- INTRODUCTION
- Overview of the topic
Project management has become an integral part of organizations in today’s competitive world. Managing projects is important if the organization wants to achieve success (Lewis, 2006). Organizations that are not able to manage their projects effectively and efficiently are likely to fail in this competitive world (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 1996). Therefore this highlights the importance of managing projects. In order to manage projects effectively; businesses have started using the services of project managers. Project managers are the person responsible for managing the overall project. Project manager can solely focus on achieving the objectives of the project and this helps in improving the quality of the project (Phillips, 2003).
Atkinson (1999) has defined the objectives of project management using an iron triangle. According to Atkinson, in order to make the project successful the project manager has to make sure that the three objectives are achieved; cost, time and scope. The iron triangle of project management is presented below
(Atkinson, 1999)
This triangle represents that the project should be completed within the budget, within the time frame and the scope of the project should be maintained as expected. If these three objectives are achieved, then the project is said to be a successful project. On the other hand, even if two of these three objectives are achieved then the project will not be considered as a successful project.
Organizations have been focusing a lot on managing the projects and in ensuring that the three objectives of project management are achieved. However, many organizations fail to do so. There have been numerous debates on the reasons of the failure of projects and different researchers have come up with different reasons for the failure of projects. If the project manager does not have sufficient skills and he is not competent, then it will result in the failure of the project. Similarly, cultural issues can influence the workload and quality of the project and there can be several reasons for the failure of project (Lientz, & Rea, 2012).
In order to make sure that the projects are completed successfully, there are different techniques used by the project managers. Work breakdown structure is one of the most renowned project management techniques (Brotherton, Fried, and Norman, 2008). This technique allows the project managers to divide the whole project into small portions or pieces and then each piece can be focused solely (Hamilton, 2004). The project manager uses a Gantt chart to present all these small chunks or pieces of the project and then identify the most important and most critical tasks in the whole project. Critical tasks are defined as the tasks that cannot be delayed because if these tasks are delayed then it will increase the project duration. Therefore by dividing the projects and managing in smaller pieces, the project manager can manage projects in an easier way (Harrison, and Lock, 2004).
This report analyzes the reasons for the failure of projects and this research study will try to answer why so many projects fail. Moreover, the report will also analyze and suggest how the failure rate of projects can be reduced and how the ratio of successful projects can be increased.
- Aims
The main aim of the project is to answer the question “Why Do Projects Fail”. Moreover, the report also analyzes how to make projects successful.
- Objectives
The main objectives of this research study will be:
- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology acts as a roadmap for the researcher in accomplishing the aims and objectives of the research study. Appropriately defining the research study is crucial in making sure that the research is able to achieve its main objective. For this reason, the researcher will plan and formulate the research strategy.
The research study will include a combination of primary and secondary data. Secondary data will be collected by the researcher in order to create a base for the research study. Different books, journal articles, online published reports, newspapers, magazines and other authentic sources will be used by the researcher in order to collect the secondary data and know about important trends in project management, reasons for the failure of projects and what different researchers and authors have recommended to improve the success rate of the project. The researcher will collect primary data in the form of online questionnaire from different people working in different organizations in United Kingdom. The researcher aims to collect primary data from approximately 100 respondents in UK using convenience sampling strategy. This will allow the researcher to analyze and compare the primary findings with the data found in the secondary research. Thus, a better analysis will be presented using the combination of primary and secondary data.
The research study will also be a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative method will be collected from past research studies, published reports and other authentic sources. Quantitative data will be presented from the primary data collected in the form of questionnaire.
- ACTION PLAN
The researcher aims to start the research study in the last week of January and the research study is expected to complete by the last week of May. The action plan for conducting this research study is presented in the Gantt chat below:
Gantt chart for conducting this research study is presented below:
References
Atkinson, R. (1999). 'Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, it is time to accept other success criteria'. International Journal of Project Management, vol.17, no. 6, pp. 337–42.
Brotherton, S., Fried, R., and Norman, E. (2008). “Applying the Work Breakdown Structure to the Project Management Lifecycle.” PMI Global Congress Proceedings: Denver, Colorado, Available from http://www.ca.com/us/~/media/files/whitepapers/fried_wbs__pmi_global_congress_202925.aspx [Accessed 28 January, 2014]
Hamilton, A. (2004). Handbook of Project Management Procedures. TTL Publishing, Ltd: London.
Harrison, F., and Lock, D. (2004). Advanced project management: a structured approach. Gower Publishing, Ltd: Surrey.
Lewis, R. (2006). Project Management. McGraw-Hill Professional: London.
Lientz, B., & Rea, K. (2012). International project management. Routledge.
Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (1996). ‘The role of project management in achieving project success’. International Journal of Project Management, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 81-87.
Phillips, J. (2003). PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide. McGraw-Hill Professional: London.
