Towards a Transferable Methodology for Managing Strategic Change by Projects

In the transition to project based management within complex dynamic environments, a basic premise is that each industry organisation, professional discipline and individual, must cast off the shackles of accepted functional barriers, traditional roles and processes. As each project is unique, so is the experience of each organisation as it embraces the project management approach. Nevertheless, successful implementation of strategic change by projects requires an organised process (methodology) grounded in shared professional expertise/experience. Conventional project management wisdom has looked to frameworks and processes developed within technical paradigms (‘hard’ project processes) to manage projects within organisations irrespective of the characteristics and nature of particular projects. However, as recognised in Turner and Cochrane’s Goals and Methods Matrix Model, in many projects the ‘what’ and/or the ‘how’ may not be well defined, leaving project managers’ options open on goals or methods or both (Turner and Cochrane 1993 p95), (Turner 1999 pp25-27). The experience of a collaborative University and industry research team working with New South Wales Government Agencies, where internal and external factors have created opportunities for participation in strategic change projects, is leading to a re-examination of project management theory and practice. One collaboration involves developing and applying a strategic approach to managing multiple interdependent ‘soft’ projects to achieve an agency’s organisational change commitment (Agency A). Here the research plan was essentially ‘hard’ but its achievement is being underpinned by the creation and application of innovative strategies and tools aimed at capturing and sharing project management information, competencies and experiences and supporting effective project management learning. The methodology, which is being progressively advanced through action research, is being applied to assist in developing a strategic project management capability across Agency A. Another collaboration is contributing to the transition of an agency, parts of which have been traditionally involved in the management of ‘hard’ construction projects into an across the board Management by Projects approach (Agency B). Management by projects is seen as facilitating an organisation wide focus on results and an organisational structure that has flexibility to respond rapidly to internal and external environmental changes. In the spirit of action research, this paper will reflect upon the experience of the collaborative research team in developing and applying a model using Soft Systems Methodology to make sense of the project management transformation process underway in both agencies. REFORMS IN PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT Public sector and private organisations worldwide, have been moving towards project based management. In public administration, there has been an increasing awareness of the capabilities of project management to provide a structured approach to organisational change (Griesche and Dworatschek 1998 p698). This has occurred in the context of ‘the new public management’, a trend for public sector reform, especially in AngloAmerican democracies, that has been occurring since the 1980s (Peters and Savoie 1998 p3). Measures being implemented have one thing in common – a strong reliance on the business management model. Coupled with the resulting organisational changes has been the advent of new technologies and work practices that are redefining the nature of work and projects and team-based work (Gadeken 1998 p489); (New South Wales Government 1997).