strategic level management and project success increase

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Strategic level management and

project success increase

KONSTANTINOS KONSTANTINIDIS

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of MSc Construction Project Management

Supervisor: Dr. Graeme Bowles

Heriot- Watt University

School of the Built Environment

March 2012


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DECLARATION

I Konstantinos Konstantinidis, confirm that this work submitted for assessment is my

own and is expressed in my own words. Any uses made within it of the works of other

authors in any form (e.g. ideas, equations, figures, text, tables, programmes) are

properly acknowledged at the point of their use. A full list of the references employed

has been included.

Signed: .

Date: ..


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Contents

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background discussion ......................................................................................... 1

1.2 Research Aim ........................................................................................................ 2

1.3 Groundwork Questions ......................................................................................... 2

1.4 Subsidiary questions or objectives........................................................................ 2

1.5 Research Methodology ......................................................................................... 2

1.6 Anticipated findings.............................................................................................. 3

1.7 Time scale and work program .............................................................................. 3

1.8 Research structure ................................................................................................ 3

2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Research structure ................................................................................................ 4

2.3 What is Project Strategy? ..................................................................................... 5

2.4 Defining Project Strategy ..................................................................................... 6

2.5 What does Project Strategy contain? ................................................................... 9

2.6 Towards a strategy definition ............................................................................ 12

2.7 Why is strategy important? ................................................................................ 14

2.7.1 Causes of failure .......................................................................................... 14

2.7.2 Success factors ............................................................................................. 15

2.8 The situation in Greece ....................................................................................... 16

2.9 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................... 18

2.9.1 About success .............................................................................................. 18

2.9.2 Requirements for a successful strategy ...................................................... 20

2.9.3 Why fail the organisations to develop successful strategies?..................... 21

2.10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 22

2.10.1 General findings ......................................................................................... 22

2.10.2 Research questions .................................................................................... 23

3. Research Method ..................................................................................................... 25

3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 25

3.2 Aim Hypothesis ................................................................................................ 25

3.3 Research Approach ............................................................................................. 26


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3.3.1 Quantitative Research Approach ................................................................ 26

3.3.2 Qualitative Research Approach ................................................................... 28

3.3.3. Mixed Research Approach .......................................................................... 29

3.4 Research Method selection ................................................................................ 30

3.4.1 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research .......................................................... 30

3.4.2 Method Selection ........................................................................................ 31

3.4.3 Research style and considerations .............................................................. 31

3.5 Sample selection ................................................................................................. 33

3.6 Questionnaire Design ......................................................................................... 34

3.7 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 36

3.8 Ethical issues....................................................................................................... 37

4. Data analysis and discussion .................................................................................... 38

4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 38

4.2 The situation in Greek construction sector ......................................................... 38

4.3 Result overview .................................................................................................. 39

4.3.1 General Information .................................................................................... 39

4.3.2 Results of Questionnaire Section B ............................................................. 40

4.3.3 Results of Questionnaire Section C ............................................................. 43

4.4 Result discussion ................................................................................................. 46

5. Conclusions, limitations and further studies ........................................................... 47

5.1 Review and Conclusions ..................................................................................... 47

5.2 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 48

5.3 Future Studies ..................................................................................................... 48

References ................................................................................................................... 49

Appendix ...................................................................................................................... 53

Appendix 1 Cover Letter ........................................................................................... 53

Appendix 2 Questionnaire ........................................................................................ 54


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List of Figures

Figure 1: Strategy approaches by different authors 6

Figure 2: Strategy formulation and implementation 13

Figure 3: Project/Product lifecycle stages and milestones 18

Figure 4: Measuring project success 19

Figure 5: main differences between quantitative and qualitative research 30

Figure 6: advantages and disadvantages of interview technique 32

Figure 7: advantages and disadvantages of questionnaire technique 32

Figure 8: Questionnaire promotion timeline 35

Figure 9: questionnaire construction and administration 36

Figure 10: Questionnaire return rate 39

Figure 11: Business Sectors (company activities) 40

Figure 12: Project strategy use 41

Figure 13: Percentage of feature use in project strategy 42

Figure 14: Project time decrease 44Figure 15: Project cost reduction 44

Figure 16: Predictability increase in projects 45

Figure 17: Productivity increase in projects 45


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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank all the people that have contributed both directly and indirectly

to the success of this research work. My sincere thanks go to all the respondent

Companies who have given their time and their significant answers on the research

questions and made the completion of the research possible. My special gratitude goes

to my supervisor, Dr. Graeme Bowles for his general guiding and his directions and

supports during the whole research. Also, my thanks go to the Heriot-watt University

for giving me the opportunity, the knowledge and the support to undertake a research

on this high level. Finally, my thanks go to my family and friends for their support.


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Abstract

The topic comes from the discussion about the project management effectiveness.

While PM has two equally important levels (strategic and operational), attention is

paid mainly (almost exclusively) to the operational level, aka the PM tools. This is a

misunderstanding of the very nature of Project Management and leads inevitably to a

misapplication of PM practice. The research highlights the importance of strategic

level PM and examines how much a well planned and performed PM strategy can

contribute to project success increase. The research is based on two levels, literature

review (theory) and practical research. Through the theoretical research, the

dissertation presents the function of strategy in management of projects; what exactly

is project strategy, what is its role in a project, which are the most important strategy

features. The practical part is based on a quantitative research method and shows the

level on which the construction companies are aware of this discipline, how they

implement strategy and most importantly if their planning and implementation is

bringing results. The study confirms that there is an average time and cost excess in

projects, that the majority of the construction companies are aware of the project

strategy in project management and that they use it in almost all of their projects. The

initial hypothesis that a well performed strategic level project management cancontribute decisively in project success and increase the predictability of the projects

is also confirmed. The answer to project success increase and to more successful

project management lies in project strategy, which is not something vague, but a

process / practice explicitly specified, with specific features and contents.

Keywords: Project strategy, project success increase, strategic level project

management, project strategy contents, strategy features

Konstantinos Konstantinidis

Construction Project Management

March 2012


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1. Introduction

1.1 Background discussion

The topic comes from the discussion about the project management effectiveness.

More specifically, it has been proved that the majority of the projects is delivered later

than initially planned and (or) over the pre-estimated budget. Why is this happening?

Seeking for the causes of project failure, the reader will realise that the problem is not

at PM itself, but in the way of its implementation.

While PM has two equally important levels (strategic and operational), attention is

paid mainly (almost exclusively) to the operational level, aka the PM tools. This is a

misunderstanding of the very nature of Project Management and leads inevitably to a

misapplication of PM practice. The result of project failure should be therefore rather

expected. Attention should be paid at strategic level. Evans (2005) supports that

according to the Project Management Institute; there are five distinct phases in every

project: initiation; planning; execution; control; and closure. Problems take place

most frequently when initiation gets separated from execution. Shi (2011) states that

there areorganizations which have gained little value from project management and

the reason is that they have not introduced and applied project management correctly.

The operational aspects of PM process are well defined and they work (Heriot

Watt 2011, 8-3). There is a lot of discussion about the reasons of project failure and

many factors are related to strategy. According to Anderson and Merna (387393)

Creating a strategy is therefore a primary action in two ways, it is both the first step

and also the most important action since it provides the overarching plan and

objectives. The discussion has been going for many years, having a historical

perspective. Avots (1969) is referring to inadequate basis for project and inadequately

defined tasks, while Munns and Bjeirmi (1996) support that successful project

management requires among other actions spending time to define the project

adequately, correctly planning the activities in the project and ensuring correct and

adequate information flows. Dietrich (2005) also believes that high quality

information in decision making is a factor that affects successful implementation.


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1.2 Research Aim

The purpose of the research is to highlight the importance of strategic level PM and to

examine how much a well planned and performed PM strategy can contribute to

project success increase.

1.3 Groundwork Questions

Based on those previously presented, the research will try to answer to three main

questions:

Why do projects fail? Which strategy factors are the most important? How can a better strategy contribute to improved project success?

1.4 Subsidiary questions or objectives

The dissertation will try to examine and present the importance of a number of topics

such as strategy factors, initial planning, taking strategic decisions, etc. The purpose is

to discover the level of their contribution to project success in terms of time and cost

reduction and predictability & success increase. Bibliography can confirm the

significance of those factors; Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) and Al-Barak (1993)

underline the importance of early planning and project estimation practices, while

Chan (1997) supports that slow decision making and poor risk management are

among the factors that cause failure.

1.5 Research Methodology

The research will be based on two levels, literature review (theory) and practical

research. Through the theoretical research, the dissertation will present the function of

strategy in management of projects; what exactly are strategy and its role in a project

and why is it so important? After the general verging, the study will focus on the

location of the major aspects of the strategic level PM. According to the theory those

aspects influence the project success.


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The practical (field) research will be developed a way that will allow conclusions

about the importance of those factors in PM to be carried out. Are the contractors

aware of the value of strategic level PM? Do they use those strategies to improve their

performance? Is that working? The sample will be the construction companies that

are working in the private sector and more specifically those that undertake mall

logistic and complex constructions in Greece. This sector is chosen for several

reasons. Those projects have an adequate level of complexity (comparing to the main

construction sector in Greece which is private housebuilding), involve contractors and

sub-contractors, and are common projects in the last twenty years (adequate number

and mature discipline). Therefore the sample is representative and suitable for the

research.

1.6 Anticipated findings

By focusing on that specific construction sector, research will confirm the high

importance of strategic level PM in project success and will also show the level at

which every strategic aspect contributes to the increase of project effectiveness.

1.7 Time scale and work program

The time scale is planned as follows:

Literature research and intro development: 1 month

Bibliography based part development: 2 months

Questionnaire based part development: 1.5 month

Analysis, Conclusion and finishing tasks: 1.5 month

1.8 Research structure

The Dissertation will have 5 main chapters, namely:

1. Introduction

2. Literature Survey

3. Methodology

4. Analysis

5. Conclusion

The study contains a reference list as well as the required appendices.


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2. Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The following section will present the theoretical background and discussion about

project strategy. The purpose is to define project strategy, identify its importance to

project management and its relation to project success. Therefore the section will be

divided into three main chapters. The first part is going to approach different views

about strategy in order to structure a theoretical framework. The second part will

proceed to the formulation of a comprehensive definition of project strategy that will

include also more practical parts, like the contents of strategy. This is important

because there is a need in project management of an applied strategy. This part will

be partially based on existing references, which will be used in a targeted way to

assist the new theoretical formulation of strategy. The third parts aim is to present the

importance of strategy in project management and its correlation with project success

and project failure. There is a specific logic around this: if we can locate the reasons

of project success or project failure; that are related to strategy, we can formulate and

use strategy in a way that can increase the success of the projects. That is after all the

basic aim of the project management discipline.

2.2 Research structure

The literature survey has two main targets. The first one is, as written above, the

formulation of a complete theory about project strategy. The second one is to generate

broad conclusions about the role of project strategy in project management. The logic

behind this is specific. The opinion of the writer is that some strategy related issues

are more or less universal and therefore need to be addressed. After reaching to the

theory building and the conclusions, the aim is to test them. The purpose is to test the

validity of both the theory and the findings related to strategy use in a more specific

area. Therefore the data research will be narrowed down to a more specific sample,

namely in Greece (for more details see Sampling part in Research Method

section).


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2.3 What is Project Strategy?

The definition of Project Strategy is the first step that has to be taken in order to

explore Project Management at the strategic level. There are several opinions about

the definition and the scope of project strategy and its relation to project and Project

Management. However there is a common belief that should be highlighted: since

every project is unique as it includes unique characteristics, objectives, etc every

project strategy should be unique for every single project respectively. Shenhar et al.

(2000) clearly underlines that for each project a distinct and unique process of doing

things has to be developed in order to succeed in the specific situation. Project

strategy is that explicit process. Artto et al. (2008) provides a similar approach by

underlining that the projects unique environment is to be taken under consideration

when formulating the project strategy, which is a dynamic direction that contributes to

its success. Project strategy is therefore the strategy of a single project.

A different view is provided by Naaranoja et al. (2007), who distinguishes project

strategy from project management strategy. According to the writer project strategy

refers to a high level plan for achieving the projects certain objectives and it is

related to strategic decisions during the project life-cycle. On the other hand, aspects

like team building; project flexibility; risk management avoidance; contract strategy

and alliances are part of the project management strategy, which is the strategy for the

management of the project. This point of view separates project strategy and project

management strategy by presenting them as two different disciplines.

Another important addition to the theory provided by Shenhar et al. (2000) is the

differentiation between a strategy and a plan. According to the writer plans include in

general decisions about the operational aspect of a project, such as activities

scheduling, resources allocation and use, timelines, and deliverables. Strategy on the

contrary is one level above those activities. This is a significant clarification, since

very often project managers and organisations tend to focus only on those operational

level features, without the formulation of a general strategy to drive them. A plan

should be part of a broader strategy if it is to be adequately effective and successful.

The following figure shows the general views about strategy that are presented by

different authors in the last decade. This is only indicative and its role is to highlightsome important project strategy features.


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Figure 1: Strategy approaches by different authors

Author Approach Year

Shenhar et al. Project uniqueness, strategy according to project 2000

Kerzner Strategy has to be objective - driven 2001

Anderson and Merna Strategy provides the overarching plan and objectives 2003

Naaranoja et al. Project strategy different from project management strategy 2007

Artto et al. Project uniqueness, strategy should lead to success 2008

Source: own processing

2.4 Defining Project Strategy

As presented above, there are different views about what exactly project strategy is.

However a proper definition is the first step for actual successful development and

implementation. Therefore the basic characteristics and a specific definition will be

presented below.

Project strategy or project management strategy

Is project strategy something that has to be distinguished from project managementstrategy? This is the first and maybe fundamental question someone has to answer in

order to proceed to the rest theoretical formulation. As presented above there are

different views about the theory. For Naaranoja et al. (2007) those two are referring to

different aspects and strategy levels, while Artto et al. (2008) does not separating

them. Since it is rather a matter of theoretical view than a fixed theory / definition,

every aspect has its arguments. Project strategy is the generic strategy of the project. It

has to drive the complete project and define all of its features. It defines the way to

achieve the projects objectives, the direction and the philosophy of the strategic

decisions and handling of the project. However the project strategy should also clearly

define project flexibility, contract strategy, risk management, cost management, etc.

Those are not to be excluded from the project strategy. They should not be defined on

another (latter) stage of the planning, or independently from other strategic decisions.

The way a project is going to be managed has to be defined by the project strategy.

Therefore, project management strategy is not to be distinguished from project

strategy. It can be said that they are in essence the same thing.


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Uniqueness / adopted to project

Every project is unique. There are of course some characteristics that are common for

all projects. Every project has objectives; there can be no project without them. On the

other hand, the objectives of every project are particular and specific, giving to the

project a unique nature (since projects are objective driven). In addition, every

project has stakeholders, but at the same time, the number, the composition and the

importance of every stakeholder differ from project to project. Furthermore, resources

of all kinds are an exclusive (but always present) part of every project. It is obvious

that the same thing applies for all project features (constrains, etc). That fact leads to

the conclusion that, since every project is unique, every project strategy has also to be

unique. In other words the project strategy has to be adapted to the specific project;

hence it must be developed exclusively for it. Like projects, all project strategies have

to contain both common and unique features.

Process leading to project success

A project strategy has to be interconnected to project success. After all, project

success is one of the main reasons for project management development. The role of

project strategy is to drive the project from the early (before initiation) phase through

all the stages, to prepare the key participants for any potential issues, to set up the

management plan, to contribute to control, general operation, project administration,

etc. All those will be defined on a level from the strategy formulation. A well planned

and integrating developed strategy is of key importance for a successful project.

Therefore one of its tasks is to lead to project success.

Organisingplanning the project

Driving from above, the project strategy has to lead to the project plan. The general

setting up, the way the progress will be monitored and controlled, the operational

plan, the administrational style, in other words every general (or even some more

specific) aspect and direction that will affect the whole progress has to be a direct

result of the formulated strategy. Strategy has limited use and effectiveness if the


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planning of the project is independent from it. Moreover a project plan that is based

on ad hoc decisions with no association with each other and a general project strategy

will be not able to drive the project successfully and solve any possible problems

whatsoever.

Justification

The four main issues presented above create the basic characteristics of project

strategy. It is expected that authors or organisations will have differences in their

views of strategy. It can be said that a view is accepted if it can be justified. Examples

often help that process. If a project strategy sets only a broad generic framework of

the project, without dealing with project management issues like project flexibility,

cost / risk management, etc it will not be able to assist the managers taking strategic

decisions during the project. The managers that will be responsible for the project

should define for example the number and the kind of subcontractors that will be

appointed and the work that they will undertake. In case of underachieving, or if

problems arise strategic decisions (changes, tradeoff, etc) must be taken. Project

uniqueness is also a key factor, since special features of the project play a main role.Different stakeholders create different environment of the project. The same thing

applies in a number of other factors such as location of the project. A different project

organisation is required for example at a project in an urban area, a suburban area, a

rural area or an island. Transportation, infrastructure, prefabricated parts, even

weather and site conditions and many more are factors that combined create the

uniqueness of the project. Therefore the formulation project strategy has to be based

upon those factors. Project planning and organising should also be clearly defined. It

should be clear and predefined who is responsible of what, what should be the work

structure and progress, how are those to be monitored and measured, who will take

the decisions in every case. Projects that do not solve those issues tend to deal with

organisational problems that lead to failure. Tools like Work Breakdown Structure

(WBS), Organisation Breakdown Structure (OBS), Statement of Work (SOW), Task

Responsibility Matrix, etc have been created to assist those procedures. All the above

mentioned lead as expected to project success. It is already mentioned that project

success is the main aim of project management. Therefore, project strategy which can


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be defined as the initial process in project management should at all case drive to and

maximise the project and product success.

2.5 What does Project Strategy contain?

After an initial approach of project strategy the next step in order to come up with an

integrated definition is to locate the main contents of it. In other words, what should a

comprehensive and successful strategy take under consideration and thus include.

This is an important section because it particularises the general view and theory and

shows how it can be useful on a more practical level. In other words, what should

every project team incorporate and take under consideration during the formulation

and implementation of a project strategy.

Scope management

Scope management should be the beginning of project strategy. It includes all the

aspects of the project; quality, performance, specifications and properties of the

project product. There are in fact the quantitative and qualitative deliverables of the

project, thus the work that needs to be done in order the project to be completed

successfully. Taking this under consideration, scope management has to be the

initiation of the project strategy, since all the project objectives will be come from it.

S.W.O.T. analysis

This is basically a mapping process. It locates, defines and assesses strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the project. It is a valuable procedure that

provides a representative image of the project and its issues and characteristics.

Kerzner (2001) states that identifying opportunities and threats allows us to spot what

we want to do, but recognising our strengths and weaknesses lets us be aware of what

we can do. Therefore, strategy should be formed by taking under consideration those

matters in order to be effective and in response to the unique characteristics of the

project.


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Correlation with the project objectives

It is well known and widely adopted that the projects are on a high level objective

driven. According to HeriotWatt (2009) thesuccess of a project can be measured in

terms of how closely it has met its prearranged objectives. The objectives of a project

show in a way the project direction. Site set up plans, resources allocation and

mobilisation, time sheets and many more project features are mainly dependent from

the objectives of the project. Furthermore, every projects milestones are utterly

related to the project objectives. Therefore also project progress; performance

measurement and benchmarking are reliant on the project objectives. The formulation

of the strategy has to be based upon the specific objectives of the project. The

management and the achievement of the objectives should be the main guidelines.

Kerzner (2001) supports that the process of the objectivesetting and the integration

of the implementation through methodology assure that all of the parts of an

organisation are moving toward the same common goal. A careful mapping and

assessment of the objectives have to be of the main drivers of the strategy creation

and development.

Work Management Plan

After defining the projects objectives the next step is to define the work that needs to

be done in order to achieve them. The project strategy has to classify the amount and

type of work that needs to be done for the project completion. A comprehensive

analysis of the project works is of main importance in project planning. This process

contains an analysis of the amount, the type and the sequence of the project works.

Those have to be planned early and carefully and in detail because they are practically

the core of each project. Through this plan will be also decided and formed the time

of each work units completion and most important the allocation and utilisation o f

the available resources. In other words, the Work Management Plan is the framework

that drives the planning and the organising processes of the project. An organisational

structure of the project that includes also specific responsibilities can be formed either

separately, or as part of this plan with each group of activities assigned to specific

people.


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Criteria to assess success

Driving from above, every strategy has to enclose criteria to assess the project

progress and success. Performance measurement is a procedure of main importance

during a project lifecycle. It is for that reason essential for a project strategy to plan

and formulate carefully on that direction specific criteria. Those will make available a

measurement which will reflect the real project progress. What strategy needs to set is

specific goals and standards. These have to be both quantitative and qualitative and

cover all the aspects of the project and the product. In addition to those an integrated

strategic planning should also provide possible measures that should be taken if

performance is bellow the expected and planned levels. That naturally leads to the

next topic bellow.

Risk Management Plan

Risk management is a valuable procedure in every project. Raz et al. (2001) describes

it as one of the key processes in project management. Poor risk management can lead

to project delay, cost increase, scope affection, or even cancellation of the project

(failure in general). The plan should map and locate possible risks, their probability,

the effect they might have on the project progress and of course ways to solve any

upcoming problems. Strategy planning that does not contain a full risk management

plan cannot be complete effective at the time when problems arrive. According to the

Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) of the Project Management

Institute (2004), in order to be successful, an organisation should be committed to

addressing the management of risk proactively and at all times throughout the project

lifecycle. Kerzner (2001) also supports this view. He believes that a reaction to a

crisis of the moment may lead to a choice that is not linked to, and maybe also

conflicting with, the choice made in an earlier moment of crisis. Discontinuous and

contradictory choices are causing problems to the organization and might well be the

reason of its failure.


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Cost Estimation

Egan (1998) supports that some of the construction industry problems are competitive

tendering and low profit margins. According to Doloi (2011) cost overrun is a

constant problem across most projects and the accuracy of cost estimation is affected

by the experiences of the bidding team and project managers as well. One of the main

results of project failure is cost overruns. For those reasons precise cost estimation is

of key importance in a project. A comprehensive and integrated strategy has to

carefully estimate every aspect of the project that can affect (either in a positive or in

a negative way) the cost of the project. That way it is possible to define which the cost

parameters of the project are, what are the profit margins and whether or not it is

possible for the organisation to undertake the project. A strategy with poor or

inaccurate cost estimation is likely to lead to project failure or cancelation.

2.6 Towards a strategy definition

Giving a specific definition to the term of project strategy is not only a theoretical

matter. The way someone defines projects strategy affects also the approach of the

implementation. Drawing from the topics presented above, the definition can be

formed as follows:

Project strategy is a comprehensive direction plan that defines the way a project will

be successfully managed, taking under consideration its unique characteristics.

That definition includes more or less elements from the topics presented above both

from the general and the specific ones (see those referring to the strategy contents and

Figure 1). It is clear that there is no single definition of strategy and each writer can

give a different perspective of that, although some issues remain always common.

This happens because independently of the personal view, everyone will agree on the

strategys main aim which is successful management, in other words achieving

projects objectives working with high productivity on time and scope, not above

predefined cost and with the product on the specified quality standards. Project

strategy in order to lead to a successful project has to be seen as the vehicle to manage

the project and not as a standardised and typical procedure that is identical in everysingle project. Furthermore strategy, as a continuously applied process, has to be


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flexible and able to change and become adapted to project changes and alterations.

The proposal about strategy formulation and application during a project is presented

bellow in the following figure:

Figure 2: Strategy formulation and implementation


The figure shows clearly the issues mentioned above. Project strategy can be divided

into three main sections (or stages); analysis and plan formulation, decision and

implementation and control. Feedback and revision processes are playing a very

important role in this procedure, since they drive the improvement and adaptation of

the project strategy. It should be noticed however that the first step is extremely

important in this procedure. A comprehensive analysis that includes and takes under

consideration all the critical factors (see strategy contents) will not only require fewer

and small scale revisions, but will be also much more adjustable and alteration

friendly.


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Although there is a multiannual literature about project strategy it remains a question

whether project managers and companies today know about the importance and the

role of project strategy. This is in fact one of the main questions of this paper.

However before proceeding to this section it is of key importance to answer to another

question. That question is why is strategy important? Where and how can strategy

contribute to project success, or otherwise can a strategy absence or misapplication

lead to project failure?

2.7 Why is strategy important?

In order to answer to this fundamental question the theoretical approach has to cover

two views. Therefore the following chapter will be divided in two sections. The first

part will approach the causes of failure and underachieving in projects and locate

strategy related factors. The section should reveal that lack of strategy leads to project

failure. The second part will present the factors of the projects that lead to success and

the role that strategy plays in those factors. A strong correlation between strategy and

success is expected to be found.

2.7.1 Causes of failure

There are several studies that try to locate the reasons of project failure. Strategy

related reason can easily be found on them. Assaf (2006) states, that the completion of

a project within the specified time is a rare occurrence. Among the reasons of delay

are also early planning and design of the project. He adds that planning and

scheduling are ongoing procedures during projects and equal to the resources and time

to develop the work that is essential in order to avoid cost overrun and disputes. This

means basically that inadequate early planning (strategy formulation) leads to time

overrun. Al-Barak (1993) studies the main causes of failure in Saudi Arabia

construction industry. He surveyed 68 contractors and 34 different causes of failure.

The study concluded that lack poor estimation practices and bad decisions in

regulating companys policy are among the critical factors . Those are parts of strategy

as it is developed above (see previous part). Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997)performed a survey to evaluate the relative importance of 83 potential delay factors of


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construction projects constructed in Hong Kong. They found five principal causes,

which were poor risk management and supervision, unforeseen site conditions, slow

decision making, client-initiated variations, and work variations. All of them (except

maybe supervision) are related to project strategy as presented in previous chapters.

Kaming (1997) et al. located among others in cost overrun factors inaccurate material

estimation and degree of complexity, while time overrun reasons include inadequate

planning. Those factors show that it is impossible to have a clear view of the project

special features without the formulation of an integrated strategy. Shenhar et al.

(2000) suggests that there is a strict difference between operationally managed and

strategically managed projects and that traditional project management focus is on

operational performance. The article adds that there is a need for a new, more

strategic way of thinking in project management. All those studies show that

inadequate strategy formulation equals to project failure. Having a wrong idea about

the project leads to incorrect planning; wrong decisions in project management and

poor responses to problems that may occur. Due to these projects exceed time and

cost limits and can end up with an altered scope.

2.7.2 Success factors

By precisely locating the reasons of failure, it becomes easier to define and formulate

success factors of projects. From the information presented above is clear that project

strategy has a key role in projects. Since a misunderstanding, an inadequate or

inaccurate formulation or a misapplication of strategy can cause failure of a project, it

is only logical that a highquality strategy can be a driver of project success. This is

an idea that has been presented several times. Munns and Bjeirmi (1996) in their

article discuss the role of project management in achieving project success. They

suggest that a successful project management requires also among other factors:

planning with a commitment to complete the project, spending time to define the

project adequately, correctly planning the activities in the project, ensuring correct

and adequate information flows and changing activities to accommodate frequent

changes on dynamic. All those are factors that are directly related to strategy as it has

been presented above. It is even more accurate to say that they are an integral part of

strategy. Moreover, Cooke (2002) released a research from more than 70 large multi-


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national or national organizations on the success factors of the projects. Four out of

five factors related to time success and one out of two factors related to cost success

(ontime performance and oncost performance respectively) are directly related to

project strategy. More specifically the strategy related time factors are adequacy of

company wide education on the concepts of risk management, sufficiency on

maintenance of a visible risk register, capability of having an up-to-date risk

management plan, and a sufficient documentation of organisational responsibilities on

the project. Furthermore, one of the two on cost performance factors is to maintain

the integrity of the performance measurement guideline. All those factors that lead to

time and cost success of a project are explicitly related to project strategy and confirm

that a well planned and carefully formulated strategy can increase the success of a

project. Kerzner (2001) also confirms that statement by supporting that when the

implementation process is made precise, objectives, missions, and policies become

visible guidelines that create logically consistent decisions. On cost estimating he

adds that strategic planning can include provisions in the methodology for better

estimating techniques, such as the creation of lessons learned files on previous costing

and the purchasing of historical databases. He concludes supporting that effective

strategic planning can mean the difference between long-term success and failure

(Kerzner 2001, p9).

2.8 The situation in Greece

The research sample will be the construction companies in Greece (for more details

see Sample selection in Research Method part). It is therefore important to set up

a framework view about the topic in the country. There is however a fundamental

problem in this process, mainly because of the lack of bibliography and references

about the Project Management discipline (Pantouvakis, 2003).

It is nevertheless a fact that like in all other countries, projects in Greece often exceed

time and budget limit and are completed bellow the specified quality standards

(Pantouvakis, 2003). Inadequate project planning leads to a result where strategically

important actions remain unexecuted while the whole organisation structure and

culture are being lead by ad hoc processes (Kourounakis, 2010). According toChazapis (2010) the most efficient way to achieve project success is to ensure that the


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project team will be well prepared for any potential problems that might occur. That

view underlines and highlights the importance of strategic planning. Furthermore,

Bafas (2007) underlines the importance of a various features in project management

planning. The features (scope management, risk management, cost estimation, project

objectives mapping, Work Breakdown Structure, etc) are identical to those presented

above during the Literature review and the formulation of the theory.

It can be realised that in general terms the situation in Greece regarding project

management and its practices does not differ from the general findings that this

specific research underlines. In any case, the questionnaire results will be able to

provide a more specific and detailed aspect about this matter (see Questionnaire

Design in Research Method part).


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2.9 Theoretical Framework

2.9.1 About success

There is a very long discussion about project success. What is considered to be project

success and how it can be measured is a matter that allows many different views.

Although it is not directly the topic of this research, a compact discussion about this is

necessary. First of all we have to underline that success in a project has different

views. A project that ended for example on time, on budget and according to the

quality standards is successful for the owner, but can be unsuccessful for the

contractor if he had no profit or if he lost money. There is even the possibility that

both the owner and the contractor consider the project as successful but the final users

believe that the product does not cover their needs. Project success and product

success have are of course interrelated but at the same time they are two different

matters. If it is viewed completely isolated, a project can be successful even by

creating an unsuccessful product and on the other hand a successful product can be a

result of an unsuccessful project. Angus et al. (2005) present very comprehensible

examination regarding the matters of project, product and view of stakeholders in the

following figure:

Figure 3: Project/Product lifecycle stages and milestones

Project lifecycle Product lifecycle Owner/ActionsStage 1 Project

conception

Product feasibility The client organisation, assisted by specialists

Milestone

1

Project

commitment

High level product requirement

produced

The client commits to the project and appoints a

project team

Stage 2 Project

execution

Design, development or

acquisition

The project team (the prime contractor assisted by

subcontractors)

Milestone

2

Project closure Product created The project team delivers the created product to the

clientStage 3 N/A Product operation The client organisation, possibly transferred to a

customer/user

Source: Angus et al. (2005 p. 429)

It can be clearly seen that project and product are separated from each other and also

that there are different owners in each phase. The main purpose however of a

successful strategy is to lead to a successful project. If the final product is created

according to the initial specifications and does not meet the final users needs, that is

not a question or a problem of project management and hence of the project


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management strategy. It should be noticed that the present research focuses on the

strategy related to project management. It is however helpful to see a holistic view of

success that includes the success of all factors of a project (project management,

product, market, etc) and highlights the initial argument, provided by AlTmeemy et

al. (2011):

Figure 4: Measuring project success

Source: AlTmeemy et al. (2011, p. 339)

As written above the discussion about success can be approached in many different

ways. Regarding project (management) success there is also a relativity issue. If for

example there is a need for changes to some of the technical specifications due to

external reasons; that could alter the whole project scope. A solution however that can

approach the initial planning can easily be considered as a success even if for example

raises the total cost of the project. There are numerous tradeoffs like that to be

considered regarding time, cost, quality, scope, efficiency, value etc.

Furthermore this view can be expanded. In a hostile environment for example, with

several different problems and issues, even the survival of the project can be


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considered as success. There is clearly not a single approach to the matter. This is also

one of the reasons why this research is about increase project success. In every case

nevertheless it is clear that a wellestablished and wellapplied strategy is required

to achieve project success.

2.9.2 Requirements for a successful strategy

It is important to notice that in order the strategy process to be successful, there must

be followed some principles. First of all the whole project has to be very specific and

not to contain any kind of vagueness. The people inside the company who are taking

the decisions should be aware of all the aspects of the strategy. Secondly, the internal

and the external assessment must be integrated. A good analysis will provide the right

information that will allow the company to set up a realistic mission and the

appropriate goals to achieve it. An analysis that does not reflect the real situation and

does not take under consideration all the important factors may lead to an

unsuccessful strategy and even to company failure.

There must also be a clear correlation between the mission, the goals and the actions.

Every goal decided has to contribute to the achievement of the mission. Goals should

not be set if they are not related to the mission of the project. Likewise, the

determined actions should reflect the projects goals (objectives). It is also important

to notice that mission should not be changing according to goals and goals should not

be changing according to actions. This is a mistake that many organisations use to

make. Those steps must be interlinked with a very specific way.

Great attention should be given also to implementation process. It is common the

actions finally taken to differ from those initially decided. A good strategy is of no

use, if it is not applied the way it was planned. That underlines the importance of the

third stage (see Figure 2). The performance should be measured in order to note if

everything goes according to the planned strategy. An integrated control and

evaluation system is key factor for a successful strategy. Feedback is of great

importance for the control system. Any conclusions made after evaluation should be

used to change the strategy process, if necessary. It should of course be noticed that


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the reliability of the feedback depends very much on the quality of the evaluation

process.

Finally, like mentioned above, it is important for the strategy to be flexible. It must be

capable to be adjusted to any unexpected changes that may occur. The strategy should

not be followed blindly, because it reflects reality. If the reality changes the same

thing must happen to the strategy, too.

2.9.3 Why fail the organisations to develop successful strategies?

As analysed before, the strategy in general and the strategy process are meanings that

are in general known and surely easily available to the organisations. However it is

common that the organisations fail to develop successful strategies. As Whittington

says, the average book on strategic planning [management] is pretty cheap. So, how

come, if the secrets of strategic management are so cheaply and easily available,

many organizations fail to develop successful strategies? Is there something wrong

with the literatureor maybe even the concept itself? (Clegg et al. 2005, p410).

The answer to that is not so difficult, as it appears to be. If there was a problem withthe literature, there would not be any organisations that have developed successful

strategies based on the literature. Moreover, if there was something wrong with the

concept itself, there would be not organisations that have developed successful

strategies at all. So we can say that it is more a rhetorical question. The problem is not

in the theory; it is when the theory is applied.

As written before, strategy and the strategy process contain many factors that have to

be fully understood. Sometimes the organisations set up their strategies, but they dont

give attention to all of the requirements presented before. Those requirements are

relevant with the implementation of strategy. It is logical, that if something goes

wrong during the implementation process, the theory will not be of any use. All stages

and steps of the strategy process are connected with each other; the process is like a

chain. That means that one mistake or omission during the process can affect the

whole performance. Organisations that fail to develop successful strategies often are

those which did not take under consideration all the factors. A reason for that is thatmany times, those who are supposed to plan the strategy and monitor the strategy


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process, are not well trained to do so. Managers must have advanced studies in order

to correspond to the corporate requirements; otherwise failure is possible to happen.

2.10 Conclusion

2.10.1 General findings

The review developed and presented the nature, the role and the importance of project

strategy in project management. Project strategy is not an abstract concept. It is a

specific and explicit process that is strongly correlated to the project itself; a

procedure that it is central and must not be seen as typical. Project strategy has to be

uniquely developed for each project and must respond to each projects special nature

and characteristics. It has to lead to project success and help the administration team

to successfully manage the project. It is a dynamic process that can be changed and

corrected during its implementation as long as it is wellplanned at first place.

Underestimation of the role and the importance of project strategy can increase the

completion time or total cost of the project, change its scope, decrease the quality of

the product, and lead to project failure in general or even to project cancellation. Onthe other hand, a well planned and successfully implemented strategy can lead to

problem overcoming, effective management, effective response and project success in

general. A strategic level project management that is performing well can only lead to

an effective operational level. Tools do not manage projects by themselves but can be

a crucial factor of successful management if they are utilised as part of a broadly

applied strategic planning.

To sum up with, this part explicitly highlighted what is project strategy about and

what is its essence in general terms. Specific strategy features and contents of strategy

have been addressed in this part. Those are important not only on a theoretical basis,

but also on a practical level. They should be included in every project strategy.

Moreover the importance of strategy regarding project success and project failure (as

a result of inadequately planned or miss applied strategy) has been stressed,

confirming the initial research hypothesis.


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2.10.2 Research questions

The importance of project strategy is proved on the theoretical basis, but it is still a

question whether contractors share the same view about this process and use it in the

right way during the projects they undertake. Is it possible to increase project success

and if so, what do we have to change? There are issues that need to be addressed in

order to answer to this fundamental question. The literature review showed the role

that the project strategy should have in order to contribute to project success increase.

There is a need to test whether the construction companies are aware of this role, how

they implement strategy and most importantly if their planning and implementation is

bringing results. Therefore, the main research questions that are created are the

following:

o Do the contractors plan and implement project strategy in their projects?This question is based on the causes of failure and success factors topics that

structure the importance of strategy (see Why is strategy important?). Since the

importance is proven, there is a need to examine, whether or not the contractors

act accordingly.

o Is project strategy a common practice?This is practically the second part of the previous question. It particularises the in

fact the first question: If the contractors do plan and implement project strategy, at

what amount do they do that? Is it a broad discipline?

o Which strategy features are known and used?During the theory building, specific features (contents) of strategy were proposed

and presented (see related part, What does Project Strategy contain?) Theamount and the frequency of their use have to be tested. Moreover any additional

features can accrue from this question.

o How successful are their projects in terms of time, cost, effectiveness, etc?According to the theory, projects in Greece and in general (see The situation in

Greece and causes of failure parts) often exceed the pre -defined limits and

constraints. The research will try through this question to define an average time


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and cost excess in the projects in Greece. This is a very important fact for the

study.

o Do the contractors notice project success and predictability increase due to theuse of strategy?

This is maybe the most important question of the research. It is a question that can

mainly prove the theory formulated by this study. There is a simple sequence of

thoughts: Projects are underachieving, a main reason for that is the inadequate

planning and implementation of strategy, a better planning and implementation

can increase project success. If the contractors can validate a success increase due

to strategy, the theory is proven.

Those five are the main research questions that need to be answered. They represent

not only the initial aim of the research (The operational aspects of PM process are

well defined and they work (Heriot Watt 2011, 8-3), but also the issues that have

been developed in the literature survey part. Through those questions a data research

can be undertaken in order to provide specific statistical answers about the strategy

related issues. The questionnaire questions will be based upon those five main

research questions (see Questionnaire Design).


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3. Research Method

3.1 Introduction

As mentioned above, the general theory is confirming the role and the importance of

the strategic level project management. It is however important to look at the applied

practices in the construction sector in order to find out the relationship between theory

and practice. In order to proceed to the research, a decision about the method to be

followed is needed. The selection of the method that will be suitable for the desired

research is something that requires consideration. It depends mostly on the research

topic, the research type and the research area. The purpose of the following chapter is

to examine and contribute to the decision about the research approach that will be

adopted to undertake the necessary research. Therefore the chapter will present all the

necessary facts and features of the subject and investigate the methods in order to

highlight the one that is appropriate for the case.

3.2 AimHypothesis

Creswell (2009); states that the role of the purpose statement is to set the objectives,the target, or the major idea of a proposal or a study. In this case the aim of the data

collection is to test the theory formed at the previous chapters. Previous chapters

proved the importance of the strategy in project management, found the correlation

between strategy application and project success or project failure and showed clearly

that this level of management is a key factor for improving project success and project

management effectiveness and efficiency. Moreover a definition of strategy has been

established along with strategic features and specific contents which are aiming to

applied strategy or simply strategy implementation. It is therefore important at this

point to undertake a research in the construction sector and find out what is the

approach of the construction companies regarding strategy matters. This is about both

formulation and use of strategy in projects. Moreover the purpose is to find after the

research ways to increase project success.


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3.3 Research Approach

Fellows and Liu (2008); support that it is a frequent occurrence for people to believe

that research has not really started before the initiation of the data collection, which is

not valid. A commonly occurring issue is that the data collection is begun too early

before the theory and literature review and, in some extreme cases, even before the

finalisation of the research proposal. It is therefore of high importance to notice and

define the role of the data collection during a research.

The essence of a research is to collect information and data about a particular subject

area that is to be examined with a view of critically analysing, assessing and

understanding the information. That information is going to lead to a conclusion. For

this purpose to be achieved there is the need to create a specific and appropriate way

of questioning the research objectives in other to assure a constructive result. This

questioning type refers to the strategy that will be adopted in the data collection and

the result analysis.

There are three main research approaches, namely the quantitative research approach,

the qualitative research approach and the mixed method approach. According to

Naoum (2007) deciding on the type of research to be adopted, depends on three mainissues, namely the purpose of the study, the type and the availability of the

information which is required. The main and key difference is located between the

quantitative and the qualitative research method. They represent two different

research approaches and philosophies. Each one is used under different

circumstances. Mixed method uses tools and procedures from both quantitative and

qualitative approaches. The amount and the type of each approachs participation may

vary since they are depending on the research type and subject.

3.3.1 Quantitative Research Approach

Quantitative research is objective in nature and is thought of as a strategy that

places emphasis on quantity of data. It is defined as an investigation into a problem

(of social or human nature). This investigation is based on testing a hypothesis or a

theory that is consisting of variables, measured with numbers, and analysed withstatistical procedures. Therefore, the aim is to investigate, study and determine


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whether the hypothesis or the theory hold true (Creswell, 1994). Bouma and

Atkinson, (1995) support that quantitative data is not abstract, they are hard and

reliable since they are measurements of substantial, countable, sensate features of the

world. Quantitative research is therefore solid, specific and contains fixed variables,

calculations and results.

When is quantitative research selected?

Fellows and Liu, (2008) suggest that quantitative research is about making

measurements in collecting data. According to Naoum (2007) quantitative research is

to be selected under two specific conditions:

1. When a survey is required to investigate and discover facts about a concept, a

question or a feature.

2. When there is a need to collect factual verification and examine the relationship

between those facts in order to test a specific theory or hypothesis that has been

expressed or developed.

Fellows and Liu (2008); support thatthis approach is based on previous work which

has already developed specific principles, laws and theories. The purpose of thismethods use is to contribute to the decision of the data requirements arising in a

particular research project.

Furthermore they add there are two major questions regarding the quantitative

research procedure: firstly what is to be measured and secondly how should those

measurements be made. Moreover an aspect that may be unnoticed is the scale of

measurement. There should be paid great attention, since the nature of the scale

selected is of high importance. The research should identify clearly and carefully the

unit of analysis (Fellows and Liu 2008).

The use of literature

Quantitative research incorporates an extensive amount of literature at the beginning

of a study. In those cases the function of literature is to introduce a theory, an

explanation for expected relationships, or to provide direction for the main questionsor hypotheses of the research. It plays also a second role, which is to present a


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problem or to describe in depth the existing literature related to the subject. That part

of the study will be separated from the others, usually under the title Related

Literature or Literature Review, or some other analogous phrase. At the closing

stages of the study, the literature is revisited by the researcher; who proceeds to a

comparison between the data results and the previous findings in the literature. In this

type of research, the researcher utilises the literature in a deductive way, as a

framework for the research questions or hypotheses (Creswell, 2009).

3.3.2 Qualitative Research Approach

Naoum (2007) provides an accurate definition about qualitative research. He states

that is an approach subjective in nature, which emphasises concepts, experiences

(which often are described in a verbal way), explanation and so on. The data collected

in this procedure can be divided in two research categories which are exploratory and

attitudinal.

When is qualitative research selected?

Exploratory research is used when there is a partial amount of knowledge about theinvestigated topic, while attitudinal research is used to evaluate the opinion,

estimation, or the belief of a person in a subjective way, towards a particular object,

Naoum (2007). Fellows and Liu (2008) add that qualitative research is the appropriate

research method in cases of theory building research, which is a research which seeks

to build a theory around the collected data. Grounding theory is a representative

example of that.

They also add that this kind of procedure (developing theory from data) needs a great

amount of a continuous, over a relatively long period and comprehensive interaction

between the researcher and the observed, (Fellows and Liu, 2008). Therefore

qualitative research method is not ideal in cases where there is a narrow time limit for

the data collection.

Since the information generated from this research method represents in general terms

what have been said by people either by interview or what was observed, it is a


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method that is mostly used along with tools like interview or open ended questions in

questionnaires.

To sum up, qualitative research is the appropriate method when there is a need to

develop a new theory, to explore personal (subjective) views about a specific topic

or an issue, or when there is a lack of information related to the research area.

The use of Literature

In theory-oriented qualitative studies, such as critical theory, or an advocacy or

emancipatory aim, the researcher can locate the theory discussion and literature in a

separate section, typically toward the beginning of the write up. However, in

qualitative research, the researcher can also include the literature part in the final

section. The literatures role in that case is to be compared and contrasted with the

results that came out from the data collection based study. It is a model that is, as

written above, mainly popular in grounded theory studies (Creswell, 2009).

3.3.3. Mixed Research Approach

As written above, this is an approach that utilises methods and tools from both

approaches (quantitative and qualitative). The logic behind this is that there are cases

where the features of a single method are not enough to support the type of research

that is required to be undertaken. Creswell (2009) describes the way of using the two

different approaches during literature review and data research. He states that if for

example the study initiates with a quantitative phase, then the researcher is likely to

embrace a substantial literature review that facilitates to set up a justification for the

research questions or hypotheses. If on the other hand the study starts with a

qualitative phase, then the literature will be considerably less, and thus, the researcher

may include it more into the end of the study, leading to an inductive approach. In the

case where the researcher advances a concurrent study that contains an equal amount

and weight on both qualitative and quantitative data, then the literature part may take

either qualitative or quantitative forms, (Creswell, 2009).

It is clear that the nature of the mixed approach does indeed allow flexibility during

the research, since it allows the researcher to alter or adjust the research style


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according to the type or the environment of the study. However due to that reason it

can only be used on specific situations, when no other approach can generate the

expected results, or drive the research towards completion.

3.4 Research Method selection

As already mentioned the selection of the appropriate research method is critical for

the successful completion of the research. Since mixed method is considered to be

unsuited due to its characteristics (see above), the following chapter will summarise

and present the main features of the two major approaches (quantitative and

qualitative) in order to define the most suitable method for this particular study.

3.4.1 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

The two different approaches have their own specific characteristics and elements.

Therefore they each one of them is suitable for a different kind of research, topic and

environment. Naoum (2007), states that the difference between quantitative and

qualitative research is rather like the difference between counting the shape and

types of design of a sample of green houses as opposed to living in them and feeling

the environment, (Naoum 2007, p.42). The following figure shows the main

differences between the two research philosophies.

Figure 5: main differences between quantitative and qualitative research

Quantitative Qualitative

1 RoleFact-finding based on

evidence or records

Attitude measurementbased on

opinions, views and

perceptionsmeasurement

2 Nature of research Objective Subjective

3Relationship between

researcher and subjectDistant Close

4 Scope of findings Nomothetic Idiographic

5

Relationship between

theory/ concepts and

research

Testing/confirmation Emergent/development

6 Nature of data Hard and reliable Rich and deep

Source: Bryman 1988, cited in Naoum (2007, p. 43) and own processing


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3.4.2 Method Selection

The nature of this research, the role of the literature and theory review, as well as the

aim of the study are showing that the appropriate research method to be followed is

the quantitative research method. In this case the theoretical framework leads to

specific findings and to an explicit theory. Project strategy is not been planned and

implemented in an effective way, it has not the role it is supposed to have and that

situation is leading to low performance in projects. Through a well performed

strategic level project management, the project success can be increased. Those

theoretical perspectives need to be tested, in order to be confirmed. The point of the

research is to exclude findings that will have a broad validity (facts) and for that

reason it has to be objective. Moreover, in this study, the researcher will have a

distant relationship with the subject during data collection. For all the reasons

mentioned above, quantitative research is the most suitable method to be followed.

3.4.3 Research style and considerations

As mentioned above, the purpose of the data gathering is to test the theory that is

formed during the review of the literature. A consideration about the appropriate

method for data collection is needed. This has to be selected according to the selected

research approach (quantitative). Under this condition, a case study would not be

fitting and therefore has to be rejected. The reason for that is first of all the nature of

the research which has not been structured in an inductive way. It does not focus at a

specific case or situation in order to generate wider conclusions. Furthermore there is

no single case, which can broadly represent an entire sector in this specific subject.

Consequently the selection is going to be made between two different research tools,

namely the interview and the questionnaire. A briefdevelopment of each techniques

characteristics and a comparison between them will be presented in the figures

bellow.


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Figure 6: advantages and disadvantages of interview technique

Advantages Disadvantages

Information is available in a direct way Extra planning is required, increasing research time

Answers can be more specific Generally small sample

Interviewees may be questioned in more depth Sample may not be representativeAdditional information can easily be acquired Answers may have prejudice

Initial topic may be expanded Data may be subjective

Interviewees may be more dedicated to the

research

Information may not be revealed due to a sensitive

topic area


Figure 7: advantages and disadvantages of questionnaire technique

Advantages Disadvantages

Speed Generally low rate of participation

Broad sample Little depth of data

Great amounts of information for little effort Respondents assign low priority to questionnaires

Known and specific structure May not be answered by the appropriate person

Results can produce statistical data Additional information requires a lot of time

Generally more objective methodQuestions need to be well structured to generate

useful data


It is clear that both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. There is no

question about which method is better. Each one is respectively appropriate

according to the type and nature of the followed research. However, a quick view in

their features can reveal that in general, interview technique is more suitable for a

qualitative research approach, while questionnaire technique fits more to a

quantitative method of research. For that reason the technique that will be adopted inthis case is the research through questionnaires. Details about the architecture of the

questionnaires will be presented in the following chapter.


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3.5 Sample selection

The sample of the research will be selected according to the type of research. This

means that there are several subjects that have to be taken under consideration. Those

are related to the broad research questions (see Conclusion part in Literature

review chapter) but also to the structure of the research (research structure in

Literature review chapter). According to FrankfortNachmias et al. (2000:167), a

sample is considered representative if the analyses made using the sampling units

produce results similar to those that would be obtained had the entire population

been analyzed. In this case there are findings and conclusions that are considered to

have a general validity. There is a need those findings to be related in a particular

area, namely a specific construction sector and a specified location.

The selected research location is Greece. As a member of the European Union it has

an environment that is typical of the so called West world. The recent economic

recession does not; at this point and type of research; affect the core of the studied

subject, but reduces however the size of the sample. Before the recession there was a

well developed construction sector and thus a satisfying amount of data. At this

point, due to the crisis and the measures taken by the Government, the construction

sector (along with many others) has been broadly affected in a very negative way. As

a result, the companies left are enough to provide the necessary data, but the data

gathering process is much more difficult.

There is a question about the construction sector (public, private, or PPP / PFI) that

will be selected for the research, since all of them contain large projects. The research

will focus on private sector projects because of one main reason. Some of the main

research factors are project completion time, total project cost, effectiveness, etc. In

public or PPP / PFI projects, where the state is involved there has been noticed during

the decades that exist problems related to legal issues, responsibility matters, property

issues, bureaucracy, etc that can significantly affect the project time, the total cost, the

predictability, the scope and cause alterations, cancellations and changes in general.

For all those reasons the research would not be accurate and the sample would not be

representative.

Moreover, private contractors in Greece undertake mainly two types of projects,which are housing and shopping / business centers or industrial / logistics projects.


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Since housing projects are considered to be (mainly due to their size) smaller and

much simpler, the role of project management in those projects is narrow. Therefore it

would not be possible to study the role of project strategy in its full extent. For all

those reasons mentioned above the study will focus on companies affiliated to those

project types.

3.6 Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire survey seeks Greece contractors view on the implementation of the

concept of project strategy in construction industry. The design of the questionnaire

was shaped based the background information gathered from the literature review of

journals and papers, on the theory formed during the literature survey and on the five

(5) main research questions (see Research Questions chapter in Literature Review

part).

A two page questionnaire, escorted by a covering letter was sent to managing

directors and managers of sample construction companies. The covering letter

explained the purpose of the research and its relevance to construction firms. It

explained also that the questionnaire is meant to be completed only by the senior

members of the staff on a managerial position. The questionnaire tried to deal with thefears of privacy of information by assuring the respondents that its confidentiality

would be kept and that the information provided shall not be used for any purpose

other than the dissertation. It also offered the organisations the possibility to receive

the research results if they wish. This offer is thought as an extra motivation for the

firms to participate in the research.

The construction of the questionnaire was of such that is devoid of any ambiguou

strategic level management and project success increase

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