Papers by Dr. Stephen K . A . Hammond, DBA
Dr. Stephen K. A. Hammond, DBA, 2019
International donor agencies continue to register their displeasure over the manner in which fund... more International donor agencies continue to register their displeasure over the manner in which funds allocated for poverty reduction and development projects are recklessly managed. World Bank's Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Danny Leipziger was reported in the 5 th December 2008 edition of the Ghanaian Times as saying "Transparent public institutions and the fight against corruption are key for poverty reduction and economic growth," he added that "The current financial crisis shows how important transparency, good governance, and effective regulation are in all parts of the world". On his part the UK Minister for International Development, Ivan Lewis also exclaimed that good governance is at the heart of development and poverty reduction and that "DFID is committed to the global effort to build effective states that serve the needs of their citizens and stamp out corruption. The government partnership facility being envisaged by the Donor Agencies will help create the conditions that will enable millions of people in the developing world to step up from poverty". Ghana's development partners are worried that if funds for poverty reduction projects were not properly managed the necessary safety nets and structures can hardly be established to shelter the vulnerable and keep up the development momentum. Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development and Cooperation did not mince words in asserting that" corruption and bad governance obstruct equitable development of poor countries, and that is unacceptable." Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim also lambasted the executives of developing countries when he indicated that"… several hundred billions of US dollars are illicitly transferred from developing countries each year and this undermines the mobilization of domestic resources, reduces funding for development, facilitates criminal activities, weakens accountability and increases inequality. On the local front, the educational sector has a catalog of abandoned government projects. The new Chemistry Department of the University of Ghana, for instance, commenced in 1979 when Dr. Ivan Addae Mensah was only a lecturer at the science faculty. He rose through the ranks to become a full professor and even the vice chancellor of the university before the project was completed in 2002. The yet to be completed tallest building in Accra near the British Council Library or the Cedi House, funded by Social Security and National Insurance Trust, had its sod cut in 1998 when Jerry Rawlings was in the helm of affairs at the Osu Castle. One is at a complete loss as to when this building project would be handed over for commissioning. Perhaps it might be needless to ascertain the number of upward adjustments to the cost of this project that has been made. Street lighting project commenced decades ago, has not been managed successfully. Traffic lighting systems, even in the capital cities are in deplorable state. Some Traffic lighting systems at intersectional roads in Accra have been permanently out of order for long periods resulting in serious vehicular accidents thereby defeating the rationale behind the installation of these traffic control lights. What exactly might have happened to the project management skills of the officials entrusted with the day to day management of these traffic lights? The National Health Insurance Scheme and Metro Mass Transit projects are virtually on its knees as a result of corrupt officials who condoned with service providers to defraud the projects. The million dollar question that readily comes to mind is whether the risk factors associated with most of the aforementioned projects were adequately isolated and mechanisms put in place towards addressing this risk factors before and during the implementation of these projects. Brigham and Ehrhardt (2005) argue that "as businesses and projects become increasingly complex, it is more and more difficult for the CEOs and directors to know what problems might lie in wait. Therefore companies need to have someone systematically looking for potential problems and design safeguards to minimize potential damage". This is where projects and businesses ought to have 'risk managers' who assume risk management responsibilities. According to March and Shapira (1987), Risk management involves identifying the risks faced by the project, measuring the potential effect of each risk and deciding how each relevant risk should be handled. Baird and Howard (1985) further added that risk management attempts to reduce the probability of occurrence of an adverse event, reduce the management of the loss associated and totally avoiding the activity that gives rise to the risk. The
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Dama Academic Scholarly Journal of Researchers , 2019
International donor agencies continue to register their displeasure over the manner in which fund... more International donor agencies continue to register their displeasure over the manner in which funds allocated for poverty reduction and development projects are recklessly managed. World Bank's Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Danny Leipziger was reported in the 5 th December 2008 edition of the Ghanaian Times as saying "Transparent public institutions and the fight against corruption are key for poverty reduction and economic growth," he added that "The current financial crisis shows how important transparency, good governance, and effective regulation are in all parts of the world". On his part the UK Minister for International Development, Ivan Lewis also exclaimed that good governance is at the heart of development and poverty reduction and that "DFID is committed to the global effort to build effective states that serve the needs of their citizens and stamp out corruption. The government partnership facility being envisaged by the Donor Agencies will help create the conditions that will enable millions of people in the developing world to step up from poverty". Ghana's development partners are worried that if funds for poverty reduction projects were not properly managed the necessary safety nets and structures can hardly be established to shelter the vulnerable and keep up the development momentum. Bert Koenders, the Netherlands Minister for Development and Cooperation did not mince words in asserting that" corruption and bad governance obstruct equitable development of poor countries, and that is unacceptable." Norwegian Minister of Environment and International Development, Erik Solheim also lambasted the executives of developing countries when he indicated that"… several hundred billions of US dollars are illicitly transferred from developing countries each year and this undermines the mobilization of domestic resources, reduces funding for development, facilitates criminal activities, weakens accountability and increases inequality. On the local front, the educational sector has a catalog of abandoned government projects. The new Chemistry Department of the University of Ghana, for instance, commenced in 1979 when Dr. Ivan Addae Mensah was only a lecturer at the science faculty. He rose through the ranks to become a full professor and even the vice chancellor of the university before the project was completed in 2002. The yet to be completed tallest building in Accra near the British Council Library or the Cedi House, funded by Social Security and National Insurance Trust, had its sod cut in 1998 when Jerry Rawlings was in the helm of affairs at the Osu Castle. One is at a complete loss as to when this building project would be handed over for commissioning. Perhaps it might be needless to ascertain the number of upward adjustments to the cost of this project that has been made. Street lighting project commenced decades ago, has not been managed successfully. Traffic lighting systems, even in the capital cities are in deplorable state. Some Traffic lighting systems at intersectional roads in Accra have been permanently out of order for long periods resulting in serious vehicular accidents thereby defeating the rationale behind the installation of these traffic control lights. What exactly might have happened to the project management skills of the officials entrusted with the day to day management of these traffic lights? The National Health Insurance Scheme and Metro Mass Transit projects are virtually on its knees as a result of corrupt officials who condoned with service providers to defraud the projects. The million dollar question that readily comes to mind is whether the risk factors associated with most of the aforementioned projects were adequately isolated and mechanisms put in place towards addressing this risk factors before and during the implementation of these projects. Brigham and Ehrhardt (2005) argue that "as businesses and projects become increasingly complex, it is more and more difficult for the CEOs and directors to know what problems might lie in wait. Therefore companies need to have someone systematically looking for potential problems and design safeguards to minimize potential damage". This is where projects and businesses ought to have 'risk managers' who assume risk management responsibilities. According to March and Shapira (1987), Risk management involves identifying the risks faced by the project, measuring the potential effect of each risk and deciding how each relevant risk should be handled. Baird and Howard (1985) further added that risk management attempts to reduce the probability of occurrence of an adverse event, reduce the management of the loss associated and totally avoiding the activity that gives rise to the risk. The
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Dama International Journal of Researchers, 2018
Having talked about project success, it is only fair to highlight what constitutes project failur... more Having talked about project success, it is only fair to highlight what constitutes project failure. Researchers increasingly measure success by the impact on the organization rather than just meeting the triple constraints. Despite having been executed as planned, within schedule, on budget and according to performance goals, some projects turn out to be failures. Such projects failed to produce actual benefits to end-users considering they are a core part of project success determination. Another angle is the failure to generate adequate revenue to the organization in question (Dvir, Raz & Shenhar, 2003). In examining some of the causes of project failures, Attarzadeh and Ow (2008) espoused that software managers often have to monitor and manage many projects concurrently. Unfortunately, while some projects are completed successfully, others are not completed on time and some are cancelled. According to them, some of the reasons for project failure are lack of user involvement; lack of planning; incomplete requirements; lack of resources; and incorrect cost estimation among other factors. Even though there are several project planning and scheduling techniques, not all of them are appropriate for every project and this leads to some projects failing in the end (Damoah, 2015). However, it is the position of this research that, just as literature is not conclusive on what constitutes project success, it is not surprising that project failure is also relatively dependent on which stakeholder is assessing it.
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Dama International Journal of Researchers, 2018
In the study of critical success factors in a Public Housing Building Project (PHBP) Adinyira et ... more In the study of critical success factors in a Public Housing Building Project (PHBP) Adinyira et al. (2012) found that the critical success factors were time, cost and quality management; satisfaction, hand environmental safety; beneficiary affordability and design consideration; and cost of individual units and technology. These above mentioned critical success factors seem inadequate considering recent benchmarks for measuring project success by some scholars to include end-user benefit or user involvement, and cultural and political influence (Atif, 2012; Shenrar & Dvir, 2010). Considering that most projects in the MMDAs are classified under the construction category, the outcome of this research regarding critical success factors would be relevant to the MMDAs in Ghana. In another study undertaken in Imo State, Nigeria, Amade, Ubani, Omajeh, Anita and Njoku (2015) found the key success factors in the public sector construction industry were efficient and effective procurement processes/methods; effective communication management; sufficient planning; leadership abilities of the project manager; weather conditions; and effective coordination of project activities. However, planning served as the most significant success factor of construction projects. According to Baccarini, Salm and Love (2004), critical success factors of projects are a " set of circumstances, facts or influences which contribute to the project's outcome " (p. 22). It is also defined as the key variables that a project manager must pay attention to in order to achieve its stated goals and objectives (Ika et al., 2010). Key success factors of projects have varied from one project to the other based on the nature of projects and the goals of the projects. Chan, Scott, and Chan (2004) identified key success factors for construction projects. These factors relate to project management practices, project procedures, human related factors, and external environments. Chan et al. (2004) were of the view that a project will be successful based on the following conditions: " if the: project complexity is low; project is of shorter duration; overall managerial actions are effective; project is funded by a private and experienced client; client is competent in preparing the project brief and making decisions; project team leaders are competent and experienced; and project is executed in a stable environment with developed technology together with an appropriate organization structure " (Chan, Scott & Chan, 2004, p. 155). As recent as these works may be, they have excluded the end-user benefit as one of the critical success factors, especially for a house building project. Although Amade, Ubani, Omajeh, Anita, and Njoku (2015) left out the end-user benefit in the analysis of critical success factors, the research, however, included some laudable factors including effective communication management, effective coordination of project activities and leadership skills of the project manager. It goes without saying that what measures determine a project success may vary from project to project (Adinyira et al., 2012). While that point is notable, the researcher believes that an important component of project success factors must include the user involvement and end-user benefit, however, both research works above excluded it. In essence, the researcher believed that a key stakeholder such as the end-user of a said project should be a reference for measuring project success among other critical success factors. I. EMPIRICAL STUDIES ON CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS Pinto and Slevin (1987) posit that critical success factors can be viewed as the major elements that are relevant for a strategy to be successful. They put it specifically as: " factors which, if addressed, significantly improve project implementation chances ". Pinto and Slevin (1987) jointly outlined a collective set of 10 critical success factors that determine the successful implementation of projects as: Project Mission: Preliminary clarity of goals and general guidelines Top Management Support: Willingness of top management to provide the necessary resources and authority/power for project success Project Schedule/Plans: A detailed specification of the individual action steps required for project implementation Client Consultation: Communication, consultation, and active listening to all impacted parties Personnel: Recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for the project team Technical Tasks: Availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the specific technical action steps
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Dama International Journal of Researchers, 2018
Project management has been defined differently by various scholars. Kerzner (2006) sees project ... more Project management has been defined differently by various scholars. Kerzner (2006) sees project management as the process of planning, defining work requirements, and specifying the levels of quality of deliverables, as well as the resources needed, project monitoring, evaluating and making corrections where necessary. According to Kerzner (2006), there has been an increased use of project management over the years by organizations to achieve organizational goals. Qureshi, Warraich, and Hijazi (2009) advised that project management knowledge and practices can be modelled based on individual processes. An analysis of project management research in the allied disciplines reveals an explosion of popularity and a strong interest in project management research (Kwak & Anbari, 2009). This has been widely recognized in the area of design, planning, control, cost and quality of projects across the globe (Ika, 2012; Ika, Diallo & Thuillier, 2010; Moyo, 2009). The strategic management of every organization depends largely on projects and how they have been managed and each project is unique and requires a tailored project management approach (Shenhar & Dvir, 2007b). This necessarily implies that the same project management approach cannot be arbitrarily applied to all projects. The first research question (RQ1) is tied with the assertions above. Thus, the study sought to evaluate how MMDAs manage their projects while considering which project management practices they adopt. Do they have standard project management practices across various MMDAs or do they vary the project management practices based on the source of funding or aim of the project in question?
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Dama International Journal of Researchers, 2018
This quantitative study sought to investigate the relationship between project management practic... more This quantitative study sought to investigate the relationship between project management practices and project success for Metropolitans, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana. It also explored the causes of delay or failure of projects undertaken by the MMDAs. Finally, the study assessed the differences between the critical success factors for donor funded projects or locally funded projects in the MMDAs. In total, 27 MMDAs took part in this study with a total of 245 respondents across the country. This comprised of 54 from the Metropolitan Assemblies, 126 respondents from the Municipal Assemblies and 65 respondents from the District Assemblies. One of the major findings worth mentioning is the absence of a project management office and designated professional project manager in all the MMDAs who partook in this study. Only two persons out of the 245 participants were certified Project Management Professionals (PMPs) favored in the U.S., or the Projects in Controlled Environments 2 (Prince2). Thus, even though 243 out of 245 participants play major roles in project management across the MMDAs, they do not have basic project management certifications and or credentials. The study revealed that management and administrative practices were the most significant among the factors influencing project delay or failure in the various MMDAs. A significant finding was that the MMDA project managers did not have a minimum level of project management training, hence did not understand project management practices and methodologies. This study is limited by the experience of respondents who rarely engage in projects in the various MMDAs. Their varied backgrounds and portfolios may have affected their responses since it may not be based on the experience of executing projects but rather on observation and indirect involvement as officers in the various MMDAs. This study makes recommendations to the MMDAs in collaborations with the government of Ghana to adopt the project concept and establish a project management office in the various MMDAs. The study recommends that MMDAS train respective officers in project management increase project success. They should establish a project management office to handle the projects at the various MMDAs.
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Papers by Dr. Stephen K . A . Hammond, DBA