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<p>The public sector in Germany lags behind the economy in terms of projectification, i.e., the prevalence of projects and experience in applying project management. This has significant implications for realizing complex infrastructure projects in which the public sector is involved as one of the main actors. Nowadays, projectification represents a particular way of thinking about how to embrace a series of dynamic and challenging changes, design them, and implement them effectively for the benefit of society. A quantitative study of projectification in society in Germany was the starting point for our research, the results of which we compared with data from earlier studies of projectification in the economy. Using an interpretative case study drawing on insights from the Berlin Airport, we analyzed the impact of lagging projectification in the public sector in Germany on realizing infrastructure projects to propose suitable approaches. The results of this case study reveal significant effects of lagging projectification in the public sector of Germany on realizing infrastructure projects. In the case of the Berlin BER Airport, an inadequate governance system led to a 9-year delay in the completion date and a 250% overrun of costs directly attributable to the project. This could have been avoided by involving the private construction industry more collaboratively, by building on previous experiences gained, and by a more cooperative way of project planning and implementation. To guide future research, hypotheses are derived that can be used to analyze the underlying problem in greater depth and to derive recommendations for action.</p>
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The public sector in Germany lags behind the economy in terms of projectification, i.e., the prevalence of projects and experience in applying project management. This has significant implications for realizing complex infrastructure projects in which the public sector is involved as one of the main actors. Nowadays, projectification represents a particular way of thinking about how to embrace a series of dynamic and challenging changes, design them, and implement them effectively for the benefit of society. A quantitative study of projectification in society in Germany was the starting point for our research, the results of which we compared with data from earlier studies of projectification in the economy. Using an interpretative case study drawing on insights from the Berlin Airport, we analyzed the impact of lagging projectification in the public sector in Germany on realizing infrastructure projects to propose suitable approaches. The results of this case study reveal significant effects of lagging projectification in the public sector of Germany on realizing infrastructure projects. In the case of the Berlin BER Airport, an inadequate governance system led to a 9-year delay in the completion date and a 250% overrun of costs directly attributable to the project. This could have been avoided by involving the private construction industry more collaboratively, by building on previous experiences gained, and by a more cooperative way of project planning and implementation. To guide future research, hypotheses are derived that can be used to analyze the underlying problem in greater depth and to derive recommendations for action.

Effects of lagging projectification in the public sector on realizing infrastructure projects

Organization, Technology and Management in Construction: an International Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The public sector in Germany lags behind the economy in terms of projectification, i.e., the prevalence of projects and experience in applying project...

Impact (from 0 = no impact to 7 = very high impact)	4.27	5.56	3.96	3.46	3.93
Sector	Society at large	Economy	Public administration	Leisure, sports, arts and culture	Civic engagement

Country/year of study	Projectification (%)
Country/year of study	Public sector	Economy average	Construction industry
Germany/2013	17.8	34.7	80.0
Iceland/2014	33.3	27.7	80.0
China/2017	34.0	42.7	85.0
Croatia/2018	37.0	33.0	74.0

Effects of lagging projectification in the public sector on realizing infrastructure projects

Article Category: Research Paper

Data publikacji: 01 mar 2022

Zakres stron: 2559 - 2570

Otrzymano: 12 sty 2022

Przyjęty: 06 lut 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/otmcj-2022-0002

Słowa kluczowe
projectification, public sector, society, infrastructure projects, Germany

© 2022 Reinhard F. Wagner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How societal sectors are impacted by projectification (Wagner 2021, p. 79).

Data on projectification by countries, measured by the share of project-based work in relation to total working hours (Ou et al. 2018, p. 54; Radujkovic and Misic 2019).

Effects of lagging projectification in the public sector on realizing infrastructure projects

Article Category: Research Paper

Data publikacji: 01 mar 2022

Zakres stron: 2559 - 2570

Otrzymano: 12 sty 2022

Przyjęty: 06 lut 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/otmcj-2022-0002

Słowa kluczoweprojectification, public sector, society, infrastructure projects, Germany

© 2022 Reinhard F. Wagner et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How societal sectors are impacted by projectification (Wagner 2021, p. 79).

Data on projectification by countries, measured by the share of project-based work in relation to total working hours (Ou et al. 2018, p. 54; Radujkovic and Misic 2019).

Słowa kluczowe
projectification, public sector, society, infrastructure projects, Germany