Discretion by Design How Peel’s Principles Shaped a Profession—and What They Teach Us About Project Management, Legitimacy, and Discretion Today

Discretion by Design

How Peel’s Principles Shaped a Profession—and What They Teach Us About Project Management, Legitimacy, and Discretion Today
By Dr. Casey LaFrance

Executive Summary

This report examines Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing as the early scaffolding of a legitimate profession—and explores how these principles, reinterpreted in today’s project environment, can guide the development of project management as a profession rooted in ethics, discretion, stakeholder trust, and collaborative governance.

We explore how the Target Model of Discretion, first developed to explain decision-making in law enforcement, applies to public-facing and cross-sector project professionals who work under constraint, ambiguity, and pressure. We argue that, just as policing evolved from enforcement to public service, project management is evolving from task execution to value stewardship—a profession with ethical weight and social consequences.

This document includes a full comparative framework, theoretical foundation, and practical applications. It sets the stage for a complete workshop and downloadable training resource for project professionals, trainers, and public servants working in contract-driven and collaborative project environments.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Peel’s Principles and the Foundations of Professional Policing
3. The Target Model of Discretion and Its Relevance to Project Work
4. Project Management as a Profession Under Construction
5. Comparative Analysis: Peel’s Principles vs. Project Tenets
6. Project Business, Contract Governance, and the Legitimacy Challenge
7. Reframing Professional Identity for Project Leaders
8. Workshop Script and Slide Guide
9. References
10. Appendix: Discussion Prompts and Visual Aids