The Practice of Aligning Projects with Organizational Business Strategy: The Case of Ethio Telecom

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Date

2020-06

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This research paper is about the practice of aligning projects with organizational business strategy: the case of Ethio telecom, where project management and the corporate level strategy link is thoroughly observed. Business strategy is a means to achieve competitive advantage and decrease competitive disadvantage if implemented properly. While project management is defined as planning, organizing, directing and controlling resources to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Alignment between business strategy and project management means that the needs, demands, goals, objectives and/or structure are consistent with each other. This research studied the practices undertaken by Ethio telecom to achieve alignment. To observe and describe the practice the study raised three research questions which were: are projects aligned during project selection, is portfolio alignment with business strategy maintained throughout the lifecycle of projects and are projects aligned with business strategy at the execution phase. Document review and semi-structured interactive interview questions were conducted with 6 participants. The research was able to find out that Ethio telecom aligns projects at the selection phase and maintain portfolio alignment with business strategy. However it was discovered that at the execution phase lack of commitment exists for maintaining alignment between projects and business strategy. The research concluded that there is lack of uniformity in practice and lack of using standardized project management tools and metrics for aligning projects with business strategy at the functional level. From the findings recommendations were made on the way Ethio telecom could improve the practice of aligning projects with business strategy by establishing a formal standardized practice that can be used for all project types.

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Keywords

Project Management, Business Strategy, Alignment

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