Narratives of Project Risk Management: From Scientific Rationality to the Discursive Nature of Identity Work

2022-12-01
Green, Stuart D.
Dikmen Toker, İrem
The dominant narrative of project risk management pays homage to scientific rationality while conceptualizing risk as objective fact. Yet doubts remain regarding the extent to which the advocated quantitative techniques are used in practice. An established counternarrative advocates the importance of intuition and subjective judgment. New insights are developed by conceptualizing risk as a narrative construct used for the purposes of identity work. Project-based practitioners are seen to mobilize resources from competing narratives to meet the transient expectations of those with whom they interact. Ultimately, they tend to emphasize approaches that sustain their ascribed identities as custodians of rationality.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOURNAL

Suggestions

Identifying and managing risk in mega-projects: the case of automotive test center project in Turkey
Ayvazoğlu, Buğra; Akın Ateş, Melek.; Department of Business Administration (2019)
The issue of risk assessment in projects has attracted considerable attention in both practice and the literature. Although the number of studies investigating large-scale engineering projects (construction, rail system projects, power plants, etc.) has been increasing, majority of them focus on private sector. In this thesis, it is specifically focused on a current, mega-project where both governmental and private organizations participate, namely the Automotive Test Center Project carried out in Turkey. T...
Project Risk Conceptualization by Metaphors
Dikmen Toker, İrem; Birgönül, Mustafa Talat (2019-04-12)
We discuss alternative ways risk is characterized by metaphorical thinking in the literature. Although it is acknowledged that risk may have positive and negative consequences, risk is usually considered as an “enemy” that has to be “defeated” or a “disease” to be “treated”. Metaphors such as dice/coin and black swans divert the attention of decision-makers to only one source of uncertainty, aleatory or epistemic, but not both. Integrative thinking is required where risk can be conceptualized as a “picture”...
A risk management approach for acquisition of software intensive systems in the Turkish Army.
Saylan, Necip; Demirös, Elif; Demirös, Onur; Department of Information Systems (2002)
The current techniques of risk assessment rely on checklists and human expertise. This constitutes a rigorous approach only when the people are experts on risk assessment. This thesis introduces a formal method and addresses the necessity of the identification and analysis of the risk. During implementation of risk management process, risk assessment will be discussed within an acquisition of software intensive systems in the Turkish Army. This thesis includes a survey and comparison of other software risk ...
An Experimental Study on Impact of Risk Data Visualization onRisk Evaluations
Dikmen Toker, İrem; Eken, Görkem (null; 2018-11-18)
Risk assessment is a systematic process to characterize and evaluate risk, with the available knowledge. Thus, its success depends significantly on the "availability of knowledge" during the assessment process. The knowledge elicitation from experts, the structure of the risk database and information visualization that may help sense-making from previous projects are critical factors that can improve risk assessment process. Risk assessment is usually carried out at the start of a project and updated during...
Factors affecting risk mitigation revisited: the case of earthquake in Turkey
Özdemir, Özlem; Yılmaz, Cengiz (Informa UK Limited, 2011-01-01)
This paper investigates the effects of earthquake risk perceptions and a number of socioeconomic variables on risk mitigation. The effects of perceived risk components (probability and severity) and perceived risk characteristics (dread, knowledge, controllability, and responsibility) are investigated jointly in a single model, together with degree of risk aversion and socioeconomic factors (income, gender, age, education, and number of children). Analyses are conducted separately in order to explain variab...
Citation Formats
S. D. Green and İ. Dikmen Toker, “Narratives of Project Risk Management: From Scientific Rationality to the Discursive Nature of Identity Work,” PROJECT MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 608–624, 2022, Accessed: 00, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/100635.