A C ASE S TUDY OF P ROJECT AND S TAKEHOLDER M ANAGEMENT F AILURES : L ESSONS L EARNED Stakeholder theory is a useful framework for analyzing the behavioral aspects of the project management proces ...

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A C ASE S TUDY OF P ROJECT AND
S TAKEHOLDER M ANAGEMENT F AILURES :
L
ESSONS L EARNED
Stakeholder theory is a useful framework
for analyzing the behavioral aspects of the
project management process, particularly
the complicated process of project man-
agement within the Department of
Defense (DOD). Projects can be beset by
the agenda of various stakeholders within
the organizational structure. When this
occurs, the implementation of a strong
project stakeholder management strategy
is necessary to increase the likelihood of
success. This is a case study of a failed
DOD project, even though it was fully jus-
tified and badly needed. Stakeholder the-
ory serves as the theoretical underpinning
of this case analysis, which identifies the
potential causes of the project failure.
Project management lessons learned from
the failure and a project stakeholder man-
agement strategy framework are present-
ed to facilitate better decision making on
the part of project managers to increase
the likelihood of successful project man-
agement outcomes.
Keywords: Project management; project
stakeholder management; stakeholder
theory; decision-making
©2006 by the Project Management Institute
Vol. 37, No. 5, 26-35, ISSN 8756-9728/03
Introduction
P
roject management within the United States Department of Defense (DOD)
has been described as the one of the world’s most complicated processes.
Successful completion of a project may require several years and the develop?
ment, implementation, and evaluation of a successful project management strategy.
DOD projects are difficult to manage even under the best of circumstances due to var?
ious structural, behavioral, and environmental complexities. Many of the complexi?
ties stem from the fact that the project manager is likely to be beset by various project
stakeholders from above and below. A thorough canvassing of the literature has dis?
closed that, while research on various project stakeholders has received attention,
there is a lack of research that actually examines the process management process
through the theoretical lens of stakeholder theory (e.g., Bourne & Walker, 2005,
2006), as well a lack of research that has applied both stakeholder theory and the
strategic management process to the project management process (e.g., Ives, 2005;
Jugdev & Muller, 2005; Norrie & Walker, 2004). Therefore, this paper fills a void in
the literature by using stakeholder theory and the strategic management process as the
theoretical lenses through which to analyze the case study of the DOD lighter
amphibian heavy?lift (LAMP?H) project, and to offer a project stakeholder manage?
ment (PSM) strategic framework.
The management of various project stakeholders from above and below the proj?
ect manager?