ROME CONFERENCE2008

Behavioural Aspects of Project- Management Efficiency

G. Van Zyl

Aim of paper

• To identify and rank the driving forces for project management efficiency. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) was used as a case study.

• Structure of paper:• 1) Literature study• 2) Research methodology• 3) Model• 4) Management implications

Literature study (1)

• A detailed literature study was done in order to identify all the important driving forces that would create and sustain project-management efficiency. In addition to the literature study interviews were conducted with all possible layers of role-players in project management in the DPE. The following emerged as the important driving forces of project-management best practices:

• 1) The setting of clear goals and criteria. Project managers and team members must know what is expected of them. Projects should be grouped within programs to achieve common goals and the outcome of each project should be clear to all stakeholders. Once determined, project goal posts should not be moved in the organization.

• 2) The setting of an appropriate project-management methodology. Projects across the organization should be measured on a standardized basis against time, performance achievement and against the budget. Project methodology must support the successful completion of projects within the organization.

• 3) Effective learning and authority structures. Project managers must have the necessary authority to execute their projects and they should be able to learn from mistakes made on other similar projects.

Literature study (2)

• 4) Access to the resources needed to execute projects. The organization must have sufficient capacity to complete the projects successfully and the existing potential of project managers must be utilized fully.

• 5) Support for the project-management function. There should be an organizational culture that understands and support project management in order to execute projects successfully. The organization must be serious about the implementation of project-management by utilizing an official change-management process.

• 6) Adequacy of human resources. Project managers should be trained sufficiently, allowed to take initiative, have sufficient problem-solving abilities and they should be rewarded in accordance with their performance. People who train project managers must be sufficiently skilled in project-management practices. Project team members should have adequate project-management related skills.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (1)

• A survey was designed for simplicity of response in order to capture the greatest level of accuracy in the shortest possible time.

• Answers were divided into interval ranges as opposed to point estimators. This greatly simplified the interview process and reduced subjective interpretation to a bare minimum.

• Survey was divided into dispersed or scattered groups, focusing independently on each of the categories. Each category was laid out in order to create a degree of continuity from statement to statement.

• Survey contained forty statements that were divided into six categories. The statements were taken from project management literature and interviews with managers, project managers and project coordinators within the DPE.

• Survey was given to 35 existing managers, project managers and project coordinators within the DPE, chosen from a list of current project users.

• Respondents were chosen in such a manner that a representative sample group for each of the following six functions were included in the project. They are a) functional manager b) part-time project coordinator c) full-time project coordinator d) part-time project manager e) full-time project manager and f) project team member.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY(2)

• Respondents were requested to indicate on a scale of 1-5 the importance of each statement in attaining high levels of efficiency in project management.

• The average values of the statements per category and per respondent were recorded in the different data series.

• The survey was also designed to facilitate the conversion of responses into data points in order to transfer them easily into a database and then interpret them with the assistance of the statistical package SPSS version 11 for windows.

• The data results were tested by employing the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and the establishment of a covariance matrix in which a reliability analysis could be performed.

• The univariate properties of the data were also tested. From the tests it has been determined that all the variables were integrated of the order 1.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (3)

• The different categories are listed below.• Category 1: Project-goal clarity and alignment

This category makes reference to the extent to which project goals are clearly defined upfront, are articulated to project participants and generally attained the commitment of participants.

• Category 2: Appropriate project-management methodology

This category describes the degree to which the department follows a standardized and formal methodology of project management with appropriate systems and processes.

• Category 3: Effective learning and authority structure

This category describes the extent to which there are effective ways of organizing project teams, learning from previous project mistakes, assigning project responsibilities and delegating authority to make decisions.

DATA (4)

• Category 4: Access to the resources needed to execute projects

This category describes the degree to which project managers can rely on a strong enough resource platform and/or support base, and can adequately access and manage the assigned resources.

• Category 5: Organizational support

It describes to what extent top management and the entire department understand and support the project-management function, and to what extent project priorities are aligned with departmental priorities.

• Category 6: Adequacy of human resources

This category describes the extent to which people assigned to projects, are generally competent in their line of specialization and display a sufficient commitment to delivering quality work.

MODEL (1)

• A power function was specified in order to determine the average elasticity’s of the six efficiency categories. The average elasticity’s would indicate the relative magnitude of the impact of a specific category on the efficiency of project management.

Ų=a(Cat1b)(Cat2

c)(Cat3d)(Cat4

e)(Cat5f)(Cat6

g) (where Cat1 = project goal clarity, Cat2 = appropriate project-management

methodology, Cat3 = effective learning and authority structure, Cat4 = access to the resources needed to execute projects, Cat5 = supportive departments and Cat6 = adequacy of human resources)

• The power function was transformed into a double log equation which is linear in logarithms and was then run on the log of the variables

LnŲ = Ln a+bLn Cat1+cLn Cat2+dLn Cat3+eLn Cat4+fLn Cat5+gLn Cat6 • The estimation results were: Ų=12.25(Cat1

3.72)(Cat22.25)(Cat3

2.64)(Cat46.74)(Cat5

8.44)(Cat66.11)

(3.1) (2.75) (3.98) (2.87) (2.88) (2.68) (3.97)

R2: 0.91F-Statistic: 188.24DW: 3.38

MODEL (2)

• The good overall explanatory power of the entire regression is indicated by high R2 and F-statistic values. The t-stats of the estimated parameters clearly exhibits explanatory power.

• Econometric tests were conducted to determine any traces of autocorrelation and heteroscadacity. The results of these tests indicated that no signs of both were evident. The error terms were not serially correlated and it can be stated that all the explanatory variables have been included in the equation.

• The positive signs of all the estimated average elasticity’s indicates a positive relation between the six different categories of project management and the attainment of project management efficiency.

• From the estimated results it is clear that organizational support for project-management (elasticity of 8.44), access to resources needed to execute projects (elasticity of 6.74) and adequacy of human resources (elasticity of 6.11) have a marked impact on the efficiency of project management.

• The other three categories of project management have a lesser impact on project management efficiency.

Management implications & recommendations

• A project-management culture that supports effective project management needs to be implemented in the DPE.

• Several mechanisms will be required in conjunction with the suggested training to address the outcomes highlighted by the questionnaire. These are 1) proper change-management 2) relevant process changes 3) appropriate leadership to bring about change and 4) culture changes to accept project-management methodology within the DPE.

• In terms of human resources the urgent establishment of a matrix-based department is of paramount importance. It should enable the successful completion of projects across functions.

• The process to establish a project-management methodology can be supported by a central project –management office. This office can support decentralized project management offices in areas such as systems, procedures, policies and infrastructure to ensure uniform standards and practices throughout the organization.

• In terms of resources a sufficient budget and adequate resources must be made available to ensure the successful implementation of a project-management methodology within the organization.