Experienced-Based Scope for Reducing "Fire-Fighting" in Project Management

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Abstract

This paper reviews the problems of project management as reported by 1879 individuals employed in the construction, manufacturing, process and service industries in NW Europe. Data obtained by a written questionnaire confirms that organizational relationships need most attention. The data exhibits no trends over the 23 years. It indicates that many of the problems of project management are ‘institutional’, that is that they are due to organizational cultures rather than inherent in project work. The evidence supports the view that poor discipline at the front-end of projects results in too much ‘fire-fighting’ in project execution to overcome problems which could have been prevented. Prevention of these institutional problems requires action at the level of corporate governance, above the level of project management.

Keyword(s)

Project problems avoidable problems ‘fire fighting’ project governance

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