The influence of scheduling on successful project implementation: the case of Nokia Siemens Networks (Kenya)

Abstract

The traditional view of project management is being challenged by the globalization of markets, mergers of international companies, and the integration of managerial and business processes in global corporations. The need for new product development, competitiveness, high customer expectations as well as capital projects has created a need for project management principles to be applied in organizations across the board. This project focused on problems in project scheduling as a principle in project management and how it influenced successful project implementation by organizations that rely on projects in their operations.

The choice of study was based on a need to understand how highly projects based firms can successfully implement projects within time constraints given the need of organizations to meet customers' expectations. It sought to investigate the influence of project scheduling on successful project implementation and more specifically answer the question: Is there significant influence of project scheduling techniques to project implementation?

The study was carried out in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) Kenya, a telecommunication company that undertakes many projects and as such was an ideal candidate to carry out the investigation. The study adopted the qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection including key informant interviews, survey method and secondary methods. Informants were guided through an interview with closed and open ended questions used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using the statistical packages of social scientists (SPSS) and included content, thematic and discourse analysis.

The findings of this research study showed that project scheduling as part of planning process, greatly influences successful (timely) completion of projects. Respondents accounted that scheduling was given a high priority in order to achieve project's goals. The study recommended that the scheduling process should begin. during contract negotiations with the customer by including the project manager in the sales process, having effective communication within the project teams and having the monitoring team involve the participants of the project.