Modes of control in IT Project
Portfolio Management
v/Lars K Hansen
Introduction
Thanks for this opportunity to percent control theory and
how this can be used to understand IT PPM
• I have not yet done the empirical investigation yet
• I hope you will contribute with real life examples in the last
part of the presentation
Schedule for the presentation
• 11.30-12.15 Control in IT PPM
2
The content of this presentation
1. Control in IT PPM – why is this important?
2. A brief view of the history and most basis definitions in
control theory
3. The four modes of control
How can control be understood on a more abstract level?
Real life examples of used modes of control in IT PPM
4. The dynamic on control IT PPM.
Do control change during different phases in IT PPM?
Real life examples of the dynamic of control in IT PPM
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Control in IT PPM – why is this important?
•
•
•
•
Contemporary organizations rely increasingly on IT to stay
competitive and adapt to fast changing environments
Project management has for sometime been the most used
principle for managing the development of IT in organizations
(Kirsch, 1997; De Reyck, 2005)
But organizations increasingly become a multi-project
environment, because more work is organized by projects
(Nieminen & Lehtonen 2008).
Organizations experience that effective management of single
projects do not fulfill organizational objectives sufficiently.
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Control in IT PPM – why is this important?
•
•
Research reveals that a large number of organizations are
gaining below their potential in terms of creating value from
their IT project portfolio(Weill & Vitale, 1999; Jeffery &
Leviveld 2004; Kaplan, 2005; Weill & Aral, 2006)
Insufficient management of the IT portfolio is a significant
reason (Jeffery & Leviveld, 2004).
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Control in IT PPM – why is this important?
•
•
IT project portfolio (IT PPM) can be compared with the
management conducted by the control tower in an airport.
Some form of management must control the departure and
arrivals of the airplanes otherwise the airport activities will be
ineffective, even though the individual employee is highly
skilled.
Likewise, IT PPM is about securing that organizational IT
projects, in a controlled way, take off and land the right
places. Without this “control tower” organizational IT projects
will be less beneficial and less effective. Even though the
local IT projects are well conducted (Kendall and Rollings
2005)
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A brief view of the history and most basis
definitions in control theory
•
•
•
Control in management of IT is more that formal and
technical mechanisms, but is also about social mechanisms
involving different levels in the organization (Ouchi 1979).
Control theory can be used to describe all attempts to ensure
that individuals in organizations act in a way that is
consistent with organizational goals and objectives (Kirsch,
1997).
The problem of organizing is the problem of obtaining
cooperation among a collection of individuals or units who
only partially share congruent objectives (Ouchi 1979)
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A brief view of the history and most basis
definitions in control theory
•
•
•
•
Owns its legacy to (Ouchi 1979)
Is big in Management science
Is use to explain management of IS
Have not been used to explain portfolio management: but
control of IS projects (Kirsch, 1997); control of outsourced IS
projects (Choudhury & Sabherwal, 2003); control of virtual IS
development teams (Piccoli & Ives, 2003); control of IS
development projects in a global contexts (Kirsch, 2004);
control of IS off-shoring (Dibbern et. at 2008; Rai, 2009);
control of geographically distributed IS projects performing
risk management (Persson, et al, 2009); control of client
management regarding the IS vendors (Rustagi et. al,
2008).
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The four modes of control
Four modes of control (Kirsch 1996; 1997):
Principal
Formal :
Behavior control
Output control
Agent
Informal
Clan
Self
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The four modes of control; Behavior
control
Key characteristic:
• Rules and procedures articulated
• Rewards based on following rules and procedures
• Precise steps can be described and specified
• The principal can observe the agent
Antecedent conditions
• Knowledge of appropriate behavior
• Behavior obsevability
Examples of mechanisms
• Project methodology
• Supervisor-subordinate hierarchy/bureaucracy
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The four modes of control; Output control
Key characteristic:
• Outcome and goals articulated
• Rewards based on producing output and goal
• Less effort is needed to control (Ouchi 1979).
• Preferred as number one
Antecedent conditions
• Output measurability (often quantified)
Examples of mechanisms
• Defined target implementation dates and/or budget (Kirsch
1996)
• Expected level of performance (Henderson and Lee 1992)
• Defined project milestones (Henderson and Lee 1992)
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The four modes of control; Clan control
Key characteristic:
• Common values, beliefs & and problem solving philosophy
• Identification and reinforcement of acceptable behavior
• Specific task goals evolve over time
Antecedent conditions
• Appropriate behavior unknown
• Outcome not measurable
• Social capital (Structural, relational, cognitive) (Kirsch 2010)
Examples of mechanisms
• Collations of individuals shared ideologies (Kirsch 1996)
• Socialization (Ouchi 1980)
• Hiring and training practices (Ouchi 1980)
Implemented rituals and ceremonies
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The four modes of control; Self control
Key characteristic:
• Individual defines task goals or procedures
• Individual monitors, rewards sanction self
• Rewards based in part on individual’s self control skills
• Often used to “control “ people with seniority
Antecedent conditions
• Complex and non routine task
• Performance evaluation ambiguity
• Lack of required rules or procedures
• Desire to exercise self control
• Individual ability (Can and will)
Examples of mechanisms
• Individual empowerment (Klein and Kraft 1994)
• Self management (Klein and Kraft 1994)
•
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The four modes of control; Interplay
Reinforcing:
• Output + clan
Counteracting:
• Output – clan - (Hawthorne experiments showed the clan
control mechanism that undermined the organizations output
control)
• Implementation of lean as a process to change processes.
(Behavior control – but this can come in conflict with
controlling the output)
• Use of PRINCE2 (Behavior control) and project goals (Output
control)
• Output control: The predefined cut in the budget! – Is this
shadowing the gain of other benefits?
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IT PPM can be considered three levels
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Adopted from Archer and Ghasemzadeh (1999)
IT PPM can be considered three levels
Senior
managers
Modes of control
(IT) portfolio
management
Modes of control
Local IT
projects
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The four modes of control in two levels
Senior
managers
(IT) portfolio
management
Modes of control
Local IT
projects
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Control as a dynamic process
•
Choudhury & Sabherwal (2003) investigate dynamics in
modes of control in (outsourced) projects. They show how
the early phases are dominated by outcome control and later
phases are dominated by behavior control.
•
The literature consider PPM as being conducted in three
phases (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999):
• Strategic considerations phase,
• Portfolio selection phase,
• Post selection phase
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Control as a dynamic process
Senior
managers
Strategic
considerations
Portfolio
Selection
Post selection
(IT) portfolio
management
Local IT
projects
19
IT PPM can be considered three levels
20
Adopted from Archer and Ghasemzadeh (1999)
Control as a dynamic process; how do
your organization perform control?
Senior
managers
(IT) portfolio
management
Mode of
control
Selection
Behavior
?
?
Output
?
?
Clan
?
?
Self
?
?
Mode of
control
Local IT
projects
Strategic
Strategic
Selection
Post
selection
Post
selection
Behavior
?
Output
?
Clan
?
Self
?
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The four modes of control; critic raised
against control theory
The four modes of control:
• Is self control a control mechanism – and what does it mean
to be self rewarding?
• Is behavior control and clan control the same?
• Is the relation always working from the strategic objectives
and down towards the local projects?
• Is it (political) correct to talk about control in a Danish
municipality (flat power-structure and great emphasis on
employee empowerment)
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Finally
•
Thank you for you attention
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