IMPACT OF MANAGEMENT APPROACH ON PROJECT INTERACTION AND PERFORMANCE

It has long been believed that improving project integration directly improves project performance. There has been a lack of quantitative re search to directly support or negate this belief. This paper presents a method for approximating project integration, and demonstrates the i mpact of improved interaction on project performance. An earlier work developed a method for measuring an individual project's ''degree of i nteraction'' (DOI). Degree of interaction scores are calculated and co mpared for 38 projects, divided into traditional and alternative proje ct approaches. The alternative projects have significantly higher aver age DOI scores than do traditional projects, indicating that they prov ide better opportunities for interaction. Project performance of alter native projects is better than that of traditional projects. The follo wing four indicators of project performance are measured: cost growth, schedule growth, number of contract modifications, and modifications due to design deficiencies. The impact of improved interaction on obje ctive performance measures is validated by studying 209 completed proj ects.