IT Project Governance and Stakeholder Conflict Resolution

<p>IT projects have long been problematic, particularly as they have grown in size and complexity, frequently integrating several organisational functions, and often involving many stakeholders as a result. A common problem with large, complex IT projects is stakeholder conflict. Unless conflict is resolved effectively, there is a risk that the project will suffer delays and struggle to make progress. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that environmental factors, such as culture, power, and history, play in conflict resolution. This study also examines how IT project governance can moderate the negative effects of environmental factors, and facilitate more successful conflict resolution. A systems perspective is used to represent the research framework. A positivist, qualitative research method using three case studies is used to examine the nature of conflict resolution in IT projects, comparing and contrasting outcomes. IT project governance arrangements (policies, authority structures and mechanisms) are found to be critical to the way stakeholder conflict is resolved</p>

IT Project Governance and Stakeholder Conflict Resolution

<p>IT projects have long been problematic, particularly as they have grown in size and complexity, frequently integrating several organisational functions, and often involving many stakeholders as a result. A common problem with large, complex IT projects is stakeholder conflict. Unless conflict is resolved effectively, there is a risk that the project will suffer delays and struggle to make progress. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that environmental factors, such as culture, power, and history, play in conflict resolution. This study also examines how IT project governance can moderate the negative effects of environmental factors, and facilitate more successful conflict resolution. A systems perspective is used to represent the research framework. A positivist, qualitative research method using three case studies is used to examine the nature of conflict resolution in IT projects, comparing and contrasting outcomes. IT project governance arrangements (policies, authority structures and mechanisms) are found to be critical to the way stakeholder conflict is resolved</p>

Responsible Leadership and the Reflective CEO: Resolving Stakeholder Conflict by Imagining What Could be done

In light of grand societal challenges, most recently the global Covid-19 pandemic, there is a call for research on responsible leadership. While significant advances have been made in recent years towards a better understanding of the concept, a gap exists in the understanding of responsible leadership in emerging countries, specifically how leaders resolve prevalent moral dilemmas. Following Werhane (1999), we use moral imagination as an analytical approach to analyze a dilemmatic stakeholder conflict (between indigenous communities in rural India and an emerging market multinational enterprise headquartered in the same country) through the lense of different responsible leadership mindsets and in light of different ethical principles and moral background theories. Based on this analysis, we arrive at a tentative moral judgement, concluding that the instrumental approach is morally inferior and recommending the integrative approach as the morally superior choice. In the subsequent discussion—focussed on what “could” (instead of “should”) be done, we apply the integrative script and use moral imagination as a pathway for generating morally justifiable solutions. Through this analysis, we provide novel insights on how to apply an integrative responsible leadership approach to a stakeholder conflict situation, using the single case study to expand the responsible leadership discussion to emerging markets.

Stakeholder Conflict Amplification of Large-Scale Engineering Projects in China: An Evolutionary Game Model on Complex Networks

Large-scale engineering projects make tremendous contributions to China’s social and economic development; meanwhile, due to the diversity of stakeholders, the dispersion of time and space, and the complexity of information dissemination, large-scale engineering projects are easy to cause conflicts among stakeholders that affect social stability. The previous studies on stakeholder conflicts of large-scale engineering projects mainly focused on the game model among stakeholders, without considering the influence of stakeholders’ interaction complex networks formed by social relations on the conflict amplification. For the two main stakeholders of the government and the resident that play a key role in China’s large-scale engineering projects, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model of the main stakeholder conflict amplification and analyzes the evolutionary results of the conflict between the government and the resident in different situations. The small-world network is chosen as the complex network type of the simulation study since it is very similar with the topology of the realistic social network. Based on the NetLogo simulation platform, the stakeholder conflict amplification process of large-scale engineering projects on the small-world network is analyzed, and relevant management measures are proposed to defuse the stakeholder conflict of large-scale engineering projects. By using the evolutionary game model on complex networks, this paper studies the stakeholder conflict on the small-world network, providing reference for stakeholder conflict management of large-scale engineering projects in China.

Investigate the Conduction Path of Stakeholder Conflict of Urban Regeneration Sustainability in China: the Application of Social-Based Solutions

Urban regeneration, as an important way to enhance urban sustainable development capacity, is advancing at a high speed in China. However, urban regeneration involves various stakeholders, and there are frequent conflicts between these stakeholders due to the vast differences in their interests. When conflicts among stakeholders are not effectively controlled, they can have serious negative social and economic impacts, such as increased pressure on the government to maintain stability, increased costs to developers and reduced willingness of property owners to participate. These are all critical factor affecting the sustainability of urban regeneration. Therefore, this paper explored the mechanism underlying stakeholder conflict conduction in urban regeneration. Next, a literature review and case study were conducted to identify key conflict factors. Then, the factors of stakeholder conflict were assessed using questionnaire survey. Finally, the structural equation model (SEM) was used to analyze the pathways of stakeholder conflict conduction in urban regeneration; and 35 conflict conduction paths were found. Based on Pareto’s Law, 7 of the 35 stakeholder conflict paths were identified as critical paths with coefficients between 0.245–0.364. Empirical results revealed that different types of conflict factors have different impacts on stakeholder conflict conduction, among which interest distribution and stakeholder coordination were the critical factors to be considered. The findings provide alternatives Social-Based Solutions (SBS) for resolving stakeholder conflicts and provide practical guidance for integrating stakeholders, which is important to ensuring the sustainability of urban regeneration.