IMPLEMENATATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT- ROLE OF CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
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Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 Project management in the construction industry ...................................................................... 3 Critical success factors in construction industry ........................................................................ 4 Research objectives:................................................................................................................... 5 Research design ......................................................................................................................... 5 Literature review ........................................................................................................................ 5 Scope and Limitations of the study............................................................................................ 5 References: ................................................................................................................................. 7
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Introduction A project is nothing but a temporary task or endeavor that is carried out for the creation of a specific service or product (PMBOK, 2000). Even if the projects are temporary, the process of project management occurs in repetition through the entire cycle of life of every project. A process could be defined a sequence of changes or the functions that are aimed for the achievement of results. The crucial factor that leads to the successful implementation of a project is the efficient management of the lot of processes that are entwined throughout the life cycles of the project, there should be a proper conception of the project by the stakeholders and this should be enforced in a consistent manner by the management in parallel. There are a lot of organization that are involved in the establishment of competency in the process of project management and such organizations face a lot of dilemmas at the outset regarding where to begin and the decisions taken for such crucial questions are important in deciding the success or failure of any project. The ultimate goal of the implementation of the project is to ensure that there is consistent and sequential establishment of the practices like commencement, planning, implementation, quality control and the closure of the project. There could be no spontaneous occurrence of these practices naturally and a skillful and cautious crafting of these processes along with effective communication and delicate enforcement is very critical in the successful completion of the project. Also other negative factors like the resistances exerted by the organization for change should be handled. The processes of project management provide the building blocks for the establishment of training as well as procedures. There are also tools and techniques that would help to improve the efficiency of the implementation of project management and lead ultimately to the maintenance of these processes Project management in the construction industry In the construction industry, the process of project management comprises a set of aims that could be achieved by the implementation of a series of procedures that facet the constraint of resources. Also there exist conflicts among the objectives that are stated initially with reference to the cost, time, scope, quality and constraints that take a toll on the human resources as well as the finances. There should be proper resolving of such conflicts when the project initiates and there should also be tradeoffs or a set of substitutes created. There are a lot of functions of project management that includes the following
The objectives of a project should be specified and the plans that include the description of the scope of the project, the budgeting plans, schedules, setting the requirements for performance and the selection of the participants for the project Optimizing the efficient usage of the resources by procuring the labor, equipment and materials as per the plan in the schedule. Implementing the associated operations by the efficient coordination as well as control in the planning , designing, contracts and construction throughout the process Effective communications development and the apparatus for the resolving of the conflicts among the participants
There are also some areas that should be handled with efficiency by the project manager and they are as follows: © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 www.tutorindia.com I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com
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A proper integration of the process of project management so that it can be ensured that the elements in the project are co-ordinated in an effective manner. There should be efficient project scope management so that all the required work is included in the project Time management in the project so that there could be an effective schedule for the project Cost management in the project so that the resources needed could be identified and the control of budget could be maintained Management of quality in the project so that all the functional requirements are met Human resource management in the project should be met and the proper employment of the personnel in the project should be ensured Management of proper communication in the project so that there could be communication internally and externally Analysis of risk management in the project so that there could be mitigation of the risk that are potential risks Procurement management in the project so that there could be obtaining of the resources from that of the external sources (PMBOK, 2000).
Critical success factors in construction industry Success in the task at hand is the aim of every business activity and therefore it is essential that the organizations should be successful in their business at hand so that they could survive in businesses like construction industry which is very competitive. The construction industry is being revolutionized with continuous developments of new methods in business as well as technologies. Hence the companies involved in the construction should take in the applications of new business and also develop approaches so that they can retain their positions in the industry and succeed in business. Kivrak (2008) summarizes the definitions of success as follows: “There are many definitions of success. Traditionally, it is defined as the degree to which goals and expectations are met. On the other hand, one of the definitions of failure is the inability of a firm to pay its obligations when they are due (Frederikslust, 1978). In recent years, there has been an increase in the studies of critical success/failure factors especially in project management subject (Hyvari, 2006) The traditional approach to success in the construction industry is to focus on the ability to plan and execute projects (Abraham, 2003) Traditionally, the success parameters for projects in this industry are cost, time and quality (Hughes, 2004)”. The completion of a project occurs because of the convergence of a lot of events as well as interactions that are planned beforehand or that are unplanned throughout the facility’s life with the participants changing and a parallel change in an environment that is changing. There are certain factors that very critical than that of the others for the success of a project than that of the others and these are called as the critical success factors (CSFs). This term was first used by Rockart (1982) in the context of the projects and (Sanvido et al. 1992) used this term in the context of the management of the projects. This topic has been the subject of intense research since then and also the trend existing in the present scenario is that excellence in the systems of delivery is pursued and it is said that “because the pursuit of excellence in project delivery systems is not new, this new research direction could thrive upon a rich legacy of many previous investigators. However the concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the mind of the construction professionals”. © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 www.tutorindia.com I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com
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Research objectives: With the above mentioned background, the study is designed to facilitate the identification of the variables or success factors that impact a successful implementation of a project. The research focus is the construction industry and on the basis of the study, new patterns are expected to emerge that would indicate the major indicators of performance for the measurement of success of projects in the construction industry. Therefore the results of the study could be utilized for the effective implementation of projects in the construction industry. The objectives of the project are as follows:
To make an assessment of the construction industry with special focus on the management of construction and research To make an attempt in the development of a strategic model involving the critical success factors so that there could be improvements and strengthening of the construction management To provide recommendations for the standardization of the practices so that there could be improvements in time, productivity, cost safety and quality.
Research design The methodology of the study consists of the development of a questionnaire so that information on the critical success factors could be elicited for the construction projects in organizations that contract constructions and the survey of the questionnaire could be conducted by means of personal interviews and in case of inaccessibility to personal interviews, the questionnaire would be completed by means of filling through postal mail. The feedback from the questionnaire could be used for the identification of the major success factors in the construction projects. Literature review The primary sources would be the academic journals associated with the construction industry. Also various reports as well as documents related to the construction industry released by the government and other official websites would be used. There would also be use of secondary sources like the write-ups in the newspapers and other scholarly magazines and journals. The books available on the construction industry by different authors would also be studied. The help of various libraries available would also be sought so that notes could be collected from that of the primary as well as the secondary sources. Many useful websites found on the internet would also be utilized for the collection of references. Scope and Limitations of the study The scope of the study is that in the dynamic construction industry which is replete with uncertainties in terms of technology, developmental processes and budgets, the identification © 2016-2017 All Rights Reserved, No part of this document should be modified/used without prior consent Tutors India™ - Your trusted mentor since 2001 www.tutorindia.com I UK # +44-1143520021, Info@tutorsindia.com
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of the critical success factors would serve as great means for improving the effectiveness of the project. This is particularly important in the context of the complicated and difficult building projects where the team involved faces changes that are unprecedented. One of the limitations of the study is that only a small number of firms would be used fo the study and hence the findings of the study should be interpreted with care and caution. Also another limitation of the study is that the interrelationships existing among the various critical success factors could not be established with this method of study. Tentative scheme of chapterization Chapter 1: introduction Introduction Background of the study Research statement Significance of the research Research Aim Research objectives Chapter 2: Review of literature Chapter 3: Research methodology Research approach Research method Research tools Sampling procedure Data collection procedures Primary data Interviewing Secondary data Questions used for the interview in research Data analysis Limitations of research Chapter 4: Results and analysis Chapter 5: Summary and conclusions Chapter 6: Bibliography
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References Abraham G. L. (2003) ‘‘Critical success factors for the construction industry’’, In: Moleenar, K R and Chinowsky, P S (Ed.), Proceedings of Construction Research Congress, March 1921, Honolulu, Hawaii. A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) 2000 Edition, pp. 4 Frederikslust, R. A. I. (1978) ‘‘'Predictability of Corporate Failure’’, Martinus Nijhoff Social Sciences Division, Leiden, The Netherlands. Hughes, S. W. Tippett, D. D and. Thomas, W. K (2004) ‘‘Measuring project success in the construction industry’’, Engineering Management Journal, 16(3), 31-37. Hyvari, I. (2006) ‘‘Success of projects in different organizational conditions’’, Project Management Journal, 37(4), 31-41. Rockart, J. F. (1982). "The changing role of the information systems executive: A critical success factors perspective." Sloan Mgmt. Review, 24(1), 3-13. Sanvido, V., Grobler, F., Pariff, K., Guvents, M., and Coyle, M. (1992). ‘‘Critical success factors for construction projects.’’ J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 118(1), 94 –111.
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