The Front-end of Large Public Projects Paradoxes and Ways Ahead

Large public projects represent major complex investment and whilst there has been much written about how to develop, manage and deliver such projects, practice still does not match up with expectations. In this book, researchers from the Norwegian Concept Research Programme explore the paradoxes between theory and practice in collaboration with experts in the field of project governance. This book delves into the reality of large public projects, to show how they can be managed effectively and efficiently, recognising the realities of their context. It offers a range of practical conclusions as to the paradoxes of the governance and management of public projects. The international spectrum of authors draw their examples from the UK, Norway, Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlands. Bridging the gap between research, theory and practice, this book will benefit academics and researchers in the field of project management and corporate governance as well as those in the practice of public project governance, civil servants and industry practitioners.

1. Introduction Gro Holst Volden and Knut Samset 2. Project success Terry M. Williams 3. The logic of the project front-end Ofer Zwikael and Alicia Gilchrist 4. Undertaking the project front-end Monique Aubry and Serghei Floricel 5. Estimation Richard J. Kirkham 6. Incentives and politics: The perverse incentives paradox: root cause of many other paradoxes; the case of the Dutch Betuweroute Bert van Wee 7. Closing the loop: Ex-ante and ex-post evaluation in order to learn from mistakes and successes Knut Samset and Gro Holst Volden 8. Conclusions Terry M. Williams Appendix

Terry M. Williams'background is in operational research, initially in the defence industry. He has worked in three business schools: Strathclyde, head of school in Southampton and Dean of the Hull University Business School. He has held a variety of consultancy posts, including supporting multiple $bn post-project arbitration claims, and managing risk, and multiple large research contracts, including with the UK Infrastructure & Projects Authority. He has around 100 journal articles with an h-index over 50, and a number of books. He sits on the PMI Academic Insight Team and is a PMP. Knut Samset recently retired as professor of project management at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he founded the Concept Research Programme and was its Director for 20 years. He is also the founder and senior partner of Scanteam, an international consultancy based in Oslo, Norway. Samset’s academic background is in engineering and social science, and he holds a PhD in risk management. He has extensive experience in technology assessment, future studies, international development assistance, project management and evaluation. Gro Holst Volden is the current Director of the Concept Research Programme on Front-end Management of Major Investment Projects, at NTNU in Trondheim. She holds a Master’s degree in economics and a PhD in project management. Her areas of expertise are within project governance, public decision processes, and appraisal and evaluation of major public investments. Volden has prior experience from the consulting industry as well as government administration in Norway.