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Students: Dissertation: Boonkiart Iewwongcharoen

ABSTRACT

The search for critical success factors has been one of the major themes in project management literature. That search has revealed several issues. First, many of these factors are beyond the control of project managers such as top management support, team composition, etc. Next, of the factors that can be under the control of the project manager, the literature scantily addresses the importance of how the use of project management tools and techniques (PMTTs) can impact performance of projects. Additionally, the extant literature argues that the same PMTTs can be utilized for managing any type of project without differences in the success measures. In contrast, some new suggestions and research support the premise of a contingency theory of project management, where different project types and situations call for different managerial styles and PMTTs.

To respond to the issues, this study attempts to support the development of a contingency theory on the use of PMTTs by answering two questions: 1) Which PMTTs are used by project managers in different project situations? and 2) Which PMTTs are the contributors to project success in different project situations? To answer the questions, we utilized a large sample study, where a questionnaire was developed and administered to serve as a vehicle for data collection with assistances from an expert panel. A response of 421 recipients out of 4000 contacts was received from which 412 data points were usable for further analysis. Multivariate statistics methods (ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis) were employed for hypothesis testing.

We analyzed 39 PMTTs in project situations defined by contextual factors: project size, duration, strategic focus and type. The results of the analyses showed that:

  • Six PMTTs are frequently used in every context, while the others are not.
  • All PMTTs are used differently across the phases of the project life cycle, and some are used differently across the other contextual factors.
  • There are differences in how PMTTs contribute to project success measures in different contextual factors.
  • Two PMTTs are consistently found to have positive impact on project success: contingency plan and communication plan.
  • In contrast, negative correlations between the use of four PMTTs and project success are consistently found: project change log, project change request, schedule crashing, and scope statement.

The contributions of this dissertation are twofold. Academically, the study findings bring about new knowledge and improve the contingency theory on the use of PMTTs in different project situations. Practically, the study can be used as a set of guidelines for project managers to properly select the PMTTs that match the characteristics of their projects.

November 29, 2005
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Dragan Z. Milosevic, Chair
Wayne W. Wakeland
Tugrul Daim
Debra Elliott
Brian Stipak, Graduate Studies Rep.