In Search of Innovative Project Management Research, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has issued official Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for 2009 Research Funding.

According to the PMI announcement, "In response to the rapid growth of the profession and in our quest to advance the science and body of knowledge in Project Management, we must consistently discover and understand trends, explore new cutting-edge concepts, theories, tools, and further investigate present issues in project/program/ portfolio management. It is in this spirit of progress that the PMI Research Department issues its 2009 Request for Proposals."

Proposals for research in the following topic areas may be candidates:

ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT (Public and Private) - Many governments have now introduced laws and/or regulatory requirements of organizations to improve governance and risk issues. Although these have had a significant impact at senior levels of organizations, their influence is less determinable at levels where programs and projects are delivered. In the future, there are likely to be more regulations at senior levels of organizations. This RFP solicits research proposals that seek to provide evidence on what influence this will have at the delivery level and what influences they may have on project management.

PROJECT ASSESSMENTS - Reviews of on-going projects come under different names in various contexts, such as project assessments, project reviews, project audits and project health checks and are an essential part of project governance and management. They provide essential feedback regarding the status of a project. When Projects are created at various levels, it is important to have reasonable means of assessment to see whether the projects have achieved or are going to achieve their planned goals.
The research should look across the key issues and challenges in assessing projects.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE - Organizational change has existed for a long time as a specialized field in general management and is largely independent of the field of project management. Despite the potential relevance of one for the other, few bridges have been built between these two fields. Research project proposals are being solicited to examine and further investigate organizational change.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A CAREER CHOICE - The proposed research will explore the reasons why individuals choose Project Management as a career. It will ascertain the means by which they establish themselves as Project Managers and also explore the satisfaction they have gained from the career choice. It will identify the determining criterion for promoting Project Managers. A broad study encompassing various industries and various geographic regions would be most advantageous.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT - Project portfolio management has only become an important topic in the field of project management in recent years. There has been very little research on the topic outside of the field of new product development. There is a great need to further explore the many aspects of portfolio management. We seek proposals that will investigate the following possible areas: Portfolio Risk Management, Strategic Alignment and Portfolio Management, Research Allocation, Capacity Management and Implementation Processes.

BEST INDUSTRY OUTCOMES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS AND THEIR PROJECT MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES BY INDUSTRY AND REGION - Each project is a unique temporary organization focused on a specific mission and outcome. Similarly, each organization is different. It must deal within its industry, its economic constraints, cultural pressures and geo-political influences. What traditionally evolves from the myriad of standards, processes and methods focused on organizational capabilities is a set of best practices. These may be common across organizations in a given industry. Best practices are important to the eventual outcomes that projects provide for an organization’s ultimate success. This research proposal will explore and find the best practices common, not to specific companies (organizations) as much as they are common to a particular industry or project type. Most importantly, the research will delineate the best outcomes that are expected for organizational success in different industries.

OPEN TOPIC - This is an opportunity to either advance a project, program or portfolio management theory or hypothesis that has not been considered or otherwise addressed; to explore a particular relationship between elements that might contribute to project, program or portfolio success; or develop a heretofore unanticipated product or service of use to the profession.

All proposals should be three pages long and include a curriculum vitae for each of the primary researchers. PMI Research Program financial resources are limited, so proposals are sought from researchers who will have access to other financial resources. Researchers around the world are welcome to apply.

The deadline for pre-proposal submissions is Monday, 30 June 2008. PMI will notify the authors of the chosen pre-proposals by Monday, 4 August 2008, at which time full 10-page proposals will be requested. For more information and guidance to submit a proposal, please view the description of the RFP process.

With more than 265,000 members in 170 plus countries, the Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) is the leading membership association for the project management profession and the largest association dedicated to project management in the world. As a leading advocate for the profession, PMI is actively engaged in setting professional standards, providing a professional career path for project managers and maintaining a family of professional credentials: Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®), Project Management Professional (PMP®) and Program Management Professional (PgMP)®. The PMP is held by more than 267,000 project managers worldwide. PMI provides members with access to the knowledge, skills, educational support and networking opportunities. The Institute is also highly regarded for its extensive research capabilities and its program to accredit colleges, universities and Registered Education Providers to teach PMI approved project management courses. PMI was founded in 1969. Please visit PMI.org for more information.

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IPMA Call for 2008 Research Awards Submissions

Reported by Miles Shepherd in the UK

IPMA has announced its Research Awards Programme for 2008. Awards will be made to Young Researchers and to individual or teams of researchers for cutting edge research completed after
1 January 2007. Interdisciplinary research is particularly encouraged.

Researchers may come from academia, other research institutions or industry and from disciplines other than project management but their project must contribute to the development of project, program management, project-oriented companies or any element named in the International Competence Baseline (ICB3). The International Jury considers both the research outcome and the research process,
taking into account:

• Research results achieved

• Originality and innovation

• Theoretical foundation

• Transparency and professionalism of research process

• Practical relevance

• Management as research project

Candidates are required to apply with a research project. The research project must have had a duration of at least one year and must have been completed when the application is handed in. Completion of research project may date back to 1 January 2007. Application forms are available at www.ipma.ch

Winners are invited to present their research at the annual IPMA World Congress in Rome (9 – 11 November 2008). Awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the Congress. Winners also receive € 1000 to contribute towards travel expenses

Key Dates:

• 1 August entries close.

• 15. October Applicants and IPMA national association of prize winners notified

• 9 November Winners invited to participate in World Congress and receive prizes at special Ceremony.

For more information, contact Martina Huemann, Director of IPMA Research Awards, at martina.huemann@ipma.ch.

Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is a global organization of over 45 national representative societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. National societies serve the needs of individual members in local languages, while IPMA provides an umbrella organization to represent them at the international level. IPMA’s internationally acclaimed 4 Level Project Management Certification Programme continues to grow, with over 50.000 professionals having now achieved IPMA Certification. The IPMA annually presents project management awards to recognize excellence in project management. IPMA maintains its continuous presence in the global PM arena through regular hosting of International Symposia, Expert Seminars and its Annual World Congress. Additional information is available at www.ipma.ch.

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Project Track demonstrates strength of European Research
at EURAM 08

Reported by Miles Shepherd in the UK

The annual European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference is the leading event for management researchers and practitioners. EURAM 08 which closed in Ljubljana, Slovenia last week was the first to take place outside Western Europe and was another resounding success with more than 600 participants from 47 countries covering 6 continents. This was EURAM’s largest conference and demonstrated the strength and depth of European research in all fields of management.

Overall, the conference had 42 tracks with more than 500 papers submitted by 1048 authors were accepted from almost 700 submitted. Papers were double blind reviewed by more than 1300 reviewers from 49 countries.

The Project Management Track has historically been one of the strongest and this year’s event, organized by Dr Hedley Smyth from the Bartlett School of Graduate studies at University College, London, was no exception. Supported by a Track Committee which drew its 12 members from 9 countries, including for the first time, a representative from the International Project Management Association (IPMA), Dr Brane Semolic, Chair of their Research Management Board.

The project management theme, “Projects and Programmes: Diversity of Management, Diversity of Aims and Interests” was further divided into themes for each session. The first session, “Diversity of Aims and Perspectives” drew strongly on the UK Research network Rethinking Project Management in covering Chris Sauer and Blaize Horner Reich’s study into IT and identification of a changed mindset; other papers proposed a study into how project managers learn and 2 papers on projects in the service sector.

The second session examined the management of the project enterprise with 2 papers covering aspects of programme management and further papers on other decision making. The next session looked at Managing projects and had a strong vein of innovation in 3 of the 4 papers, while Winch’s paper took an different view of escalation of estimates. Session 4 was one of the busiest, with 5 papers around the theme of human factors and relationships. The concluding session looked at economic diversity of interests and social impact.

As has become a feature of these management conferences, the social programme was well constructed and very popular. The opening night reception at the Faculty of Economics was held in a huge marquee outside the excellent modern academic building. The following evening saw delegates move to the spa town of Bled, where the Bled School of Management (IEDC) hosted a convivial reception and barbecue after the keynote from Prof Jean-Pierre Lehmann, who outlined interesting views on the challenges for management research and leadership development resulting from the impact of European diversity and the globalizing world. Other keynotes came from the European Commissioner for Research and Science, Janez Potočhnik and Slavoj Žižek who spoke of structures, taking an unusual philosophic approach.

Overall, this was a most interesting conference. Despite the size and the large number of tracks, the organization was flawless and the support staff quite outstanding in their helpfulness and ability to deal with the myriad of problems that surface on these occasions.

Next year, the conference moves to Liverpool’s ACC Arena. The event will take place over the period 11 – 14 May and will have as its overall theme “Renaissance and Renewal in Management Studies”.

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Invitation to Participate in Resource Management Research

The Center for Business Practices invites project management professionals worldwide to participate in their latest research survey: Resource Management Challenges. Those who complete the survey will receive a copy of the complete research report.

Resource management is one of the nine knowledge areas whose standard practices are well defined in the PMBOK® Guide and other standards. Many articles, books and presentations are devoted to "best practices" on the subject as well. And software vendors rave about the resource management capability of their sophisticated tools. So why do resource management issues continue to be the number one challenge to organizations that practice project management?

This survey, conducted by the Center for Business Practices (CBP), is designed to help understand this seemingly contradictory project world in which we live. The CBP hopes to discover the root causes of resource management challenges as well as what practices are most important in overcoming those challenges.

The survey will take about 20-25 minutes to complete. All responses will be kept strictly confidential. The survey site will close on June 8, 2008. To take the survey, visit http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=966563.

The Center for Business Practices (CBP) is the research and publishing arm of the US-based consulting and training organization PM Solutions. The CBP promotes effective strategy execution through sound portfolio, program, project, and performance management by capturing best practice knowledge and integrating it into actionable, fact-based information: research, publications, and benchmarking events. Additional information available at http://www.cbponline.com/.

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