Critical Success Factors - Essay Example

Critical Success Factors Introduction Project management is the process of planning, organizing and controlling procedures and resources in order to achieve a goal. A project is a new undertaking designed to produce new or different results. They are often designed to meet unique objectives and goals. The temporary nature of projects makes it different from the usual business and as such it requires unique and different skills in order to manage it. All projects are destined to achieve all the goals it intends while at the same time honoring predetermined constraints like time and resources. Project managers play a key role in the running the project, and the success or failure of a project is partly dependant on the competence and managerial skills of the project manager. In the next section we are going to look at the critical role of project managers. Project management and the role of project managers In project management, Project manager plays a crucial role in the running of the project; there are several critical roles the managers play. One is that, they are responsible for monitoring and controlling the progress of the project being undertaken. Secondly, he should be well organized, goal oriented, and understands what the project is all about, this will ensure smooth running of the project. Their roles are similar to the roles of change agent, they make projects objectives their priority and they bring in their experience and skills to drive the project forward (Belassi 1996). In case the project fails, they should have enough courage to accept failure and move on instead of regretting whatever has happened. Under high pressure, they should well and should not be scared away by the complexity of the environment they are working under. A good manager should have ability to identify areas in the project that needs more attention and dedicate time and resources to that area to ensure project success. Project manager cultivate individuals skills and they ensure that there is project teamwork. They have Ability to analyze the future impact of decisions by taking a larger picture approach, and to position the project in a strategic position within the business to relate to short- and long-term objectives (Belassi 1996). They make sure that there is prober flow of communication and that It reaches the desired destination at appropriate time. It is the project manager that sponsors those that are very resourceful to the success of the project. They have very varied expertise; sorting out complex issues. They also have the Ability to assemble the team with the right mix of skills, then create the team; understand and know how to share information; coach members; delegate responsibility; and promote support and interaction (Belassi 1996). They group together tasks and sub-tasks and with that they put them down and ensure they monitor and control their progress. Project manager is very flexible and they adjust their approach to fit to the nature and complexity of the project being undertaken being fully aware that no one approach is universal to all projects. They also improve on their skills and they learn from lessons and reviews in the projects after its completion. Quite a number of studies that have been carried out have identified different attributes that are linked to effective project managers, the most cited one is technical competence, but there are much more than that (Ralf & Rodney, 2007). To understand the competence better, several surveys have been carried out to determine the importance of this competence on the success of the projects. The same study also looks at the influence of an individual on several factors on the believed essential of technical competence. The factors that were examined include the experience of the manager; the level of education achieved; the technicality of the project; and phase of the project. The competence level however is not determined by the experience only, education is also involved. On the other hand, the level of technology does not affect the level of competence or rather influence it. However, competence was seen as more essential during earlier phases of the acquisition process. Further, project manager competence is believed to be more important for managers of extremely good teams and mediocre teams than it was to managers of reasonably good teams. A competent manager should have ability to produce clear status reports, communicate tactfully and strongly, make the jargon simple, make customers become aware of every issue, and is an excellent listener. Finally, he/she should be able to identify external factors and critically analyzes that which is of great impact to the project. Project success and what counts as success in projects? Project management and success are two components that go together and the two has been the center of focus for many researches. In the study of project success, more attention has been given to factors that lead to it and per-herbs more importantly, the role of the project manager as a leader (Müller & Turner, 2007). There are many other factors that come into play when it comes to project management and with whole literature involved, but the role of the project manager is still the center of focus and more so the competencies of the leader. In modern days study, the main point of study is how the project success is being determined by the competencies of the project manager. From the studies that has been carried out, all point out to the fact that leadership competencies is very critical to the success of the project though the facts were ignored in the past (Müller & Turner, 2007). The positive impact it has on the project has led the researchers to focusing more on the same. Leadership is very important for the success of organizations and the leadership in project management has evolved overtime. The competences of project manager are the same as those for other management role. Critical success factors in project management, Project manager competence In the past, there have been great focus on various leadership competencies in the organization, but the specific focus on the project manager and its competencies has been less effective and progressive. The general characteristics of a project managers is that they are intelligent and above average in comparison to other employee within the organization. These characteristic traits plus others have been summed up together by different researchers and simply but together as leadership competencies. Other traits that have been identified by other researchers are related to behavior, motivation, energy, and communication skills. It is evident that there is a positive correlation between characteristic traits and project success. One of the greatest researcher Hogan claim that, the success of a project is greatly determined by personality of an individual. Other researchers like Anderson draw the intention of the organization while selecting project managers. In 1998 Pinto and trailer carried out a study to identify the characteristic of a project leader and they came up with the following characteristics; credibility of the leader, problem solving capability, flexible management style and good communication skills and tolerance ( ). The same researchers deliberate on the most desired qualities of project managers that is, administrative skills, technical skills, and vision and leadership examples. These managers should posse’s adequate technical skills and knowledge in a certain field. Skills for administration include scheduling and planning together with budgeting. According to pinto and trailer these traits are essential for any project manager and they brushed their impacts on project success. On the other hand Crawford (2007) said that the project manager competencies are a combination of various factors that work together to ensure that the manager performs as expected above average. These are the combination of knowledge that one possess with regard to certain field and together with personality traits that includes energy and motivational ability. As per Crawford, both competencies and project success are inextricably linked. His main focus however was on factors that lead to competencies but dint give much importance to it being great determinant for success. The existing literature convinced most of the researchers that the leadership companies of project managers are the same as those for other leaders in the organizational setting. All this skills like knowledge and personalities that include good communication skills and others are also the same for other leadership and project is no different. They agreed however that the relationship between project success and project manager competencies have to be studied further, I will explore this in the next section. Critical success factors in project management, Project manager competence There are a lot of topics that are always studied on project management and rarely are they concluding on their impact on the success of the project. Traditionally, the factors that were being researched on project success were cost and time. As the time passes, the quality of the project was also brought into focus. These factors are still studied to date but there are a wide range of other factors that has been brought into focus as essential factors in the success of a project. This new trends include satisfaction by the stakeholders and the future of the project in relation to the organization. Some researchers identified cost time and performance with the success of the project. However, these factors are never rated with the relationship between the project manager and the success of the project. Andersen identified some risks that can lead to project failure and they were related with project planning and its overall control and planning. Baker (1988) however argued that, the success of the project is the ability to pay attention and accomplish every technical of the project. He also focused more on the project planning as the cause of project success and didn’t focus on the project manager competencies (Muller & Turner, 2007). Pinto and Slevin (1988) carried out a massive research on the success of the project and they came up with huge factors critical for its success. They identified manager’s problem solving ability and communication skills as the cause of the project success. Quite notable was the fact that they dint identified management and leadership qualities as part of them. They further argued that absence of administrative and motivational skills can lead to project failure. According to Muller & Turner (2007), there is a relationship between the project success and personality of the manager. According to them belief in themselves and confidence level determine their drive towards project success. Morris and Hough (1987) look into the various project managers aspects that lead to project success such as managerial skills. Turner (1999) argued that well executed project implementation is the important component for success and he noted that good leadership is important for prober plan and implementation of project strategy. On the other hand to the contrary, Cooke-Davies (2001) brought in the new concept of three triangles as the predictor of project success. He also said that how much impressive the research on project management and success is carried out the final outcome of project will not please the stakeholders. He didn’t look at leadership and managerial skills. Jugdev and Muller (2005) came up with four credible components for project success but they said they are not a must for project success. He said the benchmark for project success should first be determined by stakeholders at the earliest stage of the project. He said an excellent relationship between project manager and owner of the project is very essential in the success of the project. He further argued that a project manager should be able to exercise some powers especially when unprecedented issue arise and that the project sponsor should not turn away from the project during its implementation stage but he rather take interest in the project throughout its entirety. They also said that there is much that has been ignored with regard to the running of the project especially the project manager leadership and competence. They said in their conclusion that leadership is one of the mostly discussed topics in management and yet little attention is paid to the impact of leadership in organization and project management. Therefore the impact of project managers should be paid more attention to. Project manager competence is an important element in project management. Andrew, Cheng, & Moore (2005), postulate that leadership and management are two elements that do not relate in any way. So for project manager it is good to have both elements good leadership qualities together with good managerial skills. There has never been a clear definition of leadership but many defines it as having a vision and transferring it to others and at the same time having a driving force that leads towards achievement of that vision. Coulter and robins defines management as ability to plan and organize together with controlling. Leadership competencies impact both positively and negatively on the project success. Researchers are convinced that competency is the most critical factor in the success of the project though little study has been carried out on the same. With extended studies it has been proofed that project manager competency positively impact on the success of the project. According to the existing studies there has been a lot of discussion with greater focus on the leadership. The various aspects of management have been dealt with. But there has been limited focus on the leadership and its role in the success of the project. Time scope and cost was the central focus of the past researches and studies. It was seen as the only benchmark for determining the success of the project (Andrew, Cheng, & Moore, 2005). It has however been found in the modern studies that project managers competencies as the major essential element in the success of the project. The previous studies also dwelt largely on the technical competencies of project leaders such as administrative skills while at the same time few researches focus on the leadership qualities and ability of project manager. However recent studies and research have focus on the leadership of project manager their competencies and managerial skills and that they are positively impacting on the success of the project. It was also seen in the past that project management falls under technical skills but now it has been realized that it has got to do more with the personality trait. Dulewicz and Porthouse (2007) brought forth that for the project to succeed, project manager ought to possess leadership qualities and skills since the two cannot be separated from each other. Organizations have realized that projects are very essential for its success and also that leadership in project management is equally important. With that it is therefore prudent for the organizations to develop project manager’s competence through training and development. In organization focusing on the project, they should equally focus on the competencies of the project managers both technical abilities with personality traits. With extent literature researchers agree that leadership competencies are the same for project managers and other leadership in general management. Competence of project team is and will always remain critical component in the project success, in other words effective personnel should be recruited. Evidently, the knowledge, personal skills, targets, and traits must be considered not only as a vital component of the overall organizational culture but also as an essential factor of the integrity and multi-functionality of the project team (Muller & Turner, 2007). Hard v Soft competences In management, competence can be classified as soft and hard. Hard competence is associated with positive epistemology while soft competence is associated with interpretive epistemology. In hard competence, the manager has predefined goals, does not allow the members to participate in decision making, and he emphasizes on following the right structure. In soft competence, the manager makes ill-defined goals which are ambiguous, emphasizes on learning, encourage members to participate in decision making and he normally acts as a facilitator. Project managers should take the role of facilitator instead of an expert, as a facilitator, the employees get a chance to contribute in the development has making the organization successful. Conclusion It is concluded that, leadership competence positively impacts the success of the project, a fact that has been ignored overtime time due to uncertain and unknown reasons. Leadership is a universal topic and it is key in the success of the organization and it is to the contrary when it comes to project management whereby leadership is undergoing transformation and changes and has never been universal. Finally leadership competencies in project management are the same with leadership competencies for the general management. Currently project managers are keen in developing skills in and competence in planning controlling monitoring and executing of project processes. Competence has become the area requiring high degree of specialized skills. Proper understanding of the issues related to the project success and failure have led to the conclusion that they all boil down to simple factor of competence. For any project to succeed the competency is inevitable. Competency currently has been specifically used to refer to certain characteristic trait or behavior that leads to success in performance. Competence is essential because it enable the project manager to consult and offer advice; it also enables project manager to smoothen discussion between different stakeholders and can amicably resolve conflict whenever it arises; it enables the development of relationships with key project stakeholders; a good and competent project manager recognize other cultures and deals with it in a credible and plausible manner; it establish trust, credibility and respect, and is willing to give more than one will receive. A competent project manager displays top quality management skills and understands how to obtain and ensure quality results for total client pleasure, be in a position of taking corrective actions and successfully perform verification of project standards. Competent project manager should also understand and know how to use standard project management tools and techniques to schedule, plan, follow and correct project performance; and should know to use well the management methodologies to deliver top quality results. When needed to implement a process of change he is there and ready at any given time. Project manager makes right decisions on time and adopts the best problem solving technique. References Narayanan, M. (2009). Project Management Assessment Methods. Muller, R., & Turner, R. (2007). The Influence of Project Managers on Project Success Criteria and Project Success by Type of Project. European Management Journal. 25, 298-309 Saif ur R. K, Choi S. L and Muhammad. J. (2014). Leadership Competency: A Tool for Project Success. Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research. 19 (10), 1280-1283 Walid Belassi. (1996). A new framework for determining critical success/failure factors in projects. 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