Improving project management practice in Ghana with focus on agriculture, banking and construction sectors of the Ghanaian economy

Project failure rates and associated resultant cost in Ghana has been a major concern in recent times (AfDB, 2006). Reasons mostly assigned were unreliable for lack of empirical evidence. Generally, literature provided certain reasons but most often these researches were carried out in environments that were totally and entirely different from that of the Africa’s and Ghana’s conditions.<br><br>Over the years, considerable effort had been made in trying to find out why projects and programs fail in Ghana (Ofori, 2006; Ayee, 2000). Projects and Programs failures in Africa are visible all over the place arguably though, account for our underdevelopment. This research was a perception study which identified and analyzed the potential project failure/success factors (project critical factor(s)) in three (3) selected sectors‐Agriculture, Banking and Construction of the Ghanaian economy. The study also identified project management tools and techniques whose application(s) were familiar to the Ghanaian project practitioners and were associated with project outcomes (success/failures). The above studies employed mainly quantitative research approaches by designing an independent (project factors)‐dependent (project success criteria) variable linear model. Multivariate Analysis of Variance for statistical analysis is considered appropriate. A survey of 324 project practitioners was conducted in the three sectors focused on answering the research questions and testing hypotheses. <br><br>The analysis revealed perceived project critical factors specific to projects of each sector as well as critical factors common to project organizations of some of the sectors. <br><br>Project management maturity of project organizations of the three sectors were also assessed through a qualitative research approach with the help of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The Process areas used for the assessment included Requirement Management, Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation; Measurement and Analysis; and Product and Process Quality Assurance. It was observed that with the process areas used as the criteria for assessment, 90% and more of the project organizations assessed were in the level 2 and lower of the Capability Maturity Model (CMMI). In other words a very few organizations were even close to the level 3 of the CMM. This called for a recommendation to the organizations for improvement in their project management activities.