Influence of Agile Project Management Practices on Project Performance in Rwanda: A Case of Priority Skills for Growth Project
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t5222Abstract
The increasing rate of globalization and technological progress have compounded the volatility and uncertainty of business environments and threatened organizational performance in many ways. In order to increase organizational capacity to effectively respond to changes, agile project management practices have been recommended by management scholars. Thus, this research examined the influence of agile project management practices on project performance in Rwanda using the case of Priority Skills for Growth project. The objectives of this research were to assess the influence of stakeholder collaboration, change management and continuous improvement on performance of Priority Skills for Growth project between 2018 and 2022. The study used quantitative approach with a correlational design. Stratified simple random and purposive sampling methods were used to determine the sample size of 396 respondents out the population of 4,892 people. However, only 223 were able to fully participate in the study, resulting to an average response rate of 56.313%. The close-ended questionnaire with likert-type response items was used for data collection. Subject matter experts and pilot-testing were used to establish validity and reliability respectively. The correlation results showed that that stakeholder collaboration is weakly correlated with project performance (r=.030, N=223, p>.01), change management is strongly and positively associated with project performance (r=.652, N=223, p<.01) and continuous improvement is moderately positively correlated with project performance (r=.321, N=223, p<.01). Furthermore, regression results revealed that stakeholder collaboration diminishes project performance by 9%, while change management and continuous improvement have positive contributions of 70.9% and 49.9%, respectively towards the performance of PSG project. The study concluded that that stakeholder collaboration, change management and continuous learning processes in PSG project are effective in achieving the desired project outcomes. The research recommends that project management should establish regular communication channels and forums to enable stakeholders to provide feedback on project progress and suggest improvements. They should use feedback to inform decision-making processes and make adjustments to the project approach as necessary and ensure that all stakeholders, including employees and team members, are involved in the feedback process to promote inclusivity and collaboration. Furthermore, there is need to train and coach project managers and leaders to actively listen to stakeholder feedback and suggestions and create an enabling environment that promotes open communication and constructive dialogue between management and stakeholders. The study recommends that future research should focus on examining the effect of different agile project management methodologies such as kanban, scrum, lean, extreme programing, adaptive project framework among others on project performance.
Keywords: Agile project management practices, change management, continuous improvement, stakeholder collaboration, project performance
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