Analysis of Project Control on Complex Projects (Term Paper Sample)

Analysis of Project Control on Complex Projects
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Analysis of Project Control on Complex Projects
Introduction
Every project has its ideal environment. Project environment refers to the surroundings where a project occurs, for instance, air, land, and water. Additionally, the project environment represents humans and their interactions that may be operational, political, economic, financial, cultural, and psychological that occurs within the boundaries of the project. On the other hand, the term “complex” is not clearly explained in the literature. However, the term “complex” can be perceived as ambiguity or uncertainty. Therefore, a complex project environment may involve the surroundings with numerous unpredictability (Maylor et al., 2017; Mikkelsen and Mogens, 2020). A complex project environment is seen in architecture, engineering, and construction industries. In management of projects, the knowledge of the project environment determines the project success (Serrat and Oliver, 2017, pp.509-522; Payne et al., 2019).
These industries present with a highly technical environment requiring multi-sectoral interactions between humans, cultural, organizational, and social environment. According to Abbott (2013), a complex project environment involves more than one factors that determine the outcome of a project. Such environments present with risks and uncertainties that should be considered prior to establishment of the project. A complex project environment influences the selection of project control systems. Therefore, the environment of a project should be taken into account especially at the initial stages of project development.
What are Project Control Systems?
Project control systems are a set of procedures that consists of collection, management, and analysis of data to estimate the cost, plan a schedule and monitor the outcome of the project. Besides, project control systems measure the status of the project, predict likely outcomes from these measurements, and improve the overall performance of the project. Ultimately, project controls ensures the sustainability of a complex project during the execution phase (Kivilä et al., 2017, pp.1167-1183). The project control system is designed on the basis of a set of goals that the project plans to accomplish and the relative significance of these goals. In particular, a project control system may have one variable, two variables (project cost and schedule), or even more variables (Nguyen et al., 2019, pp. 384-339; Pehlivan et al., 2018, pp. 108-116).
Techniques in project control
During project planning, project control techniques may be considered and implemented during project execution. First, for large and complex projects to be executable, they must be broken down into smaller segments, in a contextual manner (Zecheru et al., 2016). This concept is known as the work breakdown structure (WBS). WBS enables complex projects to be easily planned and executed. For this reason, WBS should be implemented at the start of the project. Given the ambiguity and complexity of complex projects, integrating WBS provides a higher accuracy to the project manager in establishing schedule deadlines and budget estimation with judicious use of resources (Zecheru et al., 2016).
Another project control technique involves determining the baselines of the project. Baselines are applied on factors involving the schedule and project cost as well as the product-oriented outcome of the project. Alternately, project performance can be reported against the baseline. In the face of uncertainty, determining the baseline of the project provides robust measures to deal with common disruptions in complex project environment. Project scheduling is improved when multiple baseline schedules are created, instead of a single schedule prior to the execution phase (Servranckx et al., 2019, pp. 38-53). A set of schedules with multiple baselines, rather than a single schedule, protects execution phase against disruptions. However, the performance of multiple schedules is dependent on the quality of the baseline schedules (Davari et al., 2019, pp.211-237).
With projects becoming more complex, Project Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) can be used to analyse data and present tasks that were involved in completed a project. In 1958, PERT was introduced and used by the United States Navy. As a project scheduling tool, PERT establishes the relationship between dependent variables and therefore, it can be used to calculate expected completion time. PERT method offers the possibility of time control by comparing planned and actual duration of tasks. Besides, deviations of each tasks upon completion can be assessed (Habibi et al., 2018, pp. 183-196). However, PERT is not always reliable with complex projects. Complex projects often present with uncertainty that may be ambiguous caused by subjective approximations that may lead to errors. Besides, ambiguity may result from unexpected occurrences or risks.
A Gantt chart is another technique used in project control. The Gantt chart demonstrate the schedule of the project. On the vertical axis, tasks that are to be completed are listed, while on the horizontal axis, the time is listed. Duration of each task is shown as the width of the horizontal bars. An improvement on the Gantt chart included the relations between project dependency and tasks. Gantt charts can be categorised into three types: project chart, layout chart, and load chart. A load chart will show the work that has been assigned to a project, while the layout chart will block the time preserved for projects. The Gantt chart is a significant tool in the graphical presentation of achieved tasks and challenges. Also, it can be used to generate the WBS, monitor progress, and allocate resources (Ong et al., 2016, pp. 39-53). However, the Gantt chart does not provide precise results on project portfolio performance.
The Critical Path Method (CPM) is an important technique used in project management. It involves a list of project activities, the duration that the project will take to be completed, project dependencies, and the logical end points (Mazlum et al., 2015, pp. 348-357). CPM enables project managers to determine which activities are critical and requires more duration. Critical chain project management (CCPM) is an improvement to CPM. CCPM takes into account constraints that may exist and eliminate delays that may occur due to uncertainty (Shurrab, 2015, pp.4-9).
Human Factors Influencing Implementation of Project Control Management Systems
Human factors dictate “the nature of employee engagement” in project control management (Matthews et al., 2018). Human factors can be grouped into three main categories: individual factors, organisational factors, and project team factors. Individual factors include skills, knowledge, ability, emotions, and culture. On the other hand, project team factors are made up of the process of control, coordination, and management. Organisation factors involve structures, procedures, and policies. All these factors affect the implementation of project control management systems (Bergmann et al., 2018, pp. 405-444; Matthews et al., 2018). When project managers fail to realise the importance of human factors, shortfalls in projects and programmes are usually inevitable.
Organisation structure
The structure of an organisation influences how projects are planned and executed. Besides, it can determine the authority exercised by the project manager. An organisation structure is determined by a number of factors such as project environment, project constraints, stakeholders, division of labour, and the duration required for procurement. While simple projects require a few steps, complex projects may have numerous steps and specialisations (San et al., 2018, pp. 791-798). There are several types of organisational structures: simple, line, line-and-staff, divisional, functional, matrix, pure project, and virtual (Ahmed, 2017, pp. 1-9; Turi et al., 2019). Although each organisational structure is different, they have limitations that may affect the implementation of project control systems (George, 2020, pp. 1553-1557).
Simple organisational structure is the most flexible and changes in the market are easily incorporated in the organisation. In this structure, the project manager exercise very little authority. In line organisational structure, there is a well-defined hierarchy. The project exercise authority defined by the organisation. Line-and-staff comprises of the general staff and specialised staff. Here, project managers work with specialists. In a functional organisation structure, workers are grouped based on their area of speciality. The managing director leads the organisation while the project manager can be allocated at any level of the organisation. The project manager may have a minimal role in the organisation (San et al., 2018, pp.791-798).
On the other hand, pure project structure gives the project managers a higher authority which grants them more project control. This is mainly used in long-term projects and big organisation. The matrix project structure is consists of the pure project structure and the line-and-staff structure. The responsibilities are shared between the project managers and other managers in different units. In complex projects, the matrix project structure can be recommended since it enables the integration of projects with multiple programme units (San et al., 2018). However, there is increased complexity in matrix structure since...