Introduction
There is a tremendous number (more than a million) of officially certified PMPs (project management professional) all over the planet. One-fourth of these specialists work and locate in the territory of the United States of America. Unfortunately, the majority of various projects these people perform appear to fail. The following paper is intended to discuss and identify the main reasons why many projects under the control of PMPs fail and what ethical issues influence this situation.
Discussion
To begin with, it would be proper to mention that various issues related to “Cultural or Ethical Misalignment” are claimed to be the most important reasons why innovative projects managed by PMPs fail (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). Moreover, approximately 70 percent of all new businesses or other beginner organizations cannot become independent and successful (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). This happens because they do not strive to meet particular cost requirements, their clients’ needs, and other goals that their employees set at the beginning of their activities.
The first question that will be addressed and answered in the given paper is intended to determine why an enormous number of projects fail regularly, even though there are many PMPs involved in their promotion, along with other issues necessary for any company. Considering the fact of ethical issues in beginner organizations that cannot become successful, it is essential to state that this problem might be based on people’s unscrupulous approach to their work (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). For instance, PMPs are required to be responsible for any job they do and meet all the needs of their employers. Perhaps, the root of the problem is that PMPs seek high profits, instead of other opportunities in their careers. It appears that when a person is not motivated to achieve a particular goal, he or she does not have enough interest to be interested in one’s profession (Bredillet, 2014). As they do not have any desire to work and develop various products or services that they are supposed to elaborate on, their contribution seems to be useless. To eliminate this ethical issue, PMPs are recommended to have their interests in activities that they are expected to accomplish by their employers.
There is another side of the problem regarding multiple projects’ failures. There are several professional standards that PMPs are supposed to follow to be efficient and beneficial for their partners. These standards include PMI (professional management institute) rules, PgMP (program management professional), and PRINCE2 (projects in controlled environments) (Bredillet, 2014). These are considered to be the best practices that one can implement to increase any project’s productivity rate or contribute to other factors that might make these beginner businesses successful.
According to the Code of Ethics and professional conduct offered by PMI, the main requirements to project managers imply being honest to their colleagues, responsible for their actions, and fair with their partners. If projects fail, then these rules are disregarded, whereas PMPs might not always be honest and fair with people they collaborate with for a certain period (Kerzner, 2017). As any firm has to be based on trustworthy relationships among its workers, these projects cannot last longer than several months. It appears that honesty becomes critical when some financial or organizational operations are performed without superiors’ awareness of that (or contradicts their vision). The context presented in the given paragraph was intended to answer the question of why ethical issues remain a major cause of multiple projects’ failures if PMPs are expected to follow their Code of Ethics.
Proposed Changes
Sometimes, beginner projects lack organization. When PMs do not meet the Code of Ethics’ requirements (that they are supposed to adhere to regularly), it is necessary to implement certain actions to increase an organization’s probability to become successful. In turn, the PMI Code of Ethics mentioned above has to be revised to make PMPs more competent in what they do and help them avoid simple issues that lead to failures (Bredillet, 2014). Also, all the rules listed in the Code must become more meaningful and impactful.
To begin with, it is necessary to mention that some PMs may violate different rules, regardless of whether or not they are listed in the PMI Code of Ethics. It is all dependent on a person and his or her attitude towards one’s professional responsibilities (Bredillet, 2014). Nevertheless, an appropriate decision would be to add the following considerations to make PMPs more competent workers, and hence prevent various failures of projects that they can initiate:
- All tasks that were taken by a project manager must demonstrate this person’s professionalism and high competency. This issue is essential for anyone who strives to become a concise PMP. Unfortunately, many problems in the discussed industry occur because there are many people certified by PMI. Any competition would make these individuals more responsible for their actions (Pinto, 2017).
- Learning how to make appropriate decisions regarding colleagues, clients, various resources available, and the environment PMs work in daily. Indeed, not all beginner projects have many resources (Hornstein, 2015). Nevertheless, a project manager must find different methods to understand how all the available resources can be engaged for everyone’s benefit. If one disregards certain resources or possibilities that can be used at the present moment to improve a particular situation, this worker can be claimed unprofessional and not trustworthy. All PMPs must seek their interests in what they do (even if these are not obvious at first glance).
- Another important rule that can be added to the given list is the identification of objectives (Hornstein, 2015). It appears that many companies and project managers do not pay enough attention to this responsibility of theirs. When a person or a group of people do not understand their primary goals, all the actions they perform are useless. Although this is rather an organizational problem, it remains one of the most common reasons for failures.
It is necessary to mention that the Code of Ethics may always contain imperfections. Nevertheless, it is not always essential to stick to its prescriptions when working on serious projects. Instead, any manager has to demonstrate one’s best professional qualities and do everything possible to make their companies successful. Moreover, the Code of Ethics might be disregarded by the majority of certified PMs (Hornstein, 2015). Therefore, their work loses value. Every person must show that he or she is interested in certain work or ideas. Otherwise, their intentions to stay parts of a new project team might become useless.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that the majority of new projects fail because of ethical considerations disregarded by their managers. To improve the situation, it would be advantageous to revise the PMI Code of Ethics and persuade PMs to contribute to their activities as much as possible. They must seek benefits from all the available resources and implement their best skills to succeed.
References
Bredillet, C. (2014). Ethics in project management: Some Aristotelian insights. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 7(4), 548-565. Web.
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298. Web.
Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling (12th ed.). New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Mir, F. A., & Pinnington, A. H. (2014). Exploring the value of project management: Linking project management performance and project success. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), 202-217. Web.
Pinto, J. K. (2017). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.