Projectification in Swedish municipalities

A case of porous organizations

Abstract

This article aims to expand our understanding of projectification in Swedish municipalities. Above all the article explores to what extent processes of projectification can be identified and if so how they unfold. The article draws its inspiration from critical management studies and uses the notion of sensemaking to identify the practices of projectification processes. Three processes of projectification are used for an illustrative case- study: municipality’s involvement with EU funded projects ; social investment funds – a new and growing phenomenon of project funding systems within Swedish municipalities; and project models – standards for how projects should be organized. Projectification, it is argued, contains more than just a lot of projects. It also comprises organizational changes and affects the way employees talk about and understand their ordinary work. Projects are described as a routine in municipal organizations and the routinely based activities in these organizations, it is argued are exposed to projectifying processes. The author argues that describing public organizations as porous is useful and needed, in order to comprise both the flexible and temporary aspects of public organizations, as well as their more permanent and rigid structures.