SYNERGISTIC WORK SYSTEM AND PROJECT OUTCOMES OF OIL/GAS FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE: A RESOURCE-BASED VIEW APPROACH

Abstract

Motivated by the high rate of project abandonment, high cost of project implementation, and exigent volatilities facing projects in the oil and gas firms, the study employed the resource-based view in accessing the nature of relationship between synergistic work systems and project outcomes in oil and gas firms in Rivers State. The study covers the operation of 33 registered oil and gas firms in Rivers State and employed a sample size of one hundred and sixty-eight. Primary data was gotten through a structured questionnaire and was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural analysis.  The study hypothesized the relationship between dimensions of synergetic work system such as the administrative integration, sequential integration, and synergistic alignment of operations as against two core measures of project outcomes which are project schedule success and project cost minimization as prescribed by the resource-based view. Results showed that the three dimensions of synergistic work systems have a high statistical significance on project schedule success. On project cost minimization, the effect of administrative integration was statistically insignificant while sequential integration and synergistic alignment had a significant effect. Based on these outcomes, it is recommended that firms in the oil and gas industry can improve their project success by adopting and implementing synergistic work systems, but with more emphasis on sequential integration and synergistic alignment which covers the creation of the right team members, ensuring that all activities are covered in the project scope, realistic milestones should be created and adequate time estimates should be implemented. Firms should ensure they allocate the right team members and provide high technical support to record, track and manage materials and synergistic operations, which are core leverages for optimal project success.