The public sector project is particularly a demanding undertaking, with the requirement to meet diverse demands. Despite huge investment, public sector projects tend to complete behind schedule, indicating shortfall in various project factors. This research was grounded on an empirical study of the Malaysian School Computer Laboratory Programme (SCLP) to examine the project success factors throughout the project life span. The extensive SCLP was divided into six zones, spanning urban and remote environment throughout Malaysia. Its implementation was staggered into several phases, two of which covered in this study, namely phase-1 and phase-2. This research aimed to fulfil three research objectives: i) to discover the project management’s success factors; ii) to determine the product’s success factors that encompass various stakeholders; and iii) to identify project characteristics that influenced the project success. A comprehensive review of literature suggested 20 relevant project success factors to be investigated. Those factors were examined using a newly constructed framework, whereby the project life span was clustered into two segments – project process and project product. The study adopted a qualitative paradigm; nevertheless it utilised both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection, which were triangulated to provide a wider scope of interpretation. The quantitative data for a total sample of 357 projects were sourced from Likert-type questionnaire and secondary resources, while qualitative data were sourced from combination of semi-structured interviews with 38 respondents representing 10 groups of project stakeholders and secondary data from various documents. The results demonstrated that the project management of the SCLP was improperly administered. Out of five success factors investigated to verify the project conceptualization, only two namely project goal and project scope, were reasonably defined. One factor, stakeholder participation, was inadequately defined, while the other two factors, resources assessment and risk management, were not even taken into consideration by the project decision-making committee. There were also some deficiencies in the project planning. From six success factors tested, two were acceptably planned, i.e. project design and project costing. The other four, namely distribution of authority and responsibility, contractor selection, project scheduling, and project documentation, were insufficiently planned. The inadequacies in the project definition and project planning were reflected in the project execution as only two out of six factors, i.e. administrator effectiveness and communication, contributed to the project success. The other four, known as supervising team efficiency, contractor competence, integrity and external influences were negatively affected the project. Despite some deficiencies in the project management, the outcome or product of the project was found to be successful particularly in the judgement of the target group, the users; they were satisfied with the SCLP deliverables. They also appreciated the benefit from the utilisation of the products, which greatly changed the approaches of teaching and learning. However, the SCLP completion time was not as successful as planned, believed to be a result of unrealistic scheduling during the planning stage. Nonetheless, there were cases of genuine delays due to various factors in the earlier stages. The results also suggested that some of the project success factors were particularly influenced by project characteristics explored in this studied. The influences of these two characteristics, geographical zone and the project award method, could be seen in both the project management process and the project’s product. Overall, this thesis contributed to extant body of knowledge in various ways. A newly constructed research framework, with the concept of duality of project process and product, added depth to the longstanding idea of project success and expanded premises of the existing theory. This framework offered a better platform to identify when particular factors take place and affect the project along the project life span. This study also added a new insight to the Malaysian public sector projects management strategies in particular and to the other countries with the similar situations in general. A new paradigm in project decision-making by adopting a bottom-up concept rather than traditionally top-down alone during the project conceptualisation and a more realistic resource-based approach during the project planning, is suggested. In addition, this research proposed an ideal way to deal with various critical success factors in a huge programme.

Submitted by Marcelo Alves Santos (marcelo.alves@live.com) on 2017-07-05T21:23:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Mestrado - Marcelo Alves Santos.pdf: 2480940 bytes, checksum: c2674ec4d88282358ef5e25761777a1d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2017-07-05T21:37:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Mestrado - Marcelo Alves Santos.pdf: 2480940 bytes, checksum: c2674ec4d88282358ef5e25761777a1d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-06T13:09:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Mestrado - Marcelo Alves Santos.pdf: 2480940 bytes, checksum: c2674ec4d88282358ef5e25761777a1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-26 / The analysis of critical factors for project success, as well as the definition of success in projects, are contents that are constantly addressed in the project management literature. This case study proposed a clipping in this subject, focusing on how the project sponsoring executive can contribute to the success of a project. Two projects within the same organization were analyzed, applying the theory developed by KLOPPENBORG et Al. (2014) for evaluating behaviors of the project sponsor. For each project interviews were conducted with closed questions, followed by open questions with their respective stakeholders. The objective of these interviews was to understand how the project sponsor contributed to the success of the projects studied through the theoretical lens adopted. Using a qualitative methods this research has indicated that the project sponsor had a major impact on the success of the projects chosen. The research indicated that the following behaviors contributed to the result of the projects in the organization: (1) behavior 3 - the project sponsor guaranteed the project planning; (2) behavior 6 - the project sponsor maintained a relationship with the stakeholders; (3) behavior 7 - The project sponsor ensured communication between the project and its stakeholders. The emergence of responses through qualitative research also allowed exploring other factors that influence success, but will not be discussed in depth in this research. This work aims to contribute to the body of knowledge about project management exploring the sponsor's impact on project success. At the same time it also aims to encourage organizations to rediscuit the role of the project sponsor by allowing them to contribute positively to the success of projects within organizations. / A análise de fatores críticos para o sucesso de projetos, bem como a própria definição de sucesso em projetos, são conteúdos constantemente abordados na literatura de gestão de projetos, programas e portfólios. Este estudo de caso propôs um recorte nesse assunto, com foco sobre como o executivo patrocinador de projetos pode contribuir para o sucesso de um projeto. Foram analisados dois projetos dentro da mesma organização, aplicando-se a teoria desenvolvida por KLOPPENBORG et Al. (2014) para avaliação de comportamentos do patrocinador de projetos. Para cada projeto foram feitas entrevistas com perguntas fechadas, seguidas de perguntas abertas com as suas respectivas partes interessadas. O objetivo dessas entrevistas foi compreender como o patrocinador de projetos contribuiu para o sucesso dos projetos estudados através da lente teórica adotada. Através de análises qualitativas, utilizando apoio de ferramentas estatísticas, a pesquisa indicou que o patrocinador de projetos teve um impacto importante para o sucesso dos projetos escolhidos. A pesquisa indicou que os seguintes comportamentos contribuíram para o resultado dos projetos na organização: (1) comportamento 3 - o patrocinador de projetos garantiu o planejamento do projeto; (2) comportamento 6 - o patrocinador de projetos manteve relacionamento com as partes interessadas; (3) comportamento 7 - o patrocinador de projetos garantiu a comunicação entre o projeto e as suas partes interessadas.A emersão de respostas através da pesquisa qualitativa permitiu também explorar outros fatores que influenciam o sucesso, todavia não serão discutidas a fundo nesta pesquisa. Este trabalho pretende contribuir para o corpo de conhecimento sobre gestão de projetos, explorando o impacto do patrocinador no sucesso de projetos. Ao mesmo tempo também pretende incentivar as organizações a rediscutir o papel do patrocinador de projetos, permitindo que ele contribua de forma positiva para o sucesso de projetos nas organizações.