Literary Research: Governance and Effective Transformation
“The soul is here to find its own way -
to do what’s next, to experience.”
- William Ayot
If we go to a bookstore or search on the Internet, we will be overwhelmed by the range of publications and the number of consulting gurus writing about transformation and change management subjects. Intuitively we know that not all -- if any -- of the promised solutions will work. The problem is that transformation is a different beast in the business jungle. Leading transformation programmes is not only a science but also an art. Many successful transformation managers compare leading a transformation to flying an airplane – using a strategic map and set of priorities does not guarantee transformation success. Leaders must have broader perspectives and be open-minded in addressing contingencies.
Paradoxically, transformation success rarely merits ‘consumer’ attention. In this article we aim to summarize the most important and relevant research that relates to governance and transformation success. Every study from the list brings empirical examples of transformation success and failure. These studies will deepen our understanding of key connections among project governance, transformation and a range of success variables. Table 1 shows the summary of our findings with reference to the work of scholars and practitioners.
Table 1
Key connections among project governance, transformation and a range of success variables
To sum up, we intent to provide a holistic list of key research on governance and transformation success. We hope the above information helps leaders in their commitment to deliver successful results. We strongly recommend reviewing this research when steering transformation programmes.
References
Ahola, T., Ruuska, I., Artto, K., Kujala, J. (2014) ‘What is project governance and what are its origins?’, Int. J. Proj. Manag. 32 (8), 1321–1332.
Badewi, A. (2016) ‘The impact of Project Management (PM) and Benefits Management (BM) practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance framework’, International Journal of Project Management, 34(4): pp.761-778.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2017) (ed.) ‘The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management’, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Francisco de Oliveira, G. Rabechini, R. (2019) ‘Stakeholder management influence on trust in a project: A quantitative study’, International Journal of Project Management, 37(1): pp. 131-144.
Hiatt, J., Creasey, T. (2003) ‘Change Management: The People Side of Change’, Publisher Prosci.
Kotter, J. (2006) ‘Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail’, Harvard Business Review.
Locatelli, G., Mancini, M., Romano, E. (2014) ‘Systems Engineering to improve the governance in complex project environments’, International Journal of Project Management, 32(8): pp.1395-1410.
Maylor, H., Brady, T., Cooke-Davies, T., Hodgson, D. (2006) ‘From projectification to programmification’, International Journal of Project Management, 24: 663 – 674.
Müller, R. (2009) ‘Project Governance’, Grower Publishing, Aldershot, UK.
Nohria, N., Beer, M. (2000) ‘Cracking the Code of Change’, Harvard Business Review.
Reve, T., Levitt, R. (1984) ‘Organization and governance in construction’, Int. J. Proj. Manag. 2 (1), 17–25.
Van Marrewijk, A., Clegg, S., Pitsis, T., Veenswijk, M. (2008) ‘Managing public–private megaprojects: paradoxes, complexity, and project design’, Int. J. Proj. Manag. 26 (8), 591–600.
