Project or process? The creation of a conceptual assessment framework

Abstract

Organizations use projects and processes as ways to manage their work and tasks efficiently. Although both management forms have specific characteristics and situations for which they are suited, it is not always immediately apparent if something should be approached as a project or as a process. Projects can transform into processes, and some work cases can even be addressed both as a project and as a process. Few sources of literature or tools are currently available that provide indications on when a management form would be most appropriate. This research aims to fill this gap by developing a conceptual framework depicting several key conceptual characteristics of projects and processes and additional influencing factors that could help management in assessing their work. This study first established four key conceptual characteristics of projects and processes by conducting a literature review. With a case study, the found conceptual characteristics are enriched by characterizing the area between projects and processes and defining several important influential factors. The literature review and case study findings have been used to construct and design the conceptual framework, which ultimately has been validated with experts. The opinions of the experts indicated that the framework is perceived as understandable, useful, and complete relative to representing key conceptual characteristics. While the designed framework does not provide a complete overview of unambiguous recommendations, it enables to make rough estimations on which form seems to be appropriate and facilitates a foundation for discussing this dilemma within organizations.