In this article, author propose a technical paper which concludes that there is another dimension to the transformational eGovernment navigation tool-kit that coalesces with enhanced project management and creates a multi-dimensional approach to transformation; it is existential change leadership that focuses on human mindset behavior.
By Shauneen Furlong
Abstract: The
case for transformational eGovernment continues unabated; impatient
stakeholders are more demanding; people, process and content are profoundly
impacted; opportunity is rampart - but so is risk and complexity; still,
transformational eGovernment remains more theoretical than practical.
Execution has
faltered and relief is not obvious. Enhanced project management has made
progress in advancing eGovernment by applying enhanced project management in a
holistic manner so that project activities are fully integrated with on-going
operational activities: all with an emphasis on measurable results and
outcomes.
In this article,
author propose a technical paper which concludes that there is another
dimension to the transformational eGovernment navigation tool-kit that
coalesces with enhanced project management and creates a multi-dimensional
approach to transformation; it is existential change leadership that focuses on
human mindset behavior. Thus, the next step in the research is to examine a
two-pronged approach (enhanced project management and existential change
leadership) to respond to the challenges and barriers that have long impeded
transformational eGovernment progress and the accountability vacuum for the
elusive transformational breakthrough results.
The current more
popular international project management methodologies, PRINCE2 and PMBOK,
along with a litany of others, do not meet the needs of eGovernment.
eGovernment failure is disappointing and much research has been dedicated to
examine why and if project management could be the culprit. Clearly, project
management plays a significant role. This paper introduces the proposition that
current parlance and management culture accepts that the science of project
management is only enacted once a project has been identified.
Inexplicably,
common practice does not acknowledge that it is the application of the science
of project management to any operational endeavor that creates a specific
project. The project is born through the application of the project management
principles by bringing rigor, discipline, and specificity to a challenging and
complex, though often vague, operational endeavor and objective.
In addition, the
science of project management expressed through popular methodologies does not
address nor assist with the synergistic compendium of ten barriers and
challenges to international eGovernment success recently studied (Furlong,
2011; Furlong, 2012). Furthermore, the discipline of change management is not
one of the knowledge areas in the generally accepted project management
methodologies.
This paper
describes these barriers and challenges and it introduces how project
management methodologies fail to address them and how an eGovernment tailored
project management solution could mitigate them. In fact, this paper states
that these elements must be tackled in order to advance the transformational
eGovernment agenda that so many countries strive to attain. As well, this paper
addresses the need for effective change management through existential change
leadership.
This section
outlines the current situation and the inadequacy of the current project
management methodologies and their failings; introduces the compendium of ten
barriers each requiring attention; and offers preliminary solutions to
governments and commercial organizations to digest.
In these
world-wide methodologies and other more parochial ones, methodologies,
time-honored project management processes associated with project integration,
scope, schedule, cost, quality, resource, communications, risk, and procurement
are often used as safeguards that split management and control of the projects
and thereby water-down accountability for project development and
implementation success. In no case is there a domain within the methodologies
that directly and specifically provides the transformational eGovernment
project manager with the tools to cope with the intrinsic problems that impede
transformational eGovernment (Furlong, 2011; Furlong, 2012).
The objective of
this paper is to revamp project management methodologies by transforming them from
process-bound mechanisms to a problem and results oriented instrument. Akin to
the early medical profession’s emphasis on procedure (i.e., in order to
preclude the adage that the operation was a success but the patient died) the
project management profession has too long suffered from the use of project
management methodologies that focus on procedures and processes instead of
those that focus on results and accountability. Futuristic transformational
eGovernment project management methodologies must contribute to the successful
management of transformational eGovernment projects. They must move well beyond
the generic body of knowledge that is generally recognized as good practice.
Instead, the enhanced methodologies must address the very caveat that existing
methodologies hedge against; that is, the embracement of the responsibility for
management to obtain successful results for transformational eGovernment
projects. The enhanced methodologies must reach above and beyond the goals to
provide professional project management certification; standardization of
processes, skills, tools, and techniques; and ethical codes of conduct. They
must address a higher objective. The required methodology must enhance the
science of transformational eGovernment project management so that the project
team can be held accountable for results achieved. The project manager and team
are not stewards of the administrative procedures; they are responsible for
project success and outcomes.
Various key
transformational eGovernment organizations (United Nations, 2010; West, 2007)
have completed studies that identify the causes of transformational eGovernment
project failure and, just as importantly, they have identified, described, and
analyzed the reasons for project development and implementation success.
Current project management methodologies unwittingly allow the project manager
to escape his accountability by retreating behind the mantra – “we’re on
budget; we’re on time; you changed the requirements.” These processes protect
her or him at the expense of project results-oriented success as opposed to
process-oriented success.
Current
transformational eGovernment project management is built on the broad project
management components such as standardized frameworks, governance,
certifications, and qualifications; and administrative tools and techniques
that were developed for a different time and for indifferent industries, some
of which no longer exist or are radically changed like agriculture, auto making
and mining coal. These project components are focused on the techniques and
science of project methodology as opposed to the successful delivery of project
products, services, and results; and on the solving of problems and barriers to
project success.
For example,
current project methodologies related to project cost management involve
estimating, budgeting, and controlling costs. These processes, however, can
lead to the creation, control, and analysis of an array of data points that can
overwhelm and even misinform the project manager, the project team, and key
project stakeholders. Other project management domains such as project quality
management include process elements such as cost benefit analysis, control
charts, bench marking, statistical sampling, and flowcharting.
The point is
that ineffective project management is one of most significant reasons for
transformational eGovernment failure (Aikens, 2012b; Misuraca, 2009), and that
the focus on project methodology instead of project results is the root cause
of ineffective project management. Methodology trumps results.
Time-honored project management administrative
processes such as scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, communications,
risk, and procurement often tend to split the management and control of the
projects and dilutes the accountability for project success.
Nevertheless,
enhanced project management redirects the definition of projects (particularly
ICT work) towards results. It means existing in a futuristic milieu of
complexity and uncertainty wherein it is the application of the science of
project management to any endeavor that creates a project, not the project
start-up definition. Futuristic projects will be created, they will not be
defined; they will be created by evolution, unintended consequences, and
responsive iteration that solves problems and produces project results.
Futuristic projects will encompass a significant component of existential
change leadership to cope with the behavior and mind-set uncertainty that
permeates projects in an ever-faster changing environment.
In eGovernment
project management enhancements, management of eGovernment projects would focus
on project problems rather than methodological processes. The enhanced project
management solution would provide the tools, techniques, and mind-sets to
account for the impact of the holistic, synergistic challenges and barriers
that surround and influence eGovernment projects.
To Read Further, Download The Paper - LINK
About The Author:
Shauneen Furlong
Ottawa, Canada/Liverpool, United Kingdom, SFurlong@territorialcommunications.com
Publication Details:
JeDEM 7(2):
1-23, 2015 ISSN 2075-9517 http://www.jedem.org 1 CC: Creative Commons License,
2015. International Challenges to Transformational Government: Enhanced Project
Management Identifies Need for Existential Change
