Evaluators, Government Regulation, and Project Management

Introduction: The Role of Evaluators in Project Planning

Evaluators play an important role in the planning phases of any project. Their responsibilities include developing key objectives, identifying functions and scope of work, and establishing methods for ongoing assessment throughout the life of a project. This aids the project manager in upholding accountability and forming the foundation of an information center to avoid flaws or errors, as well as identifying key stakeholders and their respective roles within the project. This may also include scheduling and workload planning. Project evaluation beyond the planning phase is best conducted at crucial milestones and may be carried out by either external or internal sources to ensure that the project will be completed on time and, most importantly, on budget.

Evaluators consider the financial losses or gains associated with a project, as well as managing project expenses throughout the program. They examine the potential amount of time that must elapse before the profits of an investment are attained. Evaluators scrutinize "payback periods, cash flow, and cost of any debt incurred, taxes, direct quantifiable expenses, indirect expenses, and unquantifiable costs" (Irani, 2010). Understanding these metrics is essential to making sound investment decisions and maintaining project viability from start to finish.

Financial Analysis and Evaluation Criteria

Administrative and governmental influences affect nearly every project and have the potential to shape decision-making at multiple levels. Consider, for example, that XYZ Company believes a team-building event outside the office could increase general employee satisfaction and, in direct consequence, productivity. The firm may consider various locations and select a beach as the best option. Governmental factors to consider might include restrictions on alcohol, hours of operation, prohibitions on the use of propane for cooking, and other applicable regulations. Even if the government has no direct effect on the business event itself, the rules surrounding the use of a public space can ultimately affect how the event is conducted.

Government regulators therefore remain an important consideration during planning, to ensure that laws are observed and compliance is maintained — otherwise, there may be substantial negative consequences. It is also worth noting that private business does not always act in a socially accountable way, particularly when doing so might reduce profits or cause the business to appear incompetent in the eyes of shareholders seeking returns. Within the financial sector, government agencies regularly maintain databases of consumer complaints concerning a wide range of discriminatory banking practices; nevertheless, governments have often failed to enforce existing laws. Numerous consumer grievances were overlooked because such complaints were considered poorly documented or unimportant.

Government and Administrative Influences on Business Decisions

The government negatively influenced the way banks conducted business. Banks calculated the likelihood of consumers pursuing hearings and weighed those probabilities against the expenses associated with defending suits and paying fines. If the profit margin was large enough, legal fees and federal fines were often treated as a standard cost of doing business. Another contributing factor to the financial breakdown was the manner in which high-priced lobbyists — employed by the commercial industry — were selected based on their influence and relationships with various regulatory agencies and policymakers.

Lobbyists shape the regulatory system to favor business at the expense of the consumer. Layard and Glaister offer an example of how governments frequently do not act rationally but instead yield to pressure from numerous interest groups. Ultimately, the absence of enforcement against consumer abuses contributed to the collapse of the American economy. As Layard and Glaister observe, it is "not just government that influences the way business is conducted but private business influences government policy" (Layard & Glaister, 1994, p. 101). This dynamic illustrates why lobbying and regulatory capture remain significant concerns in economic governance.