Seventy per cent of organisations across Benelux are consistently failing to deliver project work, with timeliness being the poorest aspect of performance. This is one of the findings of new research published today by the international management consultancy PA Consulting Group. The research, The Rise and Rise of Project Management, looks at 85 projects within 38 companies from a cross section of industries and includes projects such as the delivery of new IT systems, relocations, business change and developing new products and services.
Alex Dowdalls, the Managing Consultant based in Utrecht, who managed the study comments: "It is alarming to find that while an increasing proportion of business work is done through projects, project management is seldom seen as a critical competence. In many cases of poor performance, we found an over-reliance on tools and techniques and insufficient leadership. This contrasted starkly with the successful projects where a strong team spirit and clear direction existed and projects were successful, even in high growth, unstable environments".
Dowdalls continues, "although most organisations applied good project management principles at the outset of a project, for example, by gaining senior management sponsorship, the research found that maintaining that discipline and managing change through the life of the project proved to be much harder."
Almost 80% of respondents reported they had secured an active sponsor and about 60% said their projects were well defined at the start of a project. After this initial stage, however, enthusiasm for the projects seemed to tail off. Only 53% of projects were well managed, with effective reporting structures. And only 45% believed, once a project was up and running, that changes were controlled effectively.
Dowdalls adds, "the decline of enthusiasm through a project life-cycle is the reason so many projects under perform, either not being delivered within the timescales, going over budget, or not meeting the objective they set out to achieve. This is often the result of management attention being diverted to other issues, particularly when delivering medium and large programmes and when the programme is in the implementation phase."
Relocation projects scored best in completing to budget (90%) and meeting objectives (87%), yet were the worst projects for completing on time (58%). Major infrastructure delays may not always impact on the budget, but they can cause major disruption to operations. Project resourcing was seen to be the key differentiator of relocation project performance.
New product/service development specific projects tended to keep within budget (80%) and most met their objectives (73%) although 44% failed to meet their delivery timescales. Focusing on improving schedule management is the priority here, given the need to bring new products to market rapidly.
IT projects do well in meeting the projects objectives (77%), but only 30% perform well on budgetary control and 40% on schedule management. The largest gaps between the best and the worst IT project performers were in the areas of project definition, project management and in how changes were controlled.
Organisational change projects keep within their budgets (78%) and timescales (76%), with a high score of 82% achieving their stated objectives.
PA's survey findings have shown that top performing companies view project management as a key competence and as such recognise the value of a supportive organisational structure. Such companies provide employees with a formal career path for project work, actively encourage team working, and train managers as leaders, with the most advanced companies incorporating rewards (for example through bonuses, promotions and pay rises) so that staff can see the value placed on results. An organisational structure of this nature - a projects culture - can dramatically improve project performance as shown by PA, where such companies yielded a 20% improvement in project performance.
The survey found that companies that performed well in delivering projects, regardless of size or industry sector, excelled in four key areas:
- Effective project management, with an emphasis on strong leadership and a structured project environment
- Good project definition at the outset, stating the objective, business benefits and timescales for delivery
- Supportive sponsorship throughout the project, at a high enough level within the company to overcome obstacles both within and outside the organisation
- Effective change control that allows enough flexibility to meet changing demands without losing control of project delivery.
