Introduction
Complex construction involves large-scale projects involving a huge budget and a multidisciplinary staff team. Examples of complex projects that will be analyzed in this essay include the One World Trade Center and the Al Maktoum International Airport expansion. The evolution of project management is an ongoing concern as managers seek new ways of overcoming the challenges faced in implementing complex programs (Flyvbjerg, 2021, p. 51).
One of the standard features of a complex project is that it includes different professionals such as architects, sub-contractors, project managers, engineers, operations and safety personnel, and consultants to work together and develop appropriate outcomes. Some of the critical challenges that are faced when implementing complex construction projects include but are not limited to stakeholder management, governance, allocation of resources, risk and contract management, technology adoption, and contract management (El Khatib et al., 2022, p. 21). A project manager must identify and solve the challenges for the implementation of the project to be successful.
Stakeholder Management in Case Studies
Stakeholder management is a multifaceted process that ensures that people relate and communicate with one another to ensure the successful implementation of a project. When working on a project, all stakeholders have different expectations that need to be met. The role of the project manager is to ensure that all the concerns are addressed on time for management. Since the complex project has numerous stakeholders, more information may be needed for some of the stakeholders (Wu et al., 2019, p. 43).
The construction of One World Trade Center was marred by challenges in stakeholder management as the architects and engineers could not agree on a time limit, which resulted in conflict and delays. When making decisions, the stakeholder theory requires that they are all involved and allowed to air their grievances (Picciotto, 2020, p. 71). However, since the complex project has numerous stakeholders, the decision-making process is slowed. When decisions take longer, the risk of scope creep may result.
Project Governance in One World Trade Center and Al Maktoum Airport Expansion
Project governance is the most essential part of ensuring successful implementation. Governance must be performed through the appropriate practices to ensure that information is passed from one person to another. The centralization of powers in the One World Trade Center made it impossible for the people to understand their concerns at the bottom of the management pyramid (Huemann et al., 2019, p. 470). However, since there are many delegations on the scale of the project, poor procurement practices, such as corruption, may jeopardize the overall operations. When the people mandated to implement the project are corrupt and make shoddy deals based on corruption and kickbacks, the business risks and poor quality materials will be procured, leading to substandard projects being delivered in the final analysis.
Resource Allocation
Resource allocation and clarity of objectives are significant issues affecting the people in project management. In smaller projects, the budget is clear, concise, and in tandem with the objectives, which makes it easier to implement the project (Picciotto, 2020, p. 12). However, as a project’s scale and complexity increase, the project’s different sub-branches may jeopardize the resource allocation and the clarity of the project goals and objectives. In most cases, complex projects intend to have a central command to promote the integrity of the procurement (Wu et al., 2019, p. 71).
However, since each sub-branch has a specific goal, generalization at the top of the governance chart may jeopardize the implementation of the project (Geraldi and Söderlund, 2018, p. 34). It is, therefore, essential to have a clear work breakdown structure and hierarchical leadership to ensure that the goals are precise and well followed up. The lack of clarity in complex projects, especially in the sub-contractors, may lead to confusion and jeopardize the effective allocation of resources.
Risk Management
Complex projects have a challenge in risk management and implementation. Effective project management teams are prepared for all uncertainties and assemble a team to deal with the issues as they emerge. However, in complex problems, the uncertainties are multifaceted and may require numerous teams to resolve, jeopardizing budgets. As the complex project involves different fields and specialties, the overall risk management team may overlook some of the issues likely to affect the project implementation (El Khatib et al., 2022, p. 66).
As the different sub-contractors deal with their independent risks, the team may only be able to overcome some issues (Wu et al., 2019, p. 23). As a result of the size, there may be a changing scope due to the dynamic economic environment. It is paramount to note that the main idea behind risk management is to identify and overcome the risks before they happen. Due to the dynamic nature of the economic environment, the risk management team may fail to overcome the challenges in the project implementation.
Personal Experience
The challenges of managing complex projects have also been examined using personal experience. When I was part of the team constructing a twenty-story building, numerous teams were required to facilitate project success. The teams included the designers, architects, engineers, regulatory and safety officers, and the foremen. Although there were numerous field meetings, information could not be transmitted effectively due to lack of specialization.
Project coordination and scheduling could not be well managed since each team had different operation modes (Volden and Welde, 2022, p. 711). Communication breakdown was continually delayed since the project manager did not form sub-committees to deal with different issues. The experience taught me that a complex project must have decentralized leadership to ensure that all the challenges are understood and resolved for success.
Conclusion
The challenges in the contemporary project management realm undermine their success. It is the role of the project managers to analyze the risk management strategies and come up with suggestions and recommendations to overcome the challenges. Although numerous challenges exist in large-scale projects, a few steps can be followed to overcome them. The foremost is to ensure effective governance, such as stakeholder engagement and practical and specialized risk management, to determine and handle all the risks and uncertainties that may affect the effectiveness of the project implementation.
Reference List
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Flyvbjerg, B., (2021) ‘Top ten behavioral biases in project management: An overview.’ Project Management Journal, 52(6), pp.531-546. Web.
Geraldi, J. and Söderlund, J., (2018) ‘Project studies: What it is, where it is going.’ International Journal of Project Management, 36(1), pp.55-70. Web.
Huemann, M., Ringhofer, C. and Keegan, A., (2019) ‘Who supports project careers? Leveraging the compensatory roles of line managers’. Project Management Journal, 50(4), pp.476-486. Web.
Maktoum, S.A.B.S.A., (2019) ‘Dubai international airport expansion Phase 2’. International Airport Review.
Picciotto, R., (2020) ‘Towards a ‘new project management’ movement? An international development perspective’. International Journal of Project Management, 38(8), pp.474-485. Web.
Volden, G.H. and Welde, M., (2022) ‘Public project success? Measuring the nuances of success through ex post evaluation’. International Journal of Project Management, 40(6), pp.703-714. Web.
Wu, G., Hu, Z. and Zheng, J., (2019) ‘Role stress, job burnout, and job performance in construction project managers: the moderating role of career calling.’ International Journal of environmental research and public health, 16(13), pp. 23-94. Web.