Corporate Strategy and Project Management
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41. Corporate Strategy and Project Management: the relationship between them and implications for the management of an international project.
Introduction
This paper draws attention to the detached relationship between the corporate strategy and project management. Solutions offered by various researchers to align both of them are discussed and examine how they could be proposed for the management of international project, in particularly for the construction industry.
Relationship between corporate strategy and project management
Association between strategy and project are often perceived as a top down approach, where executive managers drives strategy down to projects management levels. (Combe 2000).
Historically, in world of business, it is recognized that corporate strategic planning, including project selection, lies on the efforts of executive managers. Project planning and execution on the other hand are done by project managers (Milosevic & Srivannaboon 2006). However, opinion are gaining grounds among scholars that such approach causes disconnection between the strategy and project, and is strongly related with the poor growth in project performances of the past ten years (Standish, 1994-2004; Thiry 2005; Ginevri & Beraha 2006).
Numerous literatures also highlighted the fact that most organization are facing difficulty connecting and aligning their project execution with business strategies (Combe, 2000; Morris, 2005; Cabanis-Brewin & Pennypacker, 2006; Tarp, 2007;). Publication by Ginevri & Beraha (2006) had explained that the attitudes and traits among personals who are involved are the reasons for the misalignment: * “the Project Manager – work to constantly achieve appropriate balance on the triple constraint (time, cost and quality), achieving success in project based on project management standards (on time, within cost and achieving quality) * the Executive Manager
41. Corporate Strategy and Project Management: the relationship between them and implications for the management of an international project.
Introduction
This paper draws attention to the detached relationship between the corporate strategy and project management. Solutions offered by various researchers to align both of them are discussed and examine how they could be proposed for the management of international project, in particularly for the construction industry.
Relationship between corporate strategy and project management
Association between strategy and project are often perceived as a top down approach, where executive managers drives strategy down to projects management levels. (Combe 2000).
Historically, in world of business, it is recognized that corporate strategic planning, including project selection, lies on the efforts of executive managers. Project planning and execution on the other hand are done by project managers (Milosevic & Srivannaboon 2006). However, opinion are gaining grounds among scholars that such approach causes disconnection between the strategy and project, and is strongly related with the poor growth in project performances of the past ten years (Standish, 1994-2004; Thiry 2005; Ginevri & Beraha 2006).
Numerous literatures also highlighted the fact that most organization are facing difficulty connecting and aligning their project execution with business strategies (Combe, 2000; Morris, 2005; Cabanis-Brewin & Pennypacker, 2006; Tarp, 2007;). Publication by Ginevri & Beraha (2006) had explained that the attitudes and traits among personals who are involved are the reasons for the misalignment: * “the Project Manager – work to constantly achieve appropriate balance on the triple constraint (time, cost and quality), achieving success in project based on project management standards (on time, within cost and achieving quality) * the Executive Manager
References: Archibald, R (2003) Managing high technology programs and projects. 3rd edn. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. | Artto, K Cabanis-Brewin. J & Pennypacker (2006). Best practices for aligning projects to corporate strategy, PMI Global congress proceedings- Seattle Washington | Cabanis-Brewin Combe, M (2000) Making the link from strategy to projects – What is the payoff? Proceedings of the Project management insitiute annual seminars and symposium. Houston, Texus USA | Ginevri, W Milosevi, D. Z. & Srivannaboon, S (2006) A theoretical framework for aligning project management with business strategy. Project Management Journal Pg 98-110 | Morris P Morris P. (2005) Managing the front end: How project mangers shape business strategy and mange project definitation. | Morris, P Niven P.R (2002) Balanced Scorecard Step-by-step New York, NY: John Wiley & Son | Howes & Tah, 2003 Strategic Management Applied to International Construction, pp 59-88 | Shenhar, A. J & Dvir, D (2007) Project management research – the challenge and opportunity. Project Management Journal Pg 94 -99 | Shenhar, A Srivannaboon, S (2006) Linking project management with business strategy, PMI Global Congress Proceedings – Seattle Washington | Standish (1994-2004) The Chaos Report, The Standish Group International Reserach Reports (1994, 2000, 2004 Third Quarter) | Tharp. J (2007) Align Project Management with organizational strategy, PMI Global congress proceedings - Hongkong | Thiry, M Wheelwright, S.C & Clark, K.B (1992) Revolutionzing new product development. New York, The free press. |