Narrow Results

Developing countries need a range of projects to foster their long-term national progress in every sphere: economic, social, environmental, institutional, and physical. Thus, the efficient management of projects is of particular importance to these countries. This is underscored by the fact that these countries lack the financial capacity and managerial and technological capability to bear the consequences of poor performance in the management of projects. However, as discussed in Chapter 2 of this book, the results of projects in the developing countries are poorer than those in their industrialized counterparts. Whereas there are gaps in provision of all types of buildings and infrastructure in developing countries, a great deal has been built. What are the lessons from the projects that have been completed? In particular, what does the well-documented experience on international projects teach researchers and practitioners about the traditional approach to project management?

This chapter explores project management performance in the developing countries using, in particular, international development projects on which there is a good volume of literature. It is shown that many factors in the context of the developing countries make the application of the existing approach to project management inappropriate. The possible synergies between international development and project management are explored. This shows that the body of knowledge on, and the practice of, project management should be decolonized. A tentative attempt is made to lay out what the nature of the decolonized project management field of knowledge would look like.

The field of project studies has a growing body of knowledge which receives contributions from many disciplines. This is important as the project has become ubiquitous in business organizations and in life in general. At what stage is this body of knowledge in its development? How relevant is it to the developing countries? How can the needs, concerns, and attributes of the developing countries be appropriately reflected in it? This chapter considers the development of the body of knowledge of project studies from the perspective of developing countries. It begins with a consideration of the current myths and misconceptions in the practice of project management and research in project studies, such as the tendency to consider all projects to be the same, and the low level of attention paid to the context of projects. It proceeds to discuss the theoretical development of project management, including its interdisciplinarity. The level of development of the field is next discussed, and it is noted that there are disagreements on the level of maturity of the field and the extent to which the lack of progress in the field is responsible for the poor performance on projects. The future of project management is next considered, starting with the challenges facing project management, and setting out some suggestions by authors for further research. The discussion then adopts a developing country perspective and takes up the subject of decolonizing project studies. It goes on to make proposals on what a Project Management Body of Knowledge for the developing countries should look like.

This chapter completes the book. It begins with a discussion of the nature of the construction industry and the construction process, in order to highlight the peculiar nature of construction activity and the need for special actions in managing it, which cannot be adequately covered by generic frameworks. This is followed by a consideration of the importance of projects in developing countries, including the problems of the construction industry in those countries. The next section presents a brief summary of the discussion in the book. The possible implications of a developing country body of knowledge (BoK) are then discussed. Consideration of the future of project management, including the need for its improvement, challenges facing it, and an agenda for research in the future, is followed by a focus on two possible research areas: Benefits Management and Project Value. A case for the decolonization of project management is followed by suggestions of areas of research on project management in developing countries. The final section completes this last chapter and the book by proposing a definition for project management in developing countries before discussing actions to bring about the body of knowledge of project management for developing countries, including research and particular activities.

This chapter takes up the question of what kinds of economic cooperation are necessary in the projects of truth and reconciliation in Canada today. In particular, the question of how to reimagine respectful business relationships in the matrices of colonial laws and Indigenous legal orders that coexist across kinship, transformation and time. The chapter begins by setting the 2015 vision of “partnership” offered by the Prime Minister of Canada in conversation with the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and British Columbia’s partnership laws. It then moves into a close and careful reading of the Secwépemc story The War with the Sky People in order to contextualize the myriad ways that responsibility, leadership, community, kinship, intervention, repair, success and story are integral to what it means to do public-private partnership in postcolonial times. By engaging with the conflicts between the Bird, Fish and Sky peoples, a diversity of governance and community ways of being and knowing sits at the heart of this reimagination. The chapter models that the intellectual and affective work of building meaningful partnerships — within families, in business structures and intersocietally — requires a genuine openness to legal pluralism in order to decolonize our current patterns of business storytelling.