Saiqa Khan

This week we are showcasing some of the recent dissertations produced by our Degree Apprentices. Much of the work councils do involves delivering projects.  Project managers increasingly seek to apply an ‘agile’ project management approach as a more collaborative way of working, inclusive of elements that encourage coproduction to develop services that meet citizen needs.  Some of the key strengths of agile project management are that the staff closest to a problem are the ones best placed to solve it, and that staff that are empowered and trusted to do their jobs are more productive than staff that are not.  

This project explores how council governance, culture and leadership affects the adoption of different project management approaches and hence the effectiveness of delivery.

Key points

• Project management approaches were traditionally linear, but more iterative and flexible ‘agile’ approaches may be more effective and efficient for some projects.  
• Hierarchical structures with high levels of ‘control’ cultures remain dominant within Local Authorities, so they are often comfortable with the traditional linear approach to project management.
• Some councils develop supportive and encouraging leadership styles able to balance the need for transparency and accountability whilst also creating an environment where staff feel empowered to take risks and be innovative.  Many councils developed a more collaborative way of working in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• ‘Agile’ project management approaches are not understood by many council staff, who may associate this with ineffective governance mechanisms. 
• Decisions about which project management approach to use are highly influenced by tradition (“the way it’s always been done”), training, and member/manager preferences, rather than the needs of the project.
• More effective project management will need project staff to have the time and training to explore ‘agile’ approaches, and leaders placing their trust in staff within streamlined governance arrangements.

What we knew already

A ‘project’ is a temporary activity which should result in a unique product, service or outcome; project management concerns how one plans, organises and manages the staff and resources available to complete a set project within an agreed timescale.

Traditional project management approaches (known as ‘waterfall’) are linear, where each process group is executed as specified and all stages of the project follow a sequential configuration.  Here, the product/service is delivered as defined by the scope, which is created at the start of the project.  In contrast to the traditional approach, the ‘agile’ approach is iterative and flexible.  The project team work on small stages of the project and obtain customer feedback/ agreement before moving on to the next iteration. The planning adapts to the needs of the project and understands that change in one area may be connected to another stage of the project, thus providing a high level of adaptability and flexibility.   An agile approach is particularly appropriate if uncertainty is high and the requirements of the project are expected to change frequently.

Organisational culture is the underlying way employees are expected to behave and operate within an organisation based on shared values and beliefs.  There are many frameworks exploring culture in the academic literature.   This project adopted Schneider’s cultural model, which identifies four distinct “core cultures” by using two dimensions: content (what the organisation pays attention to) and process (an organisation’s approach to decision making), as illustrated in figure 1.

Figure 1  Schneider’s cultural model

		Process
		Personal	Impersonal
Content	Actuality	Collaboration	Control
	Possibility	Cultivation	Competence

Projects are affected by the culture of the rest of the organisation, so understanding the organisational culture is essential to successful project management.  Different levels of culture can impact on project delivery: corporate, project organisational and project team.  The last two have a direct influence on project delivery and performance as they can influence how decisions are made, especially in the case of a multi-agency project team. 

Hierarchical structures with high levels of control remain dominant within Local Authorities.  This aligns with Schneider ‘control’ classification of culture involving very structured environments where documentation has great importance.  Local Authorities have historically been comfortable with the traditional approach to project management as this fits well with this type of organisational culture and reduces the need to delegate authority to project managers.  However, organisations that have high hierarchical structures and bureaucratic processes might be inflexible towards decision making, which impacts on project management and may decelerate the decision making process.

This research involved an online survey of 214 officers involved in projects in a council, a cultural questionnaire sent to 66 members of staff, observations from a live website development project underway within the organisation, and interviews with ten council officers.

Theme 1:  Traditional approaches are most widely used and understood

The research found that 63% of respondents used traditional project management approaches such as PRINCE2, in comparison to 32% who used an agile approach to deliver projects.  An unexpected finding in the research was the lack of understanding of what is meant by an ‘agile’ project management approach and the incorrect perceptions that people associate with it – such as a belief that agile project have no effective governance mechanisms. 

Decisions about which project management approach to use were highly influenced by tradition (“the way it’s always been done”), training, and member/manager preferences (figure 2).

Figure 2  What factors are most important in determining your decision on which project management approach to use?
(‘1’ being the most important)

Training is a key issue.  Interestingly, ‘self-help’ learning approaches, such as e-Learning or information on the intranet, were viewed as insufficient for staff to feel confident in trying approaches other than PRINCE 2 when delivering a project.

Theme 2:  Culture influences project management

Culture is a key influencer when project management approaches are chosen within local authority environments.  Public sector requirements for accountability and transparency can lead to high levels of control with hierarchical structures and high levels of bureaucracy.  This ‘command and control’ culture and complex governance results in projects being delivered using a traditional project management approach. 

Hierarchical, bureaucratic cultures can negatively impact on project effectiveness.  Risk aversion can filter down the organisation, resulting in employees working within low autonomy levels which curtail their ability to be innovative.  Projects can be delayed by the complex system of gateways for approval, updates, and decisions, which are often not tailored to the size of a project. 

If the culture is collaborative, employees feel more empowered and are more comfortable with trying new ways of delivering a project and are more likely to use an agile approach to deliver projects.  Some councils develop supportive and encouraging leadership styles which were found better able to balance the need for the transparency and accountability whilst also creating an environment where staff feel empowered to take risks and be innovative.  Interestingly, many councils developed a more collaborative way of working in response to the Covid-19 pandemic – it is not yet clear whether this will continue in future. 

Theme 3:  Trying new approaches takes time and leadership

To explore non-traditional approaches effectively, staff must have the time to explore options other than the ones that are ‘tried and tested’.  They need the capacity, knowledge and confidence to explore adopting non-traditional approaches to project management.

A major challenge in investigating more efficient project management approaches can be the resistance to change from the organisation’s leadership. Managers and members will need to become comfortable with giving up some control and placing their trust in staff delivering the project which may appear to leave the council open to a higher level of risk.  Under the agile approach, it remains important to establish appropriate checks, for example to ensure financial spend is in line with budgets.

__________________________________________________________________________________

About the project

The research was a Master’s dissertation as part of the MSc in Public Management and Leadership, completed by Saiqa Khan and supervised by Dr Louise Reardon. 

For further information

Please contact the Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV)
Jason Lowther, at [email protected]