A model for assisting software project managers to treat project teams as key stakeholders: a case study of the South African software industry

Abstract

Projects in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry have diverse project stakeholder groups. Project teams (PTs) are typically a key class of role-players. Despite the empirical evidence of the pivotal role played by PTs, project managers (PMs) and authors of project management literature, to a certain extent; have failed to pay attention to the needs and concerns of this stakeholder group. It has thus not been accorded key stakeholder status, as it ought to. The literature has shown that project stakeholders who have enjoyed the attention of PMs and project management literature are those that are considered to wield more economic muscle. The limitations of the current stakeholder management tools and models, as revealed by the stakeholder management literature, have constrained them from addressing the neglect of software project teams. It is based on this gap that the study proposed and developed a model and a project management intelligence (PMInt) tool aimed at assisting software PMs to pay necessary attention to the concerns and needs of project teams, thus treating them as key stakeholders. To get a contextual understanding of the neglect of the PTs, an ‘as is’ environmental analysis was carried out. One of the important findings of the environmental analysis was the inconsistent and varying application of processes for the gathering of views and concerns of PTs by project managers. In order to address this problem, the model incorporates the project management office as a custodian and guardian of project management processes, including the gathering of project teams’ views and concerns. Following their development, both the model and PMInt tool were refined and evaluated using a two-phase expert-based Delphi method. Thereafter, both artefacts were further validated through an evidence-based process. The model was evaluated and validated in accordance with ICT model assessment criteria. The interview data analysis results of the two processes from the participants indicated that a majority of them embraced both artefacts, even though some participants pointed out inaccuracies from the tool’s output. The model is intended to give a stakeholder voice to one of the, if not the most, ‘forgotten’ stakeholder group in the ICT industry, because the continued disregard for their interests is not sustainable and produces negative project outcomes.