SMEs investments into project management

structured corporate firms, to much more inclusive and teamwork-based leadership styles such as transformational leadership (Feng & Liu, 2011).

Finally, a project management approach discussed in the literature in the context of SMEs in another country will be deliberated. This approach is used by some Irish SMEs (Murphy & Ledwith, 2007). In the study performed by (Murphy & Ledwith, 2007), it was found from the firms that responded to their survey that traditional and matrix style organisations were used by SMEs (Murphy & Ledwith, 2007).

Matrix style organisations are those that use a mix between traditional hierarchal structures and the pure project-based structures. It was also found that projects undertaken were often small, rather than the larger and more complicated projects sometimes undertaken by large corporations.

designed for larger organisations (Snider et al., 2009). ERP, as mentioned previously, is a useful tool for project managers but has in the past been primarily developed for use in larger corporate entities. As it has benefits within project management, it has therefore been increasingly applied to SMEs. This study is particularly relevant because four of the five organisations that were studied were manufacturing companies, with the fifth one being a distributer of natural resources (Snider et al., 2009). Of the four manufacturing companies, two were electronics manufacturers, one was a chemical manufacturer, and the final company, which was the most relevant to the construction and building materials sector, was in the heating and plumbing industry (Snider et al., 2009). Three of the five companies were under the designation of ‘Small’ companies while the other two fell under the category of ‘Medium’ (Snider et al., 2009).

In the study, six critical success factors were discovered from their analysis. These were as follows:

1) Operational process discipline;

2) Having small internal teams;

3) Strong project management focus and capabilities;

4) External end-user training;

5) Management support; and

6) Having qualified consultants (Snider et al., 2009).

While some of these factors overlap with success factors for ERP implementation in large firms, others were specific to SMEs (Snider et al., 2009). More research is needed on systems such as ERP for their use in SMEs, but the success factors identified by this study are a starting point for SMEs with the desire to apply such software solutions in their organisation and achieve successful results.

Since manufacturing SMEs are required to develop products, and continually innovate these products to remain competitive, a project-based development strategy is beneficial in allowing them to adapt quickly to the changing market (Banaszak et al., 2009). Having effective project management will aid in this process by allowing management and the company in general to make fast and accurate decisions (Banaszak et al., 2009). In a world which is increasingly based online, project management needs to address both the real-world constraints and the online project management decisions at the same time (Banaszak et al., 2009). With this added layer of complexity to organizational structure, effective project management becomes even more important for Canadian SMEs to focus their energy on.

Other benefits that exist for SMEs, with the employment of project management, include lowering costs, making the company more efficient, and improving customer satisfaction (Buxton, 2014). Not only this

but implementing project management practices can even help in improving employee morale which starts a positive feedback loop by making employees who engage with customers more attentive and happier, and by improving their enjoyment of work tasks thereby getting more done (Buxton, 2014).

Although there will be an adjustment period for organisations and their employees when starting to implement a project management system (Buxton, 2014), the benefits outweigh any interim difficulties SMEs may come across. According to one SME owner who took on a project management revamping of his firm, there exist eight key benefits from project management initiatives (Buxton, 2014). These benefits have been outlined in Table 2: Eight Project Management Benefits to SMEs.

Table 3: Eight project management benefits to SMEs (Buxton, 2014)

Benefit Short Description

1. Cost savings Project management helps to keep projects within their budget.

2. Quality Quality is improved so customer satisfaction is much higher.

Retention levels of clients is also improved.

3. Time management Project management allows for intelligent breakdowns of time, tasks and resource distribution, sometimes to the extent of reducing lead times. Early identification of issues helps to fix things when they are smaller and less time-consuming than they would be closer to the project’s end date.

4. Resource allocation The allocation of resources, staff and their skills are better managed and monitored.

5. Communication and

transparency Due to having a named individual with overall responsibility for project delivery, communication between all stakeholders as well as transparency of projects is improved because everyone knows where to go for decisions and information.

6. Risk mitigation By using more of the on-site expertise, organisations can steer clear of issues that they would have otherwise ran right into. While project management is not foresight, it is the closest thing to it.

7. Opportunities Project managers do not have to deal with any of the day-to-day activities and issues of the business and therefore are able to focus on a bigger picture, which often leads to better processes and systems being identified by them that otherwise would have been missed and not taken advantage of.

8. Futureproofing With record keeping initiatives, previous project management endeavours can be used as roadmaps of do’s and don’ts to be applied to current and future projects.

Depending on the type of project management leadership style that is employed, project management also benefits organisations in that it develops the skills and knowledge of team members and fosters a culture of innovation, creativity, and inclusivity. The style of leadership which most fosters these

qualities in an organisation’s employees is called transformational leadership (Feng & Liu, 2011).

Project managers who employ this exhibit four key behaviours which are listed below:

1) Inspirational motivation which includes developing and implementing a shared vision, with expectations for subordinates and the project in general that are motivating, inspiring and challenging;

2) Idealised influence, which entails serving as a role model by acting in a way that aligns with the shared vision;

3) Intellectually stimulating individuals to challenge assumptions as well as to seek their subordinates’ ideas and solutions; and

4) Individualised consideration, which refers to treating all team members as individuals with unique skills, knowledge bases, and strengths – essentially attending to their needs and fostering

trusting relationships (Feng & Liu, 2011).

These four leadership qualities taken together have been linked to improved task performance, contextual performance, and creative performance, all of which play particular roles in projects (Feng &

Liu, 2011).

In the manufacturing sector, this style of leadership can be particularly useful in project settings.

Innovation has been deemed one of the key factors impacting the growth and success of SMEs (Raymond et al., 2013). With business environments becoming increasingly more complex, manufacturing SMEs need to prepare and react appropriately if they wish to stay competitive. In general, organisations can do this in one of two ways (Raymond et al., 2013).

With growth-oriented manufacturing SMEs want to increase their competitive advantage through expanding into new markets and developing their technological leadership and product innovations (Raymond et al., 2013). Project management comes in as a helpful tool in achieving this growth initiative through increasing innovative capabilities, developing leadership skills, and to a lesser extent, identifying new markets. For manufacturing SMEs that focus more on their productivity with a defensive outlook and are therefore concerned with reducing costs and improving their deliverable capabilities, innovation comes into play in another way (Raymond et al., 2013).

With SMEs focused on these aforementioned defensive methods for remaining competitive, innovation and project management will be important for improving their processes, essentially streamlining their internal procedures to ensure cost savings, both for the organisation and for their buyers (Raymond et al., 2013). The distinction between the two approaches for staying competitive is in the type of

innovation they pursue. Product innovation and process innovation are both important components in organisations, and manufacturing firms can use either approach or a combination of both to achieve their strategic goals (Raymond et al., 2013). The benefits of employing project management, regardless of the approach, resides in the structure and focus that it offers to SMEs which tend to be less structured and more flexible by nature (Semrau et al., 2016; Tidor et al., 2012).