Cause-and-Effect Relationship in Project Management

The cause and effect relationship shows the relation between the effects of the problem and their causes in the project management. The possible cause or causes of the following effects are as follow -
1). Late completion of activities:
The possible causes of this effect are as follow –
• Too many projects going at one time.
• Wrong person assigned as a project manager.
• Impossible schedule commitments.
• Unrealistic planning and scheduling.
2). Cost overrun:
The possible causes of this effect are as follow –
• No project cost accounting ability.
• Company resources are overcommitted.
• Poor control of customer changes.
3). Substandard performance:
Following are the possible causes of this effect.
• Wrong person assigned as a project manager.
• Poorly organized project office.
• No one person responsible for total project.
• Poor control of design changes.
• Conflicting project priorities.
• Poor control of customer changes.
4). High turnover in project staff:
The possible causes of this effect are as follow –
• Wrong person assigned as a project manager.
• Impossible schedule commitments.
5). High turnover in functional staff:
The following are the possible causes of this effect.
• No functional input into the planning phase.
• Wrong person assigned as a project manager.
• No integrated planning and control
6). Two functional departments performing the same activities on one project:
The following are the possible causes of this effect.
• Poor understanding of project’s manager job.
• Poorly organized project office.
• No one person responsible for total project.