Limitations

In qualitative studies employing interviews as a key method of data collection, there is always the potential for retrospective bias of the participants. While the interviews are the primary source of data that appear throughout this thesis, I used several methods of data collection throughout the course of this study to mitigate this bias. Perhaps most importantly, the detailed field notes taken during my ‘real-time’ observations allowed me to triangulate interview data to minimize (if not eliminate) the potential for retrospective bias in the data.

Whenever a single case study has been used to generate theory, questions are inevitably raised about the generalizability of the findings (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). While a case provides the opportunity for in-depth and accurate observation of the phenomenon of interest, there is always a trade-off in terms of how broadly the findings can be transferred to other domains. The focal organization in this study was, in many ways, an exemplary example of an LSCC and selected on that basis. Thus, the transferability of these findings is aimed at other LSCCs and not organizations in general. However, any complex creative project may take a few important lessons from this work, specifically those that require coordination over time and across multiple groups.

My initial research questions focused on the role of the project budget in coordinating day-to-day activities in LSCCs as well as how it might be used to mediate the tensions between creativity and control. Consequently, my inquiry was focused on the individuals that were accountable for different parts of the project budget (i.e. managers). My exploration focused on conversations around the project budget, particularly in the individual department meetings where the cost estimates for each scene were the primary topic of conversation. This exploration extended to the negotiations over the scale, approach to the creative inputs and the trade-offs the

department heads frequently made when the bounds of their budgets had been reached. Thus, my focus was on the budget as a coordinating structure and how it was enacted by individuals in their day-to-day activities for that purpose, not on how it was made or compiled. Further explorations in this area may yield surprising insights into the relationship between the budget, time and temporality.

The distinction between project budgets, operating budgets and capital budgets is an important boundary condition for the transferability of my findings to other settings. These three different kinds of budgets are used in organizations for very different purposes and each is concerned with a very different set of activities. In this study, I focused on project budgets in LSCCs that were not connected to performance bonuses of any kind (see also Frow et al., 2010). Studies have shown that dysfunctional behaviours can result when performance bonuses are tied to the attainment of budget targets (e.g. Jensen, 2003). This does present an opportunity for further research to determine whether performance bonuses are commonly tied to project budgets in LSCCs in other contexts and what impact this has on delivering projects ‘on time and on budget.’

The industry context also leads to another potential limitation of this study. Bringing projects in ‘on time and on budget’ is the cultural norm for domestic film and television projects in Canada. However, anecdotal comments in the interview data and articles in the industry trades suggest that this is not necessarily the case for U.S.-based projects. Nor is this necessarily the case in other LSCCs such as large-scale software development projects where timelines and project budgets are routinely exceeded by as much as 200% (Lientz & Rea, 2001). While this does limit the transferability of these findings, it also presents an opportunity for future research

to explore the connections between the project budget and the evolving path to creative and emergent goals in other LSCCs.

More specifically, it opens up an opportunity to further understand how projects stay ‘on budget’, particularly when navigating complex challenges. While this thesis establishes that project budgets facilitate coordinating creativity across temporalities in one type of LSCC, we need more comparative studies of how the social accomplishment of the budget is linked to coordinating over time in other contexts. Exploring how project budgets inform activities in other types of LSCCs where overruns are common could inform theorizing on project management both within and across organizational boundaries.

Finally, given the qualitative nature of this study, I present a statement of reflexivity since my prior experiences and beliefs undoubtedly shaped this research (Willig, 2001). The purpose of this statement is to allow readers to “explore the ways in which a researcher’s involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research” (Nightingale & Cromby, 1999, p.228). The film and television industry has long held my fascination. My first paid position in the industry was as a background performer in a feature film that was shot in Vancouver. It was 1980, I was still in high school and the city was not yet known as “Hollywood North”. The film was initially ‘shelved’ (i.e. not released) by Paramount and I went on to pursue an accounting designation, which seemed a more reliable career path than acting. But my passion for the industry never left and in 1993, I began my 15-year career behind the camera as the Controller/Business Affairs Manager for an independent production company. There were several moves over the course of my career, which took me to New York City, Toronto, San

Francisco and back to Toronto again where my final position in the industry was VP Finance for Canwest Broadcasting. Thus, I began my research with an in-depth understanding of the inner workings of the industry and its unique culture. This familiarity shaped the nature of my interactions with the participants in this study in a way that allowed me to penetrate beneath surface observations to explore the deeper experiences of the crew members. While the nature of my prior responsibilities as a financial executive in

the industry rarely brought me into close contact with the mid-level managers (i.e. department heads) on production crews, I have always held a great deal of personal and professional respect for their work. During the course of this study, my level of respect for this group increased as I developed an in-depth understanding of the creative nature of the work they perform, which is largely invisible to the public given their fascination with the stars, directors and producers. Thus, in collecting and analyzing the data contained in this study, I am undoubtedly biased towards the crew. Readers of this thesis should be aware of this perspective as they assess my research and findings.