Sustainable Relations in International Development Cooperation Projects: The Role of Organizational Climate

 The importance of the human side of project management to assess the success of international development project has not been fully considered yet. An analysis of the literature on the project success definition, focused on the success criteria and success factors, was carried out. The organization’s effectiveness, in terms of Relations Sustainability, emerged as a criteria integrating the "time, cost, performance" approach to define a project success. Based on previous research contributions on the factors influencing the organization’s effectiveness, the paper expands the analysis of the influence of Organizational Climate on the Relation Sustainability between project manager and project team involved in international cooperation for development. The statistical methods used include confirmatory factors analysis and structural equation modeling. The results carry implications for project management identifying five dimensions of Organizational Climate (trust, innovation, social cohesion, communication and job challenge) influencing Relations Sustainability. This finding suggests that Organizational Climate contributes to project success by creating trust, stimulating commitment and generating satisfaction to overcome conflicts between project manager and project team

Success criteria and critical success factors in project success: a literature review

Project success criteria are dependent variables that measure the successful outcome of a project, while project success factors are the independent elements of a project that can increase the likelihood of success. In other words, success criteria are used to measure success whilst success factors facilitate the achievement of success. The purpose of this paper is to systematically record and identify project success criteria as well as critical success factors found in the literature and published in academic journals in order to form an effective and widely accessible framework to measure project success.Time - schedule, cost - budget, user satisfaction, quality-performance, business and commercial performance are the most frequently used success criteria, followed by technical specifications and requirements, stakeholders’ satisfaction, strategic goals/objectives and competitiveness, functionality, project team satisfaction and safety. Some researchers also refer to contractor satisfaction, future perspective and environmental impact, while handful are those that support that effectiveness and suppliers’ satisfaction can influence project success. The critical factors influencing the success of projects are identified and commonly related to the following areas: project (e.g. clear goal, realistic schedule, adequate funds, resources, size, complexity), project manager and leadership (e.g. leadership, management of changes, effective conflict resolution, communication), project team members (e.g. communication, technical background, qualified team), organization (e.g. top management support, responsibility and authority chart) and external environment (client, technological environment, political environment, social environment, physical environment)

Factors influencing the project success from the contractors' perspective

Many factors influence project success and failure, including time, scope, budget, team satisfaction, customer satisfaction and quality of work. Defining success is very easy, but in practise different people define success in different ways. Project consider successful if it achieves all of the agreed project objectives like execute project on time and within budget, deliver what was agreed in the scope, meet the expected quality standards and the product produces by the project creates significant net value and return on investment for the owner or client after the project is completed. This study is to develop a better understanding, find and forecast to the actual problem. The basic study of this research on factors influencing project success was conducted through literature review. In this study, a quantitative method was used to conduct the relationship between factors of project success and project success criteria and also the impact of the factors on project successful criteria to the contractors. The results show that the analysed statistical result was processed and related to the four research objectives. The most significant factors identified as influencing project success from the contractors' perspective are: material, labour and equipment, contractor related factors, project management related factors, consultant related factors, procurement related factors, client related factors, project related factors and external factor. To overcome the problems, the contractors must oversee the construction and ensures that all necessary measures are taken to result in the completed finished product

Delivering successful IS/IT projects: Eight key elements from success criteria to review via appropriate management, methodologies and teams

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In spite of decades of research, Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) projects still often fail to deliver the objectives expected of them. Managers require information systems to achieve their business objectives and the failure of these projects inevitably hinders the progress and success of their organisations. This research examines the key criteria by which IS/IT projects are judged to be successful and what factors are important in influencing the success of IS/IT projects. The research shows that very often different participants in a project are aiming at different targets and they each have their own perception of project success. There must be greater convergence on the criteria for success. To achieve this, the criteria for success and associated factors that influence success need to be defined clearly, agreed by all parties at the start of the project and reviewed as the project progresses. Agreeing the criteria is not sufficient to guarantee success. The project has to be carried out within a defined framework. The project life cycle is used to link the two disciplines of project management and systems development, and to highlight the fundamental issues that must be carried out on all projects. However, project managers need to focus more on the products of the system and not on the plans and schedules. Therefore, there should be the emphasis on configuration management as a means of linking the two disciplines. Furthermore, automated tools need to provide additional functionality to be of any practical use to project managers and system developers. Project managers are crucial to the development process and they need a portfolio of skills to deliver successful projects in the future. The research outlines the development path for project managers to acquire these skills. They should not rely solely on experience but formal career development has to be part of the overall strategy of the organisation

Prioritizing Critical Success Factors of Requirements Engineering using Analytical Hierarchy Process

Requirements engineering is not as straightforward as asking stakeholders what they want the information systems to do. In most cases, their vision tends to be limited by the status quo. Eliciting a complete set of requirements that fulfil every gap and withstand scrutiny during validation is challenging. Hence, it is important to consider various factors influencing the success of requirements engineering. This paper identifies and prioritizes multiple critical success factors of requirements engineering using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. The initial model was developed from literature review and validated using evidence from an empirical study. Quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire and then analyzed to rank the success criteria and critical success factors. The results show that the user satisfaction is the most important success criterion, while the clear definition of project scopes and goals is the most critical factor for the success of requirements engineering

The Effect of Stakeholders Influential Factors on Successful Implementation of Projects: A Case of VETA Centers

The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of stakeholders on implementation of projects at VETA Centers. The study was justified based on the fact that stakeholders influence has been contributing greatly to projects outcomes through customer satisfaction which turns project into success. The study has utilized two stakeholder theories, Institutional theory and Stakeholder identification and Salience theory. The objectives of the study were to:- identify the factors influencing stakeholders involvement in project, examine the relationship between project success and involvement of stakeholders, identify the project success measurement criteria (key performance indicators) in project implementation and examine the type of stakeholders influencing project success. The methodology used to conduct this study was descriptive as well as multiple linear regression methods. The study involved a sample of 116 respondents. Stakeholders’ influential factors were independent variable and project success was dependent variable. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The findings revealed that stakeholders’ influential factors contribute 73.1 percent to project success. Finding from the Multiple Linear Regressions showed that involvement of these factors has significant positive effects to the project. The project is said to be successful implemented when it is done in accordance to Stakeholders’ expectations. The Authority is advised to adhere to stakeholders’ analysis to ensure these influential factors are considered for project success. Keywords: Stakeholders’ influential factors for project success, stakeholder management, project management

POSITIVE EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AS A DETERMINANT OF PROJECT SUCCESSS AND BUSINESS EXCELLENCE: THE CASE OF POLAND

Purpose: The paper reports the importance of positive employee attitudes such as work engagement and job satisfaction for project success and business excellence. It is based on two different research projects. The first one, conducted in 2007, entitled “Self-assessment in quality management systems of companies”, was concerned with the engagement of Polish enterprises in initiatives aiming at business excellence. The second study called “Project management efficiency in the enterprises operating in Poland”, completed in July 2008, dealt with the identification of project success factors. Methodology: EFQM Excellence Model indicators were used as the evaluation criteria for the first study. A structured questionnaire built upon them was distributed among the most active companies in the Polish economy. The research sample PL2007 numbered 230 companies was collected as a result of the study. The second research resulted in the sample PL2008 mostly formed on the basis of the member list of the Polish Project Management Association. In total, 70 respondents filled out the questionnaire which made it possible to identify the project success factors. Findings: The results coming from the 2007 study indicate that the key factors influencing examined firms’ performance are related to people and their satisfaction. At the same time they are the most critical factors for business excellence improvement. The results of the research project carried out in 2008 show that among a few dozen of tested factors which are conducive to successful realization of projects, the most significant ones are again those referring to people, especially to their engagement. Originality/value: The paper combines the research results generated in two different studies conducted in companies operating in Poland, the first one focused on business excellence indicators and the second one concentrated on project success factors. Presented data make it possible to indicate how strongly performance on both the operational (project) level and the strategic (business) level is influenced by employee attitudes.

Sustainable Relations in International Development Cooperation Projects: The Role of Human Resource Management and Organizational Climate

The importance of organizational issues to assess the success of international development project has not been fully considered yet. An analysis of the literature on the project success definition, focused on the success criteria and success factors, was carried out by surveying the contribution of different authors and approaches. Traditionally projects were perceived as successful when they met time, budget and performance goals, assuming a basic similarity among projects (universalistic approach). However, starting from a non ‐universalistic approach, the importance of organization’s effectiveness, in terms of relations sustainability, emerged as a dimension able to define and assess a project success (Belassi W., Tukel O.I., 1996). Based on previous research contributions on the factors influencing the relations between organizations (Zanasi C., Rota C., 2009), the paper expands the analysis of the influence of human resource management on organizational climate that, in turn, influences the relation sustainability between project manager and project team involved in international cooperation for development. A etailed analysis of these relations is provided and a research hypothesis are built. A questionnaire on previous contributions was adapted to collect data for a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis. Five dimensions of organizational climate (Zeitz G. et al., 1997) (trust, communication, innovation, job challenge, social cohesion), four dimensions of human resource management (Snell S.A., Dean J.W, 1992) (staff recruitment, training, performance appraisal, reward system) and two dimension for sustainable relations (Fisher C., Reynolds N., 2008) (relations quality and strength) are reported and measured by using a 5 point Likert scale. The sample size is still in progress. The first results on internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) are satisfactory

Thought piece on the effectiveness of contemporary project management and its top performing enablers

One of the most important factors for project success is effective contemporary project management. The aim of this article is to provide project manager practitioners with access to the successful contemporary project management enablers using evidence-based research. A systematic scoping literature review using qualitative and quantitative design was performed on the ScienceDirect database using studies and articles, published in English between 2010 and 2019. This search included factors regarding successful contemporary project management and citation tracking. All studies and articles were peer reviewed. Charted data were narratively reported by clustering the results according to the identified success criteria. The review process resulted in one conceptual framework, one literature review, one survey, and one article about research on another topic, which is related to project management success factors. This article shows that to enhance evidence-based practice, it is recommended that in a contemporary project approach, every project establishes a complementary team-related project with gates as checks to ensure transparency, clarity, and comprehension. Its purpose would include the definition, development, and implementation of clear communication strategy and a mentoring and training program to support retention, build loyalty in organizations, and enhance cooperation between the stakeholders and the project team. A limitation of this study includes the consideration of contemporary project management success factors only but not those success factors influencing contemporary project management success. A second limitation is the use of a single database and the exclusion of journal quality

Analyzing factors that influence offshore outsourcing decision of application maintenance

Application maintenance consumes a considerable amount of an organization's time and resources each year. Almost 60% of IT budget is spent alone on application maintenance. The reason of offshore outsourcing of application maintenance is not only the reduction of maintenance cost but to free up the resources and to keep the focus on core products. Offshore outsourcing is a common business strategy that is used by companies to achieve cost savings about 20-50%. However, the decision making process of application maintenance is a complex phenomenon. It is based on a set of influencing factors, clients' requirements and nature of the project. Hence, the current study is aimed at the in-depth investigation of the complex sourcing decision process of application maintenance. Accordingly, a systematic literature review is performed to determine the influencing factors and critical success factors that will be used by the decision makers for the evaluation of projects before making the outsourcing decisions. A total of 15 influencing factors out of 52 selected papers were identified. Based on the defined criteria, amongst the identified factors, only 10 factors were ranked as critical success factors, which are employees' skills, cost, legal requirements, infrastructure, communication, knowledge transfer, maturity level, project management, language barrier and frequent requirements changes. Consequently, a sourcing model was proposed based on the identified critical success factors that help the IT managers and domain experts in making appropriate outsourcing decisions.Qatar University [IRCC-2020-009]