Impact of Management Approach on Project Interaction and Performance

Abstract

It has long been believed that improving project integration directly improves project performance. There has been a lack of quantitative research to directly support or negate this belief. This paper presents a method for approximating project integration, and demonstrates the impact of improved interaction on project performance. An earlier work developed a method for measuring an individual project's “degree of interaction” (DOI). Degree of interaction scores are calculated and compared for 38 projects, divided into traditional and alternative project approaches. The alternative projects have significantly higher average DOI scores than do traditional projects, indicating that they provide better opportunities for interaction. Project performance of alternative projects is better than that of traditional projects. The following four indicators of project performance are measured: cost growth, schedule growth, number of contract modifications, and modifications due to design deficiencies. The impact of improved interaction on objective performance measures is validated by studying 209 completed projects.