Le projet organisant : vers une ontologie du projet d'aménagement

Construction projects are often affected by lower levels of performance and significant gaps between what is planned and what is actually realized. This thesis aims to examine the phenomenon that allows the built environment project to organize itself and carry out its objectives. The hypothesis states that: projects influence, transform and create the organizations that conduct them, following a dynamic and iterative process, referred to as «self- organizing » and «  structuring ». This « active organizing » process generates transformations – organizational and structural – conditioned by the very nature of the project itself. To validate this hypothesis, an ontological frame, based on four categories of analysis has been devised, including: (a) organization and structures; (b) the project and its processes; (c) the artefact and its design, and; (d) actors’ dynamic. These fields are put in relations using systemic principles and tools within the paradigmatic frame of complexity. The methodology includes three steps, deployed along five articles : article no1 presents the research problem and theoretical framework; articles no2, 3 and 4 use case studies and case surveys for the study of various aspects of the organizational structures; article no5 presents a longitudinal case study, spanning three years, which examined decision processes. The five articles explore the following topics: (no1) the design thinking approach to projects and actors’ dynamic behavior ; (no2) the informality of communications and coordination ; (no3) contingency factors that influence the « structuring » of the temporary multiorganization – TMO;  (no4) the typologies of the TMO, and ; (no5) the study of iterative processes and their influence on organizational structures. Seven results validate sub-hypotheses that state that: a process of «self-organization » generates transformations – organizational and processual – linked to the specific nature of the project. Therefore, the project : (1) is conducted by both formalized and often linear management approaches as well as  iterative design process, the former being non-linear and self-organizing and responding to systemic principles ; (2) contributes to create its own processes of development, and ; (3) constitutes a contingency factor that influences the structuring of the TMO that is created to conduct the project itself. This analysis reveals the diversity and complexity of organizational processes and structures, producing a multidimensional representation of project behaviour. Three important contributions are drawn from these conclusions : (1) the frame of ontologies of the project and its underlying systemic functioning ; (2) the existence of inter-organizational work constellations and a typology of six TMO configurations, and ; (3) the statement of the « organizing  project » that, through the « self-organization » approach, « organizes » itself and the processes and organization that are created to conduct it, through actors’ multiple roles.

Keyphrases: Self-Organizing Project, Project Ontology, Built Environment, Project Management, Management by Design, Management by Design, Temporary Multi-Organization, Systemic, Design Process, Decision Process, Actors' Dynamic