Why projects fail? How contingency theory can provide new insights a comparative analysis of NASAs Mars Climate Orbiter loss (Record no. 32091)
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| 001 - CONTROL NUMBER | |
| control field | 0032411145637 |
| 003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER | |
| control field | OSt |
| 005 - DATE AND TIME OF LATEST TRANSACTION | |
| control field | 20190211170640.0 |
| 008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION | |
| fixed length control field | 100324s2009 xx ||||gr |0|| 0 eng d |
| 999 ## - SYSTEM CONTROL NUMBERS (KOHA) | |
| Koha Dewey Subclass [OBSOLETE] | PHL2MARC21 1.1 |
| 041 ## - LANGUAGE CODE | |
| Language code of text/sound track or separate title | eng |
| 100 1# - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME | |
| Personal name | SAUSER, Brian J. |
| 9 (RLIN) | 39178 |
| 245 10 - TITLE STATEMENT | |
| Title | Why projects fail? How contingency theory can provide new insights a comparative analysis of NASAs Mars Climate Orbiter loss |
| 260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. | |
| Place of publication, distribution, etc. | Exeter, UK : |
| Name of publisher, distributor, etc. | Elsevier, |
| Date of publication, distribution, etc. | October 2009 |
| 520 3# - SUMMARY, ETC. | |
| Summary, etc. | When important projects fail, the investigation is often focused on the engineering and technical reasons for the failure. That was the case in NASAs Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) that was lost in space after completing its nine-month journey to Mars. Yet, in many cases the root cause of the failure is not technical, but managerial. Often the problem is rooted in managements failure to select the right approach to the specific project. The objective of this paper is to enrich our understanding of project failure due to managerial reasons by utilizing different contingency theory frameworks for a retrospective look at unsuccessful projects and perhaps more important, potential prevention of future failures. The evolving field of project management contingency theory provides an opportunity at this time to re-examine the concept of fit between project characteristics and project management, and offer deeper insights on why projects fail. After outlining several existing contingency studies, we use three distinct frameworks for analyzing the MCO project. These frameworks include Henderson and Clarks categorization of change and innovation, Shenhar and Dvirs NTCP diamond framework, and Pich, Loch, and De Meyers strategies for managing uncertainty. While each framework provides a different perspective, collectively, they demonstrate that in the MCO program, the choices made by managers, or more accurately, the constraints imposed on them under the policy of better, faster, cheaper, led the program to its inevitable failure. This paper shows that project management contingency theory can indeed provide new insights for a deeper understanding of project failure. Furthermore, it suggests implications for a richer upfront analysis of a projects unique characteristics of uncertainty and risk, as well as additional directions of research. Such research may help establish new and different conceptions on project success and failure beyond the traditional success factors, and subsequently develop more refined contingency frameworks. The results of such research may enable future project managers to rely less on heuristics and possibly lead to a new application of project management design. |
| 700 1# - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME | |
| Personal name | REILLY, Richard R. |
| 9 (RLIN) | 39179 |
| 700 1# - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME | |
| Personal name | SHENHAR, Aaron J. |
| 9 (RLIN) | 20503 |
| 773 08 - HOST ITEM ENTRY | |
| Title | International Journal of Project Management |
| Related parts | 27, 7, p. 665-679 |
| Place, publisher, and date of publication | Exeter, UK : Elsevier, October 2009 |
| International Standard Serial Number | ISSN 02637863 |
| Record control number | |
| 942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA) | |
| Koha item type | Periódico |
| 998 ## - LOCAL CONTROL INFORMATION (RLIN) | |
| -- | 20100324 |
| Operator's initials, OID (RLIN) | 1114^b |
| Cataloger's initials, CIN (RLIN) | Daiane |
| 998 ## - LOCAL CONTROL INFORMATION (RLIN) | |
| -- | 20100326 |
| Operator's initials, OID (RLIN) | 1048^b |
| Cataloger's initials, CIN (RLIN) | Carolina |
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