Owners managing the commercial interface on complex projects: A pluralistic theoretical perspective

Research on the commercial interface in inter-organisational projects has developed in recent years but still has weaknesses, principally due to its theoretical reliance on transaction cost economics (TCE). We address those weaknesses by providing an innovative intervention-based research (IBR) study of owner commercial strategy development for a complex project that goes beyond TCE to provide a pluralistic perspective. We show how this pluralistic perspective, which we dub the four forces model, provides the principles for the development of commercial strategy for managing the commercial interface by project owners. We then show how the owner's commercial strategy evolved in the face of capability constraints as it moved through the project lifecycle. We thereby contribute to theory and practice in project organising research first by situating the commercial interface between the owner and the supplier domains of project organising as a central concern in project organising research; second, by providing an empirical basis for the strategic management of the commercial interface by project owners; third by developing a pluralistic perspective on managing the commercial interface from a project owner point of view that moves beyond the current reliance on TCE theory; and fourth by introducing IBR as a novel research method

Operation Warp Speed: Projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has profound socio-economic consequences. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, so this paper focuses on radical changes to accepted practice in project organizing in response. In particular, we focus on schedule compression to deliver outputs to mitigate the immediate impact of the pandemic on health. In the spirit of engaged scholarship, which is problem-driven rather than theory-driven, we address directly the evidence of what happened in two empirical vignettes and one more substantial case study – the CoronavirusUY app; emergency field hospitals; and vaccine development. We then suggest the implications for project management theory in discussion

Multi-model seascape genomics identifies distinct environmental drivers of selection among sympatric marine species

Background As global change and anthropogenic pressures continue to increase, conservation and management increasingly needs to consider species’ potential to adapt to novel environmental conditions. Therefore, it is imperative to characterise the main selective forces acting on ecosystems, and how these may influence the evolutionary potential of populations and species. Using a multi-model seascape genomics approach, we compare putative environmental drivers of selection in three sympatric southern African marine invertebrates with contrasting ecology and life histories: Cape urchin (Parechinus angulosus), Common shore crab (Cyclograpsus punctatus), and Granular limpet (Scutellastra granularis). Results Using pooled (Pool-seq), restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq), and seven outlier detection methods, we characterise genomic variation between populations along a strong biogeographical gradient. Of the three species, only S. granularis showed significant isolation-by-distance, and isolation-by-environment driven by sea surface temperatures (SST). In contrast, sea surface salinity (SSS) and range in air temperature correlated more strongly with genomic variation in C. punctatus and P. angulosus. Differences were also found in genomic structuring between the three species, with outlier loci contributing to two clusters in the East and West Coasts for S. granularis and P. angulosus, but not for C. punctatus. Conclusion The findings illustrate distinct evolutionary potential across species, suggesting that species-specific habitat requirements and responses to environmental stresses may be better predictors of evolutionary patterns than the strong environmental gradients within the region. We also found large discrepancies between outlier detection methodologies, and thus offer a novel multi-model approach to identifying the principal environmental selection forces acting on species. Overall, this work highlights how adding a comparative approach to seascape genomics (both with multiple models and species) can elucidate the intricate evolutionary responses of ecosystems to global change

The Morphogenesis of Socio(-)material Relations in Organizations

Recent debates in information systems research on the relationship between organizations and the technologies they deploy have deployed the concepts of the social and the material, either fused without a hyphen in sociomateriality, or layered with a hyphen in socio-materiality. This paper contributes to theory by arguing that a morphogenetic perspective developed from Archer’s distinctively sociological version of critical realism can move this debate on and combine the strengths of both perspectives. This, we will argue, is necessary because of the differences in the temporal dynamics of the development of technology and organization. We will thereby demonstrate the theoretical importance of holding technology and organization as temporally distinct each with its own dynamic of emergence which managers continually grapple to align. On this basis we will make a distinctive contribution to theory by presenting a “tectonic” model of socio(-)material relations in organizations