During the past 50 years, tools and techniques have been developed to manage projects better. The field generally known as "Project Management" became well-defined and developed in the 1950s, particularly in the US Navy Atlas and Polaris programmes. As methods were formulated and codified, there arose a Project Management "profession", represented by the US-based Project Management Institute, or PMI, with about a quarter of a million members (as well as a number of much smaller national organisations); there are university degrees in the subject, an ANSI standard, and professional qualifications such the PMI's PMP qualification.There are over 500 books on project management topics, and in the past 40 ye...

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Management of flexibility in projects

Cited by 143 publications

References 14 publications

Dualities and dilemmas: contending with uncertainty in large-scale safety-critical projects

Dualities and dilemmas: contending with uncertainty in large-scale safety-critical projects

Flexibility Approach in Construction Process Engineering / Lankstumas Statybos Proceso Inžinerijoje

Decisions Made on Scant Information: Overview

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