Analysis of Complex Project Management in the GERD Construction

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project, focusing on the complexities inherent in its management. The analysis delves into various factors contributing to the project's challenges, including economic diversity, political uncertainty, and issues related to stakeholder management. It examines the application of leadership theories, such as the Great Man Theory, trait theory, contingency theory, situational theory, and behavioral theory, to the project's context. Furthermore, the report explores the significance of stakeholder management and the application of Ashby’s law in the context of the GERD project. The report highlights the failure to appreciate systemicity and simplistic project management as key factors affecting the construction project. It emphasizes the importance of proper managerial strategies, effective leadership, and the need for a robust stakeholder management plan to mitigate project complexities. The report concludes by assessing the impact of over-ambitious strategic management and the need for a more realistic approach to project development.

Running head: GERD CASE STUDY
Complex project management aspects: GERD CASE STUDY
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Reasons for the project complexity
There are different reasons that may cause high level of project complexities. Therefore,
it is responsibility of the project supervisor and the project team associates to implement any
project considering all complexity management factors in terms of behavior, systematic project
development factors, model usage, and simplistic project management and over ambitious
strategic management etc (Cooke-Davies, 2011). If any of the above mentioned factors is not
considered while developing and implementing any project then the complete project may fail to
meet the project objectives and primary goal.
The project which has been nominated in this assessment is The Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam (GERD) dam construction. The dam will be constructed along with 2 more
electric power stations as well. This project is an integral part for the Ethiopian economic and
political development strategies (Sohi et al., 2016). It has been expected if all the measurements
are successfully followed throughout the project development life cycle period then it would
generate needed electricity required for industrial improvement. The sponsorship of the project
was undertaken by Ethiopian government but at the same time the project sponsor was investing
for two more projects of Sudan and Egypt. As a result the entire project failed to meet the project
objectives and project goals and aims within assigned time and budget. The behavior shows from
the Ethiopian government is not sufficient to successfully implement the GERD project.
Therefore, the project faced major operational and implementation level challenges.
Economic diversity is a major challenge that interrupted the project outcomes and objectives
(Yihdego, Khalil & Salem, 2017). It also identified political uncertainty along with corruption
allegations. For future economic development and social growth the project associates are

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needed to use and apply proper accurate project spatial database. For sustainable and long term
hydro power production this project was much essential. Sediment management was the other
aspects that were essential for project success and it can be compared with the simplistic project
management practices and over ambitious strategic management.
While implementing the project no such process sequence or stages were followed by the
project associates. This can be compared with failure to appreciate systemicity. According to this
approach, it can be said that if proper development sequence or stages are not followed then a
project may fail to meet the project expectation or outcomes. Considering the complex project
management aspect it has been determined that each of the above mentioned factors are affecting
the GERD dam and power station construction project. In order to implement this project the
supervisor and associates are required to use proper managerial strategies but those were not
implemented successfully (Cooke-Davies, 2011). As a result the entire project filed to meet the
expected project outcomes within assigned time line and budget as well. Apart from this, the
other factor which impacted the construction project was over ambitious strategic management.
The expectation from the project was much higher than any other as a result different advanced
level strategies were being incorporated to the project life cycle which was not at all beneficial
from the aspects of project complexity management.
After considering the above mentioned factors it has been determined that, failure to
appreciate systemicity and simplistic project management are the two different more significant
factors for the construction case. While implementing the project, associates failed to identify the
project development stages sequentially as a result major negative issues occurred.

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Managing projects with high complexity
Stakeholder management is a process or approach of project prcatices uses by the project
associates and project team members to win effective support throughout the development life
cycle. Managing project stakeholders helps the associates to ensure that the project succeed in
cases where other may also fail. The interest and influence of stakeholders generally does not
vary much with changing projects. The interests of the stakeholders are to accomplish the project
within assigned time and budget as well. The stakeholder management plan is comprises of
different components such as identification of stakeholders, prioritizing the stakeholders and
analyzing the stakeholders. In order to resolve the complexity of GERD project also, the owners
should have implemented proper stakeholder management plan.
The stakeholders assigned for the project- shareholders, alliance partners, suppliers, key
contributors etc played proper responsibilities but due to certain specifications and strategies
additional training were being requested along with resource specifications (Liersch, Koch &
Hattermann, 2017). The key benefits that the GERD dam construction project can be obtained if
proper stakeholder management plan was applied include winning resources, building proper
project understanding, giving proper shape to the project etc.
On the other hand, leadership theories are the theories that are brought forward to explain
that why the individuals become leaders. These theories highlight the behavior and certain
qualities that the leader should adopt to increase their leadership capabilities. There are different
leadership theories that the supervisor should have applied for the Great Ethiopian Renaissance
Dam (GERD). The first of all the leadership theory is the Great Man Theory (Cooke-Davies,
2011). According to this theory leaders are born with the correct traits and the capabilities for
leading the team. The traits and capabilities include intellect, charisma, communication skills and

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social skills. The supervisor of this project did not possess much of these qualities so the project
did not run smoothly. The Great Man theory suggests that capability to lead a team is by birth
that is a leader is not made but they are born leaders (Safapour et al., 2018). The second
leadership theory that should have been applied to the project or the case study is the trait theory.
The trait theory is similar to the Great Man Theory. This theory is used to predict the leadership
that is effective.
The leadership qualities of an individual are first identified and they are compared to the
qualities of some potential leaders. It determines whether the individual can lead his team
effectively. This theory focuses on the physiological quality such as weight, height, age,
education, intelligence and family background (Cooke-Davies, 2011). From these entire qualities
one can understand the decisive power, judgment and knowledge of the leader. The stakeholder
analysis strategy is based upon four components such as keep informed, keep satisfied,
monitoring and manage closely. In order to satisfy the clients the associates should have fully
engaged theses people with a greatest amount of efforts.
The next leadership theory that might have been used by the supervisor of the Great
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project is the contingency theory. The principle of the contingency
theory is that no one style of leadership is applicable to all the situations that come in the way of
the leader; in this case it is the supervisor of the project. This theory says that good leaders not
only have the right qualities but also have the ability to assess the needs of his team members and
also the situation that come on his way (Kermanshachi et al., 2016). The next and the one of the
most important leadership theory is the situational theory. The situational theory is quite similar
to the contingency theory. The situational theory suggests that this leadership depends on the
situation that comes in the way of the leader.

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The leader should always make a decision according to the situation he faces such as the
task, nature of the team members and many more. According to the situational theory a leader
should always work on a particular form of leadership that is based on the level of maturity of his
or her team. Last but not the least, the last of the leadership theory is the behavioral theory.
According to the behavioral theory the focus is on the particular behaviors and action of the
leader rather than the characteristics or the trait of the leader (Kerzner, 2017). The supervisor in
this theory should possess this quality. If he would have possessed this quality then the GERD
project would not have failed. This theory says that the effective leadership is a result of the
skills that are learned. The supervisor should have possessed all these theories to make the Great
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project successful. The supervisor did not possess these qualities so
the project faced a little failure. The leaders failed to identify the most suitable leadership trait
applicable for the project.
The Ashby’s law is a law of requisite variety. Regulation and control is formulated as a
variety reduction and this must keep close to the project goal or objectives. In order to oppose
project level difficulties there are certain aspects which requires to be avoided (Svejvig &
Andersen, 2015). This law is somewhere related to principle of selection variety. While
regulating the GERD construction project this selection law was not professionally followed
therefore some risks have been occurred.

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References
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