Crises and coping strategies in megaprojects: the case of Islamabad-Rawalpindi metro bus project

This research is about understanding and identifying crises and coping strategies for crises in megaprojects. Context we examined is the Islamabad - Rawalpindi metro project, a megaproject in Pakistan. We used grounded theory method on data collected through interviews, illustrative materials and archival data. We dissected crises into categories such as (1) internal technical/economic, (2) internal social, (3) external technical/economic and (4) external social crises. The coping strategies we identified are communication, coordination, resource mobilization, planning and multi-tasking, negotiation and compensation. However few of the coping strategies are generic in nature i.e. communication, coordination and resource mobilization, thus, useful for all kinds of crises, while others are crisis specific. This provides practitioners with an extension of their coping repertoire, and academics with a further contribution towards a theory for coping strategies in megaprojects.