PROJECT INTEGRATION GOVERNANCE FOR MANAGING FRAGMENTATION IN HYBRID ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Contemporary project environments increasingly combine specialized digital platforms, decentralized teams, hybrid project-management methods and multi-level governance arrangements. Although such heterogeneity can strengthen flexibility and local adaptation, it also increases the need for integration. Existing project-management research examines complexity, hybrid methodologies, information overload, knowledge transfer and governance, but these streams provide only a partial explanation of the cumulative coordination problem created when tools, information, methods, knowledge and decision rights are insufficiently connected. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize project management fragmentation (PMF) as a multidimensional integration problem and to propose a Project Integration Governance framework for limiting its dysfunctional effects while preserving useful flexibility. An exploratory qualitative expert survey was administered during April–May 2026. The analytical sample comprised 12 experienced projectmanagement professionals with 7–18 years of experience, predominantly from service-intensive sectors. Open-text responses were analyzed through deductive-inductive thematic coding and cross-case comparison. Five recurring dimensions of PMF were identified: tool and system fragmentation, data and information fragmentation, methodological fragmentation, knowledge fragmentation, and governance and decision-right fragmentation. Coordination-related costs represented the most recurrent consequence (11 of 12 expert accounts), while data and information fragmentation was reported by 10 experts, tool/system fragmentation by 9, methodological fragmentation by 7, knowledge fragmentation by 8, and governance/responsibility fragmentation by 8. Decision latency and rework were repeatedly reported as downstream effects. The findings suggest that heterogeneity is not equivalent to fragmentation. Fragmentation emerges when the integration capacity of a project environment becomes insufficient relative to the heterogeneity that must be coordinated. On this basis, Project Integration Governance is proposed as a cross-cutting response comprising information, technological, methodological, knowledge and governance integration. The study further develops the principle of Minimum Viable Standardization: organizations should standardize the interfaces necessary for coherence - authoritative information sources, common data definitions, decision rights and escalation rules - while retaining flexibility in team-level working practices and specialized tools. The study contributes a theoretically grounded framework for explaining how fragmented project environments generate coordination overload and provides practical guidance for PMOs, programme managers and governance designers. The proposed causal pathway is interpretive rather than statistically tested and should be validated in larger quantitative and cross-sector studies.