Projectification of a global organization – case study of the Roman Catholic Church

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand projectification processes of the global organization, based on the example of the Catholic Church’s activities. The Catholic Church is the oldest and the largest international organisation to be assessed also from the longue durée perspective. The Church as both a large and supranational organisation and a religious community has carried out a lot of social tasks. A part of its activity relating to the Church’s basic mission is carried out in these days in the form of various projects. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that seemingly unchanging structure, such as the Catholic Church, based on a determined hierarchy, strict principles and rules of conduct, is affected by the projectification processes. Design/methodology/approach The authors chose the method of a single case study. To analyse the projectification processes in the Church, the authors focussed on flagship mega-events of WYD programme, from which the following were selected: Rome (1985), Manila (1995), Sydney (2008), Rio de Janeiro (2013) and Krakow (2016). Findings The study demonstrates that organisational projectification processes can have a real impact on the strategic changes in the global organisation. Under the influence of significant projects, organisations can change internally and also redefine their way of interacting with the stakeholders. Projectification at the same time is a change and leads to it. The research also shows that projectification of a global organisation can intensify internal learning processes. On the one hand, “projectification agents” transfer project practices to various regions of the world, and, on the other, draw on local practices. Therefore, the projectification process is not simply transplanting the project “virus” into new places, but also a process of change and adaptation to the stimuli flowing from the environment. Originality/value The particularities, the distinctiveness of the projects of the Catholic Church can be an inspiration for others realizing projects. The experience of the Catholic Church in the implementation of WYD can be valuable for organisations implementing other projects that require involvement and activation of many, diverse stakeholders, for example, charitable projects or the so-called community engagement projects implemented by large international organisations, such as the World Bank, UNICEF, the UN, the Red Cross or humanitarian projects organised by NGOs in different parts of the world.

The European Union’s multi-level impact on member state projectification in light of neoinstitutional theory

“…According to this concept, projectification may be seen as an ongoing activity or a result of this activity. In other words, "it is a change and leads to it" ( Jałocha et al, 2019). Here, the process refers to the changes that occurred in institutions to fit their legal and organisational shape to EU expectations.…”

“…Moreover, these changes may occur gradually and thus become observable only in a long-term perspective. At the mega level, the phenomena of the projectification of entire societies ( Jensen et al, 2016;Lundin et al, 2015), countries and regions (Fred, 2018), or supranational organisations (Büttner and Leopold, 2016;Godenhjelm et al, 2015;Jałocha et al, 2019) are observed. These studies emphasise that the process of projectification has largely exceeded its original, organisational understanding and acquired a wider social dimension.…”

From the wall of the industry to the soul of society: a review and multi-level analysis on projectification

“…Projectification is mainly described as the use of project management tools and structures, either in work or in daily life tasks, entailing the adaptation and adoption of project models, processes, language, rituals and symbols (Bredin and Soderlund, 2006;Cicmil and Gaggiotti, 2018;Cwikla and Jalocha, 2015;Fred, 2020;Jałocha et al, 2019;Jensen et al, 2018;Maylor and Turkulainen, 2019;M€ uller et al, 2017;Munck af Rosensch€ old, 2019;Schoper et al, 2018).…”

“…Projectification is also discussed according to its goals: organization of work (Ingason et al, 2019;Maylor and Turkulainen, 2019;Munck af Rosensch€ old, 2019;Schoper et al, 2018); flexibility (Cerne and Jansson, 2019); renewal (Jałocha et al, 2019), optimization and efficiency (Lundin, 2016;Dollinger, 2020); new venture creation (Li et al, 2020); goal fulfillment in team work (Auschra et al, 2019); competitive advantage enhancement (Maylor et al, 2006;Munck af Rosensch€ old and Wolf, 2017); and problem-solving improvement (Jałocha, 2019;Fred, 2020).…”

Four images of projectification: an integrative review

“…A more recent research cluster is studies of projectification of/in transnational and global organisations (see, e.g. B€ uttner and Leopold, 2016;Godenhjelm et al, 2015;Jałocha et al, 2019).…”