Characterization of complexity in engineering projects

Lukosevicius, Alessandro Prudêncio; Soares, Carlos Alberto Pereira; Joia, Luiz Antônio

doi:10.1590/0104-530X2957-16

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Original Article • Gest. Prod. 25 (2) • Apr-Jun 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-530X2957-16 copy

Characterization of complexity in engineering projects

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

The complexity of the projects has increased, boosting the demand in modern project management for new knowledge, tools, techniques and work models. However, the scientific community still seeks a definition for the complex project construct and the factors that characterize it. Therefore, the objective of this qualitative and descriptive study was to identify the factors that characterize the complexity in the vision of engineering project management professionals and from that, to propose a definition for a complex project. This characterization was based on the perception of 132 respondents, captured through the word evocation technique; treated and analyzed by the Vèrges technique with the support of Social Representation Theory and Complexity Theory. As a result, the central nucleus of the social representation that characterizes a complex project in the view of the professionals of the engineering area was constituted in descending order by: stakeholders, difficulty, risks, technology, large, scope, multidisciplinary and long. It is observed that complex projects are seen as a superlative system, in terms of quantity and quality of constituents, and stakeholders management gains protagonism.

Keywords:
Complex projects; Complexity Theory; Social Representation Theory; Evocation of words

Definition of Complexity	Author(s)
The complexity in projects is the number of different disciplines or departments involved in the project, as well as the complication of the design itself.	Larson & Gobeli (1989)Larson, E. W., & Gobeli, D. H. (1989). Significance of project management structure on development success. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 36(2), 119-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/17.18828. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/17.18828...
“Complexity in projects consists of many, varied and interrelated parts and can be operationalized in terms of differentiation and interdependence.”	Baccarini (1996Baccarini, D. (1996). The concept of project complexity - a review. International Journal of Project Management, 14(4), 201-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0263-7863(95)00093-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0263-7863(95)0... , p. 202)
Complexity in projects is characterized by the number of elements and their interdependencies, including multiple objectives and multiplicity of stakeholders, as well as the uncertainty of methods and goals.	Williams (1999)Williams, T. (1999). The need for new paradigms for complex projects. International Journal of Project Management, 17(5), 269-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00047-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)...
“Complexity in projects is the property of a project that makes it difficult to understand, predict, and to keep its overall behavior under control, even if there are reasonably complete information about the project system.”	Vidal et al. (2011Vidal, L. A., Marle, F., & Bocquet, J. C. (2011). Measuring project complexity using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. International Journal of Project Management, 29(6), 718-727. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.07.005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.201... , p. 719)
“Complex design is the one that exhibits a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability, derived from the project itself and its context.”	Chapman (2016Chapman, R. J. (2016). A framework for examining the dimensions and characteristics of complexity inherent within rail megaprojects. International Journal of Project Management, 34(6), 937-956. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.05.001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.201... , p. 938)

Characteristics	Description of research subjects
Age and experience time	Average age of 37.46 years and average experience time of 10.10 years
Gender	16.7% women and 83.3% men
Project management, participation in complex projects and engineering projects	78.8% already managed or currently managed a project, 71.2% participated in a complex project, and 93.2% acted or worked in engineering projects as project management professionals
Project Management Methodology	72.7% work in organizations that do not adopt a project management methodology
Number of employees and type of organization	35.6% work in organizations with more than 5,000 employees, with private organizations standing out with 76.5%
Organizational Maturity in Project Management	28% of organizations surveyed are in level 2 and 25% are in level 1 of project management maturity

Frequency and number of evoked words	Cumulative values in ascending order	Cumulative values in descending order
1 x 112	112 17.1%	655 100.0%
2 x 34	180 27.5%	543 82.9%
3 x 16	228 34.8%	475 72.5%
4 x 9	264 40.3%	427 65.2%
6 x 8	312 47.6%	391 59.7%
7 x 2	326 49.8%	343 52.4%
8 x 1	334 51.0%	329 50.2%
9 x 7	397 60.6%	321 49.0%
10 x 2	417 63.7%	258 39.4%
13 x 1	430 65.6%	238 36.3%
17 x 1	447 68.2%	225 34.4%
18 x 1	465 71.0%	208 31.8%
20 x 2	505 77.1%	190 29.0%
21 x 1	526 80.3%	150 22.9%
25 x 1	551 84.1%	129 19.7%
32 x 1	583 89.0%	104 15.9%
35 x 1	618 94.4%	72 11.0%
37 x 1	655 100.0%	37 5.6%

	Average Recall Order under 2.9	Average Recall Order equal or above 2.9
Frequency equal or over 12	CENTRAL NUCLEUS Stakeholders (37) Difficulty (35) Risks (25) Technology (21) Large (20) Scope (18) Multidisciplinary (17) Long (13)	Deadline (32) Cost (20)
Frequency equal or over 8 and under 11	Expensive (9) Integration (9) Challenge (9) Interfaces (9) Complexity (8)	Management (10) Planning (10) Innovation (9) Changes (9) Resources (9)

Universidade Federal de São Carlos Departamento de Engenharia de Produção , Caixa Postal 676 , 13.565-905 São Carlos SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 16 3351 8471 - São Carlos - SP - Brazil
E-mail: gp@dep.ufscar.br

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[1] Source: Authors.

Minimum Average Frequency	8
Intermediate Recall Frequency	12
Mean of Average Recall Order	2.9