Critical Analysis Report - Sydney Opera House Construction Project

This report provides a critical analysis of the Sydney Opera House construction project, including issues related to project management, range of control systems used for cost, schedule, quality, and scope, analysis of cost and/or schedule overruns, analysis of the project execution team, and possible actions for success.

6/8/2018
PPMP20010
Critical Analysis Report
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Critical Analysis Report – Sydney Opera House Construction
project
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................2
Information about the failed project.........................................................2
Brief about chosen failed project..............................................................3
Issues related to Project Management.....................................................3
Range of Control Systems used for Cost, Schedule, Quality, and Scope.....4
Analysis of cost and/or schedule overruns..................................................6
Analysis of the project execution team.......................................................7
Analysis of relationship between overruns and the stakeholders...............9
Analysis of possible actions for success....................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................12
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Critical Analysis Report – Sydney Opera House Construction
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Introduction
Information about the failed project
The Sydney Opera House is one of the major developments in our history.
In this assessment done by me, I will throw some light on the famous
Sydney Opera House which is now a tourist place (NSW Government,
2018). During the development of the Sydney Opera House, main
problems occurred which the stakeholders of the project had to face for
developing the project of the Sydney Opera House. This happened
because the control techniques of project management were not used by
the stakeholders for doing the construction of the monument (Jain, 2011).
Many programs are arranged in the monument of the Sydney Opera
House and celebrations are done there. The South Wales government
arranged for a competition so that the best architect can be chosen for
the development or the construction of the Sydney Opera House (DeDeCe
Blog, 2013). A large number of famous architects from all over the world
joined the competition and among them the architect Jorn Utzon was
selected for doing the development and construction designing of the
Sydney Opera House. At that time, he was a very famous architect who
designed marvellous buildings. The project was to be completed in the
estimated time of 4 years in 7 million Australian dollars
Figure: Time and Cost overrun comparison (Holliday, 2017)
but the time and the budget of the project got failed and project was
considered as a failed project from the project management point of view
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because the project got completed after 14 years and by consuming the
cost of 102 million Australian Dollar (Martin, 2012).
Brief about chosen failed project
The recent portion consists of mini Tools and techniques that can be used
by a project manager for developing the project in such a way so that it
does not get failed. Project manager will be easily able to guide the other
stakeholders of the project so that the scheduled budget and the time can
be followed in the project during the development of the project. The
scope of the project along with the time and the cost should be
maintained in a proper way so that the main requirement of the clients or
the stakeholders of the project can be fulfilled and they can be satisfied.
In this assessment, I have provided information about the Sydney Opera
House on the basis of the time, cost and the scope of the project that
comes under the control measures which are required to be maintained
during the development of any project. In this assessment, I have also
mentioned the responsibilities that should be assigned to a project
manager along with the stakeholders for the development of the project in
an acceptable manner. The architect Jorn Utzon who was chosen as the
main architect of the project and the project manager for the
development of the Sydney Opera House was selected in 1957 for the
development of the project (Kerr, 2003). He had to play the role of the
project manager along with the architect in the project for the designing
and the development of the Sydney Opera House (NSW Government,
2006).
The use of the earned value technique in the project assures the project
that it will get succeeded and the scheduled time and cost for the project
will be maintained. The analysis of the data for the development of the
project should be done by the project manager so that the scope of the
project can be kept in control. The development of the Sydney Opera
House was to be done in such a way so that the government of South
Wales can be satisfied by providing the deliverables. The project manager
should examine the quality standard of the project and whenever he
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Critical Analysis Report – Sydney Opera House Construction
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found it necessary he should verify the project quality so that the best
quality deliverable can be provided to the government.
Issues related to Project Management
Ove Arup & Partners was the consultant chosen so that the Sydney Opera
House can be developed (Turner & Zolin, 2012). There were three
different stages that were set so that the development of the Sydney
Opera House can be done. The first stage contained the development of
the civil structure of the project. The second stage content of the
development of the super structural part of the project. The last and the
third most stuff comprised of the mechanical work that was required to be
carried out in the project so that the designing of the project can be done
properly along with the development. The project team along with the
stakeholders when not able to complete the construction of the Sydney
Opera House and they were not able to handover the Asset to the
government within the evaluated time and the cost that the project
manager that is the architect set for the project for its completion
(Newton, et al., 2014). Due to all these reasons, from the project
management point of view, the construction work is done in the project
and the development of the Sydney Opera House was a failed project.
The cost that was evaluated for the development of the project was not
maintained by the project team and due to this reason; the project got
failed from the project management point of view. Also, the change in the
scope of the project caused the failure of the project (Bronte-Stewart,
2015). The client of the project changes the requirement of 2 theatres to 4
theatres and this increased the scope of the project so automatically the
budget of the project that was set for the development of the Sydney
Opera House containing two theatres got failed. The architect Jorn Utzon
was only chosen as the project manager of the project and due to this
reason; the project got failed because project manager's role cannot be
played by an architect because architect lack knowledge about the
planning of that is to be done in the project (Bourne, 2007). The architect
was also absent in the construction site where the main construction of
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the Sydney Opera House was being done and due to this reason, the
project got failed. There was no proper communication done in the project
between the project manager and the other stakeholders of the project
the project got failed from the project management point of view.
Range of Control Systems used for Cost,
Schedule, Quality, and Scope
To control the budget and the time of the project, the project manager
can make the use of control system which will allow him to do it easily. A
project charter is to be developed by the project manager with project
management plan should be done in the project so that the cost and time
overrun of the project can be prevented and the scope of the project can
be managed. The observation and the controlling work should also be
done by the project manager in the project (Zidane, et al., 2015). For
carrying out the observation and the controlling part in the project, the
project managers should have the proper technical knowledge and other
knowledge that is required so that you can do that work properly without
any problem. The project managers should be present in the construction
site along with the other stakeholders so that they can discuss and try to
make the project in a better way. Proper communication should also be
done in the project among the project manager and the other
stakeholders of the project. The Change management plan should be
adopted by the project manager in the project so that the scope of the
project can be changed as per the requirement and the time and the
budget that is estimated by the project manager during the planning
stage can be maintained and kept in control. After making changes in the
scope of the project, the project manager should forward the changed
scope of the project to the sponsor of the project to let him verify the
scope developed by the project manager and the sponsor Board of the
organisation does not approve the scope that the project manager
developed than the project manager required to develop a new scope of
the project. Before forwarding the scope to the sponsor Board of the
organization, but project manager needs to find out the impact that the
score obtained in the project will have on the time and the cost evaluated
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for the project. While doing this work is that project manager finds out
that the new scope he developed for the project is having a negative
impact on the time and the cost of the project then again, the project
manager has to change the scope of the project.
Another technique that can be used by the project manager to keep the
evaluated time and the budget of the project in limits is the analysis
provision report. The use of the earned value technique in the project will
also allow the project manager to estimate the time and the budget of the
project and it will also help them to manage the evaluated time and the
budget for the project. Mainly there are three major factors on which the
project depends, they are the activity measures of the project,
expenditure of the project and the observing and the monitoring work in
the project (Flyvbjerg, et al., 2009). Since the planning work and the initial
documentation work was not done in the project of the Sydney Opera
House, the time and the cost of the project were not evaluated properly
and due to this reason, the project got failed. The project lacked proper
planning and observation work and so the project got failed.
Analysis of cost and/or schedule overruns
There are many reasons that caused the overrun of time and the cost of
the project in the project of the Sydney Opera House. Some of the reason
for the time and cost overrun in the project are mentioned below:
Sl.
No. Reasons of overrun
1 Since proper communication was not done in the project among
the stakeholders of the project the stakeholders of the project did
not know about their main roles and responsibilities in the project
for the development of the Sydney Opera House (DeDeCe Blog,
2013).
2 The project manager of the project never motivated the
stakeholders of the project due to this reason the stakeholders of
the project were not happy while developing the project work and
for this reason, the development work of the project was not done
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in a proper way.
3 Since there was the absence of some tools and techniques in the
organization, the project team were not able to control the
outcome of the project and due to this reason, the project got
failed (Holliday, 2017).
4 The requirement for the resource was not recognized before and
this was due to this reason that the project of the Sydney Opera
House crossed its limits of the evaluated cost and the time of the
project and resulted into the failure of the whole project as per the
project management point of view.
5 No development of the schedule for the project regarding the
budget and the time of the project was done as because the scope
of the project remained unidentified throughout the project
lifecycle.
6 No documentation was made in the project was done and due to
this reason, the development or the finalization of the scope for
the project was not done and this resulted into the failure of the
project. Due to this reason, only the budget and the time of the
project cross their estimations made.
7 The overall project management plan was not done in the project
by the project manager so the main activities that were carried
out in the project were not documented throughout the project
and this resulted into the failure of the project of the Sydney
Opera House. Since the documentation was not done in the
project so the project manager along with the other stakeholders
was unable to adopt any step to control the project.
8 The planning stage in the project was not carried out accurately
by the project manager thus many problems arise during the
finalization of the stakeholders for the development and the
construction of the Sydney Opera House and the analyses of the
project were not done. Because the responsibilities and the roles
of the stakeholders were not allocated to them, the overall
responsibility for the construction and the designing of the Sydney
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Opera House remained with the architect and the project manager
of the project Jorn Utzon.
9 Because the project manager selected by the South Wales
government was not enough experience and since the project
manager was an architect, planning work and the other controlling
an observation job when not carried out properly by the project
manager. He was not able to evaluate the budget and the timing
of the project and this resulted in the failure of the project.
Analysis of the project execution team
The execution time of the project also contributed to the failure of the
project along with the overrun of the time and the budget of the project of
the Sydney Opera House. Some of the reasons for the failure of the
project of the Sydney Opera House due to the negligence of them project
execution team are quoted below:
Sl.
No. Analysis of Execution Team
1 From the start of the project work the main requirements of the
project were not recognised by the Project manager and the other
stakeholders of the project and it was due to this reason that the
finalization of the scope of the project was not done by the project
manager of the project as because he lacked basic knowledge
regarding the processes that are required to be carried out in the
project (Eikeland, 1997). The project implementation team
members were not engaged in the project from the beginning and
the overall work was carried out by the project manager in the
project and thus the project got failed since they were not able to
document out the project's scope.
2 The South Wales government never asked for any detail from the
project manager of the project about the schedule of the detailed
time duration and the budget set in the project so the project
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manager did not develop any plan for the estimation of the budget
and the time for the project and this also resulted in to the failure
of the project. The project manager was an architect and so he
was busy in the development and the creation of the designs for
the development of the Sydney Opera House.
3 The roof's designing was not done properly in the project and due
to this reason, the scope of the project got increased and this
resulted into the increase of the budget and the time estimations
made in the project. The client kept on changing the scope of the
project due to this reason the time and cost of the project also
kept on increasing and finally resulted in the failure of the project.
4 The requirement for 2 theatres in the project increased to the
requirement of 4 theatres in the project and this also increased
the scope of the project of the project as the client changed the
requirement for the scope of the project for the development of
the project of the Sydney Opera House.
5 The Government of Australia changed and the new government
formed, some issues occurred between the architect and the
project manager, Jorn Utzon and the new government and due to
this reason, the Architect of the project resigned from the work
and took away all the designs that he made for the development
and the construction of the Sydney Opera House along with him.
6 The team members of the project were not engaged fully so they
were unable to develop and execute the control measures of the
project for the controlling of the time, cost and the budget of the
project and it was due to this reason that the project got failed
from the project management point of view.
Analysis of relationship between overruns and
the stakeholders
The overrun of the time and the cost of the project occurred in the project
due to the stakeholders and the other team members of the project and
some of the causes of the overruns of the time and the cost of the project
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due to the stakeholders and the other team members along with the
execution team are quoted below:
Sl.
No. Analysis of Overruns and its relationship with Stakeholders
1 Since the project of the Sydney Opera House was a complex one,
therefore, the Government of South Wales did not choose the
project manager after project properly the project of the Sydney
Opera House mainly achieved failure as the project manager of
the project was an architect who lacked proper knowledge about
the work that is to be carried out by the project and the project
got failed from the project management point of view.
2 The initiation and the planning work were not done in the project
by the architect as he was not a project manager and he did not
know about the things and the stages that are to be followed by a
project manager in the project so that the project work can be
executed out in a proper manner without getting failed. There are
many control measures in the project that can be made use of by
the project manager so that the cost and the time of the project
can be carried out in the project in a proper way.
3 The roof designing of the project was left incomplete as the
project manager and the architect of the Sydney Opera House that
is Jorn Utzon resigned from the job and took away all the designs
in the project that they had with them and due to this reason only
the cost and the time of the project were not controlled and this
resulted in the cost and the time crept in the project.
4 The stakeholders of the project were not kept engaged in the
project so the important things like the management plan like the
cost, time, and the scope were not made in the project and this
too resulted in to the failure of the project as due to the absence
of these plans made in the project, the project got failed since
they were not developed in a proper way in the project and so
they got overrun.
5 The scope of the project was not developed by the project
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manager in the project so the team members of the project were
not able to maintain the scope of the project and so due to this
reason, the project got failed since they were not managed
properly in the project by the project execution team and the
project manager.
6 No proper communication work was done in the project and due to
the improper and the miscommunication did in the project the
project got failed as the team members and the other
stakeholders at the site of the Construction from the Sydney
Opera House did not know what to do in the project and they were
not able to do the construction work in the project and due to gap
left in doing the communication in the project, the project got
failed.
Analysis of possible actions for success
If the possible actions that are mentioned below were taken by the project
members then the project of the Sydney Opera House would become a
successful project. Some of the precautions and the other activities that
the execution team and the other stakeholders of the project could have
taken or maintained in the project for the project to get succeeded are
quoted below:
Sl.
No
.
Possible PM Actions for Success
1 The lessons learned in the project should have been documented in
the project so that the projects that will be developed in the future
can be constructed in a better way by making the use of the
documented lessons learned in the project.
2 The project manager would have done the observing and the
controlling work in the project so that the project can be developed
in an acceptable manner so that it does not get failed.
3 The planning work in the project should have been done in a proper
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manner so that the budget and the time evaluated in the project
can be maintained throughout the project and the development of
the project can be done in a proper manner (Project Management
Institute, 2013). The execution team along with the other
stakeholders would also get benefitted from the project they would
also get a chance to do the development of the project so that the
construction work can be done properly.
4 The main need for the requirement of the budget, material and the
time in the project was to be finalized in the project and was
required to be provided to the client so that the maintenance of the
scope and the budget of the project with the time of the project can
be done in the project.
5 The project charter and a business case was required to be
developed by the project manager in the project and the project
manager of the project should have involved the stakeholders in
the project so that the stakeholders also know about the main
requirements of the client and they can also contribute the same as
the project manager in the project so that the development work in
the project can be made easier and the failure of the project can be
prevented.
Conclusion
I have done the risk analysis in the project and now I can conclude that
the overrun of the time and the cost of the project resulted in the failure
of the project of the Sydney Opera House. The risks in the project that
were present during the construction of the project were not analysed
properly by the project manager and due to this reason, the project of the
Sydney Opera House got failed. The project manager in the project did not
do the proper planning of the project and for this reason, only the cost
and the time of the project crossed their limitations and the project got
failed. The development of the business case was not done and the
project charter was also not developed in the project. Jorn Utzon was busy
in the making of the designs for the building of the Sydney Opera House
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and for this only the job of the project manager was not by him in the
project in a proper manner. The South Wales government of Australia
never ever asked for the detailed schedule from the project manager
about the time and the budget of the project and the development of the
project was not done properly in the project and due to this reason, only
the project got failed. The government never asked for the detailed scope
of the project and due to this reason, the project manager also never
forced the project team members to do the detailing of the project scope
along with the scheduling of the time and the budget of the project so the
project got failed. Since the project manager and the project architect,
Jorn Utzon was an architect so the designing work of the Sydney Opera
House was done perfectly but the role of the project manager in the
project was not done in the project and he never communicated or
motivated the stakeholders of the project for the development of the
Sydney Opera House. All these circumstances resulted in the failure of the
famous tourist attraction project of the Sydney Opera House.
References
Bourne, L., 2007. Avoiding the Successful failure. South Melbourne, Mosaic
Project Services Pty Ltd.
Bronte-Stewart, M., 2015. Beyond the Iron Triangle: Evaluating Aspects of
Success and Failure using a Project Status Model. Computing and
Information Systems Journal, 19(2), pp. 19-36.
DeDeCe Blog, 2013. The Opera House Project. [Online]
Available at: http://www.dedeceblog.com/2013/03/26/the-opera-house-
project/#comment-166376
[Accessed 6 June 2018].
Eikeland, P. T., 1997. The Preconditions of Cost Control in Building
projects, s.l.: PTE.
Flyvbjerg, B., Garbuio, M. & Lovallo, D., 2009. Delusion and Deception in
Large Infrastructure Projects: Two Models for Explaining and Preventing
Executive Disaster. California Management Review, 51(2), pp. 170-193.
Holliday, N., 2017. Sydney Opera House Failed Project - What Can You
Learn?. [Online]
Available at: https://blog.beyondsoftware.com/learning-from-failed-
projects
[Accessed 5 June 2018].
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Jain, N., 2011. Project Evaluation, Melbourne, Australia: MIT Department of
Civil Engineering.
Kerr, J. S., 2003. Sydney Opera House: A revised plan for the conservation
of he Sydney Opera House and its Site, Sydney: Sydney Opera House
Trust.
Martin, C. G.-O., 2012. The Sidney Opera House construction: A case of
project management failure. [Online]
Available at: http://www.eoi.es/blogs/cristinagarcia-ochoa/2012/01/14/the-
sidney-opera-house-construction-a-case-of-project-management-failure/
[Accessed 6 June 2018].
Newton, S., Skitmore, M. & Love, P., 2014. Managing Uncertainty to
Improve the Cost Performance of Complex Infrastructure Projects, Curtin:
University of New South Wales.
NSW Government, 2006. Nomination by the Government of Australia for
Inspection on the World Heritage List, Sydney: NSW Government.
NSW Government, 2018. Sydney Opera House. [Online]
Available at:
https://in.sydney.com/destinations/sydney/sydney-city/circular-quay/
attractions/sydney-opera-house
[Accessed 6 June 2018].
Project Management Institute, 2013. A guide to the project management
body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide). Fifth ed. Pennsylvania: Project
Management Institute, Inc..
Turner, R. & Zolin, R., 2012. Forecasting Success on Large Projects:
Developing Reliable Scales to Predict Multiple Perspectives by Multiple
Stakeholders Over Multiple Time Frames. Project Management Journal, pp.
1-13.
Zidane, Y. J.-T., Johansen, A. & Ekambaram, A., 2015. Project Evaluation
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