Leading dynamically complex projects

Purpose – The paper seeks to establish a critical role for leaders in guiding projects to higher levels of effectiveness. This role centers on using the thinking capacities associated with systems thinking, knowledge processing, action learning, and pragmatism. It is also to design systems to imbue these capacities into the operation of project teams.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a case study, action‐research observations, and conceptual models. Actual case studies including a medium‐sized US manufacturer and a large shipyard.Findings – This paper includes a section that presents research findings that suggest efforts by managers to improve profits actually reduced profit in the longer term due to erroneous learning and low‐quality knowledge.Research limitations/implications – The research presented does not focus specifically on project teams, but rather on the interplay between project teams and the larger organizations of which they are part.Practical implications – In certain indus...