Title: Building up a project complexity framework using an international Delphi study

Authors: Ludovic-Alexandre Vidal; Franck Marle; Jean-Claude Bocquet

Addresses: Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel, Grande Voie des Vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France ' Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel, Grande Voie des Vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France ' Ecole Centrale Paris, Laboratoire Genie Industriel, Grande Voie des Vignes, 92290 Chatenay-Malabry, France

Abstract: Project management has spread around the world to become what it is today, that is to say a set of theories, principles, methodologies and practices. Past research works argue for a paradigm shift so that one could focus more on project complexity to manage projects more efficiently. However, there is a lack of consensus on what project complexity is, which makes it difficult to understand it clearly. Therefore, this article reviews the literature in order to build a standardised project complexity framework. Then, it describes how a Delphi study was conducted over a panel of academic and industrial experts to refine it. Further on, it draws some conclusions regarding project complexity factors perception, depending on some characteristics of the experts (academic/industrial experts, gender study). Finally, after a correlation study based on the Spearman rank, some perspectives are given to illustrate the applications of the project complexity framework which is built.

Keywords: project management; project complexity; systems analysis; Delphi methodology; position; gender; expert systems; Spearman rank; measure; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; academic experts; industrial experts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2013.055158

International Journal of Technology Management, 2013 Vol.62 No.2/3/4, pp.251 - 283

Accepted: 31 Mar 2013
Published online: 10 Sep 2013 *

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