Should mega-projects be treated as temporary organisations? Highlight Report

Researchers often differentiate between projects as ‘temporary organisations’ and firms as ‘permanent organisations’, but the distinctions are not always clear or helpful. Mega-projects often have very long initiation and delivery phases, which may last for many years, sometimes even decades, and they deliver capital assets that are used for decades or centuries. The organisational context in which they operate has become more dynamic, with, for example a rapid rate of technological change in the digital technologies used in their delivery.

At this event, Jennifer Whyte will draw on her recent work to argue that mega-projects involve a range of more and less temporary forms of organising. She will use an example of a wind-farm as a long-term infrastructural megaproject to articulate how there are different understandings of time associated with 1) the delivery project, 2) the life-cycle; 3) the stakeholder organisations that set up the project; and 4) the special purpose vehicle through which it is delivered. Such mega-projects may outlive the firms involved in their initiation. She suggests that thinking about them as long-term projects may enable new thinking about their role in delivering interventions in broader systems and in creating long-term value.

THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.