PMI Announces Preliminary Results of
Major Research Study in Poland
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has released preliminary findings from a landmark independent, academic study on the value of project management at the Institute's biennial research conference in Warsaw, Poland.The study results announced on Monday, 14 July clearly demonstrate that business and organizational performance can be significantly improved through the practice of project management.
The study,"Researching the Value of Project Management," is "unequivocal in its findings and independently validates what we’ve believed all along," said Edwin J. Andrews (pictured), PhD, director of Academic and Educational Programs & Services at the Project Management Institute.
"Project management is critical in today’s urgent and volatile economic environment. Business, government and non-governmental organizations can maximize performance and results when project management is properly implemented within the context of their organization."
Principal investigators Janice Thomas, PhD and Mark Mullaly, PMP led this study through Athabasca University in Alberta Canada.Their team of nearly 50 researchers on 17 global teams completed more than 18 months of data collection including interviews with 450 managers and executives.
The researchers'preliminary findings has been archived and can be viewed online at www.pmi.org/value. Due to publish in October 2008, the study will analyze project management from a detailed matrix of geography, industry and organizational type.
"This study is the first statistically significant look at project management from an organizational perspective," Andrews said. "It clearly shows that everyone from top executives and project managers to subcontractors, suppliers and other vendors recognize the value of project management in achieving business results and meeting stakeholder expectations.
"While project managers have always recognized the value and role of project management, executives and organizational leaders are often unaware of the role formal project management can play in securing business results and providing competitive advantage.
"Project Management is particularly important today as energy and commodity prices spike and access to capital is squeezed," Andrews continued. "As this study clearly demonstrates, project management provides critical business solutions that can help any company or organization achieve tangible business results and be more competitive in today’s global marketplace."
Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) is the leading advocate for the project management profession globally. Founded in 1969, PMI has more than 400,000 members and credential holders in 174 countries. PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is globally recognized as the gold standard credential in project management.
PMI Research Award Winners Announced
at PMI Research Conference in Poland
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has awarded The PMI® Research Achievement Award to Dragan Z. Milosevic, PhD, PMP, of Portland, Oregon, USA, and the Project Management Journal Paper of the Year Award to Blaize Horner Reich, PhD, of Vancouver, Canada.
"The PMI Research Achievement Award is for a person who has significantly advanced the concepts, knowledge and practice of project management through professionally conducted and authored project management research,"said Edwin J. Andrews, PhD, director of academic and educational programs and services and research for PMI."The Project Management Journal Paper of the Year Award recognizes a paper that has made a significant contribution to project management knowledge and practice. We are pleased to have distinguished recipients for each of these awards."
Project management research involves scholarly or scientific investigations or inquiries and is based upon data from which general conclusions can be drawn. Both the data and the conclusions are focused on either the project management context or the management activities needed to complete a project successfully, but not on the technical activities of the project. Dr. Milosevic’s research focuses on the broad area of project management with particular emphasis on standardization of project management and alignment with business strategy.
Dr. Dragan Z. Milosevic (pictured left) is professor of engineering and technology management at Portland State University in Oregon, USA. Prior to beginning his teaching career in 1993, he held management and leadership positions with firms in industry, including posts of engineer, project manager, marketing manager and executive vice president for projects. Over the past decade, Dr. Milosevic has written eight books on project management,six chapters in professional reference books and more than 45 leading-edge research papers in world-class journals and conference proceedings.
His ideas have influenced academic programs and executive training, and his scholarly work has helped establish new directions and standards by making significant and sustained contributions to the theory and practice of project management. Dr. Milosevic has presented his research and project management insight at guest lectures, colloquia and seminars at more than 100 enterprises and universities worldwide. He also has presented papers at seven PMI Symposia and Research Conferences, starting as early as 1975.
His work was formally recognized in 2004 when he received PMI's David I. Cleland Literature Award for his book Project Management Toolbox and in 1988 when he was recognized with a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. He has been named three time Best Teacher of the Year at Portland State University. He served on the PMI Research Member Advisory Group from 1993-1995. He currently serves on the editorial review board for the International Project Management Journal and the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Dr. Milosevic studied at the University of Belgrade in Yugoslavia where he earned a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering, a master of science degree in marketing and his doctorate in project management. He earned his Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification in 1990.
The Project Management Journal Paper of the Year must have appeared as a published article during the previous calendar year in the Project Management Journal, the professional research journal of the Project Management Institute. The Journal presents useful information on both theory and the practice of project management. The title of Dr. Reich’s article was "Managing Knowledge and Learning in IT Projects: A Conceptual Framework and Guidelines,"and it appeared in the June 2007 issue of Project Management Journal.
Dr. Blaize Horner Reich (pictured right) is a professor of business administration at the Segal Graduate School, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, a consultant and a researcher. Earlier at Simon Fraser University, she was associate dean, Graduate Programs from 2000 to 2003. She also has been a visiting associate professor at Templeton College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Her research focuses on project management, knowledge management, the alignment of information technology and business strategies and risk management.Following her work at British Columbia Hydro and Power as the company’s first data base administrator, she became a management consultant in the fields of strategic business and Information technology planning and information resource management. She completed a bachelor of arts degree in economics, a master in science degree in business administration and a doctorate at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Reich serves on the board of directors of the Industrial Alliance Pacific Life Insurance Company and has served on the board of directors of the Thrifty Foods Company. Both Alliance and Thrifty Foods are headquartered in Canada. She also has been an associate editor of MIS Quarterly and a senior editor of Database. She is currently an editorial board member of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems, the Information Systems Journal and the Project Management Journal.
She is the author of Scaling the Ivory Tower:Stories of Women in Business Faculties and more than 40 published articles and conference proceedings. Dr. Reich and her research colleagues, Dr Chris Sauer (Oxford) and Dr. Andrew Gemino (Simon Fraser) operate a research-based website for project managers, at www.PMPerpectives.org
Both awards were presented at PMI’s biennary research conference - one that attracts academicians, scholars and project management professionals from throughout the world. A highlight of the conference held on 13-16 July 2008 in Poland was the announcement of preliminary findings of a three year-long research study on the "Value of Project Management." Commissioned by PMI and conducted by researchers at Athabasca University in Canada, the study looked at more than 60 case studies from a globally dispersed array of industries and provided benchmarks for organizations to calculate the return on investment for their implementation of standardized project management programs.
The Project Management Institute (PMI®) is the leading advocate for the project management profession globally. Founded in 1969, PMI has more than 400,000 members and credential holders in 174 countries.PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) credential is globally recognized as the gold standard credential in project management. For more information, visit www.pmi.org.
