Business Project Management - Case Study Example

BUSINESS PROJECT MANAGEMENT The effect of project management on project success across different industry or business sectors. Student’s Name: Student number: Name of the unit: Unit Code: Unit coordinator: Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Project Cycle 3 Pre-project planning phase 4 Project Conceptual 4 Project Planning 5 Project Execution 5 Project Termination 5 Project Management Success and Project Success 5 Project success criteria and Measures 7 Project success factors 8 Clearly defined project objectives 8 Executive support 9 Adequate project budget 9 Drawing of realistic schedules 9 Good communication 9 Effective leadership 9 Frequent project Reviews 9 Importance of project management on project success 10 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction A project entails a collection of activities carried out within a defined time scope aimed at achieving specific set objectives. A project as an activity exhibits the following characteristics; it is a one-time activity, it has a start and end date, requires multiple resources and hence requires a budget and may require the formation of a special team to oversee the project activities (Olasupo, Ibrahim & Gazal 2012). Kerzner (2003) couldn’t agree more with this definition of a project where he propounded that a project is a task that has to be carried out and accomplished within an agreed time frame, budget, and resources and attains the required specifications to meet the needs of beneficiaries and stakeholders. Project management is the controlling and directing of an organization’s resources upon a selected activity within a certain cost and time to achieve the required performance (Abdullah & Ramly 2006; Harrison & Lock 2004). Project management success does not necessarily translate into project success. A distinction need to be drawn between the two. According to Williams, Sunnevag and Samset (2009) a project is a limited undertaking put forth to realize a specific outcome within the bracket of given time and budget and this outcome is intended to meet specific needs within the society. This essay will look at how project management impacts on project success. It will start by looking at what constitutes a project cycle as well define the criteria to use when judging the successfulness of a project. Using the project success criteria the essay will isolate the success factors of a project as well as look into importance of project management on project success. Project Cycle The typical life cycle of a project includes but not limited to such phases as project conceptualization, project planning, project execution and project termination (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 42). Unfortunately these phases are what most project managers stick to during project implementation. For project success an important phase which ought to fall under project cycle is more often left out. This phase is what is called the pre-project planning phase. This is an important phase as far as project success is concerned. This phase has been found to have tremendous effect on the project success. Thus it becomes important to include this phase in the discussion of project cycle. Pre-project planning phase Pre-project planning constitutes of all the activities between project initiation and the starting of a detailed design. It starts with conceiving a project as a result of wanting to meet a certain societal need and ends with the decision to go ahead with executing the project design (Gibson et al. 2006, p. 35). It is the process of gathering enough strategic information to help in evaluating risk and inform the decision to engage resources to increase the probability of project success. It is sometimes referred to as front-end loading, front-end planning, and feasibility analysis among others. It involves such activities as identifying project alternatives, developing a project definition criteria and finally deciding to implement the detailed design of the project (Gibson et al. 2006, p. 36). It is true that projects are subjected to varying degrees of uncertainty depending on their nature and the sector they are drawn from. These are scenarios where the actual result of the project activity is probable to deviate from the expected outcome. There is increased difficulty in decision making when the level of uncertainty is high. And from documented statistics it is evident that uncertainty is highest in the earliest stage of the project and tends to diminish over time into the project as more information is made available. This makes this stage very important as decision makers at this stage have the liberty to amend project alternatives to come up with the best. Into the project it becomes difficult and expensive to alter the project design. Thus at pre-project planning affords the chance of making the right decision and selecting the right solution to the problem (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009, p. 21). Project Conceptual In this phase the feasibility of the project is brought into the limelight. Here the objectives of the project are discussed with the view to finding whether they are worth implementing through a project. It is in this phase that estimates of the cost of the project are determined and decide whether the benefits surpass the cost. It is at this phase that issues of feasibility and justification are addressed (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 42). It is in this phase that the project manager ant the project team starts to take shape. Project Planning In this phase the project parameters such as performance, schedule and cost are polished and refined making it possible to come up with an execution plan for the project. It is here that the actual costs and project schedules are established and the project team formalized (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 42). Here all the work to be done is identified. Required resources are also made known and the sources of such resources are also determined. At this phase the threats to the project are also isolated and ways of navigating through them are also put forward. All project stakeholders are also identified and ways of informing them about the progress of the project are also identified. Project Execution Work and tasks of the project outlined in the planning phase are carried out in this phase. This is building the project and making it to work. The progress of the project is continuously monitored and modifications to the original plan made and recorded. The direction of the project is judged against the original design and if it is found out to be deviating it is redirected to the original plan (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 42). Project Termination It is during this phase that the final deliverables of the project are freed to the clients. It is during this phase that the documentation of the project is handed over to the company, the contracts of the suppliers are discontinued, project resources are freed and the closure of the projected communicated to all the stake holders (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 42). Project Management Success and Project Success Determining the success of projects is not an easy task because the term success is a bit complex and various institutions and individuals have different interpretations of the term success. It is also a bit difficult since different projects require different metrics to ascertain their success and to some extend different individuals tend to charge the success of the same project differently (Williams & Samset 2012, p. 46). For better understanding on how project management success impacts on the success of projects it is important to first understand project management success and project success. Project success is perceived differently by different people (Liu 2005). Project success is judged by relating the outcomes of the project to the already determined project objectives whereas project management success is based on the typical measures of performance; time, cost and quality (Camilleri 2011, p. 17). Project management success is mainly concerned with achieving project completion within the set budget, time and quality (Pinkerton 2003, p. 337). Projects managers in undertaking the project they are directed by such dimensions as within time, within costs and according to specifications. The project management team has their eyes fixed on three critical factors as the informants of their project success; cost, quality and time (Olasupo, Ibrahim & Gazal 2012, p. 3). In this case the project management team see it a success in managing the project by delivering the end product. Project product success concerns itself with the worth of the end product of the project. It looks at the effects of the deliverables of project management. It looks and the sustainability and the continued relevance of the outcomes of the project. It is when both the users and sponsors of the project get value and benefit from the outcomes of the project (Pinkerton 2003, p. 344). For project success both project management and project product must be successful. So a project is successful when all the stakeholders; sponsor, user, designer and project manager, are satisfied with the outcome of the project. All stakeholders in the undertaking of a project agree on the success of a project as one that creates value for the sponsor. But on failed projects their responses on the cause of failure are divergent. The sponsors believe that a project fails if it didn’t create value, the users of the project say that a project fails because it didn’t present to them the functionality they required, the designers point the project failure to having deviated from the initial design during implementation and project managers think that a project fails because its completion was delayed and it had a cost overrun (Munns & Bjeirmi 1996, p. 82). From those responses it is clear that different stakeholders in the project look forward to different objectives as the users are more concerned with benefitting from the project in terms of functionality, designers are concerned with the design and project managers are concerned with the cost and time. In order for a project to be deemed as a success there is need that the different stakeholders work together synchronizing their needs and sometimes compromising with the view of creating a beneficial project that ends up creating value for the sponsor. What causes unsuccessful projects is this scenario where stakeholders hold onto different ends from the project and in so doing the needs of others are trampled on. Project success criteria and Measures Projects are successful if they meet the needs of all the stakeholders involved in the project. Projects on completion do not necessarily meet these needs a hundred percent. So a good success criterion strikes a balance between these needs of stakeholders. Success criteria consists of parameters by which inferences are made about the successfulness of a project and success factors are those independent parameters that impact on the successful achievement of project results (Cooke-Davies 2002). According to Westerveld (2003) project success criteria deals with the result area and he dubbed this as the ‘what’ and the success factors are concerned with the organizational area and he termed these factors as the ‘how’. A project on the wider scope is judged to be successful if it meets its set objectives, has traces of unintended outcomes, being consistent with the requirements of the society in priority order and viable in that the intended long term effects of the project are accomplished. Thus the criterion should look at the efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, impact and sustainability. Efficient in that it delivers immediate outputs (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009). It is worth to note here that a project can be successful in tactical performance and flop in strategic performance. In the tactical front a project is judged to be successful if it achieves set outcomes within the set time and cost. On the strategic performance front a project is deemed to have succeeded encompasses the long term effects of the project in terms of sustainability, effectiveness and relevance (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009). The University Hospital in Oslo, Norway is a good example of a project that achieved strategic performance but failed in the tactical performance. It was completed in the year 2000 instead of the projected year of completion of 1999 hence the project experienced cost overruns. But a few years into operation the hospital it proofed itself as a successful project that was sustainable and relevant into the future. It met the needs of the wider society (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009, p. 20). Another example of a project that was a success tactically but a flop in terms of strategic performance is the on-shore torpedo battery in the northern coast of Norway built in 2004. It was completed on budget and on time. But only operated for a week before it was closed down as it exposed the army of the country to potential enemies. It became obsolete due to technological advancements in the military (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009, p. 20). Because the project was completed on time and within budget it received a lot of air play on the Norway media as being a successful project but in the end it wouldn’t live up to the sustainability and relevance aspect of project success. If a project fails on the strategic front then it means that the project was the wrong option for the problem at hand; it was the wrong solution (Williams, Sunnevag & Samset 2009). So projects should be measured on efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, impact and relevance. Project success factors These factors are inherent in the project management process and their successful navigation ensures project success. Reinforcement of these factors during the project cycle goes a long way in ensuring that the project stands tall within the test of time in fulfilling the societal needs. These are the contributions into the project management system that directly or indirectly bring about the success of a project (Camilleri 2011, p. 17). Although different types of projects require different types of success criteria (Müller & Turner 2007), the success factors discussed below apply across projects in contributing to their success. Clearly defined project objectives At the initial stage of the project what the project is out to achieve should be clearly stated in terms of breadth and the activities to go into achieving these objective should also be clearly defined. The project plans should be in tandem with the business plans. Priorities should also be defined and communicated to the involved parties (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). A success criterion that is agreeable by all stakeholders also contributes to achieving the project success. For the clarity of the project objectives, the right project should have been chosen in the first place. So selecting the right project boils down to a successful project (Morris & Pinto 2007, 234). Executive support If the project receives the undivided support from the senior project executives as well as the senior project management team in terms of provision of the required resources, then the project is bound to succeed (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). The owner of the project can further support the project by showing interest in the project progress. Adequate project budget Evidence from most of the unsuccessful projects show that most of them failed to reach completion because of inadequacies in funds. Enough funds will ensure that projects are completed and hence able to deliver deliverables ((Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). Drawing of realistic schedules Because most project managers want to jump into the next project they end up drawing schedules that are unrealistic in the sense that they squeeze the time. This makes the projects to flop. These unrealistic schedules are also guided by the customers’ unrealistic expectations (Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43) . Schedules should be realistic. Good communication Communication between project team members and all stakeholders ensures project success ((Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). Effective leadership The selection of competent project team and key stakeholders ensures that the project does not deviate from its course since these teams are able to provide the required leadership ((Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). A project manager who is in touch with the requirements of the project and that of all the stakeholders will lead the project to fruition (Turner & Müller 2006). Frequent project Reviews Frequently reviewing the project progress points to areas that require modification. Reviews meetings also provide the platform for team members to be motivated and share vision ((Iqbal, Azam & Qureshi 2011, p. 43). Importance of project management on project success Successful project management plays a very important role in ensuring that projects are successful and meet the needs of all stakeholders. The project management process as it isolates the prerequisites of the project, determines the scope of the work, distributes the required resources, draws the work and execution plan of the project as well as coming up with monitoring mechanisms for the project and informs the need for modifications where necessary. Project management is also important as it is through this process that the client’s needs are identified. Thus project management is essential to project success as it is charged with the responsibility of monitoring and controlling all contributions to the project. It also evaluates whether the societal needs have been met (Lock 2014). The use of project management practices positively impacts on the realization of project outcomes. It even increases the rate at which these project outcomes are realized (Shenhar & Dvir 2007). Projects require customized management procedures to make that project successful (Crawford et al. 2005). For a project to be successful in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, impact, relevance and sustainability there should be the appreciation of the role that project management plays in creating and delivering successful projects. Conclusion Project management is very important in the creation and implementation of successful projects. The success of the project management process means that the project will also succeed. A successful project is one that meets the needs of the sponsors, designers, users and the project management team. Project management is important since it is through this process that project objectives are defined, project tasks cut out, budgetary estimates drawn, monitoring and evaluation techniques drawn as well as risks in the execution process estimated and measures on how to navigate them proposed. Some of the factors that have their input in the project success include among others clearly defined project objectives, good leadership skills, good communication during the project cycle, setting of realistic objectives, and support from all the stakeholders involved in the project, allocating enough resources into the project to make sure that the project does not stall. All these, if observed during the project cycle coupled with the fact that the stakeholders treat the project as a partnership will make the project management process a successful undertaking hence produce a successful project. 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