Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

FS 31: Management (process barriers)
Vol 2 - Table of Contents
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T9
What are management barriers?
Management barriers may arise from project planning errors,
such as, unclear roles and responsibilities, blurred
assignments, an unrealistic time plan, etc. Other management
barriers include insufficient staff resources and skills, an
unsuccessful attempt to gain political acceptance for a project.
They are often the hidden cause behind other barriers, such as
running out of time and budget, poor communication, mutual
mistrust, etc. Thus, strong project management is important. It
requires a manager and a management team with relevant
skills and experiences. As the skills and experience of the staff
are the main instrument for overcoming these barriers, it
cannot be emphasised enough that it is important to recruit the
right staff at the beginning of a project as it becomes difficult to
correct such omissions later in a project.
How to deal with these barriers
Difficulties in project management are a major obstacle for the
smooth planning and implementation of a project as they can
cause delays or even the termination of a project. In general
terms, project management is connected with almost
everything in the project, but more commonly to management
barriers result from planning errors, particularly:
Poor project organisation: late involvement of key
stakeholders, unclear roles and responsibilities, confusing
communication structures;
Inappropriate planning of the project: starting without clear
objectives and performance criteria, unrealistic financial
and time plan, unclear tasks for the project team; and
Insufficient tracking of progress such that problems come
up 'unexpectedly' and force a re-active approach instead of
a pro-active one.
Further essential requirements of good project management
are:
A clear common understanding within the project team;
Clearly defined objectives; and
Measurable performance criteria.
As always with barriers, the best approach to overcome them
is to avoid them from the start of a project. Unfortunately, it is
not always possible to anticipate and avoid management
barriers in advance; therefore, it is also important to prepare in
advance for dealing with management barriers. A possible
solution is to manage the available resources, plans and
support in a flexible way, for example, by shifting staff
resources. In the case of severe management barriers this may
not be enough making it necessary, to seek additional
resources, revise the entire work plan or to obtain additional
political support.
When will management barriers
arise?
Management barriers are most likely to arise during the
Running of the Project Phase, though they may begin to arise
as early as the initial Scoping Phase (see Section 2, Volume 1).
They may sometimes result from personality clashes, but are
more commonly due to lack of clarity in roles and
responsibilities of different organisations and individuals. This
can be minimised by establishing the Core Project Team in time
for them to take responsibility for the Detailed Preparation of
the transport project.
As part of this Detailed Preparation in advance of project
commencement, efforts should be made to anticipate possible
management barriers and put in place procedures and
contingency plans to deal with them.
Once the main project has commenced, management barriers
can arise at any stage in the transport decision-making
process:
Insufficient resources can be a problem for all project
stages, but they are most severe during implementation
(cost intensiveness) and at the end of a project when
resources cannot be easily redirected;
Poor project planning can become a major barrier in all
project stages;
Lack of support for a project becomes a major barrier if the
project becomes disputed (during planning stages or
implementation stage);
A lack of clear objectives will become a problem during the
stage of option selection and decision-making; and
A lack of performance criteria are a problem throughout
the project, since it will be impossible to measure whether
progress is made as planned.
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