Factors Contributing To The Failed Development Of Sydney Opera House

Background of Sydney Opera House

Discuss about the PPMP20010 Critical Analysis Report.

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

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 because the project got completed after 14 years and by consuming the cost of 102 million Australian Dollar (Martin, 2012).

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).

Challenges faced during its construction

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 found it necessary he should verify the project quality so that the best quality deliverable can be provided to the government.

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 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.

Factors leading to the failure of the project

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 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.

Importance of project planning and management

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 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 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.

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 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.

 

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 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 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.

 

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 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 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

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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]
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NSW Government, 2006. Nomination by the Government of Australia for Inspection on the World Heritage List, Sydney: NSW Government.

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[Accessed 6 June 2018].

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Zidane, Y. J.-T., Johansen, A. & Ekambaram, A., 2015. Project Evaluation Holistic Framework – Application on Megaproject Case. Norway, Procedia Computer Science, pp. 409-416.