The Socio-political dynamics and complexity of organisational change projects: A research agenda

There has been a rapid and significant growth in the use of projects as a method to drive the implementation of organisational change, thus a shift to a management paradigm. In practice, a project manager is often allocated to projects post scoping where the focus is on governance and execution; often with little understating of the real problem statement and the socio-political dynamics of the project environment. This paper provides a critical literature review which explores the current state of research relating to organisational change projects and argues that increased attention to socio-political dynamics and complexity within the front-end of projects would likely influence assessment of project viability, scope and approach. The paper identifies a gap in the literature focused on the pre-initiation phase of complex organisational change projects that puts people and uncertainty at the heart of this phase. It draws on the dynamics of the project environment, people and decision making under the umbrella of complexity during the critical pre-initiation phase of a project, where real value can be injected or destroyed. In doing so, the paper outlines a research agenda to inform future empirical work which is likely to hold significant implication for the boundaries of the project management discipline and the role of project management practitioners.