The ability of project managers to implement industry 4.0-related projects

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Herzberg! Can we trust you in Africa?

Information technology (IT) projects are implemented through individual team members. These projects are fairly long in duration, especially enterprise resource planning projects. The problem that IT project managers face is how to motivate the team members, particularly in an African context where a team consists of various cultures and races. This paper presents results of a quantitative research study in which team members were asked to rank their motivating factors on a scale of 1 to 12 based on Herzberg’s two-factor theory. The reason for using this theory is that, it was found to still be applicable after 50 years of its establishment. The purpose was to determine whether Herzberg’s two-factor theory is applicable in an African context and if so, what unique factors could motivate IT team members in Africa. The research indicates that race, age and gender are not indicators and that there is a general tendency that the motivating factors of Herzberg can be used to motivate team members. The implication is that IT project managers can use Herzberg’s two-factor theory to motivate individual team members. The research also adds to the current body of knowledge that Africans are not motivated by hygiene factors

The role of public participation in landfill management: a community case study.

Master of Laws in Environmental Law. University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2018.No abstract available

The reality of adhering to best practices : the case of information system initiatives

Abstract: Purpose: Standards are written by practitioners for practitioners. It is therefore logical that project managers should comply with project management standards. Benefits management is a domain within program management. The focus of benefits management is to deliver benefits of initiatives beyond the closure of a normal program or project. This is not the case with projects within the information systems (IS) discipline, implying that IS program and project managers are not adhering to standards. The purpose of this article is to determine whether the best practices associated with benefits management are applied to IS initiatives in order to maximise the benefits of these initiatives. Design/methodology/approach: Senior and middle managers in South African organisations were interviewed to determine how benefits are managed within their various projects. The purpose of the interviews was to determine adherence to standards and especially benefits management and, secondly, to determine whether these organisations are achieving any benefits and ultimately value. Findings: There is an overwhelming non-adherence to benefits management best practices within the IS discipline, and IS program and project managers do not have the slightest idea how to perform benefits management. Irrespective of this, organisations do believe that they are receiving benefits and value from these IS initiatives. Research limitations/implications: The research was only done in South Africa with the specific focus of information systems. The results are thus very specific and opens the door for more comprehensive research that focuses on various industries, countries and standards. Practical implications: The results have several implications ranging from how standards are written to the professionalism of IS programs and project managers. Organisations are not achieving the optimal benefits from investments. The fact that organisations do realise benefits from a broken process, implies that more benefits can be realised when the entire benefits realisation process is followed. Governance controls should also be put in place to ensure that program and project managers are adhering to standards. Originality/value: Standards are dominating the project management discipline and there is a general assumption that program and project managers are adhering these standards. This research queries the value of standards as the results indicate that there is limited adherence to standards and best practices

Maturity of sustainable development within information systems projects

Abstract: Sustainability or sustainability development has been a major topic of discussion over the last couple of years. Project management is also a discipline that is starting to focus on sustainability, but the focus is more on the environmental aspect of the project itself. Information systems (IS) projects do not have such a major impact on the environment as construction and engineering projects do. Should project managers that are implementing these ‘soft’ projects be concerned about sustainability? There is currently little or no knowledge about sustainability within the IS domain and whether sustainability is incorporated at all within IS projects. A structured questionnaire was adapted based on previous studies. It was circulated to the project management community within South Africa and a total of 1 099 responses were received. The responses covered all industries and for the purpose of this article, 387 IS projects (35.2% of the total projects) were analysed to determine the level of project management sustainability maturity. The objective of the study was to determine the level of capability regarding sustainability

The business case thrives on relevant information

Abstract: In recent years, much has been written about how to present a compelling business case. But, if just one critical piece of information is overlooked, it can lead to the wrong decision being taken. This article aims to minimise the risk. It stems from research conducted into how the business case can be used more effectively to improve the success rate of information technology (IT) or information technology or business (ITB) projects. The business case, usually a document, indicates whether the investment in money and resources is justified, prior to or at any time during the project. ‘Effective use’ involves using certain business case processes throughout the ITB project’s lifetime. Here, the life cycle refers only to the IT component of the project. The lifetime is longer, extending from initial proposal until all benefits have been realised. However, it is found that the processes are not easy to adhere to, a probable cause being the lack of relevant information

Adapting IT management for effective IT strategy leadership

Abstract: This article argues that the lack of consistent information technology (IT) and organisational strategies heightens the proclivity to cancel IT initiatives. Organisational strategy loosely conveys a compounded perspective pertaining to business and organisational strategies. The combination of these strategies logically hinge on efficient enterprise IT integration concepts contextualising conceptual links between their respective architectures to best suit prevailing business and socioeconomic needs. However, an effective socioeconomy demands contextual strategic management of IT, aligned with geopolitical and other factors affecting the nature of IT, to optimise the applied context of principles of governance and management. Strategic management of IT is alleviated by the concept of levels of abstraction inherent in the principle of separation of concerns. Hence the strategic use of the concept in ‘opinion’ formulation within the paradigm of a sociotechnical system design, development and management. Accordingly, optimal business performance demands that business and IT leadership and management develop mechanisms to establish symbiosis between governance and management principles, glued together by an adaptive enterprise‐wide standard architecture. There is therefore a contended need to integrate IT, processes and strategies. This demands that business and IT professionals possess an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary set of competencies. The perceived set of competencies supposedly help professionals to effectively navigate the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of information technology management (ITM). Thus the ensuing sociotechnical system constructs represent the challenge imposed by the journey to purposefully adapt ITM for effective IT strategy leadership for a competitive economic system. The research used an advanced mixed research methodology embedding quantitative methods in a qualitative study..

Successful IT outsourcing : from conceptual to enhanced model

Abstract: Outsourcing is a subject of much attention and controversy in the modern business landscape, due to far-reaching ramifications into matters such as politics, economics, legal, and human resources. Given such wide exposure, ensuring the success of outsourcing projects seems a worthwhile pursuit. This paper presents a study focused on Information Technology (IT) outsourcing, which entails full or partial transfer of ownership of IT-related processes to a vendor, supposedly to achieve business benefits such as cheaper costs, economies of scale, and increased efficiency. This said, can all processes be outsourced? Are some processes meant to be kept in-house? To what extent do the overarching strategies and motivations behind an outsourcing decision influence the outsourcing delivery models and eventually the performance of outsourcing projects? Regardless of the specifics of an outsourcing project, there seems to be a dearth of tried, tested and repeatable blueprints guiding the decision-making throughout the outsourcing journey. The aim of this paper is two-fold: a) Present the finding of a study towards a conceptual model for IT outsourcing; b) Illustrate how a conceptual model can be validated with empirical data, towards an enhanced model; Data was collected from 20 outsourcing professionals via structured questionnaire derived from the conceptual model for successful outsourcing. Data was then analysed through data visualization and findings were contrasted against the initial literature review. Knowledge gaps identified were applied to the conceptual model and the enhanced model was proposed as a result

An analysis of the maturity of project management as a discipline

Project management (PM) is a career that annually attracts many people, despite not providing project managers with the same professional status as a medical doctor or chartered accountant. These disciplines are globally recognised as being mature and professional. The purpose of this article is to investigate and analyse the maturity of the PM discipline. Many organisations invest resources in PM, believing that it can be used to complete all new initiatives successfully. Several surveys have shown that many projects still fail to deliver the expected results. In order to understand the reason for projects still failing, the maturity ofthe discipline needs to be investigated. The article follows a qualitative research approach and uses a literature survey to determine what constitutes a mature discipline. Using the fmdings of this survey, an analysis is done ofPM as a discipline. The result is an objective, independent assessment of the maturity of PM and an indication ofwhether it can be considered a profession. The benefit of this article is that it provides evidence on the maturity ofthe PM discipline. It also highlights the areas that must be focused on, from a PM perspective, to ensure that PM evolves into a more mature and professional discipline

The impact of the application of governance principles in municipal government projects: a metropolitan municipality case study

Abstract: The use of governance principles in projects implemented within the government sector provides tangible benefits in terms of projects achieving the intended objectives. Governance of projects is often related to the ability of organisations to demonstrate the ability to administer projects in line with organisational policy thereby adhering to principles such as accountability, transparency and compliance to trends of good corporate governance. Oversight in government projects often results in over and irregular expenditure as well as projects running over the planned timeframes, largely because of the lack of integrated governance systems to track, monitor and ensure project methodologies are followed. The purpose of this research was to propose an integrated governance structure to be utilised in a municipal environment to assist departments executing infrastructure projects