Megaprojects – symbolic and sublime: an ontological review

Abstract

Purpose Megaprojects are symbolic milestones of human history. Most megaprojects are one-of-a-kind endeavors to which traditional project management principles are neither applicable nor suitable, rendering the holistic study of megaprojects especially difficult. There is no systemic framework that can help systematically assess and guide megaprojects and megaproject research. In the absence of such a framework there is a significant risk of bias in planning the projects and the topics researched. The purpose of this paper is to present an ontological framework of megaprojects and discuss how it can help analyze individual megaprojects and synthesize the corpus of megaproject research. Design/methodology/approach An ontology framework of megaproject is developed by deconstructing the symbolism and purpose of megaprojects into respective dimensions and their categories. The ontological framework is then used to map the extent literature on megaproject to identify the dominant themes and gaps in the state-of-the-research. Findings The megaproject research has predominantly focused on select stakeholders (builders, governments, and communities), translation stages (implementation and conceptualization), and sublime (mostly economic). Other aspects of megaprojects have received little or no attention. Originality/value The paper presents an ontological framework to holistically capture the symbolism and sublime of megaprojects. The framework is complete, expansive, and grounded, yet simple, parsimonious, and innovative. It is a tool for decision makers more than a formal ontology readable by machines.

Access to Healthcare during COVID-19

“…SMC considers both presence (coded “1”) and absence (coded “0”) elements equally. The detailed rationale for the choice of the clustering method and the presentation of the results are given in Syn and Ramaprasad [ 39 ] and La Paz et al [ 40 ]. The five themes represent the five equidistant clusters in the dendrogram of the agglomeration [ 39 ].…”

Ontological Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll out Strategies: A Comparison of India and the United States of America

“…SMC considers both presence (coded “1”) and absence (coded “0”) elements equally. The detailed rationale for the choice of the clustering method and the presentation of the results is given in Syn and Ramaprasad and La Paz et al [ 29 , 30 ]. The five themes represent the five equidistant clusters in the dendrogram of the agglomeration [ 29 ].…”

“…The detailed rationale for the choice of the clustering method and the presentation of the results is given in Syn and Ramaprasad and La Paz et al [ 29 , 30 ]. The five themes represent the five equidistant clusters in the dendrogram of the agglomeration [ 29 ]. The colors in the figures highlight the elements of the five themes.…”

“…Amongst the action elements, the dominant focus is to manage (65). There is some emphasis to educate (35), mobilize (34), redirect (33), coordinate (32), communicate (30), and prioritize (29). The least emphasis is on locate (2).…”

“…It is heavily focused on the informational stimulant (48), technological IT (44), spatial location (42), and temporal availability (38). There is medium focus on technological transportation (34), human other (32), informational education (31), and technological medical (29). There is some emphasis on temporal scheduling (20), spatial distance (10), and financial expenditure (10).…”