Projecting for Sustainability Transitions: Advancing the Contribution of Peter Morris

Abstract

Projects are both shaped by processes of socio-economic change and shape those processes of socio-economic change – an insight that guided much in Peter Morris’ career and contribution. In this paper, we address a growing concern of both Peter and the projects research community more generally with the grand challenges we all face, particularly achieving net zero. We therefore place project organizing research in the context of the four industrial revolutions and the Anthropocene over the last 250 years or so. In particular, we focus on the role of projects in sustainability transitions – that is the transition from one sociotechnical regime to another such as from fossil fuels to renewables for electricity generation. On this basis, we suggest that the major projects of the third industrial revolution that Peter so comprehensively analysed may not be the most appropriate models for addressing the challenges of the fourth when projecting for sustainability transitions. We close by suggesting one potential additional approach.

Introduction to the Research Handbook on Complex Project Organizing

“…We suggest that this is partly because it is not presently seen to be addressing contemporary urgent societal challenges in the way it was in the 1960s. For instance, CPO is not seen as part of the research agenda for the sustainability transitions that are essential to meet the challenges of achieving net zero (Köhler et al, 2019), nor does it feature strongly in other research debates around meeting the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution (Winch, 2022).…”

“…Despite substantial developments during the past decades, CPO delivery remains plagued by diverse, long-standing performance problems (Flyvbjerg et al, 2003;Merrow, 2011) and by several emerging new threats (Whitmore et al, 2020;Winch, 2022). Among the most prominent of these are the increasing uncertainty and complexity of project delivery environments.…”

“…For example, the Muskrat Falls megaproject in Canada turned from a promising hydroelectric sustainable energy facility into one of the most impressive and notorious megaproject failures (LeBlanc, 2020). Although project organizing is highly relevant for delivering the solutions (Kaufmann & Danner-Schröder, 2022) to grand challenges, it still seems overlooked or ignored (Winch, 2022).The assertion that we now live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world is a familiar trope (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). At the heart of this world, we suggest, is complexity, which has long been investigated within CPO (Geraldi & Söderlund, 2018).…”

“…For example, the Muskrat Falls megaproject in Canada turned from a promising hydroelectric sustainable energy facility into one of the most impressive and notorious megaproject failures (LeBlanc, 2020). Although project organizing is highly relevant for delivering the solutions (Kaufmann & Danner-Schröder, 2022) to grand challenges, it still seems overlooked or ignored (Winch, 2022).…”

Reassessing project practices, research, and theory in a post-Covid reality

“…Project management seems to me uniquely positioned to address goals of sustainability, as the purpose of our discipline is to introduce positive change to our world. Whether those changes are monumental and massive, incremental and modest, or purely exploratory in nature, projects remain our most effective vehicle for positive disruptions [44]. As a result, its fit with a sustainable mindset is a logical one.…”