Bent Flyvbjerg: power and project management – an appreciation

© 2008, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critique of Bent Flyybjerg's work that has high relevance to the project management (PM) literature. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a narrative with argument and analysis. Findings – The paper challenges readers, PM academics and practitioners to view PM with a political perspective. This paper was delivered at the ICAN 2007 Conference (which is the focus of this issue), which was entitled “Mission Control: Power, Knowledge and Collaboration in Project Practice.” Originality/value – This paper triggers and sustains the debate about the influence of power and its unintended consequences that may affect projects. The review raises PM issues worthy of consideration that are often neglected

Power, discursive practices and the construction of the "real"

Starting with a critique of the epistemological and ontological bases of neo-institutionalism, in this article we defend the potential for the application of post-structuralist perspectives to the institutional approach. We contend that this theoretical approach, which incorporates an element, traditionally overlooked in institutional analyses, namely power, has the advantage of contributing to an enhanced comprehension of the dynamics of institutionalization. In conclusion, we believe that the area of organizational studies would benefit by a more all-encompassing vision of the processes of institutionalization, which would include power at its core, instead of considering institutions as non-changing variables. Undoubtedly, if we take empirical research into consideration, what we need is, from a historical perspective, understand the way by which the main discourses or narratives constitute, transform and are transformed by our objects of investigation, among which organizations certainly occupy a central place

The hospital building as project and matter of concern: the role of representations in negotiating patient room designs and bodies

Mock-ups, scale models and drawings are ubiquitous in building design processes, circulating between various stakeholders. They contribute to the gradual evolution of design, but what else can specific material forms of representations do for the building design and project? The full-scale model of a hospital single-bed room can be different in terms of detail and medium, but in what sense might it perform different and similar functions? The mobilization of multiple forms of representations and visualizations suggest that design materialization might have several important roles to play in negotiating the building design and project, including the exposition and resolution of controversy concerning size of spaces and bodies. The paper compares the use of two different forms of representation of the same imagined space—a single-bed room in a hospital, and produced for similar purposes—to ascertain what the optimum (or minimum) spatial requirements should be to allow effective care of patients. The first representations are physical mock-ups of a single-bed room for Danish hospitals where actual medical and logistical procedures are simulated using real equipment and real people. The second is a three-dimensional augmented reality model of a single-bed room for a new hospital in the UK, using a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment where the room is reproduced virtually at one-to-one scale, and which can be explored or navigated using head-tracker technology and a joystick controller. Drawing on Latour's concepts of matters of concern and matters of fact, we compare these two cases to provide insights into the way different media produce specific senses of the design or imagined space, with consequences for on-going design work, and for the settling of controversy over the sizes of spaces and bodies

Bringing space back in: organizing the generative building

In this article, we reflect on architecture and management and organization theory, in terms of their mutual implications. We focus especially on a tacit implication in mainstream organization theory, which has an architectural genesis. In the past, management has been largely undergirded by a Cartesian rationality, one seen most clearly in the argument that structure follows strategy. Architecturally, this Cartesianism is present in the injunction that form follows function. Criticizing this point of view, we argue that organizations should be thought of as material, spatial ensembles - not just cognitive abstractions writ large. Linking space and organization in this way, we reflect on the power that every spatial organization necessarily implies, both in negative and positive terms. After examining existing approaches to this issue, we discuss some positive power implications for management. We introduce the concept of the generative building that, instead of being a merely passive container for actions happening in it, contributes positively towards an organization's capacities. We conclude with a reflection on the impact of the generative building on management and processes of organizing

Political hybrids: tocquevillian views on project organizations

For the past decade, project organization has become increasingly central to management and organization studies, particularly as these seek to discern the contours of post-modern organizations. Yet, these contours frequently seem to be sighted without bearings on the current realities of project management. In this paper we take such bearings, using data derived from detailed qualitative, ethnographic enquiry into the experience of project management. From this data we construct the contours of project management more sharply. Rather than being a harbinger of an autonomous and more democratic future, free from extant bureaucratic organization controls, we find that project management has distinct modalities of control that we outline in the paper: reputational, calculative, and professional. Indeed, rather than foreshadowing a future transformational form, we find traces of a much older design: that of de Tocqueville

Questioning morals and moral questions in organizations: review and response

Steven Feldmans introduction is prefaced by a short remark from William James extolling the importance of prayer to the establishing of a self that is responsible to the `higher tribunals. From there on it becomes increasingly clear that Feldmans task is to direct us toward such higher tribunals. In the preface Feldman advises us that he establishes a theory of moral tradition, designed to investigate the historical and cultural context of moral commitment. It should be clear that this is theorizing with definite auspices: the religious beliefs that Feldman `professes (and Webers caustic remarks on the professing of religion in his essay `Science as a Vocation are, I think, worth recalling here) are as central to the enterprise as they are absent. They are central in the grounding of the book as a moral project while they are absent because they are never spelled out clearly as a set of specific commitments

Dangerous work: The gendered nature of bullying in the context of higher education

This paper discusses results from a research project which set out to investigate gender differences in the nature and experience of bullying within the higher education sector. Gender differences emerged in the form and perception of bullying as well as in target response. Results also indicate that, irrespective of gender, bullies can capture and subvert organizational structures and procedures (official hierarchies, mentoring systems, probationary reviews) to further their abuse of the target and to conceal aggressive intent. These outcomes are discussed in relation to gendered assumptions behind management practices and in relation to the masculinist ethic that underpins many higher education management initiatives. Overall, results indicate that bullying cannot be divorced from gender and that such behaviour needs to be seen in a gendered context

Effects of targeted delivery of propionate to the human colon on appetite regulation, body weight maintenance and adiposity in overweight adults.

OBJECTIVE: The colonic microbiota ferment dietary fibres, producing short chain fatty acids. Recent evidence suggests that the short chain fatty acid propionate may play an important role in appetite regulation. We hypothesised that colonic delivery of propionate would increase peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion in humans, and reduce energy intake and weight gain in overweight adults. DESIGN: To investigate whether propionate promotes PYY and GLP-1 secretion, a primary cultured human colonic cell model was developed. To deliver propionate specifically to the colon, we developed a novel inulin-propionate ester. An acute randomised, controlled cross-over study was used to assess the effects of this inulin-propionate ester on energy intake and plasma PYY and GLP-1 concentrations. The long-term effects of inulin-propionate ester on weight gain were subsequently assessed in a randomised, controlled 24-week study involving 60 overweight adults. RESULTS: Propionate significantly stimulated the release of PYY and GLP-1 from human colonic cells. Acute ingestion of 10 g inulin-propionate ester significantly increased postprandial plasma PYY and GLP-1 and reduced energy intake. Over 24 weeks, 10 g/day inulin-propionate ester supplementation significantly reduced weight gain, intra-abdominal adipose tissue distribution, intrahepatocellular lipid content and prevented the deterioration in insulin sensitivity observed in the inulin-control group. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate for the first time that increasing colonic propionate prevents weight gain in overweight adult humans

Behind the stiff upper lip: war narratives of older men with dementia.

The concept of the stiff upper lip stands as a cultural metaphor for the repression and figurative ¿biting back¿ of traumatic experience, particularly in military contexts. For men born in the first half of the 20th century, maintaining a stiff upper lip involved the ability to exert high levels of cognitive control over the subjective, visceral and emotional domains of experience. In the most common forms of dementia, which affect at least one in five men now in their 80s and 90s, this cognitive control is increasingly lost. One result is that, with the onset of dementia, men who have in the intervening years maintained a relative silence about their wartime experiences begin to disclose detailed memories of such events, in some cases for the first time. This article draws on narrative biographical data from three men with late-onset dementia who make extensive reference to their experience of war. The narratives of Sid, Leonard and Nelson are used to explore aspects of collective memory of the two World Wars, and the socially constructed masculinities imposed on men who grew up and came of age during those decades. The findings show that in spite of their difficulties with short term memory, people with dementia can contribute rich data to cultural studies research. Some aspects of the narratives discussed here may also be considered to work along the line of the counter-hegemonic, offering insights into lived experiences of war that have been elided in popular culture in the post-War years