Social Project Management
Projects become difficult when different actors do not simply have different interests, but different ideas about what makes an outcome valuable, successful or acceptable.
A project does not always begin with a shared understanding of what a good outcome looks like.
The problem
People, organisations and institutions may evaluate the same situation, decision or outcome according to different criteria.
A project may therefore be considered successful by one actor and problematic by another — without either evaluation being simply incorrect.
Evaluative plurality
Project objectives are often treated as if they existed independently of the people and organisations involved in their development.
In practice, however, objectives, quality criteria and desirable outcomes may become meaningful through processes of evaluation, justification and coordination.
SPM starts from this plurality rather than treating it as noise around the project.
The SPM Approach
What matters to whom — and why?
SPM begins by examining the evaluative structures through which actors assess situations, problems, proposed solutions and outcomes. The aim is not to produce a single definition of the situation, but to make relevant differences visible.How can different evaluations become actionable?
Different evaluations cannot always be implemented simultaneously in their original form. Translation develops forms in which heterogeneous evaluations can inform practical decisions without simply eliminating their differences.What has been stabilised — and what remains contested?
Project decisions do not simply solve problems. They also stabilise particular interpretations, priorities and forms of coordination. SPM therefore reflects on what has become embedded, what remains contested and what this means for further development.A different project logic
The purpose is not to create agreement where none exists. SPM makes evaluative differences available for project development and asks how they can become workable under actual conditions.
SPM is concerned with more than identifying stakeholders or balancing their interests. The relevant question is how different forms of evaluation shape project development.
Different evaluations may remain incompatible. SPM does not require consensus as the desired endpoint of a project.
Planning, resources, responsibilities, deadlines and implementation remain essential. SPM adds a developmental perspective where evaluative plurality matters.
Not every project requires the same degree of evaluative analysis. SPM becomes particularly relevant where different understandings of desirable outcomes become consequential.
Project development
Conventional project management provides essential structures for organising implementation: objectives, resources, responsibilities, time and control.
SPM adds a specific developmental layer where objectives, quality criteria or workable solutions may themselves have to be developed.
The question is not only how to implement a project — but how the project becomes workable.
Application
SPM is particularly relevant where different evaluative perspectives, contested objectives or substantial organisational change become consequential for project development.
When technological implementation becomes organisational and evaluative change.
Explore case → 02When different organisational positions imply different ideas of successful change.
Explore case → 03When technical functionality is only one dimension of success.
Explore case → 04When economic, professional, legal and societal evaluations meet.
Explore case → 05When the project has to develop its objectives while it is being developed itself.
Explore case →Learning
Projects generate knowledge not only about whether a solution worked, but also about how different evaluations became relevant, where conflicts emerged and which forms of coordination proved workable.
Such learning can remain specific to a project — or become part of organisational development.
What a project learns can become part of how an organisation works.
Where project-level learning becomes sufficiently durable, it may contribute to organisational quality management and further development.
Development status
Social Project Management is currently being developed through the interaction of conceptual work, empirical observation, methodological development and practical experimentation.
Developing a framework for understanding how heterogeneous evaluations become consequential for project development.
Developing an approach for making heterogeneous evaluations available for practical project work without prematurely reducing their differences.
Testing how the approach can be used in different project constellations and what can be learned from its application.
Concept Paper
The Concept Paper develops the conceptual foundations of Social Project Management and outlines its approach to evaluative plurality, translation and project development.
SPM is an evolving framework. Its concepts and applications are developed through the interaction of conceptual work, empirical observation and practical experimentation.
Read the Concept PaperPractice
SPM is developed not only through conceptual work but also through practical experience in project management and organisational development.
These experiences provide settings in which assumptions can be tested, approaches adapted and new questions identified.