Boundary activities and readiness for ... - Projekti-Instituutti

Theoretical background
on large project management also examines the ways of organizing and
controlling project implementation that involve a network of actors, such as
subcontractors, consultants, financiers, and clients.
A program, in contrast, consists of multiple projects and tasks that
together aim at the higher level goal of the program. Program management
extends beyond the program’s internal coordination, linking the program to
the wider organizational context. According to the bibliometric analysis on
program management conducted by Artto et al. (2009), program
management as a managerial framework for coordinating interrelated
projects started to gain importance within the management literature after
the mid-1990s. Nowadays, it is increasingly agreed that programs should
not be considered just as scale-ups of single projects, but they require
fundamentally different managerial approaches, practices, and skills (Artto
et al., 2009; Graham, 2000; Lycett et al., 2004; Pellegrinelli, 1997).
Recognizing these needs, project management associations, standardization
bodies and consultants have started to establish separate guidelines and
standards for program management. For example, the UK Office of
Government Commerce (2007 (first edition in 1999)) has published a guide
called Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), and Project Management
Institute (2006) has established a Standard for Program Management.
As the multiplicity of the definitions for a program may imply, different
types of programs can be identified. Several program typologies have been
presented, based on the number of projects and the geographical locations
in a program (Evaristo & van Fenema, 1999), the degree of the attempted
change and the extent to which projects already exist at the time of program
launch (Vereecke, Pandelaere, Deschoolmeester, & Stevens, 2003), the
mode and strength of coordination (Gray, 1997), the rationale for program
creation (Pellegrinelli, 1997; 2002), and the program scope in terms of the
organizational functions involved and the extent of the attempted change
(Levene & Braganza, 1996). Programs also vary in type, examples including
research, product development, and information systems development
programs (Payne & Turner, 1999). Different management practices are
needed for different kinds of programs (Evaristo & van Fenema, 1999;
Vereecke et al., 2003), and even within a program for the different projects
(Payne & Turner, 1999).
The focus of the current study is on a particular type of programs, internal
change programs, defined as temporary organizations in which multiple
projects are managed together to deliver a change in the parent
organization. Change programs typically include cross-departmental and
multidisciplinary projects that share a common business goal (Ferns, 1991).
Change programs have also been called strategic programs (ibid.) and
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