Critical Success Factors

Authors Avatar

Critical Success Factors

1 INTRODUCTION  

Lot of research went on since 1960s in the field of Critical Success Factors (CSF). CSFs are few factors in any project which lead it to success/failure. The concept was put forth by Ronald Daniel in 1960s. The report presents a critical review on the Literature of CSFs. Understanding the difference in ‘success’ for various organizations, projects and members in the team is d and thus, the significance of a generic classification among CSFs is proposed [Morris and Hough (1987)]. The CSFs   were classifies into theoretical and empirical in history [W Bellasi and O I Tukel (1996)].

To have evidence that projects differ in the factors which affect their success/failure, these were few summaries quoted:

  • The Channel Tunnel was a political project. It was born of political will and died due to political indifference … The city ensured that there were good termination clauses in the Agreements. British Rail has no real commitment to the project, and indeed saw it as a diversion of time and much needed finance …
  •  “The Thames Barrier … required construction skills of higher order … deserves fullest recognition … to the issue of project overruns … the setting included inflation, the local labour relations climate and the traditional way of working imposed by ICE form of contract and the lack of real, proactive project management … unwillingness to delegate decision-making authority to a single ‘Project Manager’
  • “The APT project failed not because the technology was too advanced  … project involved introducing that technology into an old established engineering organization whose conditions  and practices were long out of date … some of its effects were good … innovative yet come into public use by the end of this decade …”   

                             [ Morris and Hough (1987). ‘The anatomy of Major Projects’]

From the summaries above, it is evident that factors which lead to project success/failure vary from project to project. As success/failure vary from various team members and the organization, CSFs also varies. Thus, having a generic list of CSFs is not going to help in project’s success/failure. Thus, grouping the CSFs has got its significance(‘Factor Groups’ , W Bellasi and O I Tukel (1996)]. The CSFs, maintained in a list, need to be monitored for implementation all over the project lifecycle (“System responses” [W Bellasi and O I Tukel (1996)]).

2 ‘SUCCESS’ - A Difference in approach:

Success/Success Criteria differs from various organizations. There were project driven organizations, like, construction, aerospace, where organizational activities are mainly categorized through projects, each project having its own objectives, profit/loss accounts, goals and non-project driven organizations, like, product manufacturing companies, where objectives, profit/loss accounts and goals were handled in an organizational basis. The success is termed on an organizational basis in non-profit driven organizations and on a project basis for project-driven organizations. In project based organizations the ‘success’ of the individual project may turn to organizational success [Kerzner H (2004)].

Success mean different to various team members too. Every project successfully completed may not be termed success by the organization and vice versa. Technical, administration and finance teams etc., expect different outcomes from the project. For example, even though, the project shows unambiguous performance and passes through the concerned tests successfully, if the product did not make the expected technical innovation, it is termed to be ‘failed’.  

Join now!

2.1 Defining “Success”:

A successful project is “One that delivers the planned benefits to the business and meets all the product, cost and schedule targets.”                                   

[As ‘TSB Guide to Project Management’ in ‘Project Management Handbook, Pg(20)’]

                                                                       

 “A successful project is a project which ...

This is a preview of the whole essay