Project management is an important component in the success of projects undertaken by modern business organizations or enterprises. Organizations embark on project management initiatives to help promote the success and effectiveness of their various projects. However, organizations across the globe face substantial project failure rates, which are often costly since they waste millions of dollars in the process. Given the likelihood of project failures, organizations undertake several measures to help enhance the success of their projects. Despite these efforts, project failure is still a reality that many organizations worldwide have to struggle with. This paper examines three reasons why a project can fail and discusses solutions that can be utilized by organizations to eliminate the problem and turn the project or initiative into a successful venture.
Reasons for Project Failure
Pinto & Mantel (1990) states existing literature on project management has different definitions and unique examples of the concept of project failure. These researchers contend that the causes or reasons for project failure have been difficult to understand for academic researchers and practitioners. This is primarily because project failure is a tenuous concept whose definition has been controversial. Despite the seeming lack of consensus on the causes of project failure, project failure remains a reality that has contributed to numerous losses for many organizations across the globe. Project managers and researchers as well as organizational stakeholders face the need to understand the reasons or causes for project failure in order to develop effective solutions to overcome them during the project management process.
Existing research in the field of project management has shown that there are a variety of reasons or factors that make a project fail. These reasons range from organizational factors to issues emerging in the project management process to unprecedented events during project implementation. Some of the most common reasons that a project can fail include…
Lack of Commitment of Project Team
Kappelman, McKeeman & Zhang (2006) states that project development entails establishment of time and budgetary plans among other critical components. Project managers collaborate with other relevant stakeholders to develop plans, timelines, and budgets for a project. These various components are developed to help minimize execution risk to ensure that the designated activities are implemented properly. Additionally, these professionals develop the various plans relating to project execution to help prevent integration risk through ensuring that no gaps exist in the project plan and implementation process. As a result, project management and execution requires the project team to carry out its tasks in a flawless and effective manner. The project team is mandated with the responsibility of completing each task flawlessly based on existing timelines and financial resources. This requires commitment from the project team since the execution process is relatively complex and dependent on the nature of the project.
Given the significance of commitment of project team to the...…emerging issues in the project execution, which enhances the chances of success. The process is also critical toward ensuring that the efforts and energies of the project team are redirected to essential project activities rather than unproductive ones.
The other measure toward overcoming the problem and turning the initiative into a success is estimating project needs and activities from the bottom-up. This process entails determining what steps depend on previous steps and estimating the required time for completion of each activity. Kappleman, McKeeman & Zhang (2006) states that the bottom-up schedule should be aligned to the top-down project schedule to help ensure seamless operations and enhance chances of success.
In conclusion, project management is an important component of the success of modern organizations or business enterprises worldwide. Business enterprises and organizations increasingly engage in projects or initiatives that focus on promoting the success and profitability in their respective lines of business or operations. However, some organizations or enterprises end up making substantial losses due to project failures. Some of the reasons for project failure include lack of commitment of the project team, project complexity, and ineffective project planning or management. These factors have devastating impacts on the success of any project, which necessitates concerted efforts among project stakeholders to find suitable solutions. Project managers and other relevant stakeholders can address these issues through creating buy-ins among the project team members, effective project scheduling, and estimating project needs…
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