Kloppenborg, T., Tesch, D. and Manolis, C. (2011). Investigation of the Sponsors Role in Project Planning.

Kloppenborg, T., Tesch, D. and Manolis, C. (2011).  Investigation of the Sponsors Role in Project Planning.  Management Research News, 34(4), 1 - 31.  Retrieved on February 2, 2011 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/search.htm?st1=project%20initiation&ct=all&go=Go&


Introduction
Project leaders emerge as the individuals who take responsibility for ensuring the success of the entire project.  Strong organisational skills depict projected success. Support and backing is essential to mobilise the community.  Research indicates that initiation, planning, implementing and closure are significant stages in project management, but not much has been written about the activities or tasks that are embodied by leaders in their role of executive sponsor.


This paper researches the behaviour of sponsors during planning stages.  Critical analysis of established practice linked sponsor behaviour with project results.  The paper is organised thus: section one outlines the current role of sponsors; the method of research used, followed by empirical analysis of the results.  Conclusions and the discussion drawn from the results propose recommendations for sponsors.


The project sponsor
Sponsors provide financial backing for the project, which is more than a provision of resources.  Sponsors are key decision makers who locate stakeholders to share the role of delivery, and stakeholders to hold shares.  Project managers and sponsors are responsible for creating an environment that encourages open communication and relationships based on the concerns and issues of the group.


On exploration, two hypotheses highlight that: project sponsorship can be characterised as external client-based activities and internal supporting function; and the more effort a sponsor dedicates, the more apparent the perception of success.  Three factors of exploratory analysis are:

1. external stimuli (client activity);
2. internal stimuli (supporting activity); and
3. championing both together.

The results show a framework that is supportive of both external and internal focus.  Project sponsorship may be seen as a multi-dimensional structure that maximises project success when the role of sponsor has been defined and determined so there is no ambiguity about direction and sustained activity.


Sponsors are entrusted with the responsibility of overall activity for the project to support and direct achievements towards the objective.  Strong external alliances facilitate internal activity and communication.  Ensuring a shared vision with the project manager stabilises practice that provides the framework of collaboration.


Sponsor capacity is enhanced when identity integrates experience with status and socio-economic-political backing to make significant professional connections.  The ability to communicate and deliver this network, motivates and inspires group members to align with the objective.


Project planning stage
Initiation, planning, execution and closure are seen as phases of development that each project must meet through requisite deliverables.  The initiating stage has been described in earlier research.  Sponsor activity, while diverse, is more intensely felt during the planning stage post-project charter approval.  The end stage of project planning is an undetermined boundary as execution occurs during planning.


With focus on planning activities, merit is based on how well deliverables integrate with the plan as this moderates success in all four phases.  During active planning all factors should add up to the success of a project, staffing and trouble-shooting issues not withstanding.


Each project has its own unique feature making it difficult to assess exactly what will be needed.  In a study that examined the relationship between planning efforts and project success, results indicate that project success relies very little on management activity and surrounding technology.  Success correlated positively with developing and delivering technical specifications.  Focused organisational skills facilitate and propel project goals.


Internal information communication systems are vital to the success of a project and the way top management use the system makes an impact during project realisation.


Each phase of project development has different requirements.  Success criteria for one phase leads into the success criteria of the next.  Criteria in planning account for the approval and commitment levels of stakeholders, the security of financial backing and a core that supports and nurtures the objective.  Factors critical in planning are developing stakeholder priority, ensuring available resources, competence and effective leadership.  For the purposes of the study, these factors were numbered and prioritised.  Competency in project planners emerged as the number one priority.


Dimensions of project success
A method for measuring system performance expands the concept of time, cost and performance.  Furthermore, details take into account satisfaction constraints. The system was viewed from an external perspective.


Project success reflects many attributes.  When considering cost, schedule and performance, it was previously assumed that projects could deliver well on two of the three measures.  Latterly, performance has come to mean quality in scope and project deliverables.  In this frame are three dimensions:

1. meet design plan;
2. benefit clients; and
3. retain commercial success.

Time is used to consider the effectiveness of a project - is the current status of a project a valid representation of its potential?  Will it continue to accrue new business or opportunity?  Relevant dimensions to consider are project efficiency, impact to client, business success and realistic future targets as they relate to stakeholders.  Holistic aspects of measuring the success of a project include what was learned, its value and how useful it was to the system.

Vision describes the forecast of a planned future that allows individuals to activate the plan with comprehensive meaning.  Visions are necessarily easy to communicate, provide inspiration and motivation, and retain credibility to create a lead team to work smarter.

Necessary conditions for project success include a pre-determined criteria that has met and meets with stakeholder approval to ensure collaboration between sponsor and project manager.  Relevant and consistent information supports the flexibility to insert coping mechanisms during the unforeseen.  Guidance from the sponsor is a necessary activity.  Commensurate interest levels direct sponsor behaviour, hence responsibility for the project lies with its owner.

An earlier study into the role of sponsor behaviour during initiation identified three multi-item measures that promote project success.  This paper embraces what has previously been identified and validated to clarify the understanding required to lead sponsor activity during planning.


Research objectives and methodology
The authors tested identified sponsor behaviour with project results and predicted that planning behaviour significantly correlated with past experience.

Identifying sponsor behaviour
The research database provided sufficient information to extract eighteen types of behaviour that are associated with steering teams and sponsors during project planning.  New research extracted additional behavioural patterns.  Altogether, fifty six behaviours were evaluated by eighty practitioners, a large percentage of whom were certified project management professionals.  A process of elimination ensued when examined according to the Method for Priority Marking as MPM reduces and categorises language data.  The respondents identified thirty eight types of behaviour that supported project success.


The sample, procedure, and measures
To validate and test the list, a sample study of 145 respondents who represented project management professionals with active connections to a learning base was used.


The respondents were sourced from various areas of industry (e.g. consulting, manufacturing, healthcare, education, government, engineering, construction, retail, service, utilities) and more than half indicated that the life cycle of projects averaged one year.


Respondents were asked to incorporate behaviour that drives a successful project, beginning with a charter that seals commitment to a plan ready for implementation.  The description of the framework included a high ranking executive sponsor interested only in project results and the associated budget.


A survey involving the 38 sponsor behaviours was distributed for analysis.  The respondents were asked to prioritise the list according to relevance (e.g. 1 - strongly agree ... 7 - strongly disagree).  The survey included outcome statements that respondents used to correlate project success with sponsor behaviour.  


Based on principle component analysis, the authors identified 5 behaviour and 3 outcome variables.  Cronbach coefficient alphas computed internal-consistency reliability.  Sponsor behaviour factors are:

1. have a tight plan - shared vision on objectives, internal stability, discourse, leadership and endgame;
2. communicate plan through vision - clarity of expectations, delivery, issues and solutions;
3. professional unity - responsibility in maintaining internal connections, stakeholder ownership includes involved participation;
4. project champion - social and core identity are integrated; and
5. diversify - identify and locate the project manager.

Outcome factors are:

1. projections of the future - viable commercial success with opportunity to remain abreast of global patterns;
2. deliverables and schedules match - projected budget is relevant, commitments are upheld; and
3. commitment to client - ensuring deliverables match technical specifications.

Results
The authors found six separate sponsor behaviours that affect project results.  Heightened awareness brings in to focus the strategy of planning ahead to align the group (e.g. forewarned is forearmed).  How well a sponsor communicates strategy to a group corresponds to the levels of success attained.  The behaviour of sponsors during planning stages is directly linked to project deliverables and schedules.


When a sponsor clarifies intended output the effect can negatively position the groups' future.  The findings suggest that during planning, the sponsor directs project deliverables to a closed network that reduces future viability (e.g. improved market share).  Furthermore, developing deliverables according to sponsor specification temporarily reduces the client base.


The last two behaviours the authors listed were the benefits of having a strong group culture and the delegation of operations and future transmission to a project manager.  If the client is involved during the planning stage a better future can be predicted.  The addition or replacement of a project manager predicts similar outcomes.


Discussion
This paper links sponsor behaviour during planning to project outcomes as part of a continuing study that previously tested sponsor behaviour during initiating with project outcomes.


There are three consistent outcomes that measure project success.  This achievement depends on the standard of performance during the project.  The initiating and planning stages co-create a level of expectation that conceptualises project outcomes.  The enormity of the task is often under-appreciated until later (e.g. client waits for project deliverables, measuring the commercial success of a project requires time to assess market penetration).


There is a significant difference between initiating and planning stages.  The perspective taken during the initiating stage is that the sponsor and project manager use core team members to plan a strategy of agreed action (e.g where the scope of work is drafted without detail, a.k.a soft-circling).  The planning stage takes the perspective that stakeholders gain relevant and necessary information to generate comprehensive detailing within the framework according to financial capacity and schedules (e.g. where the scope of work is broken down into process and activity, a.k.a. hard circling).


The amount of detail accumulated depends on the stakeholders involved which places emphasis on the different demands that a sponsor can expect.  During initiating, sponsors are expected to establish, align, define and prioritise stakeholders.  During planning, sponsor behaviour includes five factors:

1. stick to the plan;
2. set a known standard for deliverables;
3. keep professional unity strong;
4. employ a project manager; and
5. champion the project.

There are a total of 31 items in the first four factors.


Meeting agreements
Ensuring there is a plan is the only sponsor behaviour to affect meeting technical specifications.  Better planning leads to levels of organisation that increase performance.  The following is an analysis of behaviour items that ensure planning and the relation it bears to meeting agreements.


The items include aspects of project planning that consider principles, discourse, flexibility, project goals and deliverables, also known as emotional quotient.  Sponsor behaviour translated into verbs describes the activity sponsors focus on: "do, help, lead, ensure and validate" (pg. 17) where 'doing' includes establishing expectations and development reviews.  The other factors focus on the leadership skills required to co-create and validate the framework with a project manager.


Customer success
Stabilising variable client success outcomes depends on meeting needs and producing deliverables that are of value.  When meeting technical specifications, attention is required to understand the variables that the client places on outcomes, therefore including the client during planning directs deliverables towards a satisfactory result.


Firm's future
The focus on this outcome factor concerns business development and market share associated with clarifying the objective, stakeholder participation and the appointment of a project manager.  Stakeholders engage actively when learning trajectories or the conceptualisation of a sequence of events is made available.  Building and aligning stakeholders improves the quality of the communication network over time which minimises the cause of doing the same work more than once.  The planning stage includes self-verification processes that strengthen the relationship network so that all stakeholders agree and commit to the planned objective and proposed method of activity.  To guard the future, focus includes capitalising on project outcomes and the potential to secure market share.  Knowing the demands of a group heightens situation monitoring.


The terminology used when appointing a project manager has negative connotations as it has been associated with initial project mismanagement or poor management performance.  Good management practice is connected to project success.


Conclusion
Sponsors are executives interested in gathering a portfolio of successful projects. Timing activities to reach a satisfactory closure is paramount.  Adopting behaviour that is associated with establishing and implementing a planned objective positively enhances favourable project outcomes.  Included in planning is investment in stakeholder relations.  Sponsors who also assume the role of project manager decrease levels of success.  Having a project manager delegate responsibility increases successful outcomes.


The participants of this study were active members of their profession and had a diverse range of experience in project management.  The authors question the potential of seeking a different demographic to understand comparisons.  This paper has focused on behaviour specifically adopted during planning.  A study of sponsor behaviour during project execution would prove useful.


This paper is a contribution towards new knowledge on understanding that sponsor behaviour is not static, but modifies to suit project maturity.  As managers are trained in management skills, the authors suggest that similar information be made available for sponsors.

Sergiovanni, T. J. (2005). The Virtues of Leadership.

Sergiovanni, T. J. (2005).  The Virtues of Leadership.  The Educational Forum, 69(2), pp. 112 - 123.  Retrieved on March 2, 2011 from http://pdfserve.informaworld.com.ezproxy.usq.edu.au/232940_751304989_790169940.pdf

Introduction

In writing best practice guidelines, groups introduce methods and systems that outline culture, ethics and obligations.  Significant to this is that documents are written in a logical and precise manner that details the objective, but can be misrepresentative of the emotional attachment which links individuals to cause.


Role models prepare novices to integrate and accept group culture by embedding single-loop learning in group activity and behaviour.  In other words, the constancy of motivation to perform relies on the flexibility that is derived from reflection in and on action to provide or introduce direction.  Sergiovanni identifies hope, trust, civility and piety as core values of leadership practice.


The Virtue of Hope
When faced with the obvious, leaders are inclined to use hope to face reality from a positive position.  Hope and realism together inspire a confidence in ability that enables leaders to discover alternative practice.  Links to social networks are sources of support that provide encouragement and balance.


Hope and wishing
The difference between wishing and hope is that one is "grounded in reality" (pg. 113).  Hope is based on current events and a positive perspective of what can be done to improve/change reality.  Action taken by leaders who view events with hopeful eyes enable self to optimally monitor the situation to focus attention on new opportunities without losing empathy for fellows.


Faith
Commitment, or group alignment to cause, is used to describe faith.  The bond between self and objective.  In written form, faith appears as truisms.  For example "all children can learn" indicates the direction and activity needed to prepare an environment that is commensurate with what is intended.  The framework or structure provides the support required to sustain the motivation to achieve a successful outcome, and banishes the delusions of wishful thinking.


The responsibility of leaders is to create the environment where faith is supported by group activity.  The stronger the assumptions made by the group, the stronger the bond of transactive memory.  Community involvement is reflective of the values a leader holds, as it is their actions and attitude that models group learning.  This forms the basis of group ethics.  As the balance between choosing what is good and what is effective becomes apparent, trust in a leader is the foundation of group faith.


From hope to action
Faith functions as the impetus for increased readiness potential.  The action taken based on hope serves our goals as we are primed to achieve an end objective.  Activity means engaging in a predetermined plan in order to realise these goals, and recognising obstacles for what they are and the purpose they serve.


The sequence of recognising goals emerges from self-reflection.  Consideration of self and individual aims are the primary focus when defining strategy.  A reflection of achievement is the fit of plan to environment or framework.


A leader's efficacy is measured by the methods laid down to nurture the environment as a civic movement.  Potential is enhanced through environments that are charged with energy.  Therein lies the space for transformation.


Roles, role relationships, and role sets
While faith is the pre-cursor to group alignment, leaders must actively engage in accepting more ethical responsibilities that come from supporting a learning environment.  Role models serve as guides and embody the qualities or attributes that bring static knowledge to life, making the intangible knowable.


In return, this clarity of function allows novices to understand the role guides represent to prepare themselves to accept group culture, to learn the attributes and characteristics that are enhanced to fulfill professional function.


Within an environment of faith and trust words such as commitments, responsibilities, and obligations become understood as meaningful relationships.  Social networking develops an emotional level of security between guides and novices.  Links that define guide and novice bear out the objective or group mission.  Relationships that emphasise guide and novice activity create a learning environment that perpetuates group objectives.  Shared vision is communicated through artefacts (e.g. UNESCO initiatives).


The practice of social networking resolves communication issues.  How information is disseminated depends on the delivery of knowledge.  Role models carry their purpose of clarity displayed through thought and action.  As leaders reveal group purpose unconsciously, attention is focused on current affairs.


This unconscious behaviour sets the tone for novice practitioners who are visually stimulated by group activity.  Imitation reveals competency in single-loop learning.  As core group members work through experience, their knowledge is translated through subsequent activity transforming the group through double loop-learning.  Contributions from group members, irrespective of status, allows leaders to enhance and improve localised environment which in return promotes the development of energy seen as motivation to action.


Transactive memory develops as the group matures, allowing a broader perspective that increases the capacity for diversity of thought.  Learning communities require a strong and supportive network to hold in group objective.  Roles change and adapt or are mutable.  Effective leaders notice behavioural changes within the activity that are transferable skills.  However, as these skills have been developed in different circumstances, novices require time to redevelop the skills grounding single-loop knowledge.


Relational trust
In groups with strong transactive memory, role models jointly assume the responsibility of managing group strategy and achievement.  Trust between members builds a unique bond that ensures shared vision.


Communities of practice and learning communities depend on trust within the group.  The relationship members create and perpetuate between the group is supported through communication.  Emotional security correlates significantly with visual reminders of group objective as the ambiance becomes an accepted feature of the group.


Embedding activity that nurtures group culture both internally and externally is vital to energising the community.  Accumulated knowledge reveals that at this level of group function members become significantly vulnerable.


When the group carries faith in the objective, feelings of vulnerability subside.  Communication is representative of ambiance.  In an environment where there is trust, sharing represents naturally occurring behaviour.  Thus in environments where members cannot communicate trust or faith in the objective, self-protective mechanisms are activated that limit individual potential, group growth and achievement.


In situations where there is little trust, collaborative activity is stilted.  When self-verification processes meet with resistance it is generally agreed that individuals reduce focus and redirect attention to situations/environments that are more welcoming.  This leaves the group unclear about membership, relationships and direction.


Trust is fundamental for creating the discourse of the group (e.g. the methods used to communicate group objectives).  Research indicates that over a five year period, trust levels in communication increase as novices adjust practical experience with transactive memory and develop increasingly creative methods of contributing.  As alignment to group culture occurs, relationships become more supportive resulting in an environment where ideas are beneficial to the group immediately, and carry the potential for long term integration in core directives.  Progressive discourse enhances group potential and the motivation to achieve goals.


When groups or communities work together bound by faith, transformation begins.  Leaders undertake what is known as responsibility as interest is captured and the desire to pursue knowledge through exploration of situations leads to an understanding of effective planning.


Trust first
Successful transformation begins in environments that are dedicated to cause.  Typically, environments that support only strategy and vision immediately incapacitate leaders and group members as trust is required for co-operation.  Continuing without adaptation results in chronic performance monitoring that depletes attention from situation monitoring.


Groups that implement and initiate a framework where members are naturally inclined to co-operate, are more efficient in promulgating a shared concept.  Strength of concept is embedded in multi-direction communication channels found in relationship links allowing successful group decision making that cultivates performance enhancing methods.


As trust is a valuable commodity, leaders stay focused on energy points (e.g. novices who display clarity and readiness potential) to ensure a stable relationship.  In turn, the skills novices gain under master-apprentice guidance lead them to replicate a similar environment for other members.  However, experience is a reminder that there is no stable state and groups wanting transformation must be satisfied with quality of training, the objective of which must be to gain a reliable base that is strongly connected to source.


Developing trust requires role models/leaders to behave within their capacity as nurturers.  Social identity and professional identity are unified so there is no ambiguity of core values or ethics that may interfere with group objectives.  This clarity and constancy of self is living knowledge that members use as the basis for transformation.


The virtues of piety and civility
Piety in this instance is described as the strong bond that develops as relationships mature.  Group members gain the confidence and experience to make external relationships based on individually experienced group ethic.


This virtue permits leaders to understand the range of practical methods employed within the group to competently explore diversity of practice in other groups.  The structure or framework of external groups provides a template for viewing alternative architecture of embedded activity.  Tacit knowledge is revealed through communication that relays group intention and practice.


To keep from fanaticism, a level of maturity is required to ascertain the balance of faith and delusion.  Leaders remain dispassionate about group objectives so that diversity can be heard.  Clarity of direction encourages viewing contributions as potential to enhance the group.


Bonding and bridging community
With an awareness for the multiple ways and possibilities of accomplishing a task, the potential for group adaptability is nurtured.  This framework of reference raises transactive memory as knowledge must be experienced and understood.  Experience in accepting new concepts creates the need for an integration of diverse ideas that are amalgamated to generate new solutions that are in tune with fluctuating circumstance.


While groups are inherently similarly structured, diversity is recognised as the priority of group focus brought to attention.  Groups that match focus find open communication channels that enhance relationships.  Variety in practice is indicative of the support mechanisms in place to nurture local environments.


One out of many
Raw data is interpreted according to epistemic and ontological belief (i.e. the way we think and live life).  As groups are influenced by environment and situated knowledge, universal standards flow as they are alternately accepted or rejected by group members.  Collaboration between role models and members consolidates group faith in direction and objective.  This process ensures commitment is strengthened through the significance of activity, goal and meaning-making.


Leadership and learning
Transformation is an ongoing process when the source of group energy is protected and nurtured.  Leaders gain from positive contributions that have been derived from the framework embedded in daily activity.  Evidence of progress is apparent in the development of contributions from members.


Without transactive memory, leaders lack the support needed to effect transformation.  When transformation fails it is understood that the leader has set up inadequate means of delivering significant knowledge.  Group clarity is only established when leaders are themselves clear about personal and professional objectives and the significance of choice.  Single-minded focus reduces the effort required to take action.


Traditional group hierarchy supports a closed network to source with solutions dispersed as directives from power.  Higher order thought is not harnessed and group culture is built on relationships of externally sourced meaning (e.g. a salary).  Communities of practice and learning communities that align with a culture nurturing collaboration can depend on achieving tangible proof of progression from archiving artefacts.  Interactive tasks promote higher order thinking and the impetus to increase attachment to group (e.g. initial contributions may appear naive, so leaders are encouraged to recognise progress as a sequence of professional and personal development behaviours).


Improving transactive memory creates the space and meaning for leader growth that comes with nurturing self.  When individuals find satisfaction within, opportunities for self-development take place.  Increasing leader knowledge commensurately increases transactive memory, channeling new data for members to create group meaning.  Learning communities and communities of practice are adapted to enhance an internal stable state that protects the environment.


The power of a civic conscious movement