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Organizing Software Project Control Practices
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The software maintenance process is one of the most costly activities within information system practice. The purpose of this paper is to address some of the difficulties in this process, by proposing a framework for the development of maintenance model. Essential to the software maintenance process is an ability to understand not only the software but the required changes as well. This can only be achieved where the relevant knowledge is available. Based upon this primary requirement, the proposed framework has made the knowledge as its basis for modelling other requirements for software maintenance model development. The framework first identifies the three operational elements, i.e. function, static entity and dynamic entity, required for general software maintenance process. With respect to the knowledge (as part of the dynamic entity components), the framework shows how these three operational elements should behave and interact amongst themselves to deliver a successful software maintenance model.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore a case study example of the decision‐making process that occurs within complex organizations. It exposes a murky “zone” of decision making and action between the strategic vision set by senior management and the work of teams to realise projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study from the experience of one of the authors is used to illustrate the activities in this “zone”. The lessons from the case study are supported by emerging project management and general management literature. The paper is exploratory in nature and the case study used provides a useful vehicle for reflection and sensemaking.
Findings
The “zone” is metaphorically described as a highly complex and dynamic organism. Operating in the “zone” requires agility and an understanding of both the project and the organizational environment to cope with the demands of its chaotic nature. The paper's conclusions indicate that the traditional command‐and‐control management style is counter‐productive in today's organizations.
Research limitations/implications
Key implications include the need for project managers and their teams to be politically astute and sensitive to the needs and pressures of a wide range of project stakeholders. A methodology and tool for visualising the influence of stakeholders can be of considerable use and a flexible style of decision making is necessary to manage within the inherent uncertainty, complexity and chaos found in projects and organizations like the one illustrated by the case study.
Originality/value
Shows that a paradigm shift in management thinking is needed to succeed in managing projects and their teams within the turbulent environment of a modern matrix organization.
Project escalation is known to frequently occur in the context of information systems (IS) projects. The reluctance to hear bad news—a phenomenon that has been labelled the "deaf effect"—has been suggested as a possible reason for why projects are allowed to escalate for as long as they sometimes do. The deaf effect response to bad news reporting has received little research attention, yet may account for many cases of project escalation. The research reported here provides a description of conditions under which the deaf effect is likely to occur. Hypotheses regarding factors involved in causing the deaf effect are articulated based on Miceli and Near's theory of bad news reporting effectiveness and further elaborated using insights from the cognitive psychology literature of decision-making. The extended theory was then tested experimentally using a role-playing experiment. Results suggest that when a decision maker perceives a relevant message, s/he is willing to de-escalate the project. Bad news reporter credibility and the gender of the bad news reporter were found to be key factors in the determination of message relevance.
Purpose
This research paper aims to model the dynamic relationship between performance measurement, management styles and organisational culture, in order to develop a better understanding of the causal linkages between these three areas.
Design/methodology/approach
The related literature on performance measurement, management control systems and management information systems, in the context of organisational culture, is examined and a framework for mapping the interplay of the three areas is developed. The research is based around five case studies where performance measurement systems were implemented in action research programmes, using identical implementation methods, by the same research team. The use of the performance measurement systems was then observed over a period of time in relation to the implementation lifecycle, changes to management style and organisational structure over time. The dynamic relationships were then mapped using the framework developed. Patterns were observed, which led to new insights.
Findings
Organisational culture and management style seem to be interdependent throughout the lifecycle of the performance measurement system. That is, management styles need to evolve as the maturity of the performance measurement system and the organisational culture evolve. A successfully implemented and used performance measurement system, through cultural change, leads to a more participative and consultative management style. Similarly, the correct use of performance measurement systems can encourage an achievement culture to emerge. All five cases suggested that an authoritative management style was essential at the start but this would change with the emerging culture.
Research limitations/implications
The research results are limited to five socially constructed case studies. Whilst these findings remain valid, they cannot be used for universal generalisations. In terms of modelling the organisational culture, the research focuses on the organisation as a whole and does not take into account the possible existence of sub‐cultures within the organisation.
Practical implications
A better understanding of management styles and organisational culture will allow practitioners to better assess the organisations' readiness to implement performance measurement systems. Similarly, the results provide guidance towards the management styles that would be appropriate when implementing performance measurement systems in different cultural settings.
Originality/value
The framework for modelling the dynamic relationship between performance measurement, management style and organisational culture, together with the findings, should provide useful insights and methods for future researchers in this area.
Project control tools are commonly used in the construction industry. Unfortunately, many projects run over budget and behind schedule, which suggests that there is something wrong in our project control system. The earned-value method (EVM) is a project control technique that provides a quantitative measure of work performance. It is considered the most advanced technique for integration of schedule and cost. Work flow can be defined as the movement of information and materials through a network of production units. Current construction control systems focus on local speed and cost rather than reliable release of work downstream; i.e., reliable work flow. This paper presents potential problems of the earned-value method with a brief review of the cost management concept. Traditional cost systems are reviewed in this paper from the viewpoint of work flow. Critique of the earned-value method includes: 1) While each cost account or activity is assumed to be independent in the earned-value method, they should be considered dependent. 2) Managers can manipulate work sequences when releasing work to the field and it is possible to release work assignments that are not shielded from uncertainty. 3) In order to make cost variance (CV) positive, managers try to decrease the actual cost of work performed (ACWP) as much as possible. Overload resulting from reduced capacity can make work flow less reliable, which in turn can impact the performance of downstream production units (PUs).
In a series of prior papers, the authors have explored the theoretical foundation of project management. In this paper, this theoretical foundation is consolidated and used for explaining the novel features of two project management methods, which radically deviate from the conventional doctrine of project management: Last Planner and Scrum. Both methods have emerged since mid-nineties as practical responses to the failure of conventional project management methods, Scrum in the field of software projects, Last Planner in the field of construction projects. It is shown that both methods reject the underlying theoretical foundation of conventional project management and instead subscribe, implicitly or explicitly, to alternative theories, which better match the situation in question.
Enterprise information model (EIM) development within Strategic Information System Planning (SISP) is crucial to provide comprehensive information requirements of the enterprise to assist in the accurate identification of Information System (IS) applications in order to realize the enterprise's goals. One of the issues for the development of EIM is to understand, capture and represent core enterprise information requirements. This issue has been aggravated in a complex and uncertain enterprise situation in which multiple players are involved dynamically and they might have varying activities and expectations. This kind of situation demands an enhanced approach particularly in determining enterprise requirements and providing linkage for IS requirements identification. As the result, this research proposes an approach that uses Viable System Model (VSM) as an organizational instrument to facilitate the information determination process. Concepts from VSM, strategic context and enterprise systems are used as important dimensions for the proposed process. In brief, the approach was found to be useful as a means to elicit enterprise requirements and to provide structure to the development of an enterprise information model. It also offers several beneficial features such as inherent reengineering ability, multi-level analysis capability and prescriptive ability.
This paper covers a thorough literature review on "Project Success" and "The Generic Project Success Criteria and Factors". In recent times, it has become a common belief that project success is defined by meeting the time, cost and quality requirements of organizations. However, there are some important project success criteria (PSCs) and factors (PSFs) which often get neglected when it comes to evaluating a project. The results of a survey, conducted by the researchers, show that to the contrary of what is mentioned in the literature, "Top Management Support" turned out to be the most important measure of project success. "Time" and "Quality" and their process, on the other hand, were not considered as critical success criteria. In fact, a controversial discovery is that some so called project success factors could potentially be considered as criteria for evaluating projects. This paper suggests the necessity of further investigations on the discrepancy between theoretical project success criteria and factors and those considered important in industry. In fact, the paper's authors believe that this controversy occurs because projects' stakeholders have different definitions of project success. Moreover, the survey presents a balance between the numbers of respondents who believe that project success is deemed project management success and the respondents, who consider that this is not necessarily true.
Increasingly, business clients are actively leading information systems (IS) projects, often in collaboration with IS professionals, and they are exercising a greater degree of project control. Control is defined as all attempts to motivate individuals to achieve desired objectives, and it can be exercised via formal and informal modes. Much of the previous research investigating the choice of control mode has focused on direct reporting relationships between IS project leaders and their superiors in a hierarchical setting. However, the client-IS relationships may take on a variety of forms, including both hierarchical and lateral settings. Moreover, prior research has found that the knowledge of the systems development process is a key antecedent of control, yet clients are unlikely to be as knowledgeable as IS professionals about this process. It is therefore unclear whether prior findings will generalize to the client-IS pair, and the goal of this research is to examine the exercise of control across this relationship. Data were gathered from a questionnaire survey of 69 pairs of clients and IS project leaders. The results are largely consistent with prior research on the antecedents of formal control modes, but they shed new insight on the choice of informal control modes.
The problem of organization is the problem of obtaining cooperation among a collection of individuals or units who share only partially congruent objectives. When a team of individuals collectively produces a single output, there develops the problem of how to distribute the rewards emanating from that output in such a manner that each team member is equitably rewarded. If equitable rewards are not forthcoming, members will, in future cooperative ventures, adjust their efforts in such a manner that all will be somewhat worse off (cf. Simon [Simon, H. A. 1964. On the concept of organizational goal. Admin. Sci. Quart. 9 (1, June) 1–22.], Marschak [Marschak, Thomas A. 1965. Economic theories of organization. J. G. March, ed. Handbook of Organizations. Rand McNally, Chicago, Ill., 423–450.], Alchian and Demsetz [Alchian, Armen A., Harold Demsetz. 1972. Production, information costs, and economic organization. Amer. Econom. Rev. 62 777–795.).
It is the objective of this paper to describe three fundamentally different mechanisms through which organizations can seek to cope with this problem of evaluation and control. The three will be referred to as markets, bureaucracies, and clans. In a fundamental sense, markets deal with the control problem through their ability to precisely measure and reward individual contributions; bureaucracies rely instead upon a mixture of close evaluation with a socialized acceptance of common objectives; and clans rely upon a relatively complete socialization process which effectively eliminates goal incongruence between individuals. This paper explores the organizational manifestations of these three approaches to the problem of control.
The paper begins with an example from a parts distribution division of a major company which serves to give some flesh to what might otherwise be overly-abstract arguments. Through the example, each of the three mechanisms is explicated briefly and discussed in terms of two prerequisite conditions, one social and the other informational. The more concrete organization design features of the three forms are considered, along with some consideration of the unique costs accompanying each form.
A number of approaches towards enterprise architecture (EA) management is proposed in literature, differing in the underlying understanding of the EA as well as in the description of the function for performing EA management. These plurality of methods and models should be interpreted as an indicator of the low maturity of the research area. In contrast, some researchers see it as inevitable consequence of the diversity of the enterprises under consideration. Staying to this interpretation, we approach the topic of EA management from a cybernetic point of view. Thereby, we elicit constituents, which should be considered in every EA management function based on a viable system perspective on the topic. From this perspective, we further revisit selected EA management approaches and show to which extent they allude to the viable system nature of the EA.
The success of any product depends on the skills and competence of the product manager. This article evaluates the relevance of good product management on the success of a product. The empirical study is supported by data from 178 industry projects from telecommunication industry over a period of three years throughout which the product management role and competency was defined, deployed and improved. The behaviors and project performance before and after strengthening the product management discipline are compared. We found that with increasing institutionalization of a consistent and empowered product management role, the success rate of projects in terms of schedule predictability, quality and project duration improves. To allow better transfer of achieved results to other settings, the article provides concrete guidelines about key success factors for good product management.
The nature of the project as a temporary organization is analysed from the perspective of organizational theory. This leads to a reassessment of the definition of a project. It is suggested that classical definitions of projects are not wrong, just incomplete. The project as a temporary organization is viewed here as a production function, as an agency for assigning resources to the management of change within the functional organization, and as an agency for managing uncertainty. The role of the project manager is also considered. The project manager is chief executive of the temporary organization, and thus their roles in objective setting and motivating team members are emphasized over their role in planning and executing work. Second, as manager of the agency, they are the agent of the owner (principal) and so a second hierarchy of management and control must be put in place to monitor their performance. These agency costs add to the cost of the project, but may also explain why professional recognition is so important to project managers.
There is wide acceptance of the need for a more holistic approach to sustainability. However, practical solutions remain elusive and tend to exhibit underlying conflicts between different paradigms and their associated methodologies. This paper argues the need to wield analytical tools that themselves embody the principles of systemic, ecological thinking. We present here a theoretical framework based on complexity science – focused on organisational and second order cybernetics – that highlights our understanding of the concept of sustainability. The paper goes on to reflect upon how current practice would benefit from such an approach.
This paper investigates theories that integrate and extend currently accepted agency- and transaction-based approaches to organizational control. We use a computational model to build three forms of control systems (market, bureaucratic, clan) and three forms of control targets (input, behavior, output). Using these models, we examine relationships between control systems and both singular and multiple control targets. Results of this study support the emerging “broader” perspective on organizational control research and suggest that managers can improve organizational performance by focusing attention on multiple control targets. In addition, findings partially support posited relationships between control systems and singular control targets. The authors suggest that results of this study should direct scholars to refocus control research from examinations of singular forms of control to evaluations of more complex control systems.
It is the objective of this study to describe three fundamentally different mechanisms through which organizations can seek to cope with this problem of evaluation and control. The three will be referred to as markets, bureaucracies, and clans. In a fundamental sense, markets deal with the control problem through their ability to precisely measure and reward individual contributions; bureaucracies rely instead upon a mixture of close evaluation with a socialized acceptance of common objectives; and clans rely upon a relatively complete socialization process which effectively eliminates goal incongruence between individuals. This study explores the organizational manifestations of these three approaches to the problem of control.
Introducing innovations (e.g., new software applications) is a challenge to organizations as well as in the classroom. Using 244 students, this laboratory experiment evaluates the impact of perceived complexity and control on performance with a computer-assisted software engineering tool. The students were placed into three groups on the basis of their formal IS education and the length of their training on the tool. Upon completion of their database design task, they completed a questionnaire concerning their perceptions of the complexity of the tool and the control they had using the tool. The findings show that perceived complexity and control impacted performance, but did so in different ways for each group. Further, the experiment revealed that training had a greater impact than formal education.
The objective of this paper is to report the findings of a study conducted to develop a better understanding of the interplay between performance measurement, organisational culture and management styles. Organisational Culture and Management Style literature was reviewed and an appropriate profiling framework was selected to allow the authors to profile the dynamics of organisational culture and management style. Performance measurement systems implementations in five different organisations were mapped against the framework. A key finding is that organisational culture and management style seems to be interdependent throughout the lifecycle of the performance measurement system.
Manfred Bundschuh is IT quality manager with AXA Service AG, Cologne, Germany as well as president of DASMA e.V., the German metrics organization. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005. All rights are reserved.
The IS project control literature has been dominated by the situational view of control, which suggests that situational factors such as visibility of outcomes identify appropriate controls to employ. However, the management literature has two alternate views of control, (1) balancing, and (2) more controls. The balancing view suggests that management's focus is establishing and maintaining a healthy balance between formal (behavior and outcome) and informal (clan and self) controls. The more controls view suggests that an increase in overall control improves project performance. We first argue that the balancing and more controls views suggest additional insights to IS project control. We then employ indifference curve theory to integrate and unify these three views. The situational view is modeled as changes in the bundle of controls determined by differences in their relative costs. The balancing view is modeled as income and substitution effects to a portfolio of controls. Finally, the more controls view is represented as a shift to a higher "project control indifference curve." Additional insights from our model applicable to each view are also presented. Specifically, for the situational view, we demonstrate that the indifference curve concepts of substitutability and complementarity explain the presence of all control modes in portfolios of control. The core concepts of cost and preference and the ancillary concepts of necessities, and luxuries explain differences in the relative proportion of formal and informal controls in the balancing view. Finally, the ability to empirically measure indifference curves facilitates prediction in the more controls view.
This paper analyses the related concepts of software project success, software project management success and software project product success and proposes a set of dimensions for defining and measuring software project success. An extension of the DeLone and Mclean (1992, p. 87) model is proposed as a base model for software project success. Even though this investigation is only a first step in defining project success, it is expected to be of interest to both Information System and Project Management researchers and practitioners.
Software project management processes are examined using the Law of Requisite variety to illustrate that a different control approach is required to prevent failures. Causes (disturbances) of project failures in the literature are identified to illustrate how a control system might be designed. A more inclusive use of project personnel and a much more proactive role by buyer executives to provide observers and control solutions is needed. Failure of the London Ambulance Service computerisation is used as an example. Software failures can only be reduced if these disturbances are observed and controlled as early as possible in the project formation.
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to explore the influence of a total quality management (TQM) programme on the level of focus in project management practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Prior literature was used to develop a construct indicating the degree of focus on customers, time/cost/quality (iron/golden triangle) and other stakeholders. A questionnaire was mailed to a random selection of UK organizations to obtain data on the degree of focus and on whether a TQM programme existed.
Findings
The results from an analysis of completed questionnaires show that those in organizations with a TQM programme in place are more customer‐focused in their project management practices than those in organizations with no TQM programme. No such relationship was found between the level of iron/golden triangle and other stakeholder focus and a TQM programme.
Research limitations/implications
Given the exploratory nature of the research reported in this paper there is the opportunity for further work on larger populations to confirm the generalizability of the findings. Also, this research has highlighted an association between the level of focus of project management practice and the existence of a TQM programme, and this requires further investigation in terms of confirming suggested cause and effect relationships.
Practical implications
The existence of a link between a TQM programme and customer‐focused project management practice provides a potential route for those looking to improve project performance through placing a greater emphasis on satisfying the customer. The absence of a link between TQM and a focus on other stakeholders suggest that the elements of TQM that facilitate an increase in customer‐focus are not able to overcome the barriers to high levels of stakeholder‐focus on project management practice.
Originality/value
The exploratory research in this paper focuses on the link between TQM and an area of operational practices, namely, project management‐related, that has received limited attention in prior studies.
This paper focuses on the theory and application of diagnostic concepts to assess the health of large projects or programs at any point in their life relative to the desired targets. The author presents a comprehensive project health check methodology. Project diagnostics is not to be confused with project progress measurement and control or project management maturity models as the objective is to see if the project team applies a systemic approach to the planning and management of the project. Its purpose is not to assess the project progress achieved at a given time and compare that to plans. Nor does it aim to assess the maturity of the application of a particular project management methodology/standard. The health of a project/program at a given time is found by evaluating the actual practices applied to manage a raft of variables which collectively characterise the management practice on that project.The technique – referred to as project health check or ‘PH-Check’ – has been computerised for ease of application. It provides a graphical picture of the heath of a project at the time of assessment. The results of the project health check can then be correlated with the results obtained from traditional project progress measurement tools. This correlation will yield greater understanding of the management of the enabling factors and their influence on project behaviour and results. This paper presents the PH-Check methodology and its underpinning concepts.
Nowadays, projects and project management can be found in virtually all organisations. Accordingly, preventing project failure has become increasingly critical. In light of this, attempts have been made to redefine the conceptual bases of project management and to define new avenues for research, development of the field, and practical application. So far, theory from organisation design has been under-explored with respect to understanding project organisations and their structures. This paper contributes by considering projects as organisations, having a specific structure. Based on the seminal work of Mintzberg [Mintzberg H. The structuring of organizations. Prentice-Hall, 1979] we develop a typology of project structures. Two illustrative case studies are discussed. The typology shows that contingency factors of projects need to be reflected in appropriate project structures.
This paper presents an argument that it is appropriate to develop a model of project management (PM) performance from models for assessing quality management. The paper presents a model, labelled the project management performance assessment (PMPA) model, based upon the EFQM business excellence model. The model proposes six criteria for assessing PM performance: project management leadership; project management staff; project management policy and strategy; project management partnerships and resources; project life cycle management processes; and project management key performance indicators. Using data from an empirical study of PM practice in UK organisations, the paper uses PMPA as a framework to explore variations in the character of PM performance. It is concluded that there are variations in attitudes and behaviour in each of these areas and that these variations may be used to help measure levels of PM performance.
Among modern scholars and students there is an increasing distance between the fundamental thoughts of early management writers and contemporary, often secondary, accounts of how these pioneers developed their ideas. This shortcoming can be remedied by seeking original sources from when a pioneer’s ideas were being formulated and from the context within which this occurred. We examine examples of how others have furthered our understanding of management history by the discovery and translation of pioneering writings and present a rare, out-of-print translation and a previously untranslated and unpublished presentation from the French pioneer, Henri Fayol. These presentations to his colleagues in the mineral industry reveal Fayol’s early reflections as they would later evolve into his classical book, Administration Industrielle et Générale.
Agency theory is an important, yet controversial, theory. This paper reviews agency theory, its contributions to organization theory, and the extant empirical work and develops testable propositions. The conclusions are that agency theory (a) offers unique insight into in- formation systems, outcome uncertainty, incentives, and risk and (b) is an empirically valid perspective, particularly when coupled with complementary perspectives. The principal recommendation is to in- corporate an agency perspective in studies of the many problems having a cooperative structure. One day Deng Xiaoping decided to take his grandson to visit Mao. "Call me granduncle," Mao offered warmly. "Oh, I certainly couldn't do that, Chairman Mao," the awe-struck child replied. "Why don't you give him an apple?" suggested Deng. No sooner had Mao done so than the boy happily chirped, "Oh thank you, Granduncle." "You see," said Deng, "what in- centives can achieve." ("Capitalism," 1984, p. 62)
Recent research examines the relationship between competency and success in the information systems project environment. The links, however, are not well established and the antecedents of competency not well explored. We model the link between general task completion competency and performance of development teams with two crucial antecedents built by other stakeholders, the contribution of users and controls established by management. A sample of information systems professionals confirms the model and places a focus on the competencies of the professionals involved in a development. Management must be aware of team level controls and the competencies within a team and not focus on the individual members of a system development team.
Management control systems are viewed typically as management-by-exception tools for implementing intended strategies. This study provides a different perspective by focusing on the way that top managers use specific control systems to focus organizational attention on strategic uncertainties and thereby guide the development of new strategic initiatives. Analysis of field-based data from 30 businesses in the U.S. health care products industry is used to develop a model and propositions that distinguish between interactive and diagnostic control systems, and illustrate the selective use of these systems in different strategic contexts.
Without complete and accurate status information, a project manager’s ability to monitor progress, allocate resources effectively,
and detect and respond to problems is greatly diminished, and this can lead to impaired project performance. Many different
factors can contribute to intentional misreporting of status information by project members to the project manager. In this
study, the impact of organizational ethical climate was assessed through the analysis of responses from 228 project members
drawn from a variety of ongoing information systems projects. Our results revealed that project members who perceived their
organization to be one in which rules are followed strictly tended to misreport less, while those operating in an environment
dominated by personal self-interest tended to misreport more. Somewhat surprisingly, the existence of a caring, team-spirited
environment did not appear to have an impact on misreporting behaviors. Implications for researchers and project managers
are discussed.
An individual's reluctance to report the actual status of a troubled project has recently received research attention as an important contributor to project failure. While there are a variety of factors influencing the reluctance to report, prior information systems research has focused on only situational factors such as risk, information asymmetry, and time pressure involved in the given situation. In this paper, we examine the effects of both situational and personal factors on an individual's reporting behavior within the rubric of the basic whistle-blowing model adapted from Dozier and Miceli . Specifically, we identify perceived impact of information technology (IT) failure as a situational factor and personal morality and willingness to communicate as personal factors, and investigate their effects on the assessments and decisions that individuals make about reporting the IT project's status. Based on the results of a controlled laboratory experiment, we found that perceived impact of IT failure directly affects an individual's assessment of whether a troubled project's status ought to be reported, exerting an indirect influence on willingness to report bad news, and that personal morality directly affects all three steps in the basic whistle-blowing model, as hypothesized. Willingness to communicate, however, was found not to affect an individual's willingness to report bad news. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
This article analyses the relationships between personality, team processes, task characteristics, product quality and satisfaction in software development teams. The data analysed here were gathered from a sample of 35 teams of students (105 participants). These teams applied an adaptation of an agile methodology, eXtreme Programming (XP), to develop a software product. We found that the teams with the highest job satisfaction are precisely the ones whose members score highest for the personality factors agreeableness and conscientiousness. The satisfaction levels are also higher when the members can decide how to develop and organize their work. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction and cohesion drops the more conflict there is between the team members. Finally, the teams exhibit a significant positive correlation between the personality factor extraversion and software product quality.
Companies frequently opt to implement standardized project management (SPM), which can be defined as a standardized set of project management practices. These companies expect that such an approach will carry significant potential for improving project performance. To investigate this potential, we undertook an exploratory study into the impact of SPM on project performance in development projects in high-velocity industries. Our research started with the qualitative method using case study research to identify the major factors in SPM efforts on the organizational project management level (as opposed to the individual project level). Then, we developed hypotheses based on these factors and performed hypothesis testing to identify factors that impact project success. In addition, we conducted the follow-up interviews to enrich and refine our findings. Three major findings came out of this study. First, the variables of SPM tools, leadership skills, and process showed themselves to be of higher interest to standardization than the other independent variables because they may impact project success; second, these variables of higher interest are typically customized to fit the strategic purpose of the company; and third, companies tend to standardize project management practices only to a certain level.
This article by Eric Flamholtz provides a framework for understanding the nature, role, functioning, design, and effects of organizational control systems. It represents a model of control which can be used to make this process more visible in organizations. It illustrates the practical applications of the model, and suggests its implications for corporate and human resource management as well as for scholars.
The failure rate of information systems development projects is high. Agency theory offers a potential explanation for it. Structured interviews with 12 IS project managers about their experiences managing IS development projects show how it can be used to understand IS development project outcomes. Managers can use the results of the interviews to improve their own IS project management. Researchers can use them to examine agency theory with a larger number of project managers.
Successful process improvement depends heavily on a close tracking of actual results versus the improvement plan. For concerting different reengineering activities, process managers must implement a proactive, forward-looking oversight mechanism designed to ensure that the various ongoing projects within the company operate in a performance zone that provides the expected business value. Technical controlling of software projects is introduced as a comprehensive controlling activity consisting of analyzing and interpreting project information for strategy formulation, planning and tracking activities, decision-making, and cost accounting. For practical guidelines this article focuses on introducing and maintaining a corporate program for technical controlling in a highly distributed large organization. Experiences are shared that show how technical controlling closely relates and thus supports an ongoing software process improvement initiative.
In spite of the increasing trend of offshore outsourcing in the IT industry, there has been little attention given to control strategies for managing offshore IT development. This paper offers an analysis of the relationship between national culture and control mechanisms, which is particularly important in the offshore systems development context. Control is defined as an attempt made by an organization to ensure that individuals act according to an agreed upon strategy to achieve desired objectives. This paper uses four modes of control that have been previously applied to information systems development - formal (outcome, behavior) and informal (clan, self) - in the offshore context. The dimensions of national culture studied are based on Hofstede's work and include individualism (vs. collectivism), uncertainty avoidance, and power distance. The objective of this research is to address the effect of national cultural differences on control mechanisms. Propositions regarding the relationship between cultural dimensions and modes of control used in offshore-outsourced ISD project are presented. This work draws from three distinct research streams - control, outsourcing, and culture. This work proposes portfolios of control that contain a mix of control mechanisms which should be implemented depending on the cultural settings involved.
Establishing a software measurement programme within an organization is not a straightforward task. Previous literature surveys
have focused on software process improvement in general and software measurement has been analysed in case studies. This literature
survey collects the data from separate cases and presents the critical success factors that are specific to software measurement
programmes. We present a categorization of the success factors based on organizational roles that are involved in measurement.
Furthermore, the most essential elements of success in different phases of the life cycle of the measurement programme are
analysed. It seems that the role of upper management is crucial when starting measurement and the individual developers’ impact
increases in the later phases. Utilization of the measurement data and improvement of the measurement and development processes
requires active management support again.
Recent research has suggested that flawed status reporting is a serious concern in IS projects. However, the linkage between reporting quality and project performance has not been empirically confirmed. Our investigation consisted of two complementary studies, both of which employed previously validated measures of reporting quality and project outcomes. The first considered the perceptions of 210 IS project members of the quality of status reports they submitted to their project managers. The second considered the perceptions of 485 IS project managers of the quality of project reports they received from project members reporting to them. Both showed that the perceived quality of project reporting was less than perfect and was significantly associated with project task and psychological outcomes. Moreover, the second study results suggested that reporting quality was also related to organizational outcomes. We offer recommendations for project managers.
Research has failed to establish a conclusive link between levels of user involvement and information system project success. Communication and control theories indicate that the quality of interactions between users and inofrmation personnel may serve to better the coordinaton in a project and lead to greater success. A model is developed that directly relates management control to the quality of interaction and project success, with interaction quality as a potential intermediary. These variables provide a more distinct relationship to success as interactions are more structurally defined and controlled. A survey of 196 IS professionals provides evidence that management control techniques improve the quality of user–IS personnel interactions and eventual project success. These formal structures provide guidelines for managers in controlling the critical relations between users and IS personnel.