Projectification as Permission: How Bodies of Knowledge Justify and Enable Project Managing as Discretion, Judgement and Ethical Action

Projectification as Permission: How Bodies of Knowledge Justify and Enable Project Managing as Discretion, Judgement and Ethical Action

This thesis examines the projectification of the public sector, analysing how standardized project management methodologies, such as PRINCE2 and the PMBOK® Guide, both constrain and enable managerial discretion, judgment, and ethical action. While these methodologies are designed to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability, their application within public sector institutions is far from uniform. Rather than serving as rigid control mechanisms, they function as flexible, interpretive structures that grant institutional legitimacy to project managers, allowing them to exercise strategic autonomy while maintaining bureaucratic credibility.
This thesis is based on three interconnected studies, exploring how public sector project managers navigate and negotiate these methodologies in practice. Using a qualitative interpretivist methodology, this research incorporates:
• This thesis is based on three interconnected studies, exploring Semi-structured interviews that examine the lived experiences of nine senior project managers in an Australian state government.
• A focus group investigation which develops a typology of how project managers engage with formalized project management processes
• A theoretical analysis, drawing on Derridean deconstruction and Arendtian action, that conceptualizes project managing as a process of practical deconstruction, a dynamic negotiation between structure and flexibility.how public sector project managers navigate and negotiate these methodologies in practice. Using a qualitative interpretivist methodology, this research incorporates:
A key contribution of this thesis is the Pragmatic Comportment Compass, a framework that categorizes the four primary ways project managers interact with methodologies:
1. To Use – Employing formal methodologies as intended
2. To Manipulate – Adjusting methodologies for contextual needs
3. To Circumvent – Bypassing bureaucratic constraints when necessary
4. To Suffer – Enduring rigid structures when adaptation is not possible.
The findings challenge conventional views of projectification as a top-down process and instead position it as a mechanism that legitimizes discretionary action within ii bureaucratic constraints. Furthermore, this thesis extends the concept of projectification beyond organizational governance, arguing that it reshapes professional identities, work structures, and institutional norms.
This research has significant theoretical, practical, and policy implications. Theoretically, it redefines projectification as a negotiated governance mechanism that balances institutional control with managerial autonomy. Practically, it highlights the need for adaptive project management approaches that acknowledge the reality of discretion in public sector work. At the policy level, it calls for governance frameworks that integrate structured flexibility to ensure that project managers can operate effectively within political, administrative, and operational constraints.
By bridging organizational theory, project management research, and public sector governance, this thesis provides a nuanced perspective on the evolving role of project managers, demonstrating how the structuring of operational conditions enables both constraint and agency in public sector project managing.

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