Ajmal, Et Al., 2019
Ajmal, Et Al., 2019
Ajmal, Et Al., 2019
www.emeraldinsight.com/1753-8378.htm
Factors behind
Exploring factors behind project project scope
scope creep – stakeholders’ creep
perspective
Mian Ajmal, Mehmood Khan and Hanan Al-Yafei 483
College of Business, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Received 18 October 2018
Revised 3 June 2019
17 September 2019
Abstract Accepted 14 October 2019
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the different views of major project stakeholders about the
factors that contribute to poor project scope leading to project scope creep.
Design/methodology/approach – Major factors of project scope creep are identified using commonality
analysis of stakeholders’ views. An interview-based industry research method is applied to collect data from
different projects in the United Arab Emirates.
Findings – Relying on stakeholders’ theory, the study proposes a framework for managing project scope
creep. Results indicate that communication is among the major causes of project scope creep, as reported by
all project stakeholder groups in this study.
Practical implications – The study is expected to support the assessment of the causes of project scope
creep, simultaneously expanding knowledge on the topic for both researchers and practitioners.
Originality/value – This study is among the first few to explore the commonality of various stakeholder
views in the factors that hinder project success.
Keywords Project management, Project complexity, Project stakeholder management
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Enterprises today compete looking for methods to achieve project success and justify the
huge organizational investment in their projects (Mir and Pinnington, 2014; Sanchez et al.,
2017). This is especially critical considering the increasing complexity of projects,
including a multitude of activities that are dependent on each other in various ways
(Browning, 2014). Projects are usually assessed for three constraints: cost, time and
quality. A successful and efficient project is one that achieves its goals within the budget,
on time, and as per the standards, while satisfying the client (Ferrada and Serpell, 2013).
Managing project scope is the best solution to eliminating any ambiguity and uncertainty
in projects (Tsiga et al., 2017). Scope management plays a key role in achieving a project’s
goals, simultaneously satisfying the customer’s needs (Dekkers and Forselius, 2007;
Thomas and Mullaly, 2008).
Scope creep is, however, a major issue caused by incomplete definition of scope that, in
turn, leads to changes in scope that negatively affect time, cost and quality or risk of a
project (Dekkers and Forselius, 2007). Project scope creep is referred to as “the tendency for
a project to extend beyond its initial boundaries” (Integrated Management Systems, 2007;
Janssen et al., 2014). Poor scope is deemed to be one of the biggest contributors to project
failure because it results in frequent modifications and changes (Bjarnason et al., 2012;
Sethia and Pillai, 2013a, b; Alami, 2016).
Scope creep is not an industry-specific problem – project practitioners all over the world
suffer from this issue in almost all kinds of industries and sectors. A report reveals that
19 per cent of all projects fail, and more than 50 per cent of those suffered scope creep
International Journal of Managing
(Project Management Institute, 2017). Another report found that 31 per cent have declared Projects in Business
complete failures (Alami, 2016). While these problems continue to exist, very little research Vol. 13 No. 3, 2020
pp. 483-504
has attempted an in-depth investigation of failed projects to identify the factors behind the © Emerald Publishing Limited
1753-8378
failure (Alami, 2016). Despite the importance of achieving project success, even with the DOI 10.1108/IJMPB-10-2018-0228
IJMPB existence of many studies that address factors leading to project success, the literature as a
13,3 whole, does not address the interrelationships of these factors (Project Management
Institute, 2017; Sanchez et al., 2017). More so, megaproject performance has seen little
improvement in recent years because of the inability to meet basic targets in cost, time and
benefits (Flyvbjerg, 2014; McKinsey Global Institute, 2016). This calls for further research to
highlight the causes of project failure, and more specifically, the reasons behind poor project
484 scope. Furthermore, it is of great importance to explore the interrelations among these
factors for better project management.
This study focusses on factors that cause project scope creep from a stakeholder’s
perspective. Delivering project outcomes successfully requires an active interaction between
project firms and their stakeholders. Thereafter, this study explores the main reasons
behind poor project scope. It adds to the knowledge in project management literature by
focussing on stakeholders’ perspectives to develop a framework that manages the causes of
project scope creep. The study’s objectives are three-fold: to identify causes of project scope
creep from the stakeholders’ perspective; to identify the common causes of project scope
creep among stakeholder groups; and to propose remedies for project scope creep in major
projects. Most project stakeholders have different needs, expectations and interests (Ward,
1999). Therefore, in this study, we identify four main stakeholder groups in projects, that is,
the project management office (PMO), the project team, consultants and clients/customers.
Furthermore, by addressing each group’s perspective, we rely on stakeholder theory
(Freeman, 1984) to understand the dynamics between stakeholders and the roles they play
in project management. Data were collected from major projects in the public and private
sectors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The literature is reviewed in Section 2 to
describe the notion of project scope and scope creep, the possible causes of scope creep and
insights from different industries. Sections 3 and 4 present the research framework and
research approach of this study, respectively. Findings are reported and discussed in
Sections 4 and 5, and finally, we present conclusions in Section 6.
2. Literature review
2.1 Project scope and scope creep
Projects in different sectors are increasingly being characterized as complex, high-stakes
and time bound ventures fraught with uncertainty (Chiocchio, 2007; Gale et al., 2010). Project
management extends beyond skilful and competent management of individual projects, to a
complete set of systems, processes, structures and capabilities that enable an organization
to undertake the right projects (Drouin and Besner, 2012). Efficient projects involve
following the right steps and producing the required deliverables within the budget and
time estimations (Serrador and Turner, 2015; Badewi, 2016; Zidane et al., 2016). In other
words, project effectiveness depends on whether the project meets its objectives (Yamin and
Sim, 2016). To achieve this, projects have to have a scope identified in the earlier stages of
their life cycle, more particularly in the pre-project planning process, using the inputs of
various stakeholder groups with the declaration of project goals, budget, schedule,
outcomes, constraints, resources and deliverables (Kähkönen, 1999; Project Management
Institute, 2000; Wang, 2002; Fageha and Aibinu, 2013). Project scope also encompasses risk
identification and analysis, which involves avoiding key changes that can affect project
performance negatively.
A poorly defined scope is often the main reason behind project failure (Mirza et al., 2013).
Project managers suffer from the tendency to add features and functionalities to project
scope without addressing the effects on project boundaries (time, costs and resources), or
without customer approval (Barry et al., 2006; Gibson et al., 2006; Thakurta et al., 2009;
Mantel et al., 2010). Project scope creep is attributed to conflicting requirements caused by
the contrasts in the needs/requirements of stakeholders and decisions of project managers Factors behind
(Kotonya and Sommerville, 1998; Davis et al., 2008). Causes that inflate the problem include project scope
poor scope definition, unsatisfactory and unbalanced input from stakeholders, creep
unpredictable economic cycles, price fluctuations and high competition (Heywood and
Smith, 2006; Sharma and Lutchman, 2006).
The quality of project deliverables is affected by poor scope because of changes in or
cancelation of the initial plan, not meeting customer expectations, lack of communication 485
and reduced motivation (Nurmuliani et al., 2004; Larson and Larson, 2009; Kumari and Pillai,
2014). Therefore, the internal and external project participants need to sufficiently reveal
their requirements during the scope definition process, to ensure comprehensiveness and
control of the project scope (Ward, 1999; Heywood and Smith, 2006; Kerzner, 2006).
2.5 Uncertainty
High levels of complexity can create uncertainty because of misleading and conflicting
interpretation among project members (Williams, 1999; Vickery et al., 2016). Uncertainty
negatively affects the time and cost of projects (Williams, 2005; Konrad and Gall, 2008). Factors behind
The performance of projects exposed to high levels of uncertainty, is either reinforced and project scope
improved by collaboration or hindered by opportunism (Um and Kim, 2018). creep
There are three main sources of uncertainty in project management (Atkinson et al.,
2006). First, uncertainty arises in cost, duration and quality estimations of planned
activities. Second, it is associated with the presence of multiple project stakeholders with
conflicting interests and expectations (Ward, 1999). Last, but not least, uncertainty is 487
associated with the failure to clearly define the project scope in the initiation phase of the
project life cycle, which increases uncertainty throughout other phases, leading eventually
to negative effects on the project scope, budget and schedule (Atkinson et al., 2006).
2.6 Tasks
A project consists of interrelated tasks that are interdependent and call for a certain
sequence towards the achievement of an overall objective or milestone of the project
(Integrated Management Systems, 2007). The tasks are constrained by the deadlines. Once
identified, dependency relationships between the tasks help establish proper workflow.
Whereas task interdependence features the influence of one party’s activities on another,
timing can be assigned to each task with the projects’ budgetary and resource constraints
considered (Integrated Management Systems, 2007; Puranam et al., 2009). However, all
projects incorporate a variety of tasks (Williams, 1999). This increases project complexity,
which accommodates the extra details in achieving the intended quality (Sylvester et al.,
2011). Moreover, mixing tasks might affect project performance and lead to scope creep. To
achieve objectives while managing the complexity of tasks, many tasks are often
accomplished as separate work packages or elements and then integrated into the final
product (Mirza et al., 2013).
Accordingly, project management assists in planning and controlling the necessary
tasks to reach the required project objectives. It is the project scope manager’s role to assist
the project team and the customers to perform and manage these tasks (Dekkers and
Forselius, 2007). The performance of collaborative but equitable tasks between team
members helps foster knowledge and trust, which contributes to granting improved overall
productivity (Wagner et al., 2014).
2.7 Specifications
Managing project scope entails the ability to capture and control the exact requirements of
the project (Tsiga et al., 2017). The requirements and specification process’s purpose is to
capture the business needs for the project to be performed (Daniels, 2000). Project
requirements are formally documented and communicated to the project stakeholders
(Rahmesh and Madhavan, 2000). Hence, complete and well-documented user requirements
are the core of scope management and should describe project objectives comprehensively
(Dekkers and Forselius, 2007).
Project specifications are classified into three categories: functional user requirements
(what the software will do); non-functional requirements (how the piece of software must
meet quality and performance constraints); and technical requirements (such as team skills,
tools support, hardware platform, etc.) (Dekkers and Forselius, 2007). When the
requirements are complex, spending more time in collecting and analyzing customers’
needs is beneficial and can help reduce the complexity of the project (Alami, 2016).
Incomplete specifications result from unclear organizational business strategy, unclear
goals, and the lack of skills to meet the required organizational goals (Kumari and Pillai,
2014). This causes changes in requirements, which leads to poor project performance,
adversely affecting the project cost, time and quality if those changes are not managed well
(Mirza et al., 2013; Atkinson et al., 2006). It is; therefore, important to keep the requirements
IJMPB specification updated and approved by the respective stakeholders (Kumari and Pillai, 2014;
13,3 Alami, 2016).
2.8 Risk
Risk is a major threat to the whole project. With the dynamic nature of projects, and
changing business environments, unexpected risk occurrence during project execution
488 exposes the entire project to detrimental consequences in terms of cost, time and quality
(Besson and Rowe, 2001; Nguyen et al., 2015; Besson and Rowe, 2001; Atkinson et al., 2006).
Therefore, risk has received great attention; previous research has highlighted the
importance of risk management and allocation in project success through meeting time
constraints and budget goals (Sanchez et al., 2017; Tsiga et al., 2017).
Project risk might be associated with initiation, identification, assessment, response
planning and response implementation (known as hard risk dimensions), or corresponds to
risk communication and attitude, monitoring and review (i.e. soft risk dimensions) (Didraga,
2013; Rabechini and Carvalho, 2013; Almajed and Mayhew, 2014). Whereas it was found
that the soft side of risk management is deemed to be more important that the hard aspects,
it is very important that these aspects are addressed and managed throughout all
stages of project life cycle to avoid causing problems in performance (Atkinson et al., 2006;
Tsiga et al., 2017).
Managing project risk effectively includes three major activities: identifying and
anticipating risks during project planning, assessing risks that might occur during project
execution and finally, developing risk mitigation strategies with the tools to help overcome
or reduce the risks being identified (Integrated Management Systems, 2007).
2.9 Communication
Communication is based on relationships between project firms and clients and has more
influence on project success than other factors related to tasks (Phua, 2005; Cserháti and
Szabó, 2014). It facilitates creating projects, determining directions and determining
outcomes. In other words, communication brings project managers and project stakeholders
together to shape the project scope (Söderlund, 2004; Winter et al., 2006). Poor scope caused
by incomplete requirements is attributed to gaps in communication between project
stakeholders (Integrated Management Systems, 2007; Bjarnason et al., 2012). By contrast,
more and faster communication results in better transmission and thus better control over a
project (Ziek and Anderson, 2015).
The literature highlights the importance of engaging project stakeholders in the project
and keeping them informed about progress. Overlooking stakeholders’ inputs and needs
leads to delays in achieving project objectives (Assaf et al., 1995; Integrated Management
Systems, 2007; Kumari and Pillai, 2014; Mpofu et al., 2017). For instance, poor
communication between stakeholders is the major source of problems in construction
projects (Fageha and Aibinu, 2013).
Communication allows stakeholders to convey their interest, needs and expectations of a
project. Accordingly, a communication plan should be established to help resolve conflicts
among stakeholders and improve project performance (Integrated Management Systems, 2007).
2.11 Technicality
Project stakeholders have to deal with the technical complexity of projects because of
frequent changes in requirements, either as the result of technical issues or customer
preferences (Procaccino and Verner, 2009; Um and Kim, 2018). In fact, changes to project
scope may have wider technical implications than first thought, leading to subsequent
disputes between client and project firms about liability for costs and delays in project
schedule (Williams et al., 1995; Price, 2016). Unforeseen technical aspects impose huge
challenges, especially when they cannot be adjusted to the constraints and requirements.
When requirements are insufficiently documented, design work is often performed prior to
the project team being fully aware of the technical specifications. Under-developed
requirements may be wrongly used as a working assumption throughout the design phase,
which amplifies the background dynamics of the ecosystem (Alami, 2016).
A successful construction project is said to be one that has accomplished its technical
performance, maintained its schedule and remained within budgetary provision (Frimpong
et al., 2003). A project plan should, therefore, be developed and reviewed with the
customer for both the technical and business portions of the project (Integrated
Management Systems, 2007).
2.12 Environment
A project does not exist in isolation; it is subject to many different influences from its
environment. Many circumstances originate from the inability to predict and anticipate all
events and concerns (Besson and Rowe, 2001). Besides, rapid evolvement of internal and
external business environments during the project results in changes in customer
requirements, markets and regulations, and hence, affects the comprehensiveness of the
project scope (Integrated Management Systems, 2007). Environmental complexity is an
important component of project complexity (Nguyen et al., 2015). Project complexity
increases as a result of environmental factors such as: weather conditions, stability of
project environment, political issues and remoteness of location, number and variety of
stakeholders’ perspectives, environmental risks and competition (Baccarini, 1996; Williams,
1999; Geraldi and Adlbrecht, 2007; Vidal and Marle, 2008; Bosch-Rekveldt et al., 2011;
Project Management Institute, 2013; Nguyen et al., 2015).
Therefore, defining the project constraints and the relationships within a project fosters
the exchange between the project and its environment and facilitates control. Moreover,
defining these boundaries allows for the use of project management tools and techniques in
isolation from environmental influences (Atkinson et al., 2006). Figure 1 highlights the
causes of scope creep mentioned in the literature.
IJMPB
13,3
Complexity
Factors
Behind
Scope
Creep
Communication
Tasks
Risk Specifications
Figure 1.
Causes of project
scope creep
PMO
Figure 2.
Factors of
Scope Creep
Conceptual research
framework
(stakeholder’s view of
the causes of project
Clients/ scope creep)
Customers
IJMPB project teams were interviewed. Then five different senior consultants and finally, five
13,3 clients/customers were interviewed. In total, 20 interviews were conducted to collect data
from different stakeholder groups.
The contents of the interview results were first validated and then analyzed to assess the
perspectives of each of the four stakeholder groups in relation to project scope creep.
Content validity in exploratory research is derived during concept elicitation, which is the
492 measurement property that assesses whether outcomes are comprehensive and adequately
reflect the phenomenon for the population of interest (Brod et al., 2009). In this research, the
collected information was used to answer the key research questions and to develop insights
and guidelines for effective project management practices in the context of the United Arab
Emirates. However, this research approach is more a like explorative in nature and most of
the respondents from different stakeholders’ groups represent service industry in large. So,
this is one of the limitation of this study approach.
the reason why projects cannot keep up with the completion date and the budget. Moreover, a
similarity in opinions was noted among some stakeholder groups. This intersection of
opinions was identified in Table II. As noted from the table, some intersections among the four
groups did not report common themes, whereas other intersections did. We found
intersections in views among two stakeholder groups, three stakeholders and among all the
groups. An intersection among two groups was noted in the “PMO–consultant” intersection,
in which both groups clarified that frequent changes requested by the customers,
environmental circumstances, as well as high level of uncertainty are major causes of scope
creep. In addition, the “project team–clients/customers” intersection reported a common view
of tasks as being a cause of project scope creep.
Besides that, a commonality of opinions is found among three groups “PMO–project
team–consultants”, who shared similar thoughts of technicality, risk and complexity as
being the dominant factors that lead the project to suffer from poor scope. The final
intersection was found among all four groups. PMO, project team, consultants and clients/
customers all believe that the communicative practices of project managers affect the
dialogue with stakeholders, which might eventually affect the content, direction and
outcome of a project. In particular, project managers are unaware of the constitutive nature
of communication, and therefore, do not take into consideration that they are designers and
co-creators of a dialogue that crafts the trajectory of a project (Ziek and Anderson, 2015).
This consensus, among all stakeholders, that poor communication is the cause of scope
creep, provides insights on how project managers should handle the communication
through the life span of the project in a more efficient and timely manner. The literature
supports this approach, citing the importance of properly involving and communicating
with stakeholders throughout the project life cycle (Kappelman et al., 2006; Nelson, 2007;
Kerzner, 2009; Project Management Institute, 2013). Moreover, when stakeholders are
actively engaged during project initiation, clarity regarding other project phases is gained.
This, in turn, improves risk identification and mitigation (Karlsen, 2002; Wheatley, 2009).
Figure 3 visualizes the commonality in the stakeholders’ perspectives of project scope
creep factors. As shown in the figure, areas of intersection represent the commonality
among the stakeholder groups, and “communication” mirrors the intersection among all
four stakeholders.
PMO Factors behind
project scope
creep
Customers
495
Environment
Uncertainty Risk
Technicality
Complexity
Tasks
Figure 3.
Implications of
stakeholder’s theory –
commonality in
stakeholders’ view
Clients/Customers
5. Discussion
Following the principles of stakeholder theory, this study’s aim is to explore the various
views of four major stakeholder groups interacting and dealing with projects. The study
explores the causes of project scope creep, a topic of great concern to professionals working
on projects. The literature lacks in addressing the interrelationships of factors that
contribute to scope creep (Project Management Institute, 2017; Sanchez et al., 2017). More so,
little research has attempted to investigate unsuccessful projects to identify the factors
behind their failure (Alami, 2016; Project Management Institute, 2017). This study seeks to
identify the causes behind scope deficiencies in projects in almost every industry with
respect to time, cost and quality specifications; and, how these causes are viewed by various
stakeholder groups involved in projects.
Understanding and engaging stakeholders is believed to have a positive impact on the
performance in a project (Hussain et al., 2018). Besides, managing stakeholders is a critical
aspect in project management as it helps in controlling or preventing scope creep, ensuring
timeliness in deliverables and mitigating issues that would otherwise delay a project (Cooper,
2014). This study is one of the first attempts to integrate the notion of all the stakeholders
involved in project management. Furthermore, this qualitative perspective about stakeholders
makes our study distinct in that most of the literature has taken a more holistic and quantitative
approach towards scope creep (Amoatey and Hayibor, 2017; Farok and Garcia, 2016).
In this context, the study strengthens the literature on implications of stakeholder’s
theory in project management as:
• It focusses on the exploration of project scope creep, an under-researched area in the
project management literature. It adds to the knowledge in project management
literature by focussing on stakeholders’ perspectives to develop a framework that
manages the causes of project scope creep.
IJMPB • It explores factors that are commonly identified in projects in various industries. Most
13,3 project stakeholders have different needs, expectations and interests (Ward, 1999). This
study presents the perspectives of four stakeholder groups in projects from public and
private sectors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, under the context of stakeholder theory, that
is, the PMO, the project team, consultants and clients/customers.
• It analyses different stakeholders’ views to highlight the consensus among these
496 groups in identifying the factors that lead to poor project scope, as shown in Figure 3.
The views of four stakeholder groups regarding the causes behind project scope
creep were filtered and classified into perspectives that go beyond its criteria,
planned schedule and time.
The results offer insights into the integrated perspectives of the four stakeholder
groups – the PMO, project team, consultants and clients/customer – on issues related to
project scope and more specifically, the scope creep problem. Our findings suggest that a
comprehensive analysis of stakeholders’ opinions, regarding the factors that hinder
effective project scope, would help project managers balance the expectations of all
involved stakeholders, through obtaining the highest benefits at the lowest costs. Project
management must consider the social relationships with project stakeholders in order to
effectively shape the project scope.
As shown in Figure 3, project managers can obtain the highest benefits by targeting
those factors that have been agreed on by more than one stakeholder group. To generate
greatest benefits at lowest costs, project managers must first target those issues identified
by all stakeholder groups. As poor communication has been identified by the four project
stakeholders, it is suggested that project managers expand their efforts in establishing a
well-grounded communication plan, and make sure that communication incorporates
building relationships and not a mere means of exchanging information. In addition, factors
that have been agreed by three project stakeholders might also be prioritized in overcoming
scope creep. The PMO, project team and consultants agreed that risk, technicality and
complexity are common reasons for failure in scope. Accordingly, after addressing
communication problems, project managers might try to focus on these three project scope
dimensions in an attempt to bring the scope back to its correct path.
Factors found in common among two stakeholder groups could also be emphasized,
with the availability of the capacity and resources for corrective actions. Finally, factors
identified by a single stakeholder group should also not be ignored, especially because each
project stakeholder has a unique relation to and role in the project; hence, their needs and
expectations differ, which calls for balancing the costs and benefits of prioritizing the
adoption of one solution over the other.
Managing the scope of a project has an abrupt and complete effect. Working on one
factor also affects others. For example, if a project has established a fruitful and open
communication with its stakeholders, improving communication would positively affect
team performance and reduce complexity and risks, as stakeholders are engaged right
through the project. This will also lead to better identification and mitigation of risks.
6. Conclusion
The framework developed in this study is meant to help project managers in various
industries to prioritize the areas of improvement for overcoming project scope creep.
Figure 3 reflects those factors that project managers need to emphasize in making major
improvements to reach an acceptable level of performance in project scope. Setting priorities
would help management allocate more resources and efforts to areas emphasized by all
stakeholders. Once a project scope has reached a level where it fulfils the areas identified by
various stakeholders, management can move to focus on other factors.
For the framework to be effective, project managers have to analyze the current status of Factors behind
the project scope in their firm to ensure that the scope is comprehensive in each of the project scope
identified factors. Afterwards, it becomes easier to identify areas and resources that need creep
improvement. In addition, continuous review of stakeholder roles is required to ensure that
projects are in line with stakeholder expectations.
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Corresponding author
Mehmood Khan can be contacted at: mehmood.khan@adu.ac.ae
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