Competing Values in the Management of Innovative Projects: The Case of the RandstadRail Project

Abstract

Large engineering projects without late delivery, cost overruns or technical problems seem to be rare (Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). Illustrations of this statement are abundant worldwide (e.g. the French Superphenix project, the German Transrapid project, the Channel Tunnel, Denver International Airport, Boston’s Central Artery Tunnel (Dempsey et al., 1997; Bell, 1998; Altshuler and Luberoff, 2003; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). The political and societal environments of these projects all ask for safe delivery on time and within a budget. A variety of project management tools have been developed to meet such expectations. However, these projects also have innovative elements, providing situations that implementers (e.g. managers, engineers, operators) of the projects have not met before. These elements require room for improvisation and interaction between implementers, which most project management tools typically do not provide.