{
  "title": "In Berne, when should an ongoing project be reassessed?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-05-05",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An expensive project is not necessarily a project that should be stopped. Research instead encourages a distinction between reasons to continue and the need to justify past decisions.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Complex Management",
  "place": {
    "name": "Bern",
    "region": "Berne",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Barry Staw (1976, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance) demonstrated experimentally that personal responsibility for an initial decision could encourage further financial commitment following negative results."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The weight of sunk costs",
      "point": "Hal Arkes and Catherine Blumer (1985, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) documented the sunk cost effect: having already invested money, time or effort can encourage continuation of an action."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that disappointing projects should be stopped earlier; these studies nevertheless provide no universal stopping threshold."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot settle",
      "point": "These studies measure neither the frequency nor the magnitude of these mechanisms in organisations in Berne."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Berne",
      "point": "Within the “Management complexe” programme, SHR can propose an exercise applicable to a federal administration project, a public health initiative, a telecoms rollout or a precision-industry investment: record sunk costs, future costs and expected benefits for each option separately."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Staw",
      "year": "1976",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Performance"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Blumer",
      "year": "1985",
      "source": "Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 419,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Complex-Management-Bern-berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/berne-reexaminer-un-projet-sans-ceder-aux-couts-engages-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation-management-complexe-berne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/berne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}