Translation and Transcription in Development Projects- From Vague Problems to Clear-Cut solutions Through Project Organizing

摘要

Occasionally, problems in society arise that do not fit into traditional structures ofpublic organizations. Such problems become especially problematic if there is noadequate capacity to deal with them. At such situations, development projects mayenable exploration of new ways of organizing activities. We use illustrations ofdevelopment projects in public management in Sweden to discuss a fundamentalorganizing problem of projects: how project delimitation and formation takes place. Thispaper shows that the specific slice from organizational reality embodied in the interfacesbetween projects is of particular theoretical interest when observing this type of projectorganizing. Also, it shows how new issues are dealt with through the organizing oftemporary activities. We offer a theoretical discussion of translation and transcription indevelopment projects, not only since they are important to the formulation of theproject goals, above all, since they are crucial links in a chain of sequential projects thatare organized as responses to the new situation.