Link to thesis - Concept - NTNU

AbstractTraditionally, projects tend to strive for increased predictability by managing detailsand attempting to bring all variables under control. However, experience shows thatthe chance of realising a plan without major amendments decreases with an increasingtime horizon, which points to a need for flexible projects. A number of scholars arguethat flexibility is necessary to face changes and uncertainty in the businessenvironment. On the other hand, flexible projects are generally not described asdesirable in project management literature. These conflicting approaches to flexibilityhave justified an analysis of the dynamics related to project flexibility, both from atheoretical and an empirical perspective. Such an analysis is presented in this thesis,based on analyses of large engineering projects in Norway. Most of the projects aregovernmental investments.This thesis aims at structuring knowledge on project flexibility. Two types of resultshave emerged; the first related to how to analyse project flexibility, and the secondrelated to how to manage flexible projects. Based on studies of different parts of thelife cycle of projects, the research provides indications as to how flexibility can beaddressed in the front-end phase of large public investments. A framework foranalysing project flexibility is also proposed.Chapter 1 discusses flexibility in a project management perspective, and raises keyresearch questions. The research presented in this thesis addresses the dynamicsbetween utilising benefits from flexible approaches and avoiding drawbacks. Beingflexible is characterised by a capability to adapt to new, different or changingrequirements.Flexibility is used in a rather wide sense in the thesis, but is always related to themanaging effects of uncertainty. Project flexibility includes adjustments andpreparations in response to both internal and contextual uncertainty, such as forexample, scope change management, iterative decision process and adjustmentsrelated to uncertain funding. Chapter 1 ends with two key research questions relatedto how to analyse and manage project flexibility.Chapter 2 presents the research design. The thesis is based on nine papers. Thesepapers are summarised in part one of the thesis. Three main data sources have beenused, along with complementary information. First, project evaluations andsummaries of 18 Norwegian investment projects have been analysed. Second, thisresearch has benefited from access to an established database for major governmentalinvestments, including results from 48 front-end assessments of large governmentalprojects. Third, a wider range of data has been collected in a multi-case study of fourNorwegian railway projects.The research is based on an inductive-deductive approach, using a combination ofqualitative and quantitative information. Validity and reliability associated with thedata used in this thesis are not sufficient to provide solid answers, taken in isolation.As is common in project management research, the small samples in the studiesgenerally do not support statistical analysis of the data, particularly when subgroupsof the material are subject to analysis. However, the research has taken previousix