Project governance, benefit management, and project success: Towards a framework for supporting organizational strategy implementation (original) (raw)
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This thesis aims to shed light on two streams of project management research that are rapidly gaining importance: the first is project governance and the second is the emerging concept of Benefits Realization Management (BRM). Both concepts are at the forefront of the fairly recent drive to revisit and re-conceptualize the theory and practice of project management, as evidenced by comprehensive initiatives such as Rethinking Project Management, which was a two-year research program (2004-2006) funded by the UK Government that involved a research network of academicians and practitioners working to extend and enrich project management theory in accordance with the developing practice. A key recommendation of said initiative is to shift focus from product creation to value creation. This is fueled by the increasingly large body of evidence that the majority of projects fail to meet success criteria. Adding to the urgency is the increasing pressure from business managers for projects to justify their value contribution to the organization. In this context, project governance and BRM are vital for ensuring that projects deliver expected business benefits and value. In doing so, these concepts help align project outcomes with organizational strategy. This study aims to address an important gap in the literature: the relationships between project governance and BRM, and their effects on project success. These relationships were studied based on 326 responses from Pakistan’s burgeoning IT & Software sector, which is increasingly becoming vital for the country’s future economic growth as Pakistan transitions from an industrial to service-based economy. The findings of this study indicate that the aspects of project governance included in this study have a positive significant effect on both BRM and Project Success. Also, it is found that BRM mediates the relationship between two aspects of project governance, namely Relational Governance and Governance of Project Management (GoPM), and Project Success. The results supports the overall proposition of this study that strong project governance creates the context in which effective BRM can occur. For the theory of project management, specifically project governance and BRM, this study hopes to contribute much needed empirical evidence to the literature and responds to recent calls for research on BRM. Additionally, this study attempts to adapt a scale for the GoPM concept, which fills an important gap in the existing operationalizations of different aspects of project governance and may prove useful for future academic studies. For the practice of project management, this study hopes to initiate a discussion on how project governance and BRM may be integrated to support the achievement of organizational strategic objectives through projects and programs. Furthermore, this research aims to assess the current levels of, and create awareness of the developments in, project governance and BRM in Pakistan. This should help organizations to not only improve the success rates of their projects but also to extract business value from projects.
Project Governance, Benefit Management, and Project Success: Research Summary
This report is a summary of results from an academic study conducted during 2015-2016. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between Effective Project Governance, Benefit Management, and Project Success. It is hoped that the findings of this research will help organizations improve project success rates and achieve strategic objectives through projects.
Benefits management (BM) and project management (PM) are two interrelated approaches to the success of projects. The literature, however, still lacks empirical evidence of the value of applying BM practices. Hence, it is aimed to test the impact of BM practices on the success of investments in projects, taking into consideration the impact of PM practices on that success. Since the results, based on 200 valid responses, suggest that a significant proportion of organisations adopt PM and BM concurrently, SEM was used. PM practices were not only found to influence project management success but also to affect project investment success. However, BM is found to be less significant and to have less impact on project investment success. Nevertheless, the probability of project success is enhanced significantly when PM and BM practices are combined together. Therefore, a governance based framework is developed to uncover the interweaving relationship between the two practices.
Project Governance: Enabling Organizational Strategy
Despite extensive developments in project management theory and practice, projects are still vastly underperforming and project success rates have remained virtually unchanged. Additionally, the definition of project success is evolving and projects are increasingly required to demonstrate their contribution to bottom-line business value and organizational strategy. Theoretical and empirical evidence increasingly points to the importance of effective governance in ensuring that projects meet the traditional criteria of time, cost, and quality as well as realize their business case and support organizational strategic objectives. However, there are wide variations in how project governance is understood and defined and the literature is largely sporadic. Existing conceptualizations of governance in the literature vary considerably and the optimal form of project governance is yet to be identified. To address this conceptual gap, this study examines the project governance literature and industry standards. The findings reveal some unifying themes and points of convergence amongst the key conceptualizations of project governance. Additionally, we find evidence from the literature that the role of project governance is shifting from ensuring efficient project delivery to ensuring that project benefits are realized and aligned with organizational strategic objectives. This shifting role of project governance is in congruence with the shifting emphasis of projects from product creation to value creation. The findings of this study serve as a foundation for the discussion on how project governance has evolved and what conceptual and practical challenges it faces today. Furthermore, this paper identifies some potentially fruitful directions for future research on project governance.
The relationship between project governance and project success
International Journal of Project Management, 2016
An exploratory analysis was done to analyse the nature of the relationship between governance orientation and project success, using project efficiency, organisational benefits, project impact, future potential and stakeholder satisfaction as the five dimensions of project success. The results showed that governance orientation (shareholder-stakeholder) was positively and significantly correlated with all five success dimensions, with the success dimension future potential having the strongest correlation. What does the paper cover? This study investigates the relationship between project governance and project success. To do this, the researchers first empirically test the correlation between project governance and project success, before discussing some of the underlying assumptions which, when met, may provide indicators for a limited causality. The study is relevant for practitioners developing success-related governance structures by pointing out the success related governance approaches, and for academics in developing contingency theories of project performance and results.
The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance
International Journal of Project Management, 2014
For an organization to create optimal value from its investment in projects there must be a clear link between the outputs created by the projects and the requirements of the organization's business strategy. This means that organizations that have a structure in place for aligning the project deliverables with their organizational goals will be better placed to realize their investment in projects, and achieve the value defined by their business strategies. This paper examines existing research, ideas and concepts of project governance and enterprise project management, and offers a framework to build on current theory development and practice. Synthesizing existing literature of project/ programme management, governance and portfolio management, this paper proposes four key elements to improve the performance of projects and hence create value for organizations. These four elements are: 1) Portfolio management: focused on selecting the right projects and programmes to support the organization's strategy, and terminating ones that no longer contribute to the business success of the organization; 2) Project sponsorship: providing the direct link between the executive and the project or programme manager, focused on the whole project lifecycle; 3) Project Management Office (PMO): providing oversight and strategic reporting capabilities; 4) Projects and programme support: the effective support and management of projects and programmes is the measure of an effective governance system. The purpose of the framework described in this paper is to provide guidance to organizations in the development of effective project governance to optimize the management of projects.
Improving project success: A case study using benefits and project management
Procedia Computer Science, 100, 489-497, 2016
Organizations have made significant investments in technology, hoping to gain competitive advantages in today's dynamic markets. Traditional organisational structures are rigid and highly bureaucratic. Previous evidence has shown that they cannot quickly or accurately respond to the constant changes of the business environment. Organisations should carry out significant changes and implement new practices more adjusted to reality, including the use of project and benefits management approaches, seeking a better use and control of existing resources and capabilities. As project management became crucial for the development of organizational strategies, by reinforcing professional skills and capabilities, it is of interest to carry out studies aiming to identify which factors contribute to projects success. The framework proposed in this paper assists organizations to identify and monitor the benefits of technological projects, allowing the answer to our main research question: " How can benefits and project management approaches help organizations to obtain more successful projects? " The results of the presented case study highlighted that the application of a benefits management process on the pre-identified critical success factors promoted better project management practices and ensured an effective impact on a project success.
International Journal of Project Management, 2020
Project governance is widely recognized to be among the most critical factors for successful project delivery and benefits realization. However, the literature on project governance is fragmented and, despite past efforts by researchers in the field, there is yet a lack of consensus on what project governance is and the fundamental elements it constitutes. Furthermore, although project governance occupies the prime position to ensure that projects are aligned with organizational strategic objectives, the guidelines for how project governance can enable organizational strategy implementation through projects is a crucial yet under-researched area in the literature. Accordingly, building on the insights from past reviews and an initial scoping study, a systematic literature review was conducted on project governance examining and comparing 271 publications from both academic and professional literatures. The findings of this study build upon the efforts of its predecessors to shed light on the discourse on project governance pertaining to its definition, theoretical underpinnings, forms, and role in enabling organizational strategy implementation. Furthermore, a typology of projects is proposed to help link project governance guidelines to specific project contexts. Finally, future research directions for progressing the theoretical and practical understanding of project governance are identified.
The need for a project governance body
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2014
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The literature on project governance still lacks a widely accepted and internally consistent conceptualization of project governance. Despite various attempts by past studies to examine and integrate the fundamental elements of project governance, the fragmented nature of the project governance literature continues to persist. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research on how project governance can enable organizational strategy implementation through projects. Accordingly, this research aimed to examine the project governance concept at a fundamental level by supplementing and synthesizing the findings of a prior systematic literature review study with the findings of a semi-structured interviews study involving 23 project governance experts. The results indicate the existence of divergent viewpoints regarding the foundational aspects of project governance in both the literature and among expert practitioners. Accordingly, it is proposed that there is a need to reexamine the fundamentals of project governance and to develop a holistic approach that combines both the narrow and broad perspectives of project governance.