International Project Management

Purpose
Project risk management (PRM) and human resource management (HRM) are the two critical success factors (CSFs) for international project management. This paper aims to correlate these two CSFs, identify the human resource (HR) barriers, develop a hybrid model for risk management and develop strategies to overcome the HR barriers to effective risk management in international projects.

Design/methodology/approach
In total, 20 key HR barriers have been identified through a literature survey and verified by project professionals. These HR barriers are ranked according to their ability to trigger other barriers by analysing their interactions using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Based on Ulrich’s revised model for HR functions, a hybrid framework for international PRM has been proposed.

Findings
DEMATEL analysis categorized nine barriers as cause barriers and 11 as affected barriers. The “PROJECTS” model proposed for HR strategy development suggests eight strategies to overcome these nine cause barriers. The hybrid PRM framework developed includes the effect of the HR dimension.

Research limitations/implications
This paper presents the generalized prioritization of HR barriers to international PRM. For a specific international project, the HR barriers and their prioritization may change slightly. The hybrid framework for PRM and the strategy development model suggested are yet to be validated.

Originality/value
Correlating two CSFs in international project management, i.e. HRM and PRM and ranking the HR barriers using the DEMATEL method is the uniqueness of this research paper. The hybrid framework developed for PRM based on HR functions in Ulrich’s revised model and the proposed new HR strategy development model “PROJECTS” are unique contributions of this paper.

International Development Projects (IDPs) are plagued with failure although they have become and will remain an important instrument of activating and achieving development in developing countries. They are failing at an astonishing rate, despite genuine management efforts. This paper looks into IDP failure using three real-world classic examples of failed IDPs and confirms a marked consistency in factors that cause failure of both IDPs and conventional projects. It identifies and describes some common factors for IDP failure with a view to understanding them so as to reduce the rate of their failure. The paper introduces new stimulating research ideas and provides a platform for the incremental accumulation of future research on IDPs. Findings will benefit project professionals, especially IDP professionals, development-oriented organisations and the International Development Body of Knowledge.

As pointed out by the United Nations (UN), the kernel of the project concept lies in its application to other than routine activities of an organisation or government agency, for purposes of special emphasis and action. Projects are thus appropriate ways to especially organise highly innovative, experimental/risky endeavours or those with high priority in development policy. As such, International Development Projects (IDPs), usually implemented to stimulate economic growth and development in developing countries, have become a major way through which development assistance is channelled into the developing world. However projects are especially difficult to plan and manage even in advanced industrial nations, but particularly so in less developed countries. The unique characteristic of projects, coupled with the nature of IDPs and the resource-constraint environment within which they are implemented, has produced disappointing results for the stakeholder-beneficiary dyad. The record of IDPs is therefore not so good; they have been reported to have ironically turned failure into a rule rather than an exception. Through empirical analysis, the study herein presented utilises completion reports of 53 African Development Bank (AfDB)-funded projects to investigate the reasons underlying the failure of IDPs. It identifies poor project Quality-at-Entry (QAE), weak project structure, poor control mechanisms, weak implementation capability and cognitive bias as the underlying reasons for their failure. It further identifies poor project QAE, poor control mechanisms and cognitive bias as the most prominent predictors of their failure. Findings of the study are especially beneficial to professionals in International Development Project Management (IDPM), development-oriented organisations as well as to the body of knowledge on international development. The findings also provide a useful platform for the incremental accumulation of further research on IDPs.

Prior studies have identified some factors that cause the failure of International Development Projects (IDPs). However, little to no studies have sought to uncover the reasons that underlie the continuous failure of these projects. By exploring 53 defunct AfDB- funded projects in Ghana and Mali to come out with reasons that facilitated their failure, we provide and extend much needed contextual knowledge on IDP failure by uncovering five (5) underlying reasons responsible for the failure of IDPs, which is a catalyst for further research. Armed with the identification and an understanding of these reasons, we put International Development (ID) institutions and development practitioners in a better position to avoid the development and planning of IDPs that would be doomed to failure from outset.

While project management must generally deal with conflicts among stakeholders, managing disputes gets particularly important when a project is done by more than one organization. Project Business Management experts have some tools that can help effectively resolving such conflicts. There is a need to develop more.

Cost study and the price offer for a tender should be done accurately by considering the country conditions, financial difficulties, market differences, problems that may arise during the construction process, and contractual disputes, while preparing a proposal for a home and/or abroad project. Construction industry shall continue cost studies by minimizing uncertainties, while considering challenging competition conditions of the ever-growing and globalizing sector, and many sources of risks that the sector may face such as cost increases, project delays, and even project failures. Correct analysis of direct costs has become a necessity for construction companies under present conditions in order to achieve this aim. Therefore, construction companies need to accurately and effectively prepare budget estimation tables by digitizing two-dimensional tender drawings, while working on international lump sum project proposal prices.

This paper introduces the concept of project management as an enabling skill for individuals in the process of cross-cultural transition. It explores theoretical models of cultural adaptation, research into psychological and socio-cultural impacts of cross-cultural transitions, the challenges of being a non-native English language speaker, the concept of "skills for life" training and studies on the impact of project-based learning in education. The paper provides observations from an experimental exercise in teaching project management skills to a group of non-native English language speakers. It concludes with a view on the merit of project management skills in a cross-cultural context and thoughts on further development of the concept.

Although International Development Projects (IDPs) remain important instruments for activating and achieving sectoral and national development in the developing world, they often fall short of making their desired impact because they are implemented under challenging conditions with rigid procedures. This paper illustrates that flexibility is critical to the success of IDPs as it improves their effectiveness. It contributes to literature on IDPs and flexibility and is thus beneficial to IDP professionals, development organizations and the International Development Body of Knowledge.

This paper presents some results of the application of research thinking within
an industrial project environment. During the last five years the impact of Computer
Advanced Visualization Tools (CAVT) in the design and construction process of industrial
projects was studied as part of a research carried out by the Universidad Católica de Chile and
Bechtel Chile Ltda. A Ph.D. researcher working within Bechtel developed methods and
procedures to conduct 4D Planning and Scheduling (4D-PS). His work included pioneering
the first 4D application on a large project that rendered significant and demonstrable savings
in man-hours and materials, showing that 4D technology is viable and cost-effective. Benefits
of applying CAVT to the design process, new conceptualization of the design process, review
of the constructability concept and guidelines to manage organizational change due to IT
impact are examples of the research results that will be presented and discussed in this paper.

In today's heated business climate, heavy emphasis is placed on group projects along with project management processes. It is also in today's business environment, that team work is essential and is often challenging, because today's projects involve more than just one process and have a series of problems that are constantly under analysis. Furthermore, these problems are viewed differently by each team member with respect to their professional opinion, the role each team member plays within the group, followed by how much merit is given to each team member's problem solving ability or idea is not only viewed but also equally weighted. Before any project can began or move forward, the current group who has been tasked with solving the problem of interest, must first be able to come together as a team so that long term progress can be made and results can be measured. Some of these aspects that can hinder a group from coming together revolve around dysfunction and can be based on issues concerning communication, goal setting and an understanding of project outcomes. By carefully studying the current group dynamic at hand, the observer should be able to walk away with a clear understanding as to what issues affect the group and how they can be fixed. Furthermore, by employing sound advice, a set of principles, new process and a plan for working with dysfunctional teams, project managers can re-establish team morale and create group cohesion that translates into success.

Significant as they are to activating development and addressing some of the most difficult and entrenched problems in developing economies, development assistance projects operate under challenging and rather erratic conditions. Consequently, majority of the challenges and problems that confront them are difficult to anticipate and solve a priori and must be engaged dynamically as and when they arise. Today, with a momentous blend of volatilities, uncertainties, complexities and ambiguities characterizing the environment of developing economies to hasten profound managerial challenges, functional management control, which is critical to identifying and addressing problems and deviations to enable improved performance outcomes, has eluded development assistance projects. This has modeled poor management control into one of its greatest threats to implementation. Grounded in experience from development practice, this position paper moots that poor management control aid double whammies of today’s development assistance projects. Further, it reflects why bureaucracies, understaffing, weak supervision and cultural insensitivity in the conduct of such projects are responsible for this threat and discusses how it could be contained for improved performance outcomes. It concludes with highlights on implications for research and practice.

For a successful enrolment of modern E-Learning-based education, it is inevitable to apply a holistic quality-concept across the entirety of processes around planning, development, implementation, ex-ploitation, and dissemination. The aim of a related quality strategy is ensuring that all stakeholders in the supply chain fully understand all processes, conditions, and responsibilities. For this purpose, proper descriptions of the processes are required.
What makes a proper and homogenous description of processes on a general level very complicated, is the fact that stakeholders from different fields need to fully understand them. In our experience, if project partners do not feel familiar with a certain type of process-representation method, it is most likely that they either stay ignorant regarding the details or generally reject the processes in lack of understanding. In smaller TEL-related projects (up to 15 partners) face-to-face discussions at the round table can reveal and cope with lacks of understanding. But what happens when face-to-face discussions are not an option because of the project’s size? In such contexts how can still be ensured that all partners in the project fully understand their own responsibilities and also dependencies be-tween different project parts? A compromise between formal, semi-formal and informal description models is required without losing information but aiming interdisciplinary comprehensibility.
Particularly for such cases, we developed a project description model type, which provides benefits of several existing process description models and languages and eventually produces outcomes easy enough to understand for any kind of (academic) education. With 51 project partners from several fields, we tested the modelling technique in both directions, confronting the project partners with a va-riety of already described project-related processes as well as asking them to describe their own planned processes. The tool we are going to introduce alongside the methodology bases on MS Pow-erPoint. We decided to use this particular application because we found it most commonly used the employees of all of our project partners’ organizations/institutions.