Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.4
Gestalt diagram of eight independent rectangles arranged in two
groups of four.
where individuals form a circle, for example, with a gap on the circum-
ference. Because of closure, the gap is ignored by the brain and the cir-
cumference is still perceived as a circle. As the theory is outside the
scope of this topic, a seminal text on gestalt theory can be found in Ellis
(1938) or later in Palmer (1999) or in any general introductory textbook
on psychology.
The reason for introducing gestalt theory here is that the silo mental-
ity tends to separate the management of projects into isolated units,
instead of seeing or looking for patterns of relationships that can be
found in the interdependencies of projects within programmes. Take,
for example, the eight rectangles in Figure 4.4. The eye immediately
interprets the arrangement as two sets of four rectangles. The individual
shapes are not seen as eight independent rectangles, but as part of a
pattern, each related in some way to the other seven. Each shape is in
the same group as another three, but in a different group from the other
four rectangles. These are unseen relationships, which help to interpret
the pattern in the mind of the observer.
In the same way, each project has a set of relationships with the other
projects in a programme, and it is important to defi ne these interdepend-
encies in order to manage them effectively. Moreover, as can be seen
from Figure 4.3, it is possible to fi nd that the whole is more meaningful
than the sum of the parts, though the interpretation we place on the
whole may not necessarily be correct, bearing in mind that both hori-
zontal lines in Figure 4.3 are identical but appear to be different.
In Figure 4.5 eight projects are arranged to show that projects A to D
may have connections they do not share with projects E to H. Their
relationship may depend on a common source of materials, or it may be
that the same tier 3 contractor is engaged on projects A to D but not on
E to F. The simple lesson here is that it is not helpful to deal with
projects in a programme in isolation, as if they are all in separate silos.
