Projects as enabling strategy and restrictive implementation structures - some thought on innovation projects in the Public Sector

Challenges brought on by both global and domestic developments have increased the need to transform society and the economy by means of new operating models and structures. As a result, the increasing use of temporary... [ view full abstract ]

Challenges brought on by both global and domestic developments have increased the need to transform society and the economy by means of new operating models and structures. As a result, the increasing use of temporary governance mechanism such as the proliferation of projects can be regarded as one of the most significant changes within the contemporary public sector. The developments brought forth by an increasing use of projects include both possibilities and challenges. The possibilities, for instance, relate to the assumption that projects are able to operate in complex environments compared to traditional bureaucratic structures. The isolation of issues and focus on outputs makes them attractive tools by which innovations are expected to emerge, and they include an element of order in complex and at times “wicked” environments. Particularly the Nordic countries have witnessed a considerable increase in collaborative structures such as projects, partnerships and networks for facilitating innovation and change.
Projects include a strong element of change and have even been referred to as innovative learning organisations. Their ability to cut across organizational boundaries and include relevant stakeholder suggest that they have the necessary preconditions for innovations to emerge. These preconditions not only include the projects´ ability to foster a new way of thinking but also the ability to forget previous knowledge in order to learn something new. The expectation is that the results achieved in projects will be transferred to either other project organisations or more permanent organisations, structures or networks with ease. This paper analyses the extent to which this happens in a public sector context.
The use of projects in a public sector are to a great extent embedded in a complex institutional context, which to a great extent rests on a logic paved by permanency, coordination and continuity. There are, however, still considerable ambiguities as for the specific institutional prerequisites favouring a long-term consolidation of innovative actions and impacts, particularly in a public context. While previous research has acknowledged the need to expand traditional theories of temporary organisations, and that the contextual embeddedness and institutional recoupling of the results obtained by projects in the public sector need to be addressed, the key mechanisms for facilitating impacts of public sector project innovations in order to secure the long-term utilization of project innovations remain unclear. The significance of the underlying permanent structure in enabling or hindering the implementation of innovative project results has so far been neglected in both the contemporary project management and the extensive governance debate.
The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical discussion about the challenge of transferring innovative results gains in projects to permanent organisations in a public sector context and how this can be studied. The paper thus falls within the critical project management paradigm and aims to contribute to a more pluralistic understanding of projects beyond traditional project management heritage.

Keywords: Projectification, Public sector, Innovation, Policy implementation, Learning/Unlearning