Megaprojects and hybridity. Accounting and performance challenges for multiple diverse actors and values

Sargiacomo, Massimo; Corazza, Laura; D’Andreamatteo, Antonio; Torchia, Daniel

doi:10.1016/j.bar.2022.101152

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Adopting a Foucauldian perspective, our article sheds light on how PMSs configure and constitute power relations among megaproject participants in the LT case, thus shaping their collective behaviour. Our findings echo a recent work by Sargiacomo et al (2022) who argue that PMSs can be used as intellectual technologies that enable TEN-T promoters to govern transnational organizational processes by means of notation, computation and calculation.…”

Section: The Panopticon Reloaded: Pmss As Intellectual Technologies T...supporting

confidence: 89%

“…In this respect, it has long been argued that Performance Management Systems (PMSs) are widely used to instil governability in megaprojects within an environment of conflicting interests and to improve the capacity of megaproject teams to react coherently to turbulent events that cannot be anticipated (Ingram, 1994; Miller and Lessard, 2000). However, little is known about how PMSs are used to configure and constitute power relations among agents in a megaproject field (Sargiacomo et al, 2022). Therefore, scholarship has called for more critical research on PMSs as power instruments used by megaproject promoters to govern collective behaviour in megaproject organization (Esposito et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Panopticon reloaded: A critical analysis of performance management systems in the trans-European transport network policy

Esposito,

Terlizzi,

Pichault

2023

Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space

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This article examines Performance Management Systems (PMSs) as socio-technical policy instruments for shaping power relations in megaprojects. Employing an abductive approach, it innovatively applies Foucault's Panopticon theory to the case of the Lyon-Turin railway, a megaproject funded by the European Union's Trans-European Transport Network policy. Our research reveals that PMSs operate as intellectual technologies that enable megaproject promoters to establish control over participants and align their collective behavior with planned policy objectives. We find that this process follows three Foucauldian panoptic principles: hierarchical observation, where participants are organized under nested managerial tiers, establishing vertical lines of command; examination, which uncovers performance flaws; and normalization, which standardizes behavior across the megaproject field. We argue that: PMSs can be employed by policy-makers as instruments to instil governability and shape the collective behavior of megaproject participants consistently with planned policy goals; no matter how effective the panoptic scheme is, there are always avenues of resistance available among those perceiving the megaproject as a threat; and, the configuration and constitution of power relations in megaprojects involve a complex interplay of discipline, sovereignty, and security mechanisms.

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Section: The Panopticon Reloaded: Pmss As Intellectual Technologies T...supporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%