Project value creation: sensemaking, shaping and monitoring in a project network

Abstract

Value creation in projects is especially challenging when it deals with a complex system and multiple stakeholders are involved. Complex systems require careful consideration of the processes of value creation in a project network. Each stakeholder may have its own expectations of value, processes of value delivery, and criteria for assessing project success. Yet, stakeholders need to collaborate, share their views, and adhere to joint rules of governance in a project network, when pursuing project value creation. This chapter explores project value creation in project networks and introduces a conceptual framework of its three modes: sensemaking and negotiation, shaping and co-creation, and monitoring and control. Attention is drawn to the cognitive, operative, and evaluative processes of value creation in project networks as well as material and immaterial nature of value creation. Future research is proposed, both concerning the conceptual framework as a whole and its three modes separately.