Project governance: "Schools of thought"

Abstract

The terminology, definition and context of project governance have become a focal subject for research and discussions in project management literature. This article reviews literature on the subject of project governance and categorise the arguments into three schools of thought namely the single-firm school, multi-firm school and large capital school. The single-firm school is concerned with governance principles related to internal organisational projects and practice these principles at a technical level. The multi-firm school address the governance principles concerned with two of more organisations participating on a contractual basis on the same project and focus their governance efforts at the technical and strategic level. The large capital school consider projects as temporary organisations, forming their own entity and establishing governance principles at an institutional level. From these schools of thought it can be concluded that the definition of project governance is dependent on the type of project and hierarchical positioning in the organisation. It is also evident that further research is required to incorporate other governance variables and mechanisms such as transaction theory, social networks and agency theory. The development of project governance frameworks should also consider the complexity of projects spanning across international companies, across country borders and incorporating different value systems, legal systems, corporate governance guidelines, religions and business practices.

The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM) practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance framework

“…The definition of project governance is not generally agreed in the literature (Bekker, 2014). The reason for this may be that three concepts now used interchangeably are in fact different.…”

Visualizing the Knowledge Domain of Project Governance: A Scientometric Review

“…Among the active citing articles, the project governance model or framework has been widely discussed. Bekker [5] formulated three project governance schools from the perspective of corporate governance, and [67] further extended corporate governance into the realm of projects. As Cluster #0 and #4 mainly focus on the governance framework and concept, the two clusters can be summarized as "conceptual framework."…”

“…Recently, researchers and practitioners have attempted to investigate project governance from different perspectives. Bekker [5] formulated three project governance schools from the perspective of corporate governance, and Müller, et al [2] distinguished project governance from the perspectives of individual projects and groups of projects. From the central government perspective, Volden and Samset [6] examined how the project governance scheme operated in major projects.…”

Project governance: Balancing control and trust in dealing with risk

“…The literature has no commonly understood and agreed upon definition for project governance (Bekker, 2014). Renz (2008, p. 356) defines project governance as "a processoriented system by which projects are strategically directed, integratively managed, and holistically controlled, in an entrepreneurial and ethically reflected way".…”