Limitations of Project Management in Nepal

Project management concept suffers from a number of limitations in Nepal. They are:

1. Unsuitable: Nepal is a country of villages. Rural development projects are important for reducing poverty in rural areas of hills and terai. Most rural projects are small and simple. Project management concept is not suitable for such projects.
2. Problem of Authority Delegation: Project management concept provides total authority and responsibility to project manager from inception to completion. Nepalese administrative system is "Feudocratic". The institutional capacity for project management is poor. Senior managers are unwilling to delegate authority to project manager. This constrains effect project management.
3. Top Management Interference: In Nepal, project management generally lacks top management support. Too much interference by top management in appointment and transfer of project manager and project employees and award of contracts is common.
• Politicians look at projects as convenient vehicles for employment of their political workers. This has led to over-staffing in projects.
4. Lack of Professional Human Resources: Project management requires a special breed of trained professional human resources. They are in short supply in Nepal.
• Matrix project organization structures in Nepal suffer from lack of right people. Project managers lack independence to handpick the right people. Functional managers generally depute their "favored ones" or "available ones" to the project. Project team gets staffed in incompetent people.
• Projects generally carry extra incentive to employees. A lot of "source and force" is used to get posted to projects.
5. Conflicts: Project management in Nepal tends to be infested with conflicts between project and functional departments. Interpersonal conflicts also abound among project team members. Discipline is poor in projects.
6. Cultural Constraint: Nepalese culture generally lacks sense of the value of time. Administrative personnel are champions for postponing important decisions for tomorrow. This also happens in projects. The time and cost overruns due to lack of appreciation for project schedules constrain effective project management.