Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Fifth Edition

Human Factors in Project Evaluation and Control

1. LO 13.6 Understand behavioral concepts and other human issues in evaluation and control.

Another recurring problem with establishing accurate or meaningful EVM results has to do with the need to recognize the human factor in all project activity completion projections. That is, there is a strong incentive in most organizations for project team members to continuously report stronger results than may be warranted in the interest of looking good for the boss or sending the right signals about the project’s status. Worse, many times implicit or even explicit pressure may come from the project managers themselves, as they find themselves under pressure from top management to show steady results. Hence, ...