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Making Decisions is Project Leadership

Erin Berglund

OGL 321

Ben Pandya

March 21, 2022

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Projects and project leaders are defined by the choices and decisions that are

made concerning the project. In fact, projects will survive without adequate resources

and information. However, they will always fail if faulty decisions are made. This paper

is intended to highlight the importance of strong decision making. As well as, the

misfortunes that may arise from mistakes in planning. A project can have outstanding

resources, highly dedicated and talented managers and still make faulty decisions

which result in a failed or canceled project. Because of this, it is essential for the project

manager or CEO to make quality decisions.

Because of the importance strong decisions make in the execution of all projects.

Project managers have created something called the decision context. The decision

context is “the setting in which decisions occur (Clemen and Reilly 2001).” For a project

to be deemed successful three objectives must be met, these include; meeting the

budget, finishing on schedule, and meeting client specifications. These ensure the

project meets its intended criteria and all goals are achieved. The first component when

breaking down the project is to look at the “setting” in which the project will be executed.

This is defined as the decision maker's current standing in terms of resources,

obligations, opportunities, and desires, for the project (Buede 3). After the setting is

identified, components such as uncertainty, time preference, and risk preference are

identified. This ensures all components of the project are laid out, and decisions

surrounding each factor are executed. When using the decision context two objectives

must be weighed to decide which comes first, the objectives or the decision. If first

objectives are considered, the project manager will be equipped to make the best

decisions available for the project. However, if decisions come first this allows the
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project manager to pinpoint what objectives need to be considered. The project

manager will assess their project and determine if they would like to first weigh the

decision or the objectives. Most of the time the objectives are considered first. This is

because most projects are started because of a set of clearly defined objectives.

Every project has thousands of decisions that must be made. Every one of these

decisions has the potential to derail the project or a set of deliverables in the project.

Because of this, all decisions must be weighed against a set of three objectives, the

decision, the decision process, and the decision maker. The decision is what needs to

be decided or accomplished, the decision process is how it will be decided, and the

decision maker is who will be deciding. These objectives ensure the project manager

understands what is needed from the decision and the process of making that decision.

Projects all have different objectives and the way the project manager makes decisions

regarding these objectives is highlighted in the decision process. In the writing by Jim

Johnson and the Standish Group International, ten top reasons for project success are

highlighted. These include; user involvement, executive management support, clear

business objectives, optimizing the scope, agile process, project management

expertise, financial management, skilled resources, formal methodology, and standard

tools and infrastructure. These top success points ensure the project success and

highlight the key decisions that must be made. The decisions that come as a result of

these top reasons for project success are the most influential to the project success and

highlight the key factors in the decision making of your project.

In order to ensure project success it is not only important to highlight the key

decisions that must be made, but also the overarching reason projects fail. As we
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discussed, there are three objectives that must be met for project success. These

include; meeting the budget, finishing on schedule, and meeting client specifications.

Without meeting these three objectives the project will likely not be seen as successful

or will have to be canceled altogether. In the textbook “Decision-Making the key to

Project Success” by Dennis Buede and Robert Powell, two more key factors to why

projects fail are pinpointed. These include, project teams losing sight of the business

rationale behind their decisions (Shenhar and Dvir 2007). And enterprises being driven

by financial requirements such as return on investment, earnings, and stakeholder

value. They are therefore forced to make business decisions with limited knowledge

(Clarke 2000). This can lead to missed project goals or misunderstood project

alignment.

In all decision processes there is a general framework that should be followed

when making decisions. This framework includes 8 steps and begins with defining the

problem, establishing objectives, identifying alternatives, identifying uncertainties,

assessing alternatives, gathering information to update the assessment, decide and

implement, and finally monitor. All these steps insure the project completion and all

deliverables and goals are met in their designated order. Without a solid framework it is

easy for the project to get off track or behind schedule. Along with strong decision

making a solid framework is essential for the project team and the execution of the

project deliverables. A quote from the textbook really stood out to me, it stated,

“Regardless of the nature of individual achievements, successful people tend to have

one thing in common: They make effective decisions that are the result of an effective

process (Buede17). A strong plan results in strong decisions and as stated the
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decisions made are detrimental to the project success. Therefore, when starting a

project it is most important to create a framework to follow to help you make decisions.

In a blog post written by P M blogger titled The Tao of Project Management the

writer highlights the importance of a calm and collected project manager, he

understands that a project is not successful by looking productive rather than being

effective. He states, “The wise project manager ignores how people perceive them and

concentrates instead on what the team needs to do their work effectively and protects

them from external interference.” This quote really stood out to me because it

emphasizes the importance strong leadership and decisions have on the success of the

project. Without a leader who understands the importance of doing work effectively the

project will not be successful and the project manager and team may be out of a job.

Another blog post that caught my attention regarding the importance of thorough project

planning and decision making. Is written by the blogger Eight to Late and titled

Operational and Strategic Risks on Projects, I found this blog very useful because it

highlighted another important reason why projects fail. These are the strategic risks,

which can be both short term and long term. A short term risk is a “a risk that impacts an

expected outcome of the project” and a long term strategic risk is a “A risk that affects

the strategic goal that the project is intended to address.” Both these risks are crucial to

address because they may cause the project to get off track or not hit its intended end

goal.

These examples and the reading by Dennis Buede and Robert Powell helped me

to better understand the risks involved in project management and the crucial decisions

that must be made. Something I found very influential was the decision context and the
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importance of creating a strong decision plan to execute the project. I was unaware of

the thorough planning process that goes into making decisions. However, it is

something I will use in my everyday life and most definitely in the project management

field. I completely agree with the assertions that were highlighted in this chapter and the

importance decision making has on the project managers. In the Harvard Simulation A

in this module I noticed a lesson that relates specifically to the lessons learned writing

this paper. It entails handling the simulation objectives, meeting project deadlines, and

keeping under budget. Without a thorough plan of making decisions and understanding

what is expected from you. The simulation will quickly get off track and you will be left

with a confused team, over budget, and behind schedule. This is why it is important for

the project manager to understand the process of making strong decisions and what

decisions must be made. This reminds me of a personal experience with making an

important decision. I needed to make an important decision regarding what classes I

was going to be taking my freshman year of college. Although I knew what school I was

going to be attending. I had no idea what major I wanted to study. Similar to the decision

process in project management. I knew what decision I needed to make but did not

know the framework needed to make that decision. First I needed to make more

important decisions in order to identify the process for selecting classes. Although this is

a simple example of project management decision making, it is an everyday lesson we

can consider when making important choices. Proper decision making processes allow

us to fully understand what is needed so we can make these crucial decisions. Always

remember that a project will never be deemed a success unless proper planning and

decision making is executed.

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References

Awati, Kailash. "Oprganization coulture." Eight to Late, 2 June 2010,

eight2late.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/operational-and-strategic-risks-on-projects/

.Accessed 26 Mar. 2022.

Carroll, John. "The Tao of Project Management." Staying Centered, 10 Mar.

2017,thetaoofpm.blogspot.com. Accessed 26 Mar. 2022.

Clemen, R.T., and T. Reilly. 2001. Making hard decisions with decision tools.

Florence, KY: Duxbury Press.

Clarke, D. 2000. “Strategically evolving the future,” Technological forecasting and social

change 64 (June/July).

Powell, R.A., and D.M. Buede. 2006. “Decision-making for successful product

development,” Project management journal 37.1

Powell, Robert Col. Buede, Dennis. (2009). Project Manager’s Guide to Making

Successful Decisions. Management Concepts, Inc.. Retrieved from

https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpPMGMSD08/project-manager-s-guide/proj

ect-manager-s-guide

Shenhar, A.J., and D. Dvir. 2007. Reinventing project management: the diamond
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approach to successful growth and innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School

Press.

Standish Group International. 2001. Chaos. Online at http://www.standish

group.com/chaos (accessed October 16, 2008).