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Crisis management and recovery projects and programs
Edited by Shankar Sankaran, Nilgün Okay and Gerhard Chroust
Introduction
It has long been suggested that projects are a means of implementing organizational strategy, and that organizations need to ensure that they are "doing the right projects the right way" ([2] Artto and Wikström, 2005; [3] Aubry et al. , 2012; [8] Cooper et al. , 2000; [11] Crawford et al. , 2006). At the same time, if projects do in fact have a strategic purpose, then the linkage between the project and the strategy of the organization must be better understood ([29] Morris et al. , 2006). In particular, the decisions that are made early in a project when it is being conceived and formulated are most likely to have the greatest impact on project success or failure ([42] Williams and Samset, 2010). The implication is that there is a broader understanding of alignment, intention and value that must be understood if projects are to truly be perceived as a means of implementing strategic value.
This paper explores the role of decision rules and agency in supporting project initiation decisions, and in particular the influence of agency on decision-making effectiveness. The research on which this paper is based was conducted using grounded theory methodology, and sought to understand the influences of individual decision makers on project initiation decisions within organizations. The larger study was conducted to develop a substantive theory of how agency and rule emphasis influence the effectiveness of project initiation decisions. This paper draws on this data to specifically explore the influences of agency in making initiation decisions.
Exploring project initiation decisions
Improving the alignment of projects with strategy has been broadly identified as requiring a better understanding of how decisions are made within and about projects (see, e.g. [1] Andersen et al. , 2009; [4] Brady and Maylor, 2010; [6] Cicmil and Hodgson, 2006; [7] Cicmil and Marshall, 2005; [15] Drummond, 1996; [18] Geraldi et al. , 2011; [24] McCray et al. , 2002; [28] Miranda and Hillman, 1996; [30] Muller et al. , 2009; [33] Perminova et al. , 2008; [34] Schofield and Wilson, 1995; [35] Shenhar et al. , 2002; [36] Smith and Winter, 2010; [39] Thomas et al. , 2002;...