Maude Brunet

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at HEC Montréal

Editorial

The aim of this article is to understand the dynamic evolution of a governance framework for major public projects. Drawing on Ralf Müller's contributions in the field of project studies regarding governance, combined with a theoretical anchoring in neo-institutionalism, we seek to shed light on the evolutive aspects of a governance framework, also...

Delivering infrastructure in a timely and efficient manner to provide public value remains challenging despite the theoretical developments that have been made. What do we know that could help to deliver quality and energy‐efficient infrastructure, what are current challenges and how could we overcome them? This State‐of‐the‐Art Review article atte...

Au sein de votre organisation, gère-t-on bien les projets ? Ces derniers respectent-ils les contraintes de portée, d’échéancier et de coûts ? Génèrent-ils les bénéfices attendus ? Vos pratiques de gestion sont-elles uniformisées ? Et s’adaptent-elles aux différents changements qui surviennent dans votre environnement interne et externe ? Dans un co...

Cet article présente le « Star Model » couramment mobilisé en stratégie (Kates et Galbraith, 2007), et plus récemment en gestion de projet, afin d’analyser une entité organisationnelle gérant des projets (organisation, direction ou bureau de projet). Les piliers de ce modèle en étoile sont les capacités organisationnelles, les talents, le système d...

Scholars have greatly improved our understanding of legitimacy and legitimation processes in recent years. Focusing mainly on organizations and institutional fields, mainstream organizational legitimacy theories assume that organizations are permanent. In so doing, projects—viewed as temporary organizations—like those involving natural resources an...

Co-ownership of major projects increases organizational complexity but remains underexplored in project studies. This article examines these complexities, employing an engaged scholarship approach with a group of practitioners facing a significant challenge regarding collaborative governance of a major project. This approach enables us to develop a...

Ce papier aborde l’innovation organisationnelle dans une organisation publique, vue comme le résultat d’un changement systémique complexe et social. La restructuration interne d’un secteur d’activités du Parc olympique est au cœur de cette analyse, avec la création d’une direction Bureau de projets. Une collecte de données incluant 6 entrevues semi...

This paper aims to disentangle the processes of shaping the symbolism of megaprojects and their influence on stakeholders' engagement. We define symbolism as the aura of impressions, namely emotions, meanings and action propensities, emerging around a project and its various representations, as a result of largely incontrol-lable individual and soc...

Alors que 40 % de l’économie est gérée en mode projet, force est de constater qu’on est encore loin d’avoir tiré parti du plein potentiel de ce type de management. Car les rouages de la gestion de projet sont souvent mal compris, ce qui nuit à la réalisation des objectifs fixés. Alors, comment obtenir des résultats tangibles ayant de la valeur tant...

This paper explores the long-term patterns in the development phase of major infrastructure projects to advance our understanding of underlying temporal unfolding processes and of the possibilities for steering these towards a more resolute and better prepared start of execution. Our inquiry relies on a process perspective, on the concept of projec...

Purpose The aims of this paper are to mobilize project management concepts in order to draw parallels with the doctoral project and to share the author’s experience and lessons learned. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a qualitative inquiry using an autoethnographic approach. Findings This paper contributes a self-reflexive exam...

The critical role of the front–end development phase for the success of megaprojects is widely acknowledged despite a lack of theorizing and empirical evidence on what constitutes development performance and success and how to measure them. Rational–instrumental conceptualizations focus on identifying a large number of universal success factors tha...

Decisions regarding project definition have a significant impact on client value generation. However, although this phase is of utmost importance, traditional management practices are inadequate, as the focus is rather on budget and technical aspects leaving aside the functional ones. Neglecting the functional aspects could have serious consequence...

Projects are inherently processual, and many project management scholars have begun to mobilize a process view, albeit sometimes implicitly. This methodological article presents four distinct process perspectives (process as evolution, process as narrative, process as activity and process as “withness”) that are grounded in different ontologies. We...

As the digital transformation impacts many sectors of the economy, actors in the construction industry—and more specifically in megaproject initiatives—have to adapt to new technologies and processes. Megaprojects are commonly undertaken to build essential infrastructures such as roads, dams, buildings, or even smart cities or districts, and usuall...

Purpose This study focuses on the dynamic relationship between organizational actors and engaged scholars involved in a normative assessment conducted in a public organization managing major projects. Design/methodology/approach We build on a 15-month engaged scholarship experience carried out in the Ministry of Transport of Quebec. We explain and...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the main objectives and effects of a governance framework for megaprojects from the perspective of project actors. A sensemaking perspective is mobilized to empirically study how project actors perceive the effects on government efficiency, legitimacy and accountability of Quebec's (Canada) governance framewo...

This paper now has a more developed version published in the International Journal of Project Management: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2023.102498

La recherche en gestion a démontré qu’une des caractéristiques fondamentales des systèmes de santé performants est l’existence d’une gouvernance clinique efficace. Ce constat tire son origine du fait que les médecins doivent s’engager non seulement dans l’activité clinique elle-même mais aussi dans la gestion de tout le processus de soins. Aperçu d...

Despite the criticism levelled at it, New Public Management (NPM) seems to be enduring. Post-NPM initiatives remain relatively theoretical and are slow to take root at the heart of the governmental apparatus. Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA), a tool for decision-making at national level, seems to be providing new answers. IIA has developed from N...

Le Nouveau Management Public (NMP) tend à persister malgré les critiques. Les initiatives post-NMP demeurent assez théoriques et tardent à s’implanter au cœur de l’appareil gouvernemental. L’évaluation d’impact intégrée (EII), un outil d’aide à la prise de décision au niveau national, semble apporter des réponses nouvelles. L’EII s’est développé à...

The 7 th International Megaprojects Workshop: Theory meets Practice will be hosted by the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), in collaboration with École de technologie supérieure, HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal, and Kheops-the International Research Consortium on the Governance of Large Infrastructure Projects....

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate a case of collective sensemaking about the project success of the multifunctional amphitheater of Quebec (Canada). Design/methodology/approach For this explorative and qualitative research, the authors started from the post-mortem document and complemented their comprehension with six semi-struct...

Purpose Given the ongoing digital transformation, building information modeling (BIM) has great potential to create a collaborative environment in the whole lifecycle of the built asset, from inception to decommissioning. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper relates current developments in Québec with rega...

Project Definition is the project phase during which the needs and values of project stakeholders are identified, and appropriate design solutions are developed to satisfy them. However, traditional briefing practices have proved to be inadequate in complex projects involving a great number of stakeholders with, in many cases, conflicting needs and...

The aim of this article is to advance a conceptualization for governance-as-practice, based on current developing streams of processual and practice studies — strategy-as-practice and project-as-practice. Although project governance has gained recognition as an important object of inquiry, what is actually done by different actors having to manage...

Purpose This article investigates the process of translation of an institutionalized governance framework as adapted to a major project in practice. Although infrastructure projects have been studied for decades, most studies have emphasized economic or contingency-based perspectives. Of those studies, some researchers have focused on governance f...

The aim of this article is to advance a conceptualization for governance frameworks for major public projects based on public administration literature. The governance of major public projects has been an important subject of inquiry in project management, as researchers have investigated governance frameworks for public projects as a tool to enhan...

The article aims to renew the classification system of PMOs within the context of organizational design and proposes an empirical categorization of PMOs based on types of projects: engineering and construction, information systems/information technology, business processes, and new product development. The research adopted a quantitative approach w...