FEATURED PAPER

Notes on Credentialing and Assessing Project Managers

By Alan Stretton, PhD

Sydney, Australia

Abstract

This article touches on three issues related to assessing and credentialing project managers which concern me, but for which there do not seem to be any ready answers. One issue is differences in assessment processes used by various bodies around the globe in certifying project managers and/or project team members. One of these differences is in the range of topics covered in the assessments. Some assessments focus on knowledge of, and/or competence in, what I have termed ‘core’ project management topics – for example, the nine project management knowledge areas in PMI’s PMBOK Guide. Others include substantial ‘supporting’ topics in their assessments, in the form of general management and allied topics – for example those based on the seven different sections and fifty two topics of the APM Body of Knowledge. In this article I tentatively suggest that a possible approach for improving alignment of topic ranges would be to include both ‘core’ project management functions and ‘core’ general management functions in the primary assessment topic range, whilst coverage of ‘supporting’ functions would depend on the particular circumstances of the individual credentialing process.

The second issue that concerns me is that there are very little empirical data to support existing bodies of knowledge and/or competency standards on which credentialing processes are substantially based. This means that people are being assessed against criteria that have not been proven to be relevant in an objectively verifiable way. I acknowledge that my concern does not appear to be shared by many others, and that therefore the current situation is not likely to change quickly. However, I don’t believe that many would dispute the desirability of having much more empirically-based data in the project management field, to help verify and consolidate better practice.

The third issue is a somewhat broader one. In practice, an individual project manager does not need, and rarely if ever has, expertise/competence in all the key topics relevant to any particular project. When it comes to selecting a project team, the selectors try (or should try) to ensure that key project concerns are covered by at least one member of the team, rather than hoping to have these covered by the project manager alone. Their focus is then on matching the strengths of key individuals in the team to these key areas. Our current credentialing approaches do not focus on individuals’ strengths, although knowledge of such strengths is very important in picking project teams. This leads to the thought that perhaps we could have supplementary assessments to help identify individuals’ strengths.

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About the Author Alan Stretton, PhD Author Alan Stretton is currently a member of the Faculty Corps of the University of Management and Technology, Arlington, Virginia, USA. In 2006 he retired from a position as Adjunct Professor of Project Management in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, which he joined in 1988 to develop and deliver a Master of Project Management program. Prior to joining UTS, Mr. Stretton worked in the building and construction industries in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for some 38 years, which included the project management of construction, R&D, introduction of information and control systems, internal management education programs and organizational change projects. He has degrees in Civil Engineering (BE, Tasmania) and Mathematics (MA, Oxford), and an honorary PhD in strategy, programme and project management (ESC, Lille, France). Alan was Chairman of the Standards (PMBOK) Committee of the Project Management Institute from late 1989 to early 1992. He held a similar position with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and was elected a Life Fellow of AIPM in 1996. He was a member of the Core Working Group in the development of the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management. He has published over eighty professional articles. Alan can be contacted at alanailene@bigpond.com.au.