Enhancing IT Project Agility Through Effective Change Management Strategies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the influence of stakeholder integration and project complexity on information technology (IT) projects in Kenya. The following research question guided our inquiry: what is the influence of project complexity and stakeholder integration on the performance of IT projects in Kenya?Design/methodology/approachTo advance the current understanding of the effect of stakeholder integration and project complexity on IT projects, multiple regressions were used to predict how project complexity and stakeholder integration influence project performance. Both government-funded and privately funded IT projects from a developing country were examined.FindingsThe study found that any project’s complexity and stakeholder integration levels offer a distinctive contribution to its success. Theoretically, the study contributes to linkages between stakeholder integration and project complexity concerning IT project performance. Through the adoption of actionable research and theoretical elaboration, we have shown that the successful execution of IT projects is driven by the successful integration of stakeholders and monitoring the level of complexity at each phase of the project.Originality/valueThe findings of this study add to the burgeoning literature on the performance of IT projects and come with several managerial implications as well. It brings to the fore the concept of stakeholder integration as an essential element of project success. The findings suggest that the inclusion of stakeholder integration into corporate decisions, strategies and policies can be an asset to the production of sustainable competitive advantages needed during the implementation of IT projects in government entities and organisations. As shown in this study, all the above require a collaborative platform allowing for data sharing among diverse stakeholders to ameliorate distrust or lack of information.

Information technology (IT) projects are often viewed as arenas in which action is paramount, and tasks, budgets, people, and schedules need to be managed and controlled to achieve expected results. This perspective is useful because it encourages the project manager to scope work, manage time and budget, and monitor progress. Another perspective views a project as a place where learning and knowledge is paramount. In this view, projects are seen as a conduit for knowledge, which enters through people, methodologies, and prior learning. During the project, knowledge must be transferred, integrated, created, and exploited to create new organizational value. Knowledge is created, and knowledge can be lost. Within an IT project, this focus on knowledge yields new insights, because IT projects are primarily knowledge work. From this perspective, the project manager's primary task is to combine multiple sources of knowledge about technologies and business processes to create organizational value. These and other views of the IT project are complementary. However, this article focuses only on the knowledge perspective, leaving aside other views. This article is designed to bring together the empirical literature, which has investigated the impact of knowledge perspectives on IT project performance, and to suggest a temporal model of this perspective. In the first part of this article, we consider the knowledge-based view of an IT project and suggest definitions and a typology of knowledge. Then the knowledge risks model (Reich, 200?) is used as a framework within which to collect and examine the empirical data that support the knowledge-based view of an IT project. In the third part of this article, the problem of modeling knowledge and learning within IT projects is addressed. The study begins with the Temporal Model of IT Project Performance (Gemino, Reich, & Sauer, 2008) and discusses evidence that its knowledge-based constructs and subconstructs are influential with respect to project performance. The article ends by proposing a temporal model of the knowledge perspective of an IT project. There are five constructs in this model: knowledge resources, knowledge creation, knowledge loss, project performance, and learning. The content of these constructs and their expected interaction is discussed. Although this stream of work is at its early stages, hopefully it will convince researchers that further investigation into knowledge and learning within projects is warranted because it has the potential to impact both the theory and performance of IT projects.

Many information technology (IT) projects in the U.S. federal government have been plagued with failures and overruns in recent years, wasting a large amount of tax revenues and undermining the public’s confidence in the government’s ability to manage such resources and deliver on its commitments. What affects the performance of IT projects in the federal government? We find that prior literature on IT project management from the private sector setting is inadequate to answer this question. In addition, to the best of our knowledge, information systems (IS) research thus far has not considered how the decision-making authority of an IT unit influences IT project performance at the organizational level. We leverage several unique characteristics of the public sector, vis-à-vis for-profit firms, in developing our theory and hypothesis. Utilizing official datasets on IT projects and human resource records, we find that the more IT managerial officials and supervisors a federal bureau has, the lower time overruns it experiences in its IT projects. Interestingly, this relationship is weakened when the bureau has a larger number of ongoing IT projects. Our findings offer new theoretical insights for the IT project management literature and provide meaningful policy insights into government IT management.

Most of the information technology (IT) projects are canceled or failed due to different reasons, while some of them are performed poorly in terms of cost, time, scope, customer satisfaction, etc. Therefore, it is important to identify the most important criteria affecting the performance of IT projects, measure their performance, identify the issues, and continually improve the performance of both the projects and the organizations. Although IT organizations place value on the importance of the project performance to release on time, with low cost, and in accordance with the customer expectations, they lack ways of determining the most suitable performance criteria for continually measuring, improving, and controlling them. This study proposes a new methodology to evaluate the performance of IT projects in a fuzzy environment. For this aim, firstly, the most suitable criteria are identified based on the balanced scorecard method. In the second step, the relative priorities of the criteria are determined with the help of expert judgments and hesitant fuzzy weights with hesitant multiplicative geometric operator. Then, the priorities of the criteria are used to evaluate the performance of IT projects in a Turkish company by using real data.

The successful control of information technology (IT) projects has received significant attention in academe and in practice. Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of formal control modes in the performance of IT projects for project managers. However, little is known about the joint effects of risks and the two informal control modes, clan and self control, on the process performance of IT projects from the perspective of user liaisons. Based on data collected from 63 completed IT projects in China, we have found that both clan and self control are important from the perspective of user liaisons and that informal control is effective for the performance of different stakeholders. However, both team and planning and control risks suppress the effectiveness of clan and self control in process performance, indicating that IT project performance is not purely dependent on a single risk or control factor but on the balance between these two streams.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which user liaison behavior and outcome control influence the process performance of information technology (IT) projects and how the IT experience, behavior observability, and outcome measurability of user liaisons affect behavior and outcome control.Design/methodology/approach– A research model that integrates the IT experience, behavior observability, outcome measurability, behavior and outcome control, and performance from the perspective of user liaisons is developed. Quantitative data are obtained from 63 completed IT projects. Partial least squares technique is used to evaluate the measurement model. Hypotheses are tested through hierarchical regression analysis.Findings– User liaisons with high IT experience exhibit decreased behavior control but increased outcome control. The outcome control of user liaisons is effective in the process performance of IT projects, whereas their behavior control insignificantly affects performance. However, the behavior observability and outcome measurability of user liaisons strengthen the effectiveness of behavior and outcome control. The behavior and outcome control of user liaisons also vary across different industries and project types.Originality/value– The results of this study highlight the joint effects of the IT experience, abilities, and control decisions of user liaisons. Although the outcome control of user liaisons is an appropriate control mechanism in IT projects in consideration of the strengths of these liaisons in business knowledge and their control expenditures, the behavior control of user liaisons may also be effective in process performance if these liaisons possess high levels of behavior observability and outcome measurability.

Improving the management of information technology (IT) projects is of prime concern to both IS researchers and practitioners, as IT projects are notorious for poor process performance, frequently running over budget and behind schedule. Over the years, at least two separate streams of research have emerged with the aim of contributing to our understanding of IT project management. One of these focuses on the exercise of formal and informal controls, while another focuses on identifying and managing key risks such as those associated with requirements and users. Proponents of the control stream would argue that the exercise of formal and informal controls can improve process performance and there is some evidence that this is so. An obvious question that emerges, however, is how effective these controls are in the presence of particular risks. In this study, we seek to answer this question by developing and testing a research model that integrates these two streams of research. On the basis of data collected from 63 completed IT projects in China, we examine the moderating effects of requirements risk and user risk on the relationship between control (both formal and informal) and the process performance of IT projects. We contribute to the current state of knowledge by clearly demonstrating that both types of risk moderate the effects of formal and informal controls on performance. Specifically, both requirements risk and user risk were found to reduce the positive influence of controls on process performance, implying that implementing solid controls is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to ensure good process performance.

How environment risks moderate the effect of control on performance in information technology projects: Perspectives of project managers and user liaisons

The effective execution of information technology (IT) projects is crucial for sustaining a competitive advantage in Kenya’s rapidly evolving banking sector. Despite this importance, many IT projects in commercial banks often fail to meet their intended performance goals due. Moreover, there has been little emphasis on flexibility and adaptation, which are essential for ensuring responsiveness to dynamic technological and market changes. Therefore, the current research examined the continuous adaptation and its effect on performance of information technology projects in tier one banks in Kenya. The study was anchored on theory of agile project management. The study adopted an explanatory research design. The target population was the eight Tier-1 commercial banks, which formed the unit of analysis. The unit of observation comprised the 128 individuals involved in execution and management of IT projects.

As new information technology (IT) platforms continue to emerge, the technical project risk associated with developing IT projects for these platforms is particularly challenging for organizations. We develop a nomological network of people, process, and technology to gain insight into how the effect of technical project risk can be mitigated at the IT project team level. Drawing on cultural contingency theory, the IT project risk framework, and the IT project management literature, we elaborate on the IT project team composition and team processes necessary to mitigate technical project risk. We tested the nomological network by conducting a field study of 325 IT project teams over a 3-year period at a large corporation in China. We found that project risk mitigation processes mediated the effect of IT project teams’ cultural composition on IT project performance, and the effect of these processes on IT project performance was stronger under high levels of technical project risk compared to low levels of such risk. By incorporating the cultural contingency theory into developing a nomological network of technical risk mitigation processes, this work not only contributes to the IT project management literature, but also provides suggestions for practitioners on how to better leverage people, process, and technology in mitigating IT project risks.

An Information Technology (IT) project deals with IT infrastructure, information systems, or computers for delivering an IT product within a temporary period. Proper application of software development methodologies assists software designers to run IT projects to the success of achieving the satisfaction of project stakeholders. Because of the issues raised by traditional software development methodologies such as the Waterfall model, the IT industry began to employ Agile methodology for IT project management. However, due to the separation of software development and operation teams, Agile methodology also caused problems. DevOps is a new approach adapted to the Agile methodology that collaborates the software development and operation teams in order to provide continuous development of high-quality software in a short period of time. However, there are practical issues reported since DevOps approach is still in its infancy in the IT industry. The purpose of this research is to analyze the use of the DevOps concept in IT Projects by evaluating the challenges and mitigating strategies practiced by software development firms in order to ensure the success of IT projects. This purpose was achieved by performing a literature study and soliciting recommendations from industry professionals using a questionnaire survey. The findings reveal the critical challenges and prioritization of challenges experienced by software firms while adopting DevOps, as well as their practices for overcoming those challenges. The research findings will help IT project development teams and future researchers to develop strategies for making the success of DevOps adoption with Agile methodology in the IT industry.

Regarding the COVID-19 situation, the purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency and outcomes of information technology (IT) project implementation in the office versus in a remote environment with respect to factors such as productivity, effective teamwork, enjoyment of work, stress and pressure management, and opinions on working styles. The focus was mainly on the role of team members in the engineering mindset. Data was collected through a survey of IT project performance from team members. The questionnaire, which was developed for this study, included 105 respondents and was divided into three parts: 1) general information, 2) project performance results, and 3) engineering mindset concept. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicated that there are significant differences in outcomes between project managers and other team members (such as developers, business analysts, and quality assurance) in terms of the studied factors, Project managers who need to communicate and collaborate with various team members may face challenges or limitations when working remotely. On the other hand, other roles in the project team that can be completed independently and do not require frequent communication with the rest of the team may find remote work more convenient and flexible. Importantly, the survey results also demonstrated that a team member's engineering mindset is a critical factor in the success or failure of projects. Those with a strong engineering mindset tend to implement and deliver projects effectively. Therefore, IT projects are more likely to be successful when the team has a good engineering mindset.

Background: There is always emphasis on information technology (IT) projects because of their significance in organisations. Thus, efforts and resources are reciprocally committed to ensure the successes. Still, failure of IT projects in many organisations remains high and affects competitiveness. As recourse for remedy, different techniques and approaches have been employed. However, little or no progress has been made in increasing the success rate of IT projects in many organisations.Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the factors that influence and impact IT projects, improvisation and how improvisation manifests.Method: The study was carried out using a single case study approach. Qualitative data were collected and duality of structure from the perspective of structuration theory was used as lens to guide the analysis.Results: Findings from this study reveal how reproduction of actions manifests from non-technical factors, such as cultural value, organisational structure, power relationship, human capacity, know-how and change management. These factors help to gain a more constructive and better understanding of how IT projects improvisation is influenced or impacted by non-technical factors in organisations.Conclusion: The study is intended to benefit both practitioners and academics. Some of the benefits will be gained from fresh perspectives on the complexities of IT projects improvisation, which are often caused by various seen and unforeseen non-technical factors. This includes how actions from relationship, know-how about facilities and communicative scheme are produced and reproduced.

Compared with other projects, information technology (IT) projects are unique, which are characterized by emergency, uniqueness, one shot, short term and uncertainty. To implement an IT project successfully, problems in the IT project management must be found, analyzed and solved and there must be successful project management and management innovation as well. Then, what are the major problems in IT project management? Who can conduct IT project management successfully? How to conduct IT project management successfully? How to innovate IT project management? This paper discusses all these questions. And on the basis of the above, it also draws the following conclusion: The project managers play a key role in both implementing and controlling stages of IT projects. The project managers should regard IT project management as a system, deal with various relationships with the parties concerned in the system well, and conduct management innovation. By adequate communication channels, the project managers should communicate with all the stakeholders, i.e. the factors in the system, including the client, the management, and the team members to know their requirements, needs and the problems respectively. Only by so doing, can they give satisfactory responsiveness to the client, get support from the management, lead and control the team outstandingly, and make the team work efficiently. While by management innovation, the project managers can make all the factors in their management system interact effectively and efficiently with each other to create a synergy effect. Only by so doing, can the IT project management be successful, and finally, can the IT projects be implemented successfully.

The success rate of information technology (IT) projects is still low. Based on one survey done in 1990s, only about 10% of software development project could be finished according to its planned budget and schedule. Another study in 1995 found that only 16.2% IT project succeed, and at the same time more than 31% IT projects were cancelled before finished. It has been found a lot of IT projects had been implemented with swelling budget. Although it is still debatable, one of the reasons of IT project implementation failure is because risk management in some IT projects is not implemented by the IT providers. The objectives of this research are to get knowledge and assess risks in implementing IT projects. This research also gives recommendations in mitigating IT project risks. In two projects that were used as sample of this research, it has been found some risks that could be happened in IT projects. That risks were then assessed based on the probability and its impact, and finally produced the recommendation for risk mitigation. All risks are described in the Risk Priority, moreover risk probability and impact is described in the probability-impact matrix from all of 4 levels. This research could improve the awareness of IT providers in Indonesia about the important of implementing IT risk management so that more IT projects in Indonesia could be run successfully.Keywords: Risk assessment, information technology project, impact, frequency