Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior

Lavagnon A. Ika is Professor of Project Management in the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Professor Ika is at the forefront of the project behavior debate as protagonist of the Planning Fallacy versus Hiding Hand debate and proponent of Fifth Hand theory. He is the author of the PMI award-winning book Managing Fuzzy Projects (2023) and his work on project behavior has won two International Project Management Association (IPMA) research awards. Jeffrey K. Pinto is Andrew Morrow and Elizabeth Lee Black Chair in Management Technology in the Black School of Business at Penn State–Erie, The Behrend College. Professor Pinto has been considered one of the top scholars in his field for nearly three decades. He has written and edited 27 books and several hundred scientific papers, and has received numerous awards for his research in project management.

• Introduction to the Handbook of Project Behavior Lavagnon A. Ika and Jeffrey K. Pinto; Part I. Guiding Principles: What is Project Behavior and Why it Matters: 1. The rise and fall of the planning fallacy: from the impulsion to the compulsion to theorize Lavagnon A. Ika; 2. Unveiling the hiding hand Graham Room; 3. Voyages of discovery: balancing leadership, control and capabilities in megaproject delivery Rebecca Vine, Dicle Kortantamer and Andrew Davies; 4. Temporal structuring and project behavior Ann Langley and Gerry McGivern; 5. Managing project complexity and uncertainty through dynamic and systemic stakeholder modelling Fran Ackerman; Part II. Deviating from Plans: How Complexity and Uncertainty Affect Project Behavior: 6. Averaging out divergent project behavior: an unintended consequence of project structures Kim van Oorschot, Therese F. Dille and Jonas Söderlund; 7. Intra and inter-organizational governance and the behavior of projects Ralf Müller; 8. Strategic alignment, uncertainties, and realignment of project portfolios Miia Martinsuo and Siiri Tuominen; 9. Stakeholder perceptions and project performance Kate Davis, Liz Machtynger and Francesco Di Maddaloni; 10. Governance shifts and short-term performance Maude Brunet; 11. Maximum feasible project failure: the German reform of money laundering prevention Wolfgang Seibel and Katharina Eßmeyer; 12. Project misbehaviour in infrastructure projects: mega-projects for mega-corruption Regis Signor and Peter E. D. Love; Part III. Practical Tips: How to Shape Project Behavior and Curb Project Misbehavior: 13. Setting realistic project goals Ofer Zwikael, Alicia Gilchrist and Jack Meredith; 14. At the brink of a project: heuristics to block potential project disasters at the early project opportunity screening Joana Geraldi, Verena Stingl and Maximilian Schriewersmann; 15. The roles of governance mechanisms to manage misbehaviours in the project front-end Joseph W. Harrisson, Jens K. Roehrich and Michael A. Lewis; 16. Coping with changes to the plan: dealing with twists and turns in projects Ashwin Mahalingam; 17. Project behavior, disruptions and the antifragility spectrum Jeffrey K. Pinto and Greg Usher; 18. Curbing cost increases and benefit shortfalls Morten Welde and Gro Holst Volden; Afterword: a fundamental problem with projects or project management? Stewart Clegg.

'Lavagnon A. Ika and Jeffrey K. Pinto offer a timely theory of project behavior to explain (under and over) performance of projects. This rich and well-argued book with carefully selected practice examples is a must read for scholars and practitioners alike. Nothing is more practical than a good theory.' Martina Huemann, The Project Hub, University College London and WU Vienna