69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Sham project compliance behaviour: Necessarily masking the reality of project work from senior management"
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tags:
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- exclude-from-word-count
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- type/media/article
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authors:
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- Eric John Darling
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- Stephen Jonathan Whitty
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doi: 10.1108/IJMPB-05-2019-0118
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eprint: https://www.emerald.com/ijmpb/article-pdf/14/2/497/956331/ijmpb-05-2019-0118.pdf
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issn: 1753-8378
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journal: International Journal of Managing Projects in Business
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month: 11
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number: 2
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pages: 497-519
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url: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-05-2019-0118
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volume: 14
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year: 2019
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---
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# Sham project compliance behaviour: Necessarily masking the reality of project work from senior management
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## Abstract
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### Purpose
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The purpose of this paper is to examine a case of sham compliance performance reporting
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through the lens of Goffman's dramaturgy to reveal its dramaturgical structure.
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It makes a methodological contribution to comprehending "lived experience" accounts of project work,
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and adds knowledge concerning the behind-the-scenes motivators to sham behaviour in project work.
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### Design/methodology/approach
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Using an ethnographic lived experience account,
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an aspect of project work is reconceptualised as a collection of dramaturgical scenes.
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These scenes disclose issues beyond the bounds of the traditional project management discourse,
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and increase knowledge and appreciation of sham and performative behaviour in project work.
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### Findings
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Sham progress reporting can emerge in an environment where senior management's ignorance of project work
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creates unworkable binds for project staff.
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Moreover, the sham behaviour succeeds at its objective
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because senior management are vulnerable to false impressions.
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This situation raises ethical issues for those involved,
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and creates an overhead in dealing with the reality of project work.
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### Research limitations/implications
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Limitations to this study are due to the inherent nature of the ethnographic method,
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where it is difficult to recruit willing participants,
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particularly in terms of sham behaviour cases.
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This study has implications for research on sham and performativity behaviour in project work,
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as studies can benefit from the dramaturgical analysis and Goffmanesque scene illustration techniques
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that help give focus to particular aspects of social performance,
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and remove complexity from the narrative.
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### Practical implications
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The research provides practitioners with a way of discussing superfluous compliance process
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using additional lived experience vocabulary.
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This could reduce the undue pressure to behave unethically,
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and reduce the burden to create the extra impression management work.
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### Originality/value
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This study brings a voice to sham behaviour in project work.
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Continued ignorance of sham behaviour results in unnecessary work and unprofitable projects.
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Individuals could pay a price in terms of stress and well-being, not discussed.
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