A Project Work Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Master of Arts Degree in Project Management
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Date
2-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This research aimed to assess the monitoring practices in projects contracted to YOTEK
construction PLC. An effort was made to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges to
the monitoring practices. It was a descriptive research where quantitative data was collected
through questionnaires distributed to all the staffs involved in monitoring. The data was
analyzed on SPSS and MS Excel, and the findings inductively interpreted. An acceptable
response rate of 90.7% was achieved but the response rates for the open-ended questions
were not satisfactory. The research found out that about half of the staffs assigned for
monitoring responsibilities need trainings in project management. Tools, systems, and
applications were sufficiently available but financial constraint was straining the practice.
Aspects of monitoring plan and its implementation were good, but some components of the plan
such as acceptable performance levels were not properly communicated. The data collection
was frequent and flexible thereby contributing to data quality, though information overload was a
downside. The project reporting at YOTEK had some important attributes for effectiveness:
Timely, flexibly scheduled, tailored to audience, and participatory. But independent performance
reviews aiming for unbiased, impartial assessment of the work were less common. Furthermore,
a weakness was noted in taking corrective action as per the findings of the performance
reviews. One of the interesting findings was that the weaknesses and strengths were not
exclusive to each other, but project specific at times. The implication of this observation is that
the monitoring practice was not highly consistent or it was not integrated across projects. The
researcher recommends YOTEK to build an integrated monitoring system so as to ensure
optimal resource utilization. It is also recommended to conduct trainings to familiarize staffs to
the monitoring tools and systems, to resolve the financial constraint and the communication
lapses that were affecting the monitoring practice.
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Keywords
monitoring plan,, data quality,, effective reporting,, performance review