The Hidden Dilemmas in Software Development Project Decisionmaking: Persist or Desist?

Given that decision makers continue to face dilemmas on whether to persist or desist with troubled projects, it is important for senior managers to support the assessment of decision dilemmas faced by project managers. By drawing on two case studies that exhibit project escalation situation, decision-makers in both cases were interviewed and important documents reviewed, the paper has identified five types of decision dilemmas and their associated characteristics: justification, sunk cost, ambiguity, opportunity cost and completion. The decision dilemmas identified in this study and the recommendations for countering these dilemmas aim to help project managers improve the process of decision-making during project development. Furthermore, it is also important for organizations to be aware of the role played by decision dilemmas within the escalation phenomenon as such understanding could help organizations extricate themselves from future escalation predicaments

\u27Unfreezing-Changing-Refreezing\u27 of Actors\u27 Commitment: The Transition from Escalation to De-Escalation of Commitment to Information Technology Projects

Escalation is a common and costly problem among IT projects. Although the potential of de-escalation of commitment to failing courses of action has been much heralded, many such efforts may result in failure due to constituencies biasing facts in the direction of previously accepted beliefs, and therefore, prevent an organization from de-escalating. Here, we adopt Lewin’s change framework to examine the commitment transformation during the transition from escalation to de-escalation of an eprocurement project in a local government organization in UK. Our findings suggest that the entire process of ‘unfreezing-changing-refreezing’ was enacted through the deployment of behaviour disconfirmation, psychological safety creation, and development, alignment and integration of new attitudes and behaviours. The research and practical implications of these findings are explored

How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression

We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the large subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future --- and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent.Governmen