Public project manager's perspective on project success: A research into the success determination of construction projects by project managers of the public party

Public project manager's perspective on project success: A research into the success determination of construction projects by project managers of the public party

Van Loenhout, C.

Hertogh, M.J.C.M. (mentor)
Hombergen, L.P.I.M. (mentor)
Leijten, M. (mentor)
Koops, L.S.W. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Structural Engineering

Construction Management and Engineering

2013-03-22

Parties working together on a project usually have different interests in executing that project, but they all aim at achieving project success. This project success has been widely discussed in literature since reaching it is the main goal of each party; but what project success actually is and how it can be determined differs per party. In project success a distinction is made between success criteria, the set of standards by which the measurement of success occurs, and success factors, those aspects that directly or indirectly influence project success. In this research success criteria are studied. Currently there is a lot of literature on project success and also on its criteria, but it only very limitedly relates to the public sector. Which is remarkable since researchers agree that project success is dependent on the perspective taken to look at it: an architect may have a different view on when a project is a success than a contractor. The proposition is that, due to the difference in nature of organization between public and private parties, each uses its own set of success criteria for the judgement of its project success. This research focuses on the public project manager: the operational manager of the public party who is commissioned within his own organisation to carry out the assignment; in this role he represents the ‘client’ to the contracting parties with which he has contact in executing the project. As mentioned project success perception depends on the perspective taken to judge it; and if there is indeed a different success perception for a public party than for a private party this discrepancy will become most clear at the operational level, where they work in close contact. This research aims at closing the now existing knowledge gap and identifying the success criteria relevant for the public project manager. By means of Q-methodology, a method used for studying subjectivity, the view on project success of 28 interviewed public project managers was assembled and analysed. The first step in using this method was to determine the Q-sample: the complete list of criteria relevant for the public project manager. To determine the public project manager’s view on success the 28 managers were asked to rank these criteria in relation to their importance in determining project success. This list of relevant criteria was formulated through studying literature and executing five test interviews; firstly 25 criteria were distinguished of which the representativeness for the public sector was checked. Eventually a number of criteria were combined, a number of criteria was left out due to lack of relevance for public project managers and a few other criteria were added, leading to a final list consisting of 19 criteria. In determining this Q-sample, two important conclusions were drawn. Firstly, since literature focuses mainly on the private sector, many criteria are too commercially oriented to reflect the public organisation’s nature; in these cases the public equivalent of the private sector criterion is determined. Secondly, a number of criteria presumed to be relevant for public sector success determination are not found in literature. These new criteria were added to the Q-sample and their relevance can be determined after the research has been conducted.

project success
success criteria
public success
public sector
public project manager
Q-methodology

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:fdcecd58-3da5-466a-b74a-7a5034460aff

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 Van Loenhout, C.