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Question: Discuss About The Initial Quality Within Timelines And Budget? Answer: Introduction Different projects are initiated to achieve certain predetermined needs both at the individual, organizational and community level. A project can also be initiated to meet needs for a certain country. This, therefore, means that each project to be initiated must have certain objective upon which the success of a project is measured. The achievement or failure to achieve these objectives is to a large extent dependent on the ability of the project team to adhere to established guidelines in their operations. Project management involves the initiation planning and execution, controlling and closure of the work of a given team in order to satisfy certain specific goals. For a project to be deemed successful, it must meet an established success criterion. This essay will focus on analyzing the various causes of project failure as well as their implications for the practice of project management. Project team or other shareholders in a project can assess the failure of a project based on a number of parameters. Projects cover specific timelines between their initiation and closure; one of the parameters would, therefore, be the completion of a project within the timelines. Alternatively, each project has a budget that is meant to facilitate successful implementation of all the activities and various stages of a project. Project scope is also another parameter that is used to establish the success or failure of a project. In this case, the project team or other interested parties and stakeholders look at whether the initial scope of the project was adhered to. These are however not the only reasons as to why projects fail, a view held by many different scholars. There are several causes of project failure, all of which have an implication on the project management practice. Ineffective leadership. The role played by a project manager is quite significant in establishing the success of a project. He or she is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring a project is successfully initiated, planned for, designed, executed and monitored controlled and closed. Among the specific responsibilities include ensuring that the project deliverables are maintained. A project can therefore succeed or fail depending on how the project manager is able to provide overall leadership to the project team (Bakar, et al,2011) States that a project manager is tasked with the responsibility of planning and controlling resources to ensure completion of a project within the schedule, budget and specified quality which are important in making a project successful. They also go ahead to identify project evaluation, setting up of teams and systems, monitoring planning, controlling, communication, training and negotiating contract conditions as the most important roles of a project m anager. The inability of a project manager to undertake these responsibilities would, therefore, result in ineffective leadership and hence the reason for project failure. (Anantatmula, 2010) also, supports this view that the success of a project is to a large extent dependent on the leadership provided by the project manager. A good example of a failed project as a result of poor leadership space shuttle Colombia, which broke down in 2003 killing the seven Astronauts that were on board. This was since attributed to poor leadership on the part of NASA to which the space shuttle belonged (Starbuck and Farjoun, 2009).Another example of a failed project due to poor leadership is Denver International Airport baggage handling system. Cultural differences. This is particularly the case with international projects involving people from different cultures and nationalities. Cultural differences refer to a system of beliefs, values and rules of conduct which distinguish one societal group from another. Having people from different cultures can be a reason for success or failure depending on how these differences are handled. Cultural diversity is increasingly becoming important due to the fact different groups working together are likely to be comprised of various cultural, ethnic groups .This presents an opportunity to learn from each other which acts as a basis for cooperation and collaboration. Among the advantages that accrue to project teams is increased morale, availability of different perspectives and community relationships. In multinational business projects, these cultural differences if not handled well are likely to have an impact on the success of the projects by reducing the morale of the project team and making it impossible for the group members to collaborate and cooperate(Shore, 2008). Successful management of cultural differences among a project team can make the team more effective and facilitate timely completion of a project. Consequently, failure to manage cultural differences can lead to project delays. Therefore one cause of project failure especially for international projects is the failure to understand and manage cultural differences among the project team (Kivrak, et al,2009). Lack of consideration of cultural differences makes the project team lack motivation and hence be unable to do their best thus resulting to project failure. Wrong Budget estimates. Project budget represents a detailed estimation of all the costs that are required to successfully complete a particular project. Project budget provides an overview of how funds will be utilized in various endeavors from the initiation to the completion of the project. Project budgets differ from project to project depending on the complexity ,time and scope among other factors .Adoption of correct budget estimates is important in that it ensures that the project quality is maintained and that the project is completed within the schedule. At many times project teams work with budget estimates that are completely off which result in resources running out before projects are completed and subsequent halting of projects (Abouzahra,2011). Coming up with a project budget requires the input of both the project manager, project sponsor and the project team. (Shauchenka, 2013)However, argues that failure of projects is not solely because of poor leadership on the part of the project manager but also as a result of incapacity and lack of cooperation on the part of the entire project team. Realization of a project that meets the desired quality and that is within the budget and timelines requires commitment on the part of the project team. However regardless of the whether the manager is a good leader if the team he leads lacks commitment, are inefficient and basically concerned with other activities not related to the project, it is likely to result to project failure. Other aspects that lead to project failure include poor communication, over planning, poor stakeholder participation, underestimation of timelines, poor planning, setting unrealistic expectations and lack of scope document (Gichoya, 2005). Project management basically refers to the act of overseeing and implementation of a project. Usually, every project has specific objectives which are geared towards producing a certain defined outcome. With this as the case, therefore, there are serious implications that come as a result of project failure. Extra cost. The major consequence of project failure has to do with the budget of the project. Failure of a project to be completed within the scope and budget means that a project will require additional price tag which can be considered as unwanted. This extra budget is incurred in terms of extra resources both human and capital, project equipment and other resources all of which have the capability of undermining the reputation and stability of the project organization (Robertson and Williams, 2007). Failure to meet Business or organization requirements. Any project that is initiated is usually meant to satisfy certain predetermined needs upon completion. These requirements, however, remain unsatisfied in an event where project failure is experienced. What this means, therefore, is that organizations may be forced to initiate new projects to satisfy those needs which lead to wastage of time and resources. In some instances, however, there would be no time to initiate newer projects which could have an adverse impact on the operation of a business or organization (Shepherd, Patzelt and Wolfe, 2011) Failure of organizations to innovate. In the modern business world, there are high rates of competition that require business and organizations to constantly innovate in order to remain competitive. Successful innovation requires a substantial amount of resources. However, the ability to innovate can be significantly affected by project failure which is likely to steal resources and shift the focus of management and project team. This ends up minimizing the ability of an organization to innovate or making it impossible for an organization to innovate (Shenhar, et al, 2011). This also affects the ability of an organization to develop due to the fact that so much time is and resources are spent on the failed project hence reducing the resources of an organization as well as the time that can be used in other undertakings to ensure the overall growth of an organization. Analysis: Projects do not fail instantly. Failure is a gradual process and which occurs in the full awareness of the project team. Ineffective leadership makes one or a number of project aspects dysfunctional which finally results to failure. When the project team cannot work as a single group as a result of perceived differences that may exist among them, it becomes difficult to monitor progress and maintain the scope of the project which ultimately leads to project failure. Every part of project implementation requires some budgetary considerations, this makes budget an important component of project success without which implication cannot take place. Since organizations work with certain guidelines and within timelines, and due to the interdependent nature of operations, failure in a single undertaking has the possibility of leaving the rest in jeorpady. Conclusion In conclusion, there are numerous factors that lead to failing of projects. Among the most common is poor leadership on the part of the project manager, incompetence on the part of the project team, failure to adhere to project scope, inadequate project budget and inaccurate time estimates. Cultural differences among the project team if not managed well can also be a cause for project failure. There are also a number of implications that accrue to project management practice as a result of project failure. These include wastage of time and resources, failure to meet project expectations incapacitation of organization among. References Abouzahra, M., 2011, November. Causes of failure in Healthcare IT projects. 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