Why Projects Fail

Henley Management College
Why projects fail
By Henrik Schriver
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration 2004
MBA Dissertation Henley Management College
Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017
Abstract
Companies use projects to implement strategic changes. High failure rates and managers loosing focus caused this dissertation to challenge two propositions for the failure of change projects: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
An extensive review of literature and a field research was integrated into a discussion and lead to the following conclusions:
Managers fail to plan and manage scope The research has proven that the planning sets the standard for the rest of the process. The efficient way to plan is to use a structured approach. The conclusion is also that a master plan is ideal to supply the overall view of the projects in action. Management ought to limit the number of projects to ease the balancing of the triple constraints time, cost, and quality.
Managers fail to manage change Like planning, the process of change must also be built on a structured sequential approach. The foundation of the change process is a strong sponsorship. The top manager has to drive change through passion and vision inspiring the entire organization to believe in the vision by stating the sense of urgency for the change.
The top manager must cascade the sponsorship throughout the entire organisation by building a guiding coalition supported by focus on strengthening the organizations confidence in management and empowerment of project management and the middle managers.
The conclusion of the research has proven both the propositions to be true.
The recommendations to improve the success rate of future strategic change projects are listed on the next page.
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Recommendations: Limit the number of projects in order to be able to ensure sponsorship, commitment, and allocation of the needed resources. Ensure that efforts are spend on thorough planning. Thorough planning has clear advantages: ensures communication, less rework, lowered costs, and reduced time. Involve the right people from the beginning of the project. Complete sponsorship from the top manager is needed to implement the changes. The top manager must: o Provide a clear vision for the change project. o Create a sense of urgency stating why the change is needed. o Nurture the organization, and bring inspiration into the organization. Cascade the sponsorship to the organization to ensure commitment. The process must be supported by the use of change agents to control the progress of the change and the political environment. The top manager must empower the project management and the middle managers, to make them able to implement the change.
Word count: 14,991 words

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the people who have given support and advice during the process of writing the dissertation.
My special thanks go to:
My wife and three daughters, to whom I devote all my love, they have helped me through the MBA with support and endless patience.
My best friend Joern Skov for being my mentor and challenge my work throughout the entire MBA.
My dissertations tutor Dr. David Paskins for his inspiring comments, guiding me through the process.
All my friends and colleagues for supporting me both academically and mentally when needed.
And to Henley in Denmark Mie, Jesper and Leif for being supportive, inspiring and helpful throughout the entire journey towards the MBA.
Henrik
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Table of contents
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Abstract Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 1.1. Dissertation background 1.1.1. Projects 1.1.2. Aim and scope of the dissertation 1.2. Problem definition and dissertation objective 1.2.1. Problem definition 1.2.2. Dissertation objective 1.2.3. Dissertation methodology 1.3. Research approach 1.3.1. Literature review 1.3.2. Questionnaires 1.4. Summary 2. Literature review Theoretical analysis 2.1. Definitions 2.1.1. Project failure 2.1.2. Application and limitations of sources 2.2. Failure to plan and manage scope 2.2.1. Planning 2.2.2. Scope management 2.2.3. Scope statement 2.2.4. Scope definition 2.2.5. Planning schedule 2.2.6. Planning resources 2.2.7. Summary 2.3. Failure to manage change 2.3.1. A strong sponsorship 2.3.2. Cascading sponsorship to the organization 2.3.3. The change implementation team 2.4. Summary 3. Field research Project failure in practice 3.1. Problem and propositions 3.2. Research design and methodology 3.2.1. Questionnaires 3.3. Research analysis and presentation 3.3.1. Sample presentation 3.3.2. Failure to plan and manage scope 3.3.3. Summary 3.3.4. Failure to manage change 3.4. Summary 4. Integrated discussion 4.1. Discussion on the problem of project failure
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4.1.1. Failure rate of projects 4.1.2. The causes of failure 4.2. Discussion on failure to plan and manage scope 4.3. Discussion on failure to manage change 4.4. Discussion on further research issues 4.5. Summary 5. Conclusion and recommendations 5.1. Research conclusion 5.2. Summary recommendations 5.3. Closing notes Appendices A. Field research methodology and design A.1. The research plan A.1.1. Data sources A.1.2. Research approach A.1.3. Research instruments The questionnaire design A.1.4. Sampling plan A.1.5. Contact method A.2. Collecting the information A.2.1. Minimizing non-response A.2.2. Minimizing bias A.2.3. Bias of the questionnaire A.3. Analysing the questionnaire data B. B.1. B.2. B.3. C. D. E. F. G. Questionnaire Cover letter Introduction to the questionnaire Questionnaire The PERIL database Correlation analysis Respondent experience: Political game Respondent learning Respondents: Greatest barriers
55 55 56 58 63 63 65 65 67 68
69 69 69 69 69 71 72 72 72 73 73 73 74 74 75 76 80 82 87 88 90 92 93 93 95 96
Abbreviations and acronyms References and sources Books Articles and other sources Web sites
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List of figures:
1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 4.1 D.1 Basic project drivers, Turner, 1999 Dissertation structure and methodology, Own composition Risks in the PERIL database, Kendrick, 2003 Cascade of objectives, Youker (Turner, 1999) The seven forces model of project-based management, Turner, 1999 The tools and techniques of project-based management, Turner, 1999 Scope risks in the PERIL database Scope planning process, PMBOK, 2000 The milestone plan, Turner, 1999 Schedule risks in the PERIL database Resource risks in the PERIL database Managing change by project management, Harrington, 2000 The eight steps for successful change, Kotter, 1996 Black holes: Typical ineffective sponsorship, Harrington, 2000 Three basic role architecture, Connor, Speed, 1998 Research process, Kotler, 2003 Gender and age (years) of the respondents Age and size of the respondents companies Consequences for not achieving objectives Position and role of the respondents Type of change and reference of the project manager Importance of project issues compared to reality Organizational knowledge Control processes used to align scope and strategy Gaps in planning and scope Degree of learning experience Top manager and own managers involvement Organizational knowledge and sense of urgency Report of the project manager Political influence rate Gaps in managing change The eight steps for successful change, Kotter, 1996 Correlation between the paired responses to each closed question Page 2 4 8 11 12 13 15 16 20 22 24 27 27 30 32 36 38 38 39 39 40 41 42 42 44 44 46 47 49 50 52 59 83
List of tables:
2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.1 3.2 C.1 Project priority matrix, Kendrick, 2003 Key issues to eliminate scope risks Information required for schedule planning, PMBOK, 2000 Key issues to eliminate schedule risks Information required for resource planning Key issues to eliminate resource risks Planning and scope related questions Managing change related questions Sources of PERIL data, Kendrick, 2003 Page 13 21 23 23 25 25 43 51 80
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1. Introduction
1.1 Dissertation background
1.1.1 Projects Many companies use projects to implement strategy and strategic change. Experience shows that projects have a tendency to be of great importance in the beginning, but in the end when the results are to be implemented, focus has changed. Why is that? Lack of coordination with strategy? Lack of focus? Lack of management?
According to (Hinge, 2003) from Prosci Institute of Project Management the top five mistakes of project management are: 1. Not scaling the change to match the available sponsorship. 2. Selecting the wrong team members or underestimating time commitments. 3. Skipping key steps. 4. Over-defining current processes as business as usual. 5. Using change management after it is too late. This information comes from the findings of 327 participants from 53 countries.
To some extent, the same conclusions can be reached by studying the work of (Turner, 1999). The Handbook of Project-based Management states the pitfalls of the project manager to be: Not aligning project plans with business plans. Procedures for managing projects are not defined. Priorities are not communicated to the parties involved. There is no shared vision.
According to (Harrington, 2000, p. 5), 75% of all projects fail. 52,7% of projects will cost 189% of their original estimates.
This dissertation will seek the answers to why projects fail to implement the intended strategy.
1.1.2 Aim and scope of the dissertation The aim of the dissertation research is to explore the main causes of project failure in terms of their implications for successful implementation of business strategy. The scope of the dissertation is a broad based study of the management of project based strategy implementation.
1.2 Problem definition and dissertation objective The dissertation assumption is that managers responsible for implementing business strategy are responsible for change. In changes that are implemented by projects, managers are responsible for project management.
With this assumption: A failed strategic change project implies that management has failed.
1.2.1 Problem definition To develop a more detailed problem definition a project is considered to have failed, when one or more of the following problems occur: The financial budget is exceeded. The project is not delivered on time. The end result does not meet with the expectations created. Commitment to implement results is not ensured.
The drivers that influence success or failure are broadly defined by the three basic elements of project management:
Systems
Organization
People
Figure 1.1 Basic project drivers, Turner, 1999
The relations to strategic change projects are: The organization element creates cooperation between line and project the context and architecture of the strategic change project. The systems element ensures procedures are understood by all the strategic change process. The people gain commitment to project objectives through the leadership, management, influence and relations.
This dissertation aims to explore the implications of managements role in the success of strategic change projects.
1.2.2 Dissertation objective The objective of the dissertation is to explore how managers can eliminate the main risks of failure and improve the success rate of the strategic change projects in their organization. The research target is to: Challenge the objective by reviewing current project and change management theories. Challenge the objective by conducting a broad based field research in Denmark, investigating the experience with strategic change projects. Discuss theoretical and practical findings. Conclude and recommend how managers can improve the success rate of strategic change projects.
To focus the research two propositions are developed from figure 1.1:
Proposition 1: Project scope planning is used to eliminate risk A thorough project scope planning in order to understand the challenges ahead can ensure the success of the project. The first objective of this dissertation is to investigate: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope.
Proposition 2: Implementation of change needs change management To implement strategic change through projects requires a high organizational commitment. Internal disturbance, politics, and power struggles can undermine the results of even the best-planned project. The second objective of this dissertation is to investigate: Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
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If the propositions can be justified the success rate of strategic change projects can be improved.
On the other hand, if the propositions cannot be justified, an important insight into project dynamics is anticipated from the research and the focus of managers can be based on the issues found.
1.2.3 Dissertation methodology To fulfil the dissertation objective the approach and methodology are described in figure 1.2:
Dissertation structure and methodology 1 Introduction Background Objective
2 Literature review Strategic change through project management o Project scope planning and management o Change management
3 Field research Questionnaires and interviews based on: Strategic change through project management o Project scope planning and management o Change management
4 Discussion Evaluation of theory and field research findings
5 Conclusion and recommendations
Figure 1.2 Dissertation structure and methodology, Own composition
1.3 Research approach
1.3.1 Literature review The information for the literature review has been collected through books that have been found by searching online bookstores and selected according to the description of contents and reviews of the books. Books have also been retrieved through search facilities in the learning resources at Henley Management College and on the internet. The use of electronic search facilities for academic journals as well as searches in general business databases has complemented the literature search.
1.3.2 Questionnaires To achieve a broad based field research, a questionnaire approach was chosen, focusing on a research sample accessible to the author the Danish industry. Respondents for the questionnaire survey were selected randomly through an electronic database. Anonymity has been promised to all respondents.
1.4 Summary In this chapter, project failure was found to be a general problem. In many industries, projects are used to implement changes. The failure rate of the change initiatives is concerning high 75%. The objective of the dissertation is to explore how managers can improve the success rate of strategic change projects in their organizations. Through theory and field research, the dissertation will seek to prove the propositions: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
Based on theoretical and practical research, the discussion will lead to a conclusion and recommendations on how managers can improve the success rate of their strategic change projects.
2. Literature review Project failure in theory

In this chapter, the review of the literature will be presented.
2.1 Definitions In this section, a consistent terminology of strategic change projects and project failure is defined.
Projects Projects are temporary in nature (Heldman, 2002, p. 3). Projects have definitive start dates and definitive end dates. A project is completed when the objectives of the project are accomplished. Projects are used to create a product or service that did not exist before. When researching the dissertation objective and the propositions the types of projects are evaluated as within two definitions: Projects defined as projects in general. Technical projects and only few relations directly to strategic change often dominate the category. Change projects defined as projects concerning strategic change.
Project failure A project is considered failed if one or more of following statements are true: The financial budget is exceeded. The project is not delivered on time. The result does not meet the expectations created. Commitment to implement results is not ensured.
Types of strategic change Strategic change projects can be categorized into these types of changes: New business strategy (new product/market). Improvement strategy (IT, CRM, TQM, BSC, etc.). Turnaround strategy (Crisis management, downsizing, cost reduction). External growth strategy (Acquisition, divestment, merger, alliance).
The types above include change of strategic direction and change of strategic method (Scholes, 1999, pp. 310). (Black, 2002, p. 180) argues that a change initiated because of crisis can be especially difficult to handle. Therefore, a
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distinct category is assigned to changes concerning turnaround, to disclose if there are distinctive patterns.
2.1.1 Project failure According to (Hinge, 2003) one of the main reasons for project failure is ignoring critical steps in the beginning of the change process. In the planning and launch process, important issues as objective setting, scope definition, and methodology selection are ignored.
From (BCS, 2004, p. 4) the critique is harsh. A striking proportion of project difficulties stem from people failing to implement the known best practice. The use of methods and tools to support the design and delivery of projects would raise the success rates. The conclusions from BCSs list of failure causes, is that there is a lack of a clear link between the project and the organizations key strategic priorities, including clear measures of success is missing. There is typically a lack of constraints and a limitless scope.
(PERIL, www2), states that 70-75% of all projects fail. The causes for project failure are according to him: The project deliverable, as defined, is infeasible. The project deliverable is possible, but the time and resource objectives are insufficient for delivery. The project is poorly planned, chaotic, and badly managed.
Efficient risk management deals with all three situations. It provides data to modify or quickly abandon projects in the first two categories. Moreover, because risk management relies on planning, it eliminates the third possibility (Kendrick, 2003, p. 18). During his time at Hewlett-Packard, Kendrick has asked hundreds of project leaders to describe typical past project problems. This data is collected in the PERIL (Project Experience Risk Information Library) database1. The PERIL database categorizes risks to identify specific problems. It is organized into categories suggested by the project constraints scope, schedule, and resources. In each case, however, the risk was grouped under
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The PERIL database input is described in appendices C and (PERIL, www) 7
the project parameter where it had the largest effect, and then by its primary perceived root cause. Scope risks dominate the data, but all categories are significant. A chart summarizing this total impact by category is shown in figure 2.1:
Figure 2.1 - Risks in the PERIL database, Kendrick, 2003
All the authors evaluated agree that an important part of project management is to set up a plan and to put the project plan into action. According to (Heldman, 2002, p. 125), scope planning is one of the most important functions to perform during a project. The planning sets the standard for the rest of the projects life and is used to track future performance.
The other main issue for the success rate of projects is, according to (BCS, 2004, p. 10), a lack of clear senior management, ministerial ownership, and leadership. (Chin, 2003) When there is a lack in support from senior management, acquisition of project resources is doomed and the projects credibility is extremely low. (Hinge, 2003) argues that mistake number one is not scaling the change to match the available sponsorship. Efficient sponsorship at the right level may determine the success of the project.
2.1.2 Application and limitations of sources The link between the failures of projects in general and of strategic change projects are only to some extent connected. In the literature review, some of the sources concerning projects in general might not be completely applicable to the area of focus but will only be indicative. The experience from these sources
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is though found valuable enough to support understanding of the causes of failure in strategic change projects, to include here.
Cobbs paradox: We know why projects fail; we know how to prevent their failure so why do they still fail? (Cobb, 1996)
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2.2 Failure to plan and manage scope Youker (Turner, 1999, p. 17) has stretched the overall strategic business planning of the objectives (VMOST) further. He sets a cascade of objectives to implement the overall strategy.
Competitive analysis Context
Development objectives Development strategy Programme objectives Programme strategy Project objectives Project strategy Work area objectives Work area strategy Strategic planning for projects Team objectives Team strategy Individual objectives Individual strategy
Figure 2.2 Cascade of objectives, Youker (Turner, 1999)
Youkers point is that the strategic planning process consists of objectives at different management levels. To make the project deliver its full potential it is important to have completed other projects in the programme of projects of which they are a part. (Turner, 1996, p. 41) supports that this cascade of objectives also clearly illustrates the contribution of people at different levels of the organisation to the overall development through projects of change, and the importance of planning to ensure direction. (Lewis, 2003, p. 151) argues that to achieve the overall vision a unified master plan that coordinates the work is needed.
Turner, (Turner, 1999, p. 70), expands the three project drivers from figure 1.1 to the seven forces model of project-based management shown in figure 2.3. The model holds that a project is subjected to seven forces or pressures, each of which must be managed. (Turner, 1999) argues that a comprehensive definition should be developed from the start: Setting the projects objectives. Defining the scope through a strategic, or milestone, plan. Setting the functional strategies assessing the technical risk.
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Carefully managing the design process. Managing resources and the context.
Through the project definition, the vision for the project is created, the purpose of the project is defined, the project plans are aligned with business plans, and the basis of cooperation agreed upon.
Internal to organization
Definition: Objectives Scope Technology Design Resourcing Attitudes: Commitment Motivation Support st Right 1 time Shared vision
People: Leadership Management Teamwork Influence IR
Pressures
Project drivers
Organization: Roles Resources Type Contract Strategy Systems: Planning Control Reporting Quality Risk
Resistance
Sponsorship: Benefit Finance Value Schedule Urgency
Context: Political Economical Social Environmental Legal
External to organization Figure 2.3 The seven forces model of project-based management, Turner, 1999
The project development sets high demands to efficient project management and the project managers role as a planner and leader. Every project must work within the triple constraints of time, money, and quality. One, two, or all three are limited (Heldman, 2002, p. 7). The project manager has to balance the triple constraints while meeting or exceeding the expectations of the stakeholders (Scope).
There is a difference in the authors view on the triple constraints. (Kendrick, 2003), argues for a broader view: Scope Schedule Resources, against others: Time Cost Quality. Kendrick (Kendrick, 2003, p. 134) argues that for a project to succeed one of the determining factors must be flexible and/or the scope adjusted to be fulfilled by the schedule and resources allocated.
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Each project is unique, so to approach a trade-off analysis understanding of the constraints, how their priorities are, and how they were determined is required. To be able to fulfil stakeholder expectations and handle the triple constraints the authors (Turner, 1999), (Heldman, 2002) and (PMBOK, 2000) agree on the process illustrated in figure 2.4, including supporting tools.
Scope
- Product breakdown structure Milestone plans - Work breakdown structure Activity schedules - Configuration management
Organization
Time Cost
Quality
Figure 2.4 The tools and techniques of scope management, Turner, 1999
Kendrick, (Kendrick, 2003, p. 135), argues for expanding the constraints to ensure alignment between the constraints and to create a project priority matrix to prepare the trade-off analysis.
Schedule Constrain, Least flexible Optimize, Somewhat flexible Accept, Most flexible
Scope
Resources
Table 2.1 Project priority matrix, Kendrick, 2003
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2.2.1 Planning Project planning is defined as the process of identifying the means, resources, and actions necessary to accomplish the objectives (HMC, glossary, 2001): A plan is an intended future course of action. The project manager owns it. It is the basis of the project controls and includes the what, the how, the when, and the who. The planner is a member of a project team or project support office with the responsibility of planning, scheduling, and tracking projects. The planning stage is the stage prior to the implementation stage, where product activity, resource, and quality plans are produced. A planned activity is an activity not yet started.
Regular review of the overall methods and processes used to manage projects is an essential foundation for good risk management. Too informal processes with lack of structure (Kendrick, 2003, p. 21) typically cause failures. Planning ensures better communication, less rework, lowered costs, and reduced use of time ((PMBOK, 2000, p. 32); (Heldman, 2002, p. 6); (Turner, 1999, p. 5); (Kendrick, 2003, p. 18)).
A systematic approach must be used to plan and control scope as the most significant function the foundation of the project.
2.2.2 Scope management Planning scope at a strategic level includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully (PMBOK, 2000, p. 51).
(Turner, 1999, p. 93) defines scope management as the function of ensuring that enough, but only enough, work is undertaken to deliver the projects purpose successfully. (Turner 1996, p 43) states the same argument. (Chin, 2003) supports this, where setting an overly ambitious project scope and the lack of project methodology is named as main contributors to project failure.
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The sources of scope risks are (Kendrick, 2003, p. 38 and the PERIL database):
Scope Risks Count Changes Defect 46 30 Cumulative Average Impact Impact (Weeks) (Weeks) 280 198 6.1 6.6
Figure 2.5 - Scope risks in the PERIL database
The different elements of figure 2.5 are evaluated below. Change: In this section, change is defined as changes to the project objectives resulting in scope creep, and not as strategic change. The causes of the change aspects are typically connected to scope creep, gaps, and/or scope dependencies. Defining deliverables thoroughly is a powerful tool for uncovering potential change-oriented scope risks (controlling the pressure factors, figure 2.3 (Turner, 1999)). Defining the deliverables for a project gives the project leader and the team their first indication of the risks in the proposed project. The goal of defining the deliverables is to develop specific, written requirements that are clear, unambiguous, and agreed on by all project stakeholders and project contributors. The process of defining project deliverables begins with identifying the people who should participate, including all who must agree with the definition. (Lewis, 2003, p. 72) states this as the first rule of planning. (Kendrick, 2003, p. 42) follows by claiming that scope risk arises because key project contributors are not involved with the project at an early point, when initial definition work is done.
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Defects: Hardware, software, and integration problems can be challenged during the delivery definition. Technical issues rely on many complicated things to work as expected. Unfortunately, new things do not always operate as promised or required, even normally reliable things may break down or fail to perform as desired. All evaluated authors agree upon this conclusion. The (PMBOK, 2000, p. 56), (Kendrick, 2003, p. 43) and (Heldman, 2002, p. 123), agree that a deliverable definition, the scope statement, provides a documented basis for making future decisions and for confirming or developing a common understanding of the project scope among stakeholders. The (PMBOK, 2000, p. 52) and (Heldman, 2002, p. 44) argues that the scope planning process should be:
Input - Project description - Project charter - Project constraints - Project assumptions
Scope planning
Scope statement
Scope definition Figure 2.6 - Scope planning process, PMBOK 2000
A clear and concise documented definition of the processes above will eliminate many failure risks.
2.2.3 Scope statement The scope statement is the project contract agreed upon by project management and the other stakeholders. The process leading to the statement must have considered and related to the following topics (Kendrick, 2003, p. 43): 1. Alignment with business strategy (How does this project contribute to stated high-level business objectives?). 2. User and customer needs (Has the project team captured the ultimate end user requirements that must be met by the deliverable?).
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3. Compliance (Has the team identified all relevant regulatory, environmental, and manufacturing requirements, as well as industry standards?). 4. Completion (Has the team identified both current and projected alternatives to the proposed deliverable, including not undertaking the project?). 5. Positioning (Is there a clear and compelling benefit-oriented project objective that supports the business case for the project.). 6. Decision criteria (Does this project team have an agreed-upon hierarchy of measurable priorities for cost, time, and scope?). 7. Delivery (Are logistical requirements understood and manageable? These include, but are not limited to, sales, distribution, installation, sign-off, and support). 8. Sponsorship (Does the management hierarchy collectively support the project, and will it provide timely decisions and ongoing resources?). 9. Resources (Does the project have, and will it continue to have, the staffing and funding needed to meet the project objectives within the allotted time?). 10. Technical risk (Has the team assessed the overall level of risk it is taking? Are technical and other exposures well documented?). Leading to a written scope statement including: A description of the project. Project purpose. Completion criteria (project end, acceptance criteria). Planned project start. Intended customers and/or users. What the project will and will not include. Dependencies. Staffing requirements (skills/experience). High-level risks. Cost. Technology required. Hardware/software and other infrastructure. Detailed requirements, outlining functionality, usability, reliability, performance, supportability, and any other significant issues. Other data customary and appropriate to the project.
Next step in scope management is according to (Turner, 1999, p. 93) defining the scope of work through the Work Breakdown Structures (WBS). (PMBOK, 2000, p. 43), and (Kendrick, 2003, p. 55) agree with that, but includes the WBS in the Scope definition.
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2.2.4 Scope definition In the scope definition, process the project deliverables are broken down into smaller manageable components so that the project tasks and activities can be planned in detail. This breakdown process will make the estimation process easier. It is easier to estimate the costs, time, and resources needed for individual work components than it is to estimate them for a whole body of work or deliverable. (Heldman, 2002, p. 129) states that using smaller components also makes it easier to assign performance measures and control.
A common approach (Kendrick, 2003, p. 55) to develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is to start with the scope statement work top-down from the whole project concept. Project risk becomes visible whenever it is confusing or difficult to decompose projects into smaller, more manageable pieces. In project management, there are many ways to breakdown the work: By organizational function By discipline By skill set By geography By life-cycle phase
(PMBOK, 2000) and (PSWBS, 2001) recommends the project WBS to be deliverable-oriented. (Kendrick, 2003, p. 56) argues to focus deliverableoriented. He states that it can be difficult to include all project work in a strictly deliverable oriented WBS because practically some will be phase or skills oriented.
The advantages of using WBS methodology (Turner, 1999, p. 95) are: It provides better control of the work definition. It allows work to be delegated in coherent packages. It allows work to be defined at an appropriate level for estimating and control. It allows containment of risk.
The structure of the WBS is generally a tree-structure. The WBS defines the work that needs to be done. Rather than breaking the work of the project into a low level of detail in a single step, it is developed through increasing levels of detail. Although the project manager is free to determine the number of levels in
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the WBS based on the complexity of the project, the highest level of the WBS, level one, is considered the project it self. This is followed by the deliverables, which may be followed by more deliverables followed by activities and so on. Each of these breakdowns is called a level in the WBS. You need to include enough levels to accurately estimate project time, and costs, but not so many levels that it is difficult to distinguish between the activities (Heldman, 2002, p. 136). Regardless of the number of levels in the WBS, the lowest level in a WBS is called a work package. The authors disagree on whether activities should be mentioned in the WBS. (PMBOK, 2000) and (PSWBS, 2001) leave the decision to the project manager, where (Heldman, 2002, p. 136), would prefer the activities to be included at the work package level. Later in the process when the work packages are assigned to individual managers, they add the activities and schedule. By involving the next level of managers, you ensure responsibility and task acceptance (PMBOK, 2000, p. 61), (Heldman 2002, p. 136). Turner (Turner, 1999, p. 115) also states this.
Where the (PMBOK, 2000); (PSWBS, 2001) and (Heldman, 2002, p. 137), recommend the milestone planning to be set and implemented in the scope definition afterwards, (Turner, 1999, p. 105) argues that after defining the deliverables the milestone plan should be developed. His argument is that the milestone plan is a strategic plan, and it should therefore be used as a framework for the project, defined in terms of intermediate results to be achieved. This argument is supported by (Turner, 1996, p. 49). The milestones illustrate a logical sequence of the states a project must pass through to achieve the final objectives, describing what is to be achieved at each state.
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Project start Result path
Activities
Milestones
Goal Figure 2.7 The milestone plan, Turner, 1999
The milestones (blue circles) are grouped into vertical columns representing the areas of work (Result paths). The line connecting them represents the logical dependency. (Turner, 1999, p. 106) suggests that the WBS should be used to ensure that equal emphasis is given to work in different areas. In creating a milestone plan to build cooperation and commitment to a common vision (Turner, 1999, p. 107), the ideal (Turner 1999, p. 110) would be to develop the milestone plan at a launch workshop with selected key managers and project personnel. The process recommended is: 1. Start by agreeing on the final milestone. 2. Generate ideas for milestones (brainstorm on flipcharts). 3. Review the milestones. Some will be part of other milestones others will be activities. 4. Experiment with result paths. Draw it on a flip chart and write the milestones on Post-it notes. 5. Draw the logic dependencies, starting with the final objective and working back. 6. Make a drawing of the final plan. A good milestone plan: Is understandable to everyone. Is controllable, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Focuses on necessary decisions. Is logical, with decisions and work packages in the right order. Gives an overview at the right level.
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The (PMBOK, 2000, p. 208) states that as the project progresses, the scope statement may need to be revised or refined to reflect approved changes to the scope of the project. (Heldman, 2002, p. 137) supports that during the decomposition process you might discover new deliverables that were not thought of during the scope planning process. These changes should be reflected in the scope statement.
Key issues to eliminate scope risks: Clearly define all project deliverables, and note challenges Set limits on the project based on the value of the deliverables Decompose all project work into small pieces, and identify work not well understood Assign ownership for all project work and probe for reasons behind any reluctance Note risk arising from expected project duration or complexity
Table 2.2 Key issues to eliminate scope risks
2.2.5 Planning schedule Building on the information from scope management the planning must be stretched further to reduce schedule risks.
Though the PERIL-database is consisting mainly of technical projects, the risk information is found valuable to support the identification of the project foundation. From the PERIL-database of schedule risks, over half are related to delay. The main causes are delivery and availability problems. Slow decisions caused a quarter of all delays where managers delayed the projects due to interaction, or stakeholders who did not react quickly enough to keep the project on schedule.
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The sources of schedule risks are listed in figure 2.8 (Kendrick, 2003, p. 68 and the PERIL database):
Schedule Risks Delay Dependency Estimates
Count 46 21 15
Cumulative Impact (Weeks) 134 102 70
Average Impact (Weeks) 2.9 4.9 4.7
Figure 2.8 - Schedule risks in the PERIL database
Project schedule Building a project schedule and eliminating some of the major risks (Kendrick, 2003, p. 73), starts with defining project work at an appropriate level of decomposition. The starting point for most schedule development is the WBS. Both estimating and sequencing of activities are necessary processes for creating a project schedule. The information required to estimate a realistic schedule is according to (PMBOK, 2000, pp. 65) and (Heldman 2002, p. 247):
22
Activity definition Work breakdown structures Scope statement Historical information Constraints Assumptions Expert judgement
Activity sequencing Activity list Product description Mandatory dependencies Discretionary dependencies External dependencies Milestones
Activity duration Activity list Constraints Assumptions Resource requirements Resource capabilities Historical information Identified risks
Table 2.3 Information required for planning schedule, PMBOK, 2000
To ensure elimination of Schedule risks, (Kendrick, 2003, p. 102) recommends the following checklist:
Key issues to eliminate schedule risks: Determine the root causes of all uncertain estimates Identify all estimates not based on historical data Note dependencies that pose delay risks Find any difference between project effort requirements and lifecycle norms Identify risky activities and schedule them early in the project
Table 2.4 Key issues to eliminate schedule risks
Scope requirements If the schedule planning process cannot fulfil the scope requirements, it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure alignment (Kendrick 2003, pp. 133) through the project priority matrix (table 2.1) and gain acceptance from the stakeholders. Change requirements must be submitted in writing, through the formal change control system (Heldman, 2002, p. 370).
2.2.6 Planning resources Building on the information from scope management, the planning must be stretched further to reduce resource risks.
23
From the PERIL-database2 less than one third of all failures are caused by resource risks. Two thirds of all resource failures are registered as related to people, listed in figure 2.9:
Resource Risks Count People Outsourcing Money 45 17 2
Cumulative Average Impact Impact (Weeks) (Weeks) 194 109 58 4.3 6.9 29.0
Figure 2.9 - Resource risks in the PERIL database
Project resource Building a project resource plan and eliminating some of the major risks (Kendrick, 2003, p. 109) is done using the same decomposition of the work as in project scheduling. The information required, to efficiently plan the resources are (PMBOK, 2000, pp. 84, pp. 108) and (Heldman, 2002, p. 157):
See limitations of the source in 2.2.5 24
Human resource Staffing requirements Constraints Staffing management plan Staffing pool description Recruitment practices Project staff Project plan
Cost Work breakdown structure Historical information Scope statement Resource pool description Organizational policies Activity duration estimates Resource requirements Resource rates Project schedule
Table 2.5 Information required for planning Resources, PMBOK, 2000
To ensure elimination of resource risks, (Kendrick 2003, p. 130) recommends the following checklist:
Key issues to eliminate resource risks: Identify all required skills you need for which you lack named, committed staffing Determine all situations in the project plan where people or other resources are over committed Find all activities with insufficient resources Identify uncertain activity effort estimates Gain funding approval early for needed training, equipment purchases and travel Ascertain all expected project costs
Table 2.6 Key issues to eliminate resource risks
Scope requirements If the resource planning process cannot fulfil the scope requirements, it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure alignment (Kendrick 2003, pp. 133) through the project priority matrix (table 2.1) and gain acceptance from the stakeholders. Change requirements must be submitted in writing, through the formal change control system (Heldman, 2002, p. 370).
2.2.7 Summary This section challenged the proposition: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope.
25
The literature revealed a rich variation of models all agreeing that management must be involved in scope planning, creating the foundation for the rest of the project. Contrasting views were found on initial breadth of the planning, seemingly depending on the context. Project management is important in terms of guiding, coordinating, and leading the project in the right direction from the beginning. To this extent, the proposition was justified and there was found room for improvement of the managers ability to plan and manage scope.
26
2.3 Failure to manage change Project management is widely applied in managing change, as suggested in figure 2.10, (Harrington, 2000, p. 141):
Project change management 1. Project 2. Project scope 3. Project time 4. Project cost 5 Project quality integration management management management management management 6. Project 7. Project 8. Project risk 9. Project 10. Project human resource communications management procurement organizational management management management change Figure 2.10 Managing change by project management, Harrington, 2000
The framework in (PMBOK, 2000, p. 8) supports Harringtons model of project change management. The difference is that Harrington has added a tenth dimension to traditional project management, dealing with the fact that most major projects imply organizational change. A similar, but more simplified, approach can be found in (Paton, 2000, p. 84) in the intervention strategy model, where implementation of strategic change is defined as a project with three major phases: definition, implementation and evaluation.
To focus on the elements of change (Kotter, 1996, p. 21) provides a sequential model that suggests the process to be:
Establish a sense of urgency
Create the guiding coalition
Develop a vision and strategy
Communicate the change vision
Empower broad-based action
Generate short-term wins
Consolidate gains and produce more change
Anchor new approaches into the culture
Figure 2.11 The eight steps for successful change, Kotter, 1996
The main argument of Kotter is that none of the steps in the change process can be skipped and must be performed sequentially as every step prepares the organization for the next step. The structure guides the change process through an efficient project management approach. The approach suggested by Kotter
27
is to create a guiding coalition to control and secure the processes by ensuring power, expertise, and leadership.
2.3.1 A strong sponsorship The importance of strong sponsorship in strategic change projects is evaluated with focus on the organisational context and the project organisation. The top manager According to (Hamlin, 2001, p. 16) an extremely high rate (90%) of all change projects fail because top managers do not to get actively involved and leave the implementation issues to middle managers. From (Conner, Speed, 1998, p. 108) similar findings support the statement. (Harrington, 2000, p. 71) states that building and sustaining commitment from the sponsor of the project is one of the focus areas to successful change project implementation. The importance of the top sponsors role cannot be overstated (Harrington, 2000, p. 193).
Top managers are catalysts and facilitators. With (Slater, 1999, p. 53) stating quite strongly: If a leader wants to drive change, he must intervene.
Project management literature states (Turner, 1999, p. 74) that one of the pitfalls of project management is that project managers receive responsibility without having the adequate authority to control the project. (Rogers, 2002, p. 4) points out that another requirement of change project sponsorship is to put the right managers in place and empower them.
Driving change (Senge, 1999, p. 10) states the need for a strong sponsorship by arguing that there is no point in going forward unless the top manager is aboard. Leaders have to Walk the walk and talk the talk, and lead by example, if they are to be respected by followers (Lewis, 2003, p. 100). Lewis is supported by (Garrison, 2001, p. 189); leaders are to walk in front. Top managers are especially needed for changes like reorganising or the implementation of a new corporate strategy. Senge goes on by stating that it is only the middle managers and not the top management that undertake the change process in terms of organizational
28
experiments to test new ideas or approaches and learn from them. This process is supported by (Senge, 1999, p. 21) arguing that successful leaders do not drive change, they nurture the reinforcing growth processes through their understanding, support and participation. To nurture the growth, top managers must create organizational environments that inspire, support, and advantage the creativity and initiative that exists at all levels (Senge, 1999, p. 566).
Top managers are: Organizational designers. Teachers being mentors for middle management. Role models to walk the walk and talk the talk.
Passion and vision (Senge, 1999, p. 13) argues for an important distinction between commitment and compliance. A profound change in what people think and believe cannot be achieved through compliance. Senge states that a value is only a value when it is voluntarily chosen. (Deal, 2000, p. 211) adds that it takes leadership to believe something passionately enough to inspire others. People only get excited about an inspiring vision (Lewis, 2003, p. 95). The top management have to want to change passionately (Deal, 2000, p. 183). (Lewis, 2003, p. 148) says leadership is the act of getting people to want to do something you believe should be done. (Miller, 2001, p. 154) speaks about emotional attachment to the vision and the results of the organizational change. If the top manager wants the entire organization to share his vision, he must be acting according to this vision by setting high standards and lead by example (Rogers, 2002, p. 3).
Confidence in management Confidence in management holds an important role for the organization to accept the change. (Taylor, 1995, p. 74) expresses that a common feature of successful change is renewed visible leadership. No one respects the leader who is dishonest, who lies, who cheats, or who breaks the law (Lewis, 2003, p. 101). (Rogers, 2002, p. 4) notes that a manager, who has been involved in a failing change project, cannot again lead a change project within that particular
29
organization. The tough judgement of the employees will be that the manager is incompetent and untrustworthy as a manager.
2.3.2 Cascading sponsorship to the organization The strong sponsorship has to be cascaded to the entire organization to ensure organizational commitment. Lack of sustaining sponsorship Even when the top manager has the passion and power to implement strategic change, projects often fails. (Conner, Chaos, 1998, p. 251) expresses it as management efforts to change is pulled into bureaucratic layers and structures, wherein it vanishes without trace or effect. (Harrington, 2000, p. 76) refers to this as the black hole effect:
Initiating sponsor S Black Hole No sustaining sponsor T
S = Initiating sponsor T = Target
Figure 2.12 Black Holes: Typical ineffective sponsorship, Harrington, 2000
According to Harrington, black holes form where middle managers do not adequately support an announced change. Types of problematic individuals (Kotter, 1996, p. 59) describes three types of people who can become a problem for the change: 1. Big egos: People with big egos why change, no team spirit. 2. Snakes: People who create mistrust to others setting people up against each other. 3. Key players: People who are too powerful and/or too respected to be ignored people listen to them.
30
When creating the guiding coalition of the change project, Kotter argues that one must either avoid or carefully manage the first two. The third type must be convinced to get on board the change coalition. Key players are a big part of the organizations credibility and authority.
Comparing Kotter and Harringtons theories, the black holes will form around Kotters problematic individuals. It is therefore unwise to ignore big egos and snakes, as they may be a threat to the change initiative as opinion leaders or spread mistrust. Managers are afraid of loosing power From (Kanter, 2001, p. 167) it is stated that the biggest barrier to change is management fighting for territory. For change to happen, passionate people are needed and sponsors have to make sure that those with the power to fight for it (Kanter, 2001, p. 234) support the change. Concerning the appropriate use of power, (Ulrich, 1999, p. 49) states that if leaders spend their time working on their personal agenda controlling careers, their schedules, fighting for territory they believe they are gaining power, but in fact, they are losing. Power and Politics Viewed from another angle, power and politics are a part of managing change. (Buchanan, 1999, p. 618) states that those who seek to block or fight change can be expected to use political tactics, potentially triggering a parallel response from those promoting change. He argues that political behavior is an accepted dimension of the change agents role. (Hirschhorn, 2002, p. 98) argues that successful change must be implemented in three parallel campaigns: political, marketing and military. (Doppler, 2001, p. 105) supports the view on political tactics by adding that if you want to change an existing power structure, you have to build up a corresponding counter-power structure.
31
2.3.3 The change implementation team In building a strategic change project organization (Kanter, 1999, p. 4) points out that one of the most neglected steps in the change process is coalition building. Kanter argues that coalition building requires an understanding of the politics of change and the interaction of roles. (Carnall, 1999, p. 108) agrees that coalition building is a core competence in change management. Roles creating the guiding coalition The first step in Kotters change process of building the guiding coalition (Kotter, 1996, p. 57) is to create position power. The important key players must be involved, especially enough of the main line managers, so that those left out cannot easily block progress of the change.
The political interaction/relationships between the different roles: Sponsor, Agent, and Target are described by (Conner, Speed, 1998, p. 107).
Linear
S A
Triangular
S
Square
S1 S2 Advocat e
A T
Figure 2.13 Three basic role architectures, Connor, Speed, 1998
Using the linear relationship, the strategic change project operates in the usual chain of command. It is simple in structure but still change is not easy. In the triangle relationship, the target and the agent both report to the same sponsor. Here the challenge is that the agent must tell people who do not report to him what to do. It is important that the sponsor endorse the change project with the targets before the agent is involved. The square relationship has the target and the agent reporting to different sponsors. This relationship is problematic because sponsor S2 may not support the change project of sponsor S1. The target responds to sponsor S2 who is controlling the consequences of the target. Sponsor S1 and the agent can only act as advocates of change in the responsibility area of sponsor S2.
32
The understanding of the role dynamics is essential in creating a successful guiding coalition. As a part of the architecture (Harrington, 2000, p. 101) suggests that role maps for the change project is drawn and monitored throughout the project to help ensure flow in the change progress. (Hamlin, 2001, p. 52) additionally suggests that agents should constantly monitor what happens on the political backstage. This way, the strategic change project organization must continuously monitor the political relationships within and around the change management team and intervene to ensure alignment. (Harrington, 2000, p. 194) states that sponsorship cannot be delegated to agents, only to those who have legitimization power.
2.4 Summary In this chapter, literature on project management and management of change was reviewed to theoretically challenge the propositions: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope The literature revealed a rich variation of models all agreeing that management must be involved in scope planning creating the foundation for the rest of the project. Contrasting views were found on initial breadth of the planning, seemingly depending on the context. Project management is important in terms of guiding, coordinating, and leading the project in the right direction from the beginning. To this extent, the proposition was justified there was found and room for improvement on managers ability to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change To ensure the change process top management involvement, vision and passion is needed to serve as inspiration for the rest of the organization. The top manager must provide leadership and nurture change by understanding, support and participation. To anchor sustained sponsorship in the organisation it is important to be aware of the organisational politics. Black holes can be avoided by focusing on the problematic individuals when establishing the guiding coalition.
33
The guiding coalition must be empowered to continuously monitor the political relationships within and around the change project. If sponsorship proves to be too weak to sanction change, there are good reasons to stop the change project.
Both propositions seem to be proven by a broad support from the literature.
34
3. Field research Project failure in practice

In this chapter, the field research will be presented.
3.1 Problem and propositions As mentioned before the overall problem is that too many projects fail to be implemented to support the intended strategy. This problem was broken down into two propositions for investigation: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
Prior to designing the questionnaire, an interview was carried out to get experience, that is more practical into the problem formulation. Two experienced consultants/project managers from www.firstconsulting.dk were interviewed.
The purpose of the research is to challenge the propositions by researching the management experience of at least 50 respondents from the Danish industry. The research is looking for patterns in projects that fail and the managers role in scope planning and change management in these projects. We look for these patterns: In the project people context: The managers role in the strategic change project. In the project organizational context: The organizational confidence associated with roles, sponsorship, power, and politics. In the project system context: To what extents is planning and control a part of the existing processes? Are planning and scope management a part of the system used? If patterns are found, they may suggest how management can improve the success rate of projects.
35
3.2 Research design and methodology The field research follows the process suggested by (Kotler, 2003, p. 129)3:
Defining the problem and research objectives
Develop the research plan
Collect the information
Analyse the information
Present the findings
Make the decision
Figure 3.1 Research process, Kotler, 2003
The research design is outlined in appendix A and B and summarized in this section. The data analysis is presented in appendices D to G and the findings are presented later in this chapter. The research is mainly based on primary data (the questionnaire). Secondary sources that were found particularly helpful in the discussion are: (Hinge, 2003, p.) o Findings of 327 participants from 53 countries. (PERIL, www)4 (BCS, 2004, p. 21) o Findings from 70 managers in the UK. (Harrington, 2000, p. xix) o Findings of 410 executives from Fortune1000 companies.
3.2.1 Questionnaires The field research is an email and WEB-based survey. The advantage of such an approach is the potential for researching a large amount of responses within a limited timeframe. The questionnaire is primarily focused and closed questions allowing statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel and Access. Open textboxes were included to ensure input from respondents. Further information on the questionnaire design can be found in appendix A.
The Henley in Denmark network of MBA students and the personal network of the author should answer the questionnaire, which were 230 potential respondents. A sample size of 230 may be insufficient and the sampling
3
Though Kotler recommends this research process for marketing research, it is judged also to be applicable to a management field research 4 Appendix C 36
approach implies that the survey is not statistically representative. These limitations will be considered when concluding on the analysis. Further elaboration on research methodology is available in appendix A and B.
3.3 Research analysis and presentation In this section, an analysis of the questionnaire results will be presented. To support the presentation the questionnaire in appendix B is used. Appendix D presents the correlation between the closed question responses. Appendices E to G outline a summary of the answers to the open questions.
The objective of the questionnaire is to facilitate the analysis of managing and participating in the strategic change process by using the respondents experience from a failed implementation project. To focus the responses and to facilitate analysis, the questionnaire is build by questions categorising the respondents, issue ranking and semantically differential questions5. A few open questions were included to ensure that the respondents did not feel controlled by the questionnaire. In some of the questions, the respondents are asked to rank project issues in order of importance to project success. The following question evaluates how they experienced that the issues were fulfilled, relating to a failed project they have experienced6. Question 14 asks the respondents to, with the failed project in mind; state how they agree to the statements. The efforts from reality are compared to question 15, where the same questions are asked in relation to importance to how the project could have been successful.
3.3.1 Sample presentation 230 respondents received an email and 65 distinct responses were received. 57 respondents answers were found acceptable for the analysis. Only eight respondents had quit the questionnaire, leaving important blanks.
5 6
(HMC, guide, 2000, pp. 45) I.e. question 12 and 13 37
Gender, age and position of respondents The distribution of the respondent gender (Q1) and age (Q2) are:
Gender 50 40 30 20 10 0 Female Male
Age (years) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-
Figure 3.2 Gender and age (years) of the respondents
81 % of the respondents are male and 53% are within the range of 36-45 years of age. From appendix D, it is concluded that neither of these factors have any significant correlation to the other research issues.
Size and age of respondents companies There is a clear connection between the size (Q3) and the age of the company (Q4). There is an overweight of large companies represented, but the tendency is that, the older the company is, the more people it employs. 28 out of 31 respondents working in older companies have more than 251 people employed. Illustrated in figure 3.3:
Size of the company (number of employees) 35 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -50 51-100 101250 251500 50130 25 Number 20 15 10 5 0
Number
Number
Age of the company (years)
Number
0-2
3-5
6-15
16-50
Older
Figure 3.3 Age and size of the respondents companies
38
Industry From appendix D, an interesting pattern is found. 27 of the 42 respondents working in the service sector state that they either disagree or partly disagree that failure to achieve the project objectives had consequences for them (Q5/Q14l).
Percentage that either partly disagree or disagree that failure had consequences 80 60 40 20 0 15 Manufacturing 42 Service Percentage
Figure 3.4 Consequences for not achieving objectives
The distribution of respondent organizational position and role during the change project: The majority of the respondents held management positions (Q6) during the failed change project. Appendix D discloses that The higher organizational level of the respondent, the more active role (Q6/Q7) in the change.
Position and role 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 15 19 7 3 0 6 0 Other
Number
Sponsor Agent Advocate Target
Top Top Middle manager management manager
Project Employee Specialist Consultant manager
Figure 3.5 Position and role of the respondents
39
Type and reference No significant patterns are found from the type of change (Q8) and the reference of the project manager (Q9), though it appears that the reference always is to top management.
Type of change 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Turnaround strategy External growth strategy New business strategy Improvement strategy Other A coordinator
Number
Reference 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Top manager A middle manager Top management Another project manager
Figure 3.6 Type of change and reference of the project manager
3.3.2 Failure to plan and manage scope The participants were asked to rank the project issues according to importance (Q12). The priority list is: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Planning Communication Scope Resources Integration Control Time Quality Cost
Comparing the priority list to the actual performance in figure 3.7, the reality (Q13) is very different:
Number
40
High
7 6 5 Importance Reality
Score Low
4 3 2 1 0
ng
es
tro
op
rc
ni
tio
ua
at
on
an
Sc
ou
ic
ra
Figure 3.7 Importance of project issues compared to reality
The red dotted line illustrates that in reality, no priority is made between the different elements. The conclusions drawn from the correlation analysis7 is that: The higher the focus is on costs, the lower the focus is on planning (Q12d/Q12i). Cost, quality, and time are interdependent factors (Q12b/Q13d/Q13e).
Scope linkages The organizational knowledge of the objectives and the vision/strategy are clearly linked to the scope definition. Projects with a clear scope definition have a higher organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy (Q13a/Q14c), and objectives ((Q15a/Q15b).
Figure 3.8, on the next page, illustrate a clear gap between the importance of the organizational knowledge of the objectives and the vision/strategy linked to the scope definition. A large part of the respondents disagree with the statement that control processes have been used to ensure alignment between scope and business strategy the importance is evaluated to be high, see figure 3.9.
Appendix D 41
om
In te g
un
Pl
es
Ti
os
io
lit

High
3 2,5 2 The objectives of the project were known and clearly stated
Score
1,5 1 0,5 Low 0 Importance Reality
Project scope were clearly defined
The vision and strategy of the strategic change project is known at all levels of the organisation
Figure 3.8 Organizational knowledge
Control and adjustment processes ensured project scope were aligned with overall business strategy High Score Low 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 Importance Reality
Figure 3.9 Control processes used to align scope and strategy
The research disclosed the following important connections linking back and depending on the scope statement. Where scope is clearly defined, the organizational knowledge is higher (Q14a/Q14b), (Q13a/Q14c). The organizational knowledge of the objectives is very important for the control processes to ensure alignment with the strategy (Q15a/Q15t). A clear statement of scope and objectives improves the ability to allocate financial resources (Q15b/Q15o). The knowledge and description of the objectives is important for setting the milestones (Q15b/Q15p). The milestones are linked to scheduling (Q14p/Q14q). Milestones used in the planning process make resource allocation more efficient (Q15o/Q15p). Project activities have to be scheduled to make control processes efficient (Q15q/Q15t). The objectives, milestones, and scheduling are important for defining the roles and the responsibility (Q15a/Q15g).
42
To ensure that scope is aligned with business strategy the control and evaluation procedures have to have high priority (Q13h/Q14t). When control processes are used, there is a higher efficiency in coordinating the project with other projects (Q15i/Q15t).
The planning issues investigated in the field research disclosed a clear gap between the efforts taken, and the known importance of the different issues (Q14 and Q15). The issues are ranked on a scale from zero (low) to three (high):
Alphabetical correspondence to the question in the correlation analysis
The question asked: The objectives of the project were known and clearly stated (a) Project scope was clearly defined (b) Roles and responsibility were clearly defined (g) The project was coordinated with other projects in the organization (i) The financial resources allocated to the project were sufficient and the budgets met with expectations (o) Milestones were used in project planning (p) All project activities were scheduled (q) Control and adjustment processes ensured project scope was aligned with overall business strategy (t)
Importance
Reality
2,62 2,38 2,36
2 1,84 1,49
B G I
2,07
1,3
2,38 2,41 2,22
1,81 1,91 1,46
P Q
2,35
1,43
Table 3.1 Planning and scope related questions
In figure 3.10, the respondents answers to each question related to planning and scope issues are compared. The picture of the experience, compared to the stated importance of the issues is significantly lower overall.
43
High Score
3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 A B G I O P Q T Question Importance Reality
Low
Figure 3.10 Gaps in planning and scope
The respondents were asked about the degree of learning from the failed projects (Q16):
Learning
A lot Some Less Nothing
Figure 3.11 Degree of learning from experience
94,7% of all respondents have learned some or a lot from the project. The extract from the main learning points8 are:
8
Planning is the foundation of: o Building the project organization, action plan, resource allocation, and controlling stakeholder expectations. Focus on scope and implementing one piece at a time. o Do not lose sight of the project scope and ensure anchoring. Agreement on the objectives is essential. Top management must commit to a limited number of projects.
Appendix F 44
Respondents were also asked to state the greatest barriers for a successful project. The important statements are9: No scope statement, herein strategic alignment of the project. No planning, poor estimating and missing milestones to measure progress. Unclear contract between stakeholders and project team.
3.3.3 Summary The research identified that in service organizations, there are often no consequences to not achieving the project objectives. It is also stated that the higher organizational position, the more active role the manager plays in the change. Regarding the first proposition: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope, a significant pattern suggested: Planning and communication are the most important project issues. In reality, these are not highly prioritized. Important connections with clear linkages to the scope statement were identified. Gaps revealed that managing planning and scope are neglected issues in the use of projects to implement strategy and strategic change.
To make a project successful the respondents suggested in open answers that higher focus on managing planning and scope, and clear contracts between stakeholders and project teams are the main learning points and the greatest barriers for success.
3.3.4 Failure to manage change In this section, the analysis results from the questionnaire concerning managing change will be presented.
Change management A thorough foundation in planning as well as a secure foundation of the change must be applied. The questionnaire will seek to describe the elements of this foundation.
Appendix G 45
Commitment from management is important. To ensure commitment, it is important that the manager is actively involved in the change process (Q15e/Q14e). The research shows that this active role is also the experience of the respondents. However, from figure 3.12 the answers to question 14 d and e identifies a gap between the importance of the top managers involvement and the actual experience in the failed projects.
The top manager in the company was actively involved in the strategic change project 3 2,5 Score 2 Score 1,5 1 Low 0,5
Your own manager was actively involved in the project 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 Low 0 Importance Reality
High
0 Importance Reality
Figure 3.12 Top manager and own managers involvement
Supported by the findings of (Harrington, 2000, p. xix) we see that in successful organizations, the senior managers behavior supports change. Top management also determines the consequences for not achieving project objectives.
The finding from appendix D implies the following connections and advantages: The information level is improved if there is set consequences for not achieving objectives. (Q15k/Q15l) The power to implement is higher when there are consequences for not achieving objectives. (Q15l/Q15h)
From the open question on learning10, the most significant answers on the management involvement in the process were: 100% sponsorship form top management is necessary. A high information level with interactive communication supports the change process.
10
Appendix F 46
High
Ownership from the top manager must be obtained all the way through the project not only in the beginning to kick off the process. Communication from management is crucial for the change process. Managers of the line organization must be involved and support the change. There must be consequences for not achieving project objectives. Commitment from all levels including all stakeholders must be achieved.
This is strongly supported by the investigation of BSC (BCS, 2004, p. 21) that states that without strong, sustained, and high-quality leadership, complex projects are almost doomed to failure from the start. In addition, the investigation of (Hinge, 2003, p. 1) states that lack of a strong executive senior sponsor is a good predictor of failure or difficulty during change projects.
Where there is an efficient change process there should also be a broad organizational understanding of the change project in terms of vision, strategy, and a sense of urgency. In appendix D, strong connections were found between the organizational sense of urgency and understanding of the project vision and strategy.
The vision and strategy of the strategic change project is known at all levels of the organisation High 3 2,5 Score
Score
A sense of urgency existed concerning the importance of the strategic change project High Low 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0 Importance Reality
2 1,5 1 0,5 Low 0 Importance Reality
Figure 3.13 Organizational knowledge and sense of urgency
Figure 3.13 illustrate a clear gap in both the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy and in the ability of management to create a sense of
47
urgency. The freedom to openly declare an opinion about the change seems to support the informational environment (Q14j/Q14k). The other interesting connections identified11 were: There has to be a clear link between the sense of urgency and the project scope (Q15m/Q15b). The communication level determines the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy of the project (Q13g/Q14c) and there is dependency between knowledge of the objectives and the knowledge of the vision and strategy (Q14a/Q14c). The information level determines: o Knowledge of the objectives (Q15k/Q15a). o Knowledge of the vision and strategy (Q15k/Q15c). o In addition, the power of the project manager is affected by the information level (Q15k/Q15f), (Q15k/Q15h). o And to some extent, the organizational support of the different roles and responsibility (Q15k/Q15g) is to some extent determined on the information level.
The learning12 points concerning the organizational knowledge and the creation of a sense of urgency supports the analysis: A clear statement of the objectives and building a vision must be present and known. Management must have the ability to create a sense of urgency to get commitment from the organization.
The project manager The learning points state that a higher organizational report of the project manager will promote the power of the project manager. In the correlation analysis13, there is no evidence of such a connection.
11
12
Appendix D Appendix F 13 Appendix D 48

The project managers report 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Top manager A middle manager Another project manager A coordinator Top management
Number
Figure 3.14 Report of the project manager
On the other hand, the perceived power of the project manager has clear linkages to: Connections between the organizational knowledge, the statement of the objectives, and the power of the project managements ability to get the resources needed (Q15a/Q15f). The power of the project manager depends on the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy (Q15c/Q15h). The connections above are very important for the scope, where fulfilment depends on whether the project manager has the power to get the resources needed (Q15b/Q15f). Successful integration depends on whether the project management has enough power to implement the project results (Q13c/Q14h).
Therefore, there are strong connections linking to the perceived power of the project manager. Confidence in management The power of the top management and their efficiency in leadership depends on the organizational confidence in management. To improve confidence in management during a change project, it is important to ensure: An open dialogue within the organization (Q14i/Q14n). Understanding of the importance of the project and the ability to create a sense of urgency (Q14m/Q14n). Coordination with other projects in the organization to ensure efficient use of the resources available (Q14n/Q15i).
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The learning point14 on improved confidence in management is that a higher confidence in management will significantly improve the ability to implement the strategic change successfully.
Cascading sponsorship The sponsorship has to be cascaded through the organization. In the correlation analysis, a pattern seems to support the concept of cascading sponsorship: The line organization: o The line managers acceptance of results depends on the information level (Q15s/Q15k). o The line organization seems more willing to supply resources if there are consequences to not achieving the project objectives (Q15s/Q15l). o If confidence is improved, line managers are more willing to adapt and implement the project results (Q15s/Q15n).
Politics The political influence was found to be extremely high in the large, 501+ companies (Q3/Q10). There is no industry dependency. The only dependency is that the larger organizations are also often older organizations with old traditions. The political influence rate is illustrated in figure 3.15 (one is no influence rate, and five is high influence rate):
Influence rate
Low
Very high
Figure 3.15 Political influence rate
One of the main learning15 points is that political games can be very influential on the success of a project. This is a main barrier to be aware of when implementing strategic change projects.
14
Appendix D 50
The change management issues investigated in the field research revealed a clear gap between the efforts made and the known importance of the identified issues (Q14/Q15). These are presented in table 3.2. The respondents are asked to rank the issues on a scale form zero (low) to three (high):
Alphabetical correspondence to the questions in the correlation analysis
The question asked: The vision and strategy of the strategic change project is known at all levels of the organization (c) The top manager in the company was actively involved in the strategic change project (d) Your own manager was actively involved in the project (e) The management of the project had enough power to get the resources needed for the project (f) The management of the project had enough power to implement the project results in the organization (h) Participants openly declared their opinion about the changes of the strategic change project (j) The information level was sufficient through out the project (k) Consequences for not achieving project objectives (l) A sense of urgency existed concerning the importance of the strategic change project (m) Confidence in management has improved considerably during the change project (n) The line organization participated by supplying resources (r) The line managers adapted the project results (s)
Importance
Reality
2,26 2,36 2,22
1,74 1,82 2,07
D E F
2,53
1,91
2,46
1,7
2,09 2,42 1,77 2,24 1,76 2,37 2,4
1,6 1,35 0,65 1,42 0,93 1,87 1,27
K L M N R S
Table 3.2 Managing change related questions
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High Score
3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5

Importance Reality
Low
0
C D E F H J K L M N R S Question
Figure 3.16 Gaps in managing change
In figure 3.16, the respondents answers to each question related to managing change issues are compared. The experienced reality compared to the importance of the issues stated is significantly lower over all. In E (figure 3.16) where the reality nearly equals the importance involvement of own manager has an interesting linkage to line managers adaptation of the results that are much lower. The cause of this may be the fact that not many line managers are involved as respondents to the questionnaire.
From figure 3.11, it is encouraging to note that regardless of project failure, respondents seem to learn from the strategic change projects.
The main barriers, revealed by the respondents regarding managing change, for a successful project are: Lack of support from top management. If the top management is not able to create a sense of urgency. If there are no consequences for not achieving project objectives. The political power games. No commitment from middle management to supply resources. Lack of information. Lack of empowering the project manager.
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3.4 Summary In this chapter, a field research was launched and the results from the respondents were evaluated. The purpose of the field research was a practical challenge of the propositions: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
The research identified that in service organizations there are often no consequences to not achieving the project objectives. It is also stated that the higher organizational position, the more active role the managers play in the change.
Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope The field research disclosed a significant pattern that suggested: Planning, communication, and scope are the three most important project issues. In reality, these are not highly prioritized. Important connections with clear linkages to the scope statement were identified. Gaps revealed that managing planning and scope are neglected issues in the use of projects to implement strategy and strategic change.
To make a project successful the respondents suggested in open answers that a higher focus on managing planning and scope, and clear contracts between stakeholders and project teams are the main learning points, but also the greatest barriers for success if they are not present. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change The field research revealed important change management problems: Lack of involvement and commitment from top management is crucial. Communication and information are determining factors for success. The ability to create a sense of urgency is vital for a successful change. To become successful there has to be consequences for not achieving the objectives.
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The main learning points and barriers for success are: Lack of 100% sponsorship and ownership from top management. Lack of communication. Lack of a clear statement of the objectives and the vision of the change project must be presented and known by the organization. Lack of confidence in management. The political game can be very influential on the success of the project.
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4. Integrated discussion
In this chapter the theoretical and the field research is integrated in a discussion.
4.1 Discussion of the problem of project failure The initiating problem of the dissertation was that too many strategic change projects fail. The problem formulation was inspired by theories of project management, change management, and the authors own experience.
4.1.1 Failure rate of projects From the review of the literature, there is consistent evidence that the failure rate of implementing strategic changes through projects lays around 75%. The field research confirmed that failing strategic change projects are not to Danish managers. However, before drawing any conclusions, it is important to note that: The sampling method results in data that is statistically insignificant. There is an over-representation of managers in the survey population (84%). There is an over-representation of big companies in the survey population (67%). There is an over-representation of male respondents (81%).
Appendix D showed a close correlation between the organizational levels and the respondent consideration towards project success. With the high percentage of mangers, the research population is biased, but there is no reason to believe that strategic change implementation in the Danish industry is more or less successful than in the rest of the world. Therefore, the initiating dissertation problem is indeed a problem worth investigating.
4.1.2 The causes of failure The overall assumption when setting the dissertation objective was that if a strategic change project is failing, then it is the managements fault16.
16
see 1.2 Problem definition and dissertation objective 55
A strong theoretical indication that the managers ability to create organizational environments that inspire and support the change process is crucial for the implementation success was found in (Senge, 1999, p. 566). Furthermore (Rogers, 2002, p.4) concluded that managers with an involvement history in failing change projects cannot again lead change in that particular company: people lose confidence in these managers. Similar findings were evident from the field research that stated that a higher confidence in management would significantly improve the ability to implement the strategic change.
The consistency between theory and field findings implies that the assumption is self-sustaining: Managers get the blame and if managers fail while implementing change in an organization they will continue to fail.
4.2 Discussion of failure to plan and manage scope Strategic change projects often consist of several subprojects. Youker (Turner, 1999, p.17) implies a cascade of objectives at different management levels. One of the learning points from the field research supports this and recommends that top management set a limit to the number of concurrent projects to ensure commitment and ownership. This is also linked to the confidence in the management where the research recommends coordination with other projects for improvement of confidence.
Planning The typically causes of failure are too informal methods with a lack of structure (Kendrick, 2003, p. 21). Planning ensures better communication, less rework, lower costs, and reduced time ((PMBOK, 2000, p. 32); (Heldman, 2002, p. 6); (Turner, 1999, p. 5); (Kendrick, 2003, p. 18)). In practice, the importance of planning is known but when prioritizing things are different. There is a clear gap as illustrated in figure 3.7. Focus shifts from planning to cost, instead of using planning to control cost. Thorough planning improves communication. There is a clear link between communication and the importance of a high organizational knowledge that
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cannot be underestimated. The field research shows that communication is the second most important issue17 for change and proves that it has highly significant supportive link to the entire change process ((Q13g/Q14c), (Q14a/Q14c)).
The foundation of any project is to use a systematic approach. The learning points and the main barriers for success support the statement18. No thorough planning leads to poor estimates and missed milestones.
Scope management The scope statement is the contract between project management and the stakeholders (Kendrick, 2003, p. 43).This contract should be containing: The what: Project description, delivery plan. The how: Project purpose, decision criteria, sponsorship, resource needs, dependencies, and alignment with strategy. The when: In over-all terms. The who: The overall responsibility and resource needs.
In practice, a clear scope statement leads to higher organizational knowledge and more efficient resource allocation. No scope statement missing a clear contract between stakeholders and project management is one of the main barriers for success. Practice also shows that a clear knowledge of the objectives is important for the further breakdown (Q15b/Q15p).
This leads to a further breakdown:
The scope definition breaks the workload into smaller manageable components ((Heldman, 2002, p. 129), (Kendrick, 2003, p. 55), (PMBOK, 2000), (Turner 1999, p. 95)). Work Breakdown Structures. Setting milestones for the activities. Scheduling all activities. Clearly defining roles and responsibility.
17 18
Figure 3.7 Appendix F and G 57
The field research supports the importance of the scope definition. A clear scope definition is the foundation for a higher organizational knowledge of the vision, strategy, and the objectives ((Q13a/Q14c), (Q15a/Q15b)). Using milestones in the planning process makes resource allocation more efficient (Q15o/Q15p). Knowledge of the objectives, setting the milestones, and scheduling the activities are necessary to efficiently defining the roles and the responsibility (Q15a/Q15g). Clear gaps were identified in the process of scheduling and defining roles and responsibility19.
To ensure alignment with strategy an efficient control system must be in place ((Kendrick, 2003, pp. 133), (Heldman, 2002, p. 370)). In practice, clear links have been identified linking from the control system back to scope management. The field research has shown that organizational knowledge of the objectives is important for control processes to ensure alignment with strategy (Q15a/Q15t). The control processes depend on activity scheduling and the setting of roles and responsibility ((Q15q/Q15t), (Q13h/Q14t)). The use of control processes improves the ability to coordinate the project with other projects (Q15i/Q15t), which later will prove its importance for improved confidence in management.
Management focus on planning and scope management can be used efficiently to close the gaps identified20, which will lead to a higher success rate in strategic change projects.
4.3 Discussion of failure to manage change In the literature review, the efforts have been spent on describing recipes and systems for successful change. A few questions in the survey pointed to specific elements of Kotters change process in order to disclose patterns of a project process, see figure 4.1. In the field research, there was evidence of the same patterns in the change process. The broader the organizational sense of urgency and understanding of project vision and strategy, the higher the success rate of the change projects.
19 20
Figure 3.10 Table 3.1 58
Communication is an extremely important factor when influencing and determining organizational knowledge ((Q13g/Q14c), (Q14a/Q14c)). An important learning point21 is the communication from management is crucial for the change process. The implication is that in order to inspire for change, managers must be visibly accountable for change progress by visible progress reporting, change audits or employee surveys.
Establish a sense of urgency
Create the guiding coalition
Develop a vision and strategy
Communicate the change vision
Empower broad-based action
Generate short-term wins
Consolidate gains and produce more change
Anchor new approaches into the culture
Figure 4.1 The eight steps for successful change, Kotter, 1996
A strong sponsorship Sponsorship from the top manager results in the organizational power to hold managers responsible for change. (Hamlin, 2001, p. 16) states that most change projects fail because top managers do not to get actively involved and leave the implementation issues to the middle managers. From (Conner, Speed, 1998, p. 108) similar findings support this statement. (Harrington, 2000, p. 71) states that failing to build and sustain commitment from the sponsor of the project is one of the main risks to successful change project implementation. Research findings shows that commitment form top management is important to ensure implementation. Learning points22 from failed projects show that complete sponsorship from top management is necessary and that all management levels need to be actively involved in the process. (BCS, 2004, p. 21) strongly supports that without strong sustained leadership, projects are
21 22
Appendix F Appendix F 59
doomed to failure. The main barrier23 is that ownership must be obtained from top management all the way trough the process. Top managers are catalysts and facilitators. (Slater, 1999, p. 53) states it quite strongly: If a leader wants to drive change, he must intervene. (Senge, 1999, p. 10) states the need for a strong sponsorship by arguing that there is no point in going forward unless the top manager is aboard. This process is supported by (Senge, 1999, p. 21) which argues that successful leaders do not drive change, they nurture the reinforcing growth processes through their understanding and participation. To nurture the growth, executive leaders must create organizational environments that inspire, support, and advantage the imagination and initiative that exist at all levels (Senge, 1999, p. 566). Theory and field research shows that top manager sponsorship is crucial for change24: Top managers have to support the objectives and the purpose of the change project. Strategic and tactical management must constantly communicate to ensure organizational knowledge and understanding.
The change process must be driven through passion and vision. Field research supports this theory by showing the importance of managements ability to create a sense of urgency (Q14m/Q14n). The organization has to understand the reasons for change to accept it. The sense of urgency is clearly linked to the definition of project scope (Q15m/Q15b) and the communication/information level from management (Q14a/Q14c). This is supported further by (Harrington, 2000, p. xix): In successful organizations, the top managements behavior supports change.
(Senge, 1999, p. 13) states that a value is only a value when it is voluntarily chosen. (Deal, 2000, p. 211) adds that it takes leadership to believe something passionately enough to inspire others.
23 24
Appendix G Appendix F 60
Field research showed25 that the power and efficiency of leadership depend on the organizational confidence in management (Q15s/Q15n). An open dialogue (Q14i/Q14n) achieves confidence, an efficiently planned and performed communication strategy and management ability to coordinate with other projects (Q14n/Q15i). Cascading sponsorship to the organization The strong sponsorship from the top management has to be cascaded to the entire organization to ensure organizational commitment. Lack of sustaining sponsorship Even when the top manager has the passion and power to implement strategic change, projects often fail. (Conner, Chaos, 1998, p. 251) expresses it as managements effort to change is pulled into bureaucratic layers and structures, where it vanishes without trace or effect. The field research shows that to ensure middle management support (Q15s/Q15k) and eliminate the risk of Black Holes, the sponsorship has to be cascaded through communication, this leads to a higher information level, improved confidence in top management, and consequences for not achieving project objectives (Q15s/Q15l).
The risk stated by (Kanter, 2001, p. 167) that managers who are afraid of losing power and fighting for territory are one of the biggest barriers to change. For change to happen passionate people are needed and sponsors have to make sure that those with the power to fight for it (Kanter, 2001, p. 234) support the change. The field research showed that top management involvement promotes: Organizational understanding of the change projects vision and objectives26. The perception that there is enough power in the change project organization to implement the changes needed (Q13c/Q14h).
25 26
Appendix D Appendix F 61
This means that top management must ensure management involvement mangers are an integral and indispensable part of the change project.
Viewed from another angle, power and politics are a part of managing change. (Hirschhorn, 2002, p. 98) argues that successful change must be implemented in three parallel campaigns: political, marketing, and military. The research supports the need for awareness of and action taken against the political games (Q3/Q10). Especially in the larger and the older companies with old traditions, where the political influence rate is very high. The learning points27 stated that the political games are one of the greatest barriers for success. The change implementation team In building a strategic change project organization, (Kanter, 1999, p. 4) points out that one of the most neglected steps in the change process is coalition building. Kanter argues that coalition building requires an understanding of the politics of change. (Carnall, 1999, p. 108) agrees that coalition building is a core competence in managing change.
The field research supports this argument. To build the guiding coalition and improve the success rate for the projects, the top management has to: Ensure full commitment and understanding from middle and line management. o Has to understand the need for change and the necessity to supply the resources. Support project management with the power to implement the changes ((Q15a/Q15f), (Q13c/Q14h).
The first step in Kotters change process of building the guiding coalition (Kotter, 1996, p. 57) is to create position power. The important key players must be involved. Field research supported a focus especially on the main line managers, so that those left out cannot easily block progress. Understanding the role dynamics is fundamental to create a successful guiding coalition. To ensure the effect of the guiding coalition, (Hamlin, 2001, p. 52)
27
Appendix F 62
suggests that agents should constantly monitor what happens on the political backstage.
Management focus on change can be used efficiently to close the gaps identified28, which leads to a higher success rate of the strategic change projects.
4.4 Discussion of further research issues Undertaking the research, several interesting topics were left behind, in terms of both theoretical research and field research, because they are outside the limitations of the problem formulation. Some of the topics listed here for reference: Plan for communication. o The research has stated the importance of communication. Further studies on how to communicate efficiently would be both interesting and supportive for the dissertation objective. Managers personal resistance to change. o How do managers personally react to changes? o Direct managers involvement in the change and motivation theories to ensure commitment. A study of change resistance and theories would give a second dimension to the dissertation. Leadership and motivational theories are connected to change resistance and would increase efficiency in the process of change. o Getting the right people on the bus (Collins, 2001). The efficiency of change control systems. How can control systems be used to support the change process?
4.5 Summary The theoretical and field research findings were used to challenge the dissertation propositions. Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
28
Table 3.2 63
The discussion showed that the propositions were widely supported by both theory and practice.
The main motivational factor for managers to be actively involved in the change process is that they are held accountable for change: simply they get the blame if change projects fails and they lose the confidence of their employees.
Using projects for strategic change includes two fundamental interdependent foundations. One cannot stand-alone. Projects often fail because one of them has a crack. The two foundations are:
To ensure the needed communication and organizational knowledge the recommendations is to use a structured approach to planning and scope management. A thorough scope management includes the what, the why, the how, and the who, to be clearly defined in the scope statement and further broken down in the scope definition. This will ensure efficient resource allocation, milestones, scheduling of activities, and definition of roles and responsibility. Thorough planning must be supported by an efficient control system.
Managing change has clear connections to planning and scope management. Communication is determinant for organizational knowledge. A strong sponsorship from top management is necessary. Complete sponsorship engaged with passion and vision driving change as a catalyst and facilitator. Lack of sustaining sponsorship has to be eliminated by communication, leadership, and by setting consequences. The top management has to be aware of the political situation. The change implementation team can be used to ensure commitment from middle management. The team has to be empowered by top management to be efficiently used as change agents.
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5. Conclusion and recommendations

In this last chapter, the conclusions drawn from the research of the dissertation propositions will be outlined.
5.1 Research conclusion The dissertation sought to prove the propositions: Projects fail because managers fail to plan and manage scope. Projects fail because managers fail to manage change.
The review of literature on project and change management was presented to challenge the propositions theoretically. A field research was undertaken to challenge the propositions from a practical angle. Both theory and the practical findings were integrated in a discussion leading to the following conclusions and recommendations:
Overall, the reasons for project failure has a wide range of causes. They range from failure to implement best practises, to no clear link between the project and the organizations key strategic priorities. Typically, there is a lack of constraint and limitless scope. Around 75% of all projects fail and the main causes are:
The project deliverable is infeasible. The project deliverable is possible but timing and resources are insufficient for delivery. The project is poorly planned and chaotically managed.
Managers fail to plan and manage scope Planning is usually a part of all projects, but often not enough effort is put into the work. It is better to get work done. The research has proven that planning sets the standard for the rest of the process. The efficient way to plan is by using a structured approach. The conclusion is also that a master plan is ideal to supply the overall view of the projects in action. Management should limit the number of projects to ease balancing of the triple constraints time, cost, and quality.
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The structured approach to planning includes:
Efficient scope management to ensure that enough, and only enough, work is undertaken to fulfil the project purpose successfully. A scope statement must be developed, in writing, as a clear contract between project management and the stakeholders. If changes are needed in a later stage, they must be proposed in writing as well. The scope statement must be specified further in the scope definition breaking the deliverables down into smaller pieces, by using Work Breakdown Structures, and setting milestones to be able to control: o Work definition. o Task delegation. o Role and responsibility definition.
By following a structured approach to planning, the risk of project failure can be minimized. Managers fail to manage change Like planning, the process of change must also build upon a structured sequential approach. The foundation of the change process is a strong sponsorship. The top manager is the catalyst and facilitator of the process. He must drive the change by taking the lead and by walk the walk and talk the talk. The top manager has to drive change through passion and vision inspiring the entire organization to believe in the vision by stating the sense of urgency for the change.
The management process must build on confidence. Focusing on efforts to improve the confidence in management can be vital for the change process. The top manager also has to empower project management and middle managers, to be able to get the needed resources and to implement the changes.
The top manager must seek to cascade the sponsorship, to the entire organization, to ensure commitment. The advised is to take some efforts towards problematic individuals to prevent Black Holes in the organization.
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Internal politics are a part of the change. There is a serious risk for politics to block the change process. The use of change agents is an efficient way to control the political games. When building the project organization the conclusions are that a guiding coalition must be build. The important key players must be involved to ensure commitment, and create position power. Building the project organisation includes mapping the different roles to be able to control and monitor the political games, and by the help from the change agents. It is important to remember that sponsorship cannot be delegated to change agents, only to those who have legitimized power.
The structured approach of managing change includes focus on:
Complete sponsorship from top management. Communication to ensure organizational knowledge and understanding. Empowering of project management and middle managers.
The conclusion is that the dissertation propositions both were supported by research. By following the recommendations, the success rate of strategic change projects can be improved significantly.
5.2 Summary recommendations The management guidelines derived from the research:
Limit the number of projects to be able to ensure sponsorship, commitment, and allocation of the needed resources. Ensure that efforts are spend on thorough planning. Thorough planning has clear advantages: Ensures communication, less rework, lowered cost, and reduced time. Involve the right people from the beginning of the project. Complete sponsorship from the top manager is needed to implement the changes. The top manager must provide: o A clear vision for the change project. o Create a sense of urgency for why the change is needed. o His involvement in the change process is to nurture the organization, and bring inspiration to the organization. Cascade sponsorship to the organization to ensure commitment. The process must be supported by the use of
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change agents, to control the progress of the change and the political environment. The top manager must empower project management and middle managers, to be able to make the change.
5.3 Closing notes The completion of the dissertation is achievement of an important personal milestone. Writing the dissertation has fulfilled the personal objective of gaining insight into the subject of management techniques used to create a solid foundation for strategic change projects.
The challenge to create a substantial research, applying the knowledge and techniques obtained throughout the MBA course, has been an inspirational journey. Combined with the process of writing the dissertation in order to pinpoint the key issues presented, and to understand the underlying theory and its context, the journey has been stretching. The insights gained into the specific area, has challenged my personal curiosity, and identified potential for continuing personal development in the future.
Henrik Schriver
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Appendix A Field research methodology and design

The process of designing the research has been developed with the use of the (HMC, research, 1999) and (Kotler, 2003).
Appendix A.1 The research plan The purpose of this section is to outline the research plan of the field research.
Appendix A.1.1 Data sources The focus of the field research is the primary data source in terms of the questionnaire survey. As supportive elements, the case studies covered in the literature review will be used to reveal statistic coverage of the research Propositions. (Hinge, 2003) presents a survey performed on 327 participants revealing statistics on the top five mistakes of project management. The (PERIL, www) database holds information on the risks of project managers gathered from a huge amount of project managers, and although they may be biased, the data reveal interesting patterns. Another interesting source is the study from (BCS, 2004) where 70 managers describe what can be called A general absence of collective professionalism. (Harrington, 2000) presents a survey of 410 executives from Fortune 1000 companies. It compares the behavior of managers in successful and less successful organizations in terms of managing change.
Appendix A.1.2 Research approach The approach to research is a questionnaire survey, giving the researcher the ability to researching a large amount of responses within limited time, while keeping respondents focused in the broad area of project management. The questionnaire must be built to facilitate statistical analysis of the data. In the process of building the questionnaire one interview was carried out, to ensure alignment between the Propositions and the questions asked.
Appendix A.1.3 Research instruments The questionnaire design In order to secure as many respondents as possible to answer, the questionnaire is structured according to (HMC, research, 1999):
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Cover letter explaining the purpose and context of the questionnaire as well as the confidentiality of the responses. Distributed by E-mail. A set of detailed instructions to ensure completion of the answers from most respondents. The questionnaire is accessed through a link in the E-mail leading to the web-based questionnaire.
The questionnaire is formulated in English, as it is assumed that the group of respondents master the language to a degree sufficient to answer the question posed.
Questionnaire design The objective of the questionnaire is to facilitate the analysis of managing and participating in the strategic change process using their experiences from a failed implementation project. To focus the responses to the research issues and to facilitate analysis, the questionnaire is built by questions categorising the respondents, issue ranking, and semantically differential questions (HMC, guide, 2000, p. 45ff). A few open questions were included to ensure that the respondents did not feel controlled by the questionnaire. In some of the questions, the respondents are asked to rank project issues in order of importance to make a project successful. The following question follows up on how they experienced the issues fulfilled relating to a failed project they have experienced. (I.e. question 12 and 13). The questions asked in question 14 ask the respondents to, with the failed project in mind; state how they agree to the statements. In question 15, they are asked to what degree they find the same statements of importance in relation to what could have made the project successful.
The model behind the questionnaire is the seven-force model of project based management see figure 2.3.
The People context The questionnaire is created by asking questions to place the respondent in the context of a particular change project. To gain knowledge about the leadership above the respondent, questions are asked on the respondents own attitude to
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the project and then focused towards the managements role in the strategic change project.
The organizational context The organizational context of the project is questioned with the roles, reference and project types asked to evaluate the management team around the project. This is including sponsorship, power, and politics.
The systems context Questions are asked to evaluate the managers role in the change process. To what extent is planning and control a part of the existing processes? Are planning and scope management a part of the system used?
Piloting To ensure that the questionnaire is understandable, direct and unbiased, a pilot was carried out as a part of the designing. The process followed: Designing draft cover letter, instructions and questionnaire Piloting with 5 colleagues, who also were asked to state: o How much time was spent answering the questions? o Was the understanding of the questions clear? o Was the questionnaire logically built? o Other comments? Testing the analysis facilities of the questionnaire on the basis of the pilot.
After the iteration and a test of the final questionnaire, it was distributed to the sample.
Appendix A.1.4 Sampling plan In the following, the approach towards the target population for the research is discussed.
Sampling unit The target group of the research is the Danish industry investigating the patterns in relation to project failure and the managers role.
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Sampling procedure The approach will be a non-probability sampling, and the Danish companies will be approached in two ways: A sample of convenience, by using the Henley in Denmark database of MBA students and graduates. A judgment sample where the author is mailing the questionnaire to good targets known by the author. (Alm. Brand, IBM, Ericsson, and others)
A sample list is not provided due to promised confidentiality, but is available for further use if it is found necessary to repeat the findings. Sample size and target representation The objective for the questionnaire is that the number of responses exceeds 50 in order to have substantial material. The sampling method of the target group is not represented in a way that is statistically significant to allow calculation of sampling errors. The sample size of 230 respondents may be insufficient. These are facts to be taken into consideration when concluding from the material.
Appendix A.1.5 Contact method The respondents received an E-mail with a short description and a link leading to the questionnaire (see appendix B). The questionnaire was created by the tools provided by: www.freeonlinesurveys.com from where the research results were downloaded.
Appendix A.2 Collecting the information According to (Kotler, 2003, p. 138), collecting the information is the most critical step in the process: Respondents may not see or simply refuse to answer the questionnaire Respondents may give biased or dishonest answers The questionnaire itself may be biased
A.2.1 minimising non-response The sample is a convenience and judgment sample, which should allow for a high return rate. The anonymity of the answers should remove fear that the
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information is misused. The questionnaire is kept short and easy accessible through the web.
Appendix A.2.2 Minimising bias The respondents are instructed to simply skip it if there is a question, which they do not understand or do not want to answer. In addition, respondents can give anonymous answers therefore there is no reason for giving biased or dishonest answers.
Appendix A.2.3 Bias of the questionnaire The focus of the questions has been controlled. There are several open questions where the respondent is free to write down his or her thoughts on the subject. Therefore, the open answers will be analysed in detail and compared to the analysis of the closed questions.
Appendix A.3 Analysing the questionnaire data The result of the questionnaire where downloaded from www.freeonlinesurvey.com as a comma separated file. From this file, respondent ratings are represented in numerical form allowing statistical analysis on all closed questions by the help of Microsoft Excel and Access. Open questions are represented by a text string in the tools from Microsoft and can be listed for analysis. A presentation of the analysis is outlined in appendices D to G.
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Appendix B Questionnaire
Appendix B.1 Cover letter Many companies use projects to implement strategy and strategic change. The experience is that projects have a tendency to be of great importance in the beginning, but in the end when the results are to be implemented, focus has changed. Why is that? o Lack of coordination with strategy? o Lack of focus? o Lack of management? As a part of my MBA dissertation, I carry out a questionnaire survey to analyse the reasons for failure in strategic change projects. I would like you to participate in my survey by filling a questionnaire. It will take you 10-15 minutes to answer the questions. I would be very grateful if you are able to do so before: Tuesday the 8th of June 2004 Your response remains strictly confidential, though I would be grateful if you would supply your E-mail address at the end to allow me to contact you, if there should be any questions to your answers. If you have any questions, I would be grateful if you would contact me by E-mail or phone. To answer please use the following link, leading you to the questionnaire: http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?id=61632 I thank you in advance for helping me complete my dissertation. I wish you a nice, sunny summer! Best regards Henrik Schriver Telephone Direct 35 47 48 36 Private 86 27 85 77 Mobile 20 20 85 77 E-mail henrik.schriver@almbrand.dk
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Appendix B.2 Introduction to the questionnaire Why projects fail Dear respondent! When answering the questions please think of a strategic change project that you have experienced during your working life, that either failed to be implemented, or faced severe problems during its way towards implementation. Examples of strategic change issues are: Changes to business strategy in terms of new markets or products Improvement strategy in terms of major IT projects, restructuring, reengineering of business processes, culture projects, etc. Turnaround strategy in terms of cost reduction, downsizing etc. Changes to growth strategy in terms of mergers, acquisitions, or divestments
Please choose the answers that you think fit your perception. If there are questions that you do not understand or do not wish to answer you simply skip them. Thank you once again for your time.
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Appendix B.3 Questionnaire 1. What is your gender? Female Male 2. What is your age?
- 25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56-
3. What is the size of your company, number of employees? 1-50 51-100 101-250 251-500 5014. What is the age of the company, in years? 0-2 3-5 6-15 16-50 Older 5. What industry sector are you working in? Manufacturing Service Government Other 6. Your position during the strategic change project Top manager Top management Middle manager Project manager Employee Specialist Consultant Other 7. Which role did you have in the strategic change project? Sponsor (power to approve and sanction change) Agent (responsible for the change project management) Advocate (Supporting change, but with no power to sanction it)
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Target (individual affected by the change) Other
8. What type of strategic change project was to be implemented? New business strategy (new product/market) Improvement strategy (IT, CRM, TQM, BSC, etc.) Turnaround strategy (Crisis management, downsizing, cost reduction) External growth strategy (Acquisition, divestment, merger, alliance) Other 9. To whom did the project manager of the strategic project refer? The top manager Top management A middle manager Another project manager A coordinator 10. To which extent did the political game in the company influence the success rate (Scale 1 to 5, where 1 is no influence and 5 is high influence) 11. Please describe shortly how the political game were experienced 12. Please rank the following project issues in order of importance to make a project successful (Rank the issues 1 to 9, where 1 is the most important and 9 the least) Scope Time Integration Cost Quality Resources Communication Control/evaluation Planning 13. With your project in mind, do you consider each issue fulfilled? (yes, partly, no) Scope Time Integration Cost Quality Resources Communication Control/evaluation Planning
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14. Having the project in mind, please state your degree of agreement to the following statements: ( agree, partly agree, partly disagree, disagree, do not know): The objectives of the project were known and clearly stated Project scope was clearly defined The vision and strategy of the strategic change project is known at all levels of the organization The top manager in the company was actively involved in the strategic change project Your own manager was actively involved in the project The management of the project had enough power to get the resources needed for the project Roles and responsibility were clearly defined The management of the project had enough power to implement the project results in the organization The project were coordinated towards other projects in the organization Participants openly declared their opinion about the changes of the strategic change project. The information level was sufficient through out the project Consequences for not achieving project objectives A sense of urgency existed concerning the importance of the strategic change project Confidence in management has improved considerably during the change project The financial resources allocated to the project were sufficient and the budgets meet with expectations. Milestones were used in project planning All project activities were scheduled The line organization participated by supplying resources The line managers adapted the project results Control and adjustment processes ensured project scope was aligned with overall business strategy 15. Having the project in mind, please state the importance of the following statements: (high, some, less, none): The objectives of the project were known and clearly stated Project scope was clearly defined The vision and strategy of the strategic change project is known at all levels of the organization The top manager in the company was actively involved in the strategic change project Your own manager was actively involved in the project
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The management of the project had enough power to get the resources needed for the project Roles and responsibility were clearly defined The management of the project had enough power to implement the project results in the organization The project was coordinated towards other projects in the organization Participants openly declared their opinion about the changes of the strategic change project. The information level were sufficient through out the project Consequences for not achieving project objectives A sense of urgency existed concerning the importance of the strategic change project Confidence in management has improved considerably during the change project The financial resources allocated to the project were sufficient and the budgets meet with expectations Milestones were used in project planning All project activities were scheduled The line organization participated by supplying resources The line managers adapted the project results Control and adjustment processes ensured project scope was aligned with overall business strategy
16. Have you learned from the project? (a lot, some, less, nothing) 17. Please shortly describe the main learning points 18. What do you consider to be the greatest barriers for a successful project? 19. This is the end of the questionnaire. Please enter your E-mail address as a reference to your response. Your answers remain strictly confidential in the dissertation. I plan to select 15 respondents for a telephone interview. Please allow me to contact you by supplying name and phone number. I thank you for answering the questionnaire. Best regards, Henrik Schriver
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Appendix C - The PERIL database

Over the past ten years, in the context of a series of workshops on risk management, Tom Kendrick - the author of the book: Identifying and Managing Project Risk has asked hundreds of project leaders to describe typical past project problems, defining both what went wrong and the amount of impact it had on their projects. This data is collected in the Project Experience Risk Information Library (PERIL) database.
The data have a few disclaimers: PERIL is not comprehensive. It represents a small fraction of the tens of thousands of projects undertaken by the project managers from whom it was collected. PERIL is not unbiased. The information was not collected randomly, and all of it self-reported. PERIL represents only significant risks. The point of the effort was to collect data on major problems.
In spite of this, the risk information collected represents a wide range of typical risks, and a number of instructive patterns emerge. The geographic and project type information in the PERIL database are summarized in table C.1. Whatever the type or location, most of these projects share a strong dependence on new technology and most involve software development. Most projects had durations between six months and one year, and typical staffing on these projects was between 10 and 25 people.
The raw project numbers in the PERIL database are: Americas Asia IT/Solution 67 25 45 Europe/ Total Middle East 13 16 105 117 222
Product Development 56
Total 123 70 29 Table C.1 Sources of PERIL data, Kendrick
In order to normalize the data for analysis and comparison purposes, a consistent measure for "impact" is used. The most typical serious impact reported was deadline slip (in weeks), so I estimated an equivalent slippage to this whenever the impact was primarily unplanned overtime, scope reduction, or
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some other project change. In cases where the deadline was mandatory, the data reported is the equivalent duration that would have been required if the overtime had been worked on a standard schedule, or the duration that would have been required to restore any deletions from the project scope. When this was necessary, very conservative estimates were used in making these transformations. The average impact for all records was slightly over five weeks, representing about a 20 percent slip for a typical nine-month project. The averages by project type and by region were consistently very close to the average for all of the data, ranging about four and a half weeks up to six and a half weeks.
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Appendix D Correlation analysis

To analyze data and to find patterns in the questionnaire, the Data Analysis Pack function in Excel is used to calculate the correlation coefficient between responses. This serves as a guide to find patterns of coherence.
All responses of the closed questions are represented in an array of 69 vectors each sized 57 cells (N) (number of answers), and all with numeric values. For every possible pair of these vectors, the correlation is calculated giving the matrix in figure D.1.
The analysis is used as a guide in where a relatively high positive or negative value suggests that there may be a relation between the issues addressed in the two particular questions. In the appendix a choice is made on which relationships and patterns to investigate and which to leave to further study.
See figure D.1 on the next page, followed by an analysis of the relations.
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Q1 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10a Q12a Q12b Q12c Q12d Q12e Q12f Q12g Q12h Q12i Q13a Q13b Q13c Q13d Q13e Q13f Q13g Q13h Q13i Q14a Q14b Q14c Q14d Q14e Q14f Q14g Q14h Q14i Q14j Q14k Q14l Q14m Q14n Q14o Q14p Q14q Q14r Q14s Q14t Q15a Q15b Q15c Q15d Q15e Q15f Q15g Q15h Q15i Q15j Q15k Q15l Q15m Q15n Q15o Q15p Q15q Q15r Q15s Q15t 1 -0,1 0 0 -0,2 -0,2 0 -0,2 0 0 -0,2 -0,2 0,3 -0,1 -0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,2 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0,1 0 0 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,2 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 -0,1 0 0 0 -0,2 0,1 0 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0,1 0 0 0 -0,2 0,2 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,2 0 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 0,2 -0,1 0
Q2 1 0,1 0,1 0 0 -0,1 0,1 0 0 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,1 0 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 0 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,1 0 0 -0,2 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 0 0 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Q10a Q12a Q12b Q12c Q12d Q12e Q12f Q12g Q12h Q12i
Q13a Q13b Q13c Q13d Q13e Q13f Q13g Q13h Q13i
Q14a Q14b Q14c Q14d Q14e Q14f Q14g Q14h Q14i
Q14j
Q14k Q14l Q14m Q14n Q14o Q14p Q14q Q14r Q14s Q14t Q15a Q15b Q15c Q15d Q15e Q15f Q15g Q15h Q15i
Q15j
Q15k Q15l Q15m Q15n Q15o Q15p Q15q Q15r Q15s Q15t
1 0,5 -0,1 0,1 0,4 0,2 0,1 0,5 0 0 0,1 0 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0,3 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0 0 -0,2 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,1 0 0 1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0,4 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 -0,3 0,2 0 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0 -0,3 0 0 0,1 0,3 0,3 0,1 -0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 0,3 0 -0,1 -0,3 0 -0,1 0,1 0 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 0 -0,2 -0,2 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 0,1 1 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0 0 0 0 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0,3 0,3 0 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,5 0,2 0,2 0 -0,2 0 -0,1 0,4 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,4 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 -0,3 -0,2 -0,2 1 0,5 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 -0,1 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 0,3 0 0,1 0,1 -0,2 0,1 0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0 -0,1 0 -0,2 0,2 0,1 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,4 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,4 -0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,4 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0 0 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0 1 0,4 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 0,1 0 0 0,1 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,2 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 0,2 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 -0,3 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 -0,2 0,1 0 0 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 1 -0,1 0,1 0 0 -0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 0 0,1 0,1 0 -0,2 -0,1 0 0 0 -0,1 0,2 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 0 0 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,3 -0,1 0 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 1 -0,1 0,2 -0,3 -0,1 -0,4 -0,2 0,2 0 0 0,2 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0 0 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 0,3 0 -0,1 0 0 0,3 0 0,1 0 0,2 0 0 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 1 -0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 0 0,3 0,3 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 -0,1 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,3 0 0 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 -0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0 0 1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,3 0,1 -0,3 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,2 0 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 -0,3 0,1 0 0,2 0 0 -0,1 0,3 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 1 -0,1 0,5 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,4 -0,4 0,3 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,3 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 -0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,1 0,2 -0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 0 0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 1 0 0 -0,2 0,1 -0,2 -0,3 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 0 0,1 0,1 0 -0,3 -0,2 0 -0,1 -0,3 -0,3 0 -0,1 0 -0,2 0 0 -0,2 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,3 0,1 0 -0,2 -0,3 -0,2 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 1 0,2 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 -0,5 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,1 0 -0,2 -0,2 0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,3 -0,1 0,1 0 0 0 -0,1 0,2 0 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 -0,2 0 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,3 0 -0,3 1 -0,2 -0,2 -0,3 -0,2 0,1 -0,2 0 0 0 0 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0 -0,2 0 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,3 0,1 0 0 0,2 0 0,3 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,3 -0,3 -0,3 1 0 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,3 0 -0,1 0 0,2 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 0 -0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,2 -0,2 0,2 0,2 0,1 -0,1 -0,5 0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,1 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,1 1 0,1 0,2 0 -0,2 0 0 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,2 -0,2 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,2 0 -0,3 -0,1 0 0 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,4 0,1 0,3 1 0,3 -0,3 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0 -0,2 -0,4 -0,3 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0 0 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0 0 -0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,3 -0,3 0,2 0 0,3 -0,1 -0,3 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,2 1 -0,3 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0 0 -0,2 0,2 0 0 0,1 0 0 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0,2 -0,1 0 0 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,1 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,1 0,4 1 0 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,5 0,1 -0,1 0 0 0 0 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,4 0,2 0,1 0,3 0,4 0 0 0,3 0 0 -0,1 0 0,3 0 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 1 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0 0,3 0,1 0,4 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 0 0 0 0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 1 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,5 0,3 0,2 0 0,4 0,4 0,6 0,3 0 0 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,4 0 0,4 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,3 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 1 0,5 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,3 0,3 0,2 0,4 0,1 0,4 0,2 0 -0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 0,1 0 0 0,2 0,2 0 0,1 0 -0,2 -0,1 0 1 0,3 0,2 0 0,1 0,3 0,3 0 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 0 0,1 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,3 0 0,2 0,2 -0,1 0,3 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 0,2 1 0,4 0 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 0,1 0,3 0 0,2 0,3 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 1 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,3 0,5 0,1 0 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,5 0 0,4 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,2 0 0,4 0 -0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 0 0,2 0 0 0 -0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 -0,2 1 0,4 0,1 0,2 0,2 -0,2 0 0 0,4 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,5 0 -0,2 0 -0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 0 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0 -0,2 0 1 0,3 0,4 0 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 -0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0 0 0 0,1 0,3 0,3 0 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,4 0 0,2 -0,1 0 0 0 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0 0 1 0,6 0,5 0 0,1 0,1 0,4 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,4 0,2 0 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,2 0 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,2 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 1 0,2 -0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,4 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,3 0 0,2 0 0 0,3 0,4 -0,1 -0,2 0,3 0 0 0,1 -0,1 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,3 0 0 -0,1 -0,3 -0,2 -0,1 1 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,2 -0,1 0,2 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0 0 0,1 0 0,2 0 0 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 -0,2 -0,1 1 0,4 0,2 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 -0,2 0 0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 -0,2 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 0 0,1 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,2 -0,2 0 0 1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,3 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,2 0 0,5 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 0 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0 0 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,2 1 0,4 0,5 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 -0,2 0,1 -0,2 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0 0 0,1 0,5 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,2 1 0,3 0,1 0,2 0,4 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,3 0,1 0 -0,2 -0,1 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 -0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0 1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,3 0 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 0,3 0 0,2 0,2 0 0,1 1 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,2 0,5 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 0 -0,1 0,5 -0,1 0,2 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0,4 1 0,5 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 -0,1 0,1 0 -0,1 0 0,1 0,2 0 -0,3 0 -0,2 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 -0,3 -0,1 1 0,2 0,3 0 0,1 0,3 0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,2 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 -0,1 1 0,4 0,6 0,3 0,2 0,2 -0,1 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 -0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,3 0 0,2 0,3 0,2 0,4 0,2 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 1 0,5 0,4 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,4 0 0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0 0 -0,2 0 0,2 0 0 0 0,2 0,1 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,3 -0,1 -0,1 1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0 0,3 0,3 -0,2 0 0 0 0,1 0,3 0 0,3 0,5 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,4 0,1 0,1 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 1 0,3 0 -0,1 0 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,1 0 0 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,2 0 0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,1 0 -0,2 0,1 0,2 1 0,6 0,1 0,1 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,3 0 0,1 0 0,1 0 0,2 0 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,4 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,2 1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0 0,3 0,1 0,2 0 0,3 0 0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0 0,2 0,2 -0,2 0,1 0 1 0,3 0,2 -0,1 0 0,2 -0,1 0,2 -0,2 -0,1 -0,1 0 0,2 0 0,2 0,2 0 0,1 0 -0,1 0,2 0 0 1 0,3 0 0,1 -0,1 -0,1 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 0,2 0,1 0 0,1 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,2 -0,1 0,1 0,1 1 0 0 0 -0,2 0 -0,1 -0,1 -0,2 0,4 0 0 0,1 0 0 -0,1 0 0 0 0 0,3 1 0,6 0,4 0,1 -0,1 0,5 0,6 0,3 0,3 0 0,6 0,3 0,4 0,1 0,5 0,5 0,4 0,1 0,4 0,6 1 0,3 0,3 0 0,5 0,4 0,4 0,4 0,1 0,5 0,4 0,6 0,3 0,5 0,5 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,4 1 0,4 0,1 0,2 0,2 0,5 0,3 0 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,4 1 0,2 0,2 0,1 0,4 0,1 0 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,1 0,1 0,2 0 0,4 0,2 1 0 -0,2 -0,2 0,2 0,1 -0,1 0,1 -0,1 0 0 -0,1 -0,2 -0,1 0,1 0 1 0,5 0,8 0,4 0,1 0,6 0,4 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,2 0,3 0,5 1 0,4 0,2 0 0,5 0,3 0,4 0,4 0,4 0,4 0,5 0,1 0,4 0,3 1 0,2 0,1 0,6 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,5 0,1 0,3 0,3 0,4 0,3 1 0 0,4 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,4 0,4 0,2 0,4 0,6 1 0 0,2 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 1 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,5 0,3 0,5 0,3 0,5 0,6 1 0,4 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0,2 0,5 0,3 1 0,3 0,2 0,4 0,3 0,1 0,3 0,4 1 0,2 0,3 0,3 0 0,5 0,2 1 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,3 0,4 1 0,6 0,1 0,3 0,4 1 0,3 0,3 0,5 1 0,3 0,4 1 0,5 1
Figure D.1 Correlation between the paired responses to each closed question.
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The following relationships are found interesting and within the scope of the dissertation analysis. Some of these relationships will be used in the evaluation of the field research in chapter 3: There is a connection between the size of the company and the age of the company. The older, the more employees. (Q3,Q4) The political influence is extremely large in the large, 501+ companies. (Q3,Q10) In the service sector, 21 out of 30 states that they either partly disagree or disagree that it have consequences for not achieving project objectives. (Q5,Q14l) The higher position, the more active role in the change. (Q6,Q7) Low priority of the cost is followed by low priority in time. (Q12b,Q12d) High priority in planning is followed by low priority in cost. (Q12d,Q12i) Clear definition of roles and responsibility is important for efficient use of the resources. (Q12f,Q15g) Scope definition and the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy are clearly connected. (Q13a,Q14c) Successful integration is depending on whether the project management has enough power to implement the project results. (Q13c,Q14h) Improvement in the confidence of the management is depending on successful integration. (Q13c,Q14n) The quality is depending on the costs. (Q13d,Q13e) The communication level is determining the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy of the project. (Q13g,Q14c) A sufficient information level is depending on the communication. (Q13g,Q14k) To ensure the project scope is aligned with the overall business strategy, control and evaluation has to be prioritised highly. (Q13h,Q14t) A clear scope definition ensures knowledge and clear definition of the objectives. (Q14a,Q14b) There is a dependency between knowledge of the objectives and knowledge of the vision and strategy. (Q14a,Q14c) The power to get resources and the power to implement results are connected. (Q14f,Q14h) The importance of allocating financial resources seems to be determining for the power to get resources. (Q14f,Q15o) There seems to be a linkage between the ability of coordination to other projects and the improvement of the confidence in management. (Q14i,Q14n) To secure open dialogue there has to be a sufficient information level. (Q14j,Q14k) Open dialogue with participants is determining for the confidence in the management. (Q14i,Q14n) Understanding the importance the sense of urgency is related to the confidence in management. (Q14m,Q14n) The coordination of the project towards other projects is important to ensure confidence in the management. (Q14n,Q15i)
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Milestones and scheduling of activities are connected. (Q14p,Q14q) It is important to define scope properly to ensure that the objectives of the organization are clearly known and stated. (Q15a,Q15b) There is a linkage between the knowledge and statement of the objectives and the power of managements ability to get the resources needed. (Q15a,Q15f) The importance of a clear statement of the objectives, the roles, and responsibility. (Q15a,Q15g) A high information level is important to ensure knowledge of the objectives. (Q15a,Q15k) A clear statement of the objectives seems to improve the ability to allocate sufficient financial resources. (Q15a,Q15o) Clear statement and knowledge of the objectives is important for the use of milestones. (Q15a,Q15p) The definition and organizational knowledge of the objectives are very important for control processes to ensure alignment with strategy. (Q15a,Q15t) It is important for the project scope that the project manager has the power to get the resources needed. (Q15b,Q15f) The scope definition is clearly connected to the information level. (Q15b,Q15k) There has to be a clear link between the sense of urgency and the project scope. (Q15b,Q15m) A clear statement of the scope seems to improve the ability to allocate sufficient financial resources. (Q15b,Q15o) Clear statement and knowledge of the scope is important to the use of milestones. (Q15b,Q15p) The power of the project manager is depending on the organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy. (Q15c,Q15h) The organizational knowledge of the vision and strategy is depending on the information level. (Q15c,Q15k) To ensure commitment, it is important that own manager is actively involved (Q15e,Q14e) The power of the project manager is depending on a clear definition of roles and responsibility. (Q15f,Q15g) The power to get resources and the power to implement the results are clearly connected. (Q15f,Q15h) The power of the project manager is depending on the information level. (Q15f,Q15k) The use of control processes seems to improve the power to get resources. (Q15f,Q15t) Roles and responsibility have to be supported by the information level. (Q15g,Q15k) Roles and responsibility seem to improve the scheduling of all activities. (Q15g,Q15q) The power of the project manager is depending on the information level. (Q15h,Q15k) The power to implement seems higher when there are consequences for not achieving project objectives. (Q15h,Q15l)
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Sufficient financial resources seem to improve the power of the project manager to get results implemented. (Q15h,Q15o) When control processes are used, there is a higher efficiency in coordinating the project towards other projects. (Q15i,Q15t) Consequences for not achieving project objectives seem to improve the information level. (Q15k,Q15l) By allocating sufficient financial resources, the information level can be improved. (Q15k,Q15o) Efficient scheduling can improve the information level. (Q15k,Q15q) The line managers acceptance of project results is depending on the information level. (Q15k,Q15s) Efficient control and adjustment processes are depending on high information level. (Q15k,Q15t) The line organization is more willing to supply resources if there are consequences for not achieving project objectives. (Q15l,Q15s) If confidence in management is improved, the line managers are more willing to adapt project results. (Q15n,Q15s) Milestones used in the planning process make resource allocation more efficient. (Q15o,Q15p) Milestones and scheduling of activities are connected. (Q15p,Q15q) Project activities have to be scheduled to make control processes efficient. (Q15q,Q15t) The use of control processes ensures the line managers acceptance of project results. (Q15s,Q15t)
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Appendix E Respondent experience: Political game

These statements are a summary of the 57 responses received, answering the open question 11: Please describe shortly how the political game was experienced Employees did not follow the same goals. Different interests in the organization. Everybody wanted to be part of the initial project, in order to position his or her own area. The budget is exceeded due to wrong disposition. No one takes responsibility due to political focus on IT costs. Decentralised organization project management missing organizational and implementation power. The overall goal was not pursued due to specific needs and interests in the different silos around the group Going for the change plan, suddenly new agendas are emerging. Subgroups are forming, trying to negotiate better terms for them, and adding extra problems to the change process. (fractures of the project) Different interests, when the problem occurs, it was because some people put their personal objectives/needs higher than what was the best for the entire company. As we knew that we would meet resistance in certain parts of the organization, we secured broad top management buy-in from the start. This was used whenever needed to move on. Lack of commitment from top management, different agendas from the stakeholders. Managers did not do what they were expected to Resources and co-operation from overall responsible unit were limited Strategy was discussed on middle manager level. Product and bottom line responsible managers disagreed with marketing, which produced a strategic paper for the board (who agreed) with none of the arguments or documentation produced by the product managers. Because of "old tradition, it was very difficult to convince middle leader teams, who were not directly a part of the project that the new way of handling the customers was the right way to do it. Above surface: Openness. Below surface: Non-collaboration Functional managers were not happy to relinquish authority and tried to block by creating uncertainty. Mostly due to downsizing and employees at all levels fighting not to be fired. This case did bring wrong and personal arguments into the project. Disagreements between the involved department and the HR Department. The HR Department did not participate in the change project, but merely paid for it. First, through "rejection of change". Second, in the conflict between "line organization" and "project" in terms of human resource planning and responsibility. Third, if top-management failed to be involved in the most important BPR-decision. "Doubt" is a great substance for politics to flourish.
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Appendix F Respondent learning

These statements are a summary of the 57 responses received, answering the open question 17: Please shortly describe the main learning points Managers involvement in planning and scope management Planning and clear objectives are necessary as well as flexibility Prepare for the unexpected as well Involvement sets demands for information. Speed is an issue to focus on - constant progress makes a success. The importance of communication especially concerning scope, objectives, and different agendas is high. Objective - plan - do - assess (in circle). Motivation must be high among participants. A big change project needs planning, continuous effort, communication. It is important to have definitions of role and rules in the project. Communication is also very important to commit everybody. "You have to see Rome". Resistance when employees feel they are forced to change, they do not want to be changed, but like to change if they feel the need for it. Alignment of the political stakeholders is very important. Agreed goals between the parts in the project are essential. The ability to carry out the project is very important. Ensure planning is detailed enough to accommodate specific action plans with milestones, allocated resources and "ownership". Communicate early and often to counter rumours - involve employees at all levels to facilitate buy-in to the needed changes. The importance of planning, a proper project organization and the importance of stakeholders and their expectations is extremely important. Keep focus on scope. Implement a piece at a time. Top management commitment Limit the total number of projects. Don't lose sight of the project scope too early - ensure the anchoring in the very late phase It is very important to set small limited goals and objectives for the company to buy in to.
Managers involvement in managing the change The top management must be involved 100 percent and the expected outcome must be communicated to all involved parties. Mission, vision, and overall strategic must be clarified or adjusted to the strategic project. Clearly, stating the objectives and building a vision (dream) is the key to get people aboard. Time is also a key element, and projects must be within a certain timeframe. The power of the project manager is dependant on reporting to the top manager. Communication from management is crucial for the change process.
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Sense of urgency - vision - organizational involvement etc. is highly important - personal learning, the organization didn't learn anything Commitment from all levels (top and middle management is most important), but also the staff- and communication is the main points Ownership must be obtained all the way throughout the project. In this case, the top manager was not fully capable, but wanted to play a major role. Importance of senior management commitment Even if you have made a good planning with acceptance from the top, it is much more difficult to integrate, because understanding comes bit by bit. Top management has to be involved and consequences for not achieving project objectives must exist. Line organization has to be involved in the whole process Top Management support, involvement, and commitment are necessary, If not stop here. Urgency and leadership were OK. Lack of buy in, mostly because of lack of information on the reasons for the change. Top management focus. High information level with interactive communication. Most of all what makes it difficult to implement successfully is that we work with people. 3000 employees are to work and think according to a new set of values. The only way to make them do that is to make it relevant and interesting for them. It cannot be forced through. Drivers (or sponsors) for a business change project may never be Marketing or Sales. The manager of the business unit must always be the driver, the project must always be of importance to the business and the results must always be reported and consequences must be taken. Transition/turnarounds are mostly about personal ability. Mediation is important. Change vision, resources and consequences must be constantly revisited, if change is very dynamic. Commitment from all stakeholders is of key importance. You cannot implement a strategy if involved managers do not support it. Importance of aligning stakeholder expectations. Create a shared project culture (participants come from different divisions). Vision and objectives must be clear and known to all before implementation.
Later I learned that in a political organization, where relationships matter, there are no consequences for failing the results of a project, despite the warnings given before the project started.
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Appendix G Respondent: Greatest barriers

These statements are a summary of the 57 responses received, answering the open question 18: What do you consider the greatest barriers for a successful project? Managers involvement in planning and scope management No planning and milestones are missing. Lack of scope, herein lack for strategic alignment of the project. Lack of motivation. If the contract between the project owner and the project team is unclear. Lack of proper planning - lack of measuring progress. Momentum in a long process is difficult to keep. Organizational even a clearly defined project with clearly defined goals often fails because the management fails to control, follow up, and secure long term implementation in the entire organization. Silo management, to many projects at a time, insufficient resources. The organization has too many focus areas, and mentally leave the project before maturity No strategic alignment with project. Change in strategy. Lack of responsibility and decision making. Lack of speed. Poor estimates and planning. Fear of failure, disagreement, and lack of responsibility. Lack of information of benefits as well as undefined lines of authority. Lack of evaluation as you goes along.
Managers involvement in managing the change Lack of support from top management. Organizational resistance. Lack of top and senior management commitment. Top management are not able to create a sense of urgency causes lack of buy in. If you dont have acceptance from the top manager, and all the managers in the company. They have to agree with the strategy. If they do not, they are not able to integrate the strategy. If consequences for not achieving project objectives do not exist When the burning platform (i.e. the project is a "must" for the business)disappears - so does the Top management commitment People's resistance against changes Lack of shared a shared vision, interference from top management and lack of communication. The political power and internal resistance. Internal power games. Legality differs from the main track and by this change scope and objectives for individual groups. No commitment from middle management to supply resources. Politics and people's own interests in seeing a project fail.
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Organizational resistance to change. Top management sponsorship is critical. Open and honest communication - the truth will out. You get team players if the objectives are known and each employee can see what's in it for him. Lack of information. Managers not supporting the strategy. Lack of resources, lack of commitment, lack of support from the top management. Top management has to go for it 100% otherwise you can not expect the employees to do it. Lack of support from the top management, and a project manager without power and competences. Lack of sufficient top management consensus. Bad experience from earlier projects, which has not been completed. Involvement and commitment from top-management.
Later: resistance to change Motivation
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Abbreviations and acronyms

Advocate: An individual or group there is committed to change but lacks the power to sanction it a part of the role architecture of change. Agent: An individual or group responsible for the change process a part of the role architecture of change. Alm. Brand: A large Danish insurance company in which the author works. Assumptions: Statements taken for granted or truth. BRP: Business Process Reengineering is the process of reconfiguring activities to create a dramatic improvement of performance. BSC: Balanced Score Card is a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures to acknowledge the expectations of different stakeholders and relate assessment of performance to the strategy. Constraints: Applicable restrictions that will affect the scope of the project or the sequence of project activities. Correlation: A shared relationship of cause and effect. In statistical terms, the correlation is expressed as the covariance between two datasets divided by the product of their standard deviations. CRM: Customer Relationship Management Ericsson: A world wide provider in the telecommunications industry. www.ericsson.com IBM: A global business consultancy company: www.ibm.com Milestone: A key event selected for its importance to the project. PERIL: The Project Experience Risk Information Library. Product description: The description of the purpose, form and components of a product. Resources: Any variable capable of definition that is required for completion of an activity and may constrain the project. Risks: Combination of the probability or frequency of occurrence of a defined threat or opportunity and the consequences of the occurrence. Role architecture: The conscious application of role dynamics between change, Sponsor, Agent, Advocate and Target. Schedule: The scheduling is the process of determining when project activities will take place depending on defined durations and precedent activities. Scope: The scope is the sum of work extent of a project. Sense of urgency: A statement of that the change is important for the company. Sponsor: An individual or group having the power to sanction or legitimize change a part of the role architecture of change. Target: An individual or group that is subject to the strategic change implementation a part of the role architecture of change. TQM: Total Quality Management is improving performance through closer working relationships between various specialists within the organizational value system. VMOST: Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics WBS: Work Breakdown Structures is a way in which a project may be divided by level into discrete groups for programming, cost planning and control purposes.
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References and sources

Books (Black, 2002) Black, J. S.: Prentice Hall, 2002: Leading Strategic change (Carnall, 1999) Carnall, C.A.: Prentice Hall, 1999: Managing change in organizations (Collins, 2001) Collins, J.: Harper Business, 2001. From good to great (Conner, Chaos, 1998) Connor, D.: Wiley, 1998. Leading at the edge of chaos: How to create the nimble organisation (Conner, Speed, 1998) Connor, D.: Wiley, 1998. Managing at the speed of change: How resilient managers succeed and prosper where others fail (Deal, 2000) Deal, T.: Persus Books, 2000: The new corporate cultures Revitalizing the workplace after downsizing, mergers and reengineering (Doppler, 2001) Doppler, K.: Springer, 2001: Managing corporate change (Garrison, 2001) Garrison, Terry: The Strategy Faculty Henley Management College, 2001: Strategy Dynamics (Hamlin, 2001) Hamlin, B.: Prentice Hall, 2001: Organizational Change and Development. A Reflective Guide for Managers, Trainers and Developers (Harrington, 2000) Harrington, H.J.: McGraw-hill, 2000: Project change management, Applying change management to improve projects (Heldman, 2002) Heldman, K.: Project Management Institute, 2002: Project Management Professional study guide (HMC, guide, 2000) HMC, Dissertation guide, 2000 (HMC, glossary, 2001) HMC, Glossary of project management terms, 2001
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(HMC, research, 1999) HMC: Undertaking a research project, 1999 (Kanter, 2001) Kanter, R.: Harvard Business School Press, 2001: Evolve! Succeeding in the digital culture of tomorrow (Kendrick, 2003) Kendrick, T.: AMACOM, 2003: Identifying and managing project risk: Essential tools for failure-proofing your project (Kotler, 2003) Kotler, P.: Prentice Hall, 2003, 11th edition: Marketing Management (Kotter, 1996) Kotter, J.P.: Harvard Business school press, 1996: Leading change (Lewis, 2003) Lewis, J. P.: McGraw-Hill, 2003: Project leadership (Miller, 2001) Miller, P.: McGraw-Hill, 2001: Mission critical leadership Getting you and your business up in speed in the new economy (Paton, 2000) Paton, R.: Sage Publications, 2000, second edition: Change Management: A guide to effective implementation (PMBOK, 2000) PMI: Project Management Institute 2000: A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (PSWBS, 2001) PMI: Project Management Institute, 2001: Practice standard for work breakdown structures (Scholes, 1999) Scholes, K.: Prentice Hall, 1999, fifth edition: Exploring corporate strategy (Senge, 1999) Senge, P. et al: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1999: The dance of change The challenges of sustaining momentum in learning organizations (Slater, 1999) Slater, R.: McGraw-Hill, 1999: Jack Welch and the GE Way Management insights and leadership secrets of the legendary CEO (Shondi, 1999) Shondi, Rakesh: Airworthy Publications, 1999: Total Strategy
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(Thompson, 2001) Thompson, John L.: Thomson Learning, 2001: Strategic Management (Turner, 1999) Turner, J.R.: McGraw-hill, 1999, second edition: The handbook of project-based management (Turner, 1996) Turner, J.R.: McGraw-hill, 1996: The project manager as change agent (Ulrich, 1999) Ulrich, D.: Harvard Business School Press, 1999: Results based leadership
Articles and other sources (BCS, 2004) British computer society: http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/attach/215.pdf: The challenges of complex IT projects. (Buchanan, 1999) Buchanan, D.: Human relations, Vol. 52, No. 5, 1999: Politics and organizational change: The lived experience (Chin, 2003) Chin, P.: www.itmanagement.earthweb/cio/article.php/2201981 (Cobb, 1996) Cobb, M.: The Standish group, 1996: Unfinished voyages (Hinge, 2003) Hinge, Stephen: http://www.prosci.com/mod1.htm: Avoiding the top-five project mistakes (Hirschhorn, 2002) Hirschhorn, L.: Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80, No. 7, 2002: Campaigning for change (Kanter, 1999) Kanter, R.M.: Leader to leader, http://www.pfdf.org, No. 13, 1999: The enduring skills of change leaders (Rogers, 2002) Rogers, P. et al.: European business journal, 2002: Making change stick (Taylor, 1995) Taylor, B.: Pergamon, Long range planning, Vol. 28, No. 5, 1995: The strategic leadership Driving change, getting results
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Web sites (Ericsson, www) Ericsson: www.ericsson.com (FOS, www) Free online survey: http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com (HMC, www) HMC project management tutorial: http://hmcnotes1.henleymc.ac.uk/MBA/projman99.nsf (IBM, www) IBM: www.ibm.com (IIC, www) International institute of learning: www.iil.com (PERIL, www) PERIL database: http://www.failureproofprojects.com/peril.php (PERIL, www2) PERIL database: http://www.failureproofprojects.com/Risky.pdf (PMI, www) Project management institute: www.pmi.org The consulting company who helped screening the questionnaire: www.firstconsulting.dk
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Henley Management College

Why projects fail

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Word count: 14,991 words

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

My special thanks go to:

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Figure 1.1 Basic project drivers, Turner, 1999

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Dissertation structure and methodology 1 Introduction Background Objective

4 Discussion Evaluation of theory and field research findings

5 Conclusion and recommendations

Figure 1.2 Dissertation structure and methodology, Own composition

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1.3 Research approach

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2. Literature review Project failure in theory

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

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The PERIL database input is described in appendices C and (PERIL, www) 7

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Figure 2.1 - Risks in the PERIL database, Kendrick, 2003

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Competitive analysis Context

Figure 2.2 Cascade of objectives, Youker (Turner, 1999)

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

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People: Leadership Management Teamwork Influence IR

Sponsorship: Benefit Finance Value Schedule Urgency

Context: Political Economical Social Environmental Legal

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

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Table 2.1 Project priority matrix, Kendrick, 2003

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017

Figure 2.5 - Scope risks in the PERIL database

MBA Dissertation Henley Management College

Henrik Schriver Student ID: 1008017