The key challenge for organisations today is to ensure that they continue to strive in a rapid changing, competitive and global environment. Privatisation in the public sector has lead to effectiveness and efficiency becoming essential to satisfy the client department's needs and requirements. This means that it is essential for NPWD to understand their client's needs and requirements, and be able to position itself to deliver the desired end product. The question is, why does NPWD need to become more effective and efficient, whilst strategic planning in considered to be the overriding objective to achieve its goals? The simple premise of this paper is to improve the project management strategic planning by incorporating system thinking tools and techniques in the process. Systems thinking is a way of helping a person to view the world, including its organisations, from a broad perspective that includes structures, patterns and events, rather than just the events themselves. This broad view helps one to identify the real causes of issues and know where to work to address them. The research problem addressed in this study is to identify project management strategies, activities and principles that will enhance the ability of National Public Works Department (NPWD) of the Eastern Cape to ensure continuous successful project delivery. In order to identify these project management strategies, activities and principles, a multi-methodology consisting of a system thinking approach as well as a questionnaire were used. The findings of this exercise clearly highlight the specific areas where attention is required for improvements. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

No description available.

Thesis (MAppSc Project Management)--University of South Australia, 1993

The research presented in this thesis investigates ways to assist students with writing their project proposals. There is limited literature on the problems students have when writing project proposals in Higher Education. Particularly most of the literature has concentrated on the writing aspects, rhetorical aspects and structure of a scientific article. Even though various studies on assessment of undergraduate individual and group project works have been done, the project proposal has not been given much attention. Therefore assessment of the proposal stage of the undergraduate final year project becomes the focus of this study, conducted over three years. This three-phase study directly involved three main stakeholders (students, supervisors and coordinators) in the overall process. In Phase 1, the existence of the proposal problems was investigated and identified from the perceptions of the students and supervisors. Possible solutions to the proposal problems were identified. Next Phase 2, I acknowledged the requirements of the stakeholders, which provided the framework and initiated the design and development of an eGuide, a self-paced online guide. The implementation and evaluation of the eGuide were then conducted in this phase. Finally Phase 3, the study emphasised improvement to practice focusing on the Degree final year project by utilizing the cyclic approach of an action research. Questionnaires and focus groups were used to gather information from students and supervisors, both to identify the problems they perceived with the student project proposal process and the effectiveness of the online support tool, eGuide. In the development of the eGuide, it proved necessary to design and pilot a robust rubric for students and supervisors to structure the project proposal process. The eGuide was evaluated for its effectiveness by the various users and followed by an action research approach to make further improvements to the Degree final year project curriculum. The assessment criteria evolved further to become a marking template with a very effective feedback tool. The study has a stimulating effect on the practices of how supervision of project proposal was shaped and how the project proposal was being assessed. Practical outcome of the study ultimately benefits not only the students who were the focus in the first place but also the supervisors and the coordinators. The study provides further avenues for research opportunities in this area to take place in the future.

The primary objective of the study was to establish the role that is played by team member leadership and strategic leadership, in complementing project manager competencies, on project success. Ultimately, the study is meant to assist project organizations and project managers in crafting leadership development programmes and plans that entrench leadership as a complementary aspect among project participators. The study is modelled on the concept that there are essentially three levels of leadership in projects, namely: (a) executive, (b) management and (c) operational level (DuBrin, 2010). There is therefore a complementary leadership relationship between company executives, project managers and team members that contribute to project success. Most current project leadership practices emphasize the project manager’s competencies as the key driving force in project success. Howell and Shamir (2005) assert that many writers in leadership agree that leadership is an interdependent relationship between the leader and the follower, yet leadership theories are too “leader-centric”. Beyer (1999) and Yukl (1998) in Howell and Shamir (2005) also criticized charismatic leadership theories as promoting stereotypes of “heroic leadership” that single-handedly determine the fate of the groups and organizations and that followers are a submissive lot to the leader’s will and demands. The literature study revealed that there are different perspectives on project success. Project managers and team members mostly focus on operational objectives of cost, time and quality requirements to the detriment of the business results, yet top management focus on business results. Further the literature showed that certain leadership theories only recognise the project manager for leadership on projects while others accept that followers themselves are leaders and that formal leadership is becoming irrelevant. Leadership is meant to be distributed to various role players in the team since it is a complementary construct. The empirical study consisted of a structured questionnaire distributed to a population of company executives, project managers and project team members in various project organizations predominantly in the Eastern Cape. The structured questionnaire was aimed at gathering views on the aspects of project success and project leadership, especially the role played by the strategic leadership and team member leadership as active participants that complement the project manager in achieving project success. The results of the empirical study revealed that: Project success straddled both the notion of meeting time, cost and quality requirements as well as achieving strategic business results. Leadership is a relationship between the leader and the led and that it must be dispersed to various participators in the team. Top management (executives) play a valuable role in linking projects to strategy and ensuring an aligned selection of projects. Team members play an active role in leadership, empowering the project leader and influencing his or her behaviour and consequently determining the results of the leadership relationship. Recommendations are presented for increasing project success through total leadership. These recommendations include that: Management in project organisations should expand the definition and understanding of project success at all levels. Executive management in project organisations should always view projects as strategic weapons to compete in the market place. The strategic imperatives of projects and project selection are not a once-off exercise but further taken to implementation at project level through strategy implementation and monitoring. Team members should be recognised as active participators in project leadership relationship. It is an obsolete idea to assume that as a result of the project manager having good leadership qualities and competencies that the team members will automatically follow.

The aim of my thesis is the analysis of a reporting system for a business service and a leading the business service in ING Životní pojišťovna N.V., pobočka pro Českou republiku and an outlining the recommendations for a change of the present reporting system. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first one is theoretical and deals mainly with a project and process management. Since the reports include mostly the numbers, data, which have higher or smaller predicative ability, the data and pieces of information of the company are listed in this part as well. The second part of the thesis includes a practical analysis in ING Životní pojišťovna N.V., pobočka pro Českou republiku. As this has been planned in the company as the project, I regard it the same way in the thesis. This part is divided into three parts: a list of the reports, an analysis of the reports and an outline of the recommendations for improving a current reporting system. The contribution of my thesis lies in showing the compact view of reporting system, concerning the leading of the business service and in presenting the proposal for the change of the current reporting system.

M.Phil. (Engineering Management) / This dissertation provides an investigation on the level of technical knowledge which project managers have to carry to deliver technical projects. It has now become a standard to many organizations to run their deliverables in projects to reach their objectives and every project is set to be unique. Project management can be thought as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to meet project requirements or coordination of human, financial and material resources to achieve beneficial change defined by quantitative and qualitative objectives. At the heart of project management is the project manager a project director and driver. Project manager is a professional tasked with leading a project from inception to completion [27]. It is not clear as to which level of technicality must project managers be to delivering projects in time, on budget and in an acceptable quality, thus the duties and qualities of a technical inclined project manager are covered in this study. Project manager leads a project team from the start of a project life cycle to finish, accomplishing the project objectives on time and within budget. Facing obstacles, budget and time-constraints, project manager is a key to planning and executing projects that produce the desired deliverable or result [4]. Developing the literature around the project management industry outlines the duties and responsibilities of a project manager which then defines the skills needed for project managers. It is safe enough to have a project manager with all the required skills stretching from technical through to managerial. Organizations delivering large scale projects have developed a role of an engineering manager who takes control of all technical aspects of the project. A project with an engineering manager allows the project manager to administrate the project and in that case the level of technicality for project managers is not important. A great athlete does not always make a great coach. Some of the best coaches in the world were not the best athletes, but have a firm understanding of the game. As suggested in [28] by Richard Fanelli, an architect and project manager guru that “a complete project manager must be an expert technically and knowing how things are done, as well as being detail oriented”. The one person the place can't function without. Everyone, the boss, supervisors, assistants comes to you for help. But where do you as a project manager go when you need help? As a project manager one is part bookkeeper, part administrator, part leader, part human resource pro, part technical guru, and part many other parts without parting ways with your sanity. Findings to the research topic are drawn to support the final conclusions discussed in the later part of the report. The project manager must also have technical competence in some aspects of the work being performed on the project. It appears however that there is considerable disagreement between researchers on the issue of how much technical knowledge is required. The more technically aware one is, the better they will be able to understand risks, potential roadblocks, and impacts of delays to the schedule. Project manager requires skills in three primary areas, namely interpersonal, technical and administration to deliver project successfully.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to improve onboarding project management by identifying the differences between PRINCE2® methodology and existing transition process of the company. Found differences will be the baseline for new proposals that should make the project management more efficient by cost and time savings. These proposals are intended to rise the level of client‘s satisafacion, which would lead to the possibility of receiving higher volumes of new projects.

Yes / Information systems (IS) project failure has been a recurring problem for decades. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the key factors that influence project failure and an analysis of the major areas that can have a significant impact on success; and second, to explore some of the key aspects that have an impact on project management performance from the practitioner perspective and discusses the problems faced by organizations in the closer integration of change and project management. Design/methodology/approach: This study critically reviews the IS failure literature developing a synthesized view of the key issues and common reasons for projects to fail. The approach taken in this study is one that focuses on a number of key questions that pull together the relevant themes in this genre of research whilst highlighting many of the implications for practitioners and organizations alike. Findings: Key questions remain on the underlying causes of instances of poor project management as an IS failure factor. The literature has omitted to develop a deeper analysis of the associations between failure factors and the potential causal relationships between these factors. The realization of project benefits relies on the success of both change and project management yet the formal integration of these two disciplines is constrained by separate standards bodies and an immature body of research. Research limitations/implications: This study is limited by its theoretical nature lacking an empirical element to provide a deeper analysis of IS failure factors and their interrelationships. This specific area is a recommendation for future research, where causal relationships between failure factors could be developed via a mathematic-based method such as interpretive structural modeling. Practical implications: With failure rates of IS projects still unacceptably high after decades of attempts to significantly change outcomes, a deeper analysis of this topic is required. The research gaps and recommendations for practitioners highlighted in this study have the potential to provide valuable contributions to this topic of research. Originality/value: The intent of this study is to present a new perspective of this genre of IS research that develops the main arguments and gaps in the literature from the practitioner viewpoint.

iv ABSTRACT This research study was the first to investigate the nature of time-use behaviour of the South African Clinical Research Associates (CRA’s) and Clinical Trial Managers (CTM’s). The study determined the relative polychronicity of project members in clinical trials in South Africa and identified possible non-alignment in the approaches and expectations between managers of clinical research projects and that of their project staff members. The study assumed that the clinical trial project environment is monochronic by nature. Information about a possible mismatch in expected temporal orientation of project staff and real temporal orientation of project staff would constitute grounds for adaptation of project management execution guidelines and staff selection processes for CRA’s and Managers of clinical trials. Quantitative data were collected through the Inventory of Polychronic Values measuring instrument from a sample of the total registered membership base of the South African Clinical Research Association by means of a web based questionnaire. The study analysed the relationships between the following three constructs of relevance: 1. CRA’s own personal preferences for time-use, and 2. CRA’s perceptions of what time-use behaviour their direct managers expect from them, and 3. Managers’ expectations for the time-use behaviour of CRA’s. CRA’s were found to be relatively monochronic in their work behaviour towards time-use and Managers to be more polychronic than CRA’s. Within each group a range of timeuse opinions and preferences were found. Within the constraints of sample size, Cultural Heritage and Age were the only demographic variables found to exert significant influence on the dependent variables in this study. A good alignment was found between the CRA’s perceptions of the time-use behaviours expected from them and the Managers’ expectations for time-use behaviour. The results of this study relate to complementary role differentiation between monochronic and polychronic people in project execution and management.