The Reasons of Failure of Project Management to Achieve Its Goals - Assignment Example

?Project Management Lecturer: Discussion Failure of project management to achieve its goals For any successful project the employment of services of a project manager is paramount. A project manager is tasked with many functions to ensure that the project succeeds. However, they are many several reasons behind failure of the project. They include: Bad and inadequate communications, poor communications of any kind at all levels in the organization leads to project failure. Everyone must be kept informed on the changes, budgets, assumptions, schedule, and cost with regard to the organization. Therefore, the development of a good visual system is of tremendous benefit to the project manager. A paper system in binders is a poor way of keeping people informed. This drags the organization behind in progress tracking and reporting (Kerzer, 74). Poor scheduling or resource management (mismanagement) by the project manager often leads increasing your chances of project failure. This is because managing any project is managing a schedule, but a schedule is typically a collection of resources that are being managed on a schedule. There is poor scheduling on elicitation techniques, use cases, user screen design specifications, reports, business rules, functional, and the non-functional requirements (76). Weak requirements definitions which lead to planning inadequacy, this is brought about by the project manager failing to identify his or her target. One way of identifying project requirements is by describing how the end results look like in measurable terms. Requiring of a soft ware that is easy to use is an objective measure of our testing. Poor requirements lead to poor development and design. A software program ends up doing the wrong things for the users resulting in massive re-tests and rework. According to Kerzer (78) he asserts that inadequate planning, risks, resources, and assumptions by the project manager often leads to a failed project. This is because projects are often plagued by risks, inadequate projections, and assumptions about usage of resources. The solution is adding safety time or buffers that would allow for schedule slippage and the unplanned events. Utilization of new or unproven technologies/methods which you are not conversant with, which in turn is introducing new risks in the organization. This may be attributed to the fact that you may not be trained in the utilization of that software or technology. Ineffective quality controls which make you to deliver what the client does not want. The poor balances and check systems results in these ineffective quality controls. In addition, most of the projects have a system of correcting problems but do not have a system of corrective action Managing multiple projects at the same time or multi-tasking resources goes against, less is more, and focus is power. Multitasking introduces schedule risk and complexity which impacts negatively on all projects involved. Supply chain failures which emanates from contracted work. Managing of contractors is an inherent risk because they may not be having the level of skills required for the job. Contractors also have that tendency to multitask so as to stay busy thus introducing complexity and schedule risk. Scope creep or poor analysis of impacts has an effect on the schedule, budget, and resources. It means there is an increase in the on what is delivered without a corresponding increase in resources to the project timeline. This can actually be alleviated by performing good impact analysis and clarification of real requirements. Another failure of project is attributed to lack of qualified resources and personnel. This makes you to question your resources thus giving the wrong task to the wrong person (Anderson, 1). Discussion 2 I have the following characteristics; visionary, decisive, a good motivator, technically competent, and support team members. Those that I need to work on are being a good motivator, encouraging new ideas, and standing up to top management when necessary. Characteristics personally ranked as most important Supports team members Since project management is a team sport, the project manager should be a team player thus very ready to support others. This is because in the modern society, project management depends on the principal players of the team in taking accountability and responsibility for those project aspects you have been charged with. In deed, this ethos is to be passed down to all the members of the irrespective of their level of involvement in the team. As a team leader of the project you have to interact with and influence the various stakeholders including their project sponsors and teams. Since most of the team members do not directly report to the project manager, as the project manager you have to find avenues of motivating the workers over whom you have no direct influence and they can actually break or make the project. Moreover, as the project manager you have to inspire the confidence of the sponsors and the stakeholders in the event that the timeline and the budget requires additional resources to complete the project. Most organizations and sponsors of a project need to appoint a team leader for their project so as to have the project adequately managed. Many of their projects fail because they fail to realize how important the role of the project manager is to successfully manage the project through its life cycle. To be a team leader in the project management process, it requires fulltime commitment. Though in practice time is actually shared with other responsibilities and duties, but when it comes to crunch the project gets first call when it comes to conflict of interest. This is because the project deserves the respect of having the stops pulled out of it. Good communicator As a team leader you need to have good communication skills so that you create cohesion in the team. Constant communication with the staff leads to better management of the project. Successful project managers require to effectively use meetings, e-mails, status reports, training and development programs to programs to get decisions made, communicate ideas, and resolve problems. In addition, must comprehend the need to discuss the project of whatever is most crucial to the audience (Gido and Clemens, 301-3). Besides, being the team of a project manager you need to be able to explain your decisions and needs to a wide variety of stakeholders. This means that depending upon the project that is in question, could mean switching between speaking to a stakeholder who is highly technical and someone who usually looks at things from a strictly business point of view. All these people require a different approach; therefore, if you can equally communicate with both of them then you are on the way to a successful conclusion. Warren says, “Skill in the art of communication is crucial to a leader’s success. He can accomplish nothing unless he can communicate effectively.” Technically competent The technical dimension of the project manager as a team leader of the project requires that you should exhibit hands-on qualities regarding the project. As the project manager you should be able to roll up your sleeves and be ready to get into the technical issues at the detailed level. This is actually paramount in the early stages of the project definitions of the project life cycle. This is because at such a time the project team is lean, therefore the entire members have to get involved in the progressing detail of the technical issues (308-310). When it comes to ensuring a successful project then attention should be directed to the detail. This includes the ability to stay focused on the bigger picture and prioritizing competing responsibilities and also being able to prioritize work for your team is a critical aspect of a team leader of a project. Being the one that oversees the activities of the project, you do not necessarily need to know how to carry out the task of everyone within the project, but just require appreciating all the processes that are being carried out and confidently being able to challenge the others at an informed level of understanding (313-318). The technical aspects of the role of project management role comprises of those activities needed to develop and complete the project definition, to implement the project in accordance with its plan of implementation, and controlling the project thus assuring the required delivery quality. Discussion 3 Reasons why teams fail The reasons why teams fail include: poorly developed or unclear goals; poorly defined project team roles and interdependencies; project being perceived as unnecessary; lack of motivation on the project team; poor leadership; dysfunctional behavior; turn over among the members of the project. Reasons considered to be more important Poorly developed or un-clear goals The major cause of project failure is the absence of clear and commonly understood project goals. High degree of ambiguity is manifested when project goals are fragmented poorly communicated, or constantly changing. Unclear goals increase conflict because it is heightened by vague goals for multiple and self centered interpretations. Rather than working on the completion, members of the team expend their time and energy thus sifting through the objectives of the project. Unclear goals hinder the willingness of the team members to work together. This emanates from the fact that when members are faced with an ambiguous goal, it is common for the goals to be interpreted by each person in the most advantageous way. When the goals support the individuals other than the objectives of the team, most of the time it leads to situations where one person’s desire to satisfy the project goals as he interprets conflicts with another. Goals which are unclear permit multiple interpretations. The poorly developed goals allow each member of the team to interpret to make separate and differing interpretations of the project objectives. Consequently, other than helping the team to focus on the project at hand, these goals actually serves to increase the disagreements as each team member interprets the project goals in a different way. Lack of team motivation The most common problem with poorly performing project is lack of motivation among the team members. Motivation is actually a phenomenon that is highly individualistic, giving an impression that factors that motivate one member of the project like technical challenge and opportunities for advancement may not be motivating for another member. When the overall team motivation is low, the performance of the project will be affected as the team members at below optimal performance. One reason for low project team motivation is the project having low priority. This is because some of the team members are often aware that some project initiatives are considered in high priority and others are not. When project members perceive that they are working on projects of low priority, they adopt very low levels of commitment to the project and have low motivation to perform better. Another reason for low motivation is the project being perceived as unnecessary. Members see the project as less critical; naturally it will affect their motivation to perform. Therefore, project managers need to communicate to the project team the benefits of the project, its goals, and objectives and why they are crucial to the organization. Poor leadership The leader is the one who provides direction to the project thus holding the team together. The style of leadership chosen by the project manager is either a promoter or inhibitor of the effectiveness of the project team. ‘One style fits all’ type of leadership fails to recognize that different styles are required so as to get best performance out of each team member. Others adopt a style that is antithetical to the project team having the belief that the key to better project team performance is creating an atmosphere of anxiety and fear. Successful leadership depends on make up of the team levels of motivation, experience, and skill level of the team members. Discussion 4 Before cost estimation occurs the project managers need to have a detailed account of the tasks and milestones that require to be undertaken for the success of the project. One way the project managers can get this knowledge is through decomposing the milestones into work units. Planning of the project is very crucial step towards cost estimating. An accurate and proper planning will reveal the tasks and resources thus helping in the break down and scheduling of tasks. Through estimation of costs you will able to determine procurement resources like space and technology. This would enable you to determine the cost associated with the project. Estimation of costs can either be done using a software or manually. The reason for cost estimates is to try and make predictions more realistic with regard to time and cost at any given stage of the project. Accurate planning of the raw materials, labor charges, job duration, and the possible worst scenarios shows forward planning and foresight. Planning managers need to have a detailed outline of the project outline. This helps in the scheduling of work for example laying a building’s foundation is the first milestone, while plumbing is the second cost milestone. Each of the milestones is to be systematically costed, itemized, and laid out in the plan. Also, project planning project carefully factors in the costs of labor charges and incidental contractors for items such as gas and electricity. Summarily, there is need to have an accurate estimate of resources that are required for the project. As a result, you will be able to estimate resources once you have established the necessary tasks and estimated duration of the project. Procurement resources like technology or space usually have a cost that is associated with them either a purchase price or a rental fee. Human resources on the other hand have an hourly rate or salary that is associated with them. By determining which resources will be required by your project, the time it will take to finish the project, and any other fixed costs associated with the project, you will be just about to estimate the project cost. Discussion 5 Gantt chat is a horizontal-bar schedule that shows the start of an activity, duration, and its completion. It therefore shows the connection between the calendar and events, and also provides a graphical analog of the duration of an activity. The Gantt schedule illustrates the actual relationship between events without duration that indicates a significant completion, work activities that have duration, and the milestones that represent major achievements or points of decision. The different annotations can be used to communicate the project progress effort compared to the baseline plan, besides showing the areas in a graphical way where there are modified expectations from the baseline plan. Once a schedule for the Gantt has been established for a project, progress is periodically plotted against the baseline schedule. If there are different functional areas involved in a project, then each area may require its own detailed schedules so as to support the master schedule of the project. In such cases, it is often crucial that the schedules for working be linked to a common master schedule in a mode that they can be updated easily. Each event or activity on the schedule have a responsible individual assigned, thereby there is clear ownership and so schedule status can be updated without any problems (Morris, Pinto and Soderlund, 377-379). A number of project evaluation and control exist from the one that is simple to the highly sophisticated. The use of the tracking Gantt chart approaches the link project progress to the scheduled baseline, other than the budget of the project. Therefore, Gantt charts as used in project evaluation, creates a picture of complexity by enabling you to see complex ideas as pictures thus creating a better understanding. In addition, it also helps to set realistic time frames as the bars on the chart indicate the period in which a set of tasks would be completed. By being visible, it gives a visual idea of the project as it keeps on reminding the people on the project objectives, as a result everybody would be conversant with the things happening in the organization even they are not involved in the organization. It also tells us how much percentage of the task is complete besides showing the total cost of the project. Moreover, it can easily be adapted to changes. Discussion 6 Human Factors in Project Evaluation and Control One of the problems that recurs in project evaluation and control with establishing accurate results is the need t recognize the human factor in all the project activity completions projections. Project management writers have suggested that it is very vital to maintain a clear understanding of the importance of managing people in the process of project implementation. According to Morris, Pinto and Soderland (399) argue that a project control that is comprehensive require the project organization to employ sufficient process evaluation to establish how the development is progressing. Any process evaluation requires of the performance of the project must include the assessment of its people, team work, their technical skills, communication process, and management in the answering of the ‘what’ questions. Understanding of the process of project management is vital in determining the likelihood of a successful outcome of a project. The factors that directly predict project success include: lack of budgetary pressure; success criteria consensus and salience; avoidance of initial conceptual difficulties and over-optimism; adequacy of project structure and control; project coordination and relations among the stakeholders (400). One of the recurring problem with the utilization of the nontechnical information as a way of assessing their own going status and controlling projects lies in the question of measurement. Measurement of human processes like leadership, levels of motivation, and top management support is highly difficult. Consequently, project management theorists accepted the argument of including the human process factors in the assessment of the projects that were ongoing. Pinto and Slevin highlighted the shortcomings of behavioral assessments of the project management process. They went ahead and formulated the Project Implementation Profile (PIP) a 10-factor instrument that is tasked with assessing the performance of the project of the project team with regard to the 10 critical factors of factors. These are factors that have been found to be predictive to the project success. The success factors include top management, project mission, project plans and schedules, client consultation which has been found to be critical in attempting a system of implementation, personnel, technical tasks, client acceptance, monitoring and feedback, channels of communication, and to sum up is trouble shooting. Project evaluation and control is an intricate and comprehensive concept that involves the need to comprehend the alternative evaluative techniques, establishing their particular usefulness, and the types of information they can provide. Consequently, without good project cost estimation and budgeting, effective baselines, and adequate resource commitments project control would function. Works Cited Anderson, Chris. "Mnagement Strategy." 7 October 2011. Top 10 Causes of Project Management Failures. 20 March 2013. Gido, Jack and James P. Clemens. Successful Project Management. Mason, USA: Cengage Learning, 2008. Kerzer, Harold. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Publishers, 2013. Morris, Peter W. G., Jeffrey K. Pinto and Jonas Soderlund. The Oxford Handbook for Project Management. Great Clarendon Street: Oxford University Press, 2011. Read More