Managing Global Megaprojects Management

As mentioned by Mir and Pinnington (2014), in order to successfully complete a project, it is important to apply accurate knowledge along with skills for perfectly implementing the same. The entire process of directing and controlling the activities within a project can be divided into five main phases.

In the initial phase, initiation and conception of the project is done. It will be important to analyse the benefits of initiating the project for the society and Organisation. There will be a decision making team, who will investigate upon the practical application of the proposed project. In the next phase the project will be defined by implementing effective plan. The planning phase is also believed to be the most important step of project management. The success rate of the project is entirely dependent upon the initial plan that has been implemented. This planning will include the budget and the schedule for the project along with allocating the resources that are needed in the following phases.

The next step of the project is about launching execution of the plan. In this type all the resources of the project will be equally distributed among all the teams and members involved in completion of the project. Important project related information also need to be shared with every members of the project team (Pinto 2014). In the following step, it is the duty of the project manager to ensure and monitor the progress of the project. It is highly recommended for them to prepare a project report, which will have the evidence of the current status of the project. The project managers can also bring about necessary changes, which is required to deal with few of the barriers. The members of the project can also discuss the issues there encountering with the project manager and thereby implement proper intervention steps. It is also the duty of the project manager to ensure that all activities of the project are completed within the scheduled time. The final step is about project closure. In this type, the client group will approve the project and evaluate the same. The client can also demand for new changes within the project if they are not satisfied with the overall activity.

It is important to follow all the steps properly in order to successfully complete any type of project, which are aimed for the development of the society or an organisation. As mentioned by Serra and Kunc (2015), it is not only important to prepare the plan for the project or have perfect knowledge, it is also essential to ensure that the knowledge is being utilised properly to deal with all forms of challenges within the step of project.

Critical factors for failure in project management

The complexity of different type of projects in Engineering or management work are believed to be the prime cause or critical factors for project management failure. As mentioned in the report of Qubaisi et al. (2015), more than 50% case of incomplete or a successful project is due to the fact of shortage in the fund. During the time of project planning, it may not be possible for the project managers to estimate the perfect budget due to the lack of experience or any unfavourable external business environment. In many of the cases, it may also not be possible for the project managers to evaluate all forms of risks that are involved within the project. Hence it can be said that poor forms of leadership by the project managers are mainly responsible for ineffective project planning. The managers are also responsible for not having the ability to deal with several number of workers, who are involved in the path of project activity.

Inaccurate documentation or monitoring system that are implemented by the project management group is also one of the major cause of project failure. As the managers are not properly able to track the project planning and the progress, it may not be possible for them to ensure that all the project activities are completed properly. Once an important project is being delayed, the project manager and team members have to face with the extra pressure of handling the negative impact and pressure from the management group or the client.

In the part of Middle East, there has been huge number of records in completed project work in regions of Abu Dhabi (El-Sayegh and Mansour 2016). The lack of coordination between the project team members and workers are believed to be one of the prime cause of project failures in the areas. It is highly essential for the project workers and managers of the construction industry to properly define each and every step involved in the project and implement effective communication strategy in order to develop proper coordination. The scope of the project is highly dependent upon the communication techniques that are being implemented within the project team. The life cycle of the project is also highly dependent upon the scope that are being developed within the project activity. In the regions of Middle East, and in places of Abu Dhabi the project team manager of construction or Engineering Works have to face barriers and limitations due to the external business and political environment. In many of the cases, the government is not able to take the initiative to support the need of the project management workers. This is mainly due to the fact of the unstable political environment in the region, where it is not possible for the project management team to seek proper support from the government in a form of perfect government policy.

It is relevant to mention that UAE, is currently considered to be one of the quickly developing economy in the Middle East region. From the period of 1990, the Government of UAE has initiated several social and construction project works, which are responsible for the current economic development of the nation. However, as per mentioned in the report of AL Mousli and El-Sayegh (2015), more than half of the engineering or construction project in Abu Dhabi region are delayed. This is causing a loss of 170 million dollars every year. There are several causes of the delay or in completion of this project work that can be classified into different categories based on the nature of loss. Lack of funding from the government or private agencies is believed to be the prime cause of project delay in Abu Dhabi. The mismanagement of cash flow along with your initial planning are mainly responsible for this delays in construction work. There is also the factor of unfavourable weather situation, which is also one of the prime factor of project failures.

In many cases the project managers are not able to evaluate the critical activities that are associated with every type of project activities. Sequencing of the activities involved in project construction work is one of the major critical factor for failure. During the middle of a project activity, the project manager may decide to change the project works. Due to the unfavourable political environment in the region of Abu Dhabi, it is highly challenging for the project workers to implement the change. It can also be noted that due to the poor leadership, it may not be possible for the Government of the UAE to properly allocate the task of project management to each team.

There is certain type of delays which are caused due to change in the demand from the client group. Hence, this form of delay is considered to be excusable from the project management team. In certain cases, the project management team may demand new funding due to the change in the work of construction. However, in case of non-excusable delays which are caused due to the in efficiency of the contractors, it is not possible for the project management team to claim extra funding from the client group. The slow process of decision making in the regions of Abu Dhabi is believed to be one of the prime cause of project failures or incomplete project work (Rees-Caldwell and Pinnington 2013).

An entrepreneurial insight

The prime duty of an entrepreneur to overcome the delay in project management work is to provide effective leadership quality. This can be managed in the form of dealing with the resource and properly allocating the same during the initial phases (Chen 2015). It is also the duty of the entrepreneur or the Project leader to properly communicate with all groups of project workers. In order to properly complete project work in regions of Abu Dhabi it is essential for the project leader to consider all the unfavourable business conditions. This can be achieved in the form of implementing proper risk evaluation tool. The process of implementing the tool is to properly collect data from all primary sources, which includes all the statistical information from current project work in Abu Dhabi. It is also the duty of the Project leader to properly communicate with the Government of Abu Dhabi region, which will help them to understand all the barriers that can compromise up on the project quality and cause delay (Kardes et al. 2013).

As an entrepreneur, it is highly essential to provide the correct form of leadership and bring about change in project management activities. This will help to ensure the allocated fund of the project are being properly utilised.

Research philosophy is believed to be the path or protocol that are being followed by the researchers to collect and evaluate the overall relevant data. In positivism results philosophy the investigators properly analyse the real situation associated with the subject area of research. For the current investigation work analysing the present situation of all project work in Abu Dhabi will help the researchers to identify the cause of delay on incomplete project work.

It is also possible to implement the interpretivism research philosophy, which will allow the investigators to properly interpret the real situation depending upon the collected data.

Three Types of Research Design including descriptive, exploratory and interpretive can be applied in all investigation works. For the current research for the investigator will implement the descriptive form of Research Design, which will help them to analyse the data for cause of delays of project work in Abu Dhabi.

The strategy for the research is to follow a definite framework that will help the investigator to identify all the issues related to the research topic (Taylor et al. 2015). Effective research strategy in the form of qualitative and quantitative form of data analysis will be implemented for a current research work. This is highly essential for analysing all background information for the causes of delay in project work in Abu Dhabi.

The current research work will implement both primary and secondary form of Data Collection. The primary data will be collected from the interview of project managers and government officials, who are involved in different type of construction and engineering project in Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, secondary data will be collected from all previously conducted research works related to project management in Abu Dhabi.

The researcher will implement non probability sampling technique. The researchers will conduct interview with 10 project managers and government officials who are involved in various form of construction and engineering project activities in Abu Dhabi.

The expected outcome for the following research work will be to identify all the specific causes of delay when completed project work in regions of Abu Dhabi. The research work will also be able to estimate accurately the total funds amount, which are being lost due to in completed or delay in project work. It will also be possible for the researchers to provide and entrepreneur overview of implementing proper intervention steps to prevent failures in project management work in Abu Dhabi. Proper statistical data will also be analysed, which will help to classify all the causes of delay depending upon the nature and type of loss encountered.

Timescale

Total time of the research will be 3 years

Reference

AL Mousli, M.H. and El-Sayegh, S.M., 2016. Assessment of the design–construction interface problems in the UAE. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 12(5), pp.353-366.

Chen, H.L., 2015. Performance measurement and the prediction of capital project failure. International Journal of Project Management, 33(6), pp.1393-1404.

El-Sayegh, S.M. and Mansour, M.H., 2015. Risk assessment and allocation in highway construction projects in the UAE. Journal of Management in Engineering, 31(6), p.04015004.

Kardes, I., Ozturk, A., Cavusgil, S.T. and Cavusgil, E., 2013. Managing global megaprojects: Complexity and risk management. International Business Review, 22(6), pp.905-917.

Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management: linking project management performance and project success. International journal of project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

Pinto, J.K., 2014. Project management, governance, and the normalization of deviance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3), pp.376-387.

Qubaisi, J.M.M.L.F.A., Elanain, H.M.A., Badri, M.A. and Ajmal, M.M., 2015. Leadership, culture and team communication: analysis of project success causality-a UAE case. International Journal of Applied Management Science, 7(3), pp.223-243.

Rees-Caldwell, K. and Pinnington, A.H., 2013. National culture differences in project management: Comparing British and Arab project managers' perceptions of different planning areas. International Journal of Project Management, 31(2), pp.212-227.

Serra, C.E.M. and Kunc, M., 2015. Benefits realisation management and its influence on project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of Project Management, 33(1), pp.53-66.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.