Organizational Influences on the Organization and Project Performance: The Impact of Conformity, Commitment and Trust

Abstract

Organizational Influences is an umbrella concept that refers to factors in the social and organizational context that impact the project setting. Shared values are organizational influences and a level of organizational culture. This investigation explores the impact of three shared values, namely conformity, commitment and trust, on the organization and project performance. The exploration was done by means of semi-structured interviews. The findings show that conformity is a practiced value that decreases project team performance and causes irrational selection of project personnel. Commitment is a promoted and practiced value that becomes critical in troubleshooting. Trust is a practiced value that is fundamental in stakeholders relationships. A strategy to manage the impacts of these values is proposed. This investigation is aimed to provide insights into the impacts of shared values so that the project managers can use this knowledge to deal with the complex social context where the project is submerged. Keywords: Organizational influences, organizational culture, shared values, promoted value, practiced value, conformity, commitment, trust, project performance, impact.