Carl Marnewick and Annlizé L. Marnewick
This paper examines the conflict between rule-based and principle-based approaches to benefits realisation in agile projects. It proposes a principle-based framework as a more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the conflict between rule-based and principle-based approaches to benefits realisation in agile projects. It proposes a principle-based framework as a more effective alternative, aligned with the iterative and adaptive nature of agile methodologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilises semi-structured interviews to gather qualitative data from professionals experienced in agile projects. Causal loop diagrams are employed to illustrate the relationships between identified principles. The study identifies 12 key principles essential for agile benefits realisation, with a particular focus on visibility and consequence management.
Findings
The study finds that a principle-based approach to benefits realisation is more compatible with agile methodologies compared to a rule-based approach. The flexibility of principle-based decision-making allows for continuous adaptation and improvement, aligning with the dynamic and iterative nature of agile projects. The principles of visibility and consequence management emerge as critical factors in successfully realising benefits in an agile environment.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based on qualitative data from a limited number of interviews, which may not be generalisable across all agile projects. Further research with a larger sample size and diverse project types is recommended to validate and refine the proposed principles.
Practical implications
Agile teams and project managers can leverage the identified principles to enhance their decision-making processes and improve benefits realisation outcomes. Adopting a principle-based approach can lead to more flexible, responsive and effective project management practices.
Social implications
By promoting more adaptive and responsive project management practices, the adoption of a principle-based approach can contribute to greater satisfaction and collaboration among project stakeholders, leading to more successful project outcomes.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by highlighting the limitations of rule-based approaches in agile contexts and proposing a principle-based framework for benefits realisation. The identification of specific principles and their interrelationships provides a novel perspective and practical guidance for agile practitioners.
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Frank Einhorn, Jack Meredith and Carl Marnewick
Literature indicates that the business case for projects is difficult to use and suggests that there are organizational factors that can facilitate effective use of the business…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature indicates that the business case for projects is difficult to use and suggests that there are organizational factors that can facilitate effective use of the business case. This paper aims to identify such facilitators, measure their presence and importance, and relate them to the actual practice of business case processes.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross sectional quantitative method was used, with data on facilitators and business case process usage gathered through an online questionnaire.
Findings
The findings for the 43 organizational facilitators are that each one is considered more important than its presence in the respondents' organizations. High correlations emerge between the presence of the facilitators and the use of business case processes, indicating the pivotal role of the facilitators.
Research limitations/implications
The research was conducted for business IT projects implemented by organizations based in South Africa. It furthers our understanding of project business cases and suggests additional research avenues in this area.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that organizations could improve key facilitators at an affordable cost. Such improvement would enable more effective use of the business case throughout the project's lifetime – from initial concept until planned benefits have been substantially realized. Better use of the business case would also support governance and increase the success rate of business IT projects.
Originality/value
Organizational facilitators of business case processes are identified and categorized for the first time, leading to measurements of their perceived importance and presence in organizations. Hence, the relationship between these facilitators and actual business case usage is determined, suggesting areas of optimum impact.
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Carl Marnewick and Annlizé L. Marnewick
Project managers face decisions every day and those decisions result in an “either or” situation. This is also true when it comes to the choice of a project management approach…
Abstract
Purpose
Project managers face decisions every day and those decisions result in an “either or” situation. This is also true when it comes to the choice of a project management approach, i.e. predictive versus iterative. A case is made in this article that project managers should be ambidextrous and apply practices that are beneficial to the project, irrespective of the origin of the practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a questionnaire focussing on six themes. The results of 290 projects were analysed using ANOVA and boxplots to test for skewness and variances.
Findings
Based on the analysis of 117 practices, most of these projects could be classified as either hybrid or iterative projects. The results indicate that irrespective of the classification of the projects or the industry, projects are managed using a hybrid approach, with a tendency to incorporate more iterative practices than predictive practices.
Originality/value
This article contributes to the current debate on which approach is the best given certain circumstances.
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Frank David Einhorn, Jack Meredith and Carl Marnewick
The paper responds to calls in recent research for a model that shows how the business case should be used throughout the project's lifetime to achieve sound governance and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper responds to calls in recent research for a model that shows how the business case should be used throughout the project's lifetime to achieve sound governance and thereby project success. The aim of the paper is to advance theory about the effective use of the business case.
Design/methodology/approach
Besides the processes and information required, the literature identified 43 organizational facilitating factors, structured into 5 categories, which are required for effective use of the business case. To offer a useful model, the authors' approach was to do a factor analysis, based on existing survey data, to reduce the number of facilitators and to validate their categorization.
Findings
The findings of the paper were as follows: (1) the classification of the proposed facilitating factors was validated; (2) the number of facilitators needed to ensure that the business case is used effectively was substantially reduced and (3) a “business case effectiveness model” is proposed to clarify the relationship between the organizational facilitating factors, the business case processes and the information required to effectively use the business case.
Originality/value
This is the first time that a business case effectiveness model has been proposed. Besides consolidating business case theory, it can be used to guide people and organizations on simple, affordable ways to improve their use of the business case to achieve sound governance and hence business/information technology project success.
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Standards are written by practitioners for practitioners. It is therefore logical that project managers should comply with project management standards. Benefits management is a…
Abstract
Purpose
Standards are written by practitioners for practitioners. It is therefore logical that project managers should comply with project management standards. Benefits management is a domain within programme management. The focus of benefits management is to deliver benefits of initiatives beyond the closure of a normal programme or project. This is not the case with projects within the information systems (IS) discipline, implying that IS programme and project managers are not adhering to standards. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the best practices associated with benefits management are applied to IS initiatives in order to maximise the benefits of these initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
Senior and middle managers in South African organisations were interviewed to determine how benefits are managed within their various projects. The purpose of the interviews was to determine adherence to standards and especially benefits management and, second, to determine whether these organisations are achieving any benefits and ultimately value.
Findings
There is an overwhelming non-adherence to benefits management best practices within the IS discipline, and IS programme and project managers do not have the slightest idea how to perform benefits management. Irrespective of this, organisations do believe that they are receiving benefits and value from these IS projects.
Research limitations/implications
The research was only done in South Africa with the specific focus of IS. The results are thus very specific and opens the door for more comprehensive research that focusses on various industries, countries and standards.
Practical implications
The results have several implications ranging from how standards are written to the professionalism of IS programmes and project managers. Organisations are not achieving the optimal benefits from investments. The fact that organisations do realise benefits from a broken process, implies that more benefits can be realised when the entire benefits realisation process is followed. Governance controls should also be put in place to ensure that programme and project managers are adhering to standards.
Originality/value
Standards are dominating the project management discipline and there is a general assumption that programme and project managers are adhering these standards. This research queries the value of standards as the results indicate that there is limited adherence to standards and best practices.
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Wikus Erasmus and Carl Marnewick
Success in the information systems (IS) project domain is elusive despite extensive research on the topic. Governance is seen as the greatest contributor to project success. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Success in the information systems (IS) project domain is elusive despite extensive research on the topic. Governance is seen as the greatest contributor to project success. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and report on the current perceptions and implementation of information technology (IT) governance within IS portfolio management to develop a sub-framework to guide practitioners. This sub-framework forms part of a grand IS project, programme and portfolio governance framework of which this study forms a contributing part.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers followed a mixed-methods approach through utilising Q-methodology and inverted factor analysis.
Findings
The results provided a sub-framework recommending specific IT governance practices to be applied to IS portfolios. The recommendations are categorised as activities to be maintained, enhanced and/or implemented.
Research limitations/implications
The research only had participants from South African organisations and as such cannot be reliably extrapolated to other regions.
Originality/value
The resultant sub-framework provides stakeholders and practitioners involved in IS portfolios an opportunity to examine their own approaches and be confronted with possibilities in their portfolio management activities. Further research to be conducted includes creating a grand framework to address the linkages between portfolio, programme and project management as it relates to IT governance on various strategic levels.
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Carl Marnewick and Lessing Labuschagne
This article seeks to provide a conceptual model that explains the complexity of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to general and project managers in a non‐technical…
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to provide a conceptual model that explains the complexity of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to general and project managers in a non‐technical manner that is easily understood.
Design/methodology/approach
The 4Ps business model serves as a starting‐point to derive the ERP model because most managers are familiar with it and can therefore relate to it with ease. An ERP system is divided into four major components, namely, the software, the customer mindset, change management, and the flow of processes within it. A fifth component, methodology, encircles these four components to ensure that they are integrated and implemented in an organised manner.
Findings
ERP is more than just software. Unless a clear understanding exists of the different components and their integration, ERP projects will continue to be plagued by failure. This model is applicable to any ERP system as it is generic and vendor‐independent and helps in determining the scope of an ERP project.
Research limitations/implications
The suggested model is conceptual in nature and provides a holistic view of ERP. It does not attempt to provide a detailed, step‐by‐step approach for implementing an ERP system.
Originality/value
The conceptual model enables general and project managers to understand ERP systems better without becoming overwhelmed by product or technical detail. This will facilitate the successful implementation of ERP systems, thus ensuring project success and, ultimately, organisational success.
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Howard Thomas, Michelle Lee, Lynne Thomas and Alexander Wilson
Shankar Sankaran, Anne Live Vaagaasar and Michiel Christian Bekker
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by indirectly using lateral influence strategies to secure the appropriate resources. This study is part of a wider study investigating the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects in which nomination (or assignment) was identified as a key event contributing to balancing the leadership. It focuses specifically on the nomination or assignment event at the start of a project.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the philosophy of critical realism, case studies were used to collect data through 70 semi-structured interviews in Australia, Scandinavia and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, project managers and project team members. Two project team members who worked with the same project manager were interviewed to gather diverse views. The data were analyzed individually by researchers from each location using a coding method proposed by Miles et al. (2014). The researchers then jointly analyzed the findings to arrive at five common themes from that explained how team members were assigned in practice.
Findings
Despite the recognized need for project managers to form their own teams, this study found that project team members were often assigned by others. This was because project managers lacked authority to secure their resources. Therefore, they used lateral influence strategies to help with assigning project team members. The study identified five lateral influencing strategies adopted by project managers to assign team members: creating an image of competence; creating coalitions; taking a gamble; waiting for the right moment; and reasoning with facts. Two of these lateral influencing strategies were not identified in the previous literature on influencing strategies used in organizations.
Research limitations/implications
The findings should not be viewed as representative of the respective continents where the cases were studied. However, this study contributes to the literature on project management, illuminating how project teams are assigned and by whom and, specifically, the role that influence plays during this event of the balanced leadership theory. It also identifies the types of lateral influence strategies used by project managers when assigning team members to their projects. It provides a pathway to explore the use of lateral influencing strategies by project managers beyond the assignment process.
Practical implications
This study will help project managers to become aware of influencing strategies that they can use in practice while assigning team members to their projects. It will also highlight the importance of assigning the right resources to projects with a view to achieving balanced leadership.
Originality/value
This research is of value to organizations using projects to successfully deliver their strategies by assigning suitable resources to their projects.