CLIENT PROJECT TIME SCHEDULE CONTROLS — AN EMPIRICALLY-BASED SYSTEM DYNAMICS CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Different project participants often have different objectives and expectations, and implement different controls aimed at advancing their interests. This article investigates project controls taken by the client during the project design stage to improve project time schedule performance. Dynamic hypotheses and a System Dynamics conceptual model of client controls and their ripple effects are formulated in this article from a combination of the existing literature, mental models of project managers gathered through an embedded multiple-case study, and Systems Thinking. The results suggest that client controls that are aimed at improving project time schedule performance generate ripple effects that worsen the performance.