4.5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE TWO: TO INVESTIGATE THE CHALLENGES
4.5.3. Mechanisms in place to diagnose current challenges
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According to one of the PRINCE2 processes, the direction of the programme should be clear and mandated. Everyone should be in sync and have an understanding the direction of the project. Based on the feedback from the respondents it is evident that there is no clear direction of the programme as there is currently no standardised framework. The PRINCE2 process to be adopted by EPWP is „direction of programme‟. These are practices which navigate the project to its desired designation.
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Respondent 31 stated that:
“All four sectors have a technical support group, they aid Departments and Municipalities on how they should be operating and regulate compliance in order to reduce poor performance and low quality standards”.
The second theme identified was the tool box talk; respondents stated that they use it as a mechanism to diagnose current challenges in the implementation of the Msunduzi EPWP project. The toolbox talk is a gathering of all project workers every morning to discuss project matters. Respondent 13 stated that:
“Every morning we discuss what we will do for the day and discuss problems people are experiencing. It is in this platform that current challenges are diagnosed and reported to the Project Manager”.
According to Respondent 8:
“During the tool box talk we usually talk about our progress whist noting challenges we are facing and what impact these challenges have on our production levels”.
The third theme identified was reports. Reports are also used as a mechanism to diagnose current challenges affecting the implementation of Project Management practices.
Respondent 21 stated that:
“There are different types of reports but the one that assists in diagnosing challenges is the monthly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) report. This report is submitted by the Project Manager to the Area Manager, giving a narrative assessment of the projects monthly progress. It has a section where the Project Manager highlights all the challenges”.
Other respondents stated that there are no mechanisms in place to diagnose current challenges affecting the implementation of Project Management practices. Respondent 7 pointed out that:
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“There is no mechanism used to diagnose challenges, we‟ve always had issues, and that‟s never changed”.
The fourth theme was identified by four respondents who stated that site inspections are used to diagnose current challenges affecting the implementation of Project Management practices. Respondent 18 expressed the view that:
“Site inspections can be conducted by the Project Manager (internal) or auditors (external). What these people aim to do is to find loopholes within operations and rectify them. Unfortunately, if the site inspections are done in a rush or not done at all, the existing challenges continue”.
Three respondents identified meetings as a means to diagnose challenges affecting project implementation. As illustrated by Respondent 20:
“Meetings are a great platform to identify challenges that the programme is facing;
whether its weekly regional meetings, staff meetings, implementation meetings, strategic meetings, sector meeting or forum meetings. All these platforms bring strategic thinkers together. Challenges are normally always on the agenda”.
The sixth theme identified by the respondents was audits. Some respondent‟s stated that audits are primarily what Msunduzi EPWP project uses to diagnose current project implementation challenges. According to Respondent 22:
“Audits are conducted annually. The feedback from the audits identifies challenges, non-compliance and basically where the project is failing. That feedback assists in making sure that changes are made so that the following audit has clean results”.
The eighth theme identified was the IASP manual. Respondent 23 stated that:
“The IASP manual is used as a (guild line) [guide-line] for the project. If operations are not in sync with the (guild line)[guide-line] then non-compliance arises”.
It can be concluded from the responses that there are a number of mechanisms in place to diagnose current challenges in the Msunduzi EPWP project. Some respondents indicated that
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they use reports to diagnose if there are any challenges or setbacks the project is encountering. The respondents expressed the view that there are several reports a Project Manager can use to diagnose challenges the project is facing, one of them being the Key Performance Indicator report. According to IASP (2011), reports are an important tool that can be used to ensure that projects are complying and progressing, without these reports projects are not being managed appropriately (IASP, 2011).
The technical support group was another element used to diagnose current challenges.
According to Unit (2007) technical support groups were coordinated by the Department of Public Works to provide technical assistance for the different sectors. This group provides Project Management and training assistance. In the Msunduzi EPWP project, the technical support group assists in procuring training needs, however, the process of procuring these trainings is lengthy with terms and conditions. According to CGIAR (2017), in the PRINCE2 framework, challenges are identified and resolve immediately before they build up. The EPWP needs to adopt the PRINCE2 initiation stage practices. In PRINCE2, all the possible challenges are already planned for, and by doing so, risk is eliminated (CGIAR, 2017).