Cultural practices of governance in the Panama Canal Expansion Megaproject

Journal article (2016)

Authors

A.H. van Marrewijk Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Karen Smits Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Affiliation
External organisation
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Published Date

01-04-2016

Language

English

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Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

The academic debate on governance in project management is dominated by research that looks at the structure of governance regimes, but there is very little research on the micro-practices of governance as it actually takes place. This paper fills this gap by focusing on the governance practices of project employees and looking at megaprojects as cultural phenomena. Therefore, a one-year ethnographic field study of the Panama Canal Expansion Megaproject was conducted to examine the cultural practices of governing. In the study, five cultural practices were found to influence the governance of this megaproject: (1) ritualizing the bid-winning ceremony, (2) changing teams, (3) struggling over governance structure, and labeling according to (4) national and (5) organizational cultures. This paper makes a contribution to the current debate by offering a cultural approach of megaprojects and by including a case that shows how ex post micro-processes of governing can start escalation in megaprojects.