Recent studies show that despite their growing popularity, megaprojects-large-scale, complex projects delivered through various partnerships between public and private organisations-often fail to meet costs estimations, time schedules and project outcomes and are motivated by vested interests which operate against the public interest. This paper presents a more benign and theoretically-grounded view on what goes wrong by comparing the project designs, daily practices, project cultures and management approaches of two recent megaprojects in the Netherlands and Australia, showing how these projects made sense of uncertainty, ambiguity and risk. We conclude that project design and project cultures play a role in determining how managers and partners cooperate to achieve project objectives to a greater or lesser extent.

Much of the existing scholarly work on strategy implementation focuses on factors that either catalyze or obstruct the infusion of strategy into the organization. While this renders valuable knowledge about factors enabling or frustrating implementation, the actual process of strategy implementation is treated as a black box and as a step in the strategy model which is not further explained. To understand this process, this conceptual paper draws from performativity literature in which a strategy is conceptualized as a performative device. This means that a strategy triggers practices which reshape the organization so that the strategy is actualized in the organization. Specifically, we explain the idea of routinization as an instrument for enacting strategy into the organization by means of organizational routines. An illustrative empirical vignette is used to exemplify our conceptual point. Our study contributes to strategy implementation literature by introducing an alternative though complementary lens for studying strategy implementation and offers inspiration for strategy practitioners who aim to develop new implementation strategies.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of teachers’ expectations on their experiences and satisfaction response dregarding the introduction of activity-based workplaces (ABWs) in a Dutch university of applied sciences. Design/methodology/approach The first author executed a three-year at-home ethnographic study as senior lecturer at the university in which the research was executed. Findings Teachers have will expectations, should expectations and want expectations that relate to the stages before, during and after the introduction of ABWs. Unmet should and will expectations negatively affect want expectations and not only influence teachers’ affective commitment to their work but also generate dissatisfaction and even anger toward the organization, showing the importance of monitoring all three types of expectations. Research implications Users evaluate their expectations against their experiences which can lead to the formation of (dis)satisfaction regarding the introduction of ABWs. To explain the satisfaction response, research should consider expectations and experiences. Practical implications Discrepancies between users’ expectations and experiences lead to dissatisfaction with ABWs. Involving users and aiming to capture their expectations in the design support professionals predicting satisfaction and preventing the organization from costly re-refurbishments. Social implications Exploring users' expectations creates an understanding of users' everyday processes and underlying values which can improve the fit between users and building and reduce costs. Reducing accommodation costs benefits society, as more money can be spent on education. Originality/value This paper integrates Lefebvre’s spatial theory and Oliver’s disconfirmation theory to study the influence of expectations on users’ experiences and describes the process before, during and after introducing ABWs.

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to reflect upon the role of intervention-oriented scientists in the process of organisation development. The paper seeks to contribute to the growing interest in design studies for organisation development and argues that a focus on reflexivity is missing in current debate. The aim of the paper to develop critical reflexiveness for organization design studies by introducing the ethnoventionist approach.Approach: The paper discusses the ideal forms of clinical inquiry, participative action research, ethnography, and the ethnoventionist approach. The ethnoventionist approach is described by its central aspects: a focus on reflexivity, a management (but not managerialist) orientation, commitment to obtaining a deep understanding, connecting the multi-layered context, and studying in pre-arranged longitudinal intervals. Findings:The ethnoventionist approach uses organisational ethnographies to facilitate intervention strategies intended to improve organisations. An example of such an approach in the design of new collaborative practices in the Dutch construction sector is drawn on. Implications:The essence of the ethnoventionist approach is to obtain a deeper understanding of organisational change. The ethnoventionist approach helps to overcome a lack of attention to management in current ethnographic bodies of knowledge and to deepen existing management approaches to change dynamics.Practical implications: Ethnoventionist approaches can be very useful for intervention oriented studies of change processes which require high levels of engagement and which produce high quality ethnographic data.Originality: This paper explores a new research approach that has not been discussed previously.

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