Project management and high-value superyacht projects

an improvisational and temporal perspective

Article Change Management, Complexity, Construction March 2010

Project Management Journal

Leybourne, Stephen A.

How to cite this article:

Leybourne, S. A. (2010). Project management and high-value superyacht projects: an improvisational and temporal perspective. Project Management Journal, 41(1), 17–27.
This article considers specific elements of the project management of high-value deliverables in an under-researched sector. Specifically, it looks at ways in which change is accommodated in complex projects where scope, delivery, and cost are relatively inflexible. An emerging literature considers improvisational working within project-based work, which dilutes the “plan, then execute” paradigm that has shaped project work for some time. This research contributes to the temporal and rhythmic aspects of work in this area, linking with extant theory on, among other areas, punctuated equilibrium and organizational “rhythm,” and identifies parallels between improvised project work and established academic theory.
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