Information technology project failures

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitriy V. Chulkov ◽  
Mayur S. Desai

PurposeThis paper seeks to apply results from the study of bandit processes to cases of information technology (IT) project failures.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines three published case studies, and discusses whether managerial actions are in accordance with the predictions of bandit process studies.FindingsBandits are a class of decision‐making problems that involve choosing one action from a set. In terms of project management, the firm selects from several alternative IT projects, each with its own distribution of risks and rewards. The firm investigates technologies one by one, and keeps only the best‐performing technology. The bandit perspective implies that managers choosing a risky IT project with high potential reward before safer ones are behaving optimally. It is in the firm's interest to resolve the uncertainty about the innovative project first. In case of failure, the firm can later choose safer technology. A high proportion of risky projects adopted leads to a high number of project failures.Practical implicationsThe bandit approach supports studies that advocate evaluating decision makers on the optimality of their decision process, rather than specific outcomes.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates how insights from the bandit problem are relevant to studies of IT project failures. Whilst choosing high‐risk, high‐reward projects may be in a firm's interest, some observed project failures are optimal choices that do not work out.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Barbara Hewitt ◽  
Diane B. Walz ◽  
Alexander McLeod

The existent literature lacks papers that explored the proposed model, which examines how process, relationship, and task conflict impacts knowledge sharing and the subsequently perceived team performance in the information technology (IT) development process. The proposed research model adds knowledge sharing to prior studies that explored how the types of conflict impacted team performance. The hypotheses were tested using a field survey, which was distributed to IT project team members. While team members who experience task conflicts tend to share more knowledge and perform better, members who experience more process or relationship conflicts are less likely to share knowledge, and the team performance is also impacted. The results offer insights to explain how the different types of conflict can affect knowledge sharing and subsequently group processes within IT project teams and, ultimately, improve or degrade performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miwa Nishinaka

This study examines the process of building common understanding in a case study of an international information technology (IT) project. A literature review situates the subject of common understanding among fields of research and identifies issues that are insufficiently explored. Our quantitative and qualitative surveys in the case study reveal that common understanding relates to experience. It also establishes that there are situational variations in common understanding. The theoretical implications are presented about the acquisition of common understanding in diverse organisations and the relations to employee experience. It shows that the nature of common understanding shifts from inductive to deductive knowledge as employees accumulate experience in international IT projects.


Author(s):  
Tor J. Larsen ◽  
Fred Niederman

This research project gathered data about the use of UML and object-oriented analysis and design as the approach to the development of information systems. The data collection method consisted of interviews with information systems application developers with wide ranging differences in background. The authors used causal mapping for analysis of the data gathered. This chapter focuses on the authors’ experiences with causal mapping as a method for exploring issues and relationships. Causal mapping was also used to document tips on its use illustrating these with findings regarding UML and object-oriented analysis and design in particular.


2016 ◽  
pp. 138-153
Author(s):  
Anna Szopa ◽  
Beata Jałocha

Poor project management in IT companies, strong industry competition, and small firm fragility are some of the most often cited arguments to justify business failure. This chapter provides an integrated view of concepts involved in information technology project management in university spin-off companies. It includes a presentation of a success story of an IT university spin-off, which from the very beginning of its activity focused mainly on project management processes. The chapter explains how university spin-off organizational structure influences the project management process and discusses important methods and approaches that can determine IT spin-off successes.


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