PROJECT SUCCESS AND FAILURE IMPLEMENTATION FACTORS

PROJECT SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Project Success and Failure: According to (Fubara 1975) the process of building project implementation involving the successful development and introduction of projects on the environment, presents ongoing challenge for managers. The building implementation process is complex, usually requiring simultaneous attention to a wide variety of human, budgetary and technical variables. A project manager is often faced with difficult job characterized by role overload, frenetic activity, fragmentation and superficiality. A project manager in spite of all these has the responsibility for successful project outcomes without sufficient power, budget or people to handle all of the elements essential for project success. In addition, projects are often initiated in the context of a turbulent, unpredictable, and dynamic environment. A project manager would be well served by more information about those specific factors critical to project success. The project manager requires the necessary tools for him to focus attention on important areas and send different priorities across different project elements. It can be demonstrated that a set of factors under the project manager’s control can have a significant impact on project implementation success. The project manager should be better able to efficiently and effectively deal with many demands created by his job, channeling his energy more efficiently in attempting to successfully implement the project under development.

PROJECT SUCCESS AND FAILURE IMPLEMENTATION FACTORS

Fubara (1975).studied many projects in their bid to evaluate factors that constraint success in project management; they articulated many factors but narrowed them down to what they christened ten key factors of project implementation profile as reflected below:

Communication: The need for adequate communication channel is extremely important in creating an atmosphere for successful implementation of a building project. Communication could best be described as the life wire of any project implementation success. There should be prompt communication to the building or project mission, good information flow with the top management, the building or project scheduled plan, always consulting the client, adequate communication to personnel issues like recruitment, motivation and training etc, good understanding of the technical task and staff, sequential monitoring of all work and processes given feedback to the stakeholders, always active in communication with trouble shooting indicators, communicating with the client at all times sensitizing him with every issue that will enable him to accept the product after execution.

Project mission: Project mission is the same as clearly defined goals and objectives. Project mission has been found to refer to the condition where the goals of the building project are clear and understood not only by the project team involved but by the other departments in the organization.

Top management support: Fubara (1975). noted that management support of projects especially building construction has long been considered of great importance in distinguishing between their ultimate success and failure. Beck (1979), sees project management as not only dependent on top management for authority, direction, and support, but as ultimately the conduct of implementing top managements plan as goal for the entire project organization. The degree of ultimate acceptance or resistance to the project shows the degree of management support of the project.

Project scheduled plan: According to Pinto et al (1989) this refers to the importance of developing a detailed plan of the required stages of the implementation process. This is the origin of life cycle concept in building construction projects.

Client consultation: The need for client consultation has been found to be increasingly important in attempting to successfully implement a building project. The degree to which clients are personally involved in the implementation process will cause great variation in their support for the project.

Personnel issues: Personnel issues include recruitment, selection and staff training for the building project. An important, but often overlooked aspect of the building implementation process concerns the nature of the personnel involved. In many situations, personnel for the building team are chosen by the client especially in the public sector building construction with less than full regard for the skills necessary to actively contribute to the implementation success.

Technical tasks: This is very important in that the people who understand the project must manage the implementation. Stevin (1977) writing on implementation risk analysis identifies two of the eight risk factors as being caused by technical incompatibility which are monitoring and feedback: Monitoring and feedback refer to building project control system or processes by which at each stage of the implementation, key personnel receive feedback on how the project is comparing or conforming to initial projections in time management, cost, quality and materials.

Trouble shooting: Problem always exists in almost every project especially building construction, they could be seen as conflicts which lead to the success or failure based on how it is being managed by the stakeholders, in fact, conflict according to Nwachukwu, (2010).” Is seen as an indispensable force that propels the wheel of subproject implementation process.”

Client acceptance: This is the final stage in building project implementation process at which time the ultimate efficiency of the project is determined. For there to be a successful handover of the developmental product, there is need to carry the client along by prompt communication and feedback throughout the stages of the building project life cycle.

Project management tools: Project management tools are mainly planning and implementation tools at various stages of the project life cycle which is expected to foster success in the implementation process. At the conception stage, an effective and efficient appraisal is a very strategic and significant tool used in establishing the feasibility and viability of a project proposal. It helps us to determine investment alternatives, how much to invest, and how to go about it. Management tool ensures the project servers it uses to the fullest via apt maintenance culture.