Governance and Resilience of Project Networks: On a Rising yet a Misunderstood Trajectory

Abstract

Continued search for sustainable project success has dictated a shift from individualism and competition to partnerships and networking. Project networks is no longer a distant concept but a practical reality. Various actors under different social configurations (called project networks) are increasingly partnering together in search for scarce resources and complementarities. It is evidently clear that project outcomes are achieved through the collective interplay among many actors influenced by technological, social and institutional frameworks in a systemic and co-evolutionary nature. The paper discusses key antecedents (governance practices, network composition, and cultural attributes) of sustainable, and innovative interactions (otherwise known as resilience) in project networks. The paper depicts a key deficiency whereby appropriate skill sets that match unique organizational configuration of project networks, remain elusive to majority of project network managers. The purpose of the paper is to generate a debate by reviewing different literature and highlighting available contributions on the topic while pointing out existing gaps. The debate is intended to stimulate thinking among educationists and project practitioners towards developing a tailored curriculum on project network management that will equip project managers with the requisite skills necessary for managing fragile, complex, and dynamic structural and process configuration of project networks.  The paper concludes by noting that for any project network governance to be successful, there is need to understand the composition of that network, cultural attributes, and interaction of network actors.