Exploring project complexities and their problems: a critical review of the literature

It is hard to imagine any simple projects in today’s emergence behaviour world. There is varying degrees of complexity in all types of projects. This is evident in the early definition of complexity, which is defined as an entity which consists of many varied interrelated parts and elements such as tasks, components, and interdependence (Hornby & Wehmeier 1995). Thus, every practical project in the world contains a degree of complexity. Complexity is one of the most important and controversial topics in many disciplines, project management included. Interestingly, however, there is no universally accepted definition of complexity (Ireland, 2013). Stephen Hawking has mentioned correctly “I think that the next century (21st) will be the century of complexity.” Project Management Institute (PMI) also has concentrated on that recently. “Complexity is not going away and will only increase. Ultimately, how organizations anticipate, comprehend and navigate complexity determines their successes and failures” (PMI 2013a, p. 5). Complex systems display numerous different behaviours. Self-organisation and the emergent properties of them are often counter-intuitive. As a result, opportunities for external or top-down control are very limited (Helbing 2013). This is because of their diverse components’ properties and interactions without simple cause-effect relationships. Based on this, “complexity is the inability to predict the behaviour of a system due to large numbers of constituent parts within the system and dense relationships among them” (Sheard & Mostashari, 2012, p. 11). Although there is extensive research in this area, there is still a lack of understanding on what exactly project complexity is. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to clarify the epistemology of project complexity and the implication of this definition for complex project management, considering different schools of thought. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is seeking out what factors make a complex project while considering different perspectives. Given the research main aim, this research seeks to answer the following questions: Q1: What is project complexity and why are some projects complex? Q2: What factors contribute to project complexity considering different schools of thought? To answer the research questions above, first of all, we have conducted an in-depth systematic literature review to define complexity in the context of project management. The analysis period is more than 25 years from 1990 to 2015, and covers key developments in project complexity. Then, selected publications have been analysed. Finally three dominant perspectives construct a project complexity framework: the Project Management Institute (PMI) view, the System of Systems view and the complexity theories view.

Author dc:creator

• Bakhshi, Javad

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Ireland, Vernon
• Elsey, Barry

• project complexity
• complex projects
• system of systems
• systematic review
• complexity theories
• histogram analysis
• Research by Publication

DOI

10.4225/55/58f6d012dd064

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.adelaide.edu.au:2440/104535