Project managers implementing IT improvements in businesses think that meeting their boss' requirements is more important that working to budget and timescales, new research suggests.

Data gathered by Parity Group found that 70 per cent for project managers said meeting their employer's requirements was the main goal - at the expense of monetary and time considerations.

Equally, the firm found that there is often a major discrepancy between what the IT project managers and the bosses considered to be a successful project.

"The overwhelming conclusion is that poor leadership is jeopardising project success. From a lack of commercial awareness to poor fostering of team skills, too many organisations are failing to provide senior leadership throughout a project," explained Alwyn Welch, chief executive of Parity Group.

"One of the most revealing aspects of the research was the respondents' chosen method of success and failure, indeed only a third of the respondent project managers considered completing within budget was very important."

Elsewhere in the research, it was found that the vast majority (nearly 90 per cent) of managers questioned said they have been involved with an IT project in the last three years.