Modeling relationships of projects and operations: toward a dynamic framework of performance

Project performance literature features two contrasting perspectives: output-oriented, focused on project efficiency, and outcome-oriented, with a focus on project success. Emerging topics in the fields of megaprojects and sustainable project management suggest the need to extend classical views of the life cycle of project management beyond output delivery, to broader perspectives on the operational phases that generate project outcomes and benefits. The interaction between project outputs and outcomes is poorly understood though, as is the way the resulting dynamic determines project performance. In response, this chapter adopts theories of sociotechnical systems to propose a theoretical model of the relationship between outputs and outcomes in projects and programs. The new systemic model extends the definition of projects/programs to prioritize operational systems under development as a new object of analysis, which highlights dynamic emergence and thus can capture uncertainties within both the development and operationalization phases of a project, at which points benefits can be achieved.