DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT ADJUSTMENTS IN PROJECT-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

We found several publications on project-based organizations (PBOs) in the project management literature, but only a few deals with projects’ mutual adjustment and organizational context. This research uses a qualitative methodology to develop a paradigm for organizational context–project adaptations in project-based organizations. The framework defines PBOs’ activities to establish their organizational context, modify processes, and create relationships to help and support the project’s needs. We used a representative sampling approach where cross-sectional, semi-structured interviews interviewed twenty-six highly experienced senior project management experts. Our findings, organized according to the blocks we used to categorize the organizational context literature: culture, strategy, structure, processes, power dynamics, state/condition, and time, provide practitioners with a background to shape their project context and academics with a basis for further theorizing.