Abstract
D.Ing.
An integrated project team strategy (IPTS) does not start with a detailed list of performance measures, but with the appropriate mindset of what is in the interest of the project. The purpose of IPTS is to unite the core project participants (the 20% of project participants responsible for 80% of the impact on the project success) with a common goal, so that they focus on what is in the interest of the project and not on their company’s interest or local optimisation.
Like a tripod, Integrated Project Team Strategies (IPTS) is based on three core principles - a common project incentive scheme, well-defined project success criteria and project control systems and procedures that focus on the project’s needs and do not entice local optimisation. The first leg of IPTS is that all the core project participants share in a common project incentive scheme, therefore their actions are focussed on the same target because it determines the size of their bonuses and incentives.
Project success criteria are the second leg and represents the common project target. However, determining priorities in a project strategy is regularly done incorrectly with negative impact, therefore the project success and failure criteria must be well defined for all three areas namely project management, product and relationship success. This is essential for measuring the project success because it forms the basis for reporting progress the project wellbeing during the implementation phase as well as the “successful” outcome at project closure
Traditional project control systems and metrics, which were used to measure the progress of the project, tend to measure progress in isolation because they do not consider the overall need of the project. Local optimisation in terms of for instance tons steel erected per hour occurs because that is how managers on the project are assessed, however, that is not in the interest of the project. Although conventional project strategies do not exclude integrated team performance evaluation, all their systems and procedures are based on the performance of a single project participant or division of a participant, thereby creating the ideal breeding ground for local optimization and moves the focus away from the overall project.
When looking at some of the latest business publications like that of Eliyahu M. Goldratt (“The Goal”, “It is not luck” and the “Critical Chain”[9]) it is clear that IPTS biggest advantage is to eliminate local optimization encouraged by the more conventional project controls strategies. Because the way people are measured has such a big impact on their behaviour, project control systems and metrics are the third leg of the IPTS tripod.
For these reasons, IPTS is a completely new game, which relies on deep commitment to provide a broad flexible framework for doing whatever is required in the current context to ensure project success. It is not about what happened since the deal was struck, nor who is actually responsible for it, but about the success of the project because all participants will reap the benefits of a successful project. In a sense, the demand emphasis for IPTS is shifting from a purely financial to a more strategic approach. In so doing, it is prompting more and more clients and managers into systematic re-examinations of their business models’ structures, efficiency and effectiveness for factors such as local optimization.
Often stereotypically conservative and with a cultural bias for control, most clients and service providers in the South African mining and mineral commodity industry have been late and reluctant to let go of their control and associated local optimisation. However, the array of challenges confronting the industry makes control for control’s sake a costly indulgence, which cannot be afforded any longer
Not only does IPTS have the ability to change lose-lose relationships to win-win relationships, but most importantly it has the ability to unite all the core project participants in a single integrated project team focusing on the same goals.
A number of typical IPTS cases have been developed as part of the research and are included in this thesis as guidelines for the implementation of the research results. These cases were also evaluated practically by testing it during interviews with industry practitioners.