Introduction ABC is a fictional major international construction firm based in Cyprus, boasting an annual turnover of one billion United States dollars. The company has been retained by the government of a developing country through an international public tender to undertake a series of infrastructure projects over four years. These projects include designing and building a new international airport with the capacity to serve 10 million passengers per year, a new telecommunications network to serve 1 million households, and three bridges (200, 300, and 400 meters in length) over a river, all located in the central part of the country. This essay aims to critically analyse ABC’s approach to managing these diverse projects by reviewing relevant project management processes and methodologies, evaluating the differences in project types using Lock’s typology, and discussing how ABC can achieve operational effectiveness across strategic, operational, and project levels.
Main Body ABC, a fictional major international construction firm based in Cyprus with a one-billion-dollar turnover, must adopt robust project management processes and methodologies to successfully deliver its infrastructure projects in a developing country. These are a construction and development of an international airport for 10 million passengers per year, a telecommunication network for one million households, and three bridges, 200 meters, 300 meters, and 400 meters respectively, over a river channel and therefore have a distinct implementation strategies based on the scale, system implementation, and environment. This section focuses at literature review and critically discusses prospective frameworks for ABC.
The PMBOK explains the procedure of carrying out major project, with concepts such as initiating and planning a project, executing it and checking on it, and finally closing it (PMI, 2021). PMBOK for ABC’s projects means adhering to the systematic risk management and stakeholder management since most of plans are financed with public money and some of the realized projects will be implemented abroad. Likewise, PRINCE2, a governance and control method, consists of a set of guidelines for the management of project through appropriate phases and roles (Simonaitis et al., 2023). This emphasis on business justification is suitable for ABC as it seeks to address the developing country’s governmental requirements as well as remain financially sustainable.
Concerning the airport and bridges that are engineering types of projects, this type of the Waterfall methodology is suitable since it embodies a sequential and clear approach to planning and executing in the fixed phases or cycles (Luca, 2022). In this way, one guarantees that even the most challenging design of the airport and the structural demands of the bridges will achieve the best results. However, the telecommunications network which is a technological system, can then use the Agile methodology for developing in an iterative style as a result of changing technological requirements (Saragih et al., 2021). The capability to be versatile is the primary reason Agile can handle unpredictable issues that may arise with the developing country’s technological infrastructure.
More importantly, applying these frameworks would mean that there is a need to implement them in contexts of developing countries’ projects, which is the case of ABC projects. A scale of the airport also requires significant management of stakeholders, as any delay or overspending may lead to the loss of people’s trust and money. Proper risk management process of PMBOK can address problems, such as supply chain problems which are typical, especially if a company operates in the development countries because of logistic difficulties, according to Frederico (2021). For the bridges, quality control from PRINCE2 is helpful to conform to the standards necessary to achieve safety particularly in a more likely region that threatens with environmental factors such as floods. The telecommunications project, however, has its limitations like lack of local professionals as well as well-developed telecommunication infrastructure. The way of approaching problem-solving continuously enables ABC to and gain feedback with an innovative approach within months, be flexible within the local contexts while making sure that it delivers solutions on time.
Further, it means that the operation of ABC is in a developing country, where issues such as regulation and political risk come into play. PMBOK and PRINCE2 value governance, thus helping ABC to effectively communicate with the government and the people in the locality, in order to meet the nation’s development objectives (Hyland-Wood et al., 2021). In this way, since all projects are integrated, the ABC can meet the specific needs of each project while at the same time realizing the unity of the programme.
ABC is a fictional construction firm and it is involved in three projects in a developing country; an international airport for 10 million passengers per year, a telecommunication network for 1 million households and three bridges of 200m, 300m and 400m spanning across a river. To analyse these factors, these projects will be benchmarked according to Lock’s typology to examine their differences regarding their respective portfolio, governance, and programme management considerations and their needs and issues, specifically.
Lock’s typology of projects is based on the criterion of the role of engineering or technology or both in the projects (Lamprou and Vagiona, 2022). The airport and bridges are the works of engineering, and are defined by construction and strength. The construction at the airport involves a great deal of civil engineering especially where there is need to construct runways and terminals for accommodating airplanes, besides where there is need to build bridges across the river there is a need for delicate works in as much as structures are concerned. On the other hand, telecommunications network is technology oriented whose major emphasis is on installation of network technologies, software and connections (Yao et al., 2022). This one entail installation of fibre-optic communication systems as well as ensuring that they integrate with the rest of the systems, this is different from physical-centred projects as are the other two.
In management of the portfolio, ABC has to ensure that resources are properly distributed on these projects that it has in its portfolio. As an elaborate project, the airport maybe requires huge capital and strong human capital some of which may congest capital and human resource required for the bridges and telecommunication networks. There is good reason to prioritize based on strategic goals, for example, to meet government deadlines for airport construction that may have stronger economic consequences, while not losing sight of the bridges and network.
Governance structures also vary. This is especially true because the airport project is a large-scale operation that is rather visibly accessible to the public, meaning that it must have strict governance mechanisms originating from the major stakeholders such as the government departments, global organizations and approvals, and the local population (Manahan and Kumar, 2021). This requires proper supervision, annual assessment and ensuring the company meets aviation policies. The bridges are also developing as engineering structures but have fewer participants involved in the process but to have means of preventing environmental impact since they are usually constructed on the river. The telecommunications network on the other hand requires governance concerned with the technology as well as the data protection which may require consultations with the technological vendors or policymakers (Brown and Marsden, 2023).
They vary by the type of work, so programme management, which involves linking with other initiatives, is different. The airport and bridges, both which are engineering, it could be done under a programme which would utilise an element of shared items such as construction equipment and engineers (Keskin et al., 2021). However, the telecommunications network has to be a separate program since it is innovation-based where there is heavy concentration on the IT and the network engineering. This structural approach makes sure that programme management has a relation with the specific technicalities of each project while it causes a problem in terms of inter-programme cohesion for ABC (Bhattarai et al., 2021).
ABC is a purely fiction construction firm that requires both strategic, operational, and project level operational excellence to execute its fibre infrastructure projects in a developing nation: 10 million passengers international airport, 1 million household telecommunications network, and three bridges of 200m, 300m, and 400m respectively. Promising practices are identified in the context of alignment, major issues are outlined and assessed critically and solutions to ensuring success are provided.
At the strategic level, ABC has the responsibility of satisfying the government of this developing country, which has goals and objectives such as economic growth through the airport. This needs to be well coordinated with strategic direction that is created from a project charter, which sets out goals, timelines, and responsibilities of the stakeholders. However, funding maybe affected due to political instability in the developing country or may be the priorities of the donors shift which will also create a challenge. ABC can reduce this by incorporating government interaction in the company’s governance structure so that it can change its operations in accordance with government changes (Gosselin and Journeault, 2022).
Organizationally, resources per the functioning of a project, ABC has to ensure proper distribution of resources in the projects. The airport of this size requires enormous capital investment that could possibly limit the overall resources available to, for instance, bridges and telecommunication systems (Gosselin and Journeault, 2022). One of the issues that may be faced here is that the supply of materials in Tanzania is limited which might imply a tendency towards late supply orders. ABC can avoid this by implementing project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) approach that recommends the use of resource levelling and scheduling. For example, construction of bridge should be done in a period when less resources are likely to be occupied on airport such as in the planning phases. Furthermore, the direct acquisition of these goods and services can also improve efficiency in operations; a problem of quality control can be contained by ABC through carrying out training programmes for the local suppliers as mentioned earlier.
As for the requirements concerning initiatives at the project level, it is important that each of them is delivered on time. Airport construction needs to meet aviation specifications, the bridges must be constructed with safety measures put in consideration and the telecommunication system requires to be implemented technologically. Some of the main challenges include, skilled labour which is scarce in most developing nations thus translation is likely to take long time. It would be easier for ABC to adopt a WBS in order to plan sub tasks that would make work planning clear and help in identifying person responsible for specific functions (Cui, 2022). For the telecommunications project, using Agile methodologies enhances iteration testing since there are some technological issues that cannot be well known or predicted hence requiring continuous testing while working within the given time frame.
However, for operational effectiveness to be attained, there must be a synergy between these levels. An integrated PMO can act as a solution where a PMO is dedicated to ensure that the strategic vision of an organization is in line with both at tactical and operational and project level execution (Cui, 2022). The PMO can help bring together such communication, which should be directed towards informing operational resource and project scheduling decisions, such as with regard to government negotiations. Yet, it needs to be noted that the PMO has to be sensitive to the context of the developing country context and, for instance, deal with bureaucratic issues like delays through interactions with the stakeholders. In this way, the specified levels can be aligned at ABC to achieve governmental objectives and, at the same time, provide deliverance of organizational projects in spite of contextual limitations.
Conclusion This essay examined infrastructure project management decisions by ABC, in this case, a developing country through an international airport, a telecommunication, and three bridges. From Task 1, it was established that there is a need to choose project management approaches; PMBOK for the airport and bridges and Agile for telecommunication network given the projects’ size and logistics of a developing country. Task 2, based on the characterisation developed by Lock showed that one was an engineering project (airport and bridges) and the other was a technology project (telecommunications). Task 3 was centred on how strategic objectives, operational performance and project management at the tactical level could be made congruent through implementing an integrated PMO. ABC can align these priorities through creating a good governance structure, making right investment decisions and choices and also being adaptable to factors such as political instability in other regions. Gaining governmental approval is equally important in any project therefore this approach incorporates all the important aspects to suing achieving the project objectives as expected by the government.
Assessment Requirements: Brief Summary The assessment required the student to critically analyse the project management approach of ABC Construction, a fictional international construction firm, across multiple infrastructure projects in a developing country. The key requirements included:
Understanding and application of project management methodologies – Analyze suitable frameworks like PMBOK, PRINCE2, Waterfall, and Agile in relation to different project types.
Evaluation of project types – Use Lock’s typology to categorize projects (engineering vs. technological) and identify their unique management needs.
Operational effectiveness – Discuss alignment across strategic, operational, and project levels to ensure successful delivery.
Critical discussion of challenges – Consider factors such as stakeholder management, risk, governance, resource allocation, and contextual issues of working in a developing country.
Integration of theoretical and practical frameworks – Demonstrate how academic concepts support real-world decision-making in project management.
Assessment Approach Step 1: Understanding the Scenario and Context
The student was guided to carefully analyze ABC Construction’s projects: international airport, telecommunications network, and three bridges.
Key focus was to identify project scale, scope, and contextual challenges such as political risk, logistics, and local resource constraints.
Step 2: Research and Literature Review
The mentor recommended exploring project management frameworks (PMBOK, PRINCE2, Agile, Waterfall) and their relevance to different types of projects.
Additional research included Lock’s typology to distinguish engineering vs. technological projects.
Students were encouraged to use credible sources and academic references to support their arguments.
Step 3: Critical Analysis of Project Management Approaches
Guided the student to apply PMBOK for large, engineering-intensive projects (airport and bridges) and Agile for technological projects (telecommunications network).
Discussed the importance of risk management, stakeholder management, and quality control in developing countries.
Emphasized evaluating governance structures, portfolio management, and programme management.
Step 4: Operational Effectiveness Across Levels
The student was instructed to analyze the alignment between strategic, operational, and project-level decisions.
Introduced the concept of an integrated PMO to coordinate resources, ensure communication across levels, and align projects with government objectives.
Highlighted the need to address local constraints, such as limited skilled labor, supply chain challenges, and regulatory requirements.
Step 5: Structuring the Essay
The mentor advised organizing the essay in three main sections:
Project management methodologies and their application.
Evaluation of projects using Lock’s typology and operational challenges.
Strategic, operational, and project-level alignment and operational effectiveness.
Concluded with a summary of key insights and recommendations for ABC Constructio
