Student
20. Critical Success Factors in Effective
Project implementation*+
Jeffrey K. Pinto*
Dennis P. Slevin**
INTRODUCTION
The process of project implementation, involving the successful development and introduction of projects in the organization, presents an ongoing challenge for managers. The project implementation process is complex, usually requiring simultaneous attention to a wide variety of human, budgetary, and technical variables. As a result, the organizational project manager is faced with a difficult job characterized by role overload, frenetic activity, fragmentation, and superficiality. Often the typical project
* Portions of this chapter were adapted from Dennis P. Slevin and Jeffrey K. Pinto,
Balancing Strategy and Tactics in Project Implementation ', Sloan Management Review,
Fall, 1987, pp. 33-41, and Randall L. Schultz, Dennis P. Slevin, and Jeffrey K. Pinto, 'Strategy and Tactics in a Process Model of Project Implementation", Interfaces, 16:3,
May-June, 1987, pp. 34-46.
T Copyright O 1987 by Jeffrey K. Pinto and Dennis P. Slevin.
** Dennis P. Slevin is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh 's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics from St. Vincent College, a B.S. in Physics from M.I.T., an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie-Mellon, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has had extensive experience as a line manager, including service as the CEO of four different companies, which qualified him as a member of the Young Presidents ' Organization. He presently serves as a director of several corporations, and consults widely. He publishes in numerous professional journals, and is co-editor of Implementing Operations Research Manageinent
Science; The Management of Organizational Design, Volumes I and II; and Producing
Useful Knowledge. He has written the pragmatic Executive Survival Manual for practicing managers. $ Jeffrey K.
Project implementation*+
Jeffrey K. Pinto*
Dennis P. Slevin**
INTRODUCTION
The process of project implementation, involving the successful development and introduction of projects in the organization, presents an ongoing challenge for managers. The project implementation process is complex, usually requiring simultaneous attention to a wide variety of human, budgetary, and technical variables. As a result, the organizational project manager is faced with a difficult job characterized by role overload, frenetic activity, fragmentation, and superficiality. Often the typical project
* Portions of this chapter were adapted from Dennis P. Slevin and Jeffrey K. Pinto,
Balancing Strategy and Tactics in Project Implementation ', Sloan Management Review,
Fall, 1987, pp. 33-41, and Randall L. Schultz, Dennis P. Slevin, and Jeffrey K. Pinto, 'Strategy and Tactics in a Process Model of Project Implementation", Interfaces, 16:3,
May-June, 1987, pp. 34-46.
T Copyright O 1987 by Jeffrey K. Pinto and Dennis P. Slevin.
** Dennis P. Slevin is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh 's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics from St. Vincent College, a B.S. in Physics from M.I.T., an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie-Mellon, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has had extensive experience as a line manager, including service as the CEO of four different companies, which qualified him as a member of the Young Presidents ' Organization. He presently serves as a director of several corporations, and consults widely. He publishes in numerous professional journals, and is co-editor of Implementing Operations Research Manageinent
Science; The Management of Organizational Design, Volumes I and II; and Producing
Useful Knowledge. He has written the pragmatic Executive Survival Manual for practicing managers. $ Jeffrey K.
References: Reinhold. New York, 1983), pp. 222-244. 3. Bardach, E. The Implementation Game (MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass., 1977). 4. Bavelas, A. "Project Echo: Use of Projective Techniques to Define Reality in Different Cultures." Personal communication, Stanford University, 1968. R., Schultz, R. L. and Slevin, D. P. (North-Holland. New York, 1979), pp. 121-138. Reinhold. New York, 1983), pp. 166-184. New York, 1979), pp. 85-102. P. (North-Holland. New York, 1979), pp. 35-62. 11. Kolb, D. A. and Frohman, A. L. "An Organizational Development Approach to Consulting." Sloan Management Review, Vol. 12 (1970), pp. 51-65. Newcomb and Hartley (Holt, Rinehart and Winston. New York. 1952), pp. 459-473. Slevin, D. P. (Elsevier. New York, 1973, pp. 183-202. Nutt, P. C. "Implementation Approaches for Project Planning." Academy of Management Review, Vol. 8 (1983), pp. 600-611. Pinto, J. K. "Project Implementation: A Determination of Its Critical Success Factors, Moderators, and Their Relative Importance Across the Project Life pvcle." Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1986. Slevin, D. P. (Elsevier. New York, 1975), pp. 3-22. Science, ed. Schultz, R. L. and Slevin, D. P. (Elsevier. New York, 1975), pp. 133-152. Steiner, G. A. Top Management Planning, (MacMillian, New York, 1969). D. I. and King, W. R. (Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York, 1983), pp. 495-532.