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Trade‐Offs, Biases, and Uncertainty in Project Planning and Execution: A Problem‐Based Simulation Exercise
Author(s) -
SmithDaniels Dwight E.,
SmithDaniels Vicki L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
decision sciences journal of innovative education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1540-4609
pISSN - 1540-4595
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4609.2008.00177.x
Subject(s) - deliverable , project planning , project management triangle , computer science , project management , process management , project manager , basis of estimate , work breakdown structure , project charter , project stakeholder , project sponsorship , project team , project portfolio management , task (project management) , project risk management , stakeholder , knowledge management , business , systems engineering , engineering , public relations , political science
The ability to plan and execute projects is a fundamental skill required among managers and business school graduates. In the opening phase of a project, the project team makes decisions about the relative priority of project time, cost, and performance objectives, oftentimes without complete information about customer and stakeholder requirements. Existing project management curriculum assists in developing skills to decide among these priorities in the abstract through paradigms such as the time–cost–performance triangle, with limited attention to the improvement of skills required to develop solutions to these trade‐offs, particularly in uncertain and ambiguous project environments. Further, there is often an underlying bias in project teams toward consideration of the project task and project deliverables and reduced attention to time and cost objectives. This study demonstrates the benefits of a balanced approach to setting project time, cost, and performance objectives using a goal‐based simulation exercise entitled “The Bridge to Project Leadership.” Results for 124 project teams illustrate the tendency to ignore this balanced approach, resulting in reduced project performance, even among experienced project managers.