As part of the requirements for the attainment of an Msc. in Project Management an individual project is to be undertaken whereby a research topic is chosen and investigated. The research topic is also meant to have a direct relationship to the project management discipline.
In the first phase the topic is chosen by the researcher and then sent to the course leader who then assigns the researcher to a supervisor who assists the researcher in the structuring and organization of collated data also ensuring the quality of the report reaches a certain standard. The flow of project activities are highlighted in the Gantt chart in the Appendix
1.1 Introduction/Background
According to (PMBOK 2006) Project management is defined as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. (Kasse 2008) also defines project management as the combination of people, processes, techniques necessary to bring the project to successful completion. Most projects' success are measured on a quadruple set of constraints which are time, cost, performance and quality.
There are numerous control tools and techniques which ensure the successful delivery of projects ranging from Network diagrams, Gantt charts, PERT and others. Unfortunately most organizations lay more emphasis on these technical aspects and overlook the importance of effective leadership, which without the organizations' objectives would not be realised.
Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining project goals and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, what resources are needed, and associating budgets and timelines for completion. Projects require project management and effective project management is important to all industries. A leader is a person who guides others towards a common goal, showing the way by example. However, a coherent theoretical foundation that explains how leadership engages people fully and effectively is lacking (Howell, 2006)
The IT industry is a complex one which keeps changing at a very high pace and demands high levels of competence not only in the technical aspect but the leadership aspect as well. In the successful delivery of IT projects, there is a need for the effective management of the project team, effective stakeholder management and communications management. These are all dividends of effective leadership. This research will provide a clearer understanding of the concept of leadership in projects, discussing how and why it works, and the ways to make project teams more dynamic and effective. The results from the study are applied to these leadership concepts, in an effort understand the role of effective leadership in reducing costs across the whole project process and increasing the project value.
The following thesis project addresses the importance and key role of leadership in project management, particularly in the information technology industry.
1.2 Rationale
The project rationale which justifies why the author chose to carry out a research on the earlier identified topic is based on the following
1.2.1 Personal Rationale
The research is carried out for the purpose of enabling the author to extract knowledge from research materials on organizational leadership and relating it to project management. The research will increase the author's overall research competence in various ways and will boost confidence and lastly the sense of pride it will give the author as its successful completion confirms the realization of a hard earned MSc in Project Management which is no mean feat.
1.2.2 Business Rationale
The business rationale of this research is to identify limitations in project management organizations and the role of effective project leadership specifically in the IT industry in ensuring project success. The research also aims at revealing the resulting implications of effective leadership in achieving business objectives in the IT industry.
1.2.3 Academic Rationale
This research seeks to support the argument on the importance of leadership in the effective delivery of IT projects from various leadership areas such as effective management of project teams, effective communication and stakeholder management with supporting literature from a secondary research as well as a proposed plan for a primary research.
1.3 Aim
The broad aim of this research is to critically assess the overall importance of leadership in the success of IT projects. The aspect of leadership has been largely undermined since more focus seems to be on software and methodologies which has subsequently led to the failure of lots of IT projects in the UK.
1.4 Objectives
The specific objectives of this research are:
To assess the skills/competency required for successful IT project managers
To assess the leadership issues leading to the failure of most IT projects
To report on the project success factors that guarantee success for IT projects
To highlight findings from the research
1.5 Scope
This research is primarily aimed at highlighting the importance of effective project leadership in the successful execution of IT projects.
This research also outlines the necessary steps to be taken in carrying out a pimary research in gathering concise information on the subject matter.
1.6 Proposed Methodology
The proposed methodology to be applied in carrying out this research is secondary research, which is basically overall assessment of white papers, journals and volumes of various materials written relating to the subject matter before coming up with an appropriate judgment.
1.7 Assumptions
In the process of carrying out this research it was assumed by the researcher that all collated information at the time the research was conducted.
1.8 Constraints
In the gathering of this report one of the major constraints encountered was time, due to the fact that the researcher also had a group placement exercise to carry out simultaneously and also the limited access to information relating to the subject matter.
1.9 Deliverables
A Gantt chat showing the time schedule for each task to be carried out within the timeframe of the research
A proposed primary research design
A recommendation on best practices in attaining success in IT projects
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
As organisations face the enormous task of handling projects with high complexities in recent times, the need for sound project management expertise coupled with effective leadership skills the IT industry can not be ignored. Unfortunately this seems to be the case since most organisations focus more on the methodologies and hard skills rather than soft skills aspect. In spite of decades of research, the success rate of IT projects still remains low. A recent study points out that twice as many IT projects are considered to be less successful (Geddes 1990).
This chapter is a comprehensive review of a number of literatures from various authors who highlighted their opinion on the topic of effective leadership in IT project management. The purpose of this chapter is to give an insight to what leadership means in project management and illustrate it. Also discussed are the effect of leadership on project performance as well as success and failure factors in projects.
2.2 Leadership Overview
According to Cleland and Ireland (2007) the responsibility of a manager is to plan and organize but the responsibility of a leader is to convince others to follow a particular direction. Leadership is usually classified as a characteristic or trait (ability to lead), an object/role set (behaviour category required to get work done), adjective (type of managerial or executive quality), the application of power, or as a process (motivating, influencing, inspiring, coaching, mentoring, facilitating, etc.) According to Crevani et al (2009) The field of leadership - in theory and in practice - has been a fast-growing part of management knowledge since the beginning of the 20th century. In most conception phases of management and organization, leadership has a given and central place in enforcing principles, motivating employees and communicating future goals and visions to strive for. Leadership is understood to make a special, significant and positive input to action processes in most organizations, and leadership studies as an academic field has thus been preoccupied with the never-ending task of identifying identities or practices related to successful leadership. Some modern-day scholars believe that if they could agree on a common definition of leadership, they would be better able to understand it. After reviewing a variety of definitions by different authors, we discover that the definition problem was not really about definitions per se. Most of the definitions on leadership say basically the same thing-leadership is about one person getting other people to do something. (Ciulla 2002) also adds that where the definitions differ is in how leaders motivate their followers and who has a say in the goals of the group or organization.
2.3 Leadership Models
Although a variety of leadership theories and models have been developed they can be categorised under some broad groupings (Northouse, 1997). Brilliant for explaining firelighter leadership are some of the transformational and charismatic theories that collectively have been called the new leadership theories (Marta et al., 2005; Zaccaro and Horn, 2003; Hunt, 1999). These theories were developed in response to the apparent shortcomings of earlier theories (Yukl, 2001) in explaining how leaders can change the status quo and can lead those whom they may not directly supervise. Transformational leadership is about sparking the fires of people's motivation and imagination. If leaders are to take purposive action they need to exhibit transformational leadership behaviours that direct people towards constructive effort and that provide others with a more integrated understanding of what is to be achieved. (Bass and Avolio 1990) in their article break it down a little further suggesting that transformational approach is transactional leadership that describes the reactive styles of leadership, otherwise known colloquially as putting out fires further adding that transactional leadership realises performance levels that meet status quo expectations and that there are times when leaders may need to apply a more reactive transactional style and be firefighters, but the main outcomes for success depends on the leader's capacity for being a firelighter, which basically means adopting a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach.
2.3.1 Project management skills
The first element of the model is project management skills. Numerous studies have constantly shown that, for both project managers and staff, technical knowledge and skills, on one hand, and people skills, on the other hand, are essential to project success ( Jawaharnesan and Price, 1997; Jiang et al., 1996; Loo (2000); Toney and Powers, 1997; Zimmerer and Yasin, 1998).
Zimmerer and Yasin (1998) also identify poor leadership as a major cause of project failure, in their article they stress the fact that project managers must combine technical competency with the ability to lead. According to Thite (2000) non-technical factors such as cultural, organisational and managerial issues play a major role in attaining project success. Most organisations promote staff with sufficient technical ability to managerial positions without taking into consideration the lack of both interpersonal and leadership skills. Several studies have identified leadership qualities required by IT project managers in order to attain success which includes people management, handling stress and effective communication. A few organisations in recognition of this fact hire managers with both technical and leadership abilities because the projects are carried out by people.
2.3.2 Organizational facilitators and inhibitors
Organizational facilitators and inhibitors are quite sensitive in the sense that they either help project teams succeed or to hinder teams. (Cooper, 1998; Kerzner, 1998; Loo, 2002) The literature shows that senior management commitment is essential in facilitating project success; otherwise, projects maybe bled of resources or even terminated. A further point about management is leadership style. Research has made known that leadership styles that are effective at change management and innovation, and that empower staff are accepted by staff which is not the case with oppressive way of leadership (Loo, 2002).
Applying effective project management with constant application of procedures and policies throughout the organization also contributes to project success (Kerzner, 1998; Loo, 2002; Thamhain, 1996; Toney and Powers, 1997). A training and development program that offers opportunities for staff at all levels in the organization is essential to ensure that staff have the up-to-date knowledge and skills to do the job, and that high potential staff are identified for management development (Barad and Raz, 2000; Loo, 1991, 2002; Toney and Powers, 1997). On the other hand, problem performers denigrate performance, therefore they must be identified early so that timely counteractive actions can be taken to bring problem staff up to standard or to discharge them before they threaten the effectiveness of their team and project success. A comprehensive and fair compensation management program is vital in attracting and retaining top performers. A flexible mix of both direct compensation (e.g. salary and bonuses) and indirect compensation (e.g. flexible working arrangements and benefits package) that satisfies the various needs of a workforce is most successful. It is essential that compensation have two components, one targeted at the individual and the other at the team to motivate and reward both individual and team performance (Loo, 2002; Toney and Powers, 1997).
Such an approach also helps encourage a team culture without undermining the importance of individual effort. Finally, Loo's (2002) illustration of project managers from 34 organizations identified several major inhibitors to best practices including leadership that tended to fixate on the bottom line at the expense of other critical success factors, an inadequate investment in training, the absence of organizational learning - we keep making the same mistakes (Kotnour, 2000), manager and staff resistance to organizational change because they do not see the need to change or are not prepared to change, the use of individual reward systems so that being a "team player" is not rewarded and a strong team culture does not exist, and the absence of a project management "champion" who would push for the implementation of an organization-wide, comprehensive, integrated and standardized approach to project management polices and practices.
2.3.3 Project management competencies and outcomes
The next factor in the model is technical and people competencies. If an organization has project managers and personnel with solid technical and people skills, and if, at the organizational level, there are the sorts of facilitators to success as earlier discussed, then the result should be exceptional technical (planning, controlling, and procedures) and people (leadership, conflict management, communication) competencies (Loo 2003). However, if technical and people skills are weak, despite of organizational facilitators, there would be poor project performance. Similarly, if project managers and team members have strong technical and people skills but the organizational factors inhibit performance, then there would be poor project performance. Organizational factors clearly have a major role in determining project outcomes, success and failure, and the potential to be a best practices organization.
2.3.4 Feedback loops
In performance models and feedback loops, the final component in the model, are vital to reinforce effective actions and trigger corrective actions. Post project reviews (Busby, 1999) and project audits and evaluations are very useful methods for detecting shortcomings in project management and making recommendations for future improvements. These methods should also induce organizational knowledge (Busby, 1999; Kotnour, 2000) so that the same mistakes are not made over and over, and that best practices identified through these methods are transferred throughout the organization. Constant project monitoring and sporadic project reviews present continual opportunities for the timely identification and correction of problems to ensure success. It has to be stressed that making improvement at the project and organizational levels, and engaging in major organizational changes requires an organizational culture that is open to change rather than resistive. Also, senior management must be skilled at managing change to ensure that changes are effectively implemented and absorbed into the organizational culture (Loo, 2002).
2.4 Leadership and project performance
In spite of years of research, information technology projects keep on failing. The facts of research shows that project managers focus on achieving timescales and budgets (Wateridge 1995). Identifying the particular skills of a project manager mainly responsible for project success will according to Mulally (2002) typically revolve around some variation of outstanding communication skills, ability to connect with people at all levels of organization and able to pool resources to develop effective solutions. The hard skills such as methodologies, tools and processes which appear to be the emphasis of most project management training approaches today (Mulally) suggests do not contribute to success as significantly as these so called soft skills. Research show over the years that projects generally do not fail because of lack of adequate technology but mainly as a result of leadership related issues (Jewels and Bruce 2003). Leadership is critical to any group environment. According to Atwater et al (1999) several studies have highlighted the essential leadership qualities and skills required by the IT project manager to ensure success, such as the ability to manage stress, emotions, bureaucracy and communication.
Effective project leadership brings about the following:
2.4.1 Communication
Project success is mainly as a result of effective communication and cooperation between stakeholders (Diallo and Thuillier 2004). According to Saladis (2010), communication skills are of great importance to the project manager as well as team members. A project leader displays effective communication skills which enhances team performance and also acts as a middleman linking the team members and the larger organisation. The project leader also exhibits effective negotiation skills which he applies in convincing stakeholders when necessary to ensure success of the project. Project leaders through effective communication help in the development of team members as a result of influential goal realization techniques introduced to them by the project leader.
2.4.2 Competence
As more organisations implement project management approaches and the demand for project managers grows, there is increasing interest in the competence of project managers and in standards for development and assessment of project management competence (Crawford 2004).
The ability to lead effectively is of higher importance in project leadership than technical abilities. Saladis (2010) points out that in order to attain project success in the IT industry project leaders should be hired based more on their leadership capabilities, in getting team members to synchronize effectively and work in cohesion to achieve project objectives other than focusing on technical competence as was the case in past IT projects.
The ability to challenge, motivate, enable, model and encourage must be practicalised if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.
2.4.3 Team Building
According to Sommerville and Dalziel, (1998), information relating to the optimal interaction of individuals could have an enormous impact on an organization, that is, it could lead to more successful training, team selection and ultimately have a bearing on motivation and profit. In teamwork-based projects, humans play a significant role in achieving project goals and tasks. Even for organizations that have process standards to that like projects yield like results, humans still play a critical role with regard to the content validity of the eventual results (Chi 2009). As reports on losses due to poor human-centered production processes like software projects begin to be released, researchers recognize that individuals are the critical determinant of software product quality (Hudson, 2007). Unfortunately, managing
individuals is challenging. The human factor is crucial to project success, something that is especially true in product development or IS-projects, which rely on highly unstable human beings as the production machine (Crocitto and Youssef, 2003; Hong et al, 2004). Thus, the human-aspect of project management should be integrated into technological project management methods and tools. Leadership is essential in that it offers the strong personality who provides the substance that holds the team together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics required for this transformation and also implementing the appropriate leadership style to use during each stage of team development. The project leader fuses different team players styles and capitalises on each at the proper time, for the problem at hand.
2.4.4 Vision.
This is a key component of leadership whereby the project leader shares his insights and understanding of the required steps needed to arrive at the desired outcome (McManus and Wood-Harper, 2003)
Vision is a key ingredient in effective project leadership due to the fact that a visionary project leader has a goal and has the ability to realize it. A project leader with vision has the ability to draw new boundaries and attain greater heights (Saladis 2010). Visionary leaders influence team members around them to become visionaries themselves which has a positive effect on team output. According to Bennis (1997) they encourage team members to be more creative and always look at the big picture seeing themselves as part of the future of the organisation.
2.5 Issues leading to project failure in IT projects
From the various literature from a host of authors looked into Grabski et al (2009) and Lyytinen and Hirschheim (1987) shared similar views on the failure factors in IT projects which they identify as Correspondence failure, Process failure, Interaction failure and Expectation failure. However the author is of the opinion that Lyytinen and Hirschheim explain it better.
Lyytinen and Hirschheim (1987) cited in Yeo (2002) identifies four major factors of IT project failures as follows:
Correspondence Failure
When the systems design fails to meet its objectives, the information system is considered a failure. It is commonly believed that design goals and requirements can be specified clearly in advance, and that their achievements can be accurately measured. Performance measures mainly based on cost-benefit analysis are employed for managerial control over the systems implementation. Correspondence failure, goalseeking in outlook, tends not to recognize that users may not necessarily accept systems that meet design objectives and specifications.
Process Failure
A process failure takes place when an IT cannot be developed within an allocated budget, and/or time schedule. There are two likely outcomes of process failure. Firstly, a total failure occurs when no workable system can be produced. Secondly, a more common result is when an information system is developed with massive overspending in both cost and time, thus negating the global benefits of the system. This is a project level failure as a result of unsatisfactory project management performance
Interaction Failure
The amount of end-user usage of the information system is suggested as a surrogate in IS performance measurement. Some related measures of IS usage are user attitudes and user satisfaction, the amount of data transferred or the frequency of use. However, heavy usage does not necessarily imply high user satisfaction and improved task performance, and there is little empirical evidence supporting such a claim. Heavy systems usage might be an outcome of legal compulsion, persuasion, or that there are simply no other alternatives besides using the system.
Expectation Failure
The perception of expectation failure views IS failure as the inability of a system to meet its stakeholders' requirements, expectations, or values. Failure, therefore, does not only entail the system's inability to meet design (technical) specifications. Expectation failure is seen as the difference between the actual and desired situation for the members of a particular stakeholder group. Unlike the other three notions, IS failure is regarded as holistically in this case, as the views of different stakeholders are taken into account.
2.6 Success factors in projects
According to Pant and Baroudi (2008) the demand for project managers with adequate soft skills has increased significantly in which makes evident the importance of human factors in the realization of project success. Project success is based on meeting the acceptance criteria of stakeholders (Kerzner 2010). According to Saladis (2010) many organisations executives view project success as the completion of projects on the stipulated time, within the allocated budget and the specified quality leaving out the fact that success of the project is dependent on satisfaction of the end user or client and whether the service or product actually achieves its objective. Cooke-Davis (2008) further adds that there is no line drawn between people and processes - processes are being performed by people and it is people who determine project success or failure not processes. Saladis (2010) points out that customer satisfaction is a major determinant in project success depending on what the customers considers success to be. Although customer satisfaction is a key ingredient in project success, project leaders must be able to analyse success from various perspectives. These relate to the human aspect of the project and the overall short and long term value which the project will offer stakeholders. According to Dvir et al (1998) the drive for project success in the IT industry has increased dramatically and the search for success factors have reached new heights which as a result many organisations now seek project management solutions. These project management procedures will only be effective if there exists a sound project leader to implement them effectively. However in a field survey of information system professionals (Phan et al, 1995) found that project coordination and communication and good project leaders ranked third and fourth respectively in a list of 13 factors necessary for project success. In addition, Green (2004) points out that the project manager has to perform a variety of activities to achieve project objectives ranging from establishing a project schedule, completing the work breakdown structure, planning for risk management, establishing a quota policy, forming the technical strategy and integrating multiple project issues.
Cleland and King (1983) were also of a similar opinion that effective project leadership involves ensuring that all rudiments of a project which include tasks, subsystems, component parts, organizational units and people all fit together as a combined whole and functions according to the agreed upon plan in order to achieve project success.
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Wiersma (2006) cited in Ariola (2006),that the "research is a process, an activity in the search for knowledge through recognized methods of its collection, analysis and interpretation."
This chapter highlights the approach applied in conducting the research. It discusses the tools and techniques implemented in collecting data with the aim of realizing the research objective.
3.1 Aim
In this chapter the aim is to implement the research methodology selected for the research and also give a justification why the research approach was chosen.
3.1.1 Objectives
To select an appropriate research methodology for the research
To highlight the research design implemented
To identify data resources, data analysis methods and data sampling methods for this research
To propose a primary research plan for future research
3.2 Research Methodology
According to Panneerselvam (2004) a research is an organized set of activities to study and develop a model or procedure/technique to find the results of a realistic problem supported by literature and data such that its objective(s) is (are) optimized and further make recommendations for implementations while research methodology as described by (Schwandt 2001, p 161) is an "analysis of the assumptions, principles and procedures in a particular approach to inquiry". (McGoodwin 2001) refers to methodology as the structure of procedures and transformational rules where a researcher moves information along a ladder of abstraction in order to produce and organise increasing knowledge. Put simply, methodology gives justification for the method of the research while methods are "techniques for gathering evidence" (Harding,1987,p.2) or the "procedures, tools and techniques" for research (Schwandt,2001,p.158). In simple terms, methods can be thought of as research actions.
Figure 1: Research Structure
Extracted from (Gray 2009)
3.3 Research Design
This is the structure of any research work which gives direction and
systematizes the research. According to (Yin 1994, p.13), "a research design is the logic that links the data or evidence to be collected (and the conclusion to be drawn) to the initial questions of study". The research design is the plan which consists of the research approach selection, when, how and from whom the data will be collected and the critical analysis of the collected data.
There are factors that influence research design, these include resources, research skills, apparent problems, ethical standards, research setting and data collected. These factors are crucial just as the design of a ship needs to take into account the kinds of winds and waves the ship will encounter and the types of cargo it will carry. According to Maxwell (2005) the design of something must fit not only with its use but also with its environment.
Research methods
The body of knowledge on research names two major approaches to research investigation namely Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed methods. These approaches employ an array of research designs to attain their objectives. To get a grip of the methodology of use, a research into literature of empirical studies on project success was carried out (Hyvari 2006, Khang and Moe 2008, Shenhar et al 2002). These methods include questionnaires, participant observation, structured interviews, semi-structured interviews, structured observation and archival information.
3.4.1 Quantitative method
This approach is one which the investigator primarily uses hypotheses, measurement and observation in developing knowledge. In carrying out the research, the author found this method irrelevant due to the nature of the research topic.
3.4.2 Qualitative method
Qualitative method is applied in studying a minute amount unstructured representations. "Qualitatitive research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world.. It consists of a set of interpretive material practices that make the world visible"(Denzin and Lincoln, 2005 p.3). Kumar (2008) also adds that qualitative research is especially important in the behavioural sciences where the aim is to discover the underlying motives of human behaviour. Robson (2002) described qualitative research as a collection of methods which explain, translate and arrive at the meaning of certain types of phenomena which occur in the social world.
3.4.3 Mixed method
This is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to increase the validity of the research being carried out as to a single method (Creswell 2005). In this research method both qualitative and quantitative data are collected and analyzed either in single or sequential studies depending on information priority and sequence.
3.5 Case study
The case study used mainly because it captures the significant attributes of real life events.(Yin, 1994). In small scale research the case study has proved highly beneficial to the researcher because it focuses on one or a small number of instances which helps the researcher in dealing with social complications. (Denscombe, 1998). Hartley (1994) cited in Piekkari and Welch (2004) a case study is a detailed investigation, often with data collected over a particular period of one or more organizations with a view to give an analysis of the context and processes involved in the phenomenon under study. Case studies help in research modification as the study advances and are suitable for exploratory research where it is difficult to enumerate variables and concepts (Ghauri and Grønhaug 2002). In spite of its strengths the case study the case study also has its weaknesses. Some authors have criticized it and express doubt over its credibility due to the fact that most findings are generalised after carrying out only a small scale research. (Blaxer 2001: Cohen and Manion 1995 and Burns 2000) cited in Denscombe (1998) that the case study is slow as it consumes lots of time and produces large amounts of data which make it difficult to analyse properly. In spite of this, the case study is deemed the most suitable for the research which involves numerous interviews with project leaders from different organisations, the author will employ a multiple-case study approach with a well-structured research design (Creswell 2003). In this approach, the researcher conducts a variety of case studies in various organisations in order to carry out a collective analysis of the data gathered.
3.6 Data Collection Techniques
In the survey carried out by the author, the following data collection techniques were anticipated of which the author had to choose one, they are evaluated in the table below;
Qualitative method
Advantages
Disadvantages
Outcome and Rationale
Document analysis
Analysis based on previous research
Used to deduce collected data from the entries made by the project manager and the project team
Inavailability of relevant resources
Slow pace due to volume of documents to be analysed
Rejected - Insufficient level of information
Participant Observation
Enables the researcher have the flexibility to know in advance what is to be observed
Helps the researcher obtain sincere and genuine responses from respondents
Takes lots of time and commitment in performing various observations on respondents
Rejected - Inadequate information due to possible inconsistency in data collection
Semi structured Interview
Helps the researcher obtain sufficient amount of data over a short period
Body language can be observed
True viewpoint of the respondent can be obtained
Immediate response from respondents
Lack of cooperation from the respondent
Accepted
It provides stronger evidence and gives insight and more understanding
Table 1: Data Collection Techniques
3.7 Sampling
Sampling is an important element of the research methodology and also the size and the way the sample is selected as these will impact the confidence in the data and the extent of generalisation (Saunders et al 2003 p.283)
In addition, (Burns 2000) defines sampling as the process of taking a portion of the population, making observations on this smaller group and then generalising the findings to the large population.
3.7.1 Sample Selection
To obtain a valid representation, its appropriate to gather data from a population of participants physically involved in the project. However due to time constraint and geographical location of all the companies, the interviews will be conducted to limited number of companies in the UK. The criteria for choosing the sample selected is based on their leadership position in the organisation, APM and PMI accreditation, their years of experience, minimum of 10 years and number of projects involved in. This is considered adequate because their professional judgement will be invaluable to ensure reliability and viability.
3.7.2 Sample Size
According to Devlin (2006) deciding the number of participants you will need is important for appraising your hypothesis. In sampling its generally regarded that the larger the better (Powell 2004). In carrying out this research, 4 individuals will be interviewed based on their position and role played in the project and also due to limited time available to carryout the research.
3.8 Proposed Primary Research Plan
The proposed primary research plan is drawn out to guide the future researcher through the various step in the collection of data. The first step will be identifying the aims and objectives of the research and then followed by a literature review which comprises the views of various authors in the past who have outlined their various sometimes contrasting views on the subject matter which is then followed by a multi-case study will be adopted to establish the "what" "why" and "how" of the research in knowledge of a case or a little number of cases. The author concurs with Saunders et al (2000) view on the benefits of applying case study as it helps the researcher explore existing theory and come up with a fresh hypothesis. In the process of carrying out the research four project leaders from various IT organisations situated around the UK will be interviewed.
The researcher will be able to extract from the project leaders the perception of success from various stakeholders whom they worked with on various IT projects. The Qualitative method chosen for the research is the semi structured interview which is a more direct approach which will allow the researcher gain more insight into the research subject thereby extracting data initially left out in the secondary research. After the interviews with the respondents have been carried out the data will be further analysed undergoing comparison of information to arrive at a reasonable conclusion (Anderson 2004)
3.9 Research Constraint/ Limitations
In the course of carrying out the research there are various limitations that are likely to be encountered which range from limited time to conduct interviews with senior managers, non compliance from respondents to grant audience and also the time and cost involved in travelling to various locations the UK to conduct face to face interviews. In conclusion, the study is not a comprehensive research investigation and word count is considered.
CHAPTER 4
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Findings
Finally from the findings and analysis it was discovered that both people skills and technical skills are essential qualities to be possessed by project managers in IT project executions.
In the area of leadership in IT project management the research uncovered that:
Project management leadership styles are fundamental to project mangers' perception of success
Project managers' point of view determines his personality
Every success on IT project is leadership dependent
Efficient/effective teamwork is a bye product of good leadership
Ineffective leadership permeates down the ladder
In the area of IT project success factors, the following was deducted
Most failures on IT projects are traceable to poor leadership
IT project success factors include good leadership, senior management support, good governance, skilled and motivated staff
In the area of skills and competency required for successful managers it was discovered that:
People skills supersede technical skills in ensuring IT project success
Skills are of remarkable impact on IT project success
4.2 Conclusions
As earlier discussed in the analysis, good leadership is highly beneficial to organisations as far as project success is concerned. When there is good leadership, skills are well harnessed and this enhances productivity. However, absence of good leadership will result in lack of coordination, direction and the required motivation to apply the skills effectively. After carrying out the research, it was discovered that most organisations as a result of lessons learnt from failed IT projects of the past, have realised the importance of project leadership in achieving success in IT projects which is as result of the direction it gives to team members as well as inspiration which increases productivity and ultimately leads to project success
In the process of carrying out this research, the following lessons were outlined below:
More emphasis should be laid on project leadership in IT project execution as it will promote project success and prevent project failure.
Technical skills in IT projects are also important but will almost be futile without effective leadership.
4.3 Recommendation
Based on the research findings by the author, in order to achieve project success in the IT industry, organisations need to raise overall awareness of the importance of effective leadership in IT project execution. Organisations need to have a rethink and change their overall approach from overdependence on software and technical skills in IT project execution to laying more emphasis on leadership issues in order to achieve IT project success.
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