Coping with an unexpected event:Project managers' contrasting sensemaking in a stakeholder conflict in China
| Autor: | Kirsi Aaltonen, Mervi Murtonen, Sampo Tukiainen |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
uncertainty management
China Knowledge management business.industry Strategy and Management Project stakeholder Environmental resource management conflict management Sensemaking Project manager project management Functional manager Unexpected events narratives Sociology Business and International Management Project management Project portfolio management business Project management triangle |
| Zdroj: | Tukiainen, S, Aaltonen, K & Murtonen, M 2010, ' Coping with an unexpected event : Project managers' contrasting sensemaking in a stakeholder conflict in China ', International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 526-543 . https://doi.org/10.1108/17538371011056129 |
| Popis: | PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the sensemaking processes leading to project managers' responses to an unexpected event in an international project setting. High uncertainty and unexpected events are prevalent in international projects conducted in challenging and complex environments. The paper analyzes how an unexpected event and the ways to cope with it were made sense of by a Finnish and a Chinese project manager in a system supplier's delivery project in China.Design/methodology/approachThis paper builds on a qualitative case study of the two project managers' sensemaking processes in the face of a single unexpected event. Narrative interviews were used as the method for data collection. The actantial framework by Greimas was used in analyzing the interview narratives.FindingsThe paper shows how the project managers' sensemaking processes, even within the same project management team, are highly subjective, leading to the coexistence of multiple, and highly divergent responses to the unexpected event. The paper also highlights how these sensemaking processes create the coexistence of multiple, divergent systems of project structures and boundaries for coping with the unexpected event.Originality/valueWhile the existing project management literature has distinguished various tactics used by project managers for responding to unexpected events, of lesser attention have been the actual sensemaking processes underlying and producing these responses. The paper especially stresses how the sensemaking processes between project managers coming from culturally different backgrounds can yield highly contrasting interpretations and responses to the same event. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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