A Sociotechnical Approach to Project Success for Multi-Stakeholder, Dynamic System Development Project Environments

In this paper the authors explore a novel quantitative approach for measuring conditions conducive for successful project performance by modeling and analyzing the complex relationships between stakeholders as a sociotechnical system. This approach combines a dynamic assessment of supplier/acquirer concurrence on issues of importance and measures both their commitment and the concurrence between the two parties. Key to the approach is the modeling of a project as a network of stakeholders who need to cooperate to successfully realize the envisioned outcome of the project. The authors leverage belief modeling introduced in previous conference proceedings by the authors. Alignment of beliefs between parties is modeled an assessed in areas critical to project success. Further the authors applied the concept of information entropy based upon belief trajectories over time to assess the stability of the project environment. Further, belief alignment provides a useful measure to perform postmortem, failure forensics and to predict and test future courses of action. To test this assertion, an algorithmic, computational model was created. The model was then tested using a multi-case study approach with case studies of projects with ranges of outcomes and project success belief trajectories.