Recommendations

Based on the conclusions, three recommendations are formulated to support managers of complex spatial development projects.

8.5.1 Windows of opportunity

The success of interventions is depended on the context in which they are applied. The period of time in which a suitable intervention can achieve success is called a “window of opportunity”. These oppor- tunities seem to be rare and brief and therefore they should be recognized in time. It is important to pay sufficient attention to the context, because windows of opportunity are not easy to recognize. It is important to realize that windows of opportunity that give rise to a process management interven- tion differ from windows of opportunity that allow project management interventions.

Process management interventions require cooperation. Therefore involved stakeholders should ac- tively support an intervention and be willing to cooperate. Important in obtaining active support is a

sense of urgency among these stakeholders. Urgency may arise by dissatisfaction with the current situation or by the prospect of increased profits. Project managers can try to contribute to this ur- gency by making stakeholders aware of possible changes and the associated benefits.

Project management interventions are applied by the project manager and his organization. Therefore mainly passive support from the involved stakeholders is required, which means resistance against an intervention should be avoided. Resistance can be avoided if the intervention provides a prospect of profit or if the legitimacy of resistance is low. The legitimacy of resistance can be low as a conse- quence of previously made agreements or because the failure of a process approach.

8.5.2 Connect project and process management

Project situations contain both elements that require process management and elements that require project management. These elements often appear simultaneously and cause ambiguous project situations.

To successfully intervene in these situations, project managers should not make a strict distinction between project management and process management. Instead, to intervene successfully in these ambiguous situations, interventions should contain a combination of project and process manage- ment. It is recommended to weave project and process management together in an individual inter- vention or in a series of linked interventions. Connections between project and process management can be applied in various forms, as is explained in paragraph 8.5.3.

8.5.3 Combining intervention mechanisms

In the previous recommendation, the need to combine project and process management is explained. How should these approaches be combined in interventions? As stated, an intervention must fit its context and this also applies to the way project and process management should be combined. There is not one ideal method to interweave project and process management in an intervention. However, there are three intervention mechanisms that successfully combine project and process management. It is recommended that project managers apply the following three intervention mechanisms:

1 Contribute to unexpected objectives

The first mechanism whereby project and process management can be combined, is by contributing to the achievement of each other’s objectives. Project management should not only be used for the re- alization of project-oriented goals, but it is also an approach to contribute to the achievement of proc- ess-oriented goals, such as increasing support. Conversely, process management should not only be used for the achievement of process-oriented goals. Process management is also an approach to con- tribute to the achievement of project-oriented goals, such as realization of the project within time or

In ambiguous project situations, it is recommended to apply interventions that combine project and process management.

It is recommended to use windows of opportunity, to successfully apply interventions  A shared sense of urgency is required to apply process management interventions  The lack of potential resistance is required to apply project management interventions

budget. Through this mechanism project and process management can act as mutually reinforcing management approaches

2 Compensate adverse effects

The second mechanism whereby project and process management interventions can be combined is by compensating each others adverse or negative effects. Project management interventions could raise resistance among other stakeholders. Process management interventions can cause excessive openness and thereby increase uncertainty in relation to scope, schedule or budget. It is recom- mended to compensate these negative impacts by combining project and process management. Project management interventions that are complemented with process conditions can avoid resis- tance. Process management interventions that are complemented with project conditions can de- crease uncertainty and excessive openness. Through this mechanism project and process manage- ment can act as mutually compensating management approaches

3 Utilize each others results

The third mechanism whereby project and process management can be combined is by utilizing each others results. By appointing and utilizing the achievements related to project-oriented objectives, a situation can be created which allows the appliance of a process management intervention. Con- versely also the results of performed process management can be used to create conditions that allow the successful appliance of a project management intervention.

Through this mechanism project and process management can act as mutually allowing management approaches, providing incentives for each other’s application.

It is recommended to apply project and process management as mutually allowing interventions:  Process-oriented results can be used as an opportunity for project management interventions  Project-oriented results can be used as an opportunity for process management interventions It is recommended to apply project and process management as reinforcing approaches

 Project management interventions should be applied to contribute to process-oriented goals  Process management interventions should be applied to contribute to project-oriented goals

It is recommended to apply project and process management as mutually compensating interven- tions:

 Project-oriented conditions can compensate negative effects of process management  Process-oriented conditions can compensate negative effects of project management

9

Epilogue

This final chapter is a reflection on the implementation and results of the research. First, in paragraph 9.1 critical remarks are made on the investigation. In addition to this paragraph 9.2 provides oppor- tunities for further research on this topic. The epilogue is ended in paragraph 9.3 with a personal re- flection of the author. Here the lessons learned from this study are compared to other experiences that the author has gained during his studies at the faculty of TPM.

9.1 Comments on research

To determine the value of this research and the conclusions in this paragraph comments are made on this investigation. The paragraph does focus on both the research method and the substance of this research.

9.1.1 Comments on the research method

The quality of a research can be assessed by looking at the reliability and validity (Van Aken et al, 2007). These two aspects will be discussed in this section.

9.1.1.1 Reliability

The reliability of empirical research is depended on the consistency and replicability of the methods, conditions and results of the study. Replicability means that it is possible to determine how a study is conducted, so that a repetition of the research provides the same results.

This study includes a research design, in which the selection of the research methods is explained. The selection of interview respondents is shown in this report. Finally, a bibliography and a list of inter- viewees are included. This information increases the reliability of the research.

However, there are aspects that make the replicability of the research difficult. First, the data ob- tained in the interviews is influenced by the researcher. Although a fixed questionnaire has been used, the researcher had the possibility to ask additional questions based on the answers of the respon- dents. These additional questions are not put on paper. Second, the replies of the respondents are partly influenced by actual experience. If the study is repeated, possibly other experiences and inter- ventions will be mentioned by the respondents.

9.1.1.2 Validity

The validity of a research shows the relationship between the results of an investigation and how those results are achieved. This paragraph describes the content validity and external validity.

Content validity

Content validity describes the extent to which the research measures the construct in question. In or- der to achieve content validity, it is important to clearly communicate the various concepts of the re- search to the respondents. This is done by sending a questionnaire to the respondents prior to the in-

terviews. Also the used definitions of project and process management are presented to the respon- dents to avoid misunderstandings about these concepts.

However, although interviews are rated as the most appropriate way to collect data to answer the re- search question, also drawbacks can be appointed. For two reasons, interviews can produce unreliable data (Baarda and De Goede, 2001:223) and thereby affect the content validity.

First project managers are not always fully aware of their behaviour and the motives for this behav- iour. This means that if project managers are asked to appoint crucial interventions, they are likely to have a selective memory. This means that project managers come up with more examples of interven- tions in which they stand out well and which positively confirms their self-image. In their answers pro- ject managers put more emphasis on their own role in the success of the interventions and the exter- nal influences might be relatively underestimated.

Secondly, interviews often refer to giving socially desirable answers. Again, respondents are happy to show their strengths. It is therefore possible that respondents gave answers which they expected to make a good impression and to meet the expectations of the interviewer. This effect can be enhanced by the questions of the interviewer. By the way the questions are asked the interviewer exerts influ- ence on the direction of the interview and the kind of answers the respondent gives.

The above disadvantages are expected to have a relatively limited impact on the validity of this study. There is specifically searched for examples of successful management and the perception that project managers have of their interventions. While taking into account a possible underestimation of the ex- ternal influences in the responses, it is not harmful to this research that project managers mainly fo- cus on their “best practices”.

External validity

External validity refers to the degree to which results can be generalized. To increase the generaliza- bility of this investigation a choice is made to perform interviews as research method instead of a case study. Through a case study only information about a small number of projects could be obtained. With the chosen research design it was possible to perform 31 interviews with project managers. The respondents were all experienced project managers who have worked in several large spatial devel- opment projects. With these respondents a total of 79 interventions are discussed. These interven- tions are carried out in 49 different projects. Hereby information is obtained about the most impor- tant interventions in a significant proportion of this type of projects in the Netherlands. Based on this extensive data collection the generalizability of the results is examined to be high. This generalizabil- ity is limited to the type of spatial development projects viewed in this study. In accordance with the empirical data, also the conclusions and recommendations focus on success factors.

9.1.2 Comments on substance of research.

In addition to the remarks on the research method, there are also substantive comments on this re- search.

First, this research aimed to present a categorized and extensive overview of successful interventions. However, the conclusions do not contain a complete catalogue of successful interventions in specific project situations. The research showed that the reality of complex spatial development projects con- tains an indefinite number of different situations. Specific project characteristics play a major role in determining which intervention is most appropriate at a specific time. Therefore, this research even-

tually led to a categorization of types of interventions, but not to a complete catalogue. Also a list of requirements is formulated which a situation should meet for an intervention mechanism to be suc- cessful. But the research did not present certainty to project managers in which exact situation which exact interventions should be used. Based on this research such a recommendation would only pre- sent false security. This is an important substantive limitation of this research.

Second, this research is focused on the theory of project and process management. However as indi- cated by the respondents of this research, successful intervening is only possible if the project man- ager and his organization posses the right skills. Project and process management are performed on a basis of personal skills. Despite of all existing theories, the human factor seems to be decisive for a successful and effective tackling of spatial development projects. Examples of skills a project manager has to posses are leadership skills and teamwork skills. Some of the available personal skills will fit better to a project management approach while other might fit better to a process management ap- proach. This is an important part of the management of complex projects which received relatively lit- tle attention in this research. This is a conscious choice within the limited available time and opportu- nities for this research. However, in the integral view on the management of complex projects the human factor should not be underestimated.

9.2 Further investigation

Results of this research can complement existing research in the field of project and process man- agement. But in addition to answering the research questions, this study also gave rise to new ques- tions. Several possibilities for further research are briefly discussed in this paragraph.

Relationship between project and process management

A large amount of empirical data is gathered on the relationship between project management and process management in complex spatial development projects. Presumption is that the share of pro- ject and process management is associated with the project management and process management characteristics of the project. Therefore much attention is paid to the various project characteristics that affect this relationship. Relatively little attention is paid to opportunities for project managers to influence this relation. Is it possible that interventions from the project managers can influence the extent to which project and process management process are demanded? And how can project man- agers steer this relation? And to what extent does this add value to the management of spatial devel- opment projects?

The further development of intervention mechanisms

The identified interventions mechanisms raise several new questions. Therefore it would be interest- ing to select a limited number of those mechanisms for further research. This could contribute to a better description of the situations in which an intervention mechanism can be applied. It might be possible to extend the number and the quality of the formulated demands for success. Also the results of the intervention mechanisms can be discussed further. Do these mechanisms only have positive ef- fects or do they create additional management challenges? And how can project managers apply these mechanisms best?

The different perceptions of crucial interventions

In this study interviews are performed with integral project managers at the direction of spatial de- velopment projects. As a result only their perception of the observed interventions is discussed. For further research it would be interesting to select a smaller number of interventions and to interview more involved stakeholders about these interventions. This method can be used to examine whether there actually exist different perceptions on one intervention. Did other stakeholders also qualify the intervention as crucial to the project results or did they perceive other factors of greater influence to the project? And is the role of the project manager decisive at this intervention or are other persons or causes of greater importance instead?

The challenges discussed above are not yet covered in this research and call for further theoretical and conceptual debate and empirical research.

9.3 Personal reflection

For the author this research is the conclusion of his study at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology. In this last section of the report the author reflects on his personal experiences during this research and describes how they relate to the experiences with his study.

A comparison between this research and study experiences is relevant because the subject of this re- search is consistent with the core of the TPM education programme. The master System Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management (SEPAM) is structured along two main perspectives; these are the actor perspective and system perspective. Along these perspectives a closer look is taken at respec- tively the soft and hard elements of socio-technical systems. Process management as examined in this research may be linked to the actor perspective and the system perspective is similar to aspects from project management.

Theoretical experiences

Are the experiences from this research comparable with the education within SEPAM? In several study projects within the SEPAM programme students have the assignment to connect the system and the actor perspective. Although the SEPAM student is familiar with both theories, the author ex- perienced that combining them is a challenge for many students. This is perhaps explained by the fact that no single scientific theory is available at this point. This research has shown that various scientific theories exist about combining project and process management. Taking a closer look on these scien- tific concepts provided a clear added value to the author, in addition to his education in the SEPAM programme.

Practical experiences

This research was not only instructive for the author because the extension of his theoretical knowl- edge. In particular the practical appliance of these theories is clearly revealed during this research. Within the SEPAM programme students repeatedly have to practice to make process designs and to make technical-based system designs. However, developing an integrated design of a social-technical system and giving this practical interpretation is a big challenge for students. Combining actor and system perspectives often seemed constrained to listing a limited number of theoretical tricks. As a consequence the author and his fellow students were not always convinced of the practical applicabil- ity and relevance of their designs

For the author these sometimes unsatisfying experiences were a motivation to study the combination of project and process management more closely in his graduation project. The author was also look- ing for a better picture of the practical implementation of project and process management.

After this research the author is relatively satisfied about the achievement of his personal goals. For