In this article, we deploy Cohen, March, and Olsen's (1972) garbage can model of decision making to produce a different lens on the performance of megaprojects. Using a sample of firms involved in hydrocarbon megaprojects, we show that the problems given the most public attention by the industry are different from those responsible for budget overruns. Furthermore, the attribution of reasons for exceeding project budget differs between project owners and supply chain firms. This is consistent with garbage can model predictions around problem latency when the multifaceted symbolism of these projects drives divergent prioritization of problems in project execution.
BaruchY. (1999). Response rate in academic studies: A comparative analysis.Human Relations, 52(4), 421–438.
5.
BaumJ. A., & IngramP. (2002). Interorganizational learning and network organization: Toward a behavioral theory of the interfirm.The economics of choice, change, and organization: Essays in memory of Richard M. Cyert, 191–218. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar
6.
BonabeauE. (2002). Agent-based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(suppl 3), 7280–7287.
7.
BradyT., DaviesA., & NightingaleP. (2012). Dealing with uncertainty in complex projects: Revisiting Klein and Meckling.International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 5(4), 718–736.
8.
BrookesN., SageD., DaintyA., LocatelliG., & WhyteJ. (2017). An island of constancy in a sea of change: Rethinking project temporalities with long-term megaprojects.International Journal of Project Management, 35(7), 1213–1224.
ChambersM., & KitneyD. (2011). Resource mega-projects hit by $8bn cost blowout.The Australian, January 10.
11.
CohenM. D., MarchJ. G., & OlsenJ. P. (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice.Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 125.
12.
CohenM. D., MarchJ. G., & OlsenJ. P. (2012). “A garbage can model” at forty: A solution that still attracts problems.The garbage can model of organizational choice: Looking forward at forty (pp. 19–30). Bingley, West Yorkshire, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
13.
Productivity Commission. (2014). Relative costs of doing business in Australia: Retail trade: Productivity Commission Research Report, September. Canberra, Australia: Productivity Commission.
14.
CoshA., & HughesA. (2000). British enterprise in transition: Growth, innovation and public policy in the small and medium sized enterprise sector 1994–1999.Technical Report. Cambridge, UK: ESRC Centre for Business Research.
15.
CoshA., & HughesA. (2003). Enterprise challenged: Policy and performance in the British SME sector 1999–2002.Cambridge, UK: ESRC Centre for Business Research.
16.
CoshA., HughesA., BullockA., & MilnerI. (2009). SME finance and innovation in the current economic crisis.Centre for Business Research, Retrieved from http://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk/pdf/crcr_econcrisis.pdf.
17.
CyertR. M., & MarchJ. G. (1963). A behavioral theory of the firm.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
18.
DaviesA. (2014). Innovation and project management, In: DodgsonM., GannD., PhillipsN. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of innovation (pp. 36). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
19.
DaviesA., DodgsonM., & GannD. (2016). Dynamic capabilities in complex projects: The case of London Heathrow Terminal 5.Project Management Journal, 47(2), 26–46.
20.
DaviesA., GannD., & DouglasT. (2009). Innovation in megaprojects: Systems integration at London Heathrow Terminal 5.California Management Review, 51(2), 101–125.
21.
De VilliersC., & Van StadenC. J. (2010). Shareholders’ requirements for corporate environmental disclosures: A cross country comparison.The British Accounting Review, 42(4), 227–240.
22.
EisenhardtK. M., & ZbarackiM. J. (1992). Strategic decision making.Strategic Management Journal, 13(S2), 17–37.
23.
EllemB. (2014). What is happening on Chevron's Gorgon project?University of Sydney, Business School, Sydney, Australia.
24.
Ernst and Young. (2014). Adapt to win: How Australian oil and gas companies improve productivity in challenging times.Ernst and Young: Australia.
25.
FieldA. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
26.
FloricelS., & MillerR. (2001). Strategizing for anticipated risks and turbulence in large-scale engineering projects.International Journal of Project Management, 19(8), 445–455.
27.
FlyvbjergB. (2005). Design by deception: The politics of megaproject approval.Harvard Design Magazine, 22, Spring/Summer, 50–59.
28.
FlyvbjergB. (2012). Why mass media matter and how to work with them: Phronesis and megaprojects, in FlyvbjergB., LandmanT., SchramS., eds., Real social science: Applied phronesis (pp. 95–121). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
29.
FlyvbjergB. (2014). What you should know about megaprojects and why: An overview.Project Management Journal, 45(2), 6–19.
30.
FlyvbjergB., BruzeliusN., & RothengatterW. (2003). Megaprojects and risk: An anatomy of ambition.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
31.
FlyvbjergB., GarbuioM., & LovalloD. (2009). Delusion and deception in large infrastructure projects: Two models for explaining and preventing executive disaster.California Management Review, 51(2), 170–194.
32.
FordJ. A., SteenJ., & VerreynneM.-L. (2014). How environmental regulations affect innovation in the Australian oil and gas industry: Going beyond the Porter Hypothesis.Journal of Cleaner Production, 84, 204–213.
33.
FordJ. A., VerreynneM.-L., & SteenJ. (2017). Limits to networking capabilities: Relationship trade-offs and innovation.Industrial Marketing Management. In Press.
34.
FrickK. T. (2008). The cost of the technological sublime: Daring ingenuity and the new San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. In PriemusH., FlyvbjergB., van WeeB., eds., Decision-making on mega-projects: Cost benefit analysis, planning, and innovation (pp. 239–262). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
35.
HällgrenM., & Maaninen-OlssonE. (2005). Deviations, ambiguity and uncertainty in a project-intensive organization.Project Management Journal, 36(3), 17–26.
36.
HellgrenB., & StjernbergT. (1995). Design and implementation in major investments—A project network approach.Scandinavian Journal of Management, 11(4), 377–394.
37.
HollandJ. (1995). Hidden order: How adaptation builds complexity.New York, NY: Basic Books.
38.
HurstD. (2012). Primier pledges to fast track $4000 scholarship scheme.Brisbane Times (February 12).
39.
JannW. (2015). Michael D. Cohen, James G. March, and Johan P. Olsen, A garbage can model of organizational choice. In The Oxford handbook of classics in public policy and administration.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
40.
KahnemanD. (2012). Thinking fast and slow.New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
41.
LawJ. (1992). Notes on the theory of the actor-network: Ordering, strategy, and heterogeneity.Systemic Practice and Action Research, 5(4), 379–393.
42.
LeiponenA., & HelfatC. E. (2010). Innovation objectives, knowledge sources, and the benefits of breadth.Strategic Management Journal, 31(2), 224–236.
43.
LenfleS., & LochC. (2010). Lost roots: How project management came to emphasize control over flexibility and novelty.California Management Review, 53(1), 32–55.
44.
LevittB., & NassC. (1989). The lid on the garbage can: Institutional constraints on decision making in the technical core of college-text publishers.Administrative Science Quarterly, 190–207.
45.
LomiA., & HarrisonJ. R. (2012). The garbage can model of organizational choice: Looking forward at forty (pp. 3–17). Bingley, West Yorkshire, England: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
46.
MagjukaR. (1988). Garbage can theory of decision making: A review.Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 6, 225–259.
47.
MasuchM., & LaPotinP. (1989). Beyond garbage cans: An Al model of organizational choice.Administrative Science Quarterly, 38–67.
48.
MaylorH. R., TurnerN. W., & Murray-WebsterR. (2013). How hard can it be? Actively managing complexity in technology projects.Research-Technology Management, 56(4), 45–51.
49.
McCarthyS., OliverB., & VerreynneM.-L. (2017). Bank financing and credit rationing of Australian SMEs.Australian Journal of Management, 42(1), 58–85.
50.
MerrowE. W. (1988). Understanding the outcomes of megaprojects.Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
51.
MerrowE. W. (2012). Oil and gas industry megaprojects: Our recent track record.Oil and Gas Facilities, 1(02), 38–42.
52.
MillerR., & HobbsJ. B. (2005). Governance regimes for large complex projects.Project Management Journal, 36(3), 42–50.
53.
MolloyE., & ChettyT. (2015). The rocky road to legacy: Lessons from the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa stadium program.Project Management Journal, 46(3), 88–107.
54.
OlaniranO., LoveP., EdwardsD., OlatunjiO., & MatthewsJ. (2016). Chaos theory: Implications for cost overrun research in hydrocarbon megaprojects.Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(2), 05016020.
55.
OlaniranO. J., LoveP. E., EdwardsD., OlatunjiO. A., & MatthewsJ. (2015). Cost overruns in hydrocarbon megaprojects: A critical review and implications for research.Project Management Journal, 46(6), 126–138.
56.
PadgettJ. F. (1980). Managing garbage can hierarchies.Administrative Science Quarterly, 583–604.
57.
ParkerS. K., & SkitmoreM. (2005). Project management turnover: Causes and effects on project performance.International Journal of Project Management, 23(3), 205–214.
58.
PerronsR. K., & DonnellyJ. (2012). Who drives E&P innovation?Journal of Petroleum Technology, 64(12), 62–72.
59.
PerrowC. (1977). Ambiguity and choice in organization.Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 63, 294–298.
60.
PetitY., & HobbsB. (2010). Project portfolios in dynamic environments: Sources of uncertainty and sensing mechanisms.Project Management Journal, 41(4), 46–58.
61.
PinfieldL. T. (1986). A field evaluation of perspectives on organizational decision making.Administrative Science Quarterly, 365–388.
62.
PintoJ. K. (2000). Understanding the role of politics in successful project management.International Journal of Project Management, 18(2), 85–91.
63.
PodsakoffP. M., & OrganD. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects.Journal of Management, 12(4), 531–544.
64.
SagerF., & RielleY. (2013). Sorting through the garbage can: Under what conditions do governments adopt policy programs?Policy Sciences, 46(1), 1–21.
65.
Saint-MacaryJ., & IkaL. A. (2015). Atypical perspectives on project management: Moving beyond the rational, to the political and the psychosocial.International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 7(3), 236–250.
66.
SöderholmA. (2008). Project management of unexpected events.International Journal of Project Management, 26(1), 80–86.
67.
SteenJ., CoopmansC., & WhyteJ. (2006). Structure and agency? Actor-network theory and strategic organization.Strategic Organization, 4(3), 303–312.
68.
SteenJ., & KastelleT. (2012). Thinking, fast and slow: Great for practitioners but not so great for academics.Prometheus, 30(4), 465–467.
69.
StinchcombeA. L., & HeimerC. A. (1985). Organization theory and project management: Administering uncertainty in Norwegian offshore oil.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
70.
ThompsonJ. (1967). 1967 Organizations in action.New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
71.
van MarrewijkA., YbemaS., SmitsK., CleggS., & PitsisT. (2016). Clash of the titans: Temporal organizing and collaborative dynamics in the Panama Canal megaproject.Organization Studies, 37(12), 1745–1769.
72.
WhiteR., & HansonD. (2002). Corporate self, corporate reputation and corporate annual reports: Re-enrolling Goffman.Scandinavian Journal of Management, 18(3), 285–301.
73.
WilliamsT., & SamsetK. (2010). Issues in front-end decision making on projects.Project Management Journal, 41(2), 38–49.
