Successful projects may be defined by criteria set prior to a project being commenced. The project success criteria may include time, budget and performance. A description of a successful project is often one that has been achieved

Business leaders use enterprise resource planning (ERP) to integrate and streamline business functions and processes. Each year, the majority of these projects fail due to project managers' ineffective management of the project scope. The successful implementation of ERP software enhances the flow of information in organizations and tends to improve the performance of employees and job satisfaction, resulting in improved sustainability and profitability. The Leavitt organizational change management model was used as the conceptual framework for this multiple-case study. The purpose of the study was to explore the strategies project managers in the energy sector used to implement successful ERP projects. The target population included 3 project managers from 3 energy-sector companies in the Greater Accra region of Ghana and the Nairobi region of Kenya who have successfully implemented ERP projects. Data were collected using face-to-face, semistructured interviews. Data analysis consisted of reviewing interview transcripts, grouping the data into themes, and interpreting the meaning of the themes and data. The 5 main emerging thematic categories encompass the strategies shared by the 3 participants, which were competency of the project managers, competency of the project team members, the involvement of the stakeholders, strategic practices employed and followed, and other strategies for improvement. From the perspective of positive social change, the findings of this study may provide insight that business leaders can use to improve the performance of their firms, enhance sustainability and profitability, and create employment opportunities for the community.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management Sciences (Business Administration), Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The South African mobile telecommunications industry has grown into a multi-billion rand industry that employs thousands of people and connects millions of people across the globe. In order to accomplish the latter, multi-million rand capital projects must be initiated and successfully executed. It is against this background that this study investigated the factors influencing the effectiveness of project managers in the telecommunications industry in South Africa. The target population of the study consisted of project managers in the five telecommunications companies in South Africa who were registered with Project Management South Africa (PMSA). The primary data, which was collected personally by the researcher through self-administered questionnaires, was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 23. The study revealed, inter alia, that most project managers in the telecommunications industry in South Africa perceived negotiating skills, technical knowledge, and management style as being most important for effectively confronting the many challenges faced by them, inter alia, scope management, quality management, and risk management, so that projects were successfully executed. There was unanimity amongst the project managers that training in project management had a positive impact on the performance of project managers. Although three out of every four project managers possessed a postgraduate qualification, the majority of project managers were of the view that a diploma was adequate to practice as a project manager in the telecommunications industry in South Africa. However, it was more important for project managers to possess project management qualifications. In addition to the above, an analysis of the results revealed that, in order of importance, the effectiveness of the project managers in the telecommunications industry in South Africa was influenced by communication skills, technical skills, education skills, leadership skills, interpersonal skills and negotiating skills. / M

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / No abstract / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to Wheatley (1999:157) in the history of human thought, a new way of understanding often appears simultaneously in widely separated places and in different disciplines, these concepts are called our zeitgeist - a way of thinking that characterizes a generation or time period. Wheatley (1999:158) believes that once again we are living in a time when the same concepts are appearing in many places and disciplines. The interest in undertaking this research stems from two current trends. Firstly, that the methodology of project management is increasingly sought by organizations facing an ever changing environment. Secondly, organizations that adopt project management apparently lack the necessary foresight and tools to optimize its human capital in that field. Stayner (1998:5) quoted Wheatley saying: "The problem is, we see something that works, like project-based work, and we want to replicate it. But we don't understand why it works. We think because it's in projects; but really, it works because people are engaged in new, exciting, creative work within their organization on a team that shares values and trust." The writer believes that in today's knowledge economy it is more evident than ever that in order to survive an organization needs to get the people processes right. The Newtonian age called for optimization through machines. The information age calls for a new, systematic approach for the optimization of knowledge workers. Organizations look hopefully to nature to teach us how to do what living systems accomplish with such skill - learn, adapt and change. Organization's interest prompted by the relentless need for organizations to grow and re-from at intervals so short that change has become a continuous demand. Hopefully organizations are coming to the realization that the science of the seventeenth century cannot explain what they are challenged with in the twenty-first century. This study is interested in investigating organizations holistically and its underlying philosophy is to develop a systematic approach to the performance management of project managers based on the principles of the new sciences integrated with current performance management practices in use. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wheatley (1999:157) glo dat daar in die geskiedenis van die gedagtegang van die mens gevind word dat 'n nuwe manier van begrip gelyktydig tot stand kom in wyd verspreide areas en verskillende dissiplines. Hierdie 'gelyktydige gewaarwording' word genoem die zeitgeit van 'n tydperk - 'n manier van dink waarvolgens 'n geslag of periode in die geskiedenis gekenmerk word. Wheatley (1999:158) is oortuig dat die mens weereens in 'n tydperk leef waar dieselfde konsepte besig is om hulle verskyning te maak oor wydverspreide plekke en verskillende dissiplines. Die belangstelling om die navorsing te onderneem spruit voort uit twee huidige neigings. Eerstens, die feit dat die dissipline van projekbestuur meer gesog word by ondernemings wat moet tred hou met 'n voortdurende veranderende omgewing. Tweedens, organisasies wat projekbestuur toepas maar waarby die visie en infrastruktuur ontbreek om die potensiaal van hulle werksmag in hierdie veld te ontgun en verder te optimaliseer. Stayner (1998:5) haal Wheatley aan: "Die probleem is, ons sien iets wat werk, soos projek gebasseerde week, ons wil dit dupliseer, maar ons verstaan nie hoekom dit werk nie. Ons dink omdat dit 'n projek is werk dit, maar eintlik werk dit omdat mense betrokke is in nuwe opwindende, kreatiewe werk binne hul organisasie, in 'n span met dieselfde waardes en onderlinge vertroue." Die skrywer glo dat in die huidige ekonomie, waar kennis gesien word as 'n belangrike produksiefaktor, is dit meer noodsaaklik as ooit tevore dat ten einde te oorleef moet organisasies hulle mensebestuur prosesse regkry. Die Newtonian era het geglo in optimisering deur masjiene. Die informasie era het 'n nuwe, sistematiese benadering nodig waarvolgens die kennis van werkers optimaal benut kan word. Organisasies kyk hoopvol na die natuur om vas te stel hoe lewende sisteme met soveel vaardigheid kan leer, aanpas en verander om te bly voortbestaan. Organisasies se belangstelling in hierdie verskynsel word aangehelp deur die noodsaaklikheid om vinnig te groei en te verander, met pouses so kort dat verandering 'n voortdurende aanvraag is. Organisasies is hopelik besig om te besef dat die wetenskap ontdekkings van die sewentiende eeu nie die antwoord sal bied op die uitdagings van die een-en-twintigste eeu nie. Hierdie studie is geinteresseerd in die ondersoek van die organisasie as 'n geheel. Die onderliggende filosofie is om 'n sistematiese benadering vir die werkverrigting bestuur van projekbestuurders te ontwikkel gebasseer op die beginsels van die nuwe ontdekkings in wetenskap geintegreer met die hedendaagse gebruike in die praktyk.

Dagens konkurrenskraftiga arbetsmarknad har lett till att företag snabbt anpassar sig till förändringar i dynamiska miljöer. Projekt som arbetsform har blivit allt vanligare i verksamheter. Till varje projekt tilldelas en projektledare för att driva projektet. På grund av brist på personal anlitar organisationer konsulter som exempelvis projektledare, för att analysera och lösa specifika problem samt driva projekt. Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka utmaningar uthyrda projektledare upplever. För att besvara undersökningens frågeställning och syfte har en kvalitativ metod använts. Genom semistrutkurerade intervjuer med tio olika uthyrda projektledare inom ett tekniskt konsultföretag utreds vilka utmaningar de upplever. Intervjuerna har därefter analyserats med hjälp av en tematisk analys och relevanta teman har identifierats. Undersökningen har visat att utmaningar som tekniska uthyrda projektledare upplever handlar om begränsad handlingsförmåga, där struktur, befogenheter, tillgång till budget samt rätt resurser, förhindrar uthyrda projektledare att utföra sitt arbete och driva ett projekt. Andra utmaningar som upplevs gäller identitetskris och känslan av tillhörighet, där tillhörighet till konsultföretaget och kundföretaget samt skillnaderna mellan uthyrda projektledare och anställda, inte har stor påverkan på projektledningen i sig utan inverkar på projektledaren som individ. / Today's competitive labor market has led companies to swiftly adapt to changes in dynamic environments. Projects such as work methods have become increasingly common in businesses. Each project is assigned a project manager to manage the project. Due to a lack of staff, organizations employ consultants such as project managers, to analyze and solve specific problems and manage projects. The purpose of the study is to investigate the challenges experienced by the consultant project manager. In order to answer the main question and the purpose of the study, a qualitative method has been used. Through interviews with ten different consultant project managers within a technical consulting company, the challenges they are experiencing investigated. The interviews have been analyzed by using a thematic analysis and relevant themes have been identified. The study has shown that challenges experienced by technical consultant project managers are about limited ability to act, where structure, authority, access to budget and the right resources prevent consultant project managers from carrying out their work and manage a project. Other challenges are about identity crises and the feeling of belonging, where relationship to the consulting company and the clients, as well as the differences between consultant project managers and employees, do not have a major impact on the project management itself, but affect the project manager as an individual.

This study seeks to explore the predictors of female project managers’ salary in the construction industry, and to analyze their impacts on determining the salary. Experience, age, marital status, motherhood, having children at home, and the number of children at home were selected as the independent variables. Snowball sampling method was used to identify the potential participants, and surveys were sent to participants to collect data. 206 responses were collected and comprehensive descriptive and statistical analyses were performed on the responses. The study finds that experience and age have a positive relationship with female project managers’ salaries. Being married and having children at home have significant negative impacts on female project managers’ salaries. A regression model is also built to determine the prediction power of variables. Fifty-one percent of the variability in salary can be accounted for by the variables included in this model.

This study looks at the differences in lean project management between projects done in the public sector and projects done in the private sector. The private sector consist of companies around Sweden, while municipalities are representing the public sector in this study. This study is based on the understanding that the lean philosophy can have advantages for the efficiency of project management, both for the private and the public sector, knowing that there are differences in the nature of these organizations. This thesis begins with an introduction that explains the theory that is important for this research, and that describes the research gap that has been found. The research gap is the basis for the research questions. After defining the research questions, an examination has been done on existing literature about the concepts of lean, project management, project managers, and lean project management. Prior research gives ideas about the challenges project managers encounter, and shows in what way lean can influence the efficiency of projects. As part of this qualitative research, and with an inductive approach, 12 semi-structured interviews have been conducted. During this interviews, project managers and persons with a connection to projects in the different organization were asked to describe projects in their organizations. This study is exploratory and has a cross-sectional design as the center of attention was on different organizations from both the private and the public sector in different parts of Sweden. In the analysis the results of the interviews are categorized and interpreted. The results show that projects are used in every organization, making use of, in almost every case, a project model which makes sure that different projects are run in similar ways. Although different organizations make use of the principles of lean, no organization is implementing the ideas completely. Major differences that have been found are differences in the background of the project manager, the level of standardization of projects, and differences in efficiency that in many situations are caused by legislation. It became clear that projects in the private sector are organized in a stricter way, with experienced project managers that follow project models strictly. In the public sector projects are mostly led by project managers that are interested in a certain project, and in those organizations project models are not followed strictly. As for lean projects, we have found no real evidence that any organization is currently having projects organized according to the lean principles. This can be expected however, seeing that lean project management is a generally unexplored part of the lean philosophy.

Acceptance and understanding of project management tends to be limited by project managers (PMs) who have a specific technical training and follow one or two major theories on project processes. Consequently, project managers may encounter difficulty in being ‘recognised’ by employers and moving from one professional discipline to another. The current research examines knowledge areas applied ‘in the field’ by project managers (PMs), and provides them with knowledge about the constancy of application of project theories; further, a new model of what constitutes PM and enables flexibility for PMs is suggested. As there was little extant literature about PMs being able to transfer from one professional discipline to another, or to what degree different knowledge areas were applied, it was determined that exploratory research was appropriate. The results strongly indicate that organisations that rely on programs and projects to support the delivery of their strategic objectives will benefit from implementation of the project management revised hypothetical model (Figure 13). The model incorporates the nine knowledge areas of The Project Management Institute (USA) and six knowledge areas extracted from the PM methodology PRINCE2. Further, the additional focus of People Specific Management (PSM) at Level 3 of the revised hypothetical model (Figure 13) is recommended. Qualifications for PMs do make a difference! In addition to demonstrating the importance of PM qualifications to augment PM’s successful transfer across disciplines, further research is suggested regarding the need for training to be ‘compulsory’ and follow the developmental levels described in the up-to-date model developed during the research (Figure 13).

Research report presented to SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / No abstract / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL