{"title":"Understanding the Phoenix Phenomenon: Can a Project Be Both a Failure and a Success?","authors":"C. Midler, Marc Alochet","doi":"10.1177/87569728231171825","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"While the concept of project success remains largely open nowadays, we introduce here the Phoenix phenomenon, namely a project being both a success and a failure. Our analysis of an automotive vanguard project exhibits key characteristics of a Phoenix phenomenon: the very innovative and ambitious nature of the project; a project management approach that hybridizes causal innovative project development and effectual approaches; the strategic and operational capacity of the company to recover and valorize after the initial failure; and the learnings from and the achievements of the project in renewed scenarios. We conclude that project evaluation must now combine retrospective and prospective assessments methods to evaluate both achieved outcomes and potentialities of a project.","PeriodicalId":47967,"journal":{"name":"Project Management Journal","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Project Management Journal","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/87569728231171825","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While the concept of project success remains largely open nowadays, we introduce here the Phoenix phenomenon, namely a project being both a success and a failure. Our analysis of an automotive vanguard project exhibits key characteristics of a Phoenix phenomenon: the very innovative and ambitious nature of the project; a project management approach that hybridizes causal innovative project development and effectual approaches; the strategic and operational capacity of the company to recover and valorize after the initial failure; and the learnings from and the achievements of the project in renewed scenarios. We conclude that project evaluation must now combine retrospective and prospective assessments methods to evaluate both achieved outcomes and potentialities of a project.
期刊介绍:
Project Management Journal (PMJ) is the academic and research journal of the Project Management Institute and features state-of-the-art research, techniques, theories, and applications in project management.
Projects represent a growing population of human activity in large, small, private, and public organizations. Projects are used to execute and sustain today's organizational activities. They play a fundamental role as the engine of tomorrow's innovation, value creation, and strategic change. However, projects often fail to deliver their promise.
PMJ addresses these multiple challenges and opportunities by encouraging the development and application of novel theories, concepts, frameworks, research methods, and designs. PMJ embraces contributions both from within and beyond project management to augment and transform theory and practice.