Book contents
- Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior
- Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Guiding Principles
- Chapter 1 The Rise and Fall of the Planning Fallacy
- Chapter 2 Unveiling the Hiding Hand
- Chapter 3 Voyages of Discovery
- Chapter 4 Temporal Structuring and Project Behavior
- Chapter 5 Managing Project Complexity and Uncertainty through Dynamic and Systemic Stakeholder Modeling
- Part II Deviating from Plans
- Part III Practical Tips
- Index
- References
Chapter 2 - Unveiling the Hiding Hand
from Part I - Guiding Principles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
By
Book contents
- Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior
- Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Guiding Principles
- Chapter 1 The Rise and Fall of the Planning Fallacy
- Chapter 2 Unveiling the Hiding Hand
- Chapter 3 Voyages of Discovery
- Chapter 4 Temporal Structuring and Project Behavior
- Chapter 5 Managing Project Complexity and Uncertainty through Dynamic and Systemic Stakeholder Modeling
- Part II Deviating from Plans
- Part III Practical Tips
- Index
- References
Summary
The ‘Hiding Hand’ is a metaphor which Albert Hirschman used, to characterise the international development process. It states that international development projects typically incur major cost overruns and other implementation problems, which put in question the decision to launch them in the first place. Indeed, had these difficulties been known in advance, the projects might never have been even tried. Nevertheless, human ingenuity often finds a way around these difficulties and can indeed discover unforeseen benefits, which may then justify the project after all.
This has come in for strong criticism, by writers such as Flyvbjerg, based on his own analysis of projects, their costs and their effects. Flyvbjerg however has ‘tested’ the Hiding Hand at only a very limited micro level of the individual project. He misses Hirschman’s account of the larger environment within which international development projects and the Hiding Hand operate.
Part 3 addresses that macro-context, as viewed by Hirschman; from there it then turns back to the individual project and its evaluation. Part 4 situates the Hiding Hand in relation to larger debates on economic and political development. Part 5 considers the responsibility of social scientists, to hold development actors and the political community to account.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Cambridge Handbook of Project Behavior , pp. 46 - 57Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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