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Major changes within this organization over the past few years has lead to significant problems arising from the management of certain information systems development projects. It has been identified that these problems can be directly attributed the dispersion of team members across a number of locations throughout the country. Given that this situation is likely to be compounded with the introduction of vendors in other countries, it is timely that an investigation be conducted to expand on the problems of the past and to collect information on issues related to distributed project management. Amongst some of the findings, it became evident that most problems could be condensed down to three main issues: time, location and cultural differences.
Each of these issues makes a significant impact on how a distributed project should be approached. The tactics required to deal with these issues will need to be well understood by all involved in any future projects. The most effective method of ensuring this, is to document how these issues will be addressed within the confines of the project plan. In addition to this, it is expected that a project management software application will assist in minimising the affects of time, location and cultural differences. 1. Introduction In recent times, it has become evident that the traditional approach to project management in the area of information systems has not been entirely successful. It is well documented that certain projects have consistently failed to meet their requirements, are not delivered on time or within budget.
This situation has been compounded by the recent shift by this organization in outsourcing major elements of its IT functions to outside vendors. Clearly a change is required in the way this organization undertakes the management of its IT projects. The purpose of this proposal is to outline some of the options that the organization must adopt to better manage future IT projects and to achieve more positive results. However, it has been identified that at the heart of past problems has been a misunderstanding of the current nature of project management efforts in the organization.
Recent changes have lead to project teams being more dispersed throughout the country. Future changes will see this dispersion extending to a global level. Therefore, the major issues arising from managing projects in such a dispersed or distributed manner is needed. The final step will be to provide detail on how these issues can be addressed. The success, or otherwise, of these options is still highly dependent on there being a shift away from thinking of project management in the more traditional sense.
That is, the organization must shift its thinking away from past concepts of traditional project management and begin to incorporate the ethos of distributed or global project management. 2. Distributed Project Management 2. 1. An Evolving Problem To begin to understand what distributed project management is, one must first understand how distributed project management came into being in the first place. That is, what was the catalyst for organizations to head toward distributed project management? The answer lies in both the increase and spread of technology, and in the rise in the IS/IT outsourcing (Haywood 1998, p. 3).
Dafoulas and MacAulay (2001, p. 1) have stated that the nature of IS/IT development projects has been greatly impacted by the increased sophistication of communications media and the relatively inexpensive options of advanced technologies to a wider market. The outcome of which has been a shift towards organizations establishing project teams that are no longer co-located. That is, members of a project team may be separated by distance, operating in different locations, sometimes even in different time zones. A situation which Fritz et al (1998, p. 8) describe as the emergence of the virtual office.
The other major impact that has been felt by organizations is the outsourcing of their IS/IT functions. Marcolin (2002, p. 246) indicates that, over the past decade, organizations have turned to outsourcing as a legitimate management strategy. Seeking both to place a greater emphasis on their own core competencies and in an effort to reduce costs. Lee et al (2000, p. 6) further clarify this by stating that organizations see outsourcing as an opportunity to gain access to other organizations which are specialists in the field of information systems and technology. However, as Mcfarlan and Nolan (1995, p. 20) indicate, by adopting an outsourcing strategy, an organization must be aware that greater emphasis will need to be placed on managing the relationship between themselves and the vendor. This will be particularly important if both organizations operate under different management structures.
As such, each organization may have conflicting organizational processes. Mcfarlan and Nolan (1995, p. 22) point out that an awareness of this issue is best handled by setting in place mechanisms for identifying and handling more operational and tactical issues. Indeed, Haywood (1998, p. 2) states that a number of questions may arise when considering the management of a project between organizations. Typical questions relate to the roles and responsibilities of the members of a project team. For example, in a client / vendor relationship, the members of a project team will consist of employees from both organizations. Therefore, clear lines of authority, duties and responsibilities are required prior to the commencement of any joint project.
Another issue raised in relation to outsourcing is the geographic location of both client and vendor. It would be rare for both client and vendor to be co-located. In fact, as Carmel and Agarwal (2001, p. 22) state, many organizations have sort offshore outsourcing contracts, with vendors located in different countries. This vast dispersion adds to the complexity of coordinating and controlling projects (Carmel & Agarwal 2001, p. 23).
However, time and location are not the only central issues (Dafoulas & MacAulay 2001, p. 3). The issue of organizational differences was touched on previously. However, this can be extended to include other differences. Dafoulas & MacAulay (2001, p. 3) describe differences between organizations as cultural differences. These differences can extend to include: National culture - defined as a collective mental programming of the people of any particular nationality (Hosted as cited in Dafoulas & MacAulay 2001, p. 5). Organizational - an organizations management and communication styles (p. 5).
Functional the norms and habits of sections within an organization, such as finance, human resources and information systems (p. 5). These differences will impact the most when organizations interact with each other. This will be especially true of national culture. For example, different national cultures have different styles of communication and perceptions of time (Dafoulas & MacAulay 2001, p. 9). Gezo et al (2000, p. 3) provide cases where the perception of time in different countries can lead to problems in even the simplest of tasks. For example, organizations in Brazil have a tendency to start most meetings late, sometimes up to thirty minutes late.
This perception of time by Brazilian organizations is in direct contrast to American organizations, where meetings generally start at the prescribed time. Therefore, as well as time and location, organizations must also be aware of how cultural differences might impact on the managing of a distributed project. However, just being aware of these issues is not enough. Organizations must translate knowledge into action.
That is, an organization must adopt certain tactics as part of their framework for developing future project plans. 2. 2. A Tactical Approach Gezo et al (2000, p. 1) state that the most important process of managing a project is integration management, and that this process manifests itself in the project plan. With the project plan being the guide for managing the project. Developing an effective plan in a distributed environment will require an even greater effort by the organization. Not only should the organization be aware of the issues of time, location and cultural differences, but they must also ensure that appropriate tactics are adopted to minimise the effects of these issues. A number of researchers have identified communications as a key element in overcoming these issues (Gezo, Oliver son & Zip 2000, p. 6; Sarker & Say 2002, p. 4; Carmel & Agarwal 2001, p. 23; Haywood 2000, p. 59).
Each present a variety of tactics that could be incorporated into the framework of the project plan. Carmel and Agarwal (2001, p. 26) state that, where a national cultural divide exists, that the client organization should seek to have individuals from the vendor organization assigned to the clients own location. Therefore, this individual (s) would act as a bridgehead between the two organizations, and that this face-to-face interaction [would reduce] miscommunication between client and vendor. However, the individual (s) in question must be highly experienced and culturally assimilated.
That is, they must have an awareness of the unique nature of both cultures. Sarker et al (2002, p. 4) extends the notion of cultural awareness to include the entire p...
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Research essay sample on Distributed Project Management A Proposal For Change
