The Need to Change the View of Project Management, Essay Example

According to the traditional approach, project management must undergo various phases for a successful process. According to this view, the project must involve all the required stages while the requirements are not changed. However, based on the traditional view, the project’s budget and time frame might be changed, unlike other project requirements. According to this approach, the project is assumed to be a rigid process that involves a top-bottom flow tactic to complete a project. In the traditional view, the project is merely based on predictable exposures. Following this rigid and strict process, it is believed that there is a need to eliminate the projects’ traditional view. To maximize project success and minimize the chances of project failure, the traditional approach must be changed.

In most cases, the megaprojects are difficult to run, which is a major cause of their failure, mostly because of poor management of the project in progress. Also, it is assumed that some project managers are exposed to optimism bias, uncertain of the most likely project outcomes in a given project. The essay below aims at discussing the need to change the project’s traditional view.

The application of the traditional approach must be changed because it does not incorporate suitable scope to make any essential changes in any existing projects in various phases. According to (Denicol et al., 2020 p. 2), It is evident that the failure of most megaprojects has been on the rise in the recent past, mostly because of poor performance during the project period. Following this, it is evident that the application of the traditional view must be changed to enhance faster and constant success in the entire project management.   The constant poor performance in various project phases has largely contributed to project failure. In the planning stage, the most competent team must be selected to effectively run the entire project. This is, however, contrary to (Damoah and Kumi, 2018 p.3), who argue that different interests commonly cause project failure among the project stakeholders in a given project. This leads to poor performance because some key stakeholders might have an opposing opinion that might contribute to their gains rather than the overall project’s success. Strategic management should be the responsibility of every project manager to help in the execution process of a given project. Therefore, it is important to embrace the use of other concepts by changing the traditional view.  It aims to set the objectives of a particular project and identify the suitable ways to use in achieving the set project objectives. A suitable project’s strategy should be applied in the major stages (Heino and Tuunainen, 2018 p.141), hence the need to change the commonly used traditional view in project management. The initial stage is the strategic position evaluation of the resources and crucial stakeholders in a project where the required resources are gathered to enhance success. Also, the crucial stakeholders establish the project’s aim and identify how to achieve the project goals. In the second stage, the project manager selects the most appropriate strategy that will enhance the overall project success. The identified strategy aims to ensure that any factors that may lead to project failure are addressed during the initial stage as a way of promoting the project’s success. This is supported by (Mostafa et al. a., 2020 p. 2), who argue that selecting the appropriate tools and resources is essential for the project’s success. The selection process helps minimize any wastage in the project’s process by reducing the overall cost involved to complete a given project. Contrary to the traditional approach, implementing agile concepts helps focus on the most crucial tools that seek to promote the overall project’s success. By identifying the most appropriate tools in a project, it is possible to maximize the project’s success by identifying the possible barriers and addressing them quickly to ensure the project’s success.

The common areas where the authors disagree are the most appropriate ways that largely contribute to the project’s success that vary because of the application of the traditional view, which most agree that it must change. For example, (Heino and Tuunainen, 2018 p. 144) agree that strategic management should be a crucial process for any project to be successful. All essential resources must be evaluated and applied in their respective phases during the project’s process. Contrary to this argument, (Mostafa et al., 2020 p. 4) argue that the selection of vital resources is the key determinant of success in a given project.  Also, these authors disagree on research methodologies that should be appropriately be implemented in running a given project to ensure its success by minimizing the possible failure. The use of descriptive analysis advocates for the use of lean principles contrary to the traditional view regarding the project. These principles aim to create uniformity in all the project functions to promote constant improvement in all the project’s phases involved.

The methodology and barriers involved in the project management process are ineffective because there are no possible solutions to reduce the identified barriers and no suitable strategies to apply the set project methodologies. (Mostafa et al., 2020 p.2) applies for the literature review as a methodology aspect where lean concepts enhance the project’s success contrary to the traditional views that involve various stages for the project’s success to be achieved. The major limitation towards a project’s success is poor performance, mostly caused by varied interests by the stakeholders in a given project. This barrier could be reduced by involving the most competent stakeholders in the entire project management to assure that a common goal is established in a particular project.  Also, the failure to gather the appropriate project tools is a key barrier to the project’s success. The use of ineffective tools and methodologies acts as a pathway towards project failure, and hence the most effective tools must be applied in the right project stage to maximize its success. Poor performance can be reduced by establishing a project team of competent individuals full of integrity to ensure that they do not prioritize their gains but rather concentrate on implementing the project’s functions to help meet the project’s objectives.

The major research gap is that some of the articles do not fully explain the possible ways of achieving the project’s success. The articles do not address the most effective and specific strategies that are essential for the overall project’s success without facing challenges in the project’s process involved (Lima et al., 2017 p. 3); the project’s success should be achieved through a comprehensive analysis of the most crucial factors that are determinant to the project’s success. Further (Denicol et al., 2020 p.3), the article does not explain the specific factors that lead to project failure and how this barrier should be eliminated. All the project’s stages must be effectively run to ensure that they all contribute to its success. Contrary to this argument (Damoah and Kumi, 2018, p. 4), the article does not explain the common interests among the stakeholders that might lead to poor performance in a given project. Instead, the research findings do not disclose the specific ways their interest acts as a barrier towards the project’s success.

From the research conducted, the research results show that the entire project’s success involves collaboration among various parties involved in a given project. Contrary to the traditional approach full of rigidity, the lean and agile approach is flexible and involves various parties to realize the project’s objectives. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the crucial practices and tools must be involved in the initial stages of a project to enhance the project’s success.

Therefore, it is evident that the approaches used have a role to play to ensure the project’s success. The traditional approach should therefore be eliminated as a way of promoting the project’s success. The initial stage should involve proper planning to ensure that the processes are effectively run to help achieve the project’s set objectives. The most competent team should be selected to ensure the project’s success without focusing on individual gains.

References

Damoah, I.S., and Kumi, D.K. (2018), “Causes of government construction projects failure in an emerging economy: Evidence from Ghana,” International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 558-582. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-04-2017-0042

Denicol, J., Davies, A. and Krystallis, I., 2020. What are the causes and cures of poor megaproject performance? A systematic literature review and research agenda. Project Management Journal, 51(3), pp.328-345.

Heino, H. and Tuunainen, J., 2018. Heading for the decline? The significance of disturbances in strategic management. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 7(2), pp.139-159.

Lima, R.M., Andersson, P.H. and Saalman, E., 2017. Active Learning in Engineering Education: a (re) introduction.

Mostafa, S., Sanchez, M., Dumrak, J. and Hadjincolaou, N., 2020. Lean and agile project management concepts in the project management profession. Project Management Research and Practice, 6(Oct-Dec).

Pace, M., 2019. A Correlational Study on Project Management Methodology and Project Success. Journal of Engineering, Project & Production Management, 9(2).