Project management and the problem of project escalation - Essay Example

Question 1In his article “Pulling the plug: Software project management and the problem of project escalation,” Keil (2005) discusses the problem of “escalation” as a cause for IT failure. Loosely defined as an occasion where IT projects “take a life of its own” causing it to get “out of control”, Keil argues that in order to address and prevent its occurrence, there is a need to look beyond the traditional perspective of project management that views escalation simply as a result of poor project management practices.

Instead, he suggests the need to understand the underlying reasons managers abandon unsuccessful projects too late in the game as a cause of escalation. Citing a study by Ewusi-Mensah and Przanski, Keil justifies the need to effectively address why unsuccessful projects are not abandoned by identifying the lack of theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the topic, as well as the fact that the little information available indicates that it is a significant contributor to wastage.Using Straw and Ross’s typology, Keil (2005) identifies four factors that promote escalation.

These are project factors, referring to the objective features of the project; psychological factors that affect a project manager’s personal decision-making; social factors, which make up the decision-making environment surrounding a project; and organizational factors that constitutes the structural and political environment of a project. Question 2 As Keil (2005) suggested in his article, there are four factors that contribute to escalation, namely: project factors, psychological factors, social factors, and organizational factors.

In this respect, effectively addressing escalation must therefore centre on addressing these factors. First, it is important to complete a comprehensive cost-benefit and risk analysis at the initial planning stage in order to give project managers sufficient information with regard to decisions regarding the IT project. This will be able to address the objective factors that are caused by poor judgment on the scale of a project.Second, it is also important for the project team, preferably with the help of a professional not within the team, to establish protocols and standards to serve as indicators that will signal when a project must be abandoned, and when it is still salvageable.

A separate quality analyst must also be employed to monitor these indicators and compare it with the project team’s progress. This will place part of the responsibility in abandoning a project on an outsider who will not be affected by the same psychological factors that plague project managers. Third, it is also imperative to promote teamwork and a cooperative atmosphere within a project team to ensure that rivalry or any negative behaviour that can affect a team’s ability to make sound decisions are not compromised.

In this respect, team-building activities will be beneficial. Fourth, in order to avoid political and structural pressure that prevents project teams from abandoning projects when need be, project teams should be allowed to create their own organization culture or norms, which will insulate them from norms within the larger organization that may prevent them from abandoning unsalvageable projects. Lastly, to prevent senior level management and other stakeholders to place unnecessary pressure for a project to succeed, objective reports and analyses must also be conducted to provide stakeholders with unbiased and realistic information about a project’s viability.

In this regard, objectivity in the studies are crucial to give stakeholders a realistic account of the project, dissuading any biased support on unsuccessful projects.