733 research outputs found
Issues in front-end decision-making on projects
No full textThe importance of the front-end decision-making phase in projects is being increasingly recognized - the need to do the right project is on a par with doing the project right. This area is underrepresented in the literature, but there are a number of key themes that run throughout, identifying key issues or difficulties during this stage. This article looks at some of these themes and includes: the need for alignment between organizational strategy and the project concept; dealing with complexity, in particular the systemicity and interrelatedness within project decisions; consideration of the ambiguity implicit in all major projects; taking into account psychological and political biases within estimation of benefits and costs; consideration of the social geography and politics within decision-making groups; and preparation for the turbulence within the project environment, including the maintenance of strategic alignment
Incentives and politics: The perverse incentives paradox: root cause of many other paradoxes; the case of the Dutch Betuweroute
No full textThe transport system in general, and, more specifically, transport infrastructure projects as part of that system, has major impacts on society. This chapter elaborates on the question as to what extent the results can be transferred to other contexts. Because of the positive decision to build, combined with a lack of understanding of the rationale and no clear and neutral assessment of the pros and cons of the line, many people felt manipulated, although on the positive side, the process also contributed to important improvements in decision-making procedures. This chapter departs from what Samset and Volden refer to as ‘the paradox of perverse incentives’: public investments with no financial obligations for the target group may cause perverse incentives and result in counterproductive projects. It also makes clear that many things went wrong, such as having no clear explanation of the problems the line was supposed to solve, or the related challenges.Transport and Logistic
Conclusions
No full textProjects are the key organisational form used to deliver transformational policy change and build new systems in the public sector. Traditional thinking has looked at the project as an exercise to carry out a defined task in a specific time, at a specific cost. The ‘paradox of the significance of front-end management’ describes how less effort is spent identifying the best conceptual solution than on estimating and improving performance against tactical success factors. There is plenty of advice and guidance for public decision-maker, but actual practice appears not to be so simple. As Samset and Volden showed a few years ago, there seemed to be a number of curious ‘paradoxes’ causing projects to be launched in ways that were later seen as not of the best. Some aspects are incorrect behaviours that need to be understood and avoided. Some, however, need to be understood and managed as paradoxes, as argued in emerging paradox theories such as Schad et al. 2016
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A Norwegian grey zone: Knut Rød, Victor Lind and 'The crucial year, 1942'
No full textThis article uses Primo Levi’s concept of “the grey zone” to explore Knut Rød’s involvement in the transfer of 532 Norwegian Jews from Oslo to Auschwitz in 1942. Rød, the police chief in charge of the operation, was subsequently exonerated of any crime on the grounds that he had simultaneously used his position to help members of Milorg – the Norwegian Resistance. The legal and moral basis of this verdict has been questioned by the artist Victor Lind in a series of artworks, including his “countermonument” The Perpetrator (2005)
Systems Engineering in Front-End Governance of Major Public Investment Projects
No full textThis paper provides an account of how systems engineering principles are applied by the Norwegian government to improve up-front planning and decision-making of large public investment projects, as well as the effect of these efforts after 15 years of operations. It suggests that the results are promising, both in securing budgetary compliance, but also to ensure conceptual solutions that are economically viable in a life-time perspective
An integrated microfinancing concept for rural electrification by photovoltaics in developing countries
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Front Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, List of Authors
No full textFront Matter, Table of Contents, Preface, List of Author
Post-lobotomy epilepsy illustrated by the story of Ellinor Hamsun, the daughter of the famous Norwegian author Knut Hamsun
No full textIn Scandinavia, at least 11.500 people were lobotomized in the period 1939–1983. Beside grave personality changes, the surgery caused epilepsy in 10–35% of the patients. Moreover, many died due to perioperative bleedings, convulsive status epilepticus or SUDEP.
Most of the stories of these people are anonymous and their post-lobotomy lives are scarcely documented. If it was not for the fact that Ellinor Hamsun (1916–1987) was the daughter of the famous Nobel Prize winning Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, her lobotomy story and the subsequent iatrogenic epilepsy would probably have remained unknown
Incentives and politics: The perverse incentives paradox: root cause of many other paradoxes; the case of the Dutch Betuweroute
No full textThe transport system in general, and, more specifically, transport infrastructure projects as part of that system, has major impacts on society. This chapter elaborates on the question as to what extent the results can be transferred to other contexts. Because of the positive decision to build, combined with a lack of understanding of the rationale and no clear and neutral assessment of the pros and cons of the line, many people felt manipulated, although on the positive side, the process also contributed to important improvements in decision-making procedures. This chapter departs from what Samset and Volden refer to as ‘the paradox of perverse incentives’: public investments with no financial obligations for the target group may cause perverse incentives and result in counterproductive projects. It also makes clear that many things went wrong, such as having no clear explanation of the problems the line was supposed to solve, or the related challenges
Project Governance: Getting Investments Right
No full textProvides essential insight into what it takes to turn an initial idea into a project with successful outcome in the long term. Fills a gap in current literature on project management and is thoroughly grounded in the latest research in this field
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