How the concept of business sustainability can be enhanced through project management"

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 14th of March 2014

Introduction

Project management is fast becoming a new hit in the business environment and this is based on the understanding that it creates a sense of sustainability and enhanced chances for success from the fact that it is designed to understand how the project will be undertaken in the most reliable, cheap and efficient way. Basically, the concept of project management revolves around the understanding of how a project can properly be managed in order to ensure that success is enhanced and the project meets the set objectives for which it was primarily designed.

On a more general note, business sustainability is not a new concept as it involves understanding the best strategies to be adopted in order to ensure that the company continues to make profit year-in and year-out, and also understanding how such strategies can be implemented into place. However, the need for sustainability in business has risen significantly in the modern business and this is based on the fact that increase in globalization and internationalization of firms has subsequently increased the level of competition in the market and as such reduced the chances of business to make sustainable profit in the end.

As such, this paper is designed to understand how the concept of business sustainability can be enhanced through project management. This paper will focus on understanding the importance of project feasibility stage on the success of a project, and understanding how project management software influences the monitoring and control aspect of project management. Following these two chapters, further highlight will be made in the conclusion with recommendations on the highlighted setbacks in the process.

Importance of project feasibility stage on project success

Success as a word is very interesting and it is also a word that is so general and widely used in relation to measuring the performance of any given program, but it is also a word that is difficult to define and obtain mutual agreement when asked from different individuals. Jugdev and Muller (2005) mentioned in their article that what success actually means in the context of a project is something that deals with gaining an agreement from a group of people on the definition of “good art.” Project success as a topic has been frequently discussed but it is still yet to be agreed upon in relation to what it actually means (Baccarini, 1999: p. 26). Form the current study that has been conducted by Crawford, Pollack and England (2006), the objective was to reveal the emphasis presented by journals in the last decade in the field of project management, and the finding reveals that the study of project evaluation and improvement has gained increase in terms of its importance. The implication is that a number of studies have been conducted in the area of project management and project success. On a more general ground, the view on project success have changed over the years from the more simple definitions that were lacking in the implementation phase of the project life-cycle to definitions that are a reflection of the appreciation of success over the entire project and lifecycle (Judgev& Muller, 2005).

On the side of feasibility, Anand (2010) noted that project feasibility is a study used to understand whether the designed project will be successful or not. It presents an understanding of whether there is an adequate market demand for the proposed project, the level of financial investment required to make the project a success and where the finances will be sources, the needed technical know-hows required to ensure that the idea is transformed into a project, whether the market have necessary funds to purchase to seek the service of the project upon completion, if the environmental conditions are favourable for success, and whether the legal terms governing the location where the project is being sold permits for such kind of project to exit in that areas (Anand, 2010).

From the above definition, it become clear as noted by Anand (2010) that the project feasibility study stage influences the project success. This is because it help  to understand whether the market needs such project – such deciding whether such a project should be undertaken or not, the amount of money needed to make the project a success – as such determining whether the money is currently available and the right sources for the fund in cases where it is not currently available, and the technical requirements needed to transform the ideas into an existing project – thus determining the right workforce to be employed and how they will be employed. As such, feasibility study of the project will directly influence the project success as it will highlight the does and don’t in the project design, as well as how the does and don’t will be undertaken.

Feasibility is basically the foundation laying of success in the project management process because it tell the project manager the chances of success, as such telling the project manager whether or not to proceed with the project process, depending on the level of measured success in the project process. For instance, when the feasibility study reveals that the project has a higher chances of success based on the understanding that the market is huge, the market has the necessary financial dispositions to seek for the project and the necessary funding to ensure that the project becomes a success, then the manager will be forced to adopt the project and develop it because the chances of success are high, while the reverse will be the cases when the project has been identified with lower chances for success.

Influence of project management software on project monitoring and control

A number of researchers have looked to understand the project management stages in terms of the factors that influences each stage and how each stage influences other stages, with such discussion come from authors like Kerzner (1987), Pinto and Denis (1987), Pinto, Slevin and Dennis (1989), Clarke (1999), Cooke Davis (2002) and Muller (2003). These authors also concurring that control and monitoring is very important in the project process as it directly influences the project success.

Discussions by Clarke (1999) highlighted that there are four stages in project management and it comes in the form of: planning, execution, monitoring and control, and project transfer. The main elements contained in the planning stage features an understanding of what the project will be all about and the customers’ needs the project is designed to meet, with this stage also featuring the feasibility study to understand whether the project will be accepted in the market and if it will yield subsequent return on investment.

The second stage involves executing the project as planned in order to ensure that the project meets the set objectives it has been designed to fulfil. In this stage, the focus is more on understanding how the project will be undertaken, executing the project as planned and then making sure that all the project’s objectives as set in the planning stage is fulfilled in the project execution. Once the project is in progress, the third stage of monitoring and control comes into play, and as highlighted by Clarke (1999), this stage features enacting the right strategies in order to ensure that the materials in the project are being used for the purposes they have been designated to use. This is a very difficult stage in the project phase and this is based on the understanding that it involves reviewing all aspects of the project process with every subsequent increase in the project progress in order to ensure that they are in line with the project design and capable of meeting the set project objectives. Following the successful completion of the project, the final stage of closing and transfer comes into play. In this stage, the project is closed and subsequently transferred to the investors that provided the funding form the project.

In this paper, the focus is on understanding how software influences the monitoring and control stage of the project process. In comparison with the conventional approach that is obtainable in the past, there is a new wave of project management scope which is centred on adopting software to aid the project process and researches have linked such approach to a number of benefits as the reason why project managers seems to concede with it as the right way forward. On that view, the benefits of adopting project management software in the control and monitoring stage of the project management comes with the following influence that it yields on the project management process as discussed by Pinto and Slevin (1987):

Enhanced efficiency and effectiveness – unlike the traditional approach, the writer noted that project management software like MS project enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the project management process and this is based on the understanding that complex situations might exist in the project management process, and this software serve as the right answer to these situations. This is because thee software present a more detailed view of the issues facing the project process, how each stage will be controlled and monitored and the subsequent approaches that can be adopted to reduce the detected effects in the control process. For instance, the MS project presents a clear view of all steps in the project and as such gives the manager a better understanding of all the activities in the project process and how to carefully manage the activities in order to ensure that the project meets the set objectives.

Enhanced accuracy – unlike the conventional process that involves the adoption of personal feeling and thinking: which are usually inaccurate, the project management software influences the control and monitoring aspect of project positively because it reduces the errors related to gut feeling by adopting a more accurate and precise solutions in the control process. It should also be understood as stated by Pinto and Slevin (1987) most of these software are designed in a modelled form with past experiences in the field, and as such they contain past risk measures and solutions provides for such risk in their troubleshooting boots which managers don’t have in their gut feelings. The importance of accuracy in the field of project management cannot be overemphasized and this is based on the understanding that a single accuracy error can purely jeopardize the potential for success of the project and as such it becomes important to ensure that project control and monitoring are highly accurate in order to eliminate the negative influence of lack of accuracy on the project process.

Speeding delivery and real-time calculation - Pinto and Slevin (1987): pointed out this as the third influences yielded by software on project control and monitoring and it is based on the understanding that software are faster than the human head and as such it can be used to deliver results faster and in real-time. Basically, this is not doubtable based on the fact that once the data has been keyed in, they can automatically be calculated and the results produced instantly for the users.

Based on the understanding illustrated from the above analysis, it can be seen that project management software are very important not only in the control and monitoring stage of the project, but actually in the whole project process. This is because the software eliminates a number of issues that arises from conducting such project process in the conventional format and as such it enhances accuracy in the project management, which will directly influences efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery towards meeting the set project objectives. 

Conclusion

Project management is a field of management that relates with understanding the chances of success in a project. For every project manager or shareholder that funds the project process, the dream is to ensure that the project becomes a success in the end when it is finally finished. Success is measured in the sense that the market needs the project to fulfil certain wants and that the markets are willing to pay to have the project, which will eventually mean a return of financial investment to the business investors.

As such, this paper was designed to understand how the feasibility study influence chances of success in project management, based on the notion that feasibility study deals with needs of that market that such project will be able to handle, the purchasing power of the market, the legalities surrounding the business, and the amount as well as sources of funds required in order to make the project a success. Such an understanding will show whether the project stands chance for success and this will mean that the investors and project managers are offered a higher advantage on such project as they will invest when the condition seems right and will not in cases where the condition doesn’t seem to be right.

Another understanding loaded in this paper is to illustrate the influence of project management software on control and monitoring stages in the project design. Additionally, it was noted that software have positive influence as it results in efficiency, effectiveness, accuracy and speedy delivery in the control and monitoring stages of the project management process.

 In conclusion, it will be stated that proper project management is necessary because it will ensure that the project ends up meeting the objectives that it was designed to meet. Project manager should endeavour to conduct feasibility study as it will help to illustrate the chances of success, and they should also adopt software in control and monitoring stage.

References

Jugdev, K., Muller. R. (2005).A retrospective look at our evolving understanding of project success.Project Management Journal, 36(4), 19 – 31

Baccarini, D. (1999). The logical framework method for defining project success.Project Management Journal, 30(4), 25 –32

Crawford, L., Pollack, J., England, D. (2006). Uncovering the trends in project management:  Journal emphases over the last 10 years.International Journal of Management, 24(2006), 175 – 184

Kerzner, H. (1987). In search of excellence in project management. Journal of Systems Management, 38(2), 30 – 40

Pinto, J. K. (1986). Project Implementation: A determination of its critical success factors, moderators, and their relative importance across the project life cycle. Doctorate dissertation, University of Pittsburgh

Pinto, J. K., Dennis, P. S. (1987).Balancing strategy and tactics in project implementation. ABI/INFORM, 33 – 40

Pinto, J. K., Dennis, P. S. (1989). Critical success factors in RandD projects. Research Technology Management, 32(1), 31 – 36

Clarke, A. (1999). A practical use of key success factors to improve the effectiveness of project management.  International Journal of Project Management, 17(3), 139 – 145

Cooke-Davies, T. (2002). The “real” success factors in projects. International Journal of Project Management, 6(3), 164 – 170