Project planning and performance: an empirical study

Commercial projects are supposed to be planned and executed in such a way that they satisfy the project organisation, client organisation and all other stakeholders. Despite various valuable contributions available in the area of project management, the performance of projects has not been satisfactory in a significant number of cases. This paper attempts to develop an instrument to measure the factors of project planning and performance and examine their managerial implications. Factor analysis and Pearson coefficients of correlation have been used for this purpose. Nine factors build up the linkage between project planning and performance. Conformance to requirements emerges as the most important among them, followed by other factors like sound planning and the perceived criteria of project success. The findings of the paper are likely to help project managers prioritise various planning factors and enhance performance.

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