Planning and Tactical Factors in the Project Implementation Process

Abstract

It has been a well-recognized axiom in project management research that the project implementation process can be greatly facilitated by addressing a variety of project critical success factors. It is argued here that critical factors often fall into two distinct sub-groups: those related to initial project planning and those concerned with subsequent tactical operationalization. A field study was conducted to explore changes in the perceived importance of project planning and tactical factors across four stages in the project life cycle. The sample consisted of 408 managers currently involved in projects. It was found that the relative importance of planning and tactical factors varies across the project life cycle. Further, the perceived importance of these factors is contingent upon the type of success measure employed. When an efficiency success measure is used, planning factors are initially perceived to be of high importance but are overtaken by tactical issues as the project progresses through its life cycle. When 'external' success measures (perceived value of the project and client satisfaction) are employed, project planning factors dominate tactics throughout the project's life cycle. Finally, implications for managers are developed and directions for future research are discussed.

Strategy Implementation Style and Public Service Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity

“…Common to these frameworks is a distinction between more or less planned styles of implementation [36,37]. A planned or rational style of implementation tends to be top-down and hierarchical, involving the use of pre-prepared action plans, performance monitoring, and review processes [31,38,39]. By contrast, an unplanned or incremental style of implementation is more bottom-up and less hierarchical, with staff deeply involved in adjusting and amending new practices as they are being introduced.…”

Strategy implementation: What is the failure rate?

“…Some others have adopted a different approach and decided to empirically test the impact of these frameworks and of their success factors (e.g. Pinto and Prescott, 1990;Miller, 1997;Bauer et al, 2005;Bockmühl et al, 2011).…”

An Empirical Study of Factors and Cognisant Measures for Project Quality in the Design Phase: A Case of Building Projects in the Department of Building and Engineering Services of Botswana

“…This paper aims to evaluate participants in DBES projects against project success factors in order to identify key focus areas. Project success factors often fall into two groups: project planning and subsequent tactical operations, or implementation [1]. In previous research, the project design phase was found to have a great impact on overall project quality [2].…”