Project-Based Organizing: The Unexpected Trajectory of the Project to the Crisis

Being in the field when a crisis occurs cannot be planned. According to the literature, it is in those moments that the structure becomes more evident [18]. This case study provides an opportunity for such research, its particularity being that the crisis state develops following a sudden awareness about the project critical situation. This awareness is caused by the unexpected arrival of a new executive, forcing a rapid change in the analytical framework. This change, combined with radical actions taken by that individual, provokes swift changes in discourses followed by the outbreak of a crisis. Our results show how the development of unmanaged problems within the project, and the permanent organization, may gradually lead the project trajectory into a negative spin, until a crisis triggers. Furthermore, our reuse of some notions coming from the crisis management literature enables us to deeper our understanding of crises in projects.