The neglected organisation of failure: Activities, infrastructures and subjectivities

The aim of this article is to explore a neglected issue – the organisation of failure in projects. The existing literature has primarily focused on explaining the causes, factors and circumstances that lead to failure, and how organisations account for and make sense of failure. However, this is only a partial explanation, particularly for organisations where decisions about project success and failure are routinely made. Drawing on a pragmatic approach that emphasises social agency as the ongoing determination of an inherently uncertain reality by knowledgeable actors, I describe the processes by which failure is managed in organisations so that it is both part of the productive workflow and recognisable and acceptable to all stakeholders. I highlight the critical role of evaluation infrastructures, allowing the assessment of whether a project's outcomes are in line with its objectives or the resources used, yet remaining largely invisible. The manipulation of these infrastructures allows sponsors to achieve the desired success/failure ratio of the projects they support without having to change their value objectives. The subjective dimension of the sponsor's organisation of failure has also been shown to play an important role, which can lead to failure being marginalised or made ambivalent. In developing the argument, I have drawn on both theoretical literature and empirical research in four different areas of organised labour – start-ups, platform work, development aid and environmental education.