Playing with Complexity electronically available - Minister receives copy
Wednesday 10 March 2010

On March 4 2010 the Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works
and Water Management formally accepted the PhD Disstertation
of mr. Marcel Hertogh (NETLIPSE Programme Manager) and mr.
Eddy Westerveld (IPAT Development). The Minister, Mr. Camiel
Eurlings, displayed a great interest in the international results
as published in the dissertation. The dissertation,
titled:
Playing with Complexity; Management and Organisation of
Large Infrastructure Projects
is now electronically available.
Both Marcel and Eddy succesfully defended their PhD dissertation
recently in a public questioning and obtained their PhD
title. The PhD research has played an important role in the
start and development of NETLIPSE. It is therefore the opinion of
the authors that this dissertation should be electronically
available to all members of the European Community.
The following documents can be downloaded:
Playing with Complexity - the complete dissertation
Playing with Complexity - the Summary

Abstract
The need for mobility in current society seems to be ever
growing. At the same time we notice that the large infrastructure
projects set-up to meet this need, often produce disappointing
results in terms of costs (increases) and schedule (overruns); as
well as stakeholder dissatisfaction. To overcome this conflict,
management quality in the delivery of large infrastructure projects
needs to improve. In their thesis, six major European projects have
been investigated and approaches are set out to deal with the
complexity that underlies the problem.
Based on their findings, the authors construct an approach,
which in their view offers the best chance of success in the
management of these large projects: dynamic management. Dynamic
management is based on an intricate balance between control and
interaction. In addition, dynamic management embraces 5 X-factors
that are keys in the successful management of complexity in
LIPs.
About the authors
Marcel Hertogh studied at the Delft University
of Technology, Civil Engineering and at Erasmus University
Rotterdam, Economics (obtaining Master's Degrees at both). He
started his career at acontracting firm in 1988, where he worked on
projects such as the 'Maeslantkering' storm-surge barrier and two
tunnel projects for road traffic.
In 1993 he joined Berenschot Osborne. Currently he is a member
of the board of AT Osborne and responsible for one of the two
business units: Infrastructure, Urban Planning and Environment. His
main field of experience is management and organisation of complex
projects. He is the programme director of NETLIPSE and one of the
project's initiators.
He has been involved as a senior consultant with several very
large infrastructure projects - he was Head of Department, Quality
and Organisation of the Betuweroute project for ProRail, and also
undertook a due diligence study on the Oosterweel Junction in
Antwerp. For the Westerschelde Tunnel he studied the feasibility
and opportunties for private financing. He set up the project
organisation and project processes of several big water projects, a
big transport corridor project and two storm surge barriers.
He is a professional trainer and a frequent speaker at
congresses. He is the (co-) author of 8 books about organisation
and contracting for big investment projects. He has written more
than 30 articles and has been interviewed for magazines and for
radio and TV.
Eddy Westerveld works as a consultant and
project manager in projects for AT Osborne in The Netherlands. Over
past years he has been active as project manager, researcher and
consultant in large infrastructure and urban renewal projects both
in The Netherlands and abroad. Projects he has worked on include:
the Westerscheldetunnel, Rijnboog Arnhem, HSL-South and the
Amsterdam North South Metro Line. Some of his main fields of
interest relate to bridging the gap between science and practice in
the management of large infrastructure and to the management of
complexity in these projects.
Recently he has been involved as the 'knowledge team
coordinator' in NETLIPSE. He is co-author of the book 'Managing
large infrastructure projects' which was published in 2008 as a result
of NETLIPSE research.
Eddy specializes in project management which is demonstrated by
his membership of the committee working on the new ISO guideline on
project management, his work as a lead assessor for the IPMA
excellence award, and his membership of IPMA in The Netherlands. In
addition he is the lead author of the book on the '
Project Excellence Model' which was published in 2002. He is
regularly involved in training and classes relating to project
management for clients and for students.
The Dissertation of Marcel Hertogh & Eddy Westerveld
titled can be ordered via the contact form. The price is € 54,50 per
item.