Project Management Of Unexpected Events
International Journal of Project Management 26 (2008) 80–86
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Project management of unexpected events
Anders So¨derholm
*
Umea° School of Business, Umea° University, SE-901 87 Umea° , Sweden
Abstract
Unexpected events and environmental impact not planned for are common during project implementation. This article explores how
unexpected events are dealt with in projects using qualitative case study data from four di erent cases. Results show four di erent
approaches to deal with unexpected events: innovative action, applying detachment strategies, setting up intensive meeting schedules
and negotiating project conditions are common approaches to deal with the unexpected events. The discussion shed new light on one
common situations during project execution – i.e. dealing with unexpected events – that is not normally included in the best practice
models of project management.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Project management practice; Unexpected events
1. Introduction
On the contrary, project management models fully illumi-
nate the project itself while leaving the environment some-
Project management practices are often, in the text book
what hidden in darkness
[1]
.
version and from the project manager’s viewpoint, con-
However, investigating the relations between project
ceived of as ‘‘executing the plan’’ as e cient as possible
execution and the project environment is being an increas-
while avoiding di culties and deviations. As a conse-
ingly more interesting issue for at least three reasons. First,
quence, dealing with the project environment is also a part
many projects are organized in networks having several
of the execution assignment and included in the plan. First,...
Please login to view the full essay...