The impact of team member satisfaction on project management success

Abstract

The single most critical factor responsible for the success of any project is the human element as this is the point at which projects succeed. Senior technically qualified managers have recorded high failure rates in areas where they have hard skills relevant to the industry. The levels of technical expertise and technology should have facilitated the project execution process and increased the success rate of project management. Contrary to this, the IT industry for instance, has recorded an average 47% failure rates regardless of the fact that IT specialists manage them. Project management has been defined as a unique undertaking limited by time, quality and budget within a prescribed scope. Depending on the type of the project, there is a need for different expertise to operate in the different stages in the life cycle of the project as well as the elements or WBSs of the project. Where people are involved there is bound to be conflicts, and these conflicts need to be managed. Because of the nature of project management, specialists who together comprise of the project team head WBSs. This team originates from different sources, and in the matrix system is comprised of people seconded to the project but whose loyalty remains with their departments. Such teams are therefore comprised of people who may not share the same culture or work ethics, together with the differences in approaching their duties. It becomes the responsibility of the project leader therefore to enable these “secondments” to be satisfied in their new positions so that they can be productive. This research sought out to identify generic requirements to satisfy a team and get the best out of the team.