Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Chapter 2: Human Aspects
IS project work environments
Common project team problems
Communication
Differences: Functional & Project
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Cooperation
• IS projects bring diverse people together
– Working with computers creates a machine
focus in some
– Working with people creates a different mindset
– IS project managers need to make both work
together
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Project Features
• Very valuable
• Highly diverse
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Web sites
Transactional processing
Decision support systems
Enterprise resource planning systems
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Waterfall Development Model
Stage
Personnel
Feasibility analysis
Systems analysts, users, finance
Software requirements
Systems analysts, users
Product design
Systems analysts
Detailed design
Systems analysts
Coding
Programmers, Testers
Integration
Systems analysts, Programmers, Testers,
System administrators
Implementation
System administrators, Testers, users
Operation & Maintenance Maintenance
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Group Conflict
• Conflict inherent in
– Human organizations
– information systems
• Lack of trust & understanding
• Hostility
• Frustration
• Barki & Hartwick [2001]
• Disagreement
• Interference
• Negative emotion
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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IS Project Characteristics & Conflict
Barki & Hartwick [2001]
Individual
Team
Personality
Size
Background
Project
Time
pressure
Heterogeneity Resources
Role & status Leadership
Success
Individual
goals
Top support
Participation
History
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Organization
Culture
Form
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Individual Characteristics
• Personality
– Technical people tend to dominate IS projects
– Users need to participate as well
• Background
– Different education, experience
• Organizational Role & Status
– Hierarchical power won’t match expertise
• Individual Needs & Goals
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Team Characteristics
• Team size
– Larger tends to have more conflict
• Team heterogeneity
– More diverse tends to have more conflict
• Team Leadership
• Participation
• History
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Project Characteristics
• Time pressure inherent in most IS projects
– People react differently
• Resource constraints
– Often have to work with what’s available
• Success criteria
– Expectations
• Top management support
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Organizational Characteristics
• Organizational culture
• Form of organization
– Many project organizations use Matrix
• Creates high pressure, highly dynamic environment
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Conflict & Performance
• Better to avoid interpersonal conflict
– High conflict in some high performing groups
• Need to be able to reach closure
– Low performing groups often had less conflict until the
end
• Encourage
– Open discussion
– High levels of personal respect
– Cohesive & supportive team leadership
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Organizational Forces Impeding IS
Success Ward [1995]
1. Project scope & objectives rarely communicated
to project team
2. Business rationale for project rarely
disseminated
3. Project budgets inaccurate (or skipped)
4. Lack of project support
5. Project control contested or not firmly
established
6. Rules changed during project execution
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Project Communication
• Communications barriers natural
– Within or across organizations
• In traditional organizations, people cope
– In Projects, don’t know ropes
• (projects are new)
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Customer Relationship Management
Marks & Frolick [2001]
• Popular advanced information technology
• Data mine large sets of data
– Find details of what each customer wants
– Customer segmentation
– Cross-selling
• Very expensive
– Return can be very high
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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CRM Project
• Implementation of data warehouse
– Needed to store large amount of data
– Monitor value of each customer
– Cross-selling opportunities
• Hired consultant to help implement
– Needed to merge many brand files
• Problems
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Defining database fields
Lack of cooperation across brands
No influential project champion
Consultant didn’t understand organization
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CRM Project cont.
• Initial project failed
• Second attempt
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More focused goals established
New project leadership
Consultants let go
Less functionality, more controllable
• 2nd effort successful, project profitable
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Project Managers
• Get work done through outsiders
– Diverse people on project team
• Different skill sets
• From different organizations
• Projects are temporary
– Matrix common
• Dual lines of authority
• Requires ability to convince
• Generalist rather than specialist
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Comparison
Functional manager
Project manager
Clear authority; quasipermanent; can direct
Low authority; temporary;
must convince
Established organization
Developing organization
Long-term relationships
Short-term relationships
Small set of skills managed
Diverse set of skills managed
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Information Systems Project Management—David Olson
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Summary
• Information systems projects very valuable
• Many difficulties in managing personnel
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New activities
Diverse people
Dynamic environment
Pressure (time, budget)
• IS Project Managers need special abilities
– Get things done without authority
© McGraw-Hill/Irwin 2004