Amponsah, Richard (2011) Improving project management practice in Ghana with focus on agriculture, banking and construction sectors of the Ghanaian economy. PhD thesis, RMIT University, Australia.
Abstract
Project failure rates and associated resultant cost in Ghana has been a major concern in recent times (AfDB, 2006). Reasons mostly assigned were unreliable for lack of empirical evidence. Generally, literature provided certain reasons but most often these researches were carried out in environments that were totally and entirely different from that of the Africa's and Ghana's conditions. Over the years, considerable effort had been made in trying to find out why projects and programs fail in Ghana (Ofori, 2006; Ayee, 2000). Projects and Programs failures in Africa are visible all over the place arguably though, account for our underdevelopment. This research was a perception study which identified and analyzed the potential project failure/success factors (project critical factor(s)) in three (3) selected sectors‐Agriculture, Banking and Construction of the Ghanaian economy. The study also identified project management tools and techniques whose application(s) were familiar to the Ghanaian project practitioners and were associated with project outcomes (success/failures). The above studies employed mainly quantitative research approaches by designing an independent (project factors)‐dependent (project success criteria) variable linear model. Multivariate Analysis of Variance for statistical analysis is considered appropriate. A survey of 324 project practitioners was conducted in the three sectors focused on answering the research questions and testing hypotheses. The analysis revealed perceived project critical factors specific to projects of each sector as well as critical factors common to project organizations of some of the sectors. Project management maturity of project organizations of the three sectors were also assessed through a qualitative research approach with the help of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The Process areas used for the assessment included Requirement Management, Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation; Measurement and Analysis; and Product and Process Quality Assurance. It was observed that with the process areas used as the criteria for assessment, 90% and more of the project organizations assessed were in the level 2 and lower of the Capability Maturity Model (CMMI). In other words a very few organizations were even close to the level 3 of the CMM. This called for a recommendation to the organizations for improvement in their project management activities.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Dalrymple, John |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | capability maturity model; critical success factors; project management |
| Index terms: | multivariate analysis, project management practice, success factor, quality assurance, survey, project organization, banking, practitioner, evidence, qualitative research, integration, program, capability maturity model, project planning, critical success factor, construction sector, Africa, quantitative research, project success, project failure, variance, statistical analysis, project outcome, Ghana, critical factor, monitoring, project management, testing |
| Subjects: | evaluation and assessment methods, project completion, practitioner, professional practice, economic analysis, Geography, organizational theory, quality assurance, data collection methods, risk assessment, research design and methodology, control systems, data science, data analysis and analytics, health monitoring assessment and metrics, regions and continents, management, software systems, project management theory and practice, organizational analysis, measurement and scaling, industry analysis, statistical analysis |
| Topics: | Site Management, Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Quality Management, Risk Management, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here