Tuomas Ahola: How are societally significant projects managed?
“The societal significance of projects is substantial and multi-faceted. I am interested in how the introduction of new technologies, and novel management approaches can increase the benefits provided by projects to the society.”
In his research, Ahola concentrates on different challenges related to management of complex projects. He highlights the conflicting goals of companies participating in a project as one of these challenges. Another challenge lies in the fact that projects sometimes fail to achieve the various impacts promised to project stakeholders and the society at large.
“A key part of my research consists of examining how the project implementation model should be customized to account for the unique characteristics of each project. For example, relational project delivery models, such as alliance contracting, offer one option for aligning the goals of the participating companies. But even such models are not suitable for all projects.”
Ahola says that different management approaches can be used to create countless project-specific combinations that differ from each other. The rapid development of technology also allows for a continuous stream of new methods for monitoring and controlling the progress of a project.
“With regard to the management of socially significant projects, the key limitations are in fact specified by our lack of imagination.”
