Project Success Factors Essay

The research on forge perplexity has been studied for decades. many scholars and managers put great efforts into finding go forth what brush off influence pop out succeeder. Through their continuing work and treasured experiences, what factors dominate the mastery of come acrosss is good documented in literature. The use of these involve texts jakes help realise managers to deal with difficult tasks. Moreover, it is unanimous consensus that hurtle critical achiever factors atomic number 18 necessary for management team to bring home the bacon see to it objectives and consider success.If they ar well considered and addressed, then it is more liable(predicate) that a throw up would have more successful outcomes. On the otherwise hand, if these factors ar not rigorously taken into account, then whitethorn trio to the stroke of a sick. However, it is sophisticated to go through all success factors which normally involved in a broad aspect of knowledge, skills , tools and techniques. Furthermore, during the whole communicate life cycle, the pigment factor determining success or failure frequently varies in diverse confinement phases.In real practice, different elements contributing to the render success interact with each other. They are coordinated rather than segregated. Therefore, managing a be after is a challenge. Even though the mount of managing a successful fancy is well documented, it is extremely hard to keep back in practice. In addition, there are galore(postnominal) other elements drive out usurp the success. When working on a send off, brotherly, economic and environmental rag should be considered. This discussion paper aims to distinguish the differences amid intention and labour management success and find out their relationship.In addition, why the success factors often ignored in practice and other social impacts which may influence project success allow be discussed. Definition of project and proje ct management In range to discuss what factors nates affect the project being successful, we have to understand what a project is and what the project management is. In A happen to the Project Management personify of Knowledge (POMBOK Guide, 2000), a project is defined as a maverick endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.The purpose of the project is to attain its objective and then terminate. Temporary and unique are the amount features of projects. Temporary does not mean a short period of cartridge clip. just about projects may last several years. It can be comprehended as every project has a beginning and will be ended when it meets objectives. Each project is unique because it is a creative activity which has not been d unrivaled. For example, the construction of a stadium is a project. Though there are thousands of stadiums in the world, each of them has different location, design and owner etc.The POMBOK Guide (2000) defines the project m anagement as the application of knowledge, skills tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirement. The management involves a wide range of work including scope, quantify, cost, quality, human resource, communications, and jeopardize management. Munns and Bjeirmi (1996) mention rough differences between project and project management. Project can be simply defined as a task which can benefit a company. In contrast, project management focus on planning and controlling the process to accomplish the task on time, indoors budget and high quality. Project and project management success delineate project success is complex, because projects feature in unique, every project success is measured in different moods. Wit (1998) makes a definition that the project is considered an overall success if the project meets the technical performance specification and/or mission to be performed, and if there is a high level of mirth concerning the project outcome among key pot in the parent organization, key people in the project team and key users or job of the project effort. This means the type of a project determines the most meaning(a) factor which affects project success at the most extent.For instance, if a project is urgent, like the Beijing National Stadium which must be consummate before 2008 Olympic Games, the critical factor is considered to be time. In this case, the plus of cost can be slightly overlooked. Measuring the success of project management has many success criteria. Atkinson states that the early definition of project management success is mainly determined by achieving The Iron trigon including cost, time and quality, which used by Oisen from the 1950 and continue to be used today (Atkinson, as cited in Oisen, 2009).Atkinson also mentions that victimization The Iron Triangle to measure the success of project management as a discipline has not changed in almost 50 years. Even if project managements meet the success crit eria, cost, time and quality, there are many projects continue to be failed. The author suggests exploitation the Square Route instead of the Iron Triangle. That is because the Iron Triangle only takes the limited measurement into consideration but ignores the effects on the stakeholders. This means a successful project has to balance the benefits of organizations and the satisfaction of stakeholders.As suggested in the Square Route, different groups of people who can bump benefits from the projects are engaged in the measurement of success (Atkinson, 2009). Why project critical success factors often ignored in practice? What factors can influence project success is ubiquitously documented in literatures. However, when utilize it, one may find out it is difficult. For one thing, it is important to distinguish the differences between project and project management success. That is because sometimes they differ in objectives. A success project may accompany by successful management . However, they are not necessarily today related. consort to Wit (1998), although being managed on time, inwardly budget and quality are the primary objectives in literature, many projects which have not be completed on time and within budget are still deem to be successful. In some case, well-organized management can make a contribution rather than ensure the project success. Some projects failed caused by confounding the success of project and project management. For another, to measure the success of project, the most important criteria are achieving the project objectives. In different types of projects, project managers have to make a first end to identify the main goal.However, there are plenty of objectives involve in a project. In spite of cost, time and quality, all stakeholders should be considered. Therefore, it is a challenge to find out the most valued goal. Furthermore, each project has a distinguishing feature which cannot be easily identified by using literatures . In other words, there are no cosmopolitan principles using in practice. Normally, managers should make some changes to find out more plastic and reasonable work when applying theoretical knowledge to real uses. Finally, the primary goals often vary during the whole project life cycle.Wit (1998) gives an example, an oil-field development project, to take the stand the changes. In the exploitation stage, the primary objective is to find a situation having a lot of oil reserves can be often exploited. Then developing the oil-field in a cost efficient way becomes the key point. In the last place, improving productivity plays a strong role. The change of main goals will affect the critical success factors in different project phases. The most important factor is not mend in stone. It is essential for the project management team to be well aware of these variations and make the appropriate adjustments.Other effects on project success Despite the interaction between successful man agement and project, social impacts, to a certain extent, influences the success project and management. As the increasing issue of international cooperation, the project management frequently engages in western and eastern cultures. Better pinch different cultural background will play to ameliorate the likelihood of project and management success. Culture is defined as the beliefs, way of life, art, and customs that are shared and accepted by people in a particular society (Longman Dictionary, 2009).People living in different civilization hold a different psychological acquaintance of wealth, time and social life etc. Those values can pull up stakes to a project management fail if they are not well-considered in managing a cross-culture project. It is obviously that language barrier is one of the significant difficulties in cross-culture project management. Nevertheless, social and political activities play an important role. Ballow (2005) state that understanding internatio nal socio-culture issues encountered in business is essentially at the heart of the issues companies will encounter in globalizing operations.For instance, China with the rapid growth of economy becomes a huge market that many international companies intend to invest in. However, the new-sprung(prenominal) market requests a higher demand, the understanding of Chinese style of management. According to Pheng and Leong (2000), in contrast with western cultures, Asian people prioritize in the flesh(predicate) relationships with their business partners. They tend to avoid speaking problems out directly, in order to keep harmonious atmosphere during negotiation. Pheng and Leong (2000) mention that project managers working on international operations have to develop effective communication and social skills.What is more, they need flexibility and adaptability to work with others who behave in diverse cultures. Many international organizations ignoring cultural differences have paid the price. With the increasing international cooperation, a project manager needs to understand the cultures of their project stakeholders. Conclusion It is refuge to draw a conclusion that there is not a universal approach to measure project success. Key success factors are depended on project itself because each project is unique. Project critical success factors are well documented in literature, however it is too complex to implement and balance all of them.Successfully managing a project can improve the likelihood of project success but it is not necessarily directly related. Nevertheless the key factor often changes through the whole project lifecycle. In addition, social environment affects project success in a certain degree and sometimes it plays an important role. Consequently, critical success factors are often ignored in practice these difficulties. Having flexibility and adaptability is crucial for managers to make adjustment in doing practical project.