06 RC Papers-2

IPMA Research Conference
Project Management
and its Impact on Societies
6th IPMA Research Conference
| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept 3-4, 2018

Project Management
and its Impact on Societies
6th IPMA Research Conference
Edited by Yvonne Schoper, Ph.D
IPMA Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept 3-4, 2018

Project Management and its Impact on Societies
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ISBN (PRINT): 978-94-92338-25-9

ISBN (PDF/A): 978-94-92338-26-6
Editorial team:
Alexandre A. Andrade Patricia Gonzaga Cesar Lixiong Ou
Carlos R. Araujo Calvin Hsiung Alexandre Caramelo Pinto
Fábio Athayde Helgi Thor Ingason Mladen Radujković
Luis Ballesteros-Sánchez Beata Jałocha Luiz Rocha
Julio F. Blumetti Facó Haukur Ingi Jonasson Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero
Timo Braun Marie-Pierre Leroux Yvonne-Gabriele Schoper, HTW Berlin, Germany (chief editor)
Juliana Cariello Geneviève Marquis Aleksandr Tovb
Juliana Corrêa Sandra Mišić Grigory Tsipes
Caroline Coulombe Maria Moreira Garai da Silva Lina Aleksey Uchenov
Mariia Dorosh Manuel Nicklich Olena Verenych
Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson Isabel Ortiz-Marcos Reinhard Wagner
Stanisław Gasik Vasili Osmakov Wang Yan
Graphical Design:
Iza Maciejak (Poland)
6th Research Conference Proceedings
Foreword from IPMA President
I have the pleasure of welcoming you as a reader to this new IPMA contribution related with
present and future of our profession, observing and analysing what has been the evolution of
our discipline, and why Research in Project Management has transcendence. For many years at
IPMA through our Associations we have emphasized research, knowing the economic and social
impact that Project Management and Project Managers has to our Societies.
The topic of our 6th IPMA International Research Conference: Project Management and its impact
on Societies means an exciting issue because the transcendence that it has and will have even more
in the near future. Our Societies of this 21st Century face challenges that they never had before and
these challenges are global regardless of the level of economic development and social maturity.
Complexity, uncertainty, volatility force us to embroider new challenges in all fields of action.
It does scarcely (1970) date in which we consider as the beginning of the “Modern Project Man-
agement” the Planet Earth harboured 3,6 billion people, today (2018) the Planet already host
7,6 billion people, through different Societies, which different values, with greater and better life
expectancies. In these contexts is where the Project Management and Project Managers must
achieve their projects successfully and beyond, all projects will be sustainable and will help to
tackle the worldwide challenges of our Societies.
When I started as Project Manager, more than 30 years ago I just was a “Project Engineer” (end
of ’80 of last century), projects and their management focused on deliverables, something very
specific, and mostly in the field of Infrastructures, construction and engineering fields, far from
optimizing and aligning resources with strategies, we hardly had clear what was functions and
associated roles of Programmes and Project Portfolios with the organization business. Informa-
tion was restricted and technology in many fields was only incipient, there we “Project Managers”
lived in a certain way isolated in our own geographical, social and cultural context, and there we
carried out our projects. During these more than 30 year time I have had the enormous fortune
5
to design, direct and commission projects and programmes in more than 40 countries worldwide in
the 5 continents, that allowed me to have a historical, holistic perspective about evolution of Pro-
jects and Project Management Worldwide, about the evolution of our profession and profession-
alism, especially about present and trends, challenges and enormous possibilities to improve pro-
fessional project management competences and contribute to the sustainability of our Societies.
We are currently near the end of the third industrial revolution, at least in the developed na-
tions. Other nations have been slower to adopt the ways of modern times. From life-integrated
software that tracks our decisions to automation and robots that help managers make better
decisions. There is a bit of a grey area between the separation of the third and fourth revolution.
The key difference is that machines being used during the third are controlled by algorithms that
have limits to them, consequently, the impact of Project Management and Projects Managers will
be relevant, especially related with individual and organizational competences.
The fourth industrial revolution at the present stage of our 21st Century is characterized by arti-
ficial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, IoT, 3D printing, 5G, autonomous vehi-
cles, and agile robotics. The changes that we are going to see during this time period are going to
be fundamental in taking our next steps in history. Once we discover how to safely create a world
of thinking machines, it will enable us to explore other planets and learn more about ourselves.
We will be able to sustain more artists and teachers, as well as learn more about our race as a
being on Planet Earth. And in this context worldwide is when competent project managers and
project management discipline will have more relevance and impact.
Most of these challenges, of which are the tendencies we call “projectification” are having and
will have in our Societies you will find out through the five chapters content in the present IPMA
Publication from the status of projectification of societies in different societies, going by national
project management maturity models, the consequence of the global projectification trend for
individuals, organisations and societies, as well about public administration based on transparent
project governance structures, finalizing with value creation through projects and project man-
agement for the Society.
Finally, I want to sincerely thank you our outgoing colleagues, especially to Dr Lixiong Ou (China)
IPMA Vice President for Research, Dr Helgi Thor Ingason (Iceland) IPMA Research Coordinator
and Dr Yvonne Schoper (Germany) as IPMA Research Conference Coordinator for their efforts,
devote dedication and valuable contributions during latest years. As well to all the Team that has
made possible a successful Research Conference for another year.
Enjoy reading and reflecting and help us to keep moving forward IPMA Research in Project Man-
agement for a more equitable and sustainable Societies.
Yours sincerely
Jesus Martinez Almela, IPMA President
6
Theme of the 6th IPMA Research Conference 2018:
Project management and its impact on societies
Modern project management was developed in the 1970s in industrial sectors like aerospace,
aeronautics, defence and construction industry. From here the methods, tools and technics were
taken over to industries like automotive, mechanical engineering, but also IT and banking. Today
project management is applied in all sectors like education, health, sports, public administration
and politics, but also in private life. The global trend of “Projectification” that comprises all areas
of life is ubiquitous.
The three projectification studies in Germany, Norway and Iceland show that project work con-
tributes already to one third to the national gross domestic product. Although differences exist
among the countries regarding size and industry structure, the degree of projectification of ad-
vanced economies seems to converge on around one third of all economic activities. The exact
results showed that the share of project work in Germany was 34,7% in 2013, and 32,6% in Nor-
way and 27,7% in Iceland in 2014 (Schoper et al, 2018).
The scope of the IPMA Research Conference 2018 is to explore the consequences of the global
trend of increasing project work for the various societies. In times of increasing automatisation
and digitalisation of the standard line processes in organisations, more and more people work
in projects to realize the strategies of the executives, to create innovations and further develop
these ideas into new products and services, to develop marketing campaigns or to improve inter-
nal processes in organisations. Employment contracts are becoming increasingly limited to the
duration of a project. This seems to give greater flexibility both to the employer and the employ-
ee. Long-term or even life-long employment will become an exception. But what does this pro-
jectification development mean for the individual, for the organisations and for the societies, for
the social security systems like unemployment insurances or pension systems, for the planning
of the private life and family planning, or for decision making processes e.g. for private mortgage
lending? The 2018 IPMA Research Conference aims to define answers to these urgent questions.
7
Through projectification public projects like infrastructure projects become more transparent
as the introduction of project management leads to transparent project governance structures
in public administration. The approval and execution of major public projects like streets, public
transportation, schools and universities, hospitals or high-speed data networks can lead to bet-
ter way of value creation for a country for the sake of its citizens and a better life for everyone.
The 2018 conference theme motivated many authors to submit their papers. In the first stage
we received 34 short papers that were evaluated in a double-blind review process. As a con-
sequence 17 authors were invited to submit their long papers. The authors were encouraged to
reach beyond the usual boundaries of the project domain and to embrace innovative approach-
es for further developing the understanding of project management.
The publication in hand shows the various aspects of projectification.
The first part Status of projectification of societies in different societies analyses with the
paper from Beata Jalocha How to projectify a country? The impact of the European Union on
the projectification of the Polish public sector the consequences of the many projects that fol-
lowed with the entrance of Poland in the European Union. Sandra Mišić and Mladen Radujković
present in Macroeconomic measurement of the Croatian project economy the results from the
projectification measurement of the new EU entrant Croatia. Lixiong Ou, Calvin Hsiung Calvin
and Yan Wang Yan show in Projectification in China: A Comparative Study Of Projectification
between China and European Countries the differences in the projectification in Germany,
Norway and Iceland and in China. Finally Helgi Thor Ingason analyses with Projectification
in Iceland measured two different approaches of quantitative macroeconomic measurement of
projectification.
The second part National Project Management Maturity Models shows with the paper
from Reinhard Wagner Towards an IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model
(IN-PM3) the draft for the development of a new national PM maturity measurement
model. Stanislaw Gasik designs in Developing Governmental Project Management Capa-
bility with Use of Maturity Model a model for measuring the Project Management maturity
of governments.
The third part Consequence of the global projectification trend for individuals, organisations
and societies analyses with the papers from Isabel Ortiz and Rocio Rodriguez The impact of
projectification on managers and team members: main challenges and difficulties the results
from a study about the new challenges of the ongoing projectification trend on the indi-
vidual project managers. Marie-Pierre Leroux and Caroline Coulombe discuss in Organi-
zational capacity building — Moving from technical fix in international development project
management to soft expertise the organisational challenges of the ongoing projectifica-
tion trend. The paper from Timo Braun and Manuel Nicklich analyses in Project Management:
on the rise to a full profession? if project management has already become a professional
occupation. And Yvonne Schoper analyses in Light and shadows of Projectification for the
Societies the bright and dark sides of the ongoing trend of projectification to the various mem-
bers in the societies.
8
In the fourth part Public administration based on transparent project governance structures
Alexander Tovb presents in Project-Oriented Management in the Ministry of Industry and
Trade of the Of Russian Federation — Experience of Analysis his experiences from introducing
Project Management in a Russian ministry office.
The fifth part Value creation through projects / Project Management for the society con-
sists of the paper from Haukur Ingi Jonason and Helgi Thor Ingason Project Pedagogy to
Projectify and Mobilise a “Fragile“ Municipality in which they start the experiment of teach-
ing project management to the citizens in an economic weak village. Genevieve Marquise
leads us though a literature overview about the The Value Creation Target of Project Man-
agement for Innovation: Literature Review. Olena Verenych and Mariia Dorosh present the
Evaluation and management of values in projects as a project driving success. Alexandre
C. Pinto, Patricia G. Cesar, Alexandre A. Andrade and Julio F. Blumetti Facó show in their
paper Building capacities through digital trans-formation using scenario-based PPM a
concept for new capacities building, and finally the paper from Juliana Cariello, Juliana Cor-
rea, Fabio Athayde, Carlos R. Araujo and Luiz Rocha Implementing Excellence in Social
and Humanitarian Organizations shows how project management can make a difference in
humanitarian projects.
The publication in hand represents a holistic overview on the various aspects of projectifica-
tion as an overlap between sociology, macro-economy, organisational behaviour sciences and
project management, and could be the starting point for a new scientific direction in project
management.
THE REVIEW PROCESS
The paper review process for the 6th IPMA Research Conference 2018 was a three stage process:
The first stage was a double blind review by the seven jury members of the IPMA Research Con-
ference Steering Committee, all international academics from five countries:
»» Prof. Dr. Catherine Deffains-Crapsky, University of Angers, France
»» Prof. Dr. Helgi Thor Ingasson, University of Reykjavik, Iceland
»» Prof. Dr. Marly Monteiro de Carvalho, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
»» Prof. Dr. Marcos Lopez Rego, PUC Rio, Brazil
»» Prof. Dr. Farid El Massioui, Université de Paris, France
»» Prof. Dr. Yvonne Schoper, University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany
»» Prof. Dr. Alfredo Serpell, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Chile,
accompanied by the two Brazilian hosts: Raphael de Oliveira Albergarias Lopes, M.Sc. and Jorge
Kolotelo, M.Sc.
All 46 short paper submissions went through this initial review process. In this phase the papers
were reviewed using recognized academic criteria (quality; relevance; new or emerging knowledge;
applicability) and were ranked in two categories:
»» First Review Accept
»» First Review Reject
9
21 short papers were accepted based on these criteria and the authors were invited to submit
their long papers for the Research Conference.
Twelve authors came to the Research conference in Rio de Janeiro, presented their research
papers and received a detailed feedback from the audience and the four research stream facil-
itators:
»» Prof. Dr. Timo Braun, FU Berlin, Germany
»» Prof. Dr. Mladen Radujkovic, University Zagreb, Croatia
»» Prof. Dr. Marly Monteiro de Carvalho, USP Sao Paolo, Brazil
»» Prof. Dr. Yvonne Schoper, University of Applied Sciences, Germany
In addition each author received a written feedback from the stream moderator. Those authors,
who were not able to come to Rio de Janeiro, were invited to submit their paper to this publication.
The resulting 16 papers are published in this conference publication.
The IPMA Research Conference Coordinator thanks all authors for contributing with their pa-
pers to the success of the Research Conference, all reviewers for their constructive feedback
to the papers, the conference stream facilitators for their professional moderation of the re-
search tracks, the IPMA Research Coordinator Helgi Thor Ingason for his ongoing support, IPMA
Brazil and Ibmec for hosting the 6th IPMA Research conference, Raphael Albergarias and Jorge
Kolotelo for organising the conference on site, and finally IPMA for publishing the conference
papers.
Yvonne Schoper, Ph.D.

Berlin, Jan 9th 2019 IPMA Research Conference Coordinator
10
Contents
6th Research Conference Proceedings (foreword from IPMA President) 5
About the IPMA Research Conference (by Yvonne Schoper) 7
I Status of projectification in different societies
Beata Jałocha How to projectify a country?

15
The impact of the European Union on the projectification of the Polish public sector
Sandra Mišić, Mladen Radujković Macroeconomic measurement of the Croatian project economy 33
Ou Lixiong, Hsiung Calvin, Wang Yan Projectification in China:

41
A Comparative Study Of Projectification between China and European Countries
Helgi Thor Ingason, Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson, Haukur Ingi Jonasson

63
Project Management in Iceland measured – a comparison of two methods
II National Project Management Maturity Models
Reinhard Wagner Towards an IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model 79
Stanisław Gasik Developing Governmental Project Management Capability with Use of Maturity Model 89
III Consequence of the global projectification trend for individuals, organisations and societies
Luis Ballesteros-Sánchez, Isabel Ortiz-Marcos, Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero

111
The impact of projectification on managers and team members: main challenges and difficulties
Marie-Pierre Leroux, Ph. D., Caroline Coulombe, Ph. D. Organizational capacity building
123
Moving from technical fix in international development project management to soft expertise
Timo Braun, Manuel Nicklich Project management: On the rise to a full profession? 131
Yvonne Schoper Light and shadow of projectification 139
IV Public administration based on transparent project governance structures
Vasili Osmakov, Aleksey Uchenov, Aleksandr Tovb, Grigory Tsipes

159
Project Governance in the Russian Federal Ministry
V Value creation through projects / project management for the society
Haukur Ingi Jonasson, Helgi Thor Ingason Project Pedagogy and Projectification of Fragile
177
Local Communities – DRAFT Offering ICB4 Project Management Training on a Municipality Level
Geneviève Marquis The Value Creation Target of Project Management 189
Olena Verenych, Mariia Dorosh Evaluation and management

203
of values in projects as a project driving success
Alexandre C. Pinto, Patricia G. Cesar, Alexandre A. Andrade, Julio F. Blumetti Facó

Building capacities through digital transformation using scenario-based PPM 215
Value creation through projects / project management for the society
Juliana Cariello, Juliana Correa, Fabio Athayde, Carlos R. Araujo, Luiz Rocha
225
Implementing Excellence in Social and Humanitarian Organizations
Contributors 239
11
I.
Status of projectification
in different societies
Beata Jałocha
Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
How to projectify a country? The impact of the European

Union on the projectification of the Polish public sector
INTRODUCTION in the times of an interregnum (Bauman, 2012), a moment

in history in which old ideas no longer work, but new ones do
The past decades have been a period of exceptionally rapid not yet exist, in a situation where one type of governance
changes in every dimension of social life. The intensity and has already been exhausted, and the next one has not yet
multiplicity of events we are witnessing — such as techno- emerged. Thus, today’s model of social relations is very un-
logical progress or galloping globalisation, change the way stable, which causes searching for ways to deal with this dif-
organisations and whole societies function. Under the in- ficult situation. Perhaps projects that are often the promise
fluence of technological, social, and political changes, the of a new start, a better tomorrow, possibility to solve com-
public sector is also undergoing changes in every corner plex problems (Cicmil, Lindgren, & Packendorff, 2016) have
of the world. It is widely debated how management of pub become a seeming remedy for the survival of the interreg-
lic affairs has been influenced by such trends as New Public num. In addition, processes such as, for example, European-
Management (NPM) or Good Governance (Osborne, 1993; isation (Büttner, 2012) strengthen and accelerate the flow
Osborne, 2010)”. (do usunięcia słowa: “of thinking about the of ideas and trends, among them work based on projects,
public sector”). Both approaches have both supporters, who and thus accelerate projectification. Projects, as the cen-
admire a qualitative change between the institution and cit- tral concept of capitalist society, can be an idea for building
izen, as well as opponents complaining about the devastat- a bridge between what is no longer there and what is a great
ing influence, of especially NPM, on public affairs and under- unknown to people.
standing the role of governance.
The scientific debate on the processes of projectification of
In the maze of changes and attempts to reform the pub- the public sector and public policies is currently expanding
lic sector, many trends have emerged that imprint a last- (Büttner & Leopold, 2016; Godenhjelm, Lundin, & Sjöblom,
ing mark on how the public sphere works and how it is man- 2015; Jałocha & Prawelska-Skrzypek, 2017; Jensen, Johans-
aged. One of these trends is projectification, resulting from son, & Löfström, 2017; Mukhtar; Landgren & Fred, 2018; Sjö-
the multiplication of projects in all spheres of life, which we blom, Löfgren, & Godenhjelm, 2013). These studies, however,
can define as “the institutionalization of projects in socie- usually have a qualitative character and focus on selected,
ty” (Jacobsson & Jałocha, 2018). Jensen, Thuesen and Ger- local organisations. There are only few exceptions to devel-
aldi (2016) even argue that projects have become a “hu- op a measurement for projectification processes in general
man condition” and have wide implications, including ethical - Wald et al. (2015) and Schoper et al. (2018) are the exam-
ones. It is difficult to clearly indicate the reasons for such ples of studies where projectification is quantified. There-
intensive development of projects and widespread accept- fore, in the research project at hand, an attempt was made
ance of this approach as a universal way of solving both to identify the scale of the public sector projectification
complicated social problems and dealing with small, simple process in Poland by not only describing, but also quantify-
tasks related to the private sphere. Perhaps one of the keys ing the phenomenon. By trying to estimate the number and
to understanding the phenomenon of projects is that we live type of projects implemented in Poland in the years 2007-
15
6 th IPMA Research Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept 3-4, 2018
2013 from EU funds, i.e. the second programming period af- METHODOLOGY
ter Poland’s accession to EU structures, my goal is to look at
the scale of the phenomenon. In this part of the text, I will present the main methodological
assumptions of the project and the process of data collec-
Poland joined the EU in 2004, at the time when most of the tion and analysis.
EU’s activities were planned and implemented as projects.
However, in the Polish public sector, projects had not been The nature of the study, which illustrates the following con-
widespread until that time. Although the Polish administra- siderations on the process of projectification of the public
tion had some project experience, resulting, for example, sector in Poland, is quantitative. The research results pre-
from the implementation of reforms after the fall of com- sented below are not, however, a separate research project
munism in the form of a project. Pre-accession programs - they are part of a larger project entitled ” The impact of
were also implemented and European projects were joined, projectification on the public sector in Poland”. The quan-
if it was possible for a non-member state (such as e.g. the titative part, which will be presented in this text, is the first
European Capital of Culture Krakow 2000). Hence, the state stage of a mixed study. As part of the extensive mixed re-
administrative apparatus was not adapted to EU expecta- search carried out, an attempt was made to give an an-
tions. Yet, it was known that without preparing the country to swer to the following research problem: How projectification
absorb funds and implement projects, it would not be possi- practices affect the public sector in Poland at three differ-
ble for the country to join the EU in reality. Even before the ent levels: public policies, public organisations, and public of-
accession, intensive preparations had been started, which, ficers? Research methods have been selected to provide
due to their scale and range, could be compared to a na- an understanding of projectification processes at those
tional project management course. Therefore, by describ- three different levels. The approach adheres to pluralistic
ing the scale of the projectification of the public sector in and multi-method trends in Management Studies. The main
years 2007-2013, I would like to try to understand how the research project consists of three stages, implemented se-
EU funds affected the projectification of the whole country quentially. The principal part of the research is a multiple
in general. case study analysis (Stake, 2006; Yin, 1984). The research
will focus on 15 public organisations (case studies) that have
This study has numerous limitations — including the fact completed the largest number of projects according to re-
that it refers to a narrow slice of time and does not cover all ports on EU funding in Poland. One property they all share
projects carried out by the public sector in Poland at that is that, with the sheer number of projects they have carried
time. At the same time, it is the first step to try to understand out, they are more exposed to projectification processes.
how the massification of project activities can affect the ac-
tivities of the Polish public sector and the shaping of pub- In order to be able to select the organisation to be subject-
lic policies at home. Because Poland has been the largest ed to in-depth qualitative research, a quantitative study was
beneficiary of EU funds in Europe for over ten years, it can carried out, the partial results of which are contained in this
be assumed that these processes in this country are par- article. Using the databases administered by the Ministry of
ticularly intense. Investment and Development1, a group of projects imple-
mented in Poland in the years 2007-2013, i.e. in the sec-
The article is organised in the following way. After a short ond programming period, was selected for the study. All data
introduction, the research methodology will be presented. comes from the database of the National IT System SIMIK
Then, in order to outline the research background, the phe- 2007-2013, where information on projects implemented in
nomenon of public sector projectification will be discussed. Poland in the years 2007-2013 with the support of EU funds
In the next part, a description of the process of distribution
of funds by projects in the European Union is presented. The
next sub-chapter discusses the question of how EU funds
1 The data comes from the website http://www.funduszeeurope-
are distributed in Poland. Then, a data analysis was pre- jskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/AnalizyRaportyPodsumowania/Strony/
sented. The article ends with a concluding discussion, which KSI_raporty.aspx In this research files were uses which were up-
summarises the key conclusions from the study. dated as of 31.12.2017. Reading: 11.01.2018.
16
How to projectify a country? The impact of the European Union on the projectification of the Polish public sector
was collected. The source of data for the study were publicly title and implemented amount, and the only feature differ-
available directories with records generated from the SIMIK entiating these records was the area where the project was
system. implemented. During the data cleansing, every first record
was left, and the next doubled ones were deleted. In this way,
The projects that were analysed were implemented under the a total number of 105,910 projects was obtained. In addition,
following programmes: Operational Programme Infrastruc- this value was verified in e-mail correspondence with the
ture and Environment — ERDF and SF, Innovative Econo- Ministry of Investment and Development, which confirmed
my Operational Programme — EFRR, Human Capital Oper- the correctness of calculations2.
ational Programme — ESF, 16 regional programs — ERDF,
Operational Programme Eastern Poland — ERDF, Technical Then, a detailed analysis of the data was started. It was ex-
Assistance Programme — ERDF. Programmes the data of tremely difficult to distinguish within the overall number of
which have not been collected in the referenced database, public organisation projects and indicate which of them im-
and thus have not been analysed, are programs concern- plemented the most and/or the largest projects. The diffi-
ing territorial cooperation, cross-border and transnational culty was primarily due to the fact that entering data into
cooperation (intended for implementation of projects with the database was the responsibility of the beneficiaries, and
partners from abroad). The database also did not include they often freely interpreted the information that was nec-
data of the Rural Development Programme for the years essary to be provided. Initially, it was assumed that aggre-
2007-2013 (intended for farmers, agricultural processors gation of data will occur after an individual Tax Identifica-
and residents of villages and small towns) and the Opera- tion number (NIP). The NIP is a unique ten-digit code used
tional Program “Sustainable development of the fisheries to identify taxpayers in Poland and each organisation has it.
sector and coastal fishing areas 2007-2013” (subsidies for In the course of work on the database, it turned out that the
fishermen from fish processing plants, fish breeders and fish beneficiaries entered the NIP differently. For example, one
farms, and areas dependent on fishing and fishery). There- public organisation was able to provide for one project —
fore, more projects were implemented in the EU support in its own NIP, in the case of another — the NIP of the parent
Poland in the analysed period, however, due to the fact that company. This had led to falsification of data on the number
these data were not included in the above-mentioned da- and value of projects implemented by a given organisation.
tabases their analysis was abandoned. At the same time, it Aggregation by name also turned out to be problematic. It
should be emphasised that the programmes with the highest happened that beneficiaries changed or abbreviated their
EU subsidy which constitute the majority of project activities own name, which meant that the number and value of pro-
in the 2007-2013 perspective were subjected to the study. jects for a given unit did not sum up correctly. The option of
aggregating data by the postal code was also rejected, be-
The research was carried out using the “R” software, to which cause then there was a problem with indicating public units
records from the database generated from the SIMIK sys- from a given area by their names. Therefore, it was assumed
tem were transferred. After aggregating all records that were that the variable, which would be the axis of data analysis in
in two separate MS Excel files, the total number of records the study, will be the legal form.
obtained was more than 150,000. This meant that the SI-
MIK 2007-2013 system indicated the existence of a total In the SIMIK 2007-2013 system, the beneficiaries were giv-
of over 150,000 projects. However, this was incorrect infor- en the opportunity to assign the legal form in which the or-
mation, which was captured and corrected by clearing the ganisation is included. The catalogue of legal forms was
database. The number above 150,000 originated from an a closed catalogue — this list was used to map the legal
imprecise instruction to record project data, which resulted form by the beneficiaries. Among the various legal forms
in data duplication. When a given project was implemented concerning the public, private, and non-governmental sec-
in two areas (e.g. in two different communes or municipal- tor, a set of 10 legal types was selected that can be assigned
ities), this resulted in overwriting the record and indicating
one project as two separate ones. During the analysis, a giv-
en project was treated as duplicating with another record in
2 E-mail correspondence with the Ministry of Investment and De-
the database, if it had: the same contract number, the same
velopment dated 21.06.2018.
17
strictly to public sector organisations: public organisations level of individual organisations, where an increasing part of
at the municipal level, public organisations at district level, the operation was carried out in the form of one-off, unique
public organisations at provincial level, state control and le- activities, often of an innovative nature. Such observations
gal protection bodies and legal organs of government and were made by Ch. Midler (1995) as exemplified by Renault.
government administration, state legal entity and state or- The automotive industry, in which he conducted his research,
ganisational unit, scientific unit, school or educational insti- is one of the most projectified branches of the economy so
tution, self-government legal entity, higher education insti- far. Projectification is simply a “natural” phenomenon in
tution, and public healthcare facility. many industries in which projects are the basic form of ac-
tivity — which results mainly from the need to implement
The process of preparing data for the analysis was extreme- innovative, one-off activities. However, there are some are-
ly time-consuming, due to the above-mentioned “pollution” as that until recently have not been seen as those in which
of data, mainly duplicates. In order to obtain the most reli- project work is the dominant form of action. Among them,
able result, public sector data was manually cleansed by re- we can distinguish the public sector.
viewing record after the record. Thus, attempts were made
to “track down” cases when one organisation introduced In the public sector, the process of projectifying is often in-
their projects using, for example, variations of its own name. cluded in the discourse of improving, modernising the pub-
Finally, after repeatedly reviewing the data, which were ar- lic sphere and introducing a managerial approach to man-
ranged in 10 separate files (a separate file for each legal aging public affairs. This is connected with the assumptions
form) and assigning projects to the organisation, a detailed of New Public Management, which concept replaced the
comparative analysis was begun, the results of which are traditional bureaucratic model in the public sector. Pro-
presented in the further part of the article. jects have somehow become the answer, a remedy to the
problems of the organisation and the need to reform pub-
After analysing the data, a written inquiry was addressed lic management. According to the NPM assumptions, the
to the Ministry of Investment and Development with a re- implementation of new management concepts, such as
quest to confirm the number of projects implemented by quality management, lean management, etc., would affect
public sector entities . Unfortunately, the Ministry refused
3
the more effective performance of tasks that the state
to confirm the calculations due to not conducting analyses fulfils towards the citizens. Quite often it is assumed that
on this subject. Therefore, this research is the first attempt the projects “came” to the public sector from business
to quantitatively analyse projects in the Polish public sector and that they were implemented in it by means of copy-
in the years 2007-2013. Efforts were made to ensure that ing improvements from the world of enterprises. This is not
the results obtained reflected the actual state of public sec- an entirely correct assumption, because from the 1950s
tor projectification within the examined segment, although to the end of the 1970s, the public sector played a lead-
it should be noted that due to existing database impurities, ing role in the development of skills and knowledge about
the results may be subject to a minimal risk of error. project management (Kwak, 2003). It was in the public
sector that modern, formalised project management was
born — it was here that the principles and techniques of
PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTIFICATION systematic approach to planning and implementation of
projects were developed (Gasik, 2017). The public sector
In this part of the text, I will discuss the issue of projectifica- in almost every country has been implementing projects,
tion and the factors inducing it in the public sector. often complex and long-term, for a long time. They usual-
ly have the character of activities related to the creation
Projectification is a phenomenon that is observed on many of the infrastructure — the construction of public build-
levels of social life. Initially, its presence was noticed at the ings, roads, various types of infrastructure necessary for
the functioning of the community. Therefore, the projecti-
fication process in this sector does not consist in the sud-
den appearance of projects in the space of public organ-
3 E-mail correspondence with the Ministry of Investment and De-
isations, but a systematic and consistent displacement of
velopment dated 21.06.2018.
18
the bureaucratic, repetitive manner of implementing public ing about how social problems can be solved (C. Jensen, Jo-
tasks through a project approach. hansson, & Löfström, 2017). According to Godenhjelm, Lun-
din, and Sjöblom (2015) there is a tendency for policies to
Already a dozen or so years ago, Stefan Sjöblom (2006) become increasingly time-framed and projectified in terms
noted that changes in the public sector mean that we are of interventions and policy instruments. Importantly, it is
facing a “projectified public sector”. At the same time, pro- emphasised that projects cannot be called a neutral tool for
jectification of the public sector is usually described using the implementation of public policies (Öjehag-Pettersson,
local examples, and the researchers rather try to under- 2017), as well as that they affect public sector governance
stand the impact of the process on the operation of public processes (Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017).
sector bodies, and do not look at the transformations multi-
dimensionally and globally. The most frequently researched Another catalyst, directly related to the approach to the im-
and analysed projectification area in the public sector is the plementation of public policies through projects, is the im-
meso level, i.e. the level of the organisation (Jacobsson & pact of large, transnational networks and organisations. The
Jałocha, 2018). Attention is drawn to the fact that the uni- World Bank, UNICEF, the UN, and other large-scale supra-
versality of project work affects how organised public insti- national organisations, through the project method of dis-
tutions are and how they work (Fred, 2014; Jałocha, 2012; tributing funds, strongly influence learning and duplication
Waring & Thomas, 2010). However, there are studies that al- of project practices in the countries covered by their activ-
low to estimate the scale and trend of development of the ities. In Europe, the transnational organisation with a huge
projectification process in the public sector. For example, impact on the development of Member States’ projectifi-
Schoper, Wald, Ingason, and Fridgeirsson (2018) in their re- cation is the European Union. Projectification is “a key stra-
search on projectification in western economies also paid tegic measure for the EU to get things done” (Godenhjelm
attention to projectification in the public sector. According et al., 2015, p. 334). This means that for the European Union
to their research, the most widely projectified public sec- projects are a tool for planning, spending funds, implement-
tor among the three countries studied is Iceland (33.3%), ing public policies, and controlling how and what Member
in Germany this percentage is 17.8%, and in Norway 14.2% States spend money on. Public sector projectification takes
(Schoper et al., 2018). These results clearly indicate that place throughout the European Union, but it seems to have
the public sector, like other branches of the economy, is the most sensational and spectacular course in the new
constantly subjected to projectification. What is more, for Member States, located in Central and Eastern Europe. In
example in the case of Germany, we can expect a 20% in- these countries, very often burdened with a communist past,
crease in the degree of projectification in the public sector projects often completely change the way of thinking about
over the next few years (Schoper et al., 2018). the implementation of public tasks, creating new groups of
specialists and changing organisational structures (Jałocha,
The reasons for the intense projectification of the pub- 2012, Kovách & Kučerová, 2006).
lic sector are complex. Schuster (2015) identifies three key
factors that provoke Civil Service organisational units into
adopting project-based organisation, and by the same to- DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS THROUGH
ken supporting projectification processes: quick mobilisa- PROJECTS IN THE EU
tion, a strategic approach to managing change, and ac-
countability and transparency to stakeholders. Certainly, In this sub-chapter a short genesis of the project method of
the reasons for the increasingly frequent selection of pro- distributing funds in the European Union will be presented.
jects should be seen, among others in the ongoing social
and economic changes on a global scale, an increase in the The implementation of EU policies is based on funds, pro-
requirements of public sector stakeholders, and also a belief grammes, and projects. As claimed by Büttner & Leopold
that projects are an emanation of innovation and entrepre- (2016, p.42) “the European Union is a strong generator of
neurship, increasingly desirable in the public sector. Projects project-based activities in its own right and a strong driv-
are becoming one of the main tools for the implementation er of the expansion of a certain logic of project manage-
of public policies, and thus, they permanently change think- ment (PM) in contemporary public affairs”. Not only local
19
actors, such as intermediary institutions in member states & Leopold, 2016). In the 1980s, through the implementation
or EU agencies, are involved in the implementation of EU in various Member States of programs supporting local de-
projects. The world of EU projects is a large ecosystem in velopment (Integrated Development Operations and Inte-
which many organisations, units, agents operate, and whole grated Mediterranean Programs), as well as the reform of
“project classes” are created (Kovách & Kučerová, 2006, the EU budget system, the foundations were prepared for
Mukhtar-Landgren & Fred, 2018). It can be said that the en- the distribution of budget funds and implementation of pro-
tire EU funding system permeates the idea of task imple- ject-based public policies. This system is based, in simpli-
mentation through projects. However, the European Union fied terms, on multiannual financial frameworks that reflect
did not base its activities on projects from the very begin- programming periods of specific goals that the EU wants to
ning. The first experiments with project-based distribution of achieve over several years of time intervals. The key mo-
funds started in the late 1970s — the distribution was based ments in the development of the project approach in the EU
on the annual reimbursement of expenses incurred by indi- are presented in Table 1.
vidual countries within the funds available to the EU (Büttner
Table 1: Development of the system of public policies implementation in the UE in the direction of a project-
based system
TIME ACTION
since 1958 a system of re-funding projects which were selected and introduced by the Member States
the end of the 1970s first experiments with project-based funding: the European Commission started to finance
and the beginning its first pilot projects supporting local development initiatives via structural funds
of the 1980s
1980s Launching of programmes (Integrated Development Operations (IDOs) and Integrated

Mediterranean Programmes (IMPs) introducing development projects in many EU states
1988/1989 Annual budgeting of EU replaced by the multi-annual financial frameworks (Multiannual

Financial Framework) — possibility to plan multi-annual programmes and projects
1989 Establishment of the Cohesion Policy, the first EU’s project-based policy
1992 European Commission adopted “Project Cycle Management” (PCM) as its primary set of
project design and management tools
2004 2004 biggest ever enlargement of the EU, with 10 new Member States joining. Multiple new
programs established.
2016 “PM² Project Management Methodology” — developed by the European Commission
Source: (Büttner & Leopold, 2016; European Comission, 2016; Matthijs, 2010)
20
One of the elements demonstrating the project’s organisa- presented. Two stages of EU programme implementation
tional maturity is the development or adaptation of the pro- will be described in more detail: years 2004-2006 and
ject methodology. In the case of the European Union, we can 2007-2013.
also observe the process of reaching one’s own methodol-
ogy (see Table 1). For many years, the European Union had The enlargement of the European Union by the countries
recommended a standard for project management called of Central and Eastern Europe was one of the largest po-
“Project Cycle Management”. It was adapted by the Europe- litical projects of recent years. Poland had been preparing
an Commission as its primary set of project design and man- to access the EU for a long time, but only the official entry
agement tools. The first PCM manual was produced in 1993 into community structures catalysed the processes of in-
and then subsequently updated. The Guidelines aim was to flow of funds for projects. Sebastian Buttner (2012) in the
support “good management practices and effective decision introduction to his book talks about “regional mobilisation”
making throughout the project management cycle — from — a phenomenon caused by the European Union, and lead-
programming, through to identification, formulation, imple- ing to a huge mobilisation of countries, regions, and local
mentation and evaluation” (European Commission, 2004, p. agents in order to achieve the set goals. The cohesion pol-
2). These guidelines did not describe in detail the operational icy for 2007-2013 was, according to its creators, aimed at
and financial guidelines for projects co-financed by the EU. “increasing economic growth and employment in all regions
The PCM standard was a specific tool, strongly indicating the and cities of the European Union”4. Danuta Hübner, a mem-
relationship between projects, and mega-programmes un- ber of the European Commission responsible for regional
der which they are implemented and EU public policies. policy even stated that cohesion policy “is the market’s ‘vis-
ible hand’ which aims at balanced and sustainable develop-
Twenty years later, the first methodology of the European ment, while fostering economic integration throughout the
Commission was created, which is currently recommended as EU as a whole” (Hübner, 2008, p. 3).
a model methodology for conducting projects co-financed
by the EU, PM². PM² was created based on the specific EU When the country joined the EU on 1 May 2004, all Polish
needs and taking into account the specificity of the project regions were below the threshold of 75% of the EU average
implementation environment. It contains classic elements of in gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant. In the years
project cycle management, but it also refers to the “relevant 2004-07, nearly 85 000 projects worth a total of € 22.5
European Commission communications and operational ex- billion were implemented in Poland (European Comission,
perience from various internal and external projects” (Euro- 2009). Priority was given to investments in basic infra-
pean Commission, 2016). Thus, it is an example of a typical structure — over half of all projects fell under this category.
tailor-made methodology. What distinguishes it from oth- Among others 3700 km of roads and 200 km of motorways
er methodologies created in organisations is the potential were constructed (European Comission, 2009). Despite
scale in which it can be applied. It can be stated that the Eu- these successful actions, the programming period of 2004-
ropean Union, with experience in the implementation of mil- 2006 is assessed as characterised by a low level of spending
lions of projects, strategy and a decision-making process EU resources granted to Poland (Ministry of Regional De-
inextricably linked to projects, as well as with increasingly development, 2007). This results first of all from the fact that
veloped and improved project management tools, is an or- the developed implementation system failed to identify in a
ganisation with an extremely high level of project maturity. satisfactory way needs of processes connected with project
implementation, which as a consequence led to their being
protracted and costly. According to the report issued by the
EU FUNDS IN POLAND – Ministry of Regional Development, the elementary errors
PROJECTIFICATION OF PUBLIC ACTIONS concerned, inter alia, excessive centralisation of the sys-
AND POLICIES
After discussing the issue of project financing by the EU,

the process of Poland’s involvement in the acquisition and 4 http://www.funduszeeuropejskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/Organizac-
implementation of projects co-financed by the EU will be jaFunduszyEuropejskich/Strony/czymsafundusze.aspx
21
tem, its disproportionate caution and formalisation, too rig- riety of training sessions for managers in cultural institutions
orous procedures which at times assume requirements that in obtaining funds from structural funds and project man-
are far more restrictive than those imposed by the EU law agement (Ministry of Culture, 2004, p. 135). In addition, the
and underestimation of staffing needs in institutions (Minis- Strategy provided for massive debt relief of self-government
try, 2007). There were also shortcomings in experience and cultural institutions as necessary to ensure pre-financing of
knowledge of beneficiaries as regards implementation and the implementation of projects co-financed from structural
settlement procedures of their projects. Therefore, a deci- funds. If a given unit were in debt, it would be very difficult or
sion was made to increase the volume of training that was to impossible to obtain EU funds. These provisions concerned
prepare staff for better project management. Mass training the debt relief of cultural institutions which during the take-
began, teaching how to write projects, how to prepare pro- over by local governments were burdened with mortgage
ject documentation and how to manage projects later. debt towards the State Treasury. This debt had never been
enforced and it remained in some sense a dead account-
Numerous documents reflecting plans for the implementa- ing letter — at the same time preventing these institutions
tion of state public policies underline the urgent need to ac- from implementing projects under the structural funds. In
quire competences in the field of project preparation and addition, support for artists had been planned in the strate-
implementation — as a prerequisite for obtaining EU funds. gy, helping them to function on the new, project-based cul-
For example, in the National Strategy for the Development ture market. Providing favourable loans to support projects
of Culture (2004), the Ministry of Culture and National Her- of artists who, for example, could not afford their own con-
itage, presented a plan to adapt the culture sector to the tribution necessary in most EU projects had been planned,
EU’s expectations regarding the readiness for grant imple- among others. Microloans guaranteed by the Minister of
mentation. First of all, the National Strategy for the Devel- Culture and granted by banks (Ministry of Culture, 2004, p.
opment of Culture, which is the main document defining the 138) had been planned. Loans for own projects can also be
state’s cultural policy, provided for the introduction of a va- considered as one of the manifestations of instrumentalisa-
Table 2: Allocation to each operational programme in Poland in the financial perspective 2007-2013
ALLOCATION (IN % SHARE IN

PROGRAMME
BILLIONS OF EUR) ALLOCATION
Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 28.3 41.8%
Human Capital Operational Programme 10 14.7%
Innovative Economy Operational Programme 8.7 12.7%
Operational Programme Eastern Poland 2.4 3.5%
Technical Assistance Programme 0.5 0.8%
European Territorial Cooperation Programmes 0.7 1.1%
16 regional programmes 17.3 25.4%
Total 67.9 100
Source: https://www.funduszeeuropejskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/OrganizacjaFunduszyEuropejskich/Strony/NSS.aspx (reading: 20.05.2018)
22
tion of culture by forcing entrepreneurial activities on artists, tion of the method of distribution of funds by the EU, the re-
transferring responsibility for the project to them. sults of the quantitative research concerning public sector
projects in Poland will be discussed.
In the subsequent programming period, 2007-2013, in Eu-
rope there were 86 priority themes and categories and 497 Projects within the period of programming 2007-2013
different operational programmes (Godenhjelm et al., 2015).
From among this huge number of programmes and initia- According to the data generated from the National IT Sys-
tives, the budget for Poland was agreed for more than 65 bil- tem KSI SIMIK 07-135, provided on the governmental web-
lion euros. These funds were distributed between a few main site6, since the beginning of launching in Poland the EU pro-
operational programmes and 16 regional ones (since Poland grammes for the years 2007-2013 (up until 17 July 2016)
is composed of 16 regions – provinces) (compare Table 2). 302,400,000 formally correct project applications had been
submitted. The total amount of subsidy sought by the ap-
The EU policy in 2007-2013 was implemented in Poland plicants amounted to PLN 616 billion. These numbers con-
mainly thanks to structural funds, i.e. the European Regional firm how big the project „spurt” in Poland was: more than 300
Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Co- thousand ideas, for a total amount equivalent to approx. 150
hesion Fund. The European Regional Development Fund is billion euros — never before such a great number of pro-
the largest of all EU funds for the years 2007-2013. Its aim jects had been submitted7. The submitted applications as in-
was to support regions by levelling out differences in rela- formed by the Ministry are not all ideas for projects that had
tion to richer, more developed regions. The European Social been generated by Polish clerks, entrepreneurs, or repre-
Fund was created to improve the quality and availability of sentatives of the 3rd sector. This number indicates only those
jobs and employment opportunities in the European Union, applications that were formally correct and therefore went
although it is most often associated with the possibility of through the first stage of the assessment. Unfortunately,
implementing training projects. Under the ESF 2007-2013, there is no data on how many project proposals were jointly
117 programmes, worth over €75 billion, were planned (Špid- written in Poland in order to obtain funds allocated for the
la, 2008). On the other hand, the Cohesion Fund provided years 2007-2013, but there were certainly many more.
support within two sectors — the environment and trans-
port. Large investment projects, mainly in the field of envi-
ronmental protection, are co-financed from this fund. How-
ever, the fund could only be used by those countries the
Gross National Product (GNP) per capita of which was less 5 SIMIK was the official IT system used for collecting data about
projects implemented in Poland in the years 2007-2013.
than 90% of the average in European Union countries (Por-
6 The data come from the website: https://www.funduszeeurope-
tal Funduszy Europejskich, 2018). The three main EU funds
jskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/AnalizyRaportyPodsumowania/poziom/
described above are not all funds under which EU funds have Strony/Poziom_realizacji_programow_stan_na_17lipca2016r.
arrived in Poland. There are also funds directly related to the aspx The base was used that summarises the implementation
implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy of the of projects from the 2007-2013 perspective, which contains
European Union, such as the European Agricultural Fund for data up-to-date as at 17.07.2016. Since in the EU program-
ming rules the n+2 rule was written down, the funds for projects
Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries
from the 2007-2013 perspective, could be spent in the com-
Fund (Portal Funduszy Europejskich, 2018) of which Poland
petitions until 2015. Thus, the data from 2016 show a full pic-
was also a beneficiary. In summary, since 2004 Poland is the ture of the scale of the phenomenon. Reading: 01.07.2019.
largest beneficiary of EU funds, and hundreds of thousands 7 Considering the fact that the financial data contained in the
of projects are implemented in the country. SIMIK base are given in Polish zloty (PLN), in the further part of
the analysis I will present financial data in Polish currency. The
EUR – PLN exchange rate had undergone fluctuations during
the period of implementation of the programmes. In January
DATA ANALYSIS 2007 one EUR cost approx. PLN 3.9 PLN, and in December
2013 – approx. PLN 4.1. Simplifying a lot, in order to compare
After presenting the theoretical background, introducing the project values in zlotys and euros, it may be assumed that the
issues of projectification, as well as making a project descrip- value in PLN should be divided by 4.
23
Figure 1: EU funds for Poland in the years 2007-2013 in EUR
Total expenditure PL (EUR million)
€ 17,000 M
€ 16,179 M
€ 15,735 M
€ 13,600 M
€ 14,440 M
€ 11,821 M
€ 10,200 M
€ 9,252 M
€ 6,800 M
€ 7,768 M
€ 7,639 M
€ 3,400 M
€0M
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/2007-2013/index_en.cfm reading: 10.06.2018.
After the competitions had been conducted, projects had the aforementioned databases (as at 31.12.2017), it can be
been selected and next 106,319 contracts were conclud- concluded that the total number of projects implemented in
ed with the beneficiaries for subsidy for the amount of PLN Poland as part of the EU programming for 2007-2013 (for
398 billion of eligible expenditure, of which the subsidy from the analysed programmes) was 105,910.
the EU amounted to PLN 285 billion, which was 100.6%. al-
location for the period 2007-20138. This means that Poland Thus, public organisations implemented nearly 40,000 pro-
was able to use the whole amount of financing that had been jects, which constitutes about 37% of all projects complet-
granted to it in the EU budget. As EU statistics show — be- ed in the analysed period in Poland (based on the analysed
tween 2007 and 2013, support from the European Regional research sample). At the same time, public units’ projects
Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund amounted to EUR „consumed” much more funds (54%) than the projects in the
57.2 billion in Poland9. private or non-government sector:
As indicated by the above data, almost one in three of the

formally correct projects, as applied for by Polish compa-
nies, public organisations, and the third sector, were select-
ed for implementation. A small part of the contracts (com-
pared to the total number of projects) was later dissolved or
cancelled. Based on the analysis carried out on the basis of
8 https://www.funduszeeuropejskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/
AnalizyRaportyPodsumowania/poziom/Strony/Poziom_
realizacji_programow_stan_na_17lipca2016r.aspx reading:
01.07.2018.
9 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/information/
publications/factsheets/2016/cohesion-policy-supporting-
growth-and-jobs-in-poland
24
Table 3: Number of projects broken down by organisation type (private, public, non-profit) in the financial
perspective 2007-2013
% OF THE OVERALL NUMBER

ORGANISATION TYPE NUMBER OF PROJECTS
OF PROJECTS SUBSIDIZED BY THE EU
Private 53,104 50.1%
Public 39,420 37.2%
Non-profit 13,359 12.6%
NA 22 0
Total 105,910 100%
Source: own research
Thus, public organisations implemented nearly 40,000 pro- research sample). At the same time, public units’ projects
jects, which constitutes about 37% of all projects complet- „consumed” much more funds (54%) than the projects in the
ed in the analysed period in Poland (based on the analysed private or non-government sector.
Table 4: Project value in PLN broken down by organisation type (private, public, non-profit) in the financial
perspective 2007-2013
TOTAL VALUE OF EXPENDITURE IN

% OF EXPENDITURE IN THE OVERALL
ORGANISATION TYPE PERCENT OF EXPENDITURE
VALUE OF ALL PROJECTS
PLN10
Private 169,815,257,238 44%
Public 208,176,803,002 54%
Non-profit 9,964,600,700 3%
NA 4,734,039 0%
Total 387,961,394,980 100%
10 The total amounts of expenditure on projects listed in the table difference results from the fact that in the present study, the
differ from the above-mentioned data provided by the Ministry, calculations were based only on data available in the databases
concerning the total value of funds contracted by Poland for described in the methodological subchapter. Discrepancies are
projects in the 2007-2013 programming period (according to related to the selection of a narrowed project base for this study.
information from the government side — PLN 398 billion). This
25
As it appears from the above data, organ-

isations representing the public sector Figure 2: Projects according to the date of implementation launch
contracted projects for a total amount
of over PLN 208 billion, and thus became Implementation launch year
the main beneficiaries of the 2007-2013 6,827
programming period. Despite fewer pro- 6,562
6,195
jects than in the business sector, public
projects had a greater overall financial
5,01
value. This is chiefly due to the fact that 4,66
a large part of public projects was of an
infrastructural project nature. 3,406
3,201
2,662
The specifics of the studied public
projects
746
The commencement of the implemen-
tation of the majority of public projects
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
financed under the analysed perspec-
tive (2007-2013) took place in the years
2008-2011. A year after launching the
funds, over 9,000 projects had already
been being implemented. Due to the fact that the funds sult is a relatively unique tangible product, such as a build-
could be used for 2 more years after the programming pe- ing or other infrastructural entity. Their average as well as
riod, i.e. until 2015 inclusive, in the final phase (2014-2015) the maximum duration was significantly longer compared
the final 4,000 projects were launched. This indicates that to the “soft”, non-infrastructural projects (compare Tab. 5),
the funds for the projects were used very smoothly. Close which in turn may be defined as those in which the final result
to 18 thousand projects were the so-called ”hard” projects. ” is not in itself a tangible asset (Wiedemann).
Hard projects” can be defined as those in which the final re-
Table 5: Duration of projects divided into hard and soft
MEDIAN OF DURATION AVERAGE DURATION LONGEST PROJECT

PROJECT TYPE
(INMONTHS) (IN MONTHS) DURATION (IN MONTHS)
Soft 15 22 101
Hard 26 31 143
The average financial value of the soft projects studied was ground line in Warsaw — Preparatory works, design, and con-
PLN 1.43 million, while of the hard ones — PLN 9.69 million. struction of the central section together with the purchase of
The most expensive infrastructure project, which was sub- rolling stock” with a budget of almost PLN 6 billion. The soft
sidised, was the project of construction of the “2nd under- project with the highest financial value was “Research on the
26
quality and efficiency of education and institutionalisation Of the 250 public projects with the largest budget, only 10
of research facilities 2009-2015” with a budget of nearly were soft projects. Their total budget was PLN 1.4 billion, and
PLN 300 million. However, not only large endeavours were fi- their subjects were diverse. However, they concerned most-
nanced, but also small projects, not exceeding several thou- ly the broadly understood development of competences,
sand zlotys. The maximum and minimum cost of the projects including in the field of vocational education. The largest
was not determined solely by the needs of a given public or- soft projects went to a wide variety of public organisations
ganisation, but also by the guidelines of individual competi- - from the Educational Research Institute, through the Min-
tions that clearly defined the framework for project financ- istry of Health, to the Provincial Labour Office in Krakow and
ing. One of the assumptions regarding EU support granted to the District Labour Office in Radom. This shows that very
member states is the principle of additionality (co-financing large projects were managed not only by specialised units at
or supplementing). This means that European funds should the central level, but also by small local organisations (such
complement the financial resources of individual Member as district labour offices).
States rather than replace them. Therefore, in the majority of
projects co-financed by the EU, own contribution is required. When we look at the division of projects taking into account
The average EU subsidy for soft projects amounted to PLN the legal forms specified in the study, we can observe cer-
1.2 million, while hard ones — PLN 6.3 million. tain characteristics. Nearly 60% of projects, i.e. over 23,000
endeavours were implemented by commune or municipal
The top ten of the largest public projects in Poland are solely organisations, i.e. organisations at the lowest self-govern-
infrastructure projects, in 9 cases out of 10 – roads of var- ment management level. Currently, there are 2,478 com-
ious types. The total value of the 10 largest projects imple- munes/municipalities in Poland, so, to simplify, one can say
mented in 2007-2013 exceeded PLN 20 billion, or 10% of that on average, there were 10 projects per commune/mu-
the value of all projects in this programming period. The or- nicipality in Poland. At the same time, it can be noticed that
ganisation that had the largest budget for projects at their there were communes/municipalities that had been acquir-
disposal was the General Directorate of Roads and Motor- ing projects in a very intense way. These were, however, large
ways, which managed projects with a total value of over PLN municipalities, such as, for example, the municipality of Lodz
23 billion. or Warsaw, in which municipal units implemented over 100
projects each.
Figure 3: Types of public organisations with the greatest number of projects (percent wise)
7% public organisations at commune or municipality level

3%
5%
1%1% scientific units
state control and legal protection bodies and legal
3% govermental and governmental administration bodies
state legal entity and state organisational unit
public organisations at district level

15%
public healthacare facilities
59%
local government legal entity
schools and educational institutions

2%
higher education institutions
3% 2%
public organisations at provincial level
27
Figure 3: Types of public organisations – division taking into account financing (percentage wise).
7% public organisations at commune or municipality level

3%
5%
1%1% scientific units
state control and legal protection bodies and legal
3% govermental and governmental administration bodies
state legal entity and state organisational unit
public organisations at district level

15%
public healthacare facilities
59%
local government legal entity
schools and educational institutions

2%
higher education institutions
3% 2%
public organisations at provincial level
The communes and municipalities had over 40% of the fi- country. Owing to additional funds, a great many infra-
nancial resources allocated to projects and it was them structure projects had been implemented, improving the
that received the most of the money. At the same time, the living conditions in the country the effects of which can
largest budgets were implemented in organisations the le- be observed on a daily basis, driving on new roads, getting
gal form of which is a “state legal entity” and a “state or- treatment in modern hospitals, or studying in new univer-
ganisational unit”. Among them, we can mention the Polish sity buildings. EU programs had at the same time caused a
Agency for Enterprise Development, General Directorate for real boom in social projects, which (within the limits of what
National Roads and Motorways, or the National Center for can and cannot be financed from EU funds) were used in
Research and Development. A large part of the funds also attempts to solve various important social problems. Nev-
flowed into higher education institutions and scientific units ertheless, helping to modernise the country, the European
– they received a total of 13% of all funds. Union had significantly accelerated the process of country
projectification.
The above data indicate that the projects were implement-
ed by all types of public units in Poland. It can be assumed The aim of this study was to understand the impact projec-
that in fact there is no public unit, which in some dimension tification processes, initiated by the EU funding, on the Pol-
would not come into contact with project work. Data analy- ish public sector. My analysis focused on examining a cer-
sis allows us to conclude that apart from the dominant pub- tain section related to project work in the public sector, i.e.
lic infrastructure projects, very big funds were directed to projects implemented by public organisations co-financed
the development of human resources. It is also interesting from EU funds, in the years 2007-2013. Based on the data
how much of the funds were allocated to the development analysis, it can be clearly stated that the projectification
of science. processes are changing the Polish public sector. The very
number of projects (over 100,000) that had been imple-
mented in Poland with the support of the EU funding in the
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION discussed period is not perhaps extremely impressive on
a global scale, but it is of great importance with regard to
EU funds that came to Poland in the years 2007-2013 had Poland. It can be said that in those industries in which pro-
undoubtedly had a positive impact on the changes in the jects are daily routine (such as automotive, construction, IT)
28
there are probably millions of different projects at the mo- In the ongoing debate on the consequences of entering the
ment. The uniqueness of what happened (and still happens) EU for Poland, the opponents of integration usually refer to
in Polish public organisations under thanks to EU funds is the ideological dimension. They point out that the Union
the universality, totality, and rapidity of the public sector seeks to unify national cultures, “kills” their diversity, and im-
projectification process. A sector in which project work a poses ideologies. As shown, however by the research on cul-
dozen or so years ago was rather an exception than the rule. tural policy (Jałocha & Ćwikła, 2017), the ideological dimen-
These changes confirm a wider trend regarding the impact sion, understood as the EU’s influence on the formation of
of the EU on inducing projectification processes – imple- national policies, is not as significant as raised by EU antag-
mentation of European structural funds has been already onists. What most models public policies in Poland is not the
described as an important push factor of projectification ideology promoted by the EU, but the pragmatic dimension
(Fred, 2018; Godenhjelm et al., 2015). of the Union’s activity, manifested through, among others, full
adjustment of the method of spending funds for public activ-
The data show that in Polish public sector probably there is ities in the form of projects. Not random projects, but those
no such an area of action where projects would not be a tool that are planned, implemented, and accounted for accord-
used in the implementation of tasks. The amount of funds ing to rigid guidelines included in the European Union pro-
that the EU provided in the years 2007-2013 also for soft grammes. The projects are the most important tool of the
projects resulted in a departure from the understanding of multi-level apparatus of control which were introduced to the
projects, as large, significant activities related to the con- local policies by the EU programmes and have become firmly
struction of the infrastructure, towards understanding the established in the Polish system of public policies.
project as any time and budget limited social action. What is
more, under the influence of the EU, the programming pro- It is difficult to assess the projectification that Poland has
cedure of public policies in Poland has also changed. Those undergone under the influence of the EU, as unambigu-
in power have adapted the pace and time frame of internal ously positive or negative. It is likely that the consequences
policies to the EU programming periods. Internal national will be twofold: on the one hand, increasing the optimisa-
policies have been synchronised with the plans of the Euro- tion of public units’ activities by precisely setting goals and
pean Union. This is particularly visible using the example of achieving them, on the other – affecting the fragmentation
the distribution of the number of projects launched, culmi- of public policies.
nating in the initial phase of programming.
The process of including Poland in the EU structures has ac-
In the public sector projectification process, there has also celerated projectification of the entire country, introducing
been mass education of project staff, as in other countries projects to the public sector managers’ toolkit in the small-
that use European funding streams (Kovách & Kučerová, est offices, and teaching how to build project portfolios in
2006, Mukhtar-Landgren & Fred, 2018). This is confirmed the largest public units. It can be said that the programming
by the information contained in various documents on the period in the years 2007-2013 was one of the most spec-
implementation of public policies, where a strong emphasis tacular training programs in project management worldwide.
is put on the training of staff in the scope of acquiring and The stake of this “training” was very high – the use of over
managing EU projects. Poland has gained a whole host of PLN 398 billion was dependent on the skills of officials and
experts who are able to plan and implement projects. In the their project competences. As the data show, this oppor-
long run it must have consequences for the role and ethos tunity was used, the Polish public sector used the external
of the work of public officials. Poland’s preparation for using funds and started to fully “think project wise”. It was because
EU funds through the implementation of projects was not, projectification of activities was a “sine qua non” condition -
as said before, an isolated case. We can find similar exam- none of the countries joining the EU structures cannot fully
ples in other European countries. Mukhtar-Landgren & Fred integrate with them if there are no competences in it as re-
(2018) described for example, how skills to win grants are gards the field of project management.
developed, how EU cohesion policy is translated through EU
projects, with a specific focus on the processes of preparing It is also worth considering the social consequences of mass
and applying for project funding in Sweden. projectification of the country. Will a projectified public sec-
29
tor fall into the trap of implementing simple, uncomplicated implement a project, people have to organise themselves
projects? Is it possible to solve difficult social problems, such into teams – so projects build micro communities and unite
as poverty, violence, and unemployment, with projects? Or people around a common goal, often involving stakeholders
maybe there will be more positive effects of the projectifica- who have so far been excluded.
tion of the Polish public sector: its effectiveness will increase,
the efficiency of public services will increase, and the organi- Acknowledgements: Beata Jałocha participated in this re-
sation of activities will be better. Perhaps at the present time search as a result of the research project registered with no.
we are already observing some positive effects of projectifi- 2016/23/D/HS4/01810, financed from the funds of the Na-
cation, which the EU has intensified: in order to receive and tional Center for Science.
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31
Sandra Mišić | Mladen Radujković
Macroeconomic measurement of the Croatian project

economy
ABSTRACT ciplines in the top management and business journals. It

seems that the strong upward trend of strategy (30%) will
Projectification is blazing topic in project management, in continue in the future (Kwak and Anbari, 2009). In it’s core,
a sense of project work and economy. This can be seen in projectification is connected to strategy of one’s country.
the sense that industries are predominantly using projects Therefore, with the research that was done so far we are not
as “business as usual”. Precise and reliable measurement only witnessing significant number of working hours on pro-
of projectification was developed in Germany, including all jects, but discussing what a country leaders shall do with this
sectors and project types. In Croatia, influence of legisla- information.
tion on the industry caused high demand for professional
project managers. But, level of projectification for Croatian Research on projectification has mainly centered around
companies has never been systematically examined. a private sector setting, and has been directed toward the
level of the individual project. One exception to this is the
The objective of this study is to measure level of the projec- seminal work of Midler and his studies of Renault and how they
tification in Croatia. This will be measured for all industries transformed from an “ordinary” car manufacture to a pro-
and shapes of projects to be reliable and make an argument ject-based organization throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s
for the current development of project economy of Croatia. (Midler, 1995). Projectification was a phenomenon that was
Through this research authors offer marcoeconomic view first developed in a private sector context. It has been stud-
of project work in Croatian industries. This will help decision ied in the car manufacturing industry, the chemical industry,
makers in industry and society at large to have reliable data construction, and the steel industry (Aubry and Lenfle, 2012).
and raise awareness of project management.
Research on “projectification” was tackeled by Andreas
Keywords: Croatia, Economy, Projectification, Project work Wald and a team of researchers, in Germany (Wald et al.,
2015). Following developed research methodology, Schop-
er et al. (2017) carried out international research that com-
1. SUMMARY pared differences that exist among Germany, Norway and
Iceland regarding their size and industry structure and the
Turner et al. (2013) have shown that modern project man- share of project work (Schoper et. al, 2018).
agement is a relatively young academic discipline with its
roots in Operations Research. After borrowing tools from While the concept often is interpreted as referring to the
that discipline and bar (Gantt) charts from Operations Man- increasing number of projects, it has also been argued
agement, project management research was mainly in- that projectification is a central discursive theme in con-
ward-looking for as much as 30 or 40 years. temporary society, and “increasingly relevant for the un-
derstanding of almost any aspect of the contemporary
On the other hand, strategy is the most important project economy” (Packendorff and Lindgren, 2014, Jensen, 2013;
management research subject among the eight allied dis- Cicmil, et al., 2009).
33
Projectification is, following Midler (1995), both a transfor- »» A specific target has been defined for the project.
mation of activities into specific projects, and a process of »» The project is limited in terms of time (start and end).
environmental adaptation. »» The project requires specific resources (e. g. financial,
staff, etc.).
»» An independent process organization exists, which is
2. INTRODUCTION defined as different from the standard organization in
the company.
Midler (1995) first introduced the term in his study “Projec- »» The projects work on non-routine tasks.
tification of the Firm: the Renault Case”. He based his study »» The project has a minimum duration of four weeks.
on the case study performed in the firm Renault, where he »» The project has at least three participants.
followed phases of the development towards projectifica- (Wald et al., 2015).
tion of the firm. Throughout the first three phases, the pro-
ject manager became more important and gained more Midler (1995) discusses two options in the fourth phase of
power in the organization. The structure around the man- projectification. The first option would be to continue the
ager and cross-professional communication also became reinforcement of the project structure, which would mean
increasingly important, on all levels of the organization. that the departmental workforce would be moved into suit-
ing projects when needed. Renault went with the second op-
Three years ago Wald et al. (2015) developed a measure- tion, in which they balanced out project- and department
ment instrument for projectification. The same study was identities, and set up a complementary relationship be-
applied to German economy, Norway (Schoper et al., 2018) tween the two. The terms and developments of projectifica-
and Island, as a comparison of projectification. In this paper, tion, as shown in Midler’s Case study (1995), can be divided
our objective is to present findings of the projectification into two independent dimensions, a qualitative and a quan-
study in Croatia. In more details, our main objective can be titative (Wald et al., 2015). The qualitative dimension focus-
divided into the following objectives: es on how projectification influences the development in the
1. To present empirical results on the degree of projectifica- organization. The quantitative dimension on the other hand,
tion in Croatia targets the organization’s share of project work. In this ap-
2. To discus main findings under the prism of the economic proach, in order to get an increasing degree of projectifi-
development of Croatia. cation, it would need to be on the expense of the organiza-
tion´s “ordinary” work. The share of project work can in this
There are many definitions of project. Lundin and Söder- quantitative dimension be presented as a ratio of projecti-
lund (1995) developed the theoretical skeleton of tempo- fication. In Statistics Norway´s survey about the living con-
rary organizations, which demarcates the concept. Most ditions in Norway from 2000 (Rønning, 2002), they discuss
definitions of temporary organizations can be incorporat- the aspect of project-based work in the Norwegian econ-
ed within this skeleton, which consists of the following four omy. However, this study has measured the share of pro-
components: ject-work through the employees – and their view of how
»» Limited time much time they spend working in projects.
»» A task as a projects reason for existence
»» A team that works on the task within the time available The first study that aimed to measure the degree of projec-
»» Transition reflected in the ‘expectation that there should tification on an organizational level, throughout all indus-
be a qualitative difference in the temporary organiza- tries in an economy, was done by Wald et al. (2015) in the
tion “before” and “after” (Lundin and Söderholm). German economy.
This research is based on the definition derived from the

study conducted by Wald et al. (2015): 3. METHODOLOGY
A project is an undertaking largely characterized by the The study of projectification in Croatia was conducted in four
uniqueness of the conditions in their entirety, i.e. steps. First, we adopted methodology, developed by Wald
34
Macroeconomic measurement of the Croatian project economy
et al. (2015) and carried out on international level (Schop- Figure 5. Industry classification
er et al, 2018). The “project” was defined as a non-routine
task with a clearly specified target, a minimum duration of Econimic sector
four weeks and at least three participants. We defined and
measured projectification as the share of project work in an Agriculture, Forest, Fishing
organization, according to Wald et al. (2015).
Construction industry
We wished to be able to compare our results to those from Manufacturing industry (excluding construction)
the German study of Wald et al. (2015). We had the oppor- of which manufacturing oil and gas activity
tunity to use the same questionnaire as the one used in that
Finance and Insurance providers
study, and our methodology was therefore evolved from
this questionnaire and backwards. Part of the questionnaire Information & Communication
aims to map out within which industry the respondents be-
long, and it was necessary to do some adaptation to fit the Tourism and hospitality
Croatian economy. Compared to the German version, we
therefore added an important industries in Croatia, tour- Other service providers
ism. The second step was to gather reliable data that could
Producing industry (without construction)
represent Croatian economy. We prepared stratified ran-
dom sample, that included all sectors of Croatian economy. Public Admin, Education, Health
247 public and private organizations in Croatia according
to NACE classification participated the study, covering six Trade and traffic (missing hospitality)
economic sectors. The results show that the share of pro-
Source: autors, adopted by Wald et al. (2015)
ject work on total working hours in Croatia was 35% in 2013.
The study was carried out via telephone and on line survey
(n=247 cases). Third step of the research was quantitative a clearly specified target, a minimum duration of four weeks
large scale study in Croatian companies. Forth step of the and at least three participants. We will define and measure
research was be analysis of the data. Research methodol- projectification as the share of project work in an organiza-
ogy was based on previous research from Wald et al. (2015). tion, according to Schoper et al. (2018). The second step will
be to develop a concept of the questionnaire in order to to
3.1. Research phases collect representative data by drawing a stratified random
sample including all sectors of the economy. Third step of
The study will be carried out in four steps. First, we will adopt the research will be quantitative large scale study that will
methodology from research that was conducted in Ger- be held in Croatia. Forth step of the research will be analysis
many. We will define “project” as a non-routine task with of the data.
Figure 1. Research process
Adaptation of Quantitative large

Concept Data analysis
methodology scale study
development in Croatia
to Croatia in Croatia
Source: authors, adopted from Schoper, Y-G., Wald, A., Thor Ingason, H. and Vikingur Fridgeirsson, T. (2018), ”Projectification in Western
economies: A comparative study of Germany, Norway and Iceland”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 6 No 1. pp. 71–82.
35
Based on the project definition from Schoper et al. (2018), L Real estate
respondents will be asked to indicate the share of project
work (in %) in their entire organization. This should result in M-N Corporate service providers
figures of projectification on the company level. The projec-
O-Q Public sector, education, health
tification PF of a company i (i,…,n) is indicated as PFi . The
projectification PF of an individual economic sector j (j,…,m) S Other service providers
will calculated as mean of all firms i in a sector j (Schoper
et al., 2018). The projectification PF of the entire economy S+F+L+M+N Other service providers+constructin+real
e will be obtained by summing all sectors’ projectifications estate+corporate service providers
PFj weighted by the sector’s share σj on total GVA (Schoper

Source: Schoper, Y-G., Wald, A., Thor Ingason, H. and Vikingur
et al., 2018). Fridgeirsson, T. (2018), “Projectification in Western economies:
A comparative study of Germany, Norway and Iceland”, Interna-
tional Journal of Project Management, Vol. 36 No.1, pp. 71–82.
3.2. Size of sample
The Croatian study was based on the German approach. The Following research from Schoper et al. (2018) as it showed
NACE economic sectors classification will be used as a basis on figure 2, and to guarantee the representativeness of the
to ensure the international comparability. Despite industri- sample for the entire economy, a stratified random sampling
al structural differences between Croatia and Germany the will be drawn. A phone survey and e-mail will be performed.
same 10 main sectors will be used. The same weights will be Two stratification criteria will be applied: industry type and
adapted for the 4 sectors which were estimated by national company size (here: number of employees). A profession-
experts. al research company will be hired to conduct the data col-
lection. A list of questions will be sent to the respondents in
In order to get a representative sample from the chosen in- the companies by e-mail prior to a telephone interview. The
dustries, we collected data from both small and large com- population will includes the 200 largest public and private
panies within each industry. The size of the companies was companies in Croatia.
characterized by number of employees – where the small
companies are the ones with less than 250 employees, and Approach to the companies will be done cooperation with
the large ones are the ones with 250 and more. Croatian Chamber of Economy and Croatian Bureau of Sta-
tistics.
Figure 2. Projectification – share of project work by The Croatian Chamber of Economy has the largest database
industries of information within and covering the Croatian economy.
Furthermore, in addition to its own database, the CCE co-op-
NACE CODE SECTOR erates with the database of the Commercial Court, Financial
Agency, Tax Administration, Central Bureau of Statistics and
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing with companies (Croatian Chamber of Economy, 2017).
B-E Manufacturing industry (excluding con-

The sample of data will be gathered based on National Clas-
struction) of which manufacturing oil and
gas activity sification of Economic Activities. The National Classification
of Economic Activities is a basic statistical standard used in
F Construction presenting data on business entities, whose use is regulated
by the Act on National Classification of Economic Activities
G-I Retail/transport/hospitality/tourism
(NN, No. 98/94) and the Decision on National Classification
J Information and communication of Activities – NKD 2007. (NN, Nos 58/07 and 72/07) (Sta-
tistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia, 2017). In gener-
K Financial services & insurance al, the term “industry” is used in the whole chapter as a syn-
onym for the industrial sector of economy and is defined by
36
the NKD 2007. sections B, C, D and E (only division 36) ac- search are compatible with research done in Germany, Nor-
cording to the harmonized EU definition. way and Island so the comparison makes interesting impact
on the profession.
Figure 3. Time plan of the research 3.3. Time plan
Activity Time plan for projectification study in Croatia consisted of 4

phases. All phases are mentioned in figure 4.
Adaptation of methodology
First phase of the project started in December 2017 and fin-
Translation of questionnaire
ished by the end of January 2018. In this phase researchers
Development of project documentation adapted German methodology to Croatian context. Second
for all steps of the research phase started by the end of January 2018 and finished in
February 2018. In this phase a concept plan of the question-
Database of the companies for sampling
naire was developed (translation of the German question-
Communication with survey participants naire and sampling of the companies). Third phase started
by the end of February and finished in early July 2018. In this
Data collection phase a quantitative study was conducted among compa-
nies in Croatia. Forth phase of projectification study in Croa-
Data analysis tia was related to data analysis and discussion on the results.
Output delivery
Source: authors
4. PROFILE OF CROATIA
A professional research company was hired to conduct the 4.1. Economic profile of Croatia
data collection. Their tasks was to take care that methodol-
ogy is adapted according to research that was held in Ger- The GDP per capita was 11 479 USD in 2015 according to
many and make telephone or e-mail surveys. Their work UN data (2017) and the country is ranked 80th worldwide in
resulted with highly professional results of the survey that terms of GPD per capita. The industrial sector is responsi-
showed projectification of Croatia. The results of the re- ble for 25 percent of Croatia’s GDP, with agriculture, forestry,
Figure 4. Research process
12/ 2017–01/2018 01/2018–02/2018 02/2018–06/2018 06/2018–09/2018
Adaptation of Quantitative large

Concept Data analysis
methodology scale study
development in Croatia
to Croatia in Croatia
2017 2018
Source: authors
37
and fishing accounting for the remaining 5 percent, accord- 5. ANALYSIS OF CROATIAN
ing to the World Bank data. International tourists’ expendi- PROJECTIFICATION
ture in Croatia amounts to almost 20% of GDP – by far the
largest share in the EU. Tourism is set to remain a key sector
of the Croatian economy (EU, 2018). Figure 5. Stratified random sample in Croatia
The unemployment rate is 11.7%, which is almost three times ECONOMIC SECTOR SIZE IN EMPLOYEES
higher than Germany (4%). According to OECD data (2017),
Croatia has one of the highest labor productivities in the Up to Over
Overall
250 250
world. Development Index (HDI) ranks Croatia number 45
in the world, which places Croatia in the “very high human Agriculture, Forest, Fishing 8 2 10
development” category Six Croatian firms have made the
Deloitte (2018) Technology Fast 500™ for EMEA Corruption Construction industry 30 10 40
perception index located Croatia od 57th place on the world
Manufacturing industry
ranking (Transparency Int., 2018). In comparison to other (excluding construction)
8 2 10
south-east countries, the Croatia economy is recognized of which manufacturing oil
for its SME sector, that represents 67.2 percent of total em- and gas activity
ployment, and 39 percent of Croatian SMEs are active in the
Finance and Insurance
service sectors (World Bank, 2013). Nevertheless, a recent 10 8 18
providers
report of the ICT Sector prepared by the Croatian Employ-
ers Association (2017), presented impressive data: in 2016, Information &
8 2 10
Communication
the domestic ICT market employed a total of 33,000 people,
generated an income of 32 billion HRK (approximately 4.2 Tourism and hospitality 15 5 20
billion EUR) and created 1,300 new jobs. The revenue growth
of 4% makes this sector one of the fastest growing in Cro- Other service providers 20 5 25
atia. 19% of income is generated from exporting, with soft-
ware and IT services contributing to 31% while IT production Producing industry
27 5 32
(without construction)
to 60% of the total.
Public Admin, Education,
30 10 40
The recent economic crisis has prompted the development Health
of new economic and political currents which permanently
Trade and traffic
determine the future on the international market. Therefore, 30 10 40
(missing hospitality)
a strong need for clearly determined national goals and
interests and economic development priorities is felt now Overall 186 64 250
more than ever (Croatian Chamber of Economy, 2017). Eco-
nomic growth in Croatia continued in the first half of 2017 Source: authors
on the back of strong foreign and stable domestic demand.
Expected favorable developments in export demand, above From the quantitative analysis it is found that level of pro-
all for tourism services (HNB, 2017). jectification in Croatian economy rates 33% for the men-
tioned industries for 2013.
Scope of projectification study in Croatia is to raise aware-
ness of Project Management in Croatia and give different In Island was 27,7 % in 2014, in Germany 34,7% in 2013, and
perspective of this important field within Croatian industry. in Norway was rated as 32,6% in 2014.
38
5.1. Limitations 6. CONCLUSIONS
Some of the respondents choose not to participate, be- Croatia is a small country with a lot of its economy depend-
cause of the fact that they did not understand, or did not ing on the state of one industry, tourism. High activity in this
consider themselves as knowledgeable enough to answer industry, as well as good prices in the market, are important
our questions. Some of the questions are quite complex, when it comes to the income for the Croatia, and the Croa-
and some respondents clearly misunderstood them. How- tian economy – as this industry generates 20% of the gross
ever, since we had a sample size that was more than suf- domestic product (as measured in 2018). Recently, tourism
ficient, we could address this issue by simply removing sector is facing stagnation. This leads to struggles in at-
those respondents from consideration. other issue with tracting old and new tourist. Results of this research show
the study was the fact that the respondents were supposed interesting points where Croatian industries should focus on
to give us their best estimate of for instance the share of a long term.
project-based work in their organization. Those estimates
might have been good estimates, but in some cases, they CONFLICT OF INTEREST
might also have been just guesses. We had no way of con- NONE.
trolling for this issue in our study.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the International
It might therefore be interesting to see if the effects of pro- Project Management Association (IPMA) for financial fund-
jectification are stronger on one of the parts of the concept ing the Croatian study in the entire research process, from
of strategy of a country. In conclusion, possible hypotheses study design to submission and to the Croatian Project
for future research might be: Management Association (CAPM) for supporting the execu-
– The success rate of revitalisation projects have a sig- tion of the study.
nificant moderating effect on the relationship between
projectification and strategic flexibility.
References
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print in the project management field, International Journal of (accessed 4th August 2017)
Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 680-694.
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Cicmil, S., Hodgson, D. Lindgren and M. Packendorff, J. (2009). organization as a policy tool in implementing welfare reforms
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Republic of Croatia, Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, Croatia. ment research: Perspectives from top management journals,
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Lundin, R.A. and Söderholm, A. (1995). A theory of the tempo-
Deloitte (2018). Technology fat 500, available at: rary organization, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 11
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of the European Union, Luxembourg. cessed on 03 July 2018)
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Packendorff, J. and Lindgren, M. (2014). Projectification and UN Data, 2017. Online. data.un.org.
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No. 1, pp. 7-21. Towards a Measurement of “Projectification”: A Study on the
Share of Project Work in the German Economy. In Wald, A.,
Rønning, E. (2002). Jakten på den moderne arbeider. Sam- Wagner, R., Schneider, C. and Gschwendtner, M. (Eds.), Ad-
funnsspeilet, Vol 1, No 1. pp. 4-5 vanced Project Management: Flexibility and Innovative Capac-
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parative study of Germany, Norway and Iceland, International Wald, A., Aguilar Velasco, M.M., Torbjørn, B., Grønvold, A., Skei-
Journal of Project Management, Vol. 6 No 1. pp. 71–82. brok, J., Svensson, F.L. (2016). Projektifizierung auch im Nor-
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40
Ou Lixiong | Hsiung Calvin | Wang Yan
School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China
Projectification in China: A Comparative Study Of

Projectification between China and European Countries
ABSTRACT Germany, the same study was then replicated in Iceland and
Norway by (Schoper et al., 2017) to compare the levels of
This study replicates the study of (Schoper et al., 2017) in Projectification between the three countries.
China by providing an in-depth insight and analysis into the
levels of projectification in China with comparisons made The need of such research originated from (Engwall, 2003)
with the previous study conducted in Germany, Norway and (Sydow et al., 2004) (Bechky, 2006) (Whitley, 2006) (Hodg-
Iceland. This study finds that the European countries have son & Cicmil, 2007) (Lindner & Wald, 2011) (Packendorff &
about a third of their economies projectified while in China Lindgren, 2014) (Lundin et al., 2015) (Jensen et al., 2016)
it is significantly higher at about 42.7%. It also implies that a where assumptions were made on increasing levels of Pro-
faced paced developing country like China is prone to have jectification in firms, sectors and entire economies. But the
higher level of projectification. problem with such claims was that there was no empirical
evidence to support those assumptions. Therefore (Schop-
Besides the measure given by (Schoper et al., 2017) of time er et al., 2017)in their study have managed to bridge that
invested on project work vs. time invested in routine task as gap by providing factual empirical data about Projectifica-
a measure of projectification, we also proposed a second tion in Germany, Norway and Iceland. Their study concluded
measure of share of cost of project personnel vs. cost of to- that approximately about one third of all the three econ-
tal personnel as a valid measurement of projectification es- omies were projectified and also proved that the trend of
pecially in terms of calculating contributions of project work Projectification seems to be increasing in the years to come.
to individual industrial GVA’s. The question that begs to be asked here is does China fol-
low the same pattern? Or does it diverge, taking into the
account that China is vastly different in terms of its culture,
1. INTRODUCTION policies, structure and the growing speed of its economy?
The concept of Projectification was first introduced by In comparison to the three European economies where
(Midler, 1995). When Midler introduced the term of Pro- Germany, Norway and Iceland are considered developed
jectification it was intended to illustrate the evolution of economies according to the (United Nations, 2014) coun-
the car manufacturer Renault, but more recently it is being try classification, China is considered a developing economy.
used to define the share of project work being implement- While trends of projectification for developed economies in
ed in a company: increasing Projectification indicates that the EU seem to average at one thirds, it is also important to
the share of project work is rising against the share of “or- investigate if deviation occurs on degree of projectification
dinary” work which takes place in the permanent structure for a fast-developing economy like China. China has been
of a company (LOFNES, 2017). In the modern context it was among the world’s fastest-growing economies, with real an-
first used in measuring the amount of Projectification in so- nual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 9.5%
cieties-an entire country’s economy by (Wald et al., 2015)in through 2017, a pace described by the World Bank as “the
41
fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history.” variables of time spent on projects vs. time spent on or-
Such growth has enabled China, on average, to double its dinary routine tasks as a measure of projectification, with
GDP every eight years. comparisons made of project types internal vs. external, cal-
culation and comparison of projectification of each coun-
In addition to economic differences, China also differs in try’s entire economy by each sectors share on GVA and a
terms of composition in industrial sectors. Viewing from a comparison made on future trends of projectification. Sec-
primary secondary and tertiary, industry stand point (re- ondly we shall investigate another variable of proportion of
fer to Table.1) it can be observed that almost half of China’s project-related personnel costs vs. total personnel costs
economy is still based on primary and secondary industries as a measure of projectification of China with comparison
to contribute to its GDP while the European countries have made with previous calculation of projectification in China.
shifted more towards tertiary or the servicing sectors to
contribute the majority of their GDP. We seek to continue the study done in (Schoper et al., 2017)
and contribute to the project management literature by
All these differences present a lucrative avenue for research providing the first systematic and comprehensive empirical
to be conducted to understand how much of China’s eco- evidence on the degree of projectification in a fast paced
nomic rise was caused by projectification. And to better developing Asian economy of China with comparisons made
understand if levels of projectification differ due to China’s with the previous studies in done in Germany, Norway and
fast developing nature and difference in its industrial sector Iceland.
compositions.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Table 1. Composition of GDP for each country
estimates 2017 In the year 1995 (Midler, 1995) coined the term of a phe-
nomenon that has now created a buzz in the world of man-
COMPOSITION OF GDP agement practice today. Since then it has created a con-
tinuous rise of project based form of organizing or better
Country Primary Secondary Tertiary
known as Projectification. The term of Projectification came
China 8.2% 39.5% 52.2% to existence where it meant that projectified organizations
would organize their activities more as projects and less as
Germany 0.9% 29% 69% ordinary routine work. If all the activities within an organiza-
tion are arranged as projects then the company can be said
Norway 2.4% 31.1% 66.5%
to be projectified and if projectification not only takes place
on the level of individual firms but among all firms of an in-
Iceland 5.8% 19.8% 74.4%
dustry and in all sectors of an economy, the entire economy
Source: The world factbook, 2017 can be said to be projectified (Schoper et al., 2017).
In particular this paper shall pursue the following objectives Hierarchical, functionally structured organizations of the
»» To present and compare the empirical results on the de- past are being replaced by project-oriented and pro-
gree of projectification in China, Germany, Norway and ject-based organizations (Bergman et al., 2013). And not
Iceland only does projectification apply to project based organi-
»» To analyze the similarities and differences between the zations like construction, consulting and creative industries
countries economy and industrial composition in light of but rather projectification has affected the world of man-
projectification measures agement, and society at large (Jensen et al., 2016) (Lun-
»» To further projectification research by further analyzing din et al., 2015). (Auschra et al., 2018)Have provided an in-
and comparing a different measure of projectification. sight into parallels between projects based organizing and
This paper shall be structured as follows: first we shall rep- new venture creation emphasizing that new startups have
licate the study of (Schoper et al., 2017) by comparing the a lot of elements in the form of projects. The field of health
42
Projectification in China: A Comparative Study Of Projectification between China and European Countries
sciences has also seen the application of projectification as spent on projects vs. time spent on ordinary routine tasks.
seen in (Torka, 2018) Secondly we shall apply a second measure of projectifica-
tion as proportion of project-related personnel costs vs.
As can be seen from the extensive amount of literature con- total personnel costs as a measure of projectification.
tributing to the importance and applications of Projectifi-
cation, there were increasing claims of increase in levels of Since the definition and perception of the term project may
projectification from (Engwall, 2003) (Sydow et al., 2004) vary from individual to individual (Wald et al., 2015) had to
(Bechky, 2006) (Whitley, 2006) (Hodgson &Cicmil, 2007) first define the scope of the term project. Therefore the defi-
(Lindner & Wald, 2011) (Packendorff& Lindgren, 2014) (Lun- nition of the term project was extracted from DIN 69901 and
din et al., 2015) (Jensen et al., 2016), and while such claims is defined as follows:
were available it still left a vulnerable gap for project man-
agement researchers to have quantitative evidence to jus- A project is an undertaking largely characterized by the
tify the relevance of their work. uniqueness of the conditions in their entirety, i.e.
»» A specific target has been defined for the project.
Therefore (Wald et al., 2015) for the first time, investigated »» The project is limited in terms of time (start and end).
empirically the level of Projectification in the entire econ- »» The project requires specific resources (e. g. financial,
omy of Germany. They developed a quantitative survey staff, machinery).
method to be able to measure levels of projectification »» An independent project organization exists, which is de-
within firms, industrial sectors and entire economies, and fined as different from the standard organization in the
through research were able to deliver empirical results on company.
the level of Projectification in the German economy. »» The projects work on non-routine tasks.
»» The project has a minimum duration of four weeks.
»» The project has at least three participants.
3. MEASUREMENT AND DATA
AGGREGATION Based on the aforementioned definition of the term pro-
ject, respondents were asked in the surveys to indicate the
The process of measurement and data aggregation shall share of project work (in %) in their organization as a whole.
be two fold. First, we shall replicate the method proposed by This provided data on levels of projectification at a company
(Schoper et al., 2017) to measure projectification as time level shown in Fig 1.
Figure 1. Snapshot of the source of data from the questionnaire
43
And to find out the Projectification of an entire sector with-

in an economy the following calculation and process Fig.2
was used
Finally, the Projectification PFe of the entire economy e was
obtained by summing all sectors’ Projectification PFj weight-
ed by the sector’s share σj on total GVA. The process of data
aggregation has been provided in Fig.2
This resulted in figures of Projectification on the company However for the second measure of projectification we be-
level. The Projectification PF of a company i (i…n) is indi- lieve that the proportion of project- personnel cost vs. total
cated as PFi. The Projectification PFj of an individual eco- personnel cost Fig.3 in the company could also be a signifi-
nomic sector j (j… m) was calculated as mean of all firms i cant dimension of projectification.
in a sector j.
Figure 2. Process data aggregation taken from Source (Wald et al., 2015)
ORGANIZATION SECTOR ECONOMY
NACE SECTOR SHARE ON GVA

A Agriculture, forestry and fishing 0.9%
B-E Manufacturing industry 26.1%
F Construction 4.6%
G-I Retail / transport / hospitality / turism 15.6%
J Information and communication 4.7%
K Financial services & insurance 4.1%
L Real estate 11.1%
M-N Corporate service providers 10.7%
O-Q Public sector, education, health 18.1%
S Other service providers 4.1%
Total 100.00%
Measuring projectification Calculation of mean Sum over all sectors weighted

as share of project work values formeach sector by the sector’s share on total GVA
on total work
(in working hours)
Figure 3. Data source for the calculation of projectification using personnel cost
44
The reason for investigating this dimension is because we largely different from its European counter parts. To begin
believe that this input based measure of projectification with China has a massive population of 1.4 billion people
as seen in Fig.4 has a significant correlation to the indus- and currently the most populous country in the world and
trial GVA contribution calculations for e.g. a company that also forms the world’s second largest economy at USD 14
spends more on project personnel means they are spending trillion in terms of nominal GDP only trailing behind Unit-
more to acquire better human talent, we assume that bet- ed States of America. While China leads by a huge margin
ter talent would result in better outcomes of a project and in terms of population and nominal GDP among the four
hence add more value. Therefore assuming the former as- economies, on the flip side the indicators of GDP/capita
sumptions we believe this relationship can better relate to indicates that China lacks behind the European countries
the contributions made to each industry’s GVA. by a huge margin. This indicates that while China does have
Figure 4. Value creation process based on input measures source: (Wald et al., 2015)
IMPUT MEASURES VALUE CREATION PROCESS OUTPUT MEASURES
Quantity
I Volume
I Price
Ressources
I Monetary Quality
... ... ...
I Personnel I Product & Service
I Material quality
I Steakholder
satisfaction
Following the same logic from the former assumption, we a huge GDP, but due to its massive population the aver-
can assume that if a company spends all of its personnel age Chinese person on average might not be as well off
cost on project-personnel then the company is said to be as its European counterparts. It is also worth noting that
fully projectified and vice versa. The results of these meas- while the three European countries rank among the top 9
urements shall be analyzed and discussed in chapter 5. in terms of HDI (human development index) according to
(UNDP, 2016) report, China ranks a lot lower at 90th posi-
tion which means there is a lot of room for improvement
4. COUNTRY PROFILES AND for China. In terms of unemployment rate China follows suit
COUNTRY-SPECIFIC ADAPTATION with Germany and Norway and has kept it relatively low,
OF METHODOLOGY however this data from NBS only demonstrates the unem-
ployment rate for urban areas, for rural areas this data was
This chapter shall present a snapshot of each country’s gen- not available.
eral economic profile and the adaptation of methodology
each country choose for the purpose of data collection This profile comparison shall provide a basic context to the
done in each country. calculations of project share in each individual country. The
methodologies of data collection implemented by each
By comparing the country profiles of the four economies country were different therefore the following sub chapters
in Table.2, right off the bat it can be observed that China is will provide a brief on the methods used.
45
Table 2. Country profiles
CHINA GERMANY NORWAY ICELAND
Location South east Asia Central Europe Northwestern Europe North Atlantic
(island country)
Population 1.4 Billion 82 Million 5.3 Million 350,710

(world largest population (most populous (Statistics Norway 2018) (Statistics Iceland 2018)
UN 2017) state in EU)
Nominal GDP $14.092 trillion $3.684 trillion $400 billion (IMF 2018) $25 billion (IMF 2018)
(IMF 2018) (IMF 2017)
GDP per capita $10,087 (IMF 2018) $41686 (UN 2017) $74186 (UN 2017) $70,332 (IMF 2018)
Main economic Agriculture 9% services sector services sector Services 74% mainly
sectors Industry 40% contributing 68% of contributing 67% of total through exports and
Services 51% totalGDP, Manufacturing GDP and employs 80% of tourism
is second largest 31% its total population
Unemployment 4.0% urban area 4.0% lowest among all EU 4.80% 2.8%
rate (NBS 2016) states (Eurostat 2018)
HDI (Human Rank 90th in the world Rank 4th in the world Rank 1st Rank 9th in the world
development (UNDP 2015) (UNDP 2015) (UNDP 2015) (UNDP 2015)
index)
Important Electrical appliances, Automotive, electrical oil and gas Tourism, fishery,
industries electronics, Cement, engineering, chemical, aluminum
Energy, machinery and equipment
4.1. Methodology adopted by Germany, Norway and then distributed via email to all 54,101 registered compa-
Iceland nies in the Proff Forvalt database which resulted in 1412 us-
able responses. Also since Norway main industry is oil and
Referred from (Schoper et al., 2017), In Germany a stratified gas therefore the manufacturing sector was further broken
random sampling was drawn and interviews were conduct- down to oil and gas as a sub sector. Lastly construction was
ed via CATI( computer assisted telephone interviews) in six put together with other service providers, corporate service
economic sectors and the remaining four sectors were esti- providers and property and accommodation.
mated based on expert interviews. The stratification criteria
applied was industry type and company size (number of em- In Iceland the collection was conducted by sending emails to
ployees). A pretest was performed to check for validity and 1000 of Iceland’s largest companies followed by telephone
quality of the questionnaire and a total of 500 responses interviews and was done through a professional research
were collected from private and public organizations. company. The final response consisted of 142 companies
with an average size of 125 employees. NACE classification
In Norway the data collection was done by first translat- was also adopted in Iceland despite differences in structure
ing the survey into Norwegian and a pretest was done to and the same 10 main industrial sectors were used.
check for validity, language bias and clarity. The survey was
46
4.2. Methodology adapted to China For the first round of data collection questionnaires
were distributed via three channels. Emails, Wechat and
To conduct this study in China first the surveys were trans- through MBA, EMBA, MEM classes of partnering univer-
lated from English into Mandarin (Chinese).As a pretest the sities across China. Surveys were distributed in these
surveys were distributed to few local companies for testing management classes since most of the students who at-
of validity, language bias and clarity. Following the approach tended these classes were already working for various or-
by Germany a stratification criteria was applied on indus- ganizations. The first round of collections resulted in 766
try type and company size with an additional criteria added responses and after checking for invalid responses 738
of location (Eastern/Intermediate/Western) China (see Ta- were left, but since these were not enough, we then ana-
ble.3&4). The reason for adding this criterion is because Chi- lyzed the data samples and checked for which industries
na covers a huge geographical landscape and the economic and in which regions needs more representation, and tar-
development of each region in China varies, therefore the geted our efforts into those industrials sectors and re-
surveys collected must be representative of not only indus- gions. This was done by making phone calls to various
trial GVA contributions but also of regional economic stand- companies and through approaching them by email and
ings. The minimum target number of surveys to be collected having interview meetings with them. Finally a total of
from each industry was based on their industrial GVA contri- 1388 responses were collected. Once the data was col-
butions; however minimum number of surveys was set at 75 lected it was filtered through meticulously and a total of
samples, just to make sure that even minimal GVA industries 1186 usable responses were considered for the final cal-
like oil gas or ICT get enough representation. culations (see Table.3&4)
Table 3. Data collected arranged by industrial sectors
GVA share of each

Industrial Sectors Target of minimum First round of data Final round of
Industry Source
in China data samples collection data collection
NBS
Fishery, Forestry, Agriculture 9% 75 17 84
Manufacturing 38% 200 271 282
Oil and Gas activity 3% 75 29 79
Retail, Transport, Hospitality,

16% 150 31 163
Tourism
Information and
3% 100 90 115
Communication
Financial Services and

8% 100 72 112
Insurance
Public sector, education, health 10% 150 59 155
Other Services (excluding

13% 150 169 196
financial)
Total 100% 1000 738 1186
47
Table 4. Data collected arranged by economic zones
Eastern Zone Intermediate Zone Western Zone Total
GDP share by region 55% 25% 20% 100%
surveys collected 767 263 156 1186
Also while company size is not shown in the Tables.3&4 were adopted from data provided by the NBS china and
the data we collected shows that 54% of the companies a breakdown of regions and provinces within each eco-
surveyed had more than 500 employees while 46% had nomic zone and their respective gross regional product is
fewer than 500 employees. The three economic zones given in Table.5.
Table 5. Details of Province/Regions in each economic zone and their related GRP Source NBS China
Gross Regional Product

(100 Million Yuan) 2016

by income approach
by income approach
by income approach
Province / Region
Province / Region
Province / Region
Economic Zone
Economic Zone
Economic Zone
Beijing 25,669.13 East Shanxi 13,050.41 Intermediate Inner 18,128.10 West
Mongolia
Tianjin 17,885.39 East Jilin 14,776.80 Intermediate Guangxi 18,317.64 West
Hebei 32,070.45 East Heilongjiang 15,386.09 Intermediate Chongqing 17,740.59 West
Liaoning 22,246.90 East Anhui 24,407.62 Intermediate Sichuan 32,934.54 West
Shanghai 28,178.65 East Jiangxi 18,499.00 Intermediate Guizhou 11,776.73 West
Jiangsu 77,388.28 East Henan 40,471.79 Intermediate Yunnan 14,788.42 West
Zhejiang 47,251.36 East Hubei 32,665.38 Intermediate Tibet 1,151.41 West
Fujian 28,810.58 East Hunan 31,551.37 Intermediate Shaanxi 19,399.59 West
Shandong 68,024.49 East Gansu 7,200.37 West
Guangdong 80,854.91 East Qinghai 2,572.49 West
Hainan 4,053.20 East Ningxia 3,168.59 West
Xinjiang 9,649.70 West
48
In addition a further adaptation was made to ensure com- ard with NACE classification. Therefore as seen in (Table.6)
parability of the results, since China’s industrial classifica- sectors listed in the survey are exactly the same as the ones
tion (GB/T 4754 - 2011) does not follow along with NACE Rev used in the Norwegian survey and after carefully matching
2(2008) EU classification. China released its first industrial sub sectors within each broad sector definition and a best
classification in 1984 and was later revised in 1994 in light fit approach was adopted to create a relation between stats
of ISIC classification for the purposes of comparability. But taken from NBS (National Bureau of Statistics China) and
it still leaves a gap as there is no perfect comparison stand- the sectors mentioned in the survey.
Table 6. Comparison of NACE, ISIC and NBS sectors classifications
NBS Classification (GB/T Survey Sectors (reduced

NACE Rev 2 (2008) ISIC Rev 4 (2008)
4754 - 2011 ) to 8)
A Agriculture, forestry and A 01–03 Agriculture, A Agriculture, forestry, Fishery, Forestry, Agriculture
fishing 01 – 03 forestry and fishing animal husbandry and
fishery
B Mining and quarrying 05 B 05–09 Mining and B mining industry Oil and Gas activity
– 09 quarrying
C Manufacturing 10 – 33 C 10–33 Manufacturing C manufacturing Manufacturing
D Electricity, gas, steam and D 35 Electricity, gas, steam D Electricity, heat, gas and
air conditioning supply 35 and air conditioning supply water production and supply
E Water supply; sewerage, E 36–39 Water supply; N Water, environmental other

waste management and sewerage, waste and public facilities
remediation activities management and management
36 – 39 remediation activities
F Construction 41 – 43 F 41–43 Construction E Construction industry Construction*
G Wholesale and retail trade; G 45–47 Wholesale and F Wholesale and retail trade Retail, Transport,
repair of motor vehicles and retail trade; repair of motor Hospitality, Tourism
motorcycles 45 – 47 vehicles and motorcycles
H Transportation and H 49–53 Transportation G Transportation,

storage 49 – 53 and storage warehousing and postal
services
I Accommodation and food I 55–56 Accommodation H Accommodation and

service activities 55 – 56 and food service activities catering industry
J Information and J 58–63 Information and I Information transmission, Information and

communication 58 – 63 communication software and information Communication
technology services
K Financial and insurance K 64–66 Financial and J Financial industry Financial Services and
activities 64 – 66 insurance activities Insurance
L Real estate activities 68 L 68 Real estate activities K Real estate industry Real Estate*
49
M Professional, scientific and M 69–75 Professional, M Scientific research and

technical activities 69 – 75 scientific and technical technical services other
activities
N Administrative and support N 77–82 Administrative and L Leasing and commercial

other
service activities 77 – 82 support service activities services
O Public administration and O 84 Public administration S Public administration, Public sector, education,
defense; compulsory social and defense; compulsory social security and social health
security 84 social security organization
P Education 85 P 85 Education P education
Q Human health and social Q 86–88 Human health and Q Health and social work
work activities 86 – 88 social work activities
R Arts, entertainment and R 90–93 Arts, R Culture, sports and

recreation 90 – 93 entertainment and entertainment other
recreation
S Other service activities S 94–96 Other service O Resident services, repairs

other
94 – 96 activities and other services
T Activities of households as T 97–98 Activities of

employers; u0ndifferentiated households as employers;
goods- and services- undifferentiated goods-
- other
producing activities of and services-producing
households for own use 97- activities of households for
98 own use
U Activities of extraterritorial U 99 Activities T International

organizations and bodies 99 of extraterritorial organizations other
organizations and bodies
* GVA values for construction and real estate are available within the NBS database but since these sectors were not surveyed in the
questionnaires, expert opinion was consulted for estimates of projectification within these sectors.
5. COMPARATIVE COUNTRY ANALYSIS The results from China show that a huge majority of projects
are internal projects making up total of 83.6% internal to
This chapter aims to analyze the differences and similarities 16.4% external projects. On average the most frequent in-
among project types in China and European countries. ternal projects are marketing and sales projects 19% with
higher contribution from retail/transport/hospitality/tour-
5.1. Project types: internal and external ism and financial industry, each at 21%. The data also shows
external projects are mostly used in the oil and gas industry
Analyzing the results from Table.7-10 the following can be 20%, Manufacturing industry 17%, retail/transport/hospital-
concluded ity/tourism 17% and other services 17%.
50
Table 7. Project types in China
Internal External
INTERNAL: R&D PROJECTS
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
MARKETING PROJECTS
Number
ORGANIZATIONAL-
/ SALES PROJECTS
NFRASTRUCTURE
/ NEW PRODUCT
COMMISSIONED
/ HR-PROJECTS
IT-PROJECTS
China of Cases
EXTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
(n)
Fishery, Forestry, Agriculture 15% 19% 15% 19% 19% 15% 84
Manufacturing 15% 12% 19% 18% 18% 17% 282
Oil and Gas activity 17% 13% 18% 14% 16% 20% 79

17% 12% 15% 21% 17% 17% 163
Tourism
Information and Communication 16% 20% 19% 18% 13% 15% 115
Financial Services and Insurance 20% 19% 17% 21% 10% 13% 112
Public sector, education, health 18% 16% 15% 18% 16% 16% 155
Other Services (excluding

16% 16% 18% 18% 15% 17% 196
financial)
Total 17% 16% 17% 19% 16% 16% 1186
Table 8. Project types in Germany
External
Internal projects
projects
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
R&D / NEW PRODUCT
MARKETING / SALES
Number
INFRASTRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMISSIONED
/ HR PROJECTS
Germany of Cases
IT PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
(n)
Manufacturing industry 12% 14% 22% 14% 12% 25% 100
Retail/transport/hospitality/
18% 16% 12% 22% 15% 17% 90
tourism
Information and communication 12% 23% 13% 21% 11% 20% 70
Financial services & insurance 18% 25% 9% 24% 13% 12% 70
Public sector,education,health 20% 24% 10% 15% 19% 12% 100
Other service providers 20% 18% 11% 33% 10% 9% 70
Total 17% 20% 13% 22% 13% 16% 500
51
In Germany the data also shows that a majority of project Norway also follows the same trend having a high number
types are internal 84% to 16% external which is a very similar on internal project types at 78%. Within internal project
result to that of China. Germany however does show notable types the most dominant project type is R&D/new product
differences in between project types i.e. most frequent ones development which is contributed mainly by the high fre-
in marketing and sales 22%, followed by IT projects 20% and quency from oil and gas, and information and communica-
the least amount of projects are in R&D/new product devel- tion industry both at 20% and from manufacturing industry
opment and infrastructure projects both at 13%. at 19%. While for external project types the most predomi-
nant industries are other service providers 27%, Oil and gas
Iceland also shows a high level of internal projects at 87% activity 25%, Manufacturing industry 24% and Information
similar to China and Germany. While showing no observable and communication sector 24%.
differences between internal project types however external
projects are most frequently found in the manufacturing in- A further discussion related to the calculation of this data
dustry, financial services and other service providers. about project types is discussed in chapter.5
Table 9. Project types in Iceland
External
Internal projects
projects
R&D / NEW PRODUCT
Number
MARKETING / SALES
INFRASTRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMISSIONED
DEVELOPMENT
/ HR PROJECTS
Iceland of cases
IT PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
(n)
Retail/transport/hospitality/tourism 17% 22% 18% 15% 20% 9% 39
Total 16% 19% 17% 17% 18% 13% 142
52
Table 10. Project types in Norway
External
Internal projects
projects
R&D / NEW PRODUCT

Number
/ SALES PROJECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMISSIONED
DEVELOPMENT
/ HR PROJECTS
Norway of cases
IT PROJECTS
MARKETING
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
(n)
Agriculture, forestry and 16% 12% 22% 15% 14% 21% 37

fishing

(excluding construction & oil
and gas)
Oil and gas activity 11% 16% 20% 14% 13% 25% 67
Retail/transport/hospitality/ 15% 17% 14% 21% 15% 18% 315

tourism
Information and 10% 18% 20% 16% 12% 24% 94

communication
Other service providers + 14% 15% 15% 16% 13% 27% 355
construction + real estate +
corporate service providers
Total 14% 16% 18% 16% 14% 22% 1412
5.2. Status of Projectification in China compared to the sumption that input-oriented measure of working hours
EU countries corresponds to the proportion of gross value added as out-
put, this would correspond to an amount of USD 4.8 trillion
From the values obtained after calculation in Table.11 and in 2016 generated by projects in China. Followed by, Germa-
Fig.5, it can be observed that the share of project work on ny with project shares of 34.7% in 2013, Norway at 32.6% in
total working hours in China is 42.7% and following the as- 2014 and Iceland at 27.7% in 2014.
53
Table 11. Projectification – share of project work by Industries
Germany Norway Iceland China
SHARE OF PROJECT
SHARE OF PROJECT
SHARE OF PROJECT
SHARE OF PROJECT
SHARE ON GVA
SHARE ON GVA
SHARE ON GVA
SHARE ON GVA
NACE
WORK 2014
WORK 2014
WORK 2017
WORK 2013
Sector
2015****
code
2014**
2014**
2013*
Agriculture, forestry and
A 4.0% 0.9% 28.6% 1.7% 4.0% 7.0% 35% 9.13%
fishing
B-E 41.9% 26.1% 47.2% 32.6% 3.4% 8.9% 39% 31.55%
(excluding construction)
of which manufacturing — — 37.6% 8.8% — — — —
Oil and gas activity — — 50.7% 23.9% — — 55% 2.77%
F Construction 80.0% 4.6% — — 80.0% 6.3% 85% 6.77%
Retail / transport /
G-I 42.0% 15.6% 13.4% 13.9% 18.2% 20.3% 37% 15.79%
hospitality / tourism
Information and
J 37.7% 4.7% 48.0% 3.8% 47.8% 5.3% 60% 2.69%
communication
Financial services &

K 23.0% 4.1% 21.4% 5.1% 34.2% 8.8% 32% 8.40%
insurance
L real estate 2.0% 11.1% — — 2.0% 11.1% 30% 6.05%
M-N Corporate service providers 60.0% 10.7% — — 60.0% 5.3% — —
Public sector, education,

0-Q 17.8% 18.1% 14.2% 22.0% 33.3% 22.1% 34% 9.55%
health
S other service providers 23.0% 4.1% — 42.7% 42.7% 4.9% 63% 7.29%
S + F Other service providers +

+L construction + real estate + — — 40.5% 20.9% — — -- --
+ M - N corporate service providers
Total*** 34.7% 100.0% 32.6% 100.0% 27.7% 100.0% 42.7% 100.00%
* Source: Statistisches Bundesamt

** Source: Eurostat, statistics Norway
*** Source: NBS National Bureau of Statistics China
**** Total value weighted by the proportion of economic sectors to gross value added(GVA)
Values printed in italics are estimated values
54
By comparison it can be observed that share of project work our study, which places projectification of oil and gas sec-
in China is significantly higher than Germany, Norway and Ice- tor in China at 55% only slightly higher than Norway at 50%.
land by an average of 11%. The higher project share signifies Although oil and gas sector only contributes to small share
the importance and contribution of organizing work by pro- in the GVA for China while a huge share for Norway, it does
jects towards a faced paced developing economy like china. however convey that this sector regardless of GVA still has
This also makes sense because a developing economy needs half its work done in the form of projects.
project like structures to accelerate the growing economy.
In public, education and health sector China also has a very
The difference in projectification is not only observed at the high level of project work at 34% which is similar to Iceland
overall economic level but rather also at industry sectors while Germany and Norway have comparatively lower levels.
levels. Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector places Chi- This may be due to fact that China aims to improve its public
na ahead of all the four countries at 35% trailed by Norway education and health sector by implementing new projects.
at 28.6%, while Germany and Iceland have really low levels According to (Norton Rose Fulbright, 2015) In 2015 China
of projectification at 4%, this can be explained by the fact announced a five year road-map for reform of its health-
that china was primarily an agrarian economy and still today care sector. The National Planning Guideline for the Health-
contributes to 9% of total GVA. care Service System gave a comprehensive five-year blue-
print targeting keys areas for development by 2020. This
China also has a high share of project work in the Informa- may be one of the potential contributors of high projectifi-
tion and communication sector 60%.According to (World cation levels in this sector.
Economic Forum, 2016) ten years ago, only 1 in 10 of China’s
population was online, and only around a third had a mobile Construction and real estate figures are estimates given by
phone. Now, nearly everyone has a mobile, and more than experts from within these sectors. The sector is estimated
half use the internet – mostly on their phones. at a level of 30% projectification a potential reason expla-
nation given by the experts is the fact that this sector still
China is also significantly higher in other services sector at largely works on temporary settings fit for project work.
63% since China aims to shift towards services from former-
ly heavy agrarian and industrial economy. Since the service The second approach in Table.12 is introduced as an alter-
sector is very heterogeneous a detail break down of sub ser- native method of calculating contribution of projects to
vice sectors would be required for a more detailed analysis. their respective industrial GVAs. The results show that us-
ing personnel cost provides a more conservative result on
In the manufacturing and retail/transport/hospitality/tour- projectification levels. Level of projectification measured by
ism industry China has similar levels of project work to that this approach is lower than its former measure in each in-
of Germany while ahead being ahead of Norway and Iceland dustry. The results also highlight the while more time may-
in Retail/transport/hospitality/tourism. The manufacturing be spent on projects compared to routine tasks, a lesser
sector supplies a constant demand of varying new product percentage is spent on project personnel compared to to-
demands in China which creates a need for R&D new prod- tal personnel. We believe the assumption that the relation
uct development project work to be able to meet the mar- between the of project personnel cost/total personnel cost
ket demand. In the financial services and insurance sector can better relate to each industry’s share of GVA. Since hir-
China is on par with Iceland with high levels of project work. ing quality personnel has better chance of delivering bet-
ter project outcomes which would have a greater impact on
Since the questionnaire was adapted from the Norwegian each sector’s GVA.
questionnaire a sector of oil and gas was also included in
55
Table 12. Projectification measured by time vs. personnel cost
Projectification measured by time (%) Projectification measured by personnel

China
invested in projects cost (%) invested in project personnel
Share of Project Share of Project

Industry Share on GVA 2015 Share on GVA 2015
work 2017 personnel 2017
Manufacturing 39.1 31.6 24.8 31.6
Construction* 85 6.8 85 6.8
Financial Services and

32.2 8.4 19.8 8.4
Insurance
Public sector,
34.3 9.6 18.9 9.6
education, health
Real estate* 30 6.1 30 6.1
Other Services
63.1 7.3 51.1 7.3
(excluding financial)
Retail, Transport,
37.1 15.8 23.5 15.8
Hospitality, Tourism
Information and
59.7 2.7 49.0 2.7
Communication
Oil and Gas activity 55.0 2.8 44.5 2.8
Fishery, Forestry,
35.0 9.1 15.0 9.1
Agriculture
Total Projectification
40.8 30.3
of the Economy
5.3. Development of Projectification from 2009 to 2022 share of 40% in the past five years and also places China on
top of all the other three countries in terms of rise in project
Observing the results of the trends of projectification in share. The trend also seems to continue for the forecast-
Fig.5&Table.9 from the past five years and a forecast of the ed future and places China at 53% in 2022 with an overall
next five years shows a common increasing trend in all the 73.7% increase in projectification in a span of 10 years from
four economies. 2012-2022.However the context of these results must be
examined carefully to understand that the results of China
The share of project work in China has grown from 30.5% in are of the year 2012-2022 while of the European countries
2012 to 42.7% in 2017 which corresponds to a rise in project are from 2009-2020.
56
Table 13. Projectification trend 2009-2022
SPAN OF 10 YEARS)
%INCREASE (TOTAL
%ANNUAL RATE OF
%ANNUAL RATE OF
INCREASE(FUTURE
PROJECTIFICATION
%INCREASE(PAST
INCREASE(PAST
FIVE YEARS)
FIVE YEARS)
FIVE YEARS)
2009-12
2019-22
TRENDS
China
30.5% 2013-18
42.7% 53.0%
40% 73.7% 8% 4.8%
2012-2022 (2012-2017) (2012-2022) (2012-2017) (2017-2022)
Germany 20% 41% 4.3% 3%

29.3% 34.7% 41.3%
2009-2019 (2009-2013) (2009-2019) (2009-2013) (2013-2019)
Norway 24% 24.7% 4.8% 1%

27.1% 32.6% 33.8%
2010-2020 (2010-2014) (2010-2020) (2010-2014) (2014-2020)
Iceland 11% 26% 1.8% 2.3%

25.0% 27.7% 31.5%
2009-2019 (2009-2014) (2009-2019) (2009-2014) (2014-2019)
On the other hand China does show a similar pattern to that by (Schoper et al., 2017). Germany follows the same pattern
of Germany and Norway where annual rate of increase in slowing down from 4.3% (2009-2013) to 3% (2013-2019) so
projectification level slows down from 8% (2012-2017) to does Norway from 4.8% (2010-2014) to 1% (2014-2020).
4.8% (2017-2022) a reason for this phenomenon could po- However Iceland has an increase in its annual rate from 1.8%
tentially be the saturation of projects in the economy as stated (2009-2014) to 2.3% (2014-2019).
Figure 5. Development of projectification 2009-2022
60
50
40
projectification
30
20
10
0
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
China 30,5 42,7 53

Germany 29,3 34,7 41,3
Iceland 25 27,7 31,5
Norway 27,1 32,6 33,8
57
5.4. Projectification trend among sectors in China 5.5. Discussion / Limitations
In China the greatest increase in project work in the last First point of discussion lies in the calculation of project
five years (2012-2017) is witnessed in the sector of retail/ types. It can be observed from the survey questionnaire in
transport/hospitality and tourism starting at a low level of Fig.6 that 5 categories are given for internal project types
21% in 2012 rising to 37% in 2017 with an increase of 76% while only 1 has been provided for external. This unfortu-
within five years. In the last five years China’s rise in e-com- nately creates a calculation bias that heavily favors internal
merce (Taobao, Meituan, and Jingdong), transport projects project types. And hence the calculation of project types is
like underground metros, electric buses and bike sharing inherently flawed.
(ofo/mobike), and an increase of foreigners boosting tour-
ism in china maybe reasons for this increase. However as For e.g. Germany has demonstrated that project types with-
this industry matures, the share of project work also declines in Germany are in the ratio of 84:16 internal vs. external.
which is evident from the fact that increase in project share
drops to a forecasted 38% in 2022. The calculation was carried out by the following method;
Secondly the sector of

financial services also
shows a fast increase in
project share of 99% in
ten years from (2012-
2022). The industry started with a relatively low project share However if more project types were also mentioned in the
of 25% in 2012 and rises to a forecasted 50% project share in survey for external projects the results would have been very
2022. Since credit/debit cards never really took off in China, different.
the evolution of new financial technologies like Wechat, Ali-
pay and countless other payment technologies came to be- Also the questionnaire in Fig.6 asks the respondent to esti-
ing. With such innovation and rising demand of financial con- mate the extent a certain project type is used in their com-
venience this industry has shown a sharp rise in project share. pany. But there is a flaw that follows the calculation of pro-
ject types besides the one discussed above. For e.g. on
Another remarkable rise is observed in the public sector, a scale of 1 to 7 if a respondent selects a score of 7 on all the
showing a rise of 77 % in ten years (2012-2022) from a low categories then using the calculation method of (Schoper
26% in 2012 to 47% in 2022. The cause for this rise may be et al., 2017) the results would be 16.6% of each category,
attributed to the fact that China acknowledges its low rank- and if a respondent selected a score of 1 in each catego-
ing in the HDI (Human development index) and is working ry the result would still be the same of 16.6% in each cate-
on various projects and introducing policies and reforms to gory. The results will look the same but the reality would be
climb up the rankings. quite different as one respondent’s company had very ex-
tensive projects in all project types while the other respond-
The slowest rise in project share is witnessed in other servic- ent’s company had very few projects in all the project types.
es with a total increase of 31% within ten years (2012-2022). The problem here is that the extent of one project type in
The reason for this slow increase is due to fact that this in- a company is not related to another. But in the calculation
dustry is already heavily projectified starting strong at 54% this relationship has been established and hence created
in 2012, 63% in 2017 and rising to 71% in 2022. However a calculation error.
since this sector is “vast in variety a more detail breakdown
of sub-sectors is required to understand it better”
Unfortunately for this analysis comparisons with European

countries could not be made due to unavailability of ade-
quate data.
58
Table 14 Project types Germany
External
Internal projects
projects
Number
/ SALES PROJECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL
Project types
COMMISSIONED
DEVELOPMENT
/ HR PROJECTS
of cases
IT PROJECTS
MARKETING
R&D / NEW
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
Germany
PRODUCT
(n)
Retail / transport / hospitality

18% 16% 12% 22% 15% 17% 90
/tourism
Information and
12% 23% 13% 21% 11% 20% 70
communication
Public sector, education,

20% 24% 10% 15% 19% 12% 100
health
Total 17% 20% 13% 22% 13% 16% 500
Figure 6. Retrieved from the source questionnaire related to project types
Not Used
used Very
at all frequebtly
Internal: Organizational- / HR-projects
Internal: IT-Project
Internal: R&D projects / new product development projects
Internal: Marketing projects / sales projects
Internal: Infrastructure projects
External: Commissioned projects
59
As a solution to this error we have provided a calculation as of projectification when calculating contribution of projects
shown in Table.14 without linking the project types. The ex- to each industry’s GVA and hence produce a more accurate
Table 15. Project types in China
Internal External
MARKETING PROJECTS
ORGANIZATIONAL-
/ SALES PROJECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE
/ NEW PRODUCT
Project types
COMMISSIONED
/ HR-PROJECTS
DEVELOPMENT
R&D PROJECTS
IT-PROJECTS
EXTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
INTERNAL:
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
China
Fishery, Forestry, Agriculture 33 37 46 39 21 17
Manufacturing 49 40 61 59 58 54
Oil and Gas activity 50 33 54 38 60 66

57 43 52 74 60 60
Tourism
Information and Communication 60 75 70 68 48 58
Financial Services and Insurance 64 59 54 68 30 41
Public sector, education, health 47 41 40 47 42 42
Other Services
60 58 66 67 57 64
(excluding financial)
tent of each project type in each individual sector was cal- result for projectification of the entire economy. However
culated individually. it may be noted that this measure is also not perfect and
would require more evaluation and future research to de-
Secondly we believe using time contributed towards pro- velop more precise measures.
jects as measure of projectification is a relevant measure,
but using time spent on projects to measure contribution Regarding limitations related to this study the first limita-
towards GVA of an economy can be further discussed, be- tions lies in the collection of data. China has total of over
cause spending more time on a project doesn’t necessarily 14 million registered corporate enterprises but due lack of
mean that the project would contribute more towards the resources it is impossible to survey such a large popula-
GVA. On the other hand, the input of personnel cost how- tion space. Also data was collected by dividing china into
ever can be a substantial contributor to the GVA, spending three economic zones as per data from NBS, a more de-
more on project personnel cost means spending more to tailed breakdown and analysis of each economic zone
have better human resource, and a more talented resource could be carried out in future research. However every effort
would bring more revenue for the company he/she works in. was made to ensure that the data collected was adequate
Hence we believe using the input ratio of project person- enough to represent China.
nel cost to total personnel cost could be a better measure
60
A third limitation is in the comparability of industrial sec- cation landscape of a fast paced developing Asian econo-
tors, China follows industrial sector classification standard my like China. It shows that China in comparison to the Eu-
of (GB/T 4754 - 2011) while the European countries follow ropean countries shows a significantly higher level of project
the standard of NACE classification. Both these standards work at 42.7% while the European countries have slightly
have been derived from the ISIC standard given by the Unit- lower levels of projectification at an average of about one-
ed Nations but there are still many differences in the clas- thirds. It is evident from the results in Table.11 that every in-
sification methods. Therefore for the purposes of compara- dustry has a projectification level above 30% while below
bility a best fit approach was devised after matching the sub the maximum of 85% in construction sector with main con-
sectors within each broad sector. A detail of the changes tributions from sectors of Services (63%), ICT (60%), Oil&
made to Chinese standard and the differences can be found Gas (55%), and Manufacturing (39%) in 2017.
in (Holz, 2013)
When looking at trends of projectification within sectors, in
A fourth limitation is related to data quality, Germany used the last five years the most significant increase in projecti-
an expensive approach of CATI phone interviews, that in- fication growth rate is observed in the industries of Retail/
terviewed informed personnel at senior position within the Transport/Hospitality& Tourism (76%), manufacturing (56%)
company while for our survey we adopted a method of on- followed by the Public sector/education &health (30%).
line surveying like Norway, this allowed us to have a larger
data set but compromising on the quality of data collected. Secondly this study also proposes an alternative variable
of calculating projectification, we believe when calculat-
A fifth limitation lies in the preciseness and accuracy of data, ing contribution of projectification towards the Industrial
since all the data collected are based on every respondents GVA’s the measurement criteria of project personnel cost
personal estimate of the company. This may create an es- vs. total personnel cost is a more accurate indicator in
timation bias depending on how well the respondent knows comparison to time spent on project work vs. time spent
the project landscape within his company. or routine task.
A sixth limitation is related to the estimates given for the Thirdly this study also sheds light on the measurement and
sectors of construction and real estate, since these sectors calculation of project types, we believe that the calcula-
were not mentioned in the survey questionnaire it was esti- tion of project types from the previous study carried out by
mated based on interviews with industry experts, however in (Schoper et al., 2017) may be flawed and further research will
further studies these sector could also be added in and also be required to develop better and more precise measures.
the survey could be made according to the Chinese Indus-
trial classification standard which would allow for more pre- The empirical results and data in this study also further vali-
cise calculations of projectification related to China’s eco- dates that projectification is no longer a buzzword but rath-
nomic level. er it is a fact and a common phenomenon in our societies
and among all industrial sectors.
However, looking at the bigger picture it can be deduced
from this study that projects are now forming an integral All in all this study allows project management practition-
part of all industrial sectors in all the four economies pre- ers and researchers in China and across the world to justify
sented in this study. This study also shows that projects are and argue the importance of their work in regards to project
see an increasing trend from the past five years and even management research and practice with empirical evidence.
more so five years into the future. Lastly this study indicates that projects are a driving force
for enterprise development and a driving force for econom-
ic development.
6. CONCLUSION
Acknowledgements: A special thanks to PMRC China chap-
This study contributes to the project management literature ter for helping in accomplishing this research and to all the
by providing a first ever in-depth insight into the projectifi- participants who took part in the survey.
61
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62
Dr. Helgi Thor Ingason | Dr. Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson |
Dr. Haukur Ingi Jonasson
Dr. Helgi Thor Ingason professor, Reykjavik University, Iceland | Dr. Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson assistant professor,
Reykjavik University, Iceland | Dr. Haukur Ingi Jonasson assistant professor, Reykjavik University, Iceland
Project Management in Iceland measured

– a comparison of two methods
ABSTRACT level of projectification is new, and the authors hope that

this will be of value in the context of developing efficient, re-
PURPOSE: For assessing the projectification in the Icelan- liable and practical methods to assess projectifiation of so-
dic economy, the share of project work on total work in an cieties.
organization was used as an indicator. This is a time-con-
suming approach and it was decided to do an additional Keywords: Projectification, GVA study, benchmark study,
benchmark study, to verify the alleged importance of pro- research methodology, professional research companies,
ject management. The aim was also to investigate the use- student research groups.
fulness of a benchmark study and if the two approaches
could complement each other.
INTRODUCTION
DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH: Data was collect-
ed from 146 organisations in Iceland, regarding the share of The development of project management from being a rath-
project work on total work, as explained by Schoper, Wald, er narrowly defined technical undertaking to becoming
Ingason and Fridgeirsson (2018). In addition, by partici- a world-wide profession is fascinating. The birth of this disci-
pation in a large quarterly omnibus amongst people with pline is traditionally seen as a product of the Cold War (Mor-
high management positions in their respective companies ris, 2013) and associated with an arms race to build weap-
in Iceland, more general data was collected. The methods ons and other armaments. Large projects were planned and
and outcomes of both surveys were compared, and general deployed to design ballistic missiles, submarines, bombers
conclusions are drawn. and weapons systems. In the US, projects were often a com-
plex interplay of a number of interested parties: the military,
FINDINGS: We conclude that the two research approaches public institutions, government and contractors. The en-
complement each other and could be applied in a system- hancement of the planning procedures led to the develop-
atic way to give a longitudinal view of the evolution of pro- ment of such techniques as CPM and PERT, and the role of
jectification in a society. The first part is more complicated the project manager was coined by Gaddis in his paper in
and expensive in execution, and could be done with longer Harvard Business Review in 1959.
intervals, whereas the second part takes less effort and can
be used to monitor the evolution more regularly. Interest in this new field, project management, grew steadily
as it was discovered by executives in search of management
ORIGINALITY / VALUE: Two very different research ap- techniques which were well suited to cope with the world´s
proaches we applied to assess projectification. On one hand increasingly volatile and dynamic business environment.
a detailed quantitative survey of the economic impact of This new interest from the world of business created a need
projects. On the other hand, a general survey of a very large for new conceptual clarifications. The term “projectification”
sample of managers. This combined approach to assess the was first mentioned in 1995 (Midler, 1995). It refers to a tran-
63
sition from a classical, functional organization in the 1960’s duction. Identifying the economic significance of projects is
to an organisation project coordination in the 1970’s. The instrumental for the private sector in forming organizational
paper by Midler et al discusses the impact these changes strategies and tactics. In the public domain the economic
had on hierarchic regulations, task definitions, carrier man- importance can influence educational emphasis as well as
agement, functions and relationships with suppliers in the affecting how governance must be arranged.
Renault car factories. Therefore, a phase of “projectifica-
tion” is a way to describe the adaption of these permanent In the present paper, we will specifically address the meas-
processes. It is also used in public and global contexts to de- urement of projectification in Iceland and refer to it as the
scribe the shift towards projects and project management. GVA study (Gross Value Added). Iceland is a small European
country, located in the Atlantic Ocean between the conti-
Midler has been followed by a number of researchers who nents of North America and Europe. Despite the small pop-
have discussed the spread of projects as a form of organ- ulation of only 330.000 inhabitants, Iceland has become
izing in the different sectors of the economy (Lundin and a prosperous country with a GDP of 50,936 USD per capi-
Midler, 1998; Packendorff and Lindgren, 2014). There has ta in 2015. In 2013, 78% of Iceland’s export value and 59%
been a shift towards looking at the project as an organi- of imports came from countries within the European Un-
zation, rather than as a set of methods, and this has es- ion. Economic growth is relatively very strong (7,2% GNP in
tablished a turning point in the development of project 2016) and Iceland´s prospects are generally considered fa-
management. Morris (2012) describes the evolution of vourable (Hagstofan, 2017).
the discipline as moving towards system engineering and
a growing interest in the role of the project manager - as The initial promoter of project management in Iceland is the
an effort to cope with the human and social challenges of Project Management Association of Iceland (VSF), found-
dynamic systems. Different researchers have shown how the ed in 1984 with the mission to lead and enhance the de-
use of projects is expected to make organizations more in- velopment of project management (VSF, 2017a). The most
novative and flexible and increase their ability to solve com- notable activity of VSF is the function of certifying project
plex problems (Hobday, 2000; Hanisch and Wald, 2014; managers in collaboration with the IPMA (International Pro-
Lundin et al., 2015). ject Management Association). This process has been go-
ing on since 1997. Currently, 1566 project managers have
There can be little doubt that the “projectification” of the received certification on all of the four different IPMA lev-
economy is a reality. The literature on project management els (A, B, C and D) (VSF, 2017b). The birth of project man-
has repeatedly claimed that projectification increases in all agement as a profession in Iceland has also been consoli-
sectors of the economy (Engwall, 2003; Sydow et al., 2004; dated by a post graduate study program, Master of Project
Bechky, 2006; Whitley, 2006; Hodgson and Cicmil, 2007; Management (MPM), established in 2005. More than 330
Lindner and Wald, 2011; Packendorff and Lindgren, 2014). project managers have graduated through the MPM pro-
Project management is a commanding and important programme (MPM, 2018). Project management is on the verge
fession that has a diverse impact on society. However, the of becoming a profession in Iceland, with a solid theoreti-
economic impact has not been clearly defined until recent- cal knowledge base, best practice references, strong edu-
ly. Wald et al (2015) described a method to assess the pro- cational programs, academic research activities and occu-
jectification of a society, where the share of project work on pational interest groups. Project management can be seen
total work (measured in working hours) in organizations was as an international success and Iceland has followed its in-
used as an indicator of projectification. This input-oriented ternational development. However, in spite of this success
measurement can be applied to all types of projects and it and the projectification of the private and the public indus-
can be applied to all kinds of industries, and it is independ- tries, the economic impact has been more or less unknown
ent of organizational factors. This measurement allows the (Ingason, Fridgeirsson, Jonasson, 2018). The projectifica-
computation of the GVA (Gross Value Added). GVA pro- tion of Iceland, Norway and Germany has recently been
vides a monetary value for the amount of goods and ser- measured using the method mentioned above and defined
vices that have been produced, less the cost of all inputs by Wald et al (2015), and the outcome was published by
and raw materials that are directly attributable to that pro- Schoper et al (2018).
64
In Iceland, it was decided to do an additional benchmark value of all goods and services produced over a specif-
study, to assess the current and future application and im- ic period and not applicable as a metric for projects. GNP
pact of projects in Iceland. The objective here was to verify indicates the value of all finished goods and services in
the alleged importance of project management by asking a country in one year by its nationals and is not applica-
a larger and more homogeneous sample than in the GVA ble either. However, the GVA represents the monetary value
study. The benchmark study is solely among people with of the goods and services that have been produced, after
high management positions in their respective companies. the cost of the inputs that can be attributed to the produc-
The idea presented here is that the two studies can completion has been subtracted. For different reasons, Wald et al.
ment each other. A sample of more than 1300 participants (2015) used the share of project work on total work (meas-
were asked two general questions, about the application of ured in working hours) in an organization as an indicator of
project management within the organization, and the trend projectification. This input-oriented measurement can be
in the application of project management in the near future. applied to all types of projects, both internal and external. It
This method is simple, includes more participants and is less can be applied to all industries and it is independent of or-
costly than the GVA study. ganizational factors.
The basic research questions of this paper are: A project is an undertaking largely characterized by the
»» Are the results from the GVA study concerning projectifi- uniqueness of the conditions in their entirety. More specif-
cation of the Icelandic economy confirmed by a bench- ically, an undertaking is defined as a project in the present
mark study? study, if it fulfils the following conditions:
»» Do some assumptions of the GVA study regarding the »» A specific target has been defined for the project.
projectification of specific business sectors withstand »» The project is limited in terms of time (start and end).
a simple stress test? »» The project requires specific resources (e.g. financial,
»» What can be learned about using professional research staff, etc.).
companies for gathering projectification data, as com- »» An independent process organization exists, which is de-
pared to using groups of students? fined as different from the standard organization in the
»» Is it possible to define a complete research scheme for company.
assessing the projectification of an economy, based on »» The project work is based on non-routine tasks.
a combination of a detailed GVA study and more simple »» The project has a minimum duration of four weeks.
benchmark studies? »» The project has at least three participants.
GENERAL METHODOLOGY Based on this definition, respondents were asked to in-

dicate the relative share of project work in their entire or-
The methodology we present is partly based on the method ganization. This resulted in figures indicating projectifica-
developed by Wald et al. (2015), as has already been stat- tion on the company level. The share of project work of the
ed. In addition, a benchmark study among a large sample of individual economic sectors – each containing different
managers was conducted to reveal firstly, the current ap- sub-sectors – was calculated as a mean value. And finally,
plication and impact of project management, and secondly, the share of project work on the level of the entire econo-
how the application and impact will evolve in the near future my was obtained by adding up the sectors’ shares of project
(next 12 months). work, weighted by the sector’s share on total GVA (see Wald
et al., 2015 for more details). In order to simplify the study,
The Gross Value Added by Projects in Iceland – GVA study four sectors – construction, real estate, corporate service
providers and agriculture were excluded from the survey,
The ideal way to measure the share of project work in an but the share of project work estimated by experts instead.
economy would be to use established macroeconom- This approach was used in Germany and same approach
ic measures of the value-added, e.g. the gross domestic was applied in the original research in Iceland, as reported
product (GDP), the gross national product (GNP), or the by Schoper et al (2018). After consultation with a panel of
gross value-added (GVA). The GDP is the total monetary Icelandic economists, the same weights were used in Iceland
65
as in Germany for the four sectors. For sector A, Agriculture, priate to collect original data for that sector. Same method
forestry and fishing, the estimated weight was 4%. was in principal applied as in the original GVA study. Based
on a random sample of companies in sector A, a number of
A professional research company (MMR) was hired to con- companies were approached and asked to participate in the
duct the data collection. The survey consisted of 18 ques- survey, with the objective of twelve companies participat-
tions related to both internal and external projects. Accord- ing. This part of the research was in the hands of a group of
ing to an agreement made with the research company, it was 8 students from the MPM program (Master of Project Man-
expected to deliver answers from no less than 100 and no agement) at Reykjavik University, under guidance of the au-
more than 150 organisations. The basis for the data gather- thors of this paper. In this case, respondents were asked to
ing was a random sample of 300 organisations from all the assess the share of project work on total work (measured in
six business sectors under scrutiny – in all size categories, working hours) in their organizations for the year 2016, the
public and private organisations. As stipulated in a contract year 2011 and the expected share in year 2021.
made with the research company, the procedure for data
gathering was in three steps. The current and future application and impact of projects in
1. Through a telephone call to an organisation – a contact Iceland – benchmark study
was found within that organisation; someone who could
provide the relevant information. In order to confirm the results from the GVA study by asking
2. Another phone call was made to the contact, the re- a much larger and more homogenous sample, a benchmark
search project was introduced to the person and the study was planned and executed. This study was embedded
person asked if the organisation would be willing to par- in an omnibus that is done quarterly by a professional re-
ticipate. In that case, the questionnaire was sent to the search company (MMR, N.d.). The company has extensive
person in e-mail. experience in this field and has conducted this omnibus reg-
3. The person was contacted a few days later and his/her ularly since 2011. The omnibus consists of a questionnaire
answers to the questionnaire were registered. It was as- that is sent to the sample through e-mail. In this case, an-
sumed that the third part, the actual interview and data swers were received from 1356 executives of Icelandic com-
gathering, would take no more than 15 minutes – assum- panies. The sample is a random sample from the Icelandic
ing that the interviewee knew the answers or had obtained registry of organisations. The survey took place in March
the relevant information, based on the questionnaire. and April 2016.
It was furthermore expected that not all contacted organ- The NACE economic sectors classification was used as a ba-
isations would participate, but this was established already sis for classification of organisations, to ensure internation-
in the second step of the procedure and if an organisation al comparability and to ensure that the benchmark survey
would not participate, another organisation in the random was comparable to the GVA study. The benchmark study
sample was contacted instead. According to the contract, consisted of two specific questions:
the cost of this data gathering was 815.000 ISK (€ 6.500). QUESTION 1: With reference to the following definition of
a project, how common is the use of project management
The present paper includes new information, because an ef- in your company? (The definition referred to is the definition
fort was made in the spring of 2018 to execute the actu- by Wald et al, 2015 – listed above).
al survey for a sector that was estimated in the original re- QUESTION 2: Do you think the importance of project man-
search, as pointed out before, namely sector A Agriculture, agement will grow, decrease or remain unchanged in your
forestry and fishing. In Iceland, fishing is traditionally a very company in the next 12 months?
important business sector – close to 80% of the gross do-
mestic factor income for sector A, accoring to Hagstofan The cost of participating in the omnibus is a fixed sum for
(2017). The estimated weight of sector A of 4% was – in retro- each question, 120.000 ISK. The total cost of the bench-
spect - considered conservative, and it was deemed appro- mark study was therefore 240.000 ISK (€ 1.900).
66
RESULTS score lowest, but the range is only 3%. The external projects
are relatively fewer (13%) and the range is also higher; the
The results from the two studies are introduced separately. cross industrial differences are 6%. The majority of Icelandic
projects ( 85%) are internal projects, with IT projects being
Results from the GVA study the most frequent.
The primary research delivered 142 answers divided among
the 6 sectors included in the survey. The average size of the Table 2 shows the relative share (%) of work assigned to
organisations that participated was 125 employees. The ad- projects in different industrial sectors at three instances in
ditional research in the spring of 2018 delivered 4 more an- time – the past (2009), close to present (2014) and in the
swers on the seventh sector. future (2019).
The total Gross Value Added in Iceland in the year 2014 was The average share of projects in the GVA in Iceland was 25%
1.530.775 m ISK. The largest sector in terms of GVA econom- in 2009 and is expected to rise to 31,5% in 2019. This corre-
ically is the public sector, followed by the retail / transport / sponds to a relative growth of 21%.
hospitality sector and manufacturing industry. The projects
were categorized according to whether they were internal or The outcome of the data gathering regarding category A in
external. Internal projects were then classified into different the spring of 2018 – as explained in the methodology sec-
project types. tion – was somewhat different. Since this data gathering is
Table 1. The ratio (%) of projects classified by project types and external projects
External
Internal Projects
Projects
R&D / NEW PRODUCT
/ SALES PROJECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMISSIONED
DEVELOPMENT
/ HR PROJECTS
NO. OF CASES
n
IT PROJECTS
MARKETING
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
PROJECTS
Retail / transport / hospitality /

17% 22% 18% 15% 20% 9% 39
tourism
Public sector, education, health 16% 20% 15% 20% 19% 10% 41
Total 16% 19% 17% 17% 18% 13% 142
The internal project types ratios are – on average – simi- done two years later than the original research, the years
lar across the industries. IT and infrastructure score high- of reference are not the same and this must be kept in mind
est cross project types, and the organizational/HR projects when interpreting the results. The share of project work to
67
Table 2. The share of work (%) assigned to cross-industrial projects at three points in time
NACE Share of project Share of project Share of project

Sector
Code work 2009 work 2014 work 2019 F
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing* 4,0% 4,0% 4,0%
Manufacturing industry (excluding

B-E 2,6% 3,4% 4,6%
construction)

G-I 13,1% 18,2% 24,4%
tourism
J Information and communication 39,2% 47,8% 51,2%
K Financial services & insurance 34,8% 34,2% 37,5%
O-Q Public sector, education, health 32,1% 33,3% 40,9%
L Real estate 2,0% 2,0% 2,0%
F Construction* 80,0% 80,0% 80,0%
M-N Corporate service providers* 60,0% 60,0% 60,0%
S+F+L
Other service providers 37,2% 42,7% 47,2%
+ M-N
Total 25,0 % 27,7 % 31,5 %
total work in category A was found to be 9,3% for the year number of employees, their industrial sector, trade and geo-
2016, it was 4,5% in the year 2011 and was expected to be graphic region. Table 3 shows the results from the first ques-
8,8% in the year 2021. tion in the benchmark study.
As stated in the methodology section, this data gathering To gain a clearer picture, the participants that claim that
was executed by a group of 8 students, as a part of an elec- the use of project management is very common or rather
tive course in a graduate level project management pro- common are added together. Consequentially, clear pic-
gram. Data was received from only 7 companies, while the tures can be drawn to show how the commonality of pro-
intention was to survey 12 companies. The resulting dataset jects changes with the turnover of the organisations, as
was partly corrupt and, in the end, data from only 4 com- shown in Figure 1, and with the number of employees, as
panies could be used for calculations. This should therefore shown in Figure 2.
be kept in mind, when interpreting the figures. Nevertheless,
these results are a clear indication and will be used in the Figures 1 and 2 shows a clear pattern. The commonality of
discussion section. project management increases with increased turnover and
higher number of employees. The difference is striking. In
Results from the Benchmark study organisations with more than 150 employees, 81,9% of the
In the benchmark study the population included 1,356 man- participating organisations claim that the use of project
agers and 768 of these answered the omnibus (56,6%). management is common. Corresponding number for organ-
The responses were linked to turnover of the organisations, isations with less than 10 employees is 30,5%.
68
Table 3. Results from the question: “With reference to the following definition of a project (the definition by Wald
et al, 2015), how common is the use of project management in your company”
Turnover (m ISK) Very common Rather common Rather uncommon Very uncommon
Less or equal to 199 7,9% 22,8% 34,4% 34,9%
200-999 14,9% 28,1% 31,4% 25,6%
1000-5000 19,7% 33,3% 28,0% 18,9%
More than 5000 30,2% 42,5% 21,7% 5,7%
# of employees
Less than 10 6,9% 23,6% 34,4% 35,1%
11-49 16,1% 28,9% 35,6% 19,5%
50-149 13,7% 45,1% 24,5% 16,7%
More than 150 37,3% 44,6% 16,9% 1,2%
Occupation
Manufacturing 19,0% 31,7% 28,6% 20,6%
Service 19,7% 30,7% 24,6% 25,0%
Retail / wholesale 4,2% 18,5% 47,9% 29,4%
Fisheries / food 6,0% 32,0% 34,0% 28,0%
production
Industry
Consumer market 10,7% 25,4% 36,2% 27,7%
B2B market 19,5% 27,2% 27,2% 26,2%
Both 15,1% 37,4% 28,4% 19,1%
Area
Capital area 14,5% 32,1% 29,6% 23,7%
Rural area 10,8% 24,8% 33,8% 30,6%
Figure 1. The commonality of project management in the context of turnover (m ISK)
80%
70%
Common application of PM
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less or equal to 199 200-999 1000-5000 More than 5000
Turnover (m ISK)
69
Figure 2. The commonality of project management in the context of no. of employees
90%
80%
Common application of PM
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less than 10 11-49 50-149 More than 150
no. of employees
Project management is most widely applied in manufactur- To gain a clearer picture, the participants that claim that the
ing and service industries but is least common in the retail importance of project management will increase in the next
and wholesale industry. Project management is also signifi- 12 months are added together. Clear pictures can then be
cantly more frequently applied in the capital areas than the drawn to reflect how the expected development of project
rural areas; 46,6% and 35,6% respectively. management importance in organisations changes with the
turnover of the organisations, as shown in Figure 3, and with
Table 4 shows the results from the second question in the the number of employees, as shown in Figure 4.
benchmark study.
Figure 3 shows graphically how the impact increases as turn-
Hardly any of the managers asked think that project man- over increases (R2=0,98). Figure 4 shows graphically how the
agement will decrease in importance in the immediate future. impact increases as no. of employees increases (R2=0,98).
Figure 3. Change of project management importance in the context of capital turnover (m ISK)
80%
70%
Increase of importance
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less or equal to 199 200-999 1000-5000 More than 5000
Turnover (m ISK)
70
Figure 4. Change of project management importance in the context of number of employees
80%
70%
Increase of importance
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less than 10 11-49 50-149 More than 150
no. of employees
DISCUSSION search company, as compared to our experience of using a

group of students, as a part of a research-oriented course
The economic impact results are interesting, as they indi- on a graduate level in a university. A professional research
cate that 27,7% of the GVA in the Icelandic economy is via company may be an expensive alternative at first sight. But
projects activities. This is somewhat less than in Germany the benefits of seeking the service of professionals, stipu-
and Norway (Schoper et al, 2018), but nonetheless a signif- lating contractual terms in a formal written form and using
icant part of the real economy. Moreover, the participants people trained in research methodology are overwhelming.
estimate that this will rise to 31,5% in coming years (2019). Using students may be a tempting alternative when funds
This means a relative growth of 21% in work assigned to pro- for research are limited, which is the usual situation. But it
jects from 2009 to 2014. is advisable to look at the whole picture and savings of this
type may lead to less quality of the obtained data and di-
Our new data collected in the spring of 2018 confirm our minished value of the research. In our case we experienced
suspicion that project activities were underestimated in that in spite of the fact that our student group was highly
NACE category A where project activities were originally es- motivated, all had finished BA or BSc degrees and were in
timated to be 4%. It can now be assumed that project activi- the final stages of their master program in project manage-
ties in this important sector of business in Iceland are 9%. As ment, they did not have the necessary training and under-
a consequence, it can be assumed that the overall estimate standing of research methods to carry out the data collec-
of 27,7% of the GVA in the Icelandic economy being via pro- tion as instructed. In addition, their status or credibility when
ject is at best conservative and most likely comparable to asking organisations to participate in a survey of this type
Norway and Germany or close to one third. may have been less than for people from a professional re-
search company. Other factors may also be relevant, and
This discrepancy between an estimate and results from data the outcome of this exercise speaks for itself because not
collection also calls for a critical reflection of the method only was the number of organisations that participated less
of estimating the weight of project work for some sectors, than anticipated. In addition, the data obtained was incom-
while collecting original data for other sectors. While it is plete and, in the end, useful results were obtained from only
well known and understood that using the service of profes- four of twelve organisations, which was the original target.
sional research companies is expensive, academics must try
to make sure that financial limitations don’t lead to com- Our benchmark study is of course quite limited compared to
promises regarding methodology. On a similar note, we can the GVA study, but it has nevertheless lead to new insights.
now discuss our experience from using a professional re- To begin with, the benchmark study indicates that the ap-
71
plication of project management is considerable in Icelan- dic parliament approved a parliamentary resolution with the
dic organisations. 58,8% of organisations with 50-149 em- objective of implementing a project governance scheme in
ployees claim that the application of project management Iceland, with reference to a very successful project govern-
is “common”. 65,7% of organisations in the same catego- ance scheme in Norway (Proposal for a parliamentary res-
ry believe that the importance of project management will olution on the quality, efficiency and efficiency of public in-
increase in the next 12 months. While these figures cannot vestment, 2018).
be directly compared to the figures from the GVA study, it
is maintained that application of project management is We have applied two very different research approach-
considerable and is expected to rise. The results from the es in this work. The first part – the GVA study - was a de-
benchmark study confirm the importance of project man- tailed survey of the economic impact of projects through
agement in the Icelandic economy. Furthermore, we see the application of a method that had already been tested.
an opportunity to sharpen our questions in the benchmark This method yields a quantitative assessment of the gross
study and align them better to the corresponding questions added value of project work in a country, and a prognosis
in the GVA study. on how this will evolve in the near future. But the second
part is a general survey of a very large sample of manag-
Another interesting result from our benchmark study is that ers, where they assess the present and future projectifica-
there is a significant difference in the view of the managers tion of their organisations. This yields a very revealing por-
in the context of the size of the company. The application trait of the projectification of the Icelandic economy, which
of project management increases in positive correlation can be viewed in reference to the size, turnover and type
with the number of employees and capital turnover. Same of the organisations, as well as other variables. The two re-
applies the expected importance of project management, search approaches complement each other and could be
it increases in positive correlation with the number of em- applied in a systematic way to give a longitudinal view of the
ployees and capital turnover. 30,7% of managers in compa- evolution of projectification in the society. The first part is
nies with a turnover of less than 199 m ISK find project man- more complicated and expensive in execution, and could be
agement to be very common or rather common compared done with longer intervals, whereas the second part takes
to 72,7% among their peers in companies with a turnover less effort and can be used to monitor the evolution more
exceeding 5000 m ISK. This is a relative difference of 137%. regularly. Furthermore, by adding questions on the work ra-
The difference is even more striking when compared to the tio assigned to projects within each industrial sector to the
number of employees. omnibus, the monetary value estimate of projects could be
identified regularly with the GVA study as a reference.
Another interesting contribution is the determination of the
importance of projects and project management among A simple conceptual model for this methodology is shown
top managers in Icelandic companies. The interest in the in Figure 5. It is based on the premises that a GVA study is
profession of project management and how it is applied is expensive and complicated, but necessary to obtain reliable
manifested by the people managing Icelandic companies, information about the status of projectification in different
and the significance is positively correlated to the size of the business sectors. We emphasise that a GVA study should be
company. All of this indicates continuing progress of project executed by a professional research company (as opposed
management in Iceland. to student groups) and it should span all categories of the
NACE system, i.e. we don’t recommend the use of a panel
In spite of significant interest in project management in of specialists to estimate some categories. Our conceptual
Iceland and a strong response from industry and academ- model assumes that a GVA study is followed up with a series
ia, other studies indicate insufficient governance platform of benchmark studies, applying an omnibus. We recommend
(Fridgeirsson, 2015). When the economic impact is consid- that the benchmark studies are also executed by a profes-
ered, the call for reforms in the public sector is urgent. Re- sional research company, preferably as a part of a regular
forms may be underway; in the spring of 2018 the Icelan- omnibus.
72
Figure 5. A conceptual model of a holistic assessment

categories – and the society in whole – is as expected
of projectification, consisting of a combina-
tion of GVA studies and benchmark studies. according to the GVA study, and confirmed by bench-
mark study B. Same questions as above.
BENCHMARK 3Y Based on the figures from Iceland that we have already pre-
STUDY C sented, the total cost of this series of GVA study and bench-
EXTENSIVE
GVA STUDY mark studies is little more than 1.500.000 ISK (€ 12.000).
This cost is distributed over a period of 10 years.
10 YEARS
3Y
1Y CONCLUSION
Projects and their management are of major significance in

BENCHMARK
the international arena. Project management has evolved
STUDY B
BENCHMARK from being a technical approach to planning, to be a pro-
STUDY A fession with its own doctrines and practices. This study re-
3Y
veals the impact of projects in Iceland, a developed Nor-
dic country, in terms of the Icelandic economy. The study
indicates that close to one third of the Gross Value Added
More specific descriptions of the different studies are as fol- (GVA) in the economy is project-related work. For obvious
lows: reasons, projects and management of projects must there-
»» Extensive GVA study is executed with 10 year intervals. It fore be accounted for as a part of the overall strategies and
inclues all NACE categories and is based on a statisti- tactics of both the public and industrial sector. In light of the
cally reliable random sample, the methodology is as ex- enormous sums of money at stake in the economy via pro-
plained in the methodology section. jects, every improvement result in massive financial rewards.
»» Benchmark study A is executed 1 year after the GVA It is therefore timely to measure how projects influence both
study. Its main objective is to verify the outcome of the industry and the public sector. The authors also regard this
GVA study. It should be based on a large, statistical- study as a contribution to further development of metrics
ly representative sample from all NACE categories. We that can inspire work on strategy and vision in the context of
propose the following set of questions: project management.
1. With reference to the following definition of a project
(the definition by Wald et al, 2015), how large part of This study was aimed at answering four specific research
the total work hours in your organisation are used for questions.
projects? (possible categories are 0-15%, 16-30%, »» We conclude that the results from the GVA study con-
31-45%, 46-60%, 61-75%, 76-100%) cerning projectification of the Icelandic economy are
2. Do you think this ratio of work hours for projects generally confirmed by the benchmark study. Projects
against total work hours will grow, decrease or remain are of immense substance in Iceland in terms of eco-
unchanged in your company in the next 3 years? nomic value, just as in other countries where the eco-
»» Benchmark study B. 3 years later, main objective to nomic margin of project management has been stud-
probe trends and find out if the development in different ied. According to the GVA study, 27,7% of the GVA can
categories – and the society in whole – is as expected be traced to project work, indicating that the money
according to the GVA study. Same questions as above. projects turn is in the vicinity of 425 billion ISK (0,277 x
If the outcome is significantly different from previous 1.530.775 m) a year and growing relatively. The bench-
results, consider to do another GVA study instead of mark study confirms the importance of projects in Ice-
benchmark study C. land in a general way, without financial reference, and in-
»» Benchmark study C. 3 years later, main objective to dicates that the results from the GVA study may even be
probe trends and find out if the development in different conservative.
73
»» We have tested an important assumption of the GVA the data gathering is not followed and if the quality of
study, where the projectification of an important busi- research data is jeopardized.
ness sector was estimated by a panel of experts and ex- »» Based on our experience, we have defined a general but
cluded in the actual data collection of the research. In holistic research scheme for assessing the projectifica-
this case, the estimate is most likely far too low and as tion of an economy, based on a combination of a de-
a consequence, the total results regarding projectifica- tailed GVA study and more simple benchmark studies.
tion of the Icelandic economy would be underestimated. We have complimented this scheme with more specif-
We conclude that such estimates should be avoided and ic survey questions for the benchmark study, for better
a GVA study should include all business sectors. alignment.
»» We have elaborated on our experience of using a group
of engaged master’s students for data gathering for Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the
a GVA study, as compared to a professional research Icelandic Project Management Association (VSF). The asso-
company. Based on our experience, it is better to work ciation hand no direct role in the research but contributed
with a professional research company and what may in- to the direct cost associated with data gathering of the con-
itially be perceived as lower cost of using students may tracted professional surveying company. We are extremely
be quickly lost if objectives regarding number of survey thankful to VSF for its contribution.
participants are not met, if the strict protocol regarding
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75
II.
National Project
Management
Maturity Models
Reinhard Wagner
Tiba Managementberatung GmbH, Elsenheimer Str. 47a, 80687 München, Germany
Towards an IPMA National Project Management

Maturity Model
ABSTRACT 1. THE ROLE OF PROJECTS AND PROJECT

MANAGEMENT IN HISTORY
This paper presents a general review of project management
maturity models and how they can be applied to a nation. It The idea of performing “projects” can be traced back into
outlines the development of project-related activities from late 17th century. In “An Essay Upon Projects” Daniel De-
a historical context, through the “projectification” to pro- foe portraits this time as “Projecting Age” and subsequently
ject-oriented societies and proposes to develop a research illustrates plans for the economic and social improvement
programme in the context of IPMA for the development of an of England: “Projects of the nature I treat about are doubt-
IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model (IN-PM3). less in general of public advantage, as they tend to improve
trade, and employment of the poor, and the circulation and
The paper provides an overview of maturity models and their increase of the public stock of the kingdom.” (Defoe, 1697)
application in the field of project management based on lit- However, Daniel Defoe characterized “projectors” as nerds:
erature review. It points to a research programme, conduct- “A mere projector, then, is a contemptible thing, driven by his
ed between 1999 and 2001, benchmarking the PM maturity own desperate fortune to such a strait that he must be de-
of six European countries, and argues that this could be lev- livered by a miracle, or starve.”
ered to a new IN-PM3, accompanied and based on research
activities funded by international partners. It is highlight- The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th
ed that a national project management maturity model is throughout the 19th century, was a period during which in-
complex as it must consider various aspects, which are dy- novations and the division of labour radically improved ef-
namically interrelated. Stakeholders ranging from govern- ficiency. Until nowadays, the continuous improvement of
ments, professional bodies, organisations and their lead- processes through specialization, automation and econo-
ers as well as the research institutes will benefit from such mies of scale help to advance the efficient production and
an endeavour. IPMA, as peak body of the project manage- lever the wealth of our society.
ment profession, is the ideal institution to conduct such an
initiative, building on existing knowledge (e.g. the assess- However, the division of labour together with hierarchical
ment and certification of individuals and organisations) to structures and functionally oriented organisations got more
achieve its vision of “promoting competence throughout and more dysfunctional in an increasingly volatile, uncertain,
society to enable a world in which all project succeed.” The complex and ambiguous (“VUCA”) world.
paper outlines research activities that could form the future
research programme of IPMA. The concept of “Management” became popular during the
late 19th and early 20th century and was applied to projects
Keywords: Project, projectification, project-oriented or- by the US Air Force in the 1950s (Morris, 2013). Analysis and
ganisation, project-oriented society, project management continuous improvement of repetitive operations, planning
maturity, national project management maturity model. and control combined with applied mathematical methods,
79
such as network planning techniques, critical path methods 2. PROJECT SOCIETY – THE NEXT
and akin, shaped the approach to projects. LEVEL OF DEVELOPING PROJECT
CAPABILITIES
Since then, project management developed dramatically,
pushed by professional organisations such as the Interna- Everyone has a project. People have projects on behalf of
tional Project Management Association (IPMA), which was themselves and on behalf of others; they have their own
founded in 1965. During the 1960s, network planning tech- projects and they have collective projects. We do projects
niques were the focus, later in the 1990s the concept of at school and we carry out projects at work. Add to that
“Management by Projects” became popular (Gareis, 2015). It all our spare time projects, and how it is sometimes hard
seeked to characterize the collected attributes of the “pro- to tell work projects from spare time projects. Projects cut
ject-oriented organisation”. New perspectives were added across. (Jensen, 2012)
to the concept of project management, for example the be-
haviour of people in and the notion of projects as social sys- During the last couple of decades, the number and impor-
tems (Turner et al, 2010). tance of projects has been steadily growing, in most areas of
our society. This phenomenon is often called “projectification”
Nowadays, projects become increasingly popular through- and means that projects are becoming increasingly complex,
out the societies all over the world. For example, a system- large, expensive and widespread [Lundin et al, 2015].
atic survey of GPM, the German Project Management As-
sociation, revealed that in 2013 approximately one third of The term “projectification” was first introduced by Christo-
the German GDP was created through projects (GPM, 2015). phe Midler, using the case of Renault for explaining the im-
And trends predict the share to reach 40% in 2019. The plementation of fundamental changes in an organisation to
share is already very high in project-prone sectors such as increase the efficiency of product development processes.
construction, the service industries or research and devel- Renault performed a transition from a strongly function-
opment. However, sectors such as the public administration, al organisation in the 1960s to project coordination in the
trade and logistics, information and communication busi- 1970s, and since the 1990s to autonomous project teams
nesses as well as the finance industry are catching up rapid- (Midler, 1995). This had a massive impact on organisation-
ly. Subsequent studies in Iceland and Norway showed com- al structures, processes and culture, changing the way of
parable results with differences in some of the sectors and working utilized since the industrial revolution.
the future trends (Schoper et al, 2018).
Organisations increasingly use temporary structures to get
Traditionally, projects and programmes have been inter- things done. From the start to the end of a project, small or
preted as tasks that cannot be achieved in the context of large numbers of people are involved, fulfilling specific tasks
regular business processes. Increasingly complex and dy- in a given time, against agreed-upon requirements and
namic competitive environments require companies to em- within the limits of a budget or other constraint. The IPMA
brace and gain innovation as well as performing organisa- Individual Competence Baseline (IPMA ICB®) defines pro-
tional change. The required flexibility becomes a strategic jects as “unique, temporary, multi-disciplinary and organ-
success factor. Organisations that flexibly decide to adjust ised endeavours to realise agreed deliverables within pre-
to the competitive context they are operating in, are com- defined and constraints.” (IPMA 2017a)
mitted to temporary forms of organisation, thus projects or
programmes. Lundin et al draw the fascinating picture of The word “unique” means that the work does not follow the
a “projectized” society: “Not only do people relate to pro- routine processes of an organisation; it is somehow new, re-
jects and to project organizing in their working lives, but they quires people to be innovative, be pro-active and self-or-
even speak and think of their daily activities in project terms.” ganised to develop innovative approaches and solutions
(Lundin et al, 2015). as well as minimizing risk for the organisation. Based on the
definition and characteristics of project-based work, people
need to be competent in dealing with projects. That encom-
passes not only project managers, but all people involved
80
Towards an IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model
in projects, such as members of a project team, the project manufacturer. A network of organisations can therefore be
sponsor and all leaders involved in the governance or deci- seen as an arena where the formation (and deformation)
sion-making for projects, as well as line functions of the or- of a project may take place, which requires also capabil-
ganisation, providing resources and know-how for projects. ities to perform the project in the most effective and effi-
cient way (Lundin et al, 2015). Necessary capabilities are to
Projects are used extensively for a range of tasks includ- build trust-worthy relationships and encourage collabora-
ing but not limited to the development of new products tion across cultures.
and services, organisational change activities, process im-
provements, organizing events and so on. Organisations are Anders Jensen claims that today projects are the very focal
therefore required to develop capabilities for dealing with point of man, society and history. It is a way of living, of be-
projects, not only on an individual level, but also on the lev- ing present in space and time, of doing things and making
el of an organisational. Organisational Project Management connections to other people. Ultimately, it is a way of living
(OPM) means integration of all project management-re- that we have not invented ourselves, but have been given
lated activities throughout the organisational hierarchy or into our hands, that we have taken over and that we are now
network (Sankaran et al, 2017). The IPMA Organisational performing (Jensen, 2012).
Competence Baseline (IPMA OCB®) defines organisational
competence in managing projects as the “ability of organi- A project-oriented society, or project society, may be char-
sations to integrate people, resources, processes, structures acterized as a society in which people, profit and not-for-
and cultures in projects, programmes and portfolios within profit organisations as well as public institutions are inten-
a supporting governance and management system. Organ- sively using projects (and programmes) to achieve their
isational competence in managing projects is specifically objectives. According to Gareis, a project-oriented society
aligned with the mission, vision and strategy of the organi- often uses projects and programmes as temporary organ-
sation and is intended to achieve results as well as to ensure isations to perform relatively unique processes on a medi-
continuous organisational development.” (IPMA, 2017b) um to large scale. “In a project-oriented society, institutions
provide project-management-related training, research
The more projects are performed in an organisation, the and marketing services. Organisations in the project-ori-
more it needs to focus on specific competences. Roland ented society have competences in project, programme
Gareis (Gareis, 2006) defines project-oriented organisa- and portfolio management, in the management of project
tions as organisations that personnel and in the organisational design of project-ori-
»» Define “Management by Projects” as their organisa- ented organisations.” (Gareis, 2006)
tional strategy;
»» Apply projects and programmes as temporary organi-
sational structures; 3. THE PM MATURITY MODEL (PM3)
»» Lead through project networks, project chains and pro- AND ITS APPLICATION ON NATIONS
ject portfolios;
»» Develop know-how through project-oriented commu- Even though projects play a significant role for societies or
nities of practice; nations, the discipline was rather late organising itself into
»» Enable the organisation through a project manage- professional bodies. IPMA started first. It was founded in
ment office (PMO), and 1965, gathering experts from several European countries
»» Utilize a new paradigm characterized by team- and exchanging experiences in the field of network planning
process-orientation as well as empowerment. techniques. National associations were established, starting
in Sweden and Norway, followed by the USA (where in 1969
Sometimes projects are not performed by a single organi- the Project Management Institute (PMI) was founded) and
sation only, but by several organisations, e.g. a consortium many European countries and later bodies all over the world
for realizing a large infrastructure project, a network of or- started to care for the professionalism in the field of project
ganisations producing a movie or a global supply chain of management. During the 1980s and 1990s the first “bod-
suppliers, developing a new electrical car together with the ies of knowledge (BoKs)” were developed, showing what pro-
81
ject managers are supposed to do (Morris, 2013). The PMI velopment of other assessment models such as the PMI’s
focused more on processes and methodologies necessary Organisational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3)
for managing projects and IPMA developed the first ver- and the British Cabinet Office’s Portfolio, Programme and
sion of its Competence Baseline, highlighting competences Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3). All these tools
a project manager should possess to be successful. Based basically have a clear focus on processes, looking at the ex-
on these standards, qualification and certification systems istence of standards and their application, evaluating them
were started, helping project managers and their teams to on a five-level scale from an “initial” to a “continuous im-
prepare for getting their projects done. provement” state (Wagner, 2012).
However, research on project management success re- At the lowest level of maturity there are no standards de-
vealed that still too many projects fail, and other success fined. Project management is applied by individual project
factors are to be considered to fulfill the requirements of members based on individual experiences. At the second
projects and their stakeholders. level of maturity, some standards have been introduced
(e.g. processes, methodologies), but they are far from being
3.1. Maturity models applied in the field of project sufficient, cover some subareas, and only some of them are
management actually applied. At the third level of maturity, standards are
available for almost all areas of project management and
Maturity models result from striving for perfection, an im- are consistently implemented. At the fourth level of maturi-
provement of the efficiency of organisations and the ty, project management and its performance are monitored
achievement of the highest possible quality level. They were and controlled (regarding quality). At the fifth level of matu-
first developed as part of general quality-management sys- rity, a continuous improvement process is added.
tems, were then adapted to sector-specific requirements in
software development and have increasingly gained ground Experience shows that the two highest maturity levels are
in project management until now (Wagner, 2010). difficult to reach. They require a high degree of top man-
agement attention and considerably financial investments.
Project-oriented organisations are highly interested in ana- Thus, many organisations just strive for medium maturity
lysing their current status quo in a certain field and improv- levels. This depends on the strategic orientation, the situ-
ing it to a higher level. This applies to the field of project ation within the company and external influences, such as
management as well. In Germany, two project management market, project and customer requirements. The more the
assessments were developed during the mid- 1990s. One strategic impact of projects on organisations is recog-
was based on the European Foundation of Quality Manage- nised, the broader the scope of models needs to be, look-
ment (EFQM) model for assessing single projects and evalu- ing at more aspects than processes for the management of
ating them for the Project Excellence (PE) Award, which later a project.
formed the basis for the IPMA Project Excellence Award and
the foundational standard IPMA Project Excellence Baseline Since 2012, IPMA has offered a service for assessment and
(IPMA PEB). The other, called “PM Delta”, was based on the certification of organisations in the field of project man-
standard DIN 69904 and targeted the entire project management. It is called “IPMA Delta®” and is based on IPMA´s
agement system of an organisation. Global Standard IPMA OCB, using the IPMA ICB to assess
competences of selected individuals, as well as the IPMA
In the United States, Harold Kerzner developed the Pro- PEB to assess the application of project management and
ject Management Maturity Model (PMMM). This tool helps the results of selected projects and programmes. Further-
to measure an organisation’s project management maturity, more, the assessors use a multidimensional questionnaire
i.e. the improvements achieved in the past, and to decide to assess organisational competence in project manage-
the steps needed to be taken for continuous development ment, checking the five competence groups “Governance”,
in the future (Kerzner, 2005). Kerzner’s PMMM together with “Management”, “Organisational Alignment”, “Resources” and
the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) of the Software Engi- “People´s Competences”.
neering Institute (SEI) have been very influential in the de-
82
A maturity assessment may help the organisation to under- are values associated with project management usage in
stand the actual status quo in project management with re- Russian companies? Which project management tools and
spective strengths, best practices and areas for improve- techniques are used, considered to be the most valuable
ment. After defining a desired target state, development and are planned to be used in the future? One of the find-
needs can be derived from looking at the gaps. In addition, ing was that more mature organisations in the field of pro-
the project management maturity assessment may help to ject management use more project management tools and
define the long-term strategy regarding developing project techniques, including but not limited to cost / benefit analy-
management and the necessary actions. It can be used to sis, critical path method, critical chain method, earned value,
perform an internal or external benchmarking. Finally, con- and work breakdown structure (Polkovnikov and Ilina, 2014).
tinuous improvement activities help to achieve better re-
sults in projects and programmes, which increases the com- Other researchers compared success of projects and pro-
petitive edge. ject management across industries and countries. For ex-
ample, one research team adopted a contingency ap-
3.2. Assessing the project management maturity proach evaluating the complexity of the project, according
of a nation to four categories, and the effect of different industry sec-
tors and countries. The chosen approach involved a longi-
Can project management maturity models also be applied tudinal field survey across the countries of Argentina, Bra-
to industries or even a nation? For example, Terry Cooke- zil and Chile with business units from ten different industries
Davies and Andrew Arzymanov investigated into the na- over a three-year period. Data from a total of 1387 projects
ture and extent of variations between project management were analysed. Results show a significant and positive rela-
practices in six industries (Petrochemical, Defence, Phar- tionship between reaching the scheduled due dates and the
maceutical R&D, Construction, Telecommunications, and efforts in project management training and capabilities de-
Financial Services). The investigation had the purpose of velopment. The project complexity had a significant effect
supporting a group of pharmaceutical organisations in their on two aspects of project success: margin and schedule.
search for an optimum project management model (Cooke- Both, the cross-country and cross-industry analyses show
Davies and Arzymanov, 2003). a significant explanatory effect (Carvalho et al, 2015).
Researchers in Portugal performed a study, aggregating the Seweryn Spalek analysed the influence a country of origin
results of nineteen OPM3 Maturity Assessments. The con- may have on the success of a project. His survey covered
clusion highlights that organisations better manage their more than 400 companies from 20 countries, in three types
projects than their portfolios of projects and programmes. of industries. Based on the analysis results he concluded
Portuguese companies in the sample manage well the pro- that the country of origin matters for immature companies
cesses of buying or purchasing products or services. On the in project management. Once the company reaches the
other hand, the processes of risk management had lower second or a higher level in project management maturity,
scores. Out of the nineteen organisations assessed, none industry specific issues prevail, and its country of origin is no
has implemented a best practice for eleven portfolio man- longer the issue (Spalek, 2014). It exemplifies how complex
agement processes (Silvaa et al, 2014). the adaptation of maturity models on the level of a country
are. The maturity of a country may have influence on - and
A similar study was performed in Russia by the Russian Pro- are influenced by - industries, organisations, projects and
ject Management Association “SOVNET” and the National individuals. Therefore, multiple interrelations and context
Research University, Higher School of Economics. The sur- factors need to be considered when analysing the maturity
vey was conducted to better understand the project man- of a country in project management.
agement practices adopted in the real world of Russian
economy as well as the utilisation and perceived value of Between 1999 and 2002, Roland Gareis and Martina Hue-
applied PM tools and techniques. The key questions of the mann performed a ground-breaking Research Programme
study were the following: What is the maturity level of organ- in the context of IPMA. The objectives were to develop
isational project management in Russian companies? What a model for the “project-oriented society (POS)”, to assess
83
different POSs, analyse the commonalties and differenc- Seventeen years have passed since this research pro-
es and define strategies for further developing respective gramme has been conducted. Meanwhile, project manage-
competences. A group of POSs, namely Austria, Denmark, ment has developed significantly. New standards, practices
Hungary, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom, has and insights have shaped the way; individuals, organisations
been benchmarked (Gareis and Huemann, 2001). and societies act through projects, programmes and project
portfolios. Supra-national, international and national insti-
The authors note that “the perception of a society as a POS tutions are increasingly interested in better ways of perform-
is a construction; it requires the observation of a society ing projects and programmes, for example in implementing
with a specific “pair of glasses“, the glasses of project-ori- the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United
entation. The focus is on those communications of the soci- Nations, managing migration from an international point of
ety, which relate to projects, programmes and project port- view or developing national infrastructure, e.g. smart cities
folios. The boundaries of the POS are defined to include all (Wagner, 2018). Therefore, a maturity model on the level of
communications of a nation’s economy-system, which re- a society, country or nation is an interesting subject to be
late to projects, programmes, and project portfolios and deepened and developed for the greater benefit of people.
those communications of a nations science-, education-,
and law-system providing services related to project, pro- 3.3. The idea of an IPMA National Project Management
gramme and project portfolio management.” (ibid., 3) Maturity Model
The required competences of a POS are influenced by the The IPMA nowadays is a federation of more than seventy
role and the importance projects and programmes have, by national project management associations, covering coun-
the overall structure of the society in scope and by its his- tries all over the globe. The aspirational vision of “Promot-
tory and expectations about the future. The importance of ing competence throughout society to enable a world in
projects and programmes for the society can, for example, which all projects succeed” requires IPMA to turn the pro-
be determined by assessing the number of project-oriented jectification into a success for society, e.g. through en-
industries and organisations. Information about the histo- couraging and facilitating the exchange of experiences and
ry and the future of the society can be described regarding levering the diversity of the global network of national asso-
the social sub-systems economy, science, education, pol- ciations into benefits for the profession, economy, society
itics, law, religion, arts, etc. The conceptual model consid- and environment.
ers practices of project-oriented companies (POCs), such
as project, programme and project portfolio management Assessing the maturity of a nation in project management
as well as personnel management and organisational de- is more complex than assessing an organisation. First of
sign practise. In addition, services of PM related institutions, all, it has to consider the micro-level of what kind of pro-
such as PM education, PM research, PM marketing and PM jects are performed, which sectors are engaged in projects,
standardisation institutions are also considered by the re- what types of organisations do projects and how far reach-
searchers. ing the “projectification” has become. A maturity model
should take into consideration individuals with their compe-
As key finding the following is stated: “Overall it can be ob- tence, organisations with their maturity, covering organisa-
served that all assessed nations are still in a relative ear- tions across all relevant sectors of the country. Furthermore,
ly phase as a POS. There are high development potentials a maturity model should take into account enablers such as
and demands, given the dynamics of the overall economic research and standardization activities in the field of project,
development in these nations. The performed assessments programme and project portfolio management, education,
and the benchmarking give a view at the beginning of 2001 training and certification offerings, recognition and advo-
only. It can be assumed that due to the dynamics at the be- cacy through professional or other bodies, and last but not
ginning of 2001 the competences of these nations as POSs least funding arrangements for innovative start-ups and
will be much higher in a few years.” (ibid., 10) improvements actions.
84
However, the context should also be taken into account. IPMA have already proven the interest in this topic. Govern-
Factors, such as the nation´s overall economic situation, its ments or institutions such as the World Bank may be inter-
innovative capabilities, the general situation in education ested in a cooperation, helping developing countries to per-
and whether the nation´s culture supports or hinders project form better through professional project, programme and
management. In addition, governance arrangements may portfolio management.
have an impact on a nation´s project management maturity
(Joslin and Müller, 2015), national laws, policies, regulations
etc. Regional arrangements, such as the European Union 4. FUTURE RESEARCH
may have an impact on a nation´s way of managing projects,
e.g. capturing lessons learned through EU-funded projects A future research programme should aspire answering the
and making them available in own projects. following questions: 1.) What are relevant aspects or com-
ponents of a reference model for assessing the maturity of
What are the objectives of assessing the maturity of nation a Nation in project management? 2.) How does the assess-
in project management? Through an assessment the status ment process look like, what are respective measurements
quo can be analysed, highlighting strengths as well as the and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)? 3.) Who are key
areas for improvement. Based on the findings, a long-term stakeholders for getting input during an assessment and for
strategy with a desired target state can be derived, gaps receiving information regarding the results? 4.) Which con-
identified, and improvement activities defined. Benchmark- text factors of a nation need to be considered for evaluating
ing activities on international level may add to the findings the maturity of a nation in project management? 5.) What
and enable additional learnings. IPMA is in an ideal position, can potentially be achieved through such an assessment,
developing an IPMA National Project Management Ma- what are the limitations and side-effects?
turity Model (IN-PM3) and levering the competence of its
members across countries, sectors, organisations and indi- As a starting point of the first research question could be
viduals. It may perform assessments from a neutral and in- the assessment model of Gareis and Huemann (Gareis and
dependent position, using the know-how in assessing com- Huemann, 2001). Through literature research, especially in
petence of individuals, projects and organisations for nearly the field of assessment models, studying the organisation-
twenty-five years. al project management models and performing a series of
expert workshops the model could be refined. It should be
As a longitudinal activity, IPMA could collect data from clarified, whether the right aspects of the model´s constitu-
countries all over the world, analyse the data and thus pro- ent components are covered, for example whether the “PM
vide valuable input to research and advocacy activities. It Education” asks for a life-long learning in the field of project
may also be a valuable source for organisations performing management, from school level through (higher) education
projects with partners from other countries. They may ana- towards a professional application and beyond. Another as-
lyse the conditions of that country and prepare themselves pect could be the kind of education the model is considering,
in order to cope with the specific circumstances, e.g. plan- for example in-class or on-the-job training, distance learn-
ning additional training activities for the partner. This ap- ing or mentoring. Which organisations of a nation are taken
proach is similar to the Global Leadership & Organisation- into account? A pre-study may elaborate on the question,
al Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) Culture and Leadership who is performing projects in a country, private indus-
Study (http://globeproject.com/). try, public administration, other sectors etc. Therefore, the
projectification study (Schoper et al, 2017) may be a good
This paper advocates for establishing a Research Pro- start, identifying who is to what extent involved in projects
gramme, based on the one performed between 1999 and and provide a sampling information before starting with the
2002, with the goal of developing an IPMA National Pro- main assessment.
ject Management Maturity Model (“IN-PM3”) and starting
a programme of coordinated research activities, covering The IPMA PEB is used for assessing projects. It is based on
the aspects mentioned above. The projectification stud- the approach of the European Foundation for Quality Man-
ies with participation of more than ten national members of agement (EFQM). On the one hand side the models consid-
85
er all enablers to reach excellence in business, on the other ment is forward-looking: rather than focusing on the extent
side it looks at the results. Building on the EFQM approach, to which these students have mastered a specific school
the IN-PM3 assessment should also look at the results of curriculum, it looks at their ability to use their knowledge
projects, programmes and portfolios performed. Howev- and skills to meet real-life challenges. The PISA surveys
er, it should assess a broad range of results, including but take place every three years with a different focus area, is
not limited to project results, stakeholder satisfaction, long- a highly collaborative endeavour with several test centers
term results or the impact of projects performed etc. involved and basically used for improving education sys-
tems (OECD, 2009).
Another question is related to the EFQM approach is wheth-
er all components of the IN-PM3 should be weight the same The third question at the beginning of this chapter asks: Who
or differently. are key stakeholders for getting input during an assessment
and for receiving information regarding the results? There
Regarding the second question raised at the beginning of may be primary stakeholders, such as the Government and
this chapter, best practice standards such as the ISO 19011 Public Administration, who want to learn how the maturity in
“Guidelines for auditing management systems” or ISO/IEC project management could be improved. They may also be
17021 “Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies interested in improving their own project, programme and
providing audit and certification of management systems” portfolio management. In addition, they may need an indi-
could be utilized as base document for defining a reliant as- cation, where public funds may be invested most effectively.
sessment process. The first mentioned standard “provides Thus, one of the research projects should analyse the stake-
guidance on auditing management systems, including the holders for IN-PM3, their interest and attitude towards re-
principles of auditing, managing an audit programme and spective assessments together with the influence they have
conducting management system audits, as well as guidance on such an activity. For obvious reasons, researchers will
on the evaluation of competence of individuals involved in be interested in getting involved in maturity assessments.
the audit process. These activities include the individual(s) However, special policies, rules and regulations will be nec-
managing the audit programme, auditors and audit teams. It essary in order to avoid any conflict of interest.
is applicable to all organisations that need to plan and con-
duct internal or external audits of management systems or Which context factors need to be considered for evaluat-
manage an audit programme.” (ISO, 2018) The latter standing the maturity of a nation in project management? This
ard “contains principles and requirements for the compe- is a question which requires thorough considerations, as
tence, consistency and impartiality of bodies providing au- many context factors interact with the construct of maturity
dit and certification of all types of management systems.“ in project management. For example, the innovativeness of
(ISO, 2015) a nation may depend on good practices in the field of pro-
ject management. On the other hand, project management
A crucial question for the quality, reliability and accept- itself requires continuous development and innovation, in-
ance of the assessment results is the number of organisa- novation is part of projects and applied methodologies (e.g.
tions evaluated per country. Research should be performed design thinking). Recent research results show that “inno-
based on macro-economic procedures, methods and indi- vating project-oriented organisations exploit the informa-
cators, which may already be available or need to be investi- tion delivered by their projects and project portfolios faster
gated before starting the assessment. International surveys, and more intensively. They also proactively manage a pipe-
such as the OECD´s “Programme for International Student line of ideas, concepts, and exploratory pre-development
Assessment (PISA)” may be an interesting case study to projects, which gives their downstream project portfolios
learn how assessments may be conducted. more valuable options, from which the decision-makers can
chose… such project-oriented organisations are not only
PISA is a collaborative effort among OECD member coun- excellent in performing today´s tasks, they are also bet-
tries to measure how well 15-year-old students approach- ter prepared for future challenges: they shape the future.”
ing the end of compulsory schooling are prepared to meet (Gemünden et al, 2018, 158)
the challenges of today’s knowledge societies. The assess-
86
Additional research needs to evaluate the complex inter- ety needs to learn how to make better use of project man-
relations between the maturity in project management and agement practices. This requires advocating for the appli-
relevant context factors, including but not limited to (cultur- cation of professional project, programme and portfolio
al) norms, values and beliefs, economic performance, profi- management. IPMA and its national project management
ciency levels of people, governance systems and the degree association may join forces in promoting relevant compe-
to which organisations are networking. tence. From the level of the decision makers (Governments,
Board of Directors, Sponsors, Senior Executives etc.) to the
The final question raised was related to potential benefits, individuals engaged in projects and programmes. A special
limitations and side-effects of such an assessment? Bene- emphasis should be on funding institutions, as they may
fits could be identified through a systematic analysis of the provide funds for the support of developing countries, which
stakeholder interests. Like in other assessments, stakehold- are lacking the funds for assessing the status quo and in-
ers are interested in knowing the status quo, benchmarking vesting in improvement activities.
their maturity with other participants, using the results to im-
plement improvement activities and develop further. Devel- Performing research on a global level may result in identify-
oping nations may demonstrate progress in developing the ing best practices, also mature countries could benefit from.
maturity and having reached a certain maturity level in order For example, comparing Eastern and Western approach-
to secure the funds given by donors or a Development Bank. es of philosophy and project management during the 2nd
IPMA Research Conference in Tianjin was leading the way of
international cooperation and learning. More of this could
5. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK be achieved while performing the proposed research pro-
gramme. It would start a new era in project management, an
Projects increasingly play an important role for the devel- era of global cooperation and learning for a sustainable de-
opment of our society; for individuals, organisations, indus- velopment of all partners.
tries, nations and regions. “Projectification” means change
for organisations; change regarding their ways of working,
their strategies, processes, methods, tools, organisational References
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88
Stanisław Gasik
Institute of Management, Vistula University, Warsaw, Poland
Developing Governmental Project Management

Capability with Use of Maturity Model
ABSTRACT Keywords: Project management, maturity model, govern-

ment, public sector
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to create a maturity
model for the governmental level of project management Article Classification: Research paper
activities.
Acknowledgments: This work was fully funded by project
DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH: The data were col- number DEC-2012/07/D/HS4/01752 granted by the Na-
lected on the basis of literature review and analysis of solu- tional Science Centre of Poland.
tions for public sector project management in over 60 gov-
ernments (at country, state, or local levels). The work used Motto
the methodology of creating maturity models. CMMI® was I do not ask what projects can do for their governments.
selected as the reference model. I ask what governments can do for their projects.
FINDINGS: The concepts of Governmental Project Imple-

mentation Systems (GPIS) and Governmental Project Man- 1. INTRODUCTION
agement (GPM) were introduced. A Governmental Project
Management Maturity Model (GPM3) for GPIS / GPM was 1.1 Basic concepts
built. It consists of five levels: Initial, Local, Governmental,
Support, and Optimizing. Public sector projects are one area of government activities.
To be effective as a whole, any government must be effec-
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: GPM3, as each maturity model, tive in the area of project management.
may have three applications: descriptive (assessment of the
current maturity level of GPIS/GPM), comparative (compar- Many authors have been analyzing the effectiveness and
ing maturity between similar governments), and prescriptive efficiency of public sector projects, finding plenty of rea-
– showing the roadmap for improvement of the project man- sons for problems and suggesting different remedies. Some
agement capabilities of governments. This will contribute to of them tie these problems to a single institutional level.
the acceleration of the development of administrative units For instance, poor governance, inadequate project man-
governed by their governments. The model may play such agement, and lack of effective leadership are mentioned by
a role at the governmental level of project management as Achterstaat (2013). Patanakul et al. (2016) extend this list
CMMI® or OPM3® do at the organizational level. with uncertainty about goals, inadequate resources, finan-
cial and organizational issues, frequent changes in orders,
ORIGINALITY / VALUE: The proposed model is the first, orig- optimism of owners and project managers, poor risk man-
inal maturity model for the governmental level of project agement, and lack of accountability, system management,
management. governance and project management. The reasons identi-
89
fied by Ikejemba et al. (2017) are lack of stakeholder coop- only on the performance of its components but also on the
eration, poor planning and implementation, poor mainte- structure and characteristics of the system as a whole. So,
nance, and lack of public acceptance and inclusion. Lack of performance of public sector projects depends not only
project management experience is mentioned by Blixt and on the activities of the organizations directly implement-
Kirytopoulos (2017), inadequate leadership style by Zhu ing them, but also on the characteristics of the GPIS within
and Kindardto (2016), public projects’ relative complexity which these projects are performed.
(Gasik, 2016), and low salary of project team members by
Malinda (2017). The GPIS / GPM environment is schematically presented in
Figure 1.
But there are also reasons and ways to improve the im-
plementation of public sector projects related to the gov- 1.2 Maturity Models
ernmental level. Regulations influence the success of pub-
lic projects (Tabish and Jha, 2011) and wrong law hinders Maturity model is one of tools widely applied for improv-
public sector project implementation (Batool and Abbas, ing organizational performance. Maturity models contain
2017). Formality and intensity of standard government pro- the best practices from given area (Wendler, 2012). These
cesses influences public sector projects (Patanakul et al., practices are grouped into hierarchical sets of elements
2016). Central-level Project Management Offices are need- (maturity levels) describing the features of more and more
ed (Patanakul et al., 2016; Popa, 2016), and the process effective processes (OGC, 2010). The first widely recog-
of awarding projects should be improved (Ikejemba et al., nized maturity model was Capability Maturity Model (CMM,
2017). The procurement process lasts too long because of Paulk et al., 1993) developed for the area of software de-
regulations (POST, 2003). velopment. Since then plethora of maturity models have
been published. Wendler (2012) lists 237 maturity models.
Entities that can overcome the problems of the first group Project management maturity models and its usage are
are the authorities of the public institutions. But at the or- recognized and accepted by professionals (Albrecht and
ganizational level, the problems of the second group cannot Spang, 2016).
be solved. This justifies identification of government level in
public sector projects efficiency studies. Maturity models may be applied for selected process-
es, process areas or for whole organizations (Becker et
Public projects are performed in an organizational envi- al., 2009). Several researchers, e.g. Shi (2011), Crawford
ronment established by the government. This environment (2006), Besner and Hobbs (2008), Yazici (2009), Jiang et
may cover processes, methodologies, practices, organiza- al., (2004), and Spalek (2014), showed that increasing an
tions (including auditing offices and public-sector Project organization’s project management maturity level positively
Management Offices), databases, project managers, pro- influences the organization’s performance.
ject management maturity models, project contractors and
other elements in a given administrative unit, all of which A public administration managed by a government is a spe-
define, shape or influence the way public sector projects cific type of organization. Therefore, specific types of ma-
are implemented. This environment will be referred to as the turity models may also be applied to the governmental lev-
Governmental Project Implementation System (GPIS). The el of project management. The purpose of this article is to
GPIS is controlled by governmental laws, executive orders build a maturity model for governmental project manage-
and other activities and documents, specific to the individ- ment that can be used for improving both GPIS and GPM
ual administration. The process of influencing and shaping processes. The addressees of this model are primarily the
the GPIS by the government will be referred to as Govern- governments overseeing the administrative units, which
mental Project Management (GPM). through the implementation of GPM processes affect the
form, structure and quality of their GPISs.
A GPIS is a system of components that are organized for
a common purpose: effective and efficient project imple-
mentation. The performance of each system depends not
90
Figure 1. GPIS / GPM structure
GOVERNANCE TERRITORY
ENACT LEGAL REGULATION
GOVERNMENT
DEFINE THE ROLE OF

DEFINE
GPM3
ORGANIZATION’S STRUCTURES AND
ESTABLISH PROJECT GOVERNANCE CONSISTS OF AUDIT CHAMBER
AUTHORITIES RULES
DEVELOPMENT TERRITORY
USES
EXECUTION TERRITORY
PORTFOLIO
SUPPORTS
MANAGEMENT
USES PROJECT MATURITY

EVALUATION
MAINTAINS
STRATEGY
DEFINES THE LEVEL
OF CAPABILITIES
IMPLEMENTED BY DEFINES
IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM
PROJECT PROVIDES PUBLIC PUBLIC
RESOURCES BELONGS TO BELONG TO
PORTFOLIO ORGANIZATION PMO
DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENTAL PROJECT

CLASSIFYING CONSISTS OF SUPPORTS
DELIVER WORKS FOR
BENEFITS
PROJECT PROJECT
CHARACTERIZES PROJECTS IMPLEMEMTS PERFORM
MANAGEMENT CONTROLS MANAGERS
CONTRIBUTE TO PARTICIPATION OF
DELIVER
BENEFITS SUPPORTS EDUCATES
INFLUENCE SUPPORT VENDORS
& CERTIFIES
QUALIFIES
MAY SYSTEMS AND KNOWLEDGE ACTORS
STAKEHOLDERS COMMUNITY METHODOLOGIES MANAGEMENT SUPPORTS MANAGEMENT
BELONG TO
ENGAGES
STAKEHOLDER
ADVISORY BODIES
ENGAGEMENT
source: Gasik, 2017

2. LITERATURE REVIEW Table 1. Public Sector Maturity Models Classification
2.1 Sector-Independent Maturity Models Projects Processes
Organizational Project management Process management

Maturity models are used in all sectors Level
organizational level organizational level
of activity: governmental, private and
non-governmental. Many models can be maturity models maturity models
used in each sector. Examples of project

Governmental Project management Process management
management sector-independent maturi- Level
governmental level governmental level
ty models are CMMI® (SEI, 2010), Kerzner’s
maturity models maturity models
model (Kerzner, 2005) and Crawford’s ma-
turity model (Crawford, 2006). Sector-in-
dependent maturity models have also been
developed for specific types of projects, such as software de- Australia, and Greece. Canada has a project management
velopment (Paulk et al., 1993), agile software development policy in place (TBoCS, 2013). Under this policy, the project
(Chetankumar and Ramachandran, 2009; Humble and Rus- management capabilities of public institutions are evaluat-
sell, 2009), new services development (Jin et al., 2014), con- ed using the Standard for Organizational Project Manage-
struction (Sun et al., 2009) and many others. ment Capacity (TBoCS, 2013a) which is a kind of maturity
model. This model consists of five levels: Limited, Sustaining,
Maturity models have also been developed for process ac- Tactical, Evolutionary, and Transformational. The Australian
tivities. This includes models that are applicable regardless Public Services Commission (APSC, 2012) has developed
of the business sector. Exemplary maturity models of this guidelines that determine the capacity of Australian feder-
type are the business process maturity model (Rosemann al-level public organizations to provide services. There are
and de Bruin, 2005), the resource management maturi- five levels of maturity in these guidelines: Awareness, Gener-
ty model (Mahmood et al., 2015), or the Big Data maturity al Acceptance, Defined, Manager, and Leader / Excellence.
model (Hansmann, 2017). In the Greek public sector, a norm describing the maturi-
ty model for public sector institutions has been developed
2.2 Public Sector Maturity Models within the scope of the System for Assuring Managerial Ca-
pability (SAMC), the ELOT 1429 (GOfS, 2009). This model
In addition to maturity models that can be used in any sec- specifies three levels of maturity.
tor, there are maturity models that have been developed
specifically for the public sector, which include maturity 2.2.2 Public-sector Process Management
models for projects and maturity models for processes. An Organizational Level Maturity Models
additional dimension of classification of public sector matu- Specialized maturity models for public institutions have
rity models is the organizational level. For the public sector been developed for process management. For instance,
one can consider the single institution level and the govern- Pullen (2007) developed the Human Performance Tech-
mental level. Like the sector-independent maturity models, nology maturity model for the public sector. Cottam et al.
the public-sector maturity models can be divided into two (2004) developed a Customer Relationship Management
types: project-oriented maturity models and process-ori- maturity model for local governments. Happe (2009) de-
ented maturity models. Table 1 shows the classification of veloped a community maturity model. The Internal Auditors
maturity models for public sector, taking into account these Research Foundation (IARF, 2009) has developed an inter-
two dimensions. nal audit capability model for British public institutions.
2.2.1 Public-sector Project Management Organizational 2.2.3 Process Management Governmental Level
Level Maturity Models Maturity Models
Project management organizational level maturity models The creation of specialized models in this group began with
have been developed and applied, for instance, in Canada, the development of the e-government maturity model by
92
Developing Governmental Project Management Capability with Use of Maturity Model
Layne and Lee (2001). They defined four levels of maturi- The lack of a Governmental Project Management Maturity
ty models for e-government: continuous, transaction, ver- Model is an important gap that this article is trying to fill.
tical integration, and horizontal integration. Fath-Allah et
al. (2014) identified 25 e-government maturity models. The
maturity model for Health in All Policies (HiAP) (Storm et al., 3. THE METHODOLOGY OF GPM3
2014) deals with another area of public administration. This DEVELOPMENT
model has six levels: unrecognized, recognized (recognizing
the problem), considered, implemented, integrated, and in- As the knowledge about maturity models develops, several
stitutionalized. methods of their creation have been defined. Such methods
have been proposed, for example, by de Bruin et al. (2005),
2.2.4 Attempts to Evaluate Governmental Project Man- Mettler and Rohner (2009), Becker et al. (2009), Maier et al.
agement Maturity (2012), and Röglinger et al. (2012). The most general phases
Literature has not yet described a maturity model for gov- of maturity model development are planning, development,
ernment project management that can answer the ques- evaluation and maintenance. In the planning phase, one
tion of how mature governmental project management is must define the purpose of model development, including
in a given administrative unit. But similar questions were its scope and audience. A review of existing maturity models
asked by researchers in several countries, who investigated for similar models should be performed. In the development
the average level of maturity of project management in the phase, it is necessary to determine maturity levels and to in-
public institutions of a given administrative unit. dicate practices performed at these levels. In the evaluation
phase, the model should be verified and validated. In the
In Australia, such studies were conducted by Young et al. maintenance phase, in addition to performing assessments,
(2014) using P3M3 (OGC, 2010). For projects, the average
®
a results database and the maturity model itself should be
management maturity level was between 1 (benefit man- maintained.
agement) and 3 (risk management). Prado and Andrade
(2015) distinguished the public sector as the subject of part A particular, frequently used method of maturity model de-
of their project management maturity studies in Brazil. The velopment is to build them on the basis of existing models.
Prado Project Management Maturity Model has five levels, Maturity models are often built on CMM (or CMMI®) (e.g.
from 1 (Initial) to 5 (Optimized). The average score for all ex- Hopkinson, 1996; Ibrahim 2000; Niazi et al., 2005; Rose-
amined public institutions was 2.5. mann and de Bruin, 2005) or based on OPM3® (e.g. Jia et
al., 2011). This approach can be considered a variant of the
In New Zealand, KPMG conducted public sector project man- above-described methodology, where the set of major ma-
agement maturity studies (KPMG, 2011) using P3M3®. The turity model constructs is predefined. For models built on
study found that 80% of organizations are at level 2 or lower CMM, these include definitions of maturity levels. For OPM3®
on a scale of 0-5, with 50% of them at levels no higher than 1.5. this is the SMCI structure, defined for the areas or process-
es that are subject to the maturity model. Regardless of the
However, these studies do not account for one important variant of the maturity model, this process must be based
factor: the impact of GPIS and GPM on project manage- on a deep knowledge of the practices applied in the field of
ment in public sector institutions. They treat each public interest. The premise of applying this method of maturity
institution as a separate unit. But a public administration is modeling can be similar to the structure of the main objects
an organism composed of cooperating organizations and of the base model and of the model being created.
regulated by its government. So, to adequately describe
the level of maturity of public sector project management The description of the planning phase may be found above
in a particular administrative unit, one also needs to take in the Introduction and Literature Review sections.
into account the governmental level: the maturity of GPIS
and GPM. The maturity model used for such assessment will In our case, CMMI® is the basis for the development phase.
be called the Governmental Project Management Maturity CMMI® refers to the implementation of projects in an or-
Model (GPM3). ganization. Our maturity model refers to the project man-
93
agement capabilities of public administration in a given ad- research, it is important to identify the set of analyzed ob-
ministrative unit, governed by its government. The CMMI® jects. The basic criterion for sample selection in qualitative
analogy for organization in our model is the public admin- research is not to determine the sample size but to gain full
istration as a whole. The CMMI® analogy for a project in the knowledge of the researched phenomenon (Marshall, 1996;
model is the institution – a component of the administra- Fossey et al., 2002). Saturation is the criterion for the com-
tion. In CMMI®, the organization influences the way it per- pletion of the review of the practices, i.e., a state in which
forms its own projects. In our model, the government influ- subsequent material research does not generate new prac-
ences the way in which its institutions operate (in the scope tices (Green and Thorogood, 2004; Bowen, 2008). No new
of project, program, and portfolio management). These re- practices were added after analyzing the sources stated
lationships are schematically shown in Figure 2. above, therefore the state of saturation was achieved. The
identified practices were allocated to individual maturity
levels.
Figure 2. CMMI and GPM3 ®
The evaluation and maintenance phases will be performed

in the future. It is planned to select three countries in which
CMMI® GPM3
evaluation will be carried out using the survey and / or focus
Organization CORRESPONDS TO Government group methods.
IMPLEMENTS
GOVERNS
In the following chapter, for each maturity level first we pro-

vide its general characteristics then we describe some ex-
ample practices.
Projects CORRESPONDS TO Public
Organizations
4. SPECIFICATION OF GPM3
IMPLEMENTS
4.1 The Initial Level
Projects At this level, there is no awareness of the importance of pro-

ject management for the success of the government and
the whole administrative unit. Governments sometimes use
the term “project”, but do not recognize the importance of
We have collected knowledge on GPIS / GPM practices in project management for the proper functioning of the ad-
several ways. We have analyzed 262 literature items, 345 ministrative unit. Governments believe that the efficiency of
documents and source materials and 37 interviews with projects depends primarily on technical skills. At this level,
government project management stakeholders were per- the government usually does not provide a stable organi-
formed (Gasik, 2017). Data were collected from 67 adminis- zational and legal environment for project implementation.
trative units, mainly at the country and state level. The success of projects depends on the competence and
heroism of people, and not on the use of proven processes.
The following principles were adopted for the inclusion of Government projects are often abandoned or they exceed
practices into research for the model. Firstly, practices en- the estimated schedule or budget.
forced by law were considered. Secondly, practices men-
tioned in source documentation, application of which was The most common form of public administration involve-
confirmed by actors or other stakeholders, were taken into ment in projects at this level is the allocation of resources
account. Thirdly, the classes of practices listed in the source and expectation of results (Judah, 1857; Kozak-Holland and
material from more than one administrative unit were con- Procter, 2014; Kwak et al., 2014). There are no organizations
sidered. Fourthly, those practices that were confirmed by specialized in the implementation of projects. Audit cham-
reference in available reports were included. In qualitative bers are not qualified in project management and avoid au-
94
dits of projects. And if they do perform such audits, they fo- some management processes were developed in the ear-
cus on the technical aspect and on individual activities, not ly 1960’s for constructing the Sydney Opera House (Kou-
on full project management processes (NIK, 2014). Public zmin, 1979). This level was further developed in the Unit-
sector projects can be implemented under the general reg- ed States after 1960, when Robert McNamara introduced
ulations concerning public contracts (if any), which do not the DoD Program Planning and Budgeting System (PPBS),
account for the specifics of projects. In the late stage of this emphasizing the up-front analysis, planning and control of
maturity level, regulations on individual projects may be en- projects, and several other processes and techniques (Mor-
acted, but they do not relate to their management, or they ris, 1994). The first regulation in the United States to require
relate to it in a minimal way, usually by requiring the submis- a specific methodology across the organization were rec-
sion of management products (schedule, reports). They do ommendations for using the Cost / Schedule Controls Sys-
not require the use of project management processes (e.g. tem Criteria (C/SCSC) published in 1967 by the Department
RCL, 2009, RCL, 2016). of Defense (Abba, 1997).
All governments remained at this level of maturity approxi- Currently, many governments are at the Local Level, apply-
mately until the Cold War period. ing a variety of project and program management practic-
es for specific projects, agencies or entire departments, but
4.2 The Local Level which do not cover the entire public sector. In the state of
Alaska, the Office of Project Management and Permitting
At the Local Level, individual public-sector organizations or operates, supporting project management in the Depart-
groups of organizations, like sectors of public administra- ment of Natural Resources1. In Ireland, the Transport Infra-
tions, apply project management practices in a systemized structure Ireland has published Project Management Guide-
way. At this level, organizations create regulations, guidelines (TII, 2017). In Chile, the Ministry of Housing and Urban
lines and standards for organizational units from the public Development published Recommendations for project
sector. Entering this level usually begins with the public or- management (MINVU, 2009) for its agencies. The Canadi-
ganization’s increased interest in the management of indi- an Major Project Management Office2 supports the imple-
vidual projects. A variety of project and program manage- mentation of the most important natural resources pro-
ment practices are applied for specific projects, agencies or jects. This should be considered the capacity of the Local
entire departments, but those practices do not cover the Level of maturity, as it does not cover all the major Canadi-
entire public sector. an public-sector projects. Within departments of American
states, Public Project Management Offices are established,
Public institutions, as separate organizations, implement for example PDD Vermont3, dealing with transport projects,
project management best practices such as those de- the Project Management and Development Branch in the
scribed in project management standards, methodologies Real Estate Services Division, California4. EPMO Vermont is
(PMBOK® Guide, PMI, 2008, Prince 2®, OGC, 2009 etc.) or involved in public IT projects (2010). The lowest level of gov-
organizational-level maturity models. If the maturity as- ernmental PMO are so-called “Project Agents”, persons who
sessment of an organization or of some sector, according help other employees to organize and manage their pro-
to any maturity model (CMMI®, OPM3®, P3M3® or any other), jects in those institutions (e.g. in the Government of Brazil-
would result in a rating higher than the lowest level of matu- ian state of Minas Gerais, Prado, 2014).
rity, then the public administration to which this organiza-
tion belongs reaches the Local Level.
The entry onto this level usually begins with the interest of
1 http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/opmp/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
the government in the management of individual projects.
2 http://mpmo.gc.ca/home (accessed 13 July 2018)
In the US in 1956, the Navy began the Polaris project, for
3 http://vtransengineering.vermont.gov/about_us (accessed 13
which the PERT technique was developed (Lenfle and Loch, July 2018)
2010). So, we may say that the United States entered the 4 http://www.dgs.ca.gov/resd/Programs/ProjectManagement.
Local Level of GPM3 during the Polaris project. In Australia, aspx (accessed 13 July 2018)
95
Public institutions develop their project management meth- jects and decisions is unambiguous. Policies, guidelines,
odologies. For instance, in Brazil, the Central Bank has de- standards and regulations for project management are
veloped an integrated methodology for project manage- published at this maturity level. Probably the first regula-
ment (Banco Central do Brasil, 2013), used only for this bank. tion concerning all the programs of a specific country was
In California, for technology projects, the California Project Circular A-109 issued in 1976 by the American OMB (1976).
Management Methodology (CAT, 2011) was developed. In This document extended the use of the proven methods of
the state of Kansas, the IT project management method- DoD’s C / SCSC approach to other federal departments. In
ology was published (EPMO Kansas, 2008). These states – Norway, all the major projects must pass the Quality at En-
and several other – are at the Local Level of GPM3. try process (Berg, 2012). British Office of Government Com-
merce (OGC) defined the OGC Gateway ProcessTM describ-
At this level, the benefits of project management are ob- ing the ways of making the most important project decisions
servable only in public organizations and agencies that im- (OGC, 2007). Governmental audit chambers play an impor-
plement their own practices for project management. The tant role in project implementation. They provide independ-
knowledge gathered, which remains with the institution at ent insight into the current status of public projects execu-
the Local Level, would need to be shared to raise GPIS / tion. They can also elaborate recommendations on modes
GPM to a higher level. Ideally, the government, because of of project implementation designed for public organizations
examples of success in the organizations at the lower lev- (GAO, 2009, GAO, 2012, ANAO, 2010).
el, realizes that the introduction of structured project man-
agement provides benefits. It then introduces these pro- There are defined rules for including projects in the portfolios of
cesses for the whole area of its operation. This moves it to individual organizations or in a governmental portfolio at the
the next level of maturity. Governmental Level. The rules for project or program initia-
tion are defined – but not necessarily the exact criteria, which
4.3 The Governmental Level may be specific to each type of program or project, or for sep-
arate governmental sectors. There are also rules for portfo-
At the Governmental Level, the government recognizes the lio maintenance and control. For instance, the GPRA (White
importance of project management for government, ad- House, 1993) regulation describes how to build a portfolio of
ministration and the whole administrative unit’s functioning programs in US federal organizations. The methods of select-
and development, and becomes the main subject involved in ing projects for implementation are defined in India (PMD India,
shaping an approach to the management of all public-sector 2013). In New Zealand, guidelines for major projects and pro-
projects performed in these administrative units. The main grams monitoring are in effect (SSC New Zealand, 2011). In New
manifestation of this commitment is the preparation by the South Wales, guidelines for the evaluation of all public-sector
government of laws, regulations, executive orders, standards, projects with respect to the value they deliver were developed
and guidelines on project governance and project manage- (NSW Government, 2016). In Argentina (MEFP, 2015) and Peru
ment. The factor distinguishing the Governmental Level from (MEyF, 2015) there exist similar processes for selection of pro-
the Local Level is that of coverage of all public-sector projects to national public investment portfolio.
jects (usually above a certain budget threshold) by govern-
ance and project management processes. Governmental level Project Management Offices exist,
whose main goal is to implement the rules of project man-
There are six main areas of public sector projects implemen- agement in their respective administrative units. They do not
tation: governance, portfolio management, institutions sup- replace local PMOs but may play the role similar to a center
porting project management (like PMO), project management of excellence (Hill, 2004, p. xvii). They monitor major pro-
processes, actor management (including project managers ject implementations by collecting performance data. They
and vendors), and stakeholder engagement (Gasik, 2016b). also perform or support tasks for other Governmental Level
activities, like maintaining project management processes,
In the area of governance, the processes for making the facilitating stakeholder engagement, implementing project
most important decisions are defined for all projects in manager education and certification, maintaining registers
a given administrative unit. Accountability for these proof authorized project suppliers, etc.
96
In the United States, the Office of Management and Budget, applying these guidelines to all projects implemented by the
which supervises the implementation of major programs, Tasmanian public sector. In Michigan the Project Management
reports directly to the president5. In the Australian state of Methodology has been developed (PMRC Michigan, 2004).
Victoria, there is the position of Minister for Major Projects, This methodology is based on the standards of the Project
responsible for all major projects6. In the UK, the Infrastruc- Management Institute (PMI, 2008). It is very complex, involv-
ture and Project Authority works within the structures of the ing an extensive set of forms. In Scotland, guidelines applica-
Office of the Prime Minister (IPA, 2016). In Singapore, the ble to all government projects and programs have been pub-
Centre for Public Project Management functions7. In India, lished (Scottish Government, 2013). In Canada, the Policy on
there are several organizations involved in the manage- the Management of Projects (TBoCS, 2013) is in effect.
ment of public sector projects at the federal level. NITI Aay-
og (NITI, 2016) is responsible for the selection of projects Regulations concerning the education and skills of public
for implementation, and Ministry of Statistics and Program sector project managers and other main stakeholders are
Implementation8 for monitoring project implementation. In introduced.
the Australian state of Victoria, the Department of Econom-
ic Development, Jobs, Transportation and Resources super- In the UK, managers of public sector projects with a value
vises the implementation of major projects9. exceeding a certain threshold must complete a course in
Major Programme Management at Saïd Business School at
Management standards and/or methodologies exist for Oxford University (University of Oxford, 2012). A system of
programs and projects. There may be different methodolo- project manager training, education, and knowledge trans-
gies for different sectors (e.g., specific to construction pro- fer is present and working effectively. In the state of Mich-
jects or to IT projects), and these methodologies cover all igan, comprehensive training is provided for project man-
governmental projects. These methodologies cover or are agers, including basics, soft skills and advanced topics
supplemented by change management processes. They (MDTMB Michigan, 2013). A certification system is imple-
cover business effect evaluation processes. mented. In the United States, at the federal level, the Office
of Personnel Management defined guidelines for jobs relat-
PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2008) has been recognized as a stand- ed to project management in the public sector (OPM, 2013).
ard in the United States by ANSI. Prince 2® (OGC, 2009) was
developed at the request of the British government for use in Including vendors in public projects implementation is based
government projects in the UK. In the state of New York, a pro- on existing legal regulations on public procurement (e.g.,
ject management methodology based on the PMBOK® Guide President of the Republic of China, 2011). Such regulations
has been developed by a group of experienced project man- usually define the general rules of conduct for the conclu-
agers. This methodology applies to all projects in the state of sion and execution of contracts between a public and a pri-
New York (IT, software, engineering, business development, vate party, not only in the area of public project implementa-
etc., NY SOT, 2003). Tasmania has developed guidelines for tion. These regulations form a complex legal system and their
Tasmanian Government Project Management (OEG Tasma- detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this study. The public
nia, 2011). The Tasmanian ICT Policy Board has recommended procurement system covering public sector projects, spec-
ifying the rules of public tenders is established (e.g. Federal
Acquisition Regulations in the USA, GSA et al., 2005). Reg-
isters of public project suppliers (in Australia: DoFD, 2012; in
5 http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb (accessed 16 July 2018) Hong Kong10) and project managers exist (in RSA11).
6 http:// https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/category/ministers/
minister-for-major-projects/ / (accessed 16 July 2018)
7 https://www.gov.sg/sgdi/ministries/mof/departments/cp2m-1
(accessed 16 July 2018)
8 http://www.mospi.gov.in/project-monitoring 10 http://www.archsd.gov.hk/en/about-us/organization-structure.
(accessed 16 July 2018) aspx (accessed 13 July 2018)
9 http://economicdevelopment.vic.gov.au/significant-projects 11 http://thyme.dbbee.com/u/KLFNI920V7/Registered_Search-
(accessed 13 July 2018) qbdsl.wbsp (accessed 13 July 2018).
97
Stakeholders are engaged in projects. Information about moval of the problems facing the project and inclusion of
public sector projects, especially business cases, plans and professionals from specialized governmental organization-
performance reports, is publicly available. The channels of al units increase the chance of project success. Removing
communications between project stakeholders and project issues using (dedicated) institutions is a practice at this lev-
teams are established. There are well defined rules for com- el of maturity. Project teams may submit problems to these
munity representatives’ involvement in public projects and institutions and expect help in solving them. The institution
programs. providing such help may do it alone or may organize in-
ter-institutional teams consisting of representatives from
In Argentina (MEFP, 2015) and Peru (MEyF, 2015) and in other competent institutions.
many other countries and states information on pro-
ject performance are available on web-pages. The Scot- In India, governmental project support is implemented by
tish Government requires identification and engagement the Project Monitoring Group (PMG, Cabinet Secretariat,
of stakeholders into public sector projects and programs 2014). To PMG, through the e-PMS electronic platform, an-
(Scottish Government, 2013). In Western Australia, con- yone (from public or private sector) may report problems
sultations take place with stakeholders such as indigenous encountered in project implementation. PMG is the point of
people, sub-contractors, community members, suppliers, contact between project teams and the government organ-
consultants, local governments, residents, state agencies izations that can help in accelerating the implementation of
and landowners (DoSD Western Australia, 2013). the stalled project. PMG itself does not solve problems, but
directs them to the appropriate ministries and monitors the
At this level of maturity, a government as a whole recog- problem-solving process. This may take the form of meet-
nizes the importance of project and program management ings of the staff of the Cabinet Committee on Investment,
for the development of its administrative unit. The govern- representatives of ministries and representatives of pro-
ment has tools to shape the implementation of their projects. In Australia, at the Commonwealth level, within the
jects. This increases the probability of success of all projects, Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development there
programs and the entire portfolio of public sector projects exists a Major Project Facilitation Agency (MPFA12). It sup-
of the administrative unit. Best practices are disseminated ports the implementation of projects that are important for
to all organizational units. Due to the common language the development of the administrative unit’s economy.
stemming from the existence of pan-governmental organ-
izations, processes and methodologies, it is possible to ex- In the United States, in large projects, the government to-
change knowledge between government organizations. gether with the contractor performs Integrated Baseline Re-
views (GSA et al., 2005, p. 34.203), the purpose of which is,
This maturity level corresponds to CMMI®’s Defined Level. among others, to identify project risks and developing plans
to mitigate these risks. A similar way to support the imple-
4.4 The Support Level mentation of public sector projects is performance of pro-
ject gate reviews, which were developed by British OGC and
At the Support Level, the government actively engages in are a component of the above mentioned OGC Gateway
activities that increase its public-sector projects’ chances ProcessTM (OGC, 2007). The purpose of gate reviews is to
for success. They are no longer only the party that defines assess project status and provide recommendations for its
the procedures of public sector project execution and con- further efficient implementation (AG DoF, 2015, p. 20). Gate
trols its fulfillment; they also do their best to assure project review processes have been implemented, among others, in
success. Victoria (DTF Victoria, 2013), Texas (DIR, 2006, pp. 15-16),
Public projects may face problems specific to a public ad-

ministration. These problems relate, for instance, to laws,
regulations, practices, groups of specific stakeholders,
the structure and operation of public institutions, and any 12 https://www.business.gov.au/advisory-services/major-pro-
clearances and approvals needed for public projects. Re- jects-facilitation-agency (accessed 17 July 2018)
98
Queensland13, New South Wales (NSW Procure Point, 2013), When an initiative is submitted to OPMP Alaska16, a coor-
and New Zealand14. dinator is assigned to it. He / she helps the proponent to
launch the project, including obtaining permits and clear-
It is possible to support the execution of only one specific ances. A similar function is performed in MP Victoria17. Pa-
project phase. For example, in the Australian state of West- trons of a major project are nominated there – whose role
ern Australia, the agency conducting a project that is im- is to represent the project at the forums of government and
portant to the development of the state (government or other communities.
private) supports the project launching process. There are
three levels of involvement, depending on the size and im- Introducing the partnership approach to project implemen-
portance of the project (DPC Western Australia, 2009). The tation is another practice at the Support Level. A partnership
lowest level is the provision of training, and the highest – as- is a form of cooperation between customers and suppliers,
signment of a person to lead project launching at the par- characterized by a greater level of openness, communica-
liamentary level. tion, mutual trust and information exchange, and by gain
and pain sharing (OGC, 2003). Such an approach is condu-
The minimum level of facilitation provided to project imple- cive to project success. Performing common project reviews
mentation is the preparation of documents that are needed with representatives of both parties, the private supplier and
to obtain the necessary permits and clearances (PMB Cal- the public client, is an example of the partnership approach.
ifornia, 2013).
At this maturity level, the government is not only the par-
Some support may be provided by single individuals. Their ty that defines the paths of public sector project execution,
knowledge and expertise can assist the implementation of but the one that provides the best expertise and impetus to
public sector projects at various stages. its projects. Removal of the problems facing the project and
inclusion of professionals from specialized governmental
EPMO North Carolina may assign advisors to a project.
15
organizational units increase the chance of project success.
Their main task is to verify and supervise project manage- Their knowledge and expertise can assist the implementa-
ment. These advisors may, among others, evaluate the abil- tion of public sector projects at various stages of their im-
ity of managers to carry their project, recommend actions plementation. It is worth noting that governmental support
on the further course of the project to the state director for may also cover projects other than public sector ones – like
IT, check whether the agency is prepared for the next steps PMG does in India. That contributes even more effectively to
of the project, identify risks, recommend corrective actions the administrative unit’s development.
and possibly escalate them, be a mentor for the project
manager, provide necessary data to be taken into account This maturity level aligns with the Quantitatively Managed
in project plans, check the tender specifications. Level in CMMI®. Their common characteristic is focus on the
performance of project management processes.
Another personalized practice is assigning so called “project
patrons”, i.e., persons whose role is to represent the project 4.5 The Optimizing Level
at the government forums and other community meetings.
They have more external roles than advisors, whose role is The Optimizing Level is where mechanisms for continuous
internal to the projects. improvement of GPIS and GPM are implemented. Objectives
related to project management enter governmental strate-
gies at this level of GPM3. Processes that use the knowledge
accumulated from previously implemented projects oper-
13 https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/projects-infrastructure/initia-
tives/gateway-reviews/index.php (accessed 16 July 2018)
14 https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/state-sec-
tor-leadership/investment-management/review-invest-
ment-reviews/gateway-reviews (accessed 16 July 2018) 16 http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/opmp/ (accessed 13 July 2018)
15 https://it.nc.gov/statewide-programs (accessed 16 July 2018) 17 http://www.majorprojects.vic.gov.au/ (accessed 10 October 2016)
99
ate to improve the management of projects in individual Plan requires improvement of national project management
organizations or to improve the GPIS as a whole. There- capabilities (Planning Commission, 2011, p. 12).
fore, the probability of success is even greater than at the
Support Level. There are two forms of the Optimizing Lev- The process-oriented optimizing practices are visible, for
el: the Individual Optimizing Level and the System Opti- example in Michigan State project management method-
mizing Level. ology, which focuses on gathering knowledge from com-
pleted projects in order to improve future projects (PMRC
The Individual Optimizing Level is focused on the compo- Michigan, 2004). A formal process of project management
nent public sector institutions. The project management methodologies improvement is defined by the state of Mis-
processes in each individual public organization are con- souri (OOA Missouri, n.d.). In Norway, the Concept Research
tinuously improved. Regulations requiring use of particular Programme, located at the Norwegian University of Science
organization-level maturity models (CMMI , OPM3 etc.) by
® ®
and Technology, assists in and analyzes the development of
each organization are issued. the project initiation system (NTNU, 2013). This program is
funded by Norway Ministry of Finance. The purpose of the
In Australia, for organizations subject to the Financial Man- program is to improve the use of resources and improve the
agement and Accountability Act of 1997 (Parliament of effects of large infrastructure projects.
Australia, 2005), the P3M3® was adopted as the method-
ology for assessment and improvement of project manage- Establishing a project management advisory body or insti-
ment maturity. These organizations must perform an annual tution having a goal of improving GPIS is an organizational
evaluation of their project management maturity and report practice of the GPM3 System Optimizing Level. One of such
their results to the Ministry of Finance (AG DoFD, 2012). In institution may be an audit chamber, having deep insight into
Canada, a policy requiring continuous assessment and im- public sector project processes. A group of experts generat-
provement of program management in public organizations ing recommendations for the improvement of GPIS operates,
has been implemented (TBoCS Canada, 2013). The aim of for example, at the US Government Accountability Office.
the establishment of IPA in the UK, among others, was to
work with departments to create project and program man- An organizational practice described in PMIAA is the estab-
agement capacity (IPA, 2016). lishment of the Program Management Policy Council at Of-
fice of Management and Budget. The Deputy Director of
In the United States the Program Management Improve- OMB is responsible, among others, for establishing a strate-
ment and Accountability Act was enacted (PMIAA, US Con- gic plan for project and program management in the federal
gress, 2015). A practice of the Individual Optimizing Level administration. In the UK, the Programme and Project Man-
described in this document is the requirement that there be agement Council (PPMC) was established, with the aim of
a program management improvement policy in each feder- improving methods of project implementation in the British
al organization. It also requires nomination of a senior exec- government. Currently, the Infrastructure and Project Au-
utive responsible for enhancing the role of program manag- thority is responsible for functions related to the improve-
ers in his/her agencies. ment of British projects and programs implementation. They
analyze and draw conclusions from the implementation of
The System Optimizing Level is focused on improvement of the UK’s largest projects (IPA, 2016a). One of the objec-
the GPIS as a whole. Three main categories of practices at tives of running ICT Policy Board of Tasmania18 is to advise
this level are: general practices, implementing processes on improvement of project management methodologies. In
for continuous GPIS process improvement and establishing Scotland, the Project and Program Management Center of
advisory bodies for public-sector projects implementation. Excellence (PPM-CoE) was established, whose task, among
Placing the requirement of GPIS and GPM improvement in

national long-term strategies is a practice of general na-
ture. This is required, for instance, by Hawaii’s strategy of 18 http://www.egovernment.tas.gov.au/current_activities/mod-
development (Hawaii OIMT, 2013). In India, the 12th 5-Year ernising_ict_governance (accessed 16 July 2018)
100
others, is to improve the capacity for project and program 5. CONCLUSIONS

management . 19
This article attempts to systemize the area of public sec-

The following directions for GPIS improvements at the Sys- tor project management, introducing concepts such as the
tem Optimizing Level may be defined (Gasik, 2016b): gen- Governmental Project Implementation System, Govern-
eral (such as applying maturity models for the organiza- mental Project Management and the Governmental Project
tion’s maturity assessment), business (such as reducing Management Maturity Model.
implementation cycle time or maximizing the social effects
of projects), managerial (such as better risk or personnel GPM3 can be seen from the perspective of the development
management processes), operational (establishing project of government capabilities. Government capability is the
management institutions, e.g., the central PMO for major ability of government to perform its activities in an efficient
projects), and knowledge-related (such as organization and manner (Bäck and Hadenius, 2008). Capabilities should be
delivery of training and promotion of the knowledge of pro- stable, i.e. they should produce substantially similar out-
ject management methodologies). comes in similar situations (Weawer and Rockman, 1993: 6).
Government capability development is the processes shap-
The GPIS improvement processes at the System Optimizing ing governmental capabilities (Ndou and Sebola, 2016). Ca-
Levels deal with the whole GPIS, and not with particular insti- pability development is a process in which people, organi-
tutions like at the Individual Optimizing Level. zations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create,
adapt and maintain capacity (Bester, 2015). Capabilities
The GPM3’s Optimizing Level is the equivalent of CMMI ’s ®
can be developed in all areas of government activities such
Optimizing Level. as transport, defense, culture, security or health. But to
be able to develop any governmental capability, govern-
The Governmental Project Management Maturity Model is ment should have the capability to perform interventions
schematically presented in Figure 3. (or changes). Implementing any change is equivalent to the
Figure 3. Governmental Project Management Maturity Model
4. OPTIMIZING
LEVEL
3. SUPPORT LEVEL Continuous
2. GOVERNMENTAL improvement
Public administration
LEVEL of GPIS/GPM
actively
Government supports project
shapes the ways implementation
1. LOCAL LEVEL of public projects
management. Central
PM at the project
institutions, guidelines
0. INITIAL LEVEL and institutions’
and regulations exit
level
No consciousnes
of importance of
project management
19 http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/ProgrammeProject- capability of implementing projects and programs. The ca-

Delivery (accessed 13 July 2018) pability to implement projects and programs decides how ef-
101
ficiently any government can increase their capabilities in The comparative application enables comparison of the
any elementary area. Hence project management may be GPISs and GPMs between sibling administrative units. For
treated as a meta-capability and GPM3 can be considered instance, in a country with a federal structure consisting of
a tool for governmental meta-capability development. autonomous states, it will enable comparison of the matu-
rity of GPM in these states. GPM3 could become the basis
Project management tries to meet the demand of project for defining the area of knowledge that, tentatively, could be
managers for ways to manage a single project. Organiza- called Comparative Public Project Management – which will
tional project management tries to meet the demand of become part of the long-established discipline of Compar-
the boards of organizations for ways to organize the com- ative Public Administration (e.g. Riggs, 1954; Heady, 2001;
pany to efficiently manage its projects, programs and pro- Fitzpatrick et al., 2011; Jreisat 2012).
ject portfolios. Governmental project management tries to
solve the problem faced by governments: how to organize
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107
III.
Consequence of the
global projectification
trend for individuals,
organisations
and societies
Luis Ballesteros-Sánchez | Isabel Ortiz-Marcos |
Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales de Madrid. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
The impact of projectification on managers and team

members: main challenges and difficulties
ABSTRACT Keywords: Project managers; Challenges; Competences;

Projectification
PURPOSE: The goal of this research is to understand how
project managers are adapting to current projectification
environment and what are the main challenges they have to 1. INTRODUCTION
deal with in a day to day project work.
The trend of the projectification of organizations and busi-
METHODOLOGY: This research was conducted by means of ness is still a reality nowadays. Currently, organizations are
semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The partici- more and more managed in the form of projects, which are
pants in the study were 15 project managers and 57 project omnipresent and happen in all parts of the society and life
team’s members. A content analysis of the data was con- (Schoper et al., 2018), representing more than 20% of glob-
ducted regarding strengths and weaknesses from the pro- al economic activity (McKevitt et al., 2017).
ject manager’s self-perceptions and project team members’
perceptions, using an inductive approach. Consistent with the evidence of increasing reliance on pro-
jects, is the growing number of people whose working roles
FINDINGS: The research reveals interesting insights, such are being redefined as project workers and managers (May-
as the identification of emerging challenges for the project lor et al., 2006). Both practitioner and scholarly communi-
managers of today, such as dealing with communications ties are experiencing the impact of this shift on employees
issues, the motivation of project team members, leadership, and organizations (Hodgson, 2002).
and increasing emotional management and confidence.
This new era is changing how organizations and managers
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS: The main limitation is related to have to deal with people management, evolving towards
the size and location of the sample, which represents the more flexible and engaging leadership styles (Fisher, 2011;
point of view of 15 Spanish Project managers and the mem- Jones et al., 2006; Müller and Turner, 2010; Thite, 2000).
bers of their work teams and sets the cultural aspect aside.
In the current scenario, characterized by rapid change, un-
ORIGINALITY: This new era is changing how organizations certainty and complexity, the project manager is even in-
and managers have to deal with people management, creasingly a key agent in the development of the business,
evolving towards more flexible and engaging leadership growth and capabilities of organizations (PMI, 2017a; PMI,
styles. This paper helps providing new insights into emerg- 2017b; Thomas & Mengel, 2008). Some emerging challeng-
ing challenges and needs of project managers, integrating es that project managers must deal with include leadership
team member’s perceptions. style issues, stress, uncertainty, motivation, career develop-
111
ment, learning, teamwork and the development of team cul- new structures. There has been an evolution in the nature
ture (Berg & Karlsen, 2007, 2016; McKevitt et al., 2017). of organizations, from the functional organization almost
universally adopted in the first half of the century to the
The profession of a project manager is different from other project-based organization (Peters, 1992; Hastings, 1993;
roles, such as functional managers or technicians (El-Sa- Turner, 1999).
baa, 2001; Hodgson et al., 2011). A project manager normal-
ly is required to have cross-functional experience, under- Because of these reasons Project-based organizations
standing a range of other functions’ paradigms, responding have received increasing attention as an emerging organ-
to circumstances changing rapidly and being versatile and izational form to integrate diverse and specialized intel-
flexible in their skills (Dainty et al., 2005; El-Saaba, 2001; lectual resources and expertise (DeFillippi & Arthur 1998;
Turner and Müller, 2003). Some career motives of project Hobday 2000; Gann & Salter 2000; Keegan &Turner 2003;
managers include teamwork, creativity, people develop- Söderlund & Bredin, 2006).
ment, cross- training, mobility across projects (rather than
on vertical movement), action-orientation, dynamic work Larson E. W. and Gray C. G. (2011) defined project-based or-
environment and self-governance (Arthur et al., 2001; Bre- ganizations as those focused on the creation of dedicated
din & Söderlund, 2013; El-Saaba, 2001; McKevitt et al., 2017; project teams. In this case, the project manager is dedicat-
Peel & Inkson, 2004). ed full-time to manage the project. For these companies,
they highlight the following strengthens: simple, fast, co-
The goal of this research is to identify the current main dif- hesive and cross-functional integration. And the following
ficulties and challenges of today´s project managers when weakness: expensive, internal strife, limited technological
having to face this new context. A study with 15 project man- expertise and difficult post-project transition.
agers has been conducted, based on 30 semi-structured
interviews and feedback from 57 project team members Of all those Kerzner (2017) affirms that the major advantage
working with them. of this organizational flow is that one individual, the program
manager, maintains complete line authority over the entire
The next section provides an overview of the relevant liter- project while the major disadvantage with the pure project
ature concerning projectification in the organizations, the form is the cost of maintaining the organization.
challenges of being a project manager and project man-
agement competencies. This is followed by the methodol- Recent interest in the emerging knowledge economy has
ogy applied during this study. In the fourth section, the main reinforced the view that project organizations in their many
results are presented, describing the most frequent topics varieties are a fast and flexible mode of organizing knowl-
arising from interviews and questionnaires. The article con- edge resources (Sydow & DeFillippi, 2004). These authors
cludes in the last section with a summary of the main in- highlight the dilemmas that these companies have to face.
sights related to the goal of the research. On one hand, between the autonomy requirements of pro-
ject participants and their embeddedness within organi-
zational and inter-organizational settings demanding in-
2. LITERATURE REVIEW tegration of project activities within organization and/or
inter-organizational coordination efforts. On the other
2.1. Projectization in the organizations hand, between the immediate task and performance de-
mands of the project at hand versus the opportunities for
Organizations can be defined as groups of people who must learning and disseminating project practices that can be
coordinate their activities in order to meet organization- employed in subsequent projects.
al objectives. During last years organizations had to face
the digital era, the increase of competitors, the reduction In the project-oriented organization work is not carried out
of profit, the high cost of marketing and bigger uncertain- in the line, but in projects, and so for the sake of project
ty linked with customer demands (Kerzner, 2017). Organ- team member motivation and cohesion many of the Human
izations had to adapt to the new environment appearing Resources Management (HRM) functions need to be con-
112
ducted in the project, (Huemann et al., 2007). While most global communication with all stakeholders have become
attention has been paid to the devolution of HRM roles to the norm nowadays (Bird & Mendenhall, 2016).
line managers (Whittaker & Marchington, 2003), some re-
searchers have discussed to consider the devolution of Virtual teams, together with the globalization of business-
HRM tasks to both line and project managers in project-ories, present another one of the main challenges for project
ented organizations (Turner et al., 2008). managers nowadays: effectively managing projects in inter-
national contexts. Also, the ability to communicate effec-
These authors found that in common with trends reported in tively in these contexts means taking the advance. Inter-
the broader HRM literature, responsibility for implementing national contexts are also multicultural contexts in which
HRM practices in the project-oriented organization is de- people from different cultures and with different perspec-
volved to the work interface, with HRM managers providing tives must interact to achieve project success. This im-
support in the form of setting standards, providing guide- plies the need for project managers to adapt their leader-
lines, and acting as arbiter. ship style depending on the specific project, or, in particular,
the area where it is being developed (Müller & Turner, 2007).
2.2. Challenges of being a project manager Adaptation capacity should always be present across all the
project manager’s competences in a multicultural context
The need to focus on the challenges of an uncertain world (Rodríguez-Rivero et al., 2018).
has never been more urgent for project managers. The fi-
nancial crisis of 2008, accompanied by political and so- Project management is increasingly recognised as important
cial upheaval and environmental crisis, has profound impli- as a means to structure and manage work in this challenging
cations for international business (Syrett & Devine, 2012). environment, and that the recognition of project manage-
Moreover, since there is no a precise solution for uncertain- ment as a discipline is increasing (Hodgson et al., 2011).
ty, the challenge is to be always ready for the change, work-
ing with a more flexible approach and with more regular re- The growing professionalism in the field is indicated by the
views (Syrett & Devine, 2012). Risk management could help establishment of a proprietary body of knowledge for the
in this challenging project management under uncertainty. discipline and has supposed the shift towards credential-
Also, foresight methods have been developed to deal with ism in project management labour markets (Morris et al.,
this instability (Martin, 2010). 2006). The International Project Management Association
(IPMA) has developed its standards (IPMA, 2015) and cer-
Geographical stability is also getting less and less present tification program. The Project Management Profession-
in the project teams since their members are not allocated al (PMP), designation of the Project Management Institute
in the same geographical place during the life of the project (PMI) also has widespread recognition, and many organi-
but geographically dispersed. Global expansion and mobil- zations are using it as an entrance requirement when hiring
ity, along with technological developments have contribut- project managers. Being certificate is a need more than a
ed to the rise of working with teams beyond the traditional challenge for project managers today. These processes of
collocated arrangements, the known as virtual teams. Virtu- certification are guaranteeing the professionalism of the
al teams were defined by Jarvenpaa and Leidner (1999) as project managers all around the world.
“temporary, culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, and
electronically communicating work groups”, and have been Although professionalism is present, to accomplish with the
broadly studied in the last years (Axtell et al., 2004; Jimenez planned is always difficult for the project managers, who fre-
et al., 2017; Scott & Wildman, 2015). quently deal with impossible deadlines, insufficient resources
and sometimes, even with the lack of the stakeholders’ en-
Working with virtual teams means to consider new ways of gagement. Expectations become then in the real challenge.
communication and to give feedback. The capacity to syn-
chronize the internal communication within the team with Project managers involved into project-based management
the with external actors (Alioua & Simon, 2017) means an- need to acquire some competencies, such as the ability to
other important challenge. Global markets and real-time coordinate specialized skills and resources within the pro-
113
ject-team to complete the project task within time (Cattani et Some researchers affirm that competences can be clas-
al., 2011). A project manager’s role is more challenging than sified into three categories: knowledge, performance and
that of a typical functional manager (Anantatmula, 2015). personal, all of them necessary be competent (Finn, 1993;
Crawford 1997).
Some of the most frequently reported challenges in the lit-
erature (previously mentioned) are summarized in Figure Knowledge competence is important to the extent that it re-
1. Authors want to highlight the interconnection between flects the project manager’s knowledge required to perform
all of them. the task included in the scope of the project. In some cases, it
may be proofed passing an appropriately credential assess-
ment (Ahsan et al. 2013). Pending on the type and scope of
Figure 1. Project manager’s main challenges nowadays
the project these competencies can vary significantly.
PROFESIONALISM
In terms of performance competence, project manager

performance competence can be demonstrated by apply-
GLOBALIZATION VIRTUAL TEAMS ing their knowledge to meet project outcomes (Ahsan et al.
2013). When considering project-based sectors, some au-
thors highlight the imperative to link project managers’ per-
formance with organization performance (Gillard & Price,
2005; Mei et al., 2005). The link with project success has
EXPECTATIONS COMMUNICATION
been extensively studied (Anbari et al., 2008; Crawford et
al., 2008; Papke-Shields, Beise, & Quan, 2010; Yang, Huang,
& Wu, 2011). They maintain the project manager and the
UNCERTAINTY
team’s competence is a critical factor for project success,
although the failure of a project does not only depend on
2.3. Project manager competences this factor. In other words, their competence is a necessary
condition for the project to be successful, but not sufficient.
Competences for project management can be defined as
a grouping together of the knowledge, aptitudes, attitudes Among the most frequently cited team competences, we
and behaviours that are needed to carry out a piece of work can point out effective control and information manage-
(Boyatzis, 1982). Along these lines, Parry (1998) defines ment, proper planning and scheduling, work-team coor-
competences as a set of related knowledge, skills and per- dination, leadership and conflict-solving (Pinto & Slevin,
sonal characteristics that have an influence on individual 1989; White & Fortune, 2002; Westerveld, 2003).
and group work in an organisation, are related to job-per-
formance and can be improved through training and pro- The project manager’s personal competences include ele-
fessional development. ments of the manager’s attitude and personality character-
istics and are important in the project manager role (Clarke,
In the context of project management competence, sever- 2010; Gehring, 2007; Thal & Bedingfield, 2010). Leadership
al academic have recognized the need to research into this is an area of personal competences that has received the
field, but previous research does not provide a basis for ed- most attention because of its link with project success (Bi-
ucational needs (Nijhuis et al., 2018). erhoff & Müller, 2005; Geoghegan & Dulewicz, 2008; Müller
& Turner, 2010 Müller, Geraldi, & Turner, 2012).
The project manager role is changing; and must be supple-
mented with other knowledge and skills, in addition to the In the context of project management, there are four inter-
traditional functions, to meet the changing needs of mod- national standards. The PMI standard (PMI, 2017a), which
ern projects they are hired to manage (Edum-Fotwe & Mc- establishes three competence areas for a project manager:
Caffer, 2000; Russell, Jaselski, & Lawrence, 1997). knowledge, performance and personal.
114
However, the IPMA defines a standard of competences A total of 15 project managers (eight females and seven
(IPMA, 2015) based on a set of requirements and skills in the males) and 57 project team’s members participated in this
people sphere (10 elements), in the practice sphere (14 ele- initiative.
ments) and perspective one (5 elements).
The average participant in the experiment is 37 years old,
On the other hand, the Australian Institute of Project Man- has eight years of management experience, and leads five
agement (AIPM) has developed a competence standard projects with approximately 14 people. Table 1 shows the
(AIPM, 2008) for project management drawn up in collab- specific organizational sectors where the project managers
oration with the private sector under the supervision of the in the research worked.
Australian National Training Authority (ANTA). This model is
based on what is proposed by the PMI and classifies com-
Table 1. Sample features: Organizational sectors
petences into the same nine knowledge areas as this or-
participating in the research
ganisation.
SAMPLE: Project Managers

All these standards use certification as proof of compe- Organizational Sector
tence in project management. N %
Apart from international standards, many authors have Transport 1 6,7%

proposed competence frameworks grouped according to
Defense 2 13,3%
the different scopes, sectors or types of project. Published
work has been classified by Ortiz-Marcos et al. (2013) con- International Development 4 26,7%
sidering: General competence frameworks for project man-
agement for project-oriented organisations; Identification Education 2 13,3%
of organisational competences for successful manage-
Energy 3 20,0%
ment; Identification of competences for human resourc-
es selection procedures; Identification of competences by Construction 1 6,7%
project type.
Fashion 1 6,7%
3. METHODOLOGY Agribusiness 1 6,7%
TOTAL 15 100%
3.1. Research design and sample
The purpose of the research reported in this paper is to un-

derstand how project managers are adapting to the pro- For each project manager, two interviews were conducted.
jectification context and the identification of emerging
relevant challenges. It is an exploratory study based on In the first interview, the participants individually had the op-
a sample of project managers selected from 10 different portunity to introduce themselves, their professional back-
Spanish companies. ground, interests, the company they work for, their roles and
responsibilities, stakeholders and main personal strengths
The research was conducted by means of semi-structured and weaknesses. At the end of the first interview, feedback
interviews and questionnaires. The participants in the study from project team members was proposed, with the aim
were selected from a professional network on the basis of of gathering relevant information considering the project
independence, representativeness and heterogeneous manager performance and main difficulties and challenges
principles that gave them the opportunity to voluntarily of working by projects in the current context. With that pur-
participate in the project. pose, the project managers were told to recruit project team
115
members from their own organization and to select persons a parallel blind analysis, which gives the opportunity to re-
who work relatively close to them, and whose performance view some categories and descriptions.
is familiar to them. A total of 90 team members were initial-
ly selected. The interviewer was responsible for sending to
the selected team members a questionnaire to be fulfilled, 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
guaranteeing the anonymity and explaining the objectives
of the research. The questionnaire was quite simple, gath- Below are presented the most relevant results. First, the
ering basic information and giving voice to the team mem- areas for improvement (Figure 2) and strengths (Figure 3)
bers to individually give their opinions on the project man- perceived by project managers who participated in the re-
ager’s main strengths and weaknesses. Finally, answers from search are highlighted. Then, results of how team members
57 participants were obtained. perceive these areas of improvement and strengths for the
same project managers are shown (Figures 4 and 5, respec-
In the second interview with project managers, with all in- tively).
formation gathered from questionnaires, it was possible to
make a deeper analysis and reflection on the main issues Project managers consider that need to improve (see Fig-
and challenges arising in the project environment. All the in- ure 2) disconnection (five times repeated). They consider
terviews were conducted by the main authors during 70 to that they have difficulties to disconnect with work and they
90 minutes with each project manager, based on a common should improve with it. Probably this result is linked with the
guide and following an open-ended schedule of questions. high commitment they perceive (see Figure 3). After this,
The semi-structured approach gave an opportunity to pro- the most repeated words are communication skills (includ-
pose new topics and to change the order of questions de- ing listening and expressing), insecurity (they would like to
pending on the flow of the conversation. All interviews were feel more confident with their work or role) and manage-
transcribed in order to prevent the loss of information, with ment competence. All of them were mentioned four times.
the respondent’s permission.
The next words are team working (three times) and capaci-
3.2. Data analysis ty (three times) to organize the project work. Team working
includes delegate, relationship and loyalty while capacity is
A content analysis of the data was conducted regard- linked with organizational competence.
ing strengths and weaknesses from the project manager’s
self-perceptions and project team members’ perceptions,
Figure 2. Auto perception Project manager’. Needs to
using an inductive approach. The transcripts were reviewed
improve
for each question and recurrent themes identified. An ad-
vantage of this qualitative and grounded research meth-
od is that it is not limited to one specific theoretical back-
ground and is flexible and open-ended regarding different
subjective viewpoints.
An analysis of more frequent words used during the inter-

views and on questionnaires was carried out, in order to vis-
ually present a summary of main topics arising, using on-
line software on https://www.wordclouds.com. This helped
to emerge categories from our interpretations and identify
a set of key challenges that are especially relevant to them
nowadays. Categories have been combined or linked in an-
other category when their meaning seemed similar. Prelim-
inary findings were validated by the researchers through
116
On the other hand, project managers perceive that their Figure 4. External perception Project manager’.
strengths (see Figure 3) are linked with communication Needs to improve
skills, work capacity, confidence (includes security and ro-
bust behaviour) and empathy. These four words were re-
peated five times for each one. It is interesting to highlight
the importance of communication skills for project man-
agers. Some of them, perceive it like a strengthened com-
petence and other ones, perceive that they need to im-
prove. Regarding confidence some project managers feel
confident with their role while others express their need to
strength it.
Transparency, commitment and vision (linked with lead-

ership skills) are the next words more repeated (four times).
Figure 3. Auto perception Project manager’.

Strengths
Regarding project manager´s strengths team members

highlight their high Commitment (29 times repeated) with
the project and high work capacity (25 times).
This high commitment includes professionalism, ethics, in-

volvement, generosity, persistent and honesty.
Figure 5. External perception Project manager’.

Strengths
As it has been explained before, 57 team members partic-

ipated also in the research. From now, the results present-
ed refer to this sample increasing significantly the number
of words repeated. When team members were asked about
project managers needs to improve (see Figure 4) they
highlight Team working (44 times repeated) and Commu-
nication skills (37 times repeated). Team working includes
delegate, relationship and loyalty while communication re-
fers to listening and expressing.
Next word more repeated (21 times) is persons. They are re- Main challenges perceived by Project Managers and team
ferring to consider persons in first place. members are summarized in Table 2.
117
Table 2. Summary: main results
Project Managers assessment (15) Team members assessment (57)
Needs to improve Strengths Needs to improve Strengths
Disconnection (5) Communication (5) Team working (44) Commitment (29)

Communication (4) Work Capacity (5) Communication (37) Work capacity (25)
Insecurity / Confidence (5) Persons in first place (21)
lack of confident (4)
Empathy (5)
Management (4)
Transparency (4)
Commitment (4)
Vision (4)
Challenges:
»» Improving communication (listening and expressing)
»» Team or people management (delegate, relationship and loyalty)
»» Increasing emotional management (frustration, stress and disconnection)
»» Increasing confidence
»» Strengthening leadership skills (motivation and vision)
»» Improving organizational and management competences
5. CONCLUSIONS team members’ cohesiveness, are decisive to achieve the

project’s goals. The attention to the persons and teams is
The trend of the projectification of organizations and busi- highly demanded by the teams’ members, but curiously, is
nesses positions to the project managers into the main role barely mentioned by the project managers, who are appar-
which needs to combine technical and managerial aspects. ently, more concerned into managing their stress, self-con-
Handling this role in such a challenging environment (glo- fidence, and to respond with a commitment to the project’s
balization, uncertainty, virtual teams, etc.) means to devel- tasks. Precisely, according to the results, commitment and
op some personal competences, such as communication. responsibility, together with the capacity of work, are the
This competence is perceived as necessary in the self-eval- main strengths underlined about the project managers,
uation and also in the team members’ opinion, and although proving their professionalism.
some project managers consider their communication skills
as a strength, externally, their team members appreciate With this article, some managerial implications can be drawn.
this ability lightly, finding that it is a real improvement area. First of all, a set of challenges is presented as a way of needs
Either way, the high repetition of this word (51 times, the to improve. Between these needs, communication and team
most repeated word) confirms that the way of communicat- management stand out. Second, to do the transition from
ing is a real challenge that project managers need to face the functional organizations to Project organizations, these
nowadays, also having in mind cultural aspects and the par- organizations need to rely on the capability and leadership
ticularities of communicating to virtual teams. of their Project managers, by giving them the authority to
discharge the assigned role. Finally, the professionalization
From this study, it is also possible to note the importance of of project management should be not only accompanied by
the teams working in projects, and how managing persons is certifications, but also by specific training designed to re-
a critical matter since both, the team performance, and the spond to the needs figured out.
118
This research is not free from limitations. The main limita- Also, the word cloud analysis has implied breaking the
tion is related to the size and location of the sample, which text down into component words, deleting some linking
represents only the point of view of 15 Spanish Project man- words, and grouping some similar words, according to the
agers and the members of their work teams and sets the authors’ criteria (same root, synonymous, etc.). Working
cultural aspect aside. Future research should include the with specific software, some of this groups would be done
opinion of project managers from other countries to com- automatically.
pare the results.
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Marie-Pierre Leroux, Ph. D. | Caroline Coulombe, Ph. D.
Marie-Pierre Leroux, Ph. D., Professeure adjointe, École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal
Caroline Coulombe, Ph. D., Professeure, École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal
Organizational capacity building

Moving from technical fix in international development
project management to soft expertise
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE: To explore which personal determinants should Knowledge sharing for capacity is a central component in
be considered while undertaking technical cooperation pro- all types of economy. (Kennedy & Buford, 2013). Initiatives
ject in international development. under public aid in international development aim in most
part to contribute to capacity building in the so called de-
DESIGN: A qualitative case study design approach is used veloping world. OECD (2009) defined capacity building has
to collect and analyze data, from direct field observations, a “process whereby people, organizations and society as
semi structured interviews and document analysis. a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain
capacity over time.” Although a consensus seems well es-
FINDINGS: Many soft skills appears as prerequisite in project tablished on the fact that knowledge is a key to sustainable
aimed at capacity building. Competencies and personal at- development, many themes remain unclear. The main inter-
tributes as flexibility, capacity to assimilate local knowledge, est in this paper stands with the attributes of international
and motivation to share reveal to prime over technical ex- assignees in fulfilling a mandate of capacity building.
pertise in capacity building projects.
Technical cooperation projects for capacity building is one
RESEARCH LIMITATIONS / IMPLICATIONS: In depth explora- of the main mechanism of public aid, and Wilson (2007) re-
tion in case study design doesn’t not allow for generalizing affirmed, along with Baser and Morgan (2008), that those
results in other contexts of technical cooperation project. initiative has to be implemented in a spirit of sharing ideas,
knowledge, know-how and must be designed in a continu-
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Northern organizations working ous learning perspective. Technical fix, a term used where
in capacity building projects may benefit to revise their hu- a consultant (expatriate) poses a diagnosis, propose a plan
man resources management practices, giving more atten- and tools to fix a problem (see Wilson, 2006) is not a way
tion to soft skills and knowledge sharing abilities particularly to build capacity, because it is considered unsustainable for
in their activities encompassing the selection process. many reasons. Since its beginning, many (e.g. Carlsson &
Wohlgemuth, 2001; Easterly, 2006; Heizmann, 2008) have
ORIGINALITY / VALUE: This exploratory research is one of criticized the way technical cooperation projects were im-
the few study adopting a intersubjective stance. Moreover, plemented, but to our knowledge, less is known about how
individual absorptive capacity of expatriates as not been to improve the chances of success of those projects at
previously identified as a success condition in technical co- a micro level, where individuals meet together to achieve
operation project. a mandate.
Keywords: capacity building, knowledge sharing, soft skills, This paper proposes to turn our attention on the personal
competencies, expatriates, North-South, technical cooper- determinants of expatriates engaged in those projects. We
ation, project management, human resource management. propose out of our analysis how the northern development
123
agencies and INGOs could increase the chances of success fied the main components undermining knowledge transfer
while implementing their projects. We adopt a bottom-up process. Many of them have been empirically tested (Min-
perspective to address the question of aid effectiveness at baeva, 2007; Szulanski, 1996; Yao et al., 2007). From the
the individual level. We also adopt a subjective stance, since individual perspective, academic studies point to the fact
we assess and analyze individual perceptions of expatriates, that the expatriate if often the one holding the responsibility
locals or parties engaged in the projects. The data emerges of the transfer, this variable consists in “the source” for the
from a 7 years program undertook in Haiti, between 2010 purpose of this paper.
and 2017. Haiti is a major beneficiary of public aid, particu-
larly from Canada. The 2010 post-seism emergency has The source impacts both processes and results. Individu-
placed this country as a priority for Canadian. Many initia- al characteristics such as education, working experience,
tives are still implemented by international community. This personality, feeling of self-efficacy, motivation and intent
paper looks more closely into a program of technical coop- have been demonstrated as key variables in the knowledge
eration financed by Canadian government and developed transfer literature (Wang and Noe, 2010). For example, ex-
by a consortium of four Canadian NGOs that were already perienced employees with high level of education would be
known in the field. In doing so, we propose a potential an- more willing to share their expertise with others. Dissem-
swer to the following question: “In the context of interna- inative capacity has also been studied as a complemen-
tional development project cooperation, which personal tary determinant (Wang and Noe, 2010; Minbaeva, 2007).
determinants should the selection process focus when Continuing on individual characteristics, leadership style
looking to fill a technical assistance position in a developing would encourage participation in knowledge transfer be-
country in order to increase the chance of success of inter- tween group members (Srivastava et al., 2006). Curious in-
national cooperation projects?” dividuals and those looking to experiment new experiences
would also be more inclined to share with others (Cabrera et
We first review the literature about expatriate selection and al., 2006), by opposition to those who consider knowledge
assignment in the context of international development as a power base and superiority (Gupta and Govindarajan,
program. We then present the main results of our study. We 2000).
will describe the process leading to the field assignment, and
present the main characteristics of the advisors who partic-
ipate in the study. We follow with the discussion about indi- METHODOLOGY
vidual characteristics types advisors should exhibit in order
to increase their mandates’ chances of success in capacity This paper is anchored in a qualitative research strategy. The
building projects. results come from eight organizations where Canadian advi-
sors did undertake a mandate of assistance with one Haitian
institution as their counterpart. They were selected using the
LITERATURE REVIEW purposive sampling method (Miles & Huberman, 2003; Yin,
2003). Their assignment lasted from 2 to 24 months and are,
Little has been written about selection process in interna- in some case, renewable. All these advisers were selected by
tional development projects (Kraimer et al., 2016), even the Canadian consortium of NGOs funded by the Canadian
though a high rate of failure of international mandates is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development un-
confirmed by many. One of the major reasons proposed to der the seven-year voluntary cooperation programme. Data
date is related to the inadequacy of human resources pro- were collected over a six-month period. Our case study pro-
file defined. The other, more personal, refers to the individ- tocol involved the use of semi-structured interview guides,
ual or family context barriers to succeed the assignment, observation checklists and a field book.
particularly the adaptation process (Brookfield, 2012, in
Resende and Fernandes, 2016). Since our first study goal was to identify and understand
how knowledge sharing results contribute to local capaci-
Davenport and Prusak (1998) in their book Working Knowl- ty building, the interview method was the most suitable for
edge: How Organizations Manage What they Know, identi- collecting perceptions of parties involved. This method is
124
Organizational capacity building Moving from technical fix in international development project management to soft expertise
less prescriptive and provides more detailed and descrip- numbers of assignments and local partners are mostly pre-
tive data (Fortin, 2006; Savoie-Zajc, 2006). Direct obser- determined prior to receiving the Canadian funding.
vation was also used to obtain other types of information on
sites. Observation of sites, non-verbal cues and behaviours, Our results show that during the period preceding our data
as data sources, are as valid as verbal expression (Quivy & collection, the process on the field slightly differed than the
Campenhoudt, 1995). Other secondary data sources such procedure explained regarding the need assessment and
as the official documents and administrative documents of the formulation of the terms. In many cases, it was the Haiti-
the Canadian consortium and its local partners were also based Canadian coordinator of the program that actually
consulted. These documents contain key information on elaborated the “terms of assignment”.
the existing organisational structures and communication
mechanisms, the roles of each partner, and the expected Selection process
outcomes of the advisors’ mandates. The use of multiple The selection process for Canadian advisors (technical as-
data sources allowed for their triangulation, thus enhancing sistance personnel) was operated from Canada. The con-
the quality of the study (Roy, 2006). sortium, composed of four Canadian NGOs was recruiting
advisors from different fields of expertise, has the program
Participants were chosen on the basis of their role in the in- planned capacity building projects in a variety of sectors
itiatives targeted. First, we met with the programme coor- such as agriculture, women, entrepreneurship, vocational
dinator to develop an understanding of the culture of the training, etc...
Canadian consortium and its general programming, and to
discuss our study goals. Second, we contacted former ad- Before a face-to-face interview, the HR person in Cana-
visors who had carried out assignments in southern partner da makes a first phone interview, where general questions
organisations targeted. We interviewed a person responsi- are addressed to the candidate. During this 20-30 minutes
ble to recruit for the assignments. For the southern partners, exchange, general themes are covered. The goal is to un-
all employees and members of the organisation associat- derstand the motivations of the candidate to work in inter-
ed with each expatriate volunteer advisor were listed as po- national cooperation, to evaluate his understanding of wom-
tential participants. Alphanumeric codes were assigned to en-men equality and his conception of capacity building and
all participants (Px for the southern partners and Cx for the participatory approach in international development.
expatriate volunteer advisers). For ethical reasons, the par-
ticipating organisations are not identified so as to protect We met with advisors, for examples, in management, in edu-
the identity of the respondents who wished to remain anon- cation, in communication, agriculture, and journalism. They
ymous, some respondents having asked us not to quote were all recruited by one of the four NGOs and went through
their comments (Liamputtong, 2010). For the purpose of a first telephonic interview, followed with a face-to-face in-
this study, 11 advisors, two program coordinators, one hu- terview. Some (3 advisors) were undertaking their first as-
man resource professional, six Haitian partners, for a total signment, but the majority (8 advisors) had previous expe-
of 20 selected interviews (average length of 1.5 hours). This rience in international development cooperation, which five
article highlights the relevant themes that emerged regard- of them had previously been posted in Haiti.
ing the selection process, the individual characteristics of
advisors assigned to an Haitian partner and other compel- Once the selection process is achieved, advisors undertake
ling elements. their mandate on the field. Our field observations revealed
Haitian context specific characteristics that may influence
the results. To name a few, advisors stay in guest hous-
RESULTS es rent by the Canadian Consortium. They share the living
space and most of them even work from the guest house.
Formulation of mandate Others work part-time in the guest-house, part-time at their
One key element to mention, as it influences all the follow- partner organization office. In the capital, Port-au-Prince
ing results, concerns the process leading to the formulation advisors were not allowed to go out without guards and had
of the advisor’s mandate (i.e. “terms of assignment”). In fact, to respect a curfew, for security reason.
125
Descriptive results of advisors’ individual characteristics derstand values and beliefs of its counterpart would develop
Results illustrate that all participants in our study has a uni- better chances to get to a share understanding.
versity diploma. 7 out of 11 were retired. The youngest ones
in their professional life were there to acquire experience. All Adaptability appeared in our results to be one essential
participants, except one, shared one common element: their leading to success of mandates. Also, results suggest that
desire to travel and meet other cultures. The other partici- a deficit in adaptability would negatively influence the re-
pant to the study was a canado-haitian advisor determined sults, and it could directly lead to the failure of the mandate.
to contribute in international development. Haitian participants described adaptability mainly through
work context, they don’t link it to culture or societal norms
At the level of personality, many traits seem to be shared by or expected behaviors in the social context. Adaptability is
the majority. The quality most often cited is the adaptability a personal determinant perceived by partners has a sign
and integration capacity. The majority of participants de- of the advisor’s acceptance of the organizational values. It
scribed themselves as motivated individuals, flexible, patient helps to establish interpersonal relation during the integra-
and open to the world. This self-evaluation is in most cas- tion of the advisor in its new work context. As a partner or-
es the one perceived by their counterpart, with the excep- ganization put it:
tion of one case, where discourses were all but convergent. “When you see realizations, it’s a lot easier to integrate,
Nonetheless, this particular case was analyzed as a failure in and he (the Canadian advisor) integrated all the team…
the satisfaction report. more easy integration than what we expected. The first
reason is that he really wanted to make the work, but
Results also reveal that the majority of advisors are moti- more, understand our Foundation and live the life of the
vated and determined when they arrive in the field. Never- Foundation when we do it.” (French trans. Haitian partner
theless, in some cases, motivation decrease when expecta- organization).
tions are not meet. A participant illustrates this point:”I had
to put pressure. I find that we were not moving fast enough Secondly, intrinsic motivation to support a partner organ-
and I was afraid that I wouldn’t realize things I had to and ization is clearly identified has a main individual determi-
I don’t want to lose my time in Haiti.” (translated from French. nant leading to success. This characteristic is expressed
Advisor in communication, Jacmel, Haiti). through discourses such as this one: “Because my goal
here, it’s really to be available for my partner, my partners.
This citation illustrates what many advisors were perceiv- All what I can, as much as possible, all they need, and what
ing about the realization of their mandate. In fact, advisors I’m able to share, I will share it. It’s clear. It’s the foundation
generally had to decrease their expectations in terms of of my volunteer engagement.” (French translation. Cana-
activities they would have liked to achieve. Advisors, when dian Advisor)
confronted with many contextual difficulties and barriers to
execute their mandate and the scarcity of resources to ex- This citation illustrates the motivation of many advisors to
ecute their work mentally resigned and waited for the man- achieve results. This perception from Canadian advisors are
date to end. Also, results tend to show that if there existed largely confirmed by their counterparts. They often refer to
a consensus on the high level of advisor’s motivation, less is their availability. For them, it is a central condition leading
certain regarding their intention to share. Hence, the major- to the success of technical cooperation project. Many Hai-
ity of advisors, when describing their routine and approach, tian participants underline the fact that some advisors are
were talking in terms of knowledge transfer instead of knowl- so motivated, not calculating the working hours they do, ac-
edge sharing. cepting and often insisting to work even on day off. Working
on week-end is not abnormal for motivated advisors. One
Effects of individuals characteristics and soft skills of the success story, explained by an Haitian participant, is
We analyzed the effects of the main determinants that were covered in this citation:
commonly associated to advisors. First, the adaptability “But also, one the main reason to its success is that it’s
could positively influence the shared language between ad- someone who didn’t have something to prove anymore.
visors and its counterparts. An advisor who’s looking to un- It was like his passion, like a challenge, a desire to let
126
something in legacy…” (translate from French. Haitian

Also, the advisor’s absorptive capacity, when one demon-
participant)
strates its ability to reflect and think of local knowledge, and
Language is more than a working relation tool. In many when it’s recognized by its partner organization, would posi-
cases, results indicate that counterparts would develop tively affect the results of the mandate, starting with gaining
an affective form of trust when they feel that the expatri- respect and trust from them. This attribute, where an advi-
ate make efforts. It helps to establish a good relation and sor step back to recognize and understand local knowledge,
a contact with local culture. This has been explained by paris a way further the understanding of local context and the
ticipants where they sometimes link this as an indicator of adaptability. It is an ability to recognize, identify and cap-
respect on the part of the stranger they host. This result is in ture foreign (or local) knowledge. It is closely linked to the
line with previous studies (eg. Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998; concept of organizational absorptive capacity (Bonache &
Zander & Kogut, 1995) stating that social capital theory Zarraga-Oberty, 2008; Minbaeva et al., 2010).
such as language, or linguistic codes, contribute to estab-
lishing a trusting relationship. In our research, local partners mentioned something new, or
really less explored in previous researches. Indeed, advisor’s
Flexibility appears to positively help an advisor to devel- absorptive capacity, i.e. when he assimilates local knowl-
op the relation with its counterpart. Flexible advisors would edge, will achieve more success in its mandate because the
demonstrate more patience and tolerance towards their solutions proposed will be more person and context fit. The
partners. The majority of advisors identified this character- mandate is qualified to be more successful because the
istic as a prerequisite to success, but it wasn’t mentioned solutions emerged from a process of reflexivity and bidirec-
as often by Haitian participants. An advisor not showing tionality. Moreover, results tend to show that it is a central
this trait would, according to our results, even undermine determinant for a sustainable result.
the success. Examples of flexibility relate to minors modi-
fications in the planning to a complete reorientation of the Surprisingly, experience does not rank among the first when
mandate once in the field. For Haitian, flexibility may be listing individual determinants positively linked to success.
more linked to the personality trait “agreeability”, which Maybe the fact that no Haitian mentions experience and
was often linked to the advisor’s sensitivity regarding their academic background might be explained by the general
partners’ preoccupations. belief that the consortium of NGOs responsible of assign-
Table 1. Expectations versus reality
Advisors, partners and locals opinions on

Characteristics of mandate description
characteristics leading to project success
It required technical competencies. Desire to share and transmit knowledge

It require education. Absorptive capacity to assimilate knowledge
Adaptability to values
Soft skills seems to be the least important.
Motivation (passion)
Mandates are perceived as a technical substitution role by Shared language
advisors.
Agreeability (flexibility)
Advisors are Isolated in guest houses with other expats
and have limited contact with local culture and little
socialization with partners.
Mandates are developed in vacuum without strong
involvement (co-creation) of partners (end-users) and the
advisors (subject matter/ project management expert).
There is discrepancies between job descriptions and reality. Soft skills is left behind and missions are not well designed
for success taking into account stakeholders and interpersonal interactions.
127
ment recruit experienced and qualified candidates, a take Results presented also point to individual (advisor) absorp-
for granted state. Other individual determinants from the tive capacity as being a major individual determinant. We are
advisor side appear to negatively influence success. Lack of not able to affirm a relation between the capacity to reflect
involvement is negatively perceived by local counterparts. and observe with the capacity to transmit, but we suggest
An advisor may demonstrate high level of skills and com- that it is maybe linked to the concept of relative absorptive
petencies, but if its counterpart can’t see how it is profita- capacity (Minbaeva et al., 2014). Motivation also emerged
ble for his organization, it may be interpreted as a lack of from analysis has influencing results of knowledge sharing in
involvement. international cooperation, corroborating previous research
in the context of multinational corporations (e.g. Minbaeva et
al., 2003; Reich et al., 2009). It also corroborate with Lough
DISCUSSION (2011), where he states that advisors in international cooper-
ation are known to be really engaged and involved. Neverthe-
Individual determinants of knowledge sharing less, motivation doesn’t lead to sharing its knowledge.
in international cooperation project
Generally, results show that individual soft skills of advi- Others determinants to add to soft skills - or how to limit
sors in international development project affect the results technical fix and maximize chance of sustainability
of mandate. Professional experience and academic back- As results indicated, a serious process of need assessment
ground, even though constitutive of the main selection has to be made if one wants to really undertake a techni-
criteria of expatriates (Harris & Brewster, 1999; O’Sullivan, cal cooperation mandate. The advisors can be expert in
2010), ranked far behind according to study participants. their field, and may as well demonstrate strong soft skills, it
Probably they affect results through relational dimension. is not enough to achieve sustainable results in terms of ca-
This result is in line with those found by Wasko and Faraj pacity building. Partner organization has to be engaged in
(2005), where they couldn’t demonstrate a relation be- the need assessment, a weakness identified in many con-
tween expertise and results in knowledge sharing mandate. texts (e.g. Bonache & Zagarra-Oberty, 2008). The mandate
Indeed, professional experience of an advisor, acknowledge should be driven by local partner, instead of being decid-
by its counterpart, nourish the relationship. ed mostly by northern organizations, or funding agencies.
Moreover, mandate has to be formulated in accordance
As for technical qualifications, the dominant criteria in the with local and existing capacity.
expat selection process (Tang, 1984), they are normally
known by the partner. As we mention, value associated to Also, the fact that all the participants interviewed, except one,
foreign diploma (from the Haitian perspective), or to for- confirmed that no previous contact were made between the
eign education may condition local partners in their positive visiting advisor and its counterpart to discuss about the
perceptions towards advisors. Well before technical qualifi- terms may influence results. In one case, the predeparture
cations it is the sum of intercultural competencies. This re- preparation of one advisor included many Skype meetings
sult converges with previous studies looking at team per- with its counterpart. His mandate is considered, regarding
formance in international development (e.g. Hawes & Kealey, all dimensions analyzed, as a champion, as an exception. In
1981; Simkhovych, 2006). this particular context, there seem to be fewer opportunities
for advisor to spend good time with their counterpart. All of
Results tend to show that personality traits affect results of them had to respect a curfew, live in a guest house, many
knowledge sharing in international cooperation project. In conditions that make advisors stay and share between them
this regard, we corroborate with Cabrera et al. (2006) and and less with their counterpart.
Matzler et al. (2008). Regarding adaptability, intercultural
studies have identified it as part of the cultural intelligence To name other potential reasons for not achieving or adopt-
construct (Earley and Ang, 2003). Huff et al. (2013) demon- ing a capacity building mode of technical assistance other
strated that some dimensions, as adaptability, positively contextual and organizational reasons may limit results. The
contribute to the success of an international cooperation first is the availability of the local partner, or the allocation
mandate. of a human resource dedicated to work with the advisor. For
128
knowledge sharing to happen, two parties has to devote Results obtained from this exploratory study open the way
time to share together. Unfortunately, this conditions was for a promising research agenda in the field of project man-
not met in all cases. Also, for many reasons, mandates were agement. It emphases the urgent need to achieve a better
not always capacity building driven, and were maybe less understanding on the complex set of soft skills project man-
pertaining to the real need of the partners. agers or project chiefs would benefit to develop, in particular
the ability to absorb knowledge and the willingness to share
one’s knowledge.
CONCLUSION
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131
Timo Braun | Manuel Nicklich
Timo Braun, Freie Universität Berlin
Manuel Nicklich, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Project management: On the rise to a full profession?
1. INTRODUCTION fusion is not only a matter of quantitative development (ex-

pressed, for example, by total numbers of membership), but
Temporary organizational forms and particularly projects also a question of qualitative anchoring (expressed, for ex-
have gained prominence across almost every industry (Lun- ample, through the relevance of the certificates or the de-
din et al. 2015). As a consequence, a professionalization of gree of recognition given to the project manager in day-to-
activities, especially in the field of projects as the most pre- day practice). This seems to be puzzling, as we can observe
dominant form of temporary organizing, has evolved over that even though there is an institutional structure in Germa-
the last three decades. Associations such as PMI and IPMA ny, – i.e. standardized forms of skill formation and some form
have started to engage in institutional work by setting com- of certification for project management – the relevance of
prehensive cross-sectional standards for managing pro- being a qualified “project manager” appears to have little im-
jects. They have established a systematization of knowl- pact on assigning tasks, building careers or recruiting people.
edge accompanied by various qualification and certification This means that, in a qualitative sense, the job title of project
programs in the field of project management (Morris et al. manager as a profession at its own may not yet be widely dif-
2006). This has eventually led to the professionalization of fused and seen as a necessary and/or sufficient qualification
project activities and the emergence of the ‘project manag- for the activities in this field. Against this background, we fol-
er’ as a particular profession (Hodgson 2002), which goes low the research question: Why is the emergence of project
along with a substantial quantity of issued project man- management as a profession still in progress?
agement certificates and an extensively growing number of
members in the leading project management associations.
Despite this development, project management experienc- 2. RESEARCH ON PROJECT
es a stagnation. For example, in most countries the notion MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION
of the occupation project manager is not protected at all,
i.e. no qualification is required to start working as a project Project management first appeared in the management lit-
manager. Taking these notions into account, some schol- erature as a distinct discipline of business administration in
ars speak of the work as a project manager, in contrast to the late 1950s (Gaddis 1959) and has increasingly received
traditional professions, as being a “semi-profession”, an attention from the early 1970s onwards (Winch, 2000). The
“emerging profession” or a “commercialized profession” early foundations were created through practice, more pre-
(Hanlon 1998; Morris et al. 2006; Zwerman & Thomas 2001). cisely through a technocratic approach (e.g. Cleland and
King, 1968; Lock, 1968). Departing from the early concen-
As the status of project management is, from our perspec- tration on technical facets of project management, the dis-
tive, somewhere in-between, we will put forth a relative com- cipline has expanded into other areas such as education,
parison of how project management, specifically in Germa- health, social services and the creative industries. This pro-
ny, is diffused vis-à-vis other professions and in relation to cess was also supported by the efforts of project manage-
its diffusion in other countries. Moreover, we illustrate that dif- ment consultancies to propagate the discipline as well as,
133
especially in the UK and in the USA, by government agen- and the International Competence Baseline of IPMA) form
cies. They became drivers of the professionalization (Sabini the basis of their qualification and certification programs.
2014), especially in terms of standardization and quality as- This is, at the same time, the weakness of the knowledge
surance in the management of public projects: ”The associ- base: while academically grounded and systematic training
ations set out to build a critical mass of consensus around in project management is expanding, the provision of this
professionalization project by persuading a
sufficiently has not reached far beyond consultancy firms and private
large number of employers and clients of project manage- organizations. Moreover, it still lacks the support of specif-
ment of the merits of professional membership, accredita- ic university programs and courses. In some cases, project
tion and regulation” (Hodgson & Muzio 2011). management has become part of higher education courses,
but this has not extended to licensure backed up by gov-
There are some hints that despite the fact that there is ernmental agencies. Although there are governments in
a process of professionalization, project management is western countries which support and encourage the usage
not a profession in a classical sense. As some of the old of project management techniques and methods, this does
elements are found in the process anyway, scholars speak not imply restrictions for practitioners in the form of man-
about a hybrid form of professionalization in the case of datory qualifications (Hodgson 2002).
project management (Sabini 2014). Overall, project man-
agement differs essentially from traditional and established Skills and career path of the project manager
professions (Hodgson & Muzio 2011; Muzio et al. 2011). Mor-
ris et al. (2006) argue that project management, unlike tra- A further characteristic of professions in the making which
ditional professions, draws little of its legitimacy through is especially manifested at firm-level is a distinct set of skills
referring to a greater public good or value, or through ad- and a distinct career path. As for project management, the
herence to some kind of ethical code. Thus, they empha- question arises as to whether or not project managers need
size that the nature of project management as a profession to have a similar set of skills as functional managers and fol-
in the making is much more commercialized in comparison low their own career path. A study by El-Sabaa (2001) shows
with traditional professions. Professions in the making, how- that a particular combination of social skills has the greatest
ever, do not seem to be too uncommon. influence on project management practices. Technical skills,
however, have the least influence in relative terms. This cor-
Establishment of project management associations responds with other studies, which conceptualize the pro-
ject manager as a potentially competent social and political
As project management became more fashionable, pro- actor, capable of handling power in any social setting, ap-
ject management associations enforced and accelerated plying intuition, multiple perspectives and holistic thinking,
the process of professionalization (Hodgson & Muzio 2011). and considering ethical issues (Cicmil et al. 2016). Hodg-
These associations, particularly PMI and IPMA, started to son et al. (2011) argue that project management is gain-
model their professionalization strategy on other established ing a significant influence in contemporary organizations,
professions. The professionalization process involves several which makes it more attractive for technical specialists to
parallel initiatives, including a formalization of how the pro- take up this career. However, especially for people coming
fession is organized, the implementation and promotion of from a profession with a technical background – such as
accredited training programs, the efforts to expand authen- engineers – a transition into project management is rath-
tication credentials for project managers across industries, er ambivalent, since the actual day-to-day practices re-
and the development of a knowledge base (Hodgson 2002). veal tensions and contradictions that question the status of
project management within the organization in comparison
Specified body of knowledge in project management with technical tasks (Paton & Hodgson 2016). Hölzle (2010)
concludes that there is no solution-fits-it-all for a project
Despite the continued discrepancies and implicit rivalry be- manager’s career path. Some organizations have specified
tween PMA and IPMA, their attempts to develop a coherent sophisticated concepts, while others have less structured
body of knowledge in project management has been widely approaches and give the project managers greater leeway,
acknowledged, and their compendiums (the PMBOK of PMI even than that given to functional managers.
134
Project management: On the rise to a full profession
3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS ed to a particular organization or context has been deter-

A PROFESSION IN THE MAKING mined. The aspirations of the certificates have, however, not
yet been fulfilled, since there is still a major lack in diffusion:
Status and degree of professionalization: “If you look at the share of job offerings in which certification
Pre-requirements in project management is asked for, it is negligible – around
3-5 percent“ (TL_6). Moreover, even a previous vice presi-
Role of professional associations. As mentioned above, dent of a PM association admitted: “Throughout the years
at field-level the establishment of associations is central for since I started to engage in project management and build
the process of professionalization. Indicators for the expan- up project management offices, I have never ever been
sion of project management associations are the number of asked by a customer whether or not I am certified. Nobody
issued certificates and members. Statements on the associ- has ever asked me to show a certificate. If someone wants
ations homepage clearly includes reference to professional to run a project with me, certification is not part of the agen-
project management. 1 For PMI and IPMA as the central as- da” (TL_4). Given this insight, the repercussion at company
sociations in the field of Project Management, their aspira- level is not surprising. Although “there is a certain amount
tions as reflected in the corporate communication and their of exchange among the firms [regarding the certification]”
actual influence on the field differ substantially. A current (PM_6)2, the certification of the employees is often an in-
leader of a PM association argues that the associations are ternal matter. Consequently, the promotion of project man-
faced with different conditions in each country: “In Germa- agers in most cases is not based on certification, but has
ny, project management has not become a proper profes- more to do with proving one’s ability within projects and be-
sion yet. For example, there is no long-term career path yet. ing promoted based on experiences and success.
Someone in an automotive company, a chassis engineer,
goes into project management for a couple of years and Work organization and career paths. The status of pro-
then back to the line organization, that’s it.“ (TL_3). Never- ject managers has been changing over the past few years:
theless, professionalization is promoted by the associations, “You can observe a further development. Previously, we only
albeit under their conditions. They develop normative claims engaged construction engineers and electrical engineers
for the field, thereby endeavoring to set standards and con- in our projects. But this has been extended to other groups
trol the understanding of what is good practice. In one of over the last years” (PM_3). This means that projectification
the impromptu interviews, a senior project manager stated also leads to the assumption of activities within the projects
“The PM associations are the driving force of our profession. which could be assigned to a particular occupational field.
We need them to represent us, to set standards, offer certif- Given this development, the structural similarities of the
icates and education, and vice versa, and they need us as project manager’s tasks – which could be seen as a com-
well – to make their business models work” (IPI_16). ponent part of an occupational field – are emphasized: “An
employee who has a certain title in one firm does the same
Certification and common body of knowledge. The cer- things as an employee with the same title in another firm”
tificates thereby entail a common body of knowledge, which (PM_5). The actors within the field formulate a kind of rule
in traditional professions often regulates the entry to the which is connected to the work rules within the project team:
labor market. Statements of the associations emphasize “The more members there are in a project team and the
the generalizability of the knowledge in project manage- greater the distance between project leadership and con-
ment which these certificates attempt to attest. It ought crete project realization (…) the more project management
not merely to be a particular body of knowledge, but rath- becomes a stand-alone activity” (PM_5). Moving beyond
er universal knowledge which could be used in every project this observation, the extent to which organizations really
management context. This points to the standardization make use of standardized project management principles
and objectification within the field in terms of skill formation, at all is questionable “There is an increasing number of en-
in the sense that transferable knowledge that is not limit-
1 https://www.pmi.org/about 2 All quotes are translated from German into English.
135
terprises which value project management. But if you look the organization. This means that, although the practices of
closer, in many cases it is window dressing“ (TL_1). managing projects diffuse professionally, in view of the vari-
ety of practices that occur, the standardization associated
with a profession is dissipated to a large extent.
4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Although the quantitative indicators may be increasing, the
With our perspective on the development of project man- relevance in day-to-day practice continues to be limited,
agement in Germany we contribute to the imperative that and we can observe a great variation of managerial practic-
“research would benefit from a more international perspec- es relating to projects: some organizations have no require-
tive in order to broaden our understanding of profession- ment for such certificates; some use internal certification
alization outside of Anglo-Saxon economies” (Hodgson & and others a mixture of internal and external certification.
Muzio 2011). In this context we make a contribution in re- Sometimes project management is seen more or less to be
vealing boundary conditions of professionalization of pro- a Joe-Doe-qualification, which does not focus on the em-
ject management in the German context. As the material ployee´s qualification. Currently in Germany, project man-
has shown, over the last three decades various activities agement does not provide a career path in itself, but, con-
have been directed towards the professionalization of pro- trary to a classical profession, where there is often a career
ject management. Associations such as PMI and IPMA have ladder within the profession, it is depicted as a single step on
set comprehensive cross-sectional standards for manag- the career ladder.
ing projects. At the same time, while some studies show that
progress has been made in developing career paths for pro- A reason for this intermediate status is the lacking support
ject managers (El-Sabaa 2001; Hölzle 2010), our data re- mechanism of institutionalization. Neither could we find co-
veals that this is not necessarily the case in Germany, since ercive processes, as, unlike in other countries, there is no
there are institutional constraints that prevent the develop- state support in Germany, nor could we detect normative
ment of specific career paths. Specifically, knowledge and pressure, as project management seems to have a sec-
formal rules have been introduced, which have, however, ondary status and does not evoke cultural expectations. No
only been diffused in the field to a limited extent. Our results mimetic pressure is involved, either, as organizations use
indicate without any doubt that a process of professionali- different practices to run projects successfully. And since
zation is taking place in Germany. Project management has professionalization comes from above, with associations
not yet been fully recognized as a qualification in Germany, trying to build up the profession rather than enterprises or
but rather as a secondary profession due to the prevailing individuals themselves, it is difficult to exercise influence,
strict legal requirements and institutional density, and it is force, discipline, and domination at firm-level. This ultimate-
implemented quite differently, depending on the needs of ly prevents further institutionalization.
136
Project management: On the rise to a full profession
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137
Yvonne Schoper
HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences Berlin
Light and shadow of projectification
The paper aims to explore the consequences of the The paper looks at the various social dimensions of projec-
global trend of projectification from the various per- tification and aims to understand how the change projecti-
spectives of the different stakeholder group in today´s fication brings will look like, which staleholder groups in the
projectified societies. The analysis shows that the pro- societies will experience and will be effected by the change,
jectification development has great means and contains and to show both the positive but also the critical perspec-
ambivalent aspects for the different stakeholders in the tives of this trend, based on the concept of critical pro-
society. It shows that there could be more winners of the ject management studies by Hodgson / Cicmil (2008) and
projectification trend in the societies if this change is MPC (Making projects critical) studies by Hodgson / Cicmil
well managed by the politicians. The losers could be the (2016). The intention is to create an opportunity to stand
so-called projectariat, the researchers, and the social back and formulate which seems known and accepted, and
welfare systems. Both potential developments of the to ask some fundamental questions.
projectification medal need to be reconciled to achieve
positive conditions for all stakeholders in the future pro-
jectified societies. METHODOLOGY
Keywords: Projectification, Project society, projectified In this paper the author takes the so-called “broad view of
society. projectification” based on the conceptualisation of Pack-
endorff and Lindgren (2013). It takes projects as cultural
symbols from the sociological perspective where projects
INTRODUCTION are perceived as normal in organisations, societal and pri-
vate life.
Modern project management as a scientific discipline was
developed in the 1960s in industrial sectors like aerospace, Complex phenomena are best analysed with multiple per-
aeronautics, defence and construction industry (Kerzner, spectives (Morgan, 1986). This paper aims to contribute to
1987; Morris, 2011). From here the methods were taken the research on projectification by looking at the mutual
over to industries like automotive, mechanical engineering, dependencies between the various stakeholders. The phe-
but also IT, insurances or banking. Today project manage- nomenon of projectification radically affects the conditions
ment is applied in education, in the health sector, in sports, of all members of the society. However it seems that projec-
public administration and politics. Projects have become tification affects them in different ways. By analysing the dif-
a post-modern organisations´ symbol of adaptability and ferences of the impact of projectification on the conditions
contingency, considered to be a superior way of reacting to of the various agents in the projectified society is shall help
unanticipated and irregular situations (Lundin & Söderholm, to critically rethink the notion of projectification and its im-
1995; Clegg & Courpasson, 2004; Sjöblom, 2009). pact on societies. Therefore this paper aims to describe the
139
impacts of projectification for the various stakeholders or agement on society’. To narrow the search in the database
stakeholder groups in the project society: the keyword ’projectification‘ was combined with the field of
»» at the micro level represented by the individual, looking the different stakeholders.
at the classic line employees, project managers, female
managers, scientists, teachers, politicians,
»» at the meso level consisting of the organisational level, BACKGROUND OF PROJECTIFICATION
looking at permanent and temporary organisations,
and the social systems, Projectification, the amalgam of “project” and “organisa-
»» at the macro level constituted looking at the various tional transformation” describes the diffusion of projects as
industrial sectors in a national economy, a form of business organisation (Midler, 1995). Whittington
»» at the mega level represented by the national, and su- et al. (1999) point to projects as one of the top issues on the
pra-national level and , international bodies, management agenda of modern corporations. Mintzberg
»» and finally at the meta level of global systems. (1983) reported early on that projects play a key role in most
modern industries and growth industries since the 1950s. In-
The author defined the following questions that shall be depth case studies of firms in a number of industries have
answered: come to similar conclusions. The global trend of “projecti-
»» What are the implications of projectification for the fication” (Midler, 1995) that comprises all areas of profess-
various stakeholders in the project society? sional and private life is ubiquitous (Gemünden, 2014). Rea-
»» Who will be affected by the projectification trend? sons for this phenomenon might be that in today´s complex,
»» What will be the change through the ongoing projecti- uncertain, volatile, global world, agendas have to be simpli-
fication trend? fied. Problems are transformed into projects in order to re-
»» What are the opportunities and threats of this societal duce complexity, to manage conflicts or to push them aside.
development? The responsibility is transferred to project groups or an issue
»» Who are the winners and who the losers of this societal is transferred into future responsibilities. As a consequence
trend? attention is put to the strategic dimension of project activi-
»» What should be done to prevent the major negative ef- ties (Sjöblom, 2006). In addition projects are used in and for
fects of projectification? strategic development and play a role for embodying stra-
»» What next research activities are necessary to better tegic effort (Brady and Davies, 2004). Some authors argue
understand the effects of projectification? that projectification is fundamental if an organisation is to
survive in the twenty-first century (Bergman et al., 2013).
In addition the author defined the following hypotheses:
»» There are more winners than losers of projectification in Traditional research on project management has primari-
the project society. ly emphasised the planning and structuring aspects of the
»» The losers of projectification are on the individual level. management job. Only recently researchers stress the need
»» The organisations are the main winners of the projecti- for studies on projectification and its general impacts to the
fication trend. various stakeholders in the societies (Packendorff, 2002,
Bredin & Söderlund, 2006; Packendorff & Lindgren, 2014;
The search strategy for the collection of data was in EBSCO- Lundin et al, 2015).
host and Google Scholar from 2010 to 2018. Search terms
were ’projectification’, ‘project society’, ‘projectified soci- Projectification cannot only be observed in typical pro-
ety’ and ‘impact of project management on society’. The ject-oriented or project-based industries like the construc-
EBSCOhost produced 41 results for ’projectification‘, 9 re- tion industry, but also in project-distant areas as the public
sults for ‘project society’, no results for ‘projectified society’ sector, in performing arts or scientific research. As a con-
and 2 results for ‘impact of project management on socie- sequence projectification is perceived as a cultural and
ty’, while GoogleScholar produced 1.820 results for ’projec- discursive phenomenon (Lindgren and Packendorff, 2014).
tification‘, 1.420 results for ‘project society’, 94 results for Jensen observes an expansion of the concept to all parts of
‘projectified society’ and 1 result for ‘impact of project man- life and “the projectification of everything” because “pro-
140
jects are becoming a human condition” (Jensen, Thuesen, jects and programs. Project management is an established
& Geraldi, 2016). Therefore a more holistic approach to in- methodology for organisations and societies to cope with
crease our understanding of the logics of project manage- these challenges.
ment, project organisation, and the people working within
contributing to the societies are needed. But exactly is a society? Ginsberg defines society as a col-
lection of individuals united by certain relations or mode of
behaviour which mark them off from others who do not en-
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS TOWARDS ter into these relations or who differ from them in behaviour
PROJECTIFIED SOCIETIES (Ginsberg, 1920). According to Parsons a “society is a to-
tal complex of human relationships in so far as they grow
Projectification of societies is defined as the degree of dif- out of the action in terms of means-end relationship in-
fusion of project management in all sectors of the societies trinsic or symbolic” (Parsons, 1934: 231). Societies can be
(Midler 1995; Lundin & Midler 1998; Packendorff & Lindgren placed in three broad categories: pre-industrial, industrial
2014). A projectified society leads to the fact that more and and post-industrial. Post-industrial societies are societies
more organizational members are redefined as project work- dominated by information, services and high technology
ers or project managers (Cicmil and Hodgson, 2006), which more than by the production of goods. It can be assumed
has an effect on their identity. This projectification has an im- that project-competent or projectified societies belong to
pact on all members of the society, leading from the former the category of post-industrial societies.
permanent, long-term stable organisation towards to the
temporal limitation of temporary organisations, from a for- Lundin and Söderholm wrote that for the theory of the
merly retrospective control-based orientation towards a pro- prevalence of projects increase and the societies “projec-
spective orientation not only of the management but of all tified” there are very few macro-oriented and measurable
people in the society (Gemünden, 2013; Maylor et al, 2006). variables available to verify or invalidate such a statement
(Lundin and Söderholm, 1998). The national projectifica-
Because of the fundamental change of this basic concept tion study (Schoper et al, 2018) systematically analysed
on all parts of the society the projectification of societies for the first time the level of project work in a national
can be called a paradigm shift (Jensen, 2016), perceived as economy. The study found that the share of project work
the fourth industrial revolution or the next Kondratieff cycle to the total working hours in the German national economy
(Händeler, 2011). was 35% in 2013. This share went up by 20% in comparison
to the previous five years and is expected to increase to
Projects are vehicles of change as they are the instruments 41% by 2019. The greatest increase in project work with-
for implementing strategic initiatives, either on a corporate in five years (in total more than 54%) was recorded in the
level but also on national or international level. A nation’s public sector. The same methodology was applied in 2015
competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industries both to the Norwegian and Icelandic economies. The re-
to innovate and upgrade (Porter, 2008). Both companies sults show similar pictures: the projectification level of the
and governments should align their strategic goals and their Norwegian economy is 32,6% and in Iceland 27,7%. Both
execution. The project management capability of a society project economies will grow by a further 25% within the
is an important prerequisite to innovate and adapt to the next five years.
necessary changes that national economies and societies
are forced to through external pressures. By 2040 approx- The three national projectification studies demonstrate
imately 10 billion people will live on the planet, which means that the hypothesis of an increasing application of projects
that 30 percent more energy, more food, more water, more across all industries and industrial sectors is confirmed. Pro-
infrastructure than today will be needed. At the same time ject work is already contributing to a third to the gross do-
new, more sustainable ways to satisfy these growing de- mestic product of the national economies of Western econ-
mands are needed. The societies are developing different omies. Or in other words: a third of the work in corporations
approaches to these challenges. What the various global is already carried out in the form of projects. The three stud-
approaches have in common is that they are based on pro- ies show that the projectification trend is forecasted to fur-
141
ther increase, meaning that there is no saturation level to- These observations stimulate to looking at the impacts of
wards the amount of project work in organisations. the ongoing projectification trend on the various stake-
holders in the project society.
The specialty of working in projects in comparison to classic
line work is that the unique endeavours work is temporary Projectification and its impacts for the various
limited. To understand the impact of the projectification of stakeholders in the project society
work the question is about the temporal limitation of jobs in
the projectified society. If more than 40% of the work is car- As the amount of project work is ubiquous in all sorts of pro-
ried out in projects, how is a typical employment in a professional and private life some authors define today´s so-
jectified society? An answer to this question gives the anal- cieties as project societies (Jensen et al, 2016). The new
ysis of the German IAB-Betriebspanel (https://www.iab.de/ working and living style however has various impacts on all
de/erhebungen/iab-betriebspanel.aspx). IAB stands for the members of the society. In the following chapter the author
German Institute for Labour Market and Career Research. looks at the various implications of projectification for the
Its aim is to analyse the German job market in order to con- different stakeholders of the project society at the micro,
sult the political actors on all levels in the society. Their pan- meso, macro, mega and meta levels.
el consists of 16.000 organisations from all economic sec-
tors and sizes that are annually interviewed concerning the Micro level – the individual
current developments in the German job market since 1993.
The latest study shows that 43,5% of all new job recruitments From the perspective of the individual the phenomenon of
in 2017 in Germany were temporary limited, in comparison increasing projectification has significant consequences for
to 1997 where 35,4% of all new job recruitments were tem- her work and life. An increasing number of people spends
porary limited. The analysis of the past twenty years shows their working days in different kinds of project organisations
that temporary limited jobs are continuously growing since and are involved in projects as part of their otherwise rou-
2005. Although not all of these jobs are project related, tine-based employments. Several authors have analysed
there is a trend towards temporary limited work. This trend the consequences of project work for the individuals – both
includes all sectors of the economy, including public admin- at work and in life in general (Packendorff, 2002, Rawlands
istration and federal ministries. and Handy, 2012).
How is this temporary limited work life perceived by the Changes in the ways how people work lead to changes in the
people, and particularly by the young, well educated peo- way how people live and relate to each other. Individuals are
ple? The 2018 student study shows that 41% (in compari- the first in the project society to directly feel the various im-
son to 32% in 2016) of the 2.000 German students inter- pacts of the projectification trend. Project management will
viewed look for a stable, unlimited employment at a state become a required competence for everybody: not only en-
official or in public administration (Simon, 2018). For 57% gineers and managers will have to know the techniques and
of these students, job security is the major employer se- be able to apply them, but also professionals that have no
lection criterion. A further new phenomenon that this study contact with project management today like in the health or
shows is that particularly excellent students search for long- education sector (Gemünden et al, 2015).
term stable employments. It must be added that the 2018
student study is conducted in a phase of continuous eco- The automatisation of the standard processes in organi-
nomic growth and steadily decreasing unemployment rates sations leads to the fact that in the long run all additional
in Germany. The 2018 generation of well-educated young innovative work will be executed in projects. Project man-
professionals obviously seems to start a countermovement agement is on its way to a ubiquitous social technology
against the growing trend of temporal limited employments. that all leaders should be able to master, and will be part of
These generation Y representatives aim for work-life-bal- all kinds of management and leadership education. Project
ance and flexible working time sovereignty (Peters, 2016), management will consequently follow the typical life cycle
but increasingly refuse to work in uncertain, temporal limit- of a technology from a pace-maker technology into a ba-
ed employment conditions. sic technology. However with the increasing application
142
simpler and fewer demanding management tasks are be PROJECT MANAGERS IN GENERAL
solved with the project management technics. This trivial-
ization of project management can be described as „pro- Although projectification started at the organisation level
jectiflation“ (a short form of “project inflation”, first used (Midler, 1995), it has a great impact on the individual work-
by Midler, 1995). This inflation of projects will lead to the ing in projects. For the individual, project work is about high
fact that all employees will have an education in project intrinsic motivation, flexibility, spirit of entrepreneurship and
management and will work as project managers. Project freedom. Based on his research in the French car compa-
management is no distinguishing competence any more ny Renault, Midler recognized that “first deep change lies
(Gemünden et al, 2015). in the definition of project roles. The job is defined by a re-
sult responsibility on a global goal, the success of the future
Employees / workers in the line car, without mentioning required skills, expertise or meth-
odology. It is an entrepreneurial job definition, with a great
With the ongoing trend of automatisation, digitalisation autonomy on the means to achieve the target, as projects
and the connection of everything by the Internet of Things managers in the precedent phase were characterized as
of the standard business processes the classic line work in applicant of the standard development procedures of the
organisation will get continuously replaced in the next dec- firm” (Midler, 1995: 6). Maylor observes that projects grant
ades. This trend of replacing line workers by industrial ro- official status and legitimacy by the organisation, and that
bots started in the production sites in the automotive and functional demarcations erod. In heavier-weight project or-
electronic industry. In 2016 approx. 1,8 million industrial ro- ganisations the project managers get direct authority over
bots were in use worldwide, doubling within four years to 3,1 the resources (Maylor et al, 2006) and autonomy to lead
million robots until 2020 (Statista, 2018). With the rise of the project (Clegg & Courpason, 2004). In the heavyweight
artificial intelligence robots will be able to take over also project structure, although functions tend to be coordi-
standardised work in offices, medical clinics or public admin- nated across projects by managers, the project managers
istration within the next years. As a consequence individual have high status and directly control financial resources
employees in the classic line operations might in the future and people for the project (Maylor et al., 2006). Project
only be working in highly specialised non-repetitive areas or managers start to develop a permanent ‘functional’ home –
in the service sector. the project office. They gain legitimacy by professionalizing
their role (Maylor et al, 2006). Consequently, project man-
Professionals trained for years in a compartmentalized
agement is becoming subject to the classical strategy of
corporate environment have not been prepared for in- professionalization as social closure, in accord with Weber’s
ter-department, or even inter-company, dialogue. Em- professional roles and ethics (Weber, 1922; Clegg & Cour-
powerment and growth of project structures lead to passon, 2004).
classical but important questions: what is the future
for skill-based functional departments of the firm? Are According to Bredin & Söderlund the individual project man-
they going to disappear, scattered into different project ager in a projectified organisation must have a ‘strong drive’
teams? (Midler, 1995) be able to ‘market herself’ on the internal labour market
and to handle the continuous competence development
The increased projectification leads to the opportunity to meet the requirements and challenges of new projects.
that line managers get a new role as knowledge carriers or Much responsibility is placed on the individual and further-
knowledge containers in organisations (Bredin & Söderlund, more, the individual must change her traditional view on
2006). This is not an easy task, particularly in dispersed mul- employers and colleagues (Bredin & Söderlund, 2006).
tinational organisations with many temporary organisations.
A further opportunity is the education of the line employees Several researchers show that project work contains also
in the new competences of planning, resourcing and exe- negative aspects. Increased requirements like speed, meet-
cuting projects (Maylor, 2006). ing deadlines and the triple constrains, increased stress,
143
and excessive control for the individuals working in projects hours with limited access to health insurance, parent ben-
(Packendorff & Lindgren, 2014; Rowlands & Handy, 2012, efits, access to mortgage loans for buying houses, unem-
Cicmil & Hodgson, 2006, Gällstedt, 2003) show the ambig- ployment insurance or decent pension payments. These
uous sides of project work for the individual. Midler states problems are typical for project workers with temporal limit-
that project managers now have a powerful formal position ed employments (Jałocha, 2016).
in the firm, giving the project strong enough status to car-
ry on an equally-matched dialogue with top departmen- The precarious working conditions in projects might in the
tal echelons. The project management role was entrusted future affect all individual employees including the members
to experienced and successful executive personnel, with of today´s projectocracy, as in the long run all additional
much influence capacities due to their prestige and know- non-standardized innovative work will be executed in pro-
how. The project structure surrounding the Project Direc- jects. Global competition could lead to the fact that there
tor… with one foot in each hierarchy and operating within will always be a project manager working for less wage and
a matrix-type model (Midler, 1995: 5). social security. Projectiflation, neo-liberalism, globalisa-
tion and the increase of English as global business language
Kallf states that the knowledge work of the project manager everywhere in the world could lead to the fact that interna-
domesticates knowledge and creativity to fit the valorisa- tional project managers compete with each other to work
tion processes. Within obscured power relations, a subjec- in projects for dumping wages without social security. This
tivising antinomy of predictability and flexibility arises: the is the start of a downward spiral leading a rapid decrease of
projectified self. This form of subjectivity domesticates the the social welfare system. Project managers do not enjoy
knowledge worker contributing to new vulnerabilities to pre- the privilege of employments but work as freelancers hop-
carity due to flexible, spontaneous and uncertain biogra- ping from one project assignment to the next one, always
phies (Kalff, 2017). on the hunt for the next project. Only a very small group of
projectocracy (C-level and strategists) with all privileges will
Further research shows that there could be winners and los- remain. This social injustice leads to the fact that the social
ers in the new projectified working world: the following classi- scissors continue to diverge despite more educated people
fication by Szreder (2016) and Jalocha (2016) differentiates in the societies.
between the so-called projectocracy and projectariat. Pro-
jectocracy is an artificial word made of project work and ar- Female project managers
istocracy. Projectocracy are those people involved in tem-
porary project work but enjoying the full privileges of stable Industrialism implied hierarchies and specialisation in soci-
unlimited employments (Jalocha, 2016). They are experi- ety with traditional masculine norms on the importance of
enced project managers, PMO managers or Portfolio direc- formal positions and merits influenced how people interact-
tors who get a new project assignment after having finished ed with each other (Lindgren & Packendorff, 2006).
the previous one. They do not have to hunt for a new pro-
ject, in comparison to the projectariat. Projectariat is a new Project Management is criticised as a capitalist masculine
creation according to the conditions of project workers as management practice (Jeanes et al 2012, Henderson, 2010).
members of the proletariat or precariat class (Szreder 2016; The ongoing projectification of the work raises the question
Jałocha 2016). Projectariat are people who own nothing of how project managers live their lives when working in and
but their potential to enter into projects and they are both living by projects from a gender perspective.
similar and distinct from proletarians, who are defined by
their lack of property (Szreder, 2016). The concept of pre- Lindgren & Packendorff state that project work practices im-
cariat originates from the French sociologist Bordieu. Indi- ply the reproduction of masculine norms such as rationali-
cators for people working under precarious conditions are ty, efficiency, control, devotion to work, while femininization
flexible, instable, non-permanent employment contracts, is just found in the rhetoric of the organization and the ex-
no possibility to unionization, lack of professional identity, pectations on newly recruited women. Projects are special
work below the qualification level, outside normal working because they are clearly delimited episodes of work in which it
144
is possible to apply entirely different norms than ‘outside’ the In general it can be summarized that there is a lack of knowl-
project – which makes the tendency to reproduce traditional edge in the relationship between the firm’s project opera-
masculinities even stronger (Lindgren & Packendorff, 2006). tions and its HRM practices. Project competent human re-
source managers will therefore be of strategic importance
Buckle and Thomas deconstructed the PMBoK (Project for organisations.
Management Book of Knowledge) of PMI and found that
masculine concepts exert more direct influence over how Executives in boardrooms
the content of project management practices are defined
than the feminine ones (Buckle and Thomas, 2003). Executives in organisations have to gain competitive ad-
vantage for their corporations by bringing in and selling at-
Although the analysis of the project management meth- tractive products while simultaneously reducing the fixed
odologies in the ICB4 (Individual Competence Baseline) of costs in the internal processes. Their strategic initiatives
IPMA implies an increased importance of traditional femi- are executed in projects through effective project manag-
nine values such as teamwork, good communication skills ers. Top managers are increasingly aware that projects are
and resourcefulness there are at the same time tendencies their major vehicles to implement their corporate strategies.
like increased workload, short-sightedness, control of ob- They realize that their success depends on the quality of the
jects and goal rationality, enforcing the already established projects managed. The success of the projects is their own
masculine ways of thinking and working (Lindgren & Pack- success.
endorff, 2006).
Maylor et al underlines this by writing that “addition-
Human Resource Managers al empowerment of project directors was associated with
a change in process, from the application of standard pro-
As organisations need to rely increasingly on the knowledge cesses to a more entrepreneurial or adaptive approach”
workers, the relationship between employers and employees (Maylor et al, 2006).
is changing and becoming increasingly significant. The in-
dividual-organisation relationship between employers and An interesting finding from Müller et al is that the manage-
employees is typically managed by the Human Resource ment in organisations with low level of projectification takes
Management (HRM) as an interface function. Several stud- a merely agency perspective compared to the manage-
ies have pointed out the key role of HRM in projectified or- ment in organisations with medium to high levels of projec-
ganisations (Fabi and Pettersen, 1992; March, 1995; Bredin tification that tends to a stewardship perspective (Müller et
and Söderlund, 2006). al, 2016).
An interesting finding of the study of Bredin & Söderlund A research of the CV´s of 374 top executives in Germany´s
is that the very narrow definition of employment contracts largest shareholder-based corporations in 2015 shows that
leads to the fact that several key duties in projects are car- in the sample of older executives over 50 years only 30% had
ried out by externals without any involvement of the Hu- own practical project management experience whereas 55%
man Resource department (Bredin & Söderlund, 2006). In of the younger executives below 50 years had own project
their study they define four key challenges for the HRM in experience (Heckenlauer, 2015). This result shows that pro-
projectified organisations: i) the problem of monitoring and ject management expertise is becoming increasingly impor-
tracking the competence of the employees working in pro- tant for the executives in the boardrooms of corporations.
jects, ii) the challenge of building swift trust in project op-
erations and project-based structures, and to open up for Concluding it can be stated that own project management
recruiting consultants and temporary (knowledge) workers, experience is becoming a prerequisite for good govern-
iii) the need for ‘boundary-spanning’ HRM practices and iv) ance and profound decision making of senior executives
better focus on the individual perspectives and caring for in projects. This development opens new top career paths
people matters. for project managers both in the C-suite and the supervi-
145
sory boards of organisations making project management ers´ long-term careers that are based on research projects
a more attractive career option for young talents. could be the wake-up call for the politicians in the societies
to provide long-term stable career paths for researchers.
Researchers in science and academia
Teachers, lecturers and educators
Academic talents who decide not to go to industry after
their studies but to remain in academia need to prepare for Teaching is considered as an input directing the learning
the situation that career takes place in the form of research process. However modern teaching is no longer a one way
projects. Researchers write research project proposals to street. In times where knowledge can be downloaded every-
acquire monetary funds from third parties for a research where from the internet, the classic model of teaching and
project. In case of winning the tender the researcher will learning has come to an end.
then engage further researchers from their network with
the given budget for a limited period of time to conduct the Learning can be defined as the active process of inves-
research and to write the final research report at the end tigation and creation based on the learner’s interest, cu-
and one or two academic papers. In parallel some of the riosity and experience, and should result in expanded in-
researchers work as lecturers at universities for low hour- sights, knowledge and skills (Kolmos, 1996). An intended
ly wages. Careers in academia are a sequence of research upside of projectification is the opportunity for learning
projects and a series of good papers in top ranked academ- that arises through ‘learning by doing’ (Maylor, 2006).
ic journals which enable them to apply for a professorship Project Based Learning is perceived as a student-cen-
at a university, again in many countries on a temporal limit- tered approach of learning where the students have to
ed basis with the best case option for lifetime tenure tracks. produce a solution to a problem and an outcome in the
Personal career planning is required, but more and more dif- form of a report. The problem is open ended and the fo-
ficult because of the many uncertainties described and the cus on the application and assimilation of previously ac-
increasing global competition in academia. Academic life quired knowledge. This approach closely reflects the pro-
consists of a sequence of projects based on temporary lim- fessional behaviours of many disciplines (Chandrasekaran
ited work contracts, offering no long-term stability for planet al, 2012). According to Henry, project work teaches and
ning neither the career nor private life. tests higher cognitive skills, it allows the student a meas-
ure of choice and responsibility for their learning, and is
The increase of the precarious working conditions with minas a consequence a great motivator (Henry, 2012). Pro-
imum social security for academics could lead to a dimin- ject-Based Learning is an innovative approach to learn-
ished attractiveness of academic research for talented ing that teaches a multitude of strategies critical for suc-
future researchers. Less people are motivated to work in cess in the twenty-first century. Students drive their own
research projects, young talents will look for other oppor- learning through inquiry, as well as work collaboratively to
tunities either in industry or as entrepreneurs. Science and research and create projects that reflect their knowledge.
as a consequence also the societies will not be able to in- From gleaning new, viable technology skills, to becoming
crease their knowledge to the same extent as the techno- proficient communicators and advanced problem solvers,
logical developments make it necessary. This leads to a sit- students benefit from this approach to instruction (Bell,
uation where people in the societies get blind as they do not 2012). The use of project-based learning is as a conse-
understand the impacts and long-term implications of their quence widespread throughout education at most lev-
actions, inventions and innovations any more (e.g. genetic els including primary and secondary schools, further and
research, Artifical Intelligence or microbiological research). higher education, apprenticeships, in service and profes-
This could lead to dangerous situations if in the future cap- sional training (Henry, 2012).
ital investors, lobbyists and politicians take relevant deci-
sions driven only by an increase in power and profitability. This is also a challenge to teachers, trainers and educators
as this new form of learning needs extra support because
However understanding the long-term negative and dan- the student is undertaking individual work and needs more
gerous impacts of not investing sufficiently in research- help, guidance and monitoring than in a standard essay or
146
report. However there is a growing impetus to offer more rel- Analysis of the impact on the meso level
evant forms of education and the use of experience-based
enquiry approaches such as project- and portfolio-based Corporate organisations were the first where the trend to-
learning (Henry, 2012). wards projectification was analysed in 1995 by Midler. There-
fore the consequences for organisations on their path on
As a consequence all educators, teachers, trainers and lec- project-based organisations were the first being analysed
turers at all levels should be educated in Project-Based (Lundin, 2015).
Learning to enable the future generations to achieve the
relevant knowledge and competences to cope with future Permanent organisations
challenges.
The application of the various types of project-based struc-
Politicians tures is considered the most fitting in product development
and for handling renewal and change efforts in permanent
Politicians belong to the few social groups for whom the organisations (Bredin, 2006).
concept of temporal limitation is well known since the raise
of democratic elections in Ancient Greece. The execution of Organisations in competitive environments are continu-
the power is limited to the period of their election. Therefore ously under pressure to bring new product ideas and cre-
politicians should be able to understand and use the con- ative services to the markets and to reduce the fixed costs
cept of programs and projects as effective tools to imple- in the internal processes. These strategic initiatives are ex-
ment their political initiatives in practice. The success of the ecuted by projects and effective project managers. The
public programs and projects again builds the basis for their way how a firm structures its project operations is consid-
re-election. Projects and other new forms of organising ered a source of competitive advantage (Davies and Brady,
public policy demonstrate this temporality. Policy programs, 2000; Söderlund, 2005).
networks, partnerships, local action groups and contractual
forms of cooperation operate within (more or less limited) Midler identified four phases in the transition of projecti-
time frames. Consequently, politics is becoming increasing- fication in organisations. Starting as a functional organ-
ly ‘projectified’. Projectification stands for this fundamental isation with informal project coordination, followed by an
development towards just-in-time planning and execution established centralized project coordination with project
(Sjöblom, 2013). coordinator roles, followed by the establishment of project
management structures through empowerment and au-
The projectification of the societies leads to the fact that tonomy of project managers, leading to a transformation
more people understand project management better and of organizational processes, practices and incentive sys-
learn to differentiate between good and badly governed and tems into a balance between functional and project work
managed public projects. Own project management experi- (Midler, 1995). This development process shows that pro-
ence should become a useful prerequisite for politicians to jectification goes beyond changes in organization struc-
execute good governance in public projects. This develop- tures and management processes. It represents a fun-
ment could open new career paths for project managers in damental organisational transformation, where projects
politics. So far there is no research available on the stake- transcend from being a tool to implement organizational
holder group of politicians and their relationship to projec- strategies to being an element of the organizational strat-
tification. egies (Aubry et al 2012).
However prominent examples of politicians demonstrate The steady increase of project work both for internal and
that there is a high risk of becoming dependent on the pow- external assignments in organisations to more than 40% in
er, the public recognition, the social prestige and reputa- average and in industries as the construction business to
tion of politicians which can lead to unethical behaviour and even 80% is an indicator for this fact as the projectification
corruption in order to remain in power. study by Schoper et al show (Schoper et al, 2018).
147
There is a growing awareness for the benefits of the appli- Temporary organisations
cation of project management in organizations. The attrac-
tion of projectification appears to lie in its promise to de- Projectification adds temporary organisations to existing
liver ‘controllability and adventure’… the reflection of the permanent organisations (Müller, 2016). The general idea
vision of a post-bureaucratic work order, and a process behind the theory of temporary organisations developed
that tries to encompass features including flat structures by Lundin and Söderholm is that action is the essence of
(Maylor et al., 2006). For these organisations it is impor- temporary organisations. Temporary organisations con-
tant to have ‘project-oriented people’ in a project-oriented stitute the vehicles for flexible, fast and innovative prob-
company (Bredin & Söderlund, 2006). The firm gets a key lem solving and intervention. Simultaneously, they are
role in supporting the professionalisation and development challenged with the need for policy continuity and sustain-
of the individual. ability in a way that gives every reason to emphasize the
temporal dimension of current organisational solutions
Top management is becoming aware that the cost for edu- (Sjöblom, 2013).
cation and training of project managers, for implementing
long-term career perspectives in project management sim- As a consequence the two organisational forms of perma-
ilar to line managers, for supervising and long-term support nent and temporary organisation must fit together and
of project managers, and for the implementation of PMOs serve the strategy of the organisation. The permanent or-
with standardized core processes are lower than the cost for ganisation therefore has to design the context for the tem-
unprofessional project management. porary organisation through appropriate project govern-
ance institutions and their approaches to governance and
This leads to extensive organizational changes. The accom- governmentality.
panying changes include the governance structures and the
appointment of high-level project directors and concen- A study from Deutsche Bank Research forecasted that
trating on process rather than department/functions as the by 2020 the temporary organisations will deliver 15% of
means to carry out work. (Maylor et al, 2006). the value creation in Germany (Deutsche Bank Research,
2007). This indicator demonstrates that the trend towards
Project Management is criticised as a capitalist mascu- projectification in the form of temporary organisations is no
line management practice (Jeanes et al 2012, Hender- small side phenomenon any more.
son, 2010). It is therefore the task of the organisations to
further develop the important discipline that it becomes
a more human oriented, sustainable management prac- PROJECT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATIONS
tice, not built upon the exploitation of the human and nat- AND CERTIFICATION BODIES
ural resources.
The professionalization of Project Management is defined
The increased share of work carried out by project manag- as the process in which the occupation (métier) of pro-
ers on a temporal limited basis leads to a threat for corpo- ject management transforms itself into a true profession
rate learning and knowledge transfer from previous projects. of highest competence. This includes defining standards
How is it possible to keep the long-term technical learning for the different kinds of single and multi-project man-
process, when organizational structures focus their energies agement tasks as well as for knowledge bases, processes
on short-term product-oriented objectives, asks Midler al- and competences required to fulfill these standards suc-
ready in 1995. cessfully (Gemünden, 2015). Clegg and Courpasson state
that project management has become organizationally
Summarizing it can be stated that organisations are the win- enacted professional work because of increased discipli-
ners of the projectification trend as they are gaining more nary training by professional associations. The creation
flexibility and mobility from a highly qualified global project of a project management profession offers commercially
workforce. independent accredited sources of legitimacy and power
148
to its practitioners. These professional associations con- Macro level

fer a legitimacy that is quite separate from that of the em-
ploying organization. To the extent that professionalism The macro level consists of different industrial sectors in
becomes organizationally legitimate for employers, the a national economy. The following chapter analyses the
project profession appears to gain status (Clegg & Cour- various stakeholders in the different industrial sectors of an
passon, 2004). industry.
The implementation of project management in all areas sets Industrial sectors

new legitimacy standards and is continuously developing
and improving. Project management education and certi- The Projectification study in the three Western economies
fication is getting more specialized. Project management is Germany, Norway and Iceland showed on the first glace sim-
getting a chartered profession to protect the certified pro- ilar results with approximately 33% of share of project work
ject managers from those without a qualification. The only over all industrial sectors. But a deeper analysis of the ten
threat is an increase of competition through more compet- different industrial sectors shows large differences between
itors in the market. the sectors in the three Western European countries.
Table 1: Comparison of the share of project work in different industrial sectors in Germany, Norway and Iceland
NACE
Sector Germany Norway Iceland
Code
SHARE OF SHARE OF SHARE OF
SHARE ON SHARE ON SHARE ON
PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT
GVA 2013* GVA 2014* GVA 2014**
WORK 2013 WORK 2014 WORK 2014
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing 4.0% 0.9% 28.6% 1.7% 4.0% 7.0%
B-E 41.9% 26.1% 47.2% 32.6% 3.4% 8.9%
(excluding construction)
of which manufacturing - - 37.6% 8.8% -
oil and gas activity - - 50.7% 23.9% -
F Construction 80.0% 4.6% - - 80.0% 6.3%

G-I 42.0% 15.6% 13.4% 13.9% 18.2% 20.3%
tourism
J Information and communication 37.7% 4.7% 48.0% 3.8% 47.8% 5.3%
K Financial services & insurance 23.0% 4.1% 21.4% 5.1% 34.2% 8.8%
L Real estate 2.0% 11.1% - - 2.0% 11.1%
M-N Corporate service providers 60.0% 10.7% - - 60.0% 5.3%
O-Q Public sector, education, health 17.8% 18.1% 14.2% 22.0% 33.3% 22.1%
S Other service providers 23.0% 4.1% - 42.7% 42.7% 4.9%
Other service providers +

S+F+
construction + real estate + - - 40.5% 20.9% -
L + M-N
corporate service providers
Total*** 34.7% 100.00% 32.6% 100.00% 27.7% 100.00%
Source: Schoper et al, 2018
149
The agriculture, forestry and fishing sector for example has According to Godenhjelm projectification is one of the most
a project share of only 4% in Germany and Iceland, whereas important structural developments in the public sector in
it has a share of 29% in Norway where this sector contrib- general. It leads to the fact that public projects like infra-
utes to 1,7% to the national GVA. structure projects become more transparent as the intro-
duction of project management leads to transparent pro-
The manufacturing industry has a project share of 42% in ject governance structures in public administration (Müller
Germany and 47% in Norway whereas it has a share of 3% et al, 2016). The approval and execution of major public
in Iceland. projects like streets, public transportation, schools and uni-
versities, hospitals or high-speed data networks can lead to
Retail, transport, hospitality and tourism industry shows better way of value creation for a country for the sake of its
again a different picture: the project share is 42% in Germa- citizens and a better life for everyone.
ny, 13% in Norway and in Iceland 18%.
Bureaucracies in public administration are now increasingly
These three examples of three Western European coun- utilising project organisations to cope with the increasingly
tries show the different project maturity stages of the complex societal demands. In order to avoid the problems
industrial sectors in the national economies. Future re- of fragmentation and temporal differentiation they have to
search will show if there will be saturation level to be adapt to increasing projectification through the flexible and
reached concerning the extent of project work in the dif- innovative qualities of project organisations (Godenhjelm et
ferent industrial sectors. al 2015). Public administration could as a consequence gain
more flexibility, innovativeness and mobility from a qualified
Public sector project workforce.
After decades of executing classic administration, the pub- However a major issue is the structural embeddedness of
lic administration bodies on city, county, state, national and the public sector projects and the mechanisms for adap-
supranational level are forced to adopt to change caused tion between permanent structures in public administra-
through external factors like digitalisation, climate change, tion and temporary organisations (Godenhjelm et al 2015).
refugees and immigration, or urbanisation. Projects have The increased work carried out on a temporal limited basis
become an important device for developing and imple- leads to the threat that corporate learning and knowledge
menting public policies. Activities in the public sector are transfer from previous projects does not happen or not suf-
increasingly being organised as projects (Sahlin-Anders- ficiently. As a consequence mistakes and failures are re-
son and Söderholm, 2002; Sjöblom and Godenhjelm, 2009, peated, project cost increase and customer or citizen satis-
Godenhjelm et al 2015). faction will decrease.
The public sector has also understood that their strategic The social security systems
initiatives can be executed by projects. The projectifica-
tion study showed that public administration had with 18% As laid down projectification leads to the fact that more
a 54% growth rate concerning project work within the last people work as projectarians in organisations with temporal
five years (Schoper et al, 2018). limited employments. This tendency has enormous impacts
on the social security systems as the public health system,
As a consequence there is a growing awareness in public ad- the accident and unemployment insurance, or the national
ministration for the benefits of project management. How- pension funds.
ever public sector projects are embedded in a politico-ad-
ministrative context and are incorporated in a permanent The social security contributions in Germany in 2018 are of
structure. Project activities are therefore framed by the 39,7% of the income of an employee. They are payed on
norms, rules, strategies and governance principles of that a monthly basis to the same extent by the employer and the
structure (Godenhjelm et al 2015). employee. The employer´s social security tax rate current-
150
ly is 19,4% in Germany (the average in the EU is 22,21%, the cation systems, infrastructure, energy or food supply, new
global average is 15,75% Source: kpmg.com). From these income sources as cultural attractions, tourism aso.
regular monthly incomes the state pays monthly wages for
unemployed, for pensioners and those unable to work but But the trend towards projectified societies brings winners
also for maintaining public hospitals. This social construct and losers in a society, similar to the concept of the projec-
was implemented in Germany as the first country worldwide tocracy and the projectariat at the individual level. People
by chancellor Bismarck in 1881 and represents the basis for with a good education will be able to quickly adapt to the
social welfare states worldwide. changes, whereas there might also be people who are more
resistant to change and who could feel to be overrun by the
But the history of 137 successful years of social welfare states changes. The speed of change in a society must therefore
could come to an end as thie design of this social construc- be adopted that it fits to all members of a society.
tion is based on long-term job employments. With the raise
of projectification and temporal limited employments for the
duration of a project the basis gets increasingly instable and NATIONAL ECONOMIES
not calculable. Periods of project work are followed by short-
er or longer periods of unemployment meaning no income Project management plays a major role in successfully im-
from the social security contributions. The backbone of the plementing not only organizational but also national strat-
social welfare states could as the consequence of the pro- egy in a society. The national project management capabil-
jectification trend come to an end. As a consequence the ity supports to obtain competitive advantages to execute
social welfare system needs a reform of its social system with a national strategy, to manage change through strategic
its increasingly instable working conditions. initiatives. Improving the project management effectiveness
increases a nations’ success in their strategy execution (Al-
The mega level sadeq, 2016).
The mega level consists of societies, national economies, Global competition for foreign direct investments, offering
and supra-national organisations like the UN or the EU. attractive living conditions to the best educated global tal-
ents, healthy sustainable environmental conditions, high
Society public safety, and innovativeness to cope with the future
challenges as food and water supply, energy supply, climate
Projects are the vehicle for executing change both on a pri- change, digitalisation/ AI and the national flexibility to adopt
vate, corporate or society level. The projectification of the to the change.
societies means the development of a society with mem-
bers on all levels and in all institutions that are capable to Some nations have already understood that they need to
plan and execute projects professionally. develop all relevant stakeholders in their societies towards
becoming an innovative, projectified society. These are the
Project Management is criticised as a capitalist masculine countries that lead the Global Innovation Index. They seem
management practice (Jeanes et al 2012, Henderson, 2010). to have a national master plan for their change programs.
It is therefore particularly the task of the societies to further
develop the discipline that it becomes a more human ori- By investing in projectification the national economies
ented, sustainable management practice, not built upon the could gain a higher degree of innovativeness, attract inves-
exploitation of the human and natural resources. tors and direct foreign investments, build up wealthy, young
and healthy societies and attract new talents who bring in
If a whole society is capable to execute change, then it is new creativity and rare competences.
able to start new innovative initiatives that can lead to more
sustainable ways of life, the cultivation of the cultural herit- However by neglecting the trend of projectification a na-
age, better living conditions, better public services or edu- tional economy could lose its attractivity and innovativeness
151
and loose its young well-educated people who look for new and mega level, and researchers start to analyse the fur-
opportunities, leaving a poor, old society of elderly people. ther consequences. Pyramids, cathedrals and road sys-
tems have been built long before modern project manage-
ment started to develop – these projects have been rooted
SUPRANATIONAL INSTITUTIONS deeply in their societies.
A major part of the budget of supranational institutions like We are nowadays taking a more critical perspective than be-
the European Union, the United Nations, the World Bank, fore. Although it is well recognized that organizations are en-
the International Federation of Red Cross or Medicins sans abled to perform better by using portfolios, programs and
frontiers (MSF) consists of projects. projects – the possible negative consequence for individu-
als have become a focus of research and the implications for
94% of the annual EU budget is spent on projects in EU a society. In addition, the time and budget overruns of large
member states (European Commission, 2015). In 2018 public projects and programs, and of failures of mega-pro-
the project budget of the EU was 150,5 billion €. The projects in many countries have created an increasingly critical
ject budget of the United Nations was in 2017 543,9 million awareness of project “management”. We are heading to-
$ (United Nations, 2017), the International Red Cross has wards a more projectized world – but we do not yet know if
an annual project budget in 2018 of 300 million CHF (IFRC, it will be a better one – regarding its outputs and outcomes
2018), which corresponds to 60% of its annual budget, and for its stakeholders. A society that is capable to define, se-
MSF´s project budget in 2017 was 1,335 billion € (MSF, 2017), lect, plan, execute, and use projects, programs and portfoli-
which means that 83% of their annual budget is spent for os in a way that is beneficial for all stakeholder groups is still
social mission´s projects and programs. a vision – like many other visions that describe a better world.
These figures show the large impact that projects and pro- Nevertheless it is important to develop a clear vision of
grams have today for the world economy. Projects and pro- a project competent society and possible ways to reach it
grams are the drivers for change in the fight against poverty, and major counteracting forces and barriers that prevent
diseases, climate change, natural catastrophies, civil wars, reaching it. We should come from a quantitative description
illiteracy, better infrastructure aso. Without well-educated of projectification to a qualitative view of project compe-
project managers and project management tools, tech- tence and sense-making motivations that it comprises.
niques and competencies these important change projects
and programs could not be planned and executed as effi- Projectification has different implications for the different
cient and effective. Therefore the supranational institutions stakeholders at all levels. The analysis shows that there the
are both major drivers of the projectification trend but also impacts of the projectification trend, and that major chang-
profiteers of this development. es are already and are going to happen that will have effects
on our societies. Particularly the individuals that could end
The meta level up as projectariat and academic researchers must be sup-
ported by politicians and union representatives as they
The meta level consists of global relations and global trends could become the losers from this societal projectification
as transforming humanity. This is the most complex area to trend. As a consequence the ubiquious trend of projectifi-
research the impact of projectification. As a consequence cation has to become a major political topic in all nations.
there is so far no research existing in this area. Also a stronger influence of the supranational and nation-
al institutions is needed which should steer and control this
societal change. Particularly a better preparation of the in-
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION dividuals is needed.
The rise of projectification was noticed at the beginning More and more people work in projects to realize the strat-
at the organisational level (Midler, 1995). In the meantime egies of the executives, to create innovations and to fur-
projectification has been extended to the micro, the macro ther develop these ideas into new products and services, or
152
improve internal processes in organisations. Employment

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IV.
Public administration
based on transparent
project governance
structures
Vasili Osmakov | Aleksey Uchenov | Aleksandr Tovb |
Grigory Tsipes
Vasili Osmakov, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia | Aleksey Uchenov, Ministry of
Industry and Trade of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia | Aleksandr Tovb, SOVNET, Moscow, Russia | Grigory Tsipes,
IBS, SOVNET, Moscow, Russia
ABSTRACT Keywords: Organizational competence, Assessment, Exec-

utive bodies, Industrial projects
PURPOSE: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian
Federation for the past 5 years has gone a long way in de- Article Classification: Case study
veloping methods of project management, certain expe-
rience has been accumulated, specialized organizational,
methodological and software tools have been created. The INTRODUCTION
comprehension of this experience, the analysis of problems
and mistakes, the search for an optimal path for further de- No one doubts the existence and significance of the pro-
velopment, the harmonization of these solutions with the ject component in the activities of the executive bodies to-
approaches of the Government of the Russian Federation day. This fact is confirmed in particular by the active work
is especially relevant today, when professional ownership of on the implementation of project management methods
project management methods becomes the most impor- at the level of the Government of the Russian Federation:
tant area of competence of a civil servant. the creation of the Federal Project Office, the development
of an extensive regulatory and methodological base, pro-
APPROACH: The IPMA Delta® model was used as a general fessional development programs (The Decree 1050, 2016).
methodological basis for the study. This model was adapt- However, attention at this level is mainly focused on major
ed to the specifics of the project-oriented activities of the priority projects at the national (federal), sectoral and re-
Ministry in terms of composition of criteria and procedure gional levels.
for carrying out the analysis.
At the same time, as noted in (Nikitin et al., 2016), the pro-
FINDINGS: A detailed description of the current state of the ject-oriented activity of the Ministry of Industry and Trade
project activity of one of departments of the Ministry is giv- of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the
en for 28 criteria. In addition, for each of the areas studied, Ministry) has a much broader scope, including, among other
recommendations for development in the areas of the most things, the operation of enterprises receiving state funding
significant from the point of view of the impact on the over- for the implementation of their projects. Furthermore, the
all effectiveness of the project activity were developed. Ministry has already passed a sufficiently large path of de-
veloping methods of project management, has accumulat-
VALUE: Despite the specifics of the project activities of as- ed certain experience, specialized tools such as the State
sessed department, these conclusions and recommenda- Industrial Information System (SIIS) “GIS industry” (Niki-
tions are also relevant for other departments of the Min- tin, 2017) and the System of Voluntary Certification of En-
istry involved in project-oriented activities, and possibly terprises in the field of Project Management (Nikitin et al.,
for other executive authorities at the federal and regional 2017), registered by Federal Agency for Technical Regula-
levels. tion and Metrology in 2017).
159
Comprehension of this experience, analysis of problems and es, as well as the roles of the Department’s employees – from
mistakes, search for the optimal way of further development, experts and performers to project managers and sponsors.
harmonization of these solutions with the approaches of the
Government of the Russian Federation are particularly ac- In this or that role, the project-oriented activity scope in-
tual today, when the competencies in project, program and volves all employees of the Department, so all groups of
portfolio management are becoming the most important employees were included in the study. In general, the survey
sphere of professional competence of a public servant. In involved more than 20% of the Department staff, including
this context we understand competencies (plural from com- top and middle managers, vastly implicated in project-ori-
petency) as a defined requirement (norm) to knowledge, ented activities. Respondents were selected to cover pro-
skills and abilities of the subject (person or organization) ject-oriented activity of the Department completely.
in order to achieve the desired results and competence as
demonstrated possession of corresponding competencies – Preparing the methodology and conducting the study were
overall ability to apply relevant knowledge, skills and abilities done in collaboration with the experts of the Russian project
in the right manner and at the right time, including subject’s management association SOVNET, which have comprehen-
relation to its competence and to the object of activity. sive experience of assessment of large project-oriented or-
ganizations in IPMA Delta® Certification and in the national
The Department for Strategic Development and Corporate contests “Best Project of the Year” and “Project Olympus”.
Policy (hereinafter referred to as the Department), which
performs a significant part of its activities in a project form,
was chosen as the object for this study. The study has cov- 1. RESEARCH APPROACH
ered all areas of the project activities of the Department, in-
cluding its internal and external projects. As a general methodological basis for the study was used
the IPMA Delta® model (IPMA Delta, 2015), developed by the
The group of internal projects includes: International Association of Project Management IPMA to
»» projects focused on implementing activities in the field assess the competence of organizations in the field of pro-
of the direct responsibility of the Department, for exam- ject management. Within the framework of this model, the
ple, development of strategies and regulations, organiz- competence of an organization is understood as its abili-
ing of exhibitions and fairs; ty to achieve its goals, by means of a thoughtful combina-
»» projects focused on improving the efficiency of the De- tion or application of the available competencies of certain
partment’s activities, for example, development of in- employees, strategic, structural and cultural competencies,
formation systems, optimization of administrative and and assets, in the course of implementing projects, pro-
managerial processes, training of personnel. grams and portfolios of projects and programs.
The group of external projects includes: In accordance with the IPMA Delta® model, the organization
»» national (federal) and sectoral projects and programs in is assessed for compliance with the criteria of five classes of
the area of Department’s responsibility; competence:
»» projects implemented as part of special investment »» Class 1 – Initial: achievements in project management
contracts (Osmakov, 2017); at the level of individual employees. There are people
»» projects implemented by industrial enterprises using who work well, but the performance is not constant. The
state financial support; organization does not have formal standards, struc-
»» R&D projects commissioned by the Department in the tures and processes for managing projects.
interests of industry organizations. »» Class 2 – Defined: there are partially defined standards,
structures and processes of project management pro-
The Department governs and manages more than a thou- cesses that are partially applied in the organization.
sand of simultaneously implemented projects, which differ »» Class 3 – Standardised: there are completely defined
significantly in purpose, scale, complexity, need for resourc- standards, structures and project management pro-
160
cesses, which are mainly used in all departments of the itive judgments”, and respondents were asked to note the
organization. degree of their agreement / disagreement with these judg-
»» Class 4 – Managed: there are absolutely certain stand- ments (Likert scale):
ards, structures and of project management processes »» the respondent strongly agrees with the statement for-
that are fully applied in all departments of the organiza- mulated in the evaluation criteria – the evaluation is ex-
tion and which actively monitor the management of the cellent (5);
organization. »» the respondent agrees with the statement formulated in
»» Class 5 – Optimised: there are absolutely certain stand- the evaluation criteria – the evaluation is good (4);
ards, structures and project management processes that »» the respondent is neutral (neither yes nor no) to the
are fully applied in all departments of the organization, statement formulated in the evaluation criteria – the
and that actively monitored and continuously developed evaluation is neutral (3), is not taken into account when
by the management of the organization. calculating the overall rating;
»» the respondent does not agree with the statement for-
The IPMA Delta® model was adapted to the specifics of the mulated in the evaluation criteria – the evaluation is
project-oriented activities of the Department in terms of poor (2);
composition of criteria and procedure for carrying out the »» The respondent strongly disagrees with the statement
analysis. formulated in the evaluation criteria – the assessment
is very bad (1).
For the analysis of the project-oriented activities of the De-
partment, there have been developed 28 criteria that have Rules and guidelines for respondents are provided with ex-
comprised four groups – project management, organiza- amples of possible requested additional information for
tion of project management processes, competence of each criterion:
project personnel and interaction of projects with the ex- »» which materials (regulations, manuals and other norma-
ternal environment. tive and methodological documents) respondent can
be asked to provide;
The evaluation of the criteria was carried out using a ques- »» which additional questions respondent can be asked
tionnaire. The questions were formulated in terms of “pos- during the interview.
161
Question group “Project governance”
In this area, the criteria cover the organization and develop- tiveness, aspects of project culture, leadership and commu-
ment of project-oriented activities, its efficiency and effec- nication (see Table 1).
Table 1. Criteria for Project Governance
No Criterion (Statement) Possible confirming documents Possible questions for interviews
1 The Department has and implement Action plan for the development Does the management of the
a strategy for the development of of project management department determine the management
project-oriented activities of projects and programs as a function?
Reports on completed activities
2 The Department monitors the System of performance indicators What indicators are used to measure
efficiency and effectiveness of the the success of projects / programs?
project-oriented activities Project and program monitoring
manual In what form the reaction to the
exceptions is carried out?
Project and program
management reports
3 The project and process forms of Regulations on the Department Do any conflicts between the project
management mutually complement and processes activities of employees
each other and are harmoniously Regulation on the project arise?
combined in the activity of the management
Department How are these conflicts resolved?
Regulation on the motivation
system
4 Top managers of the Department Minutes of internal meetings How much time do the top-managers
are involved in project-oriented of the Department give to the
activities development of project management?
5 The culture of project management Policy of human resources How is the result orientation of the
is seen as an essential part of management employees ensured?
the corporate culture of the
Department Regulations on the Department
Job descriptions
6 The Department follows ethical Code of conduct Do incidents of violation of ethical

principles, such as trust, openness standards occur frequently?
and transparency
How are these incidents resolved?
7 The Department promotes the Training programs Are there formal rules for
development of the competence communication?
of leadership and communications Staff development plans
for the employees engaged in the To what extent are these rules followed?
Communication manuals
project-oriented activity
8 The methods of managing projects Internal databases of historical Are lessons from project-oriented
and programs are continuously information activities learned?
being improved
Programs of seminars and In what form are they formalized and
conferences, in which the staff of stored?
the Department takes part
Is the experience of other organizations
used in the development of project
management in the Department?
How often is the normative and
regulatory basis for project
management updated?
162
Question group “Organization of project management

processes”
In this area, the criteria relate to the strategic decision-mak- grams and portfolios, including integration, alignment, in-
ing process on the formation of portfolios and programs, as teraction with counterparties, reporting and documentation
well as the management processes of partial projects, pro- (see Table. 2).
Table 2. Criteria for project management processes
No Criterion (Statement) Possible confirming documents Possible questions for interview
1 Selection of projects is carried Regulations for the selection of How is the reasonableness degree
out in accordance with strategic projects of taken decisions monitored?
priorities
2 Expectations and demands of all Specifications for project In what way the expectations and
project stakeholders are identified requirements of the stakeholders
and documented Project charter are identified and harmonized?
3 The progress of projects is Regulations on project reporting Are information systems used for
monitored and analyzed at reporting?
all levels of the Department’s Consolidated reports on projects
management
4 The Department has formalized Project management policy Does the normative and regulatory
rules for managing projects and framework cover the issues
programs Regulations of project management of management of cost, risks,
processes problems, changes, etc.?
5 The Department has formalized Procedures for the management of What project portfolios are
rules for managing project project portfolios implemented in the Department?
portfolios
Reports on project portfolios Are analytical reports on project
portfolios being formed?
6 The project management processes Regulation on the Department Are there any failures in receiving
are integrated into the general / transferring information from
processes of the activity of the Regulation on project management / to related administrative and
Department and the Ministry managerial processes?
What are the causes of these
failures?
7 Purchasing management processes Statistics of contracts How often the signed contracts go
are organized effectively and (postponement of tenders, to break?
productively cancellation of the tenders)
What are the reasons for this?
Statistics of the performance of
contracts
8 The Department has formalized Regulations for document Are the information systems used to
rules for managing project management manage the documents?
documentation
How long does it take to find the
required project document?
163
Question group “Project personnel competence”
In this area, the criteria cover the issues of professional in project activities, and approaches and processes for de-
competence of project, program and portfolio managers, veloping of project personnel competence (see Table 3).
other stakeholders, selection of personnel for participation
Table 3. Criteria for project personnel competence
No Criterion (statement) Possible confirming documents Possible questions for interview
1 The Department has actual job Job / role instructions for project What special requirements are
/ role instructions from project managers applied for the qualification of
managers project managers?
2 The indicators of efficiency and System of performance indicators How are the indicators collected?
effectiveness of project managers
are defined in the Department How the reliability of information is
verified?
3 The Department regularly assesses Regulations of attestation or its Who evaluates the competence of
the competence of project analogs project personnel?
managers
What methods are used?
4 The competence of project Regulations of project management What project parameters are taken
managers is taken into account processes into account when choosing a
when they are assigned to a project project manager?
Are the stakeholders’ peculiarities
taken into account when choosing
the project manager?
5 The Department supports Training programs How the trajectory of qualification

professional development of the growth is built?
project personnel Plans for staff development
What determines the choice of
Confirming documents of training training programs?
centers
6 The department uses an Confirming documents of certifying What determines the choice of
independent external evaluation of bodies certification programs?
project personnel qualification
164
Question group “Interaction of projects with the external

environment”
In this area, the criteria cover the usage of opportunities and sources management, finance, supply, information systems
tools that are common to the Ministry, such as human re- and technology, knowledge bases and other (see Table 4).
Table 4. Criteria for Interaction of projects with the external environment
No Criterion (statement) Possible confirming documents Possible questions for interview
1 In the HR management of project Regulations on business processes What functions of project personnel
personnel, the Department actively management are realized by HR
uses support of the HR department department of the Ministry?
of the Ministry
2 The motivation system of the Regulations on the motivation How are the principles of
Department encourages the system project motivation combined
participation of employees in the with traditional approaches to
project activities motivation in the Federal Executive
body?
3 In the procurement management Regulations on business processes What functions of procurement

processes, the Department management are realized by core
actively uses the support of core departments of the Ministry?
departments of the Ministry
4 Project selection and project Regulations of project management Are formalized criteria for
management processes take processes the impact of projects on the
full account of ecology and environment used?
environmental aspects
5 In the project activity of the User manual Are project managers' requirements
Department, the information taken into account when developing
system of the Ministry are actively User interface information systems?
used
6 The knowledge base for project User manual Can you demonstrate examples of
activities exists, is constantly the use of knowledge?
updated and actively used Usage statistics
165
Methodology for evaluation mats – questionnaires, documentation studies, interviews

with the top-management, unit managers and staff of the
As noted earlier, the partial estimates of project activities for Department. To increase the objectivity of the evaluation,
separate criteria were carried out using the Likert scale. The some special methods were used such as:
resulting partial estimate by a separate criterion is calculat- »» obtaining independent assessments from several com-
ed as the arithmetic mean for all respondents. At the same petent assessors;
time, the estimates “neither yes nor no” are not taken into »» conducting questionnaires regardless of the Depart-
account in the calculation. ment’s top-management;
»» engaging for an interview a large number of employees
Further, consolidated estimates for the areas were com- representing different roles and activities.
piled as the arithmetic mean of the partial estimates for all
the criteria of each area and the Final Integrated Estimate The general scheme of the processes of collecting, analyz-
of the project activity (FIE) as the arithmetic mean of the ing and verifying the source data is represented in Fig. 1. The
combined estimates for all four areas. To clarify the FIE, the first stage of this phase includes survey preparation, defin-
“Optimism Index” coefficient was used, taking into account ing of participants, collecting documents related to the pro-
the level of objectivity of the partial estimates obtained. The ject activities, clarifying the questions for self-assessment.
value of the Optimism Index was determined by assessors
based on interviews with respondents. Then, on the second stage, a survey was conducted and
a preliminary analysis of the results of the self-assessment
The final step in forming the estimate is to correlate the FIE of the project activity by the Department’s staff was car-
with the competence class of the IPMA Delta® model. For ried out. The results of this phase determined, in particu-
this purpose was used the scale given in Table 5. lar, the volume of the sample detailed survey and formed
a list of issues for discussion with the Department’s staff at
interviews.
Table 5. Determination of the competence of the
Department in the project activity
Finally, on the third stage, observation and interviews were
Final integrated IPMA Delta® conducted by the assessors and an in-depth analysis of the
estimate competence class project activities of the Department was carried out. At this
stage, the level of competence of the Department in the
FIE 4,95 Class 5: Optimised project management was correlated with one of the matu-
rity classes of the IPMA Delta® model, and preliminary con-
3,95 FIE 4,95 Class 4: Managed
clusions were submitted to the Department’s top-manage-
2,95 FIE 3,95 Class 3: Standardised ment and agreed upon.
1,95 FIE 2,95 Class 2: Defined At the second phase of the study, on the basis of the anal-
ysis, strengths and areas for improvement were identified
FIE 1,95 Class 1: Initial
and specific recommendations for improving the efficiency
of the Department’s project activities were developed. The
general scheme of this phase is shown in Fig.2. At the first
stage of this phase, disagreements were resolved, final es-
2. PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING timates of the effectiveness of the project activities of the
THE RESEARCH Department were refined and agreed upon. Further, at the
second stage, recommendations were developed for each
The research process included two phases – collection, of the four areas – project management, organization of
analysis and verification of source data (Phase 1) and de- project management processes, the competence of project
velopment of recommendations (Phase 2). The analysis of personnel and the interaction of projects with the external
the project activities was carried out using a variety of for- environment.
166
Fig. 1. The general scheme of the processes of collecting, analyzing and verifying the input data
Fig. 2. The general scheme of the processes of recommendations development
3. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH At the same time, according to the assessors, high esti-
mates on other criteria groups cannot be fully justified. In
One of the important results of the study was a more correct many cases, the respondents submitted estimates without
understanding by the Department’s staff the essence and having a basis for comparison and not knowing good prac-
peculiarities of their project activities. This clearly appeared tices, which is due to the small personal experience of the
in evaluating the criteria given by the staff in the question- project activity. In the opinion of the assessors, this led to an
naires before and after the interview (sees Fig. 3). First of all, overestimation of evaluations on a number of criteria.
it is necessary to note a radical (more than threefold) re-
duction in the number of evaluations “neither yes nor no”. Taking these considerations into account, a reduction fac-
In addition, after the interview, the “shift of estimates to the tor of 0.8 (“Optimism Index”) was applied to clarify the final
right” has significantly decreased, that is, the number of integrated estimate of the Department’s competence in the
overly optimistic estimates has been reduced. field of project management. As a result, the overall (aver-
age) score for the Department was 2.4 points, which corre-
The research also showed almost identical profiles of es- sponds to the second class of competence in the IPMA Del-
timates made by the Department’s top-management and ta® model (“Defined” class).
line personnel. It led to a conclusion about the uniformity
of the opinions of the entire Department’s staff (see Fig. 4). At the same time, it should be noted that the level of com-
Taking into account this fact, the conclusions and recom- petence in the project activity differs in various units of the
mendations based on the results of the research were made Department:
taking into account the opinions of all respondents without »» for units that conduct special investment contracts and
dividing them into segments. federal / ministerial priority projects, according to as-
sessors, the level of competence corresponds to the
Comparative analysis of the research results by groups of second class (“Defined”) and can be quickly brought to
criteria showed that the most undeveloped area is the com- the third class (“Standardized”) in a number of areas;
petence of the project personnel (see Fig. 5). This conclu- »» for other units, according to assessors, the level of com-
sion, drawn from the results of the questionnaire, is also petence corresponds to the first class (“Initial”) and sig-
confirmed by the large number of evaluations “neither yes nificant efforts are required to move to the second class
nor no”, exhibited at the initial completion of the question- of competence.
naires, which indicates a weak methodical background in
the field of project management for many respondents. It This situation seems quite logical, since departmental reg-
should be noted that the results of the interview also con- ulatory and methodological documents based on profes-
firmed this conclusion. sional methods of project management are actively devel-
oped and implemented just for special investment contracts
and priority projects.
169
Fig. 3. Reducing “ignorance” and reducing the level of optimism
a) Estimates before interview b) Estimates after interview
100 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
- 1 – answers «Strongly disagree» - 3 – answers «Neither yes nor no»

- 2 – answers «Disagree» - 4 – answers «Agree»
- 5 – answers «Strongly agree»
Fig. 4. Uniformity of opinions by segments
a) Top-management of the Department b) Line personnel of the Department

45 60
40
35 50
30 40
25
20 30
15 20
10
10
5
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
- 1 – answers «Strongly disagree» - 3 – answers «Neither yes nor no»

- 2 – answers «Disagree» - 4 – answers «Agree»
- 5 – answers «Strongly agree»
Fig. 5. Analysis of estimates by groups of criteria

1
4,00
3,00
2,00
1,00 - 1 – Project governance (3,91 points)

- 2 - Organization of project management processes (3,73 points)
4 0,00 2 - 3 - Project personnel competence (1,83 points)
- 4 - Interaction of projects with the external environment (2,63 points)
170
4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS point of view of the personal participation of management

ON RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH in the development of project management methods.
A detailed description of the current state of the project ac- RECOMMENDATION 4. To consider the development of pro-
tivity of the Department is given for each group of criteria. ject management as an internal project of the Department,
In addition, for each of the areas studied, recommendations to determine the main results and timing of the implemen-
for development in the areas of the most significant from tation of project management. To appoint one of the deputy
the point of view of the impact on the overall effectiveness directors of the Department as the project manager.
of the project activity were developed. Despite the specifics
of the project activities of the Department, these conclu- Organization of project management processes
sions and recommendations are also relevant for other de-
partments of the Ministry involved in project activities, and The main tasks of development in this direction are con-
possibly for other executive authorities at the federal and nected with the reasonable formalization of the processes
regional levels. of project management. On the one hand, if the project ac-
tivity is not sufficiently formalized, it will dissolve in the ma-
Project governance ture and established bureaucratic culture of the Ministry. On
the other hand, many participants expressed concern that
Despite the fact that this group of criteria received high the possible positive effect of developing a formalized ap-
marks from respondents, it is to it that many of the critical proach in the project activities of the Department would be
factors in the success of the development of project man- completely destroyed by the concomitant growth of bu-
agement, identified by the participants in the study. The De- reaucratization.
partment has good prerequisites for the development of
the project approach: the leadership is actively involved, RECOMMENDATION 5. Identify the processes that require
important elements of the project culture have developed, formalization and the level of formalization necessary and
there are points of growth, good practices are being formed. sufficient to comply with uniform principles, approaches and
However, the development of project management is large- methods for implementing all types of project activities of
ly spontaneous, without a clearly articulated plan. the Department.
RECOMMENDATION 1. To create a clear understanding of RECOMMENDATION 6. Develop regulations for project ac-
the forms and content of the project activities of the De- tivities that correspond to the chosen level of formalization.
partment, the principles for distinguishing between opera- Make sure that the developed regulations allow to reduce
tional and project activities. Form an internal normative act risks, increase transparency and effectiveness without in-
(the Policy of Project Management in the Department), fix- creasing the bureaucratic burden on employees.
ing this understanding in terms that do not allow arbitrary
interpretations. RECOMMENDATION 7. Consider the work on the regulato-
ry and methodological framework for project management
RECOMMENDATION 2. To create a full comprehension of of the Department, as a permanent activity requiring in-
the project culture of the Department, adequate to its ac- creased attention and involvement of management. Identi-
tivities, as a structural subdivision of the federal executive fy the appropriate roles for the Department’s staff conduct-
authority. Identify the necessary components of the project ing this work.
culture, its weaknesses in the current state, opportunities
and methods of development. Competence of project personnel
RECOMMENDATION 3. To consider the involvement of the This area lags far behind the others and can become a se-
Department’s management in the project activities not only rious brake in the overall development of the project ap-
as an attention to the results of projects, but also from the proach in the Department. The main direction of develop-
171
ment in this area can be formulated with the words of one showed, the Department often takes a passive attitude in
of the participants of the study: “Understand what is pro- relations with other departments of the Ministry and does
ject management and remove fears of its implementa- not take full advantage of the available opportunities.
tion.” Given the rather low starting level in this area, which
is recognized by almost all participants of the study, here Thus, the requirements for the development of the project
it should be a complex and systemic development of the activities of the Department require a significant restructur-
professional competence of employees in the field of pro- ing of the entire Ministry’s approaches in the field of project
ject management. management, and primarily in the field of project motivation.
RECOMMENDATION 8. Create specialized training programs RECOMMENDATION 13. Identify and formulate the needs of
covering a wide range of issues of project management the Department, which can be considered as services pro-
methodology, as well as taking into account the specifics vided by other departments of the Ministry.
of the work of the Ministry, as a federal executive body and
specific areas of the project activities of the Department. RECOMMENDATION 14. Define the principles and formats for
the joint work of the Department’s staff and representatives
RECOMMENDATION 9. To consider the development of proof other departments of the Ministry (primarily sectoral) in
fessional competence in the field of project management as unified project teams.
a priority task, allocate sufficient time for the full participa-
tion of staff in training programs. RECOMMENDATION 15. Go from creating spontaneously
emerging knowledge bases to professional knowledge man-
RECOMMENDATION 10. To fix the requirements for profes- agement for the Department’s project activities. Spread the
sional competence in the field of project management in job good practices available to all units of the Department.
descriptions, to develop on their basis indicators of the ef-
fectiveness and effectiveness of training. RECOMMENDATION 16. Develop own vision of the system
of material motivation of the Department’s staff, encourag-
RECOMMENDATION 11. Implement a large-scale training ing participation, efficiency and effectiveness in the project
program in project management for all Department staff. activities. To coordinate these ideas with the approaches
Provide different training tracks for different groups of per- of the Federal Project Office. Go to the leadership of the
sonnel in accordance with their roles and level of involve- Ministry with proposals to change the system of material
ment in project activities. motivation.
RECOMMENDATION 12. The Department’s management

should undergo specialized training and certification in ac- CONCLUSION
cordance with one of the recognized international standards.
Based on the study, the Department received a number of
Interaction of projects with external environment results important from the point of view of the formation of
a new management culture and relevant professional tools.
The main tasks of development in this direction are related
to increasing the effectiveness of the Department’s inter- Among these results, first of all, it is necessary to highlight
action with the subdivisions of the Ministry, both within the the appearance in the staff of the Department of a more
framework of implementing specific projects, and within the complete understanding of the principles and methods of
framework of general administrative and management pro- the project activity and the specifics of its use in federal ex-
cesses affecting the project activities of the Department. ecutive bodies. It should also be noted the convergence of
different points of view on the usefulness of these meth-
One of the serious problems in this area is the lack of clearly ods and general acceptance of the expediency of their im-
articulated principles and formats for the joint work of staff plementation in the Department. Equally important is the
from different departments. On the other hand, as the study awareness of the staff of the challenges facing the Depart-
172
ment in implementing the project management and reduc- The most valuable result of the study is the emergence of
ing the level of unreasonable optimism. specific recommendations that provide a comprehensive
picture of the process of improving the project activities of
Another significant result of the study is the identification the Department and allow forming a road map for the intro-
in the Department of good project management practices. duction of professional methods of project management. It
Today, these practices are largely spontaneously influenced should be noted that recommendations in the most critical
by external circumstances. However, they can and should areas are planned for implementation in 2018.
become centers of crystallization and dissemination of ex-
pertise in the field of project management.
References
The decree 1050 (2016). On the organization of project activi- Nikitin, G., Osmakov, V., Pastukhov, V., Tovb. A., Tsipes, G.
ties in the Government of the Russian Federation. The Decree of (2017). Voluntary certification system of Russian industrial en-
the Government of the Russian Federation of October 15, 2016 terprises in the field of project management. in Break-through
No 1050, available at: http://government.ru/docs/24918/ (ac- competences for Managing Change abstracts of 30th World
cessed 24 July 2018) Congress IPMA in Astana, Kazakhstan, 2017, p. 14
Nikitin, G., Barykin, A., Slyshkin, V., Tsipes, G. (2016). Engineer- Osmakov, V. (2015). Instruments of government support for lo-
ing and Infrastructure Projects in Ministry of Industry and Trade calization of foreign production in Russia, available at: http://
of Russia: Balance of Governance and Management. Procedia - minpromtorg.gov.ru/common/upload/files/docs/Instruments_
Social and Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 226, pp. 358-364 of_government_support_for_localization_of_foreign_produc-
tionin_Russia_V.S._Osmakov.pdf (accessed 24 July 2018)
Nikitin, G., (2017). Nizhny Novgorod region decided to make
the leader in the “digitization” of industry. Interview of the IPMA Delta (2015). IPMA Delta – moving organizations forward
provisional Governor of Nizhny Novgorod region G.S. Nikitin. in translating strategy into results, available at: https://www.
Rossiiskaya gazeta, 19 December 2017, available at: https:// ipma.world/assets/IPMA_Delta_Brochure_ENG_2015_Screen.
rg.ru/2017/12/19/reg-pfo/nikitin-oblast-dolzhna-stat-li- pdf (accessed 24 July 2018)
derom-po-ocifrovke-promyshlennosti.html, (accessed 24 July
2018)
173
V.
Value creation
through projects /
project management
for the society
Haukur Ingi Jonasson | Helgi Thor Ingason
Project Pedagogy and Projectification of Fragile Local

Communities – DRAFT Offering ICB4 Project Management
Training on a Municipality Level
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is lay a foundation for an upcom- Fragile Communities in Iceland
ing case study that aims to projectify an isolated small lo-
cal community in rural Iceland—a community that has been The Republic of Iceland has a population of only 330,000
identified as fragile, i.e. lagging behind with regards to devel- people living in an area of 103 thousand square kilometers.
opment as compared to the rest of communities in Iceland— Iceland is a prosperous country with a GDP of 51 thousand
as to transform it on both individual and collective level. The USD per capita in 2015 according to the UN, ranking the
approach will be to offer all of its inhabitants (aged 20-65) country 12th in the world. Since the country’s full sovereign-
a solid project management training course that is regis- ty in 1944, a close relationship has been developed with the
tered by the International Project Management Association Scandinavian countries but Iceland has been a member of
and measure the impact of this training on both the individ- the European Economic Area (EEA) since 1994. The export
ual participant and on the community. The methodology of economy is based on three major pillars: fisheries, heavy in-
this paper is to lay out some theoretical considerations as dustries (mainly aluminium production) and tourism.
to define project management as a specific pedagogy and
how it will be applied in the fragile community experiment. The programme Fragile Communities in Iceland comes out
The key findings are that it is well possible to think of pro- a larger programme named the Regional Development Plan
ject management as a specific pedagogy and that project 2014-2017 that has, and continues to be, use as a mean of
pedagogy might be a key instrument as to transform local the Regional Development Agency (Byggðastofnun) to as-
communities that are struggling for their existence and fu- sist small local communities that are lagging behind within
ture. As the paper lays a preliminary foundation for a future the overall development of the Icelandic society. Applica-
research project its research limitations evolve around the tion for participation for the municipality is sought and the
fact that the claims made will still have to be taken to trial in number of participation building layers of materials and cir-
the actual case study. The theoretical implications are that cumstances is determined at any given time. The operation
a new concept, or even a brand-new field, has been creat- is one of the key areas of a regional plan for specific action
ed, i.e. project pedagogy with potentially many practical im- in defence areas.
plications both for individuals, organizations and society. It
is hoped that the social implications of this paper will be to The Fragile Communities programme is based on similar
illustrate how project management can be used as a trans- programmes from the neighbouring countries that focuses
formative tool in communities that need a fresh spark to rein “regional transformation” (“regional omstilling”) and sup-
invent themselves. The paper is original in illustrating how port. In Norway, for instance, regional transformation pro-
project management philosophy and practice to develop grammes are based on co-operation between state, state
individuals, potentially reinvent communities and improve and local authorities. The programmes are characterized by
quality of living. being an emergency crisis plan, plans for employment cre-
177
ation, long-term strategy with clear objectives, ownership initiative and throughout there is an ongoing dialogue with
of local residents and funds that support the community. project manager and project management team.
The Cornwall, Community Lead Local Development, lead by
LEADER and CLLD programmes consist of projects that are Annually there have been grants for selected innovative
lead by project leaders and provides grants for investments projects. Annually each of the communities under consider-
in equipment and equipment. ation have received approximately five to seven million Ice-
landic kronas (50-60 Euros) annually. As of the end of 2017,
Number of inhabitants and demographics (50%), cost / price 125 project grants have been distributed, of total 111 millions
of housing (5%), geological location and access to employ- Icelandic kronas. These projects have been of very diverse
ment (20%), other factors such as businesses, fiscal strength nature and have, for instance, focused on employment, in-
of municipalities, income and communication (25%). dustries, events, community, webpages, tourism, food pro-
duction, etc. At Assembles of Local Inhabitants the local
The programme´s main goal is “To stop persistent popu- residents engage in a conversation where they sit in a circle
lation decline in smaller settlements and rural areas of the and come up with suggestions for topics to discuss. These
country”. The programme objectives are: topics are then discussed in smaller groups and at the end
»» To increase the resilience of fragile communities against there is a voting on what to focus on in the project.
deterioration such as population decline, distorted age
distribution and industrial shocks. The Experience of the Programme so Far
»» To enhance the initiative and association of the popula-
tion and increasing their awareness of their own contri- In 2014-2015 the Fragile Communities Program was evalu-
bution to the development of society. ated through an internal self-evaluation of the Regional In-
»» To provide citizens with the opportunity to participate in stitute and their cooperatives, the managers of the program
prioritization of issues. went to Norway in 2014 for a benchmarking purposes (“re-
»» To configure strings of state, municipality, government gional omstilling”), evaluation of the program by EY-con-
agencies, industry and residents in decisions that consulting on behalf of the ministry of employment and inno-
cern the local community. vation (2015). Based on this a new Program description was
»» To utilize the project to raise awareness of subjects that published in 2016.
apply to more than one community and to seek solu-
tions to them in cooperation with government and other The Fragile Communities Programme was supposed to
stakeholders. (Byggðastofnun, 2018). seed fell into a fertile soil with an active involvement of the
population in all of the communities and a significant fer-
Th steering committees and participants come from the mu- mentation occurred within the community. This has gone
nicipality that encompasses the fragile community in ques- more or less as planned. It has, however, manifested that
tion. Also involved in the steering committees are represent- one to two years is too short of a time and there is a need
atives of various regional Associations, job development for a clearer goal setting and planning. It has also manifest-
agencies (or employment creation consultants for reginal ed that goals, objectives and project plans and project re-
associations), Regional Development Institute, the Ministries, sponsibilities could be much better defined. It has also be
the Steering Committee of the Cabinet, residents and local claimed, that the hired project managers were not active
industries, and a consultant on public participation. and there was an lack of clarity with regard who was lead-
ing the project. Overall, the experience shows that synergy
The participation of the local population is a key factor as is important as align the efforts of municipalities and their
they are the ones are to define their strategy and a project support systems with other plans. Funding has been limited
plan that is based on their views and future focus, The lo- and there is an ongoing uncertainity about the funding. Im-
cal residents have their representatives in the project team, mediately after the meetings of the local assembles the res-
there are assembles where the local residents can express idents were hopeful and excited, but this momentum soon
their views and concerns. The focus is on sparking the local fell short.
178
Project Pedagogy and Projectification of Fragile Local Communities – DRAFT Offering ICB4 Project Management Training on a Municipality Level
Based on these findings the Fragile Communities Pro- fact that the claims made will still have to be taken to trial in
gramme has changed it tactics as to improve the impact of the actual case study. The theoretical implications are that
the programme. Now the programme demands a thorough a new concept, or even a brand-new field, has been creat-
analysis of the current status of the community is the basis ed, i.e. project pedagogy with potentially many practical im-
of an application for each project. Also, now a clear strategy plications both for individuals, organizations and society. It
for each project is made based on analyses and results of is hoped that the social implications of this paper will be to
local councils (vision, goals, objective, tasks). These objec- illustrate how project management can be used as a trans-
tives are Employee well timed, measurable and defined with formative tool in communities that need a fresh spark to re-
clear responsibilities. Also, now there is a much clearer pro- invent themselves. The paper is original in illustrating how
ject description and a five years phase plan. There are pro- project management philosophy and practice to develop
ject managers recruited, some with more than one regional individuals, potentially reinvent communities and improve
team, project grants are awarded annually, there is an an- quality of living.
nual assessment of success and an increased cooperation
both within the district and the government system. e (Orkusetur) on central heating houses in areas that lack
hot ground water for heating (the typical way Icelanders
Current Successes of the Fragile Communities heat their houses). Many good innovative initiatives began
Programme in the local area with support for the programme.
Analysis of the results of the Fragile Communities Pro- Further, the programme has now gained a support from the
gramme illustrates that there is more innovation taking European Erasmus+ through the INTERFACE project (In-
place within the communities through new projects have novation and Entrepreneurship for Fragile Communities in
been created. The local population is more engaged and Europe) with a two-year grant. The programme is a coop-
active and this has also been supported by the implemen- eration of five nations, and lead by the Icelandic Regional
tation of Reginal Quota. Large grant was given to support Institute and the Bifröst University in Iceland is also a par-
tourism and an International Research Center at Rif at Ra- ticipant. The INTRFACE project builds in part on the Fragile
ufarhöfn. Innovation and new activities in the old fish facto- Communities Program with its goal to define how to provide
ry in Breiðdalsvík, strong cooperation with the Energy Cent guidance and training in fragile communities and strength-
The purpose of this paper is lay a foundation for an upcom- ening the entrepreneurial spirit of local people through
ing case study that aims to projectify an isolated small lo- self-determination.
cal community in rural Iceland—a community that has been
identified as fragile, i.e. lagging behind with regards to devel- The Fragile Communities Program is an experimental un-
opment as compared to the rest of communities in Iceland— dertaking where a new approach in reginal affairs is pro-
as to transform it on both individual and collective level. The posed. These methods have been and will continue to be
approach will be to offer all of its inhabitants (aged 20-65) adapted to each situation, experience and performance as-
a solid project management training course that is regis- sessment. The program is a live project.
tered by the International Project Management Association
and measure the impact of this training on both the individ-
ual participant and on the community. The methodology of WHY FRAGILE COMMUNITIES?
this paper is to lay out some theoretical considerations as
to define project management as a specific pedagogy and One of the project managers for the Fragile Communities
how it will be applied in the fragile community experiment. Programe in Iceland, Eirny Valsdottir MPM, asks: Why call it
The key findings are that it is well possible to think of pro- fragile communities? Does anyone want to live in commu-
ject management as a specific pedagogy and that project nity that has be labelled as fragile? Is the label beneficial
pedagogy might be a key instrument as to transform local for the programme? In an attempt to get a better grip, and
communities that are struggling for their existence and fu- a more usable understanding of the “fragility” in question,
ture. As the paper lays a preliminary foundation for a future Eirny compared the monetary and cultural treasures that
research project its research limitations evolve around the the fragile communities possess with other fragile valuables
179
such as glasses, wool sweaters, and eye glasses. She points The earilest indications of the actual use of the concept can
out that all these are valuables that deserve concern and be found in the work of writers such as James Madison (The
care; and that same holds with “fragile communities” that Federalist Papers) and Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in
are then communities that are especially in need for at- America). De Tocqueville associated social capital with high
tendance and care as to protect and preserve their social level of social participation. He observed that the life-style of
value and cultural worth. US citizens in the 19th valued special approach to communal
living, where citizens participated well in social gatherings to
But how to identify “fragile communities”, or in other words, discuss social affairs. Such open dialouge cretaed transpar-
which communities are fragile and which are not? Many ency that allowed for more effective democracy. The French
of the fragile communities in Iceland have become fragile writer highlighted also that the level of social participation
when, for instance, talent and businesses, such as fisheries (social capital) in American society was directly linked to the
and fish processing firms have moved away. It has point- equality of conditions (Ferragina, 2010; 2012; 2013).
ed out that in many cases rather strong communities have
become fragile almost over-night for this reason. Just like In 1916 L. J. Hanifan’s wrote about local support for rural
when a strong person has an accident and becomes frag- schools and defined the term social capital with reference
ile. The same applies with osteoporosis and fatigue in metal to personal involvement in community and social cohesion.
objects. All needs attention and maintenance, and the same [4] Hanifan said: “I do not refer to real estate, or to person-
applies to the health of communities. al property or to cold cash, but rather to that in life which
tends to make these tangible substances count for most in
Another question that the Icelandic community as a whole, the daily lives of people, namely, goodwill, fellowship, mutu-
faces is the question whether all of the spread local com- al sympathy and social intercourse among a group of indi-
munities along the Icelandic coast line should and could be viduals and families who make up a social unit […] If he may
saved, spared or reinvented. This, like Eirny points out, begs come into contact with his neighbour, and they with other
the question: What will be lost if we do not save them? What neighbours, there will be an accumulation of social capital,
could, and what should, define one community as non-frag- which may immediately satisfy his social needs and which
ile and another one as fragile? may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial
improvement of living conditions in the whole community.
Social Capital The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of
all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations
The concept social capital has a long history and has been the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellow-
linked to collective life and democracy. This link, and the im- ship of his neighbours.“ (pp. 130-131).
portance of community governance has been discussed by
philosophers such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and Ed- Even though the American pragmatic phiospoher John
mund Burke (Bowles and Gintis, 2002). At the end of the Dewey used the term in his essay on “School and Society” in
18th century, however, the idea was scrutinized and re- 1900, he did not define it. Jane Jacobs inked the concept to
placed with the idea of a Homo Economicus with a ration- the value of social networks (Jackob Political scientist Rob-
al choice. (Ferragina, 2010:75). The debate of community ert Salisbury linked the term with interest group formation in
versus modernization of society and individualism has been an article named “An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups”
the most discussed topic among the founders of sociology (Salisbury, 1969). In the late 1990s the concept gained pop-
(Tönnies, 1887; Durkheim, 1893; Simmel, 1905; Weber, 1946). ularity, serving as the focus of a World Bank research pro-
They were convinced that industrialisation and urbanization gramme and the subject of several mainstream books, in-
were transforming social relationships in an irreversible way. cluding Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone (Putnam, ...) and
They observed a breakdown of traditional bonds and the Lewis Feldstein’s Better Together (Feldstein, ...). The mod-
progressive development of anomie and alienation in soci- ern use of the concept of social capital focused on the im-
ety (Wilmott, 1986). portance of community to create a more cohesive society
(Ferragina, 2010; 2012).
180
The sociologist Emile Durkheim compared society with the nity) and imbalance (such as, for example, to little work, too
human body where the limps and the organs have their much work, lack of cultural activities, etc.)
parts to play for the whole to be well-functioning (Durk-
heim, 1893). Again, comparing this with the body, Eirny asks, The key elements that a healthy community needs infra-
what does need attention and maintenance and what can structor that is good enough in terms of transport, energy,
the body be without? So, with regards to the whole com- communication, health care and ambulance services. Who
munity: What can be out and cut off without damaging the decides where people should live? Or should anyone beside
whole? The head? The neck? The leg? The heart? Fingers or the people themselves decide? For a fragile community in
toes? There might be a hierarchy of functional value, how- Iceland the future will bring change. Thanks to the internet
ever, overall a body containing all of its organs and limps is such a community can now potentially connect to billions of
seen as healthier than a body without its parts; also it is not people through digital networks. Can the local government
better to reside in a body that is healthy and whole. So, what employ and regulate new technologies to capture their ben-
is a healthy nation? What is a healthy community? What are efits? Can the community adapt? Will the change create new
healthy local communities? security concerns? Will the change cause more inequality?
Will it fragment the society?
Social Health
The fourth industrial revolution
All development, including social development, can be seen
as based on a dialectical relationship between two essen- It is evident that a dramatic and rapid change is taking place
tial poles; that is self-identity and self-alteration. A healthy in societies. Klaus Schwab, in his book The Fourth Industrial
community that is in balance develops by simutainiously al- Revolution, claims a new revolution is taking place that will
tering its self-image at the same time as it self-alternates. fundamentally change our life, work and relations (Schwab,
Going beyond the self-image and going back to it charac- 2016). Past industrial revolutions freed us from animal pow-
terises the development of all project, programmes, organ- er, made mass production possible and brought us the com-
isations and inevitably, the life of local communities. This puters. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is providing us with
dialectical move creates essentially two risks for the entity. of technologies link the physical, digital and biological, im-
One risk has to do with movement towards self-alteration, in pacting all disciplines, economies and industries, and chal-
the case of a fragile community it could mean that all move lenging our understanding of self and society.
away, there are new influences that disintegrate the com-
munity, etc. In this case independent developmental pro- The fourth industrial revolution will change the way we work.
cesses disintegrate from the whole and create an the de- Automatisation and the deployment of artificial intelligence
velopment goes out of hand and the centralised cohesion machines will increasingly take over jobs that are can be imi-
is lost. This can manifest in conflicts, tension, confusion, etc. tated, are repetitive and can be based in accumulated learn-
ing. Such jobs range from works on production lines and to
The other risk can be a reaction to this risk of disintegration medicine and surgery, legal practices, accounting, etc. Part
and shows in fear of change. Due to this fear the of loos- of this new reality will be supercomputers, intelligent robots,
ing its self-image the community — or individuals within it — self-driving cars, neuro-technological brain enhancements,
become incapable of self-alteration; the community might genetic editing. Deep learning will enable computers learn
try, but if it fails then it might withdraw into a rather reduced how to make assumptions, test new ways, develop working
existence where the self-image is preserved only in its most procedures and mange Some, just like when the printing in-
limited form. dustry was transformed though computerized lay-outing,
fear this development whereas others affirmingly state „Lets
There are essentially three things that can halt or stop the make the machines work, so we can live and enjoy our living.”
dialectics of development within a community: (1) Accidents However, wherever this development will take us the future
(avanlances, earthquakes, fires, etc.), bad influence (such as, of our work will change and with it our life and communities.
for example, groups and ideas that undermine the commu-
181
But we should also be concerned and focus in the following izing (Midler, 1995; Lundin and Midler, 1998; Packendorff
questions: and Lindgren, 2014). A PriceWaterhouseCoopers study in
»» What does the government need to do as to regulate 2004 on project work in 30 countries showed that the 200
new technologies, manage safety issues ad capture companies examined were annually running 10,640 pro-
their benefits? jects a worth $ 4.5 billion (PWC, 2004). The term “projec-
»» Can the society adapt? tification” now also refers to rather recent development in
»» Will the change cause more inequality? Western societies. Projects can be defined as a non-routine
»» Will it fragment society? task with a well-defined specified goal, a minimum duration
of four weeks and with at least three participants. Example
Schwab is certain that the Fourth Industrial Revelation will of projects could be building infrastructure, IT-development,
be manageble through collaboration across geographies, starting a company, festivals, etc.
sectors and disciplines to grasp the opportunities it pre-
sents. Schwab calls for leaders and citizens to collectively This development indicates that human undertakings are
create a future that will work for all “by putting people first, increasingly carried out in the form of projects and pro-
empowering them and constantly reminding ourselves that grammes rather through the more conventional line work.
all of these new technologies are first and foremost tools Projects and programmes are carried out in all sectors of
made by people for people.” One can be said to be certain, society and many institutions and businesses are project
the more ordinary work that is repetitive in nature will not oriented. Recent studies have been carried out as to es-
be performed by humans. Humans will contribute to the timate to what degree project work contributes to nation-
economy (and it to them) trough consumption and our work al economies. A recent study aimed at measuring the de-
will increasingly be project based. The future society will in- gree of projectification in Germany, Norway and Iceland
creasingly be projectified. (Schoper et al 2018). In the study the researcher developed
a measurement for the degree of projectification as a por-
Projectification tion of the gross domestic product within a given economy.
In the study projectification was measured as the percent-
Literature on the concept of projectification has mainly age of project work (vice versa ordinary line work) in an or-
focused on the implementation of project management in ganization. The second step was to collect representative
organizations and businesses as to influence their effectiv- data by drawing a stratified random sample including all
ity, efficiency and success. More recently, academics have sectors of the economy. The results of the study was that
been taking a closer look at projectification of societies project work constituted 34.7% of total working hours in
as to estimate how much projects and programmes might Germany in 2013.
contribute, in percentage, to national economies. Such re-
search indicates that this percentage has been steadily in- Projectification is a trend both within project-oriented and
creasing in the last decades and is expected to increase still project-based industries and in the public sector (Fred, 2015;
more, nearing 50% in the near future. There has also been Godenhjelm et al., 2015), in policy implementation (Jensen
an increased trend to use project management in all lev- et al., 2017), in the media (Lundin and Norbäck, 2015), the
els of government and in managing innovative communi- performing arts (Sedita, 2008), in healthcare (Glasdam
ty-based work. et al., 2015), and in scientific research (Fowler et al., 2015).
Jensen et al. (2016: 21) even talked about “the projectifica-
Research is starting to show that such claims of an increas- tion of everything” expanding the concept also to private
ing projectification is a factual trend across at the least the and societal life. Projectification is believed to make organ-
developed countries. Midler (Midler, 1995) introduced the izations more adaptive, flexible and innovative, and better
term projectification in a paper on the evolution of working capable to solve complex problems (Hobday, 2000; Ha-
procedures at the car-maker Renault. Since then “projec- nisch and Wald, 2014; Lundin et al., 2015). Projectification
tification” has became a concept used to describe a glob- not only has an impact on the competitiveness of individu-
al trend in organizations and societies. Projectification has al firms but also the competitiveness of economies; includ-
been defined the diffusion of projects as a form of organ- ing local economies and communities. Projectification is on
182
the increase in all sectors of the economy (Engwall, 2003; project management pedagogy transform communities on
Sydow et al., 2004; Bechky, 2006; Whitley, 2006; Hodgson individual-, team-, organizational- and social level?
and Cicmil, 2007; Lindner and Wald, 2011; Packendorff and
Lindgren, 2014). In a study on future trends in project man- Pedagogy is the discipline that considers the theory and
agement, Gemünden and Schoper (2014), found projectifi- practice of teaching. It does so by providing teaching strat-
cation to be most often mentioned by 82 international ex- egies that are well-founded on an understanding of stu-
perts participating in the study. dents — their needs, background and interest — and theo-
ries of learning and of how to disseminate knowledge, skills
The World Bank estimated in 2009 that 21% of the world’s and competence. In general pedagogy is commonly cate-
GDP involves gross fixed capital foundation (GFCF), which gories as either liberal education with a focus in general de-
is accomplished mainly through projects (Scranton, 2015). velopment of the human potential or vocational education
Statistically this measures the value of acquisitions of new that focuses on the acquisition of specific skills that can be
or existing fixed assets by the business sector, governments used at work. Learning about project management would
and households less the disposals of fixed assets. GFCF is usually be definition inevitably fall under the second cat-
a component of the expenditure on GDP) and thus indicates egory; however, one could also be encouraged to envision
how much of the new value added in the economy is invest- project management education and training as constitut-
ed rather than consumed. ing also the former. Project management is, from a healthy
perspective, about making the world a more accomodating
Based on this the relevance of project work for future socie- place and are it not “project outcomes” that we admire as
ty and communities is rather obvious. Project management manifestations of human civilization?
professionals and project management professional asso-
ciations—such as, for instance IPMA, PMI, APM—will impor- The step could be taken still further, by mentioning critical
tance and meaning of projects and project management for pedagogy that seem all educational practices as contest-
organizations, industries and economies. Projectification of ed and shaped by context, culture and history. From this
local communites is useful for variety of reasons: perspective education and training can never be politically
1. It may enable both the local community and individu- neutral and all teaching is political as educators hold pow-
als within it to adapt to a changed reality through an in- er and this power has implications. One might believe ad-
creased self-determination. vocation project management is neutral, but it is howev-
2. Project can be used as a mean to spark creativity, inno- er inevitably political in its aim for change, time-, cost and
vation and create new jobs. quality bound restrictions, linear understanding of progress,
3. Projectification fosters leadership and team work and and hirarchies of various kinds. Advocates of critical peda-
does through that may have an integrative implications. gogy, such as the author of this paper are, emphasize the
need to empower students to become active and engaged
But, how to foster projectification within a community? It will citizens that have the motivation and ability to actively im-
be suggested here that this is best done through the deploy- prove both their own lives and the communities they live in.
ment of what can be called project management pedagogy. This also means posing problems to students that encour-
age them to question convention and their assumed knowl-
edge and understandings.
PROJECT PEDAGOGY
Learning in project management is conventionally linked to
How can fargaile logawe prepare for a such a challenging the notion of lessons learned that is a well-known concept in
future? How to prepare for complexity and ambiguitey? How project management theory and practice. Lessons learned
to creatively and effectively teach project management? implies the importance of capturing the gained knowledge
How can project management be deployed as a pedagogy? from a project, retaining this new knowledge and dissemi-
What is project management pedagogy? Who could benefit nating it in the form of improved procedures to future pro-
from a project management pedagogy? Can project man- jects. There are, however, indications that lessons learned
agement pedagogy to teach project management? Can are accounted even though they are often not practiced in
183
a learning-enhancing manner. Based on a deeper under- solving the problem within predetermined time and resource
standing or learning theory it will be proposed here that Les- parameters.” If this is now brought together Project Man-
sons Learning be practices as an three-dimensional learn- agement Pedagogy can then be defined as the educational
ing-enhancing process where what can be learned from science and art of applying knowledge, skills, tools and tech-
a project is discussed in considerable depht in an learning niques to meet the needs and expectations of the student
enhancing setting that the author of this paper call project from an educational project (with beginning and end) within
community of inquiry (Jonasson & Ingason, 2018). predetermined time and resource parameters.
Within pedagogy there is a well-known method called Pro- This definition clearly identifies that the purpose of a pro-
ject-based learning (PBL). It is an inquiry-based, stu- ject is to meet stakeholders´ needs and expectations (stu-
dent-centered approach that encourages students to dents and community). It is, therefore, a fundamental re-
acquire a deeper knowledge about a subject through an ac- quirement for the project manager to establish who are the
tive exploration of real-world challenges and problems.[1] stakeholders (besides the client) and analyse their needs
Learning is facilitated as students, for an extended period and expectations to define the project´s scope of work and
of time, investigate and respond to a question, challenge, or objectives. The characteristics of project pedagogy are fun-
problem. damentally the same as of a project. Building somewhat on
Maylor´s characteristics of project (Maylor, 2010) a project
Closely related to this is active learning that where learning is has is unique, it brings about and fosters change, it is mis-
faciltated as students solve real problems that involves tak- sion focused, it is temporary and with clear objectives, it is
ing action and reflecting upon the results, which helps im- an integrated effort and is based on interlinked activities,
prove the problem-solving process, as well as the solutions it is a social construction (involves people), it has to deal
developed by the team. The action learning process includes with emergence and uncertainty (progressive elaboration),
a real problem that is important, critical, and complex, a di- it can be either compressed (conventional, pull or pull pro-
verse problem-solving team a process that promotes curi- cess) or dynamic (Agile and managed through iterations).
osity, inquiry, and reflection, a requirement that talk be con-
verted into action and, ultimately, a solution, and a strong Project Pedagogy in Practice
commitment to learning. Wikipedia, retrieved Nov 2, 2017
The practice of project pedagogy takes strong notice of the
Project Pedagogy and Project Management Pedagogy above overall project management philosophy, and with his
regard there are few project characteristics that should be
In the PMBOK of the Project Management Institute a pro- kept in mind:
ject is defined as an temporary endeavour undertaken 1. The learning experience is unique in the sense that this
to create a unique product or service.” (PMI, 2018). The particular and exact experience has never been per-
Prince2 defines project as a “temporary organisation that formed before. It has a degree of novelty, in terms of
is needed to produce a unique and predefined outcome time, place, team carrying it out the task, outcome, ser-
or result at a given time using predetermined resources” vice, etc. However, something like it has almost certainly
(PRINCE2, 2009). Here Project Pedagogy will be defined been done by someone somewhere before. For this rea-
as an temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique son, projects are said to have aspects of uniqueness.
learning experience through establishing an temporary
organisation and environment that produces a unique and 2. The learning experience bring about a change. This
predefined results at a given time using predetermined means that the educational project impacts the peo-
resources, planning and iterations. ple delivering it, and possible some others. This change
can be on various levels ranging from the individual to
Project Management has been defined as “the application the social.
of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activ-
ities in order to meet stakeholders needs and expectations 3. The learning experience is mission focused, that means
from a project…” (PMI, 2004) or “The science and art of that the focus is on clear goals and objectives and it
184
should delivers benefits. The task of the project is to de- done and by whom. At this stage the use of resources is
liver a particular product, service or result. This is not to also planned and
say that every project starts out with a complete and »» How should we learn what we want to learn?
clear idea of exactly what will be achieved and how. »» When do we want to learn what?
»» Who is responsible for what aspects of the learning?
4. The learning experience is a temporary undertaking,
meaning that it has a well-defined beginning and an end. 3. At the execution stage the participants implement their
As for our earlier definition of a project it usually requires plan according to their plan with a keen eye of the critical
a team of people to carry out the task and this unity is success factors.
established as a temporary organization. When the pro-
ject finishes, the team moves on to other projects; in 4. At the closure stage the participants go over all of the
this case to other educational experiences. Also, the re- previous stages as to learn what went well and what could
sources (such as the financial resources) available to the have done better. Here
educational project are also temporary and finite – when
the project is completed the funding ceases and the re- As it is with typical project as they are understood by the
sources, more or less, exhausted. project management profession. At the start of the pro-
ject, the characteristics of its deliverables and the pro-
5. The learning experience means integration or interlink- ject parameters of scope, time, cost and performance will
ing of activities in such a way that resources and knowl- be broadly defined. During the development of the project
edge are effectively and efficiently brought together in plans, and as the early stages of the implementation of the
a well-orchestrated process. plan, a better understanding of the project will be obtained –
it will then be progressively elaborated.
6. The learning experience is a social construction that
involves people. It does not behave like a machine but All these characteristics bring another typical characteris-
a group of emotions, feelings, understandings, world- tics and elements of projects: interdependencies, trade-offs
view, etc. in resources and requirements, and, of course occationally
conflicts and crisis, that need to be negotiated.
7. The learning experience might involve emergence and
uncertainty. This means that details may not be known
in advance and unexpected things might pop up and it is USING PROJECT PEDAGOGY AS
part of the managing of the experience to deal with un- REINVENT FRAGILE COMMUNITES
certainty.
Since 2003, the authors of this paper have as consultants
When project pedagogy is used the educational experience been delivering an IPMA registered educational program
is designed and planned forbehand in the same fashion as called Sustainable Project Management and Transpar-
project management: ent Leadership. The programme consists of four courses
on strategic planning, project leadership, project manage-
1. At the design stage the participants in the learning ex- ment and project communication and the readings are our
perience gather together and define what their learning is four books on the subjects. The programme has been of-
going to be about. The designing will inevitably take notice fered both as a continuing education in a cooperation with
»» What do you/we need to learn? three University Centers of continuous education and as
»» What do you/we want to learn? a training programme for managers at all levels. The focus
»» What do you/we want this learning experience be? is practical and based on a holistic view of project manage-
»» What will constitute success and failure? ment based on IPMA ICB4. In the last years we have seen
how the programme has had a transformative impact on our
2. At the planning stage the participants come up with students, organizations, and society and there is clear evi-
a detailed plan of what should be done, when it should be
185
dence indicating that the program has had a major impact »» The student is able to work constructively with co-work-
on the projectification of the Icelandic society. ers in groups.
»» The student can apply their knowledge to real projects
In our understanding project management should be taught and gaining further practical experience.
and trained by focusing on four main areas if competence: »» The student has planned and executed a real project by
Strategy, Leadership, Implementaion, and Communication. using the rigors of modern project management.
IPMA with its new ICB4 Individual Competence Baseline is »» The is ready an international certification as project
heading in the same direction with its focus on convention- managers (IPMA level D, Certified Project Management
al project management competences as well as in personal Associate).
and social competences. If we now break this d
In course named Strategic Planning: Designing the Future
The course Transparent Leadership and Self-Reflection the participants are provided with a detailed and practical
focuses on the individual project leader and individual team overview of how to define values, mission and a vision, and
member. At the end of the course the participant should un- through a strategic plan the projects through which to real-
derstand the fundamentals of leadership and know how to ize these things. The focus is on strategic thinking, providing
practically apply it in their community. This entails the abil- participants with tools they can use at many different lev-
ity to handle the human aspect of management and thus els, such as the individual level, team level, organisational
become better able to make the best possible use of their level, and social level. The participants will understand the
experience and training in other fields. understands his/her fundamentals of strategic planning for teams, organisations
role and responsibility as a potential leader of the future and society. This also entails that they will to be able to ap-
and can reflect on his/her personal development in ethical ply strategic planning methods for business organisations,
terms. The participants understands better his/her attitudes, NGOs, institutions, and even to social entities.
expectations, personality and values and how to deal with
stress and pressure; and is able to deploy creative, ethical Once a large portion of the local residents have taken the
and critical thinking alone and with others. above training both the short-term affect and the long-
term implication of the programme.
A course that we chose to name Creating a Culture of Pro-
ject Communication is focuses on the team at the end of
the course the participant will be able to: MEASURING SUCCESS OF THE
»» Explain the fundamentals of communication and pat- EDUCATIONAL PROJECT IN FRAGILE
terns of communication with others. COMMUNITIES
»» Explain the essential theories on group-dynamics and
communication. Measuring the increase in projectification within a local
»» Practically apply communication theory in his/her per- community one needs a precise understanding of the con-
sonal and professional life. cept and of how to measure it. It will be suggested here, that
»» Handle the human aspect of project management. as to measure the degree of projectification within a local
»» Professionally engage in the negotiation process, in- community the focus should be on:
cluding preparation, debate and contract making. A. The percentage in the number of people within the com-
munity that have completed training and hold a profes-
The Project Management: Implementing Ideas course is an sional certification in project management (IPMA (D, C, B,
engineering based workshop that focuses on the nuts and or A certifications, PMP of PMI, etc.)
bolts of making things happen through careful planning and B. The quantitative change of how large portion of work
focused and yet flexible execution. At the end of the course: within a community is project based (Wald et al., 2015).
»» The student can explain the fundamental concepts of Increased projectification means that the share of pro-
project management. ject work within the community is rising and the share of
»» The student use project management methods to pre- more conventional repetitive work is decreasing. Projec-
pare projects with targeted planning. tification is hence the ratio indicating the share of project
186
work within the community. When increased projectifica- skill, as to reinvent itself. In continuation, the long term suc-
tion happens across local communities within an econ- cess of this effort will be monitored in an organized fashion.
omy, the entire economy can be said to have become
more projectified.
C. The quantitative increase in revenue within the commu- CONCLUSION
nity that project-based work generates based on statis-
tical data from the National Regsiter, National Statistical In this paper the foundation for an upcoming case study that
Institute and aims to projectify an isolated “fragile” local community in
D. Qualitative experienced improved sense of self with re- rural Iceland. The paper has defined a fragile community as
gards to project leadership competence. a local community that has a part of the whole “body” of the
»» I am better able to take initiative and lead. Icelandic society be lagging behind with regards to develop-
»» I am better able to define my direction and strategy. ment as compared to the rest. It has described the Fragile
»» I am better equipped to alter my behaviour with my Communities Program and put it in the context of the future
cognitive ability. trends and to transform it on both individual and collective
»» I take better care of my own health and develop- level. The approach will be to offer all of its inhabitants (aged
ment. 20-65) a solid project management training course that is
»» I am better able to identify my defensive tendencs. registered by the International Project Management Asso-
o ciation and measure the impact of this training on both the
»» Qualitative expeience of participants of each other individual participant and on the community. This paper has
with regards to laid out some theoretical considerations as to define pro-
ject management as a specific pedagogy and how it will be
In this paper we will describe our plan to implement an educa- applied in the fragile community experiment. Key findings,
tional project for a substantial proportion of a whole village however speculative at this point, indicate that it is well pos-
in rural Iceland in a cooperation with the local municipali- sible to think of project management as a specific pedago-
ty. We will introduce project management as a philosophy, gy and that project pedagogy might be a key instrument as
practice and profession and prepare all participants for the to transform local communities that are struggling for their
IPMA D-level certification. Our hope is to motivate the com- existence and future. As the paper lays a preliminary foun-
munity to strategically aim their future and build it though dation for a future research project its research limitations
well managed project and programme management. evolve around the fact that the claims made will still have to
be taken to trial in the actual case study. The theoretical im-
Based on this, we will in a collaboration with small rural com- plications are that a new concept, or even a brand-new field,
munity in Iceland, that is struggling to run a test case where has been created, i.e. project pedagogy with potentially
our training programme will be offered to all inhabitants many practical implications both for individuals, organiza-
aged 18-60 within the municipality (total 900 people). The tions and society. It is hoped that the social implications of
programme will be tailored to the specific needs of this lo- this paper will be to illustrate how project management can
cal municipality. Each participant would be required to listen be used as a transformative tool in communities that need
to online lectures, work on specific assignments during and a fresh spark to reinvent themselves. The paper is original in
in between the sessions, deliver practical assignments and illustrating how project management philosophy and prac-
that will directly benefit both participants individually and tice to develop individuals, potentially reinvent communities
the municipality as a whole. and improve quality of living.
The exercise aims at helping a community that has been de- In one of the most isolated communities in Iceland, a local
fined by Government as “fragile” to reinvent itself through citizen Maria Gudmundsdottir, set um the company Dress
our project management training. Our hope is that through Up Games ehf that has benefited by more than 500 bil-
the training the community will benefit from of strategic vi- lion ISK (approximately 50 million Euros) in the last decade.
sion, effective execution, leadership and communication Dress Up Games is a webpage where users can dress dolls up
187
to costumes as well as accessories. Total dividend payments lion. Profits amounted to ISK 35 million in 2015 and ISK 5.3
from the company from 2009 amount to about 350 millin million last year. The company was establishment in 1998,
ISK (approximately 30 million Euros). The company is owned but started producing its own games in 2006. The company
by Ingmar María Guðmundsdóttir, a librarian, who lives in gets paid when users click on Google ads that can be found
Ísafjörður, but she is also the sole employee of the company. on the website of Dress Up Games (Vidkiptabladid, Oct. 25,
However, the company’s earnings have declined in recent 2017). Could the projectification educational programme
years. In 2008 to 2010, total profit amounted to 300 mil- described here lead to many more such undertakings?
lion. In 2012, 2014, total profit amounted to almost 128 mil-
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Geneviève Marquis
Doctoral Researcher, University of Quebec in Outaouais, Canada
The Value Creation Target of Project Management
ABSTRACT Keywords: Innovation, project management, economic de-

velopment, literature review, conceptual framework.
PURPOSE: This research is guided by the issue of project
management of innovation, as the nation’s economic driver. Article classification: Literature review
The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the con-
structs and genesis of innovation as a desired outcome of
project management for value creation. 1. INTRODUCTION
METHODOLOGY APPROACH: A total of 250 peer-review ar- Last year, Canada’s federal budget was announced in March
ticles were first selected, focussing on this particular topic, 2017. In it, the Liberal Party identified four investment
from around the world. The top 10% and most representa- themes: (1) Skills and Innovation, (2) Infrastructure, (3) Tax
tive of the articles were analyzed in-depth in their content Fairness and (4) A Strong Canada. The federal budget is an
and findings. instrument used to implement the elements of a nation’s
sovereignty. Although all four investment themes are rel-
FINDINGS: The most impressive findings from this analysis evant to the field of project management research, today
are: we are focusing on the meaning and genesis of the feder-
a. Innovation and project management for value creation al budget’s first investment theme, innovation. Because this
appear strongly linked to economic development. literature review is part of doctoral project management
b. Literature on innovation and project management tends research, here we are addressing innovation as a project
to be polarized between innovation as a process and in- management-generated economic driver.
novation as an outcome. Creation of value as a process
and outcome is the heaviest finding in the literature In order to put in place this agenda, the mechanics of
c. Efforts have been made to better understand the origin project management and innovation should examined
and attributes of innovation-generating project man- through a literature review. The purpose of this literature
agement in economic development projects. However, review is to characterize the attributes of project manage-
the next step is empirical validation to better identify its ment that foster innovation for the purposes of economic
characteristics and contribute to knowledge on the sub- development.
ject, in particular the assessment of this value creation.
As stated by Marquis (2016, UQO, Doctoral Researcher in
ORIGINALITY: This research helped identify a gap in the lit- Project Management):
erature with respect to the project management charac- [Translation] There is no shortage of literature on innovation
teristics required to achieve innovation for value creation, and project management. Over three decades of research and
a driver of national economic development. literature reviews (Crossan and Apaydin 2010) have resulted
189
in the development of in-depth critical thought on the sub- The assumption of this research is as follows: project man-
ject. The introduction of project management as a discipli- agement is an important consideration when an organiza-
nary field has opened up new doors to advance this thinking. tion wants to generate innovation in order to implement its
Interest in the concept of innovation stems from the fact that economic development plan, as shown in illustration 1 above.
innovation is often perceived as a form of competitive organ-
izational advantage. Organizations want to see innovation, As illustrated many times in the literature, project manage-
whether it be radical or incremental. Innovation is now an ment also provides organizations with other desired out-
object of desire for organizations, as it supports their strate- comes, including success and performance. This research,
gic development and assists in implementing their vision. In however, focuses specifically on how project management
short, innovation has become a key component of manage- generates innovation in order to achieve economic devel-
ment strategies, not only to ensure organizations’ survival, opment goals.
but especially their success.
Are optimal project management strategies well document-
In Canada and abroad, the desire for innovation has resulted ed to help economic development innovation emerge in
in a number of important decisions being made in the public Canada?
service. For example, in 2013, the Clerk of the Privy Coun-
cil of Canada launched Blueprint 2020 to share a vision for To answer that question, this research is divided into three
the public service in 2020. This document clearly states that phases: first, analyzing the review of literature on econom-
the road to 2020 is paved with innovation. To that end, the ic development and innovation; next, identifying key strate-
Innovation Hub was established in January 2015 by Industry gies for generating project management innovation in Can-
Canada, which became Innovation, Science and Economic ada; and last, in light of the analyses, determining whether
Development Canada in 2016. the above assumption is valid. This research, which is based
on the analysis of the literature review, is also intended to
1.1 Research question identify any gaps in literature on innovation, economic de-
velopment and project management.
The basic premise of this research is as follows: the econom-
ic growth of nations such as Canada requires strategic pro- 1.2 Definition of the core research concepts
ject management approaches, particularly when innovation
is an intended goal. The assumption is that scientific and The definitions of “economic development,” “innovation”
technological innovation is a possible outcome of project and “project management” are not strict. There are a num-
management skills. ber of definitions and interpretations of these terms, and
Illustration 1: Starting assumption of this research: The Economic Development plan requires project
management and skills to foster innovation, performance and success
Innovation
ECONOMIC Project
Skills
DEVELOPMENT Management
Success
Performance
THE ECONOMIC …REQUIRES PROJECT MANAGEMENT …TO FOSTER INNOVATION,

DEVELOPMENT PLAN... AND SKILLS… PERFORMANCE AND SUCCESS.
190
providing them in the introduction to this research may ap- 2.1 The philosophical foundations of economic
pear pretentious. Definitions are provided here not to dic- development
tate the meaning of the words, but rather to ensure a com-
mon basis of understanding of the concepts addressed. This First, in ontological terms, economic development is orient-
will add clarity to the research, which can subsequently be ed toward change, especially social change. However, the
supplemented with other possible definitions. concept of change or transformation is also up for debate.
For example, let us call to mind the metaphor of Parmenides
Let us begin with the concept of economic development, and Heraclitus, or the philosophical tensions of “being”
which brings about positive change in a country. The goal is and “becoming” (or stability versus future change). These
to enrich the population and improve living conditions. Tra- pre-Socratic philosophers put forward opposing ontologies
ditionally speaking, economic development is associated for the concept of time and change. The reader must bear
with progress. There are, of course, a number of indicators in mind that the following explanation is merely a brief re-
of economic growth (GDP, GNP, etc.). However, in developed minder of these ontologies and is no substitute for thorough
nations like Canada, economic development is now imple- analysis of these philosophical constructs.
mented by encouraging innovation.
The legend goes as follows (taught by Dr. Jacques-Bernard
The definition of project management is brief. It is a disci- Gauthier, Universite du Quebec en Outaoauis): Parmenides,
plinary field that offers various theories, methodologies and a staunch defender of Being, indicated around 400 B.C. that
processes for all the steps involved in completing a project. any statement must be True or False. In contrast, Heraclitus,
A project is unique, time-bound and quality-bound and car- the philosopher of Becoming, stated that something can
ried out within the limits of available resources. at once be True and Untrue. The tensions between these
two ontologies appear irreconcilable. The concept of Be-
The definition of innovation is more complex. Section 3 of ing accepts that we remember the past, but our senses fail
this research outlines a typology of the possible features of us, and it is not because we do not “remember” the future
innovation. For now, we will keep it brief and simply provide that the future does not already exist. Therefore, everything
the dictionary definition, which is “the action or process of is pre-determined, and everything can only be True or False.
innovating.” Nuances will be addressed further on in this lit- The concept of development (or change) exists only be-
erature review. cause our senses cannot reveal all of reality at once (the
past, the present and, especially, the future). This certainly
Based on these core terms, we will now examine innovation has an important influence in project management, particu-
as an economic driver of a country such as Canada and the larly during planning. The same applies to the philosophy of
role of project management in greater detail. economic development, as it appears irreconcilable with the
Being of society. Predictive project management, based on
teleological conditions, may reveal certain strengths for ad-
2. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND dressing complex projects.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Furthermore, the ontology of Becoming can be illustrated
In studying and analyzing economic development, it is ap- by the fact that “one never bathes in the same water twice.”
propriate to highlight the philosophical foundations of eco- Reality continues to take shape as time progresses. From
nomic development. The literature review will then be ana- project outset to delivery, some flexibility is acceptable, as
lyzed to identify the concepts most frequently associated demonstrated in the Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.
with project management strategies. org/). Economic development, a driver of social change, is
therefore rooted in the ontology of Becoming.
191
What about its epistemology? According to Ludvig Von Mis- First, note that the Harrod-Domar model (1939, 1946) from
es (1933), the epistemology of economic development is the Keynesian school of thought boils down to the fact that
controversial, as it is rooted in social value (or the Theory economic development is based on saving ability combined
of Value). The epistemology of economic development, or with investment productivity. Continuous increases in in-
the theory of economic knowledge, may therefore be mul- vestment, the value of capital stocks, output, revenue and
tifaceted, depending on the social framework in which it is savings ultimately drive economic growth (Cheung 2013). In
constructed. this model, project management cross-cuts each phase of
economic development for saving ability and investment
Finally, the epistemology of economic development is also performance.
the foundation of political ideology – the same ideology
that is used to determine a nation’s investments, including Arthur Lewis put forward another model in his 1954 treatise
its investments in innovation. entitled, “Economic Development with Unlimited Supplies
of Labor.” The Lewis model divides national economic de-
Finding 1: The philosophical foundations of economic velopment into two sectors: the capitalist sector, i.e., the
development are oriented toward growth and prosperity, public or private economic cluster that hires for products
which are rooted in change and development (Becom- and services (secondary and tertiary economy), and the
ing), rather than social stagnation (Being). subsistence sector, which is the economic cluster of agri-
cultural and self employed workers (primary sector econ-
2.2 The role of project management in economic omy). In this model, a nation’s goal is to encourage saving
development to inject further investment and increase productivity. Pro-
ject management is therefore viewed as a tool that allows
How does economic development relate to project man- for transformation toward increased organizational per-
agement? These two disciplinary fields stem from social the- formance.
ory and should therefore have much in common.
Finally, in 1960, Rostow presented his economic develop-
Have any analyses of literature reviews been published on ment theory, which has five stages: the initial stage in tra-
the subject? Beyond literature reviews, some universities ditional society, the transition stage, the industrial imple-
have entire courses dedicated to studying the connections mentation stage, the organizational maturity stage and the
between economics and project management (University of mass consumption stage. His model focuses on the timeli-
Southern Denmark). Courses on this subject are also offered ness of economic development. Project management not
at Ryerson University in Toronto. In addition, the University only drives performance (as per the Harrod-Domar theory)
of Minnesota has a curriculum that focuses specifically on and transforms organizations (as per the Lewis theory), but
project management and economic development (Civil En- also manages the time required to achieve economic de-
gineering Program 4101). Therefore, before starting the lit- velopment goals.
erature review, we initially noted that this subject is already
widely covered and taught across the globe. In summary, the basic economic development theories fo-
cus on:
However, although there is plenty of literature on the sub- 1. Performance
ject, it bears noting that this literature may be lacking in the 2. Organizational change
master’s and doctoral programs in project management at 3. Timely success
the University of Quebec in Outaouais. This topic is not part
of our academic curriculum. This directed reading course al- The foundations of project management, as addressed in
lows me to explore the subject. the Project Management Body of Knowledge and in tradi-
tional project management literature, are based on robust
Because there is a great deal of literature on the subject, project planning and design. Plans are devised, risk mitiga-
a meta-analysis is provided here to illustrate how economic tion measures are worked out and performance indicators
development relates to project management. are developed using statistical tools.
192
In predictive project management, there is little room for project management. Nine factors were identified to char-
failure. Teleological conditions are needed to implement this acterize the attributes of economic development in relation
type of project management. to project management. Each of these 25 articles was read
and analyzed for classification in this typology.
Finding 2: There are many economic development the-
ories relating to project management, but they have not It should be noted that most of the articles used a quali-
yet been studied as part of the doctoral program in pro- tative methodology to characterize the attributes of eco-
ject management. A literature review is required. nomic development in relation to project management.
In addition, they were written by authors from around the
2.3 Articles read globe (United States, Europe and Asia; and three authors
were Canadian).
To carry out this literature review and determine how eco-
nomic development relates to project management, a bibli- This literature review shows that economic development and
ographical search was performed using the keywords “eco- project management are already strongly linked to the themes
nomic growth project management.” In the end, 250 articles of innovation (seven studies) and growth (seven studies).
were found in the University of Quebec in Outaouais cat-
alogue, and we kept the 10% of those 250 articles that Table 1, “Review of literature on economic development
seemed most representative of the subject. Although over and project management and the authors’ key constructs,”
25 articles were read, a number of them were eliminated shows the main factors identified during this literature review.
quickly, often because they dealt with very specif-
ic cases. As the goal of this literature review is to
provide an overview, the articles with more general Illustration 2: Bibliographical search and results for “economic
growth project management,” showing 250
conclusions were selected.
peer-reviewed articles in the catalogue
This literature review can be reproduced using the

search criteria shown in Illustration 2: Bibliographi-
cal search and results.
These 25 articles characterize and reinforce the

relationship between economic development and
193
Table 1: Review of literature on economic development and project management and the authors’ key constructs
Performance
Governance
Complexity
Innovation
Authors vs. Dimensions of
Success
Change
Growth
Quality
Risk
project management and
economic development
Bresnen 2014 x
Yung 2015 x
Beyer et al. 2012 x x
Knill 2000 x x x
Lenfle et al. 2010 x x
Scarpellini et al. 2016 x x x
Medaglia et al. 2006 x x
Nobeoka et al.1997 x x
Kyle et al. 2005 x x
Baysal et al. 2015 x x x
Sarkar et al. 2011 x x
Sharp et al. 1997 x x
Khwaja 2009 x x
McKinlay et al. 2010 x
Lekmond et al. 2016 x
Gil 2007 x x
Sprigings 2002 x x
Schlick et al. 2012 x x
Davis et al. 2012 x x
Brook et al. 2014 x
Zimina et al. 2014 x
Jalkala et al. 2010 x
Yu et al. 2010 x x
Acha et al. 2005 x
Gunton 2003 x
194
This literature review shows that economic development research how complexity, innovation and societal impacts
and project management are already strongly linked to the are expressed.
themes of innovation (seven studies) and growth (seven
studies). Finding 3: Innovation and project management appear
strongly linked to economic development.
In contrast, the themes of change, governance, quality,
complexity and risk, although present, are not as dominant. 2.4 Aspects not addressed in the literature review:
During this literature review, we also observed that there critique
were a certain number of articles that dealt with the ethics
of economic development and the role of project manage- This literature review highlighted fields that are documented
ment, but they addressed fairly specific cases and were not in various ways. One of the limitations of this literature re-
selected for this literature review. This may be a minor theme view is that the search was limited to the following:
that will gain significance in the future. 1. Articles available in the University of Quebec in Outaouais
catalogue (which includes all major international pub-
To confirm this analysis, summaries of all 25 of the articles lishers).
were combined in one document to determine the frequen- 2. Articles in English only.
cy of the constructs. The outcome of this methodology can 3. Articles resulting from a specific keyword search. Oth-
be represented visually through a word cloud, or a cluster er synonymous keywords may have provided somewhat
of words that draws immediate attention to the constructs more nuanced results.
found most often in the literature on this subject. The out-
come of this analysis is shown in Illustration 3, where the In addition, few authors make the connection between eco-
most predominant words are the most frequent constructs. nomic development, skills and innovation. Although this is
the first theme addressed in the Canadian federal govern-
ment’s new budget for 2017, skills are hardly a central as-
Illustration 3: Word cloud representing the content of
pect of this literature review. Therefore, we believe that skills,
the literature review using the 25 articles
selected innovation and economic development should perhaps be
the subject of specific literature research in order to char-
acterize the attributes of the skills that are most likely to in-
fluence innovation.
Another gap in the literature is the fact that economic de-

velopment and project management are not necessarily di-
rectly linked. The Harrod Domar (1939, 1946), Lewis (1954)
and Rostow (1960) models were all developed around the
time when the official history of project management be-
gan, which is traditionally associated with the Manhattan
Project (1946). Project management was a brand-new dis-
ciplinary field at the time, whereas economics had existed
since the industrial revolution of the 18th century. Therefore,
economic development has a much longer history than the
emerging field of project management.
It should also be noted that the selected articles were pub-

Apart from the major themes (management, project, paper), lished between 1997 and 2016. A more in-depth literature
this image shows that, in addition to examining the identified review would provide an opportunity to identify time-bound
themes, the authors took turns attempting to analyze theo- trends in project management and economic development.
ries, construct and design models, and understand through
195
Finally, in order to better define subsequent research, I find ticles: meta-analyses, frequently cited articles, and recently
it most important to characterize project management and published articles, for a total of 525 unique articles.
economic development in Canada. What can be said about
project management and the machinery that influences According to the authors, innovation can be characterized
economic development in Canada and, specifically, in the by a multidimensional conceptual framework that has two
federal public service? Focusing on this theme would prob- categories: the determinants of innovation and the dimen-
ably be the next step, and this time, the research should in- sions of innovation.
volve not only a literature review, but also a questionnaire
and a quantitative methodology that will serve to bolster There are three types of determinants: leadership, mana-
the project management theory. gerial levers and business processes. The dimensions of in-
novation are divided into two parts: innovation as a process
Finding 4: The next step after the literature review will be and innovation as an outcome.
validation in the context of the public service of Canada,
with respect to project management as a driver of eco- It is therefore appropriate to think about what makes inno-
nomic development. vation such a desirable driver of economic development: is it
its ability to transform processes or to deliver new outcomes?
3. INNOVATION AND PROJECT Process transformation refers to an organization’s ability

MANAGEMENT FOR VALUE CREATION to transform by becoming more efficient. In this context, in-
novating for processes does not change the output (good
After determining that there is a concrete link in the litera- or service), but less time or fewer resources are required to
ture between economic development and project manage- carry it out. This is the reductive concept of “doing more
ment, the next step is to characterize the relationship be- with less,” and it confirms that necessity is the mother of in-
tween project management and innovation. vention.
There are a number of meta-analyses and conceptual Innovating for new outcomes is also relevant, particular-
frameworks relating to innovation and project management. ly in the research and development sector. Fundamental
In this section, two meta-analyses are compared and a gap research also generates new knowledge, which sometimes
in the literature is identified. Because this research is meant leads to the use and marketing of new products. This seg-
to be read alongside my previous research, I am taking this ment of innovation is often called New Products Develop-
opportunity to refine a study that I conducted in spring ment (NPD) in project management literature. Crossan and
2016 on fuzzy logic and its impact on project management Apaydin (2010) attempted to identify and model that litera-
and innovation. One segment of the research addressed the ture. A summary of their analysis is provided in Illustration 4.
concept of innovation. I am exploring some parts of this re-
search in further detail to better identify the attributes of This innovation model includes relevant attributes to bet-
innovation. ter understand the factors that influence innovation (lead-
ership, motivations, procedures), which are also called the
3.1 The concept of innovation according to Crossan and determinants of innovation. In contrast, the dimensions of
Apaydin (2010) innovation (processes or outcomes) describe what outputs
should be expected.
The economic development and project management liter-
ature to be reviewed and analyzed was not very clear-cut to Finally, although this typology (which is based on 525 arti-
me before starting this research, but the opposite is true for cles) reveals some attributes of innovation, it does not iden-
innovation and project management. In 2016, Dr. Stéphane tify the genesis of innovation in the epistemological sense
Gagnon referred me to a literature review by Crossan and of transforming social worlds, associated with Heraclitus’s
Apaydin (2010). Their analysis includes three groups of ar- ontology of Becoming.
196
Illustration 4: Crossan & Apaydin (2010), “Multi-dimensional framework of organizational innovation”
LEADERSHIP MANAGERIAL MANAGERIAL INNOVATION AS INNOVATION AS

(Indyvidual and LEVERS LEVERS A PROCESS AN OUTCOME
Group Level) (Organizational (Organizational
Level) Level)
Mission, goals, Mission, goals,

LEVEL FORM
Chief Executive & strategy & strategy
(Individual / Group / Firm) (Product / Service /
Officer’s, Top
Process /
Management
Business Model)
Team’s and Board Structure & systems Structure & systems
of Director’s ability DRIVER
and motivation to (Resources / Market
innovate opportunity)
Resource allocation Resource allocation MAGNITUDE
(Incremental / Radical)
DIRECTION
Org, learning Org, learning (Top-down / Bottom-up)
& knowledge & knowledge
management management REFERENT
(Firm / Market / Industry)
SOURCE
Invention / Adoption
Organizational Organizational
culture culture
TYPE
LOCUS (Administrative /
(Firm / Network) Technical)
Upper Echelon Resource-Based Resource-Based
Theory View & Dynamic View & Dynamic
Capabilities Capabilities NATURE
(Tacit / Explicit)
DETEMINANTS OF INNOVATION DIMENSIONS OF INNOVATION
The questions associated with the why of innovation cannot then peer-reviewed and published following the Interna-
be simply answered with a response such as “to contribute tional Conference on Project Management & Scheduling in
to economic development.” This is insufficient to position Valencia, 2016.
innovation as something wanted and desired.
This table offers an overview of the main school of thoughts
Finding 5: Literature on innovation tends to be polarized concerning the concept of innovation.
between innovation as a process and innovation as an
outcome. It is noticeable that this table does not offer the construct
of innovation for value creation for nations. This emerg-
3.2 The concept of innovation and its epistemological ing concept remains to be added to the typology as the re-
roots according to Marquis (2016) search in project management evolves.
The development of a typology of the various concepts of The value of this table is to organize the main streams of re-
innovation began in Dr. Hamdjatou Kane’s PhD course in search pertaining to innovation. A subsequent table could
summer 2016. Table 2 presents the concepts that Marquis offer the role of project management for the emerging in-
(2016) selected to develop this typology. This typology was novation in organizations, and its impact on value creation.
197
Table 2: Typology of the main concept of Innovation in project management and their authors, according to
Genevieve Marquis (2016)
Innovation
Innovation Innnovation
as the first Innovation as Innovation as Open
Epistemology as a new as an act of
phase of a new solution a new process Innovation
outcome creation
dissemination
Agarwal &
Historic Rogers, 1976
Prasad, 1997
Barnett, 1953,
Ruttan &
Positivism Schumpeter,
Hyami, 1984
1986
Gudeman,
Idealism
2001
Schumpeter,
Socio- Crossan & 1986 Chesbrough,
Albury, 2011
Constructivism Apaydin 2003 Crossan & 2003
Apaydin, 2003
It is appropriate to compare both conceptual frameworks of tributed to a process, or to a source of innovation. However,
innovation because they share similarities, including con- according to the inventor of Open Innovation, Chesbrough
ceptualizing innovation as a process and as an outcome. (2003), it is more than a process, but a paradigm of innova-
Other dimensions differ, however. For example, the concept tion. Therefore, Marquis (2016) retained this concept as one
of Open Innovation is not included in the Crossan & Apay- of the possible types of innovation. Illustration 5 illustrates
din (2010) conceptual framework. Here, in following the au- the concept of Open Innovation.
thors’ conceptual framework, Open Innovation could be at-
Illustration 5: Concept of Open Innovation, as conceived by Chesbrough (2003)
UPSTREAM: DOWNSTREAM:
REQUIREMENTS FLUID AND FEW CONSTRAINTS REQUIREMENTS AND CONCEPTS CLEAR AND STABLE
MANY UNKNOWNS, ASSUMPTIONS AND OPTIONS FEWER UNKNOWNS AND RISKS UNDERSTOOD
CONCEPTS FUZZY – STRATEGIC FIT & SCENARIOS FEWER OPTIONS AND GREATER CONSTRAINTS
DIVERGENT PROCESS CONVERGENT PROCESS
Innovation process funnel
Ideation Time, effort, iteration Value

capture
• ROADMAPS CAN BE USED THROUGHOUT THE INNOVATION PROCESS,

PROVIDING A COMMON VISUAL LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE
• ROADMAPS ENABLE ALIGNMENT OF PRODUCT, TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS
STRATEGIES, BRINGING TOGETHER KEY STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES
Road-
mapping
process
Explore Shape Plan Implement
Source: Illustration retrieved from https://www.sopheon.com/roadmapping-accelerated-innovation/ (accessed April 30, 2016)
198
In short, both meta-analyses have strengths, but neither of part of knowledge management, organizational learning
them considers economic development as motivation to and organizational culture, as well as the skill set required
generate innovation. Like the economic development and to achieve this (as stated in the first theme of Canada’s 2017
project management literature review, the project man- federal budget).
agement and innovation literature reviews, at least with re-
spect to those conducted and analyzed, say nothing about Does innovation foster economic development, or does
the genealogy (as per Nietzsche) of innovation and project economic development foster innovation? Canada’s eco-
management. nomic policies would have us believe that innovation fosters
economic development, but, in reality, it appears that this
Therefore, project management, innovation and econom- line is not so clearly drawn in the literature.
ic development are issues that merit further in-depth re-
search in order to ensure a thorough understanding of their Although the economic development and project manage-
attributes. ment literature review was limited to 25 articles, the doc-
uments selected appeared to be key articles in the field.
The initial question cannot be answered with certainty; rath- Nonetheless, they do not come close to representing the
er, the answer will come about through the development entirety of the literature on the subject. Perhaps a more in-
of conceptual frameworks that will need to be validated depth literature review would result in other economic de-
through further empirical research. velopment- and project management-related findings.
Finding 6: Efforts have been made to better understand In conclusion, this research at least helped identify a gap in
the origin and attributes of innovation-generating pro- the literature with respect to the project management char-
ject management in economic development projects. acteristics required to achieve innovation, a driver of na-
However, the next step is empirical validation to better tional economic development.
identify its characteristics and contribute to knowledge
on the subject. Empirical validation would be required to further examine
the topic.
4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
An in-depth answer to the initial question, which had to do
with the relationships between economic development, pro- FINDING 1: The philosophical foundations of economic de-
ject management and innovation, could not be provided in velopment are oriented toward growth and prosperity, which
this literature review. are rooted in change and development (Becoming), rather
than social stagnation (Being).
However, this literature review helped make some findings
and identify a few limitations of current knowledge on the FINDING 2: There are many economic development the-
subject. Governments view innovation as a key driver of ories relating to project management, but they have not
economic development, but say nothing about the role of yet been studied as part of the doctoral program in project
project management. Nonetheless, in reviewing the litera- management yet. A literature review is required.
ture, economic development was found to be closely linked
to project management. FINDING 3: Innovation and project management appear
strongly linked to economic development for value creation.
The innovation typologies do not address economic de-
velopment specifically. Through this research, the rela- FINDING 4: The next step after the literature review will be
tionships between innovation and other aspects of project validation in the context of the public service of Canada,
management were also brought to light. For example, to with respect to project management as a driver of econom-
boost innovation, it would be appropriate to include it as ic development.
199
FINDING 5: Literature on innovation and project manage- Findings 1, 2 and 4 are more generic the project manage-
ment tends to be polarized between innovation as a process ment research in the Canadian context. The most impres-
and innovation as an outcome. Creation of value as a pro- sive findings are findings 3, 5 and 6 for the purpose of pro-
cess and outcome is the heaviest finding in the literature ject management for value creation.
FINDING 6: Efforts have been made to better understand The originality of this research stems the gaps identified in
the origin and attributes of innovation-generating project the literature with respect to the project management char-
management in economic development projects and val- acteristics required to achieve innovation for value creation,
ue creation. However, the next step is empirical validation to a driver of national economic development.
better identify its characteristics and contribute to knowl-
edge on the subject.
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Olena Verenych | Mariia Dorosh
Olena Verenych, Associate professor, Project Management Chair, Kiev National University of Constructional and
Architecture (KNUCA), Kiev, Ukraine | Mariia Dorosh, Associate professor&Postdoctoral student Information
Technology and Software Engineering Department&Project Management Chair Chernihiv National University of
Technology&Kyiv National University of Constructional and Architecture Chernihiv&Kyiv, Ukraine
Evaluation and management of values in projects as

a project driving success
ABSTRACT predicting their meanings in future interactions, is present-

ed in the article.
PURPOSE: The purpose of the paper is a creation of the
methods values management of the project participants ORIGINALITY / VALUE: The study results show that placing
during the project implementation. the value in the center of managerial attention the project
manager provides not only the project success but also the
DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH: The study was social development. The proposed tools for managing val-
based on the system approach using and the Shewhart con- ues in the project allow:
trol charts. The method for evaluation of the project partici- »» to concentrate the managerial attention of the project
pants’ values was created. It allows monitoring values during manager only on those aspects that significantly affect
the project implementation and finding the significant devi- the project success;
ation. Deviations indicate the future problems in the project. »» to forecast uncertainties and calculate risks;
The project team can find these deviations on the different »» to organize communication and interaction inside and
project stages and apply approaches for combining of the outside the project, directing them towards project sup-
project participants values in the closed interval for achiev- porting.
ing project goals.
1. INTRODUCTION
FINDINGS: The study result is the created method of calcu-
lating the forecasting values of the convergence degree of Each project is implementing the goal achieving and the
the project participants values. The presented method pro- getting product. This approach remains relevant now. The
vides additional mechanisms for regulating the overall pro- society development, globalization and industry 4.0 shift
ject value system. It can be used to select the participants’ the emphasis and highlight not only and not so much as
values indexes for making decisions of further cooperation a project product creation, but a value creation of the pro-
with identified participants and seeking methods to improve it. ject product and management processes. The concept of
“value” has been considering by axiology for many years
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The method was tested in the and has many interpretations and applications in various
frame of the implementation of the international project of fields of application, but now it is moving out again on a new
the cybersecurity. The project was implemented in the Cher- stage of development in project management. The value is
nigiv National Technological University (Ukraine). the central concept of the P2M project management meth-
odology, and it is also presented in the Adaptive Project
The study results, which include the values evaluation in the Framework (business values creating for the potential con-
international project, the results of monitoring the dynamics sumer), in the LEAN management (high-level values creat-
of their changes in the project implementation process and ing and focusing on the consumer’s values), in the Prince2
203
(contributes to the value creation) (http://www.sostav.ru/ a “value” may be not only abstract attractive thoughts
blogs/151321/19647/). or situational values, but also material tangible benefits
that are important for the individual.
A lot of work is being done in the direction of research and »» and general cultural, the “values” are the general uni-
measuring the value of project management. PMI has de- versals that are indicative of the present culture group,
veloped the PM Value Model in the frame of it the value is ethnos, and society in general. They are “culture ideal”
proposed to measure based on 4 criteria, each of which in- in abstract presentation what is the correct, available
cludes several other components: Financial, Customer, Pro- and good in the society (Tomin, 2017)
ject/Process, and Learning and Growth (Crawford & Penny-
packer, 2001). PMI conducted a study The Value of Project The value definitions show that the value is defined as a sub-
Management in 2005-2008, its goal was to define and ject-matter of some interesting, wish, tendency, in other
quantify the notion of “value” from the position of project words, an object that is value for a person or group of in-
management and its impact on the work of the organization dividuals.
(Janice & Mullaly, 2008). In addition, studies of studies have
been conducted that were concerned with value evaluation Today, the “value” concept in relation to the “project” defi-
of project management (PMI, 2015). nition is considered only in the P2M standard of the Pro-
ject Management Association of Japan. P2M proposes the
Questions, which are connecting with value management in following project definition, based on the “value” concept:
the project, are still insufficiently studied such as: “a project is an obligation to create value based on a pro-
»» Is it possible to influence the values of project participants ject mission that must be completed in a certain period
and change them in the project implementation process? within the agreed time, resources and operational condition”
»» How can control the execution of the project partici- (P2M Guidelines, 2011).
pants’ values changes?
»» Is it possible to forecast the interaction (changing in the The concept “value” becomes one of the key success crite-
blended mental space in the frame of the project imple- ria of a project. Moreover, this is the base for appearing of
mentation (Verenych & Dorosh, 2017) depending on the one of the actual scientific problems for the study.
changes in the participants’ values?
There are some main approaches in the study of value:
Answering of these questions, the authors try to shift these »» as an independent concept;
concepts into the project management field and create for »» in the frame of the value-oriented approach, and
this purpose a clear toolkit that will be used by project man- »» in the frame of the value-homeostatic approach.
agers to make decisions to ensure normal interaction in the
project and prevent disruptions to its implementation. As the independent concept, the value was considered very
detailed in the Theory of Spiral Dynamics (or “memetics”)
by C. Grave (Pekar, 2010 & http://spiraldynamics.org/). The
2. LITERATURE REVIEW approaches of the Theory can be applied both to individual
and to organizations.
There are many definitions of the “value” concept based on
different approaches and points of view. According to the: Stakeholder takes part or influences on the project, based
»» philosophical (Philosophy encyclopedia dictionary, on certain values that he/she confess. These values depend
1983), the “value” is — relations between the presenta- on a certain world of laws and rules (worldview) in which the
tion of the subject about what the assessment object person is. In the frame of his/her worldview, the person treats
should be and the object itself; events and information around him/her. People with differ-
»» psychological (World of psychology, 2018), the “value” ent worldviews can treat the same information differently.
is an “object” (as well as an ideal) that has very vital im- The discrepancy between different people’s worldviews leads
portant value for the subject (person, group, social class, to confusion during interaction and communication that
ethnos). In the broadest sense, under the character of can be a reason for the negative results.
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Evaluation and management of values in projects as a project driving success
The theory states that people can live unto different laws and the project’s mission (Molokanova, 2016). In project man-
rules at the same time, in the same place, if their worldviews agement practice the project’s value and the product’s val-
are radically different. Such differences may be insignificant ue are defined. Both of these assets can be used to obtain
or may be fundamental. In the last case, there is no basis for certain benefits.
building integrated understanding and communication. Even
if the communication and the integrated understanding are Systematizing the concept “value” for the project manage-
built at some moment, then they are fragile and temporary, ment, Rach (Rach, 2009) is introducing the concept “har-
like a building without a foundation (Pekar, 2010). monize value” for projects. To his mind the harmonize values
should consider in two aspects (Glovatskaya, 2014):
If the project manager’s and stakeholder’s worldviews are »» harmonizing with the organization’s strategic values
essential differences, the project will not have a chance on that implement the project;
the success. The project’s success will be depended on the »» harmonizing values all project’s stakeholders.
level of approximation of their worldviews.
The use of a value-oriented approach for determining the
The value-homeostatic approach is presented in (Teslya et interaction parameters of project participants can great-
al., 2016). According to the approach, the transformation ly enhance the possibility of quantitative assessment of
of values takes place in the frame of the project implemen- the success of project management. In this case, the val-
tation. The transformation concerns only those values with ue-oriented management can be aimed at achieving the
that the project process participants are ready to part with. goal of maximizing measures of the participants’ values
The transformation leads to the wish values. and ensuring their effective interaction in order to achieve
the success of the project. The advantage of the value-ori-
Each participant has an interest in the project until some- ented approach bases on providing transparency and un-
thing (namely values) will be received by him/her, or he/she derstanding of the each participant’s values that allows to
will sure that the additional values that he/she is obtaining quickly respond to internal and external changes in partici-
correspond to his/her initial ideas. Otherwise, he/she will pating organizations. This approach makes communication
conflict with other participants. To minimize the negative more easily, sets clear priorities in management, improves
impact of conflicts of such etymology, it is necessary that resource allocation, allows to manage effectively increased
the project values are provided to the participant as fully complexity, high uncertainty and risks. On the other hand,
as possible correspond to his/her ideas about the needed the value-oriented management requires a change in cul-
his/her values. Otherwise, the project participant will be the ture that entails considerable time, resources and patience
source of destructive conflicts hindering the project, which of the leaders of the participating organizations.
can lead to delays in the project, its suspension or leaving
the project by the participant. The following values are being According to the provided analyses, the concept “value” will
defined in the paper: be considered as a material or ideal phenomenon, that has
»» the values, that are formed in the project implementa- meaning for a person or society, in behalf of a person con-
tion result, are material and nonmaterial results that are ducts the organizational and goal-oriented activity.
created in the frame of the project implementation, and
are of interest to the project participants reflected in The core of the project’s values is the set of the values that
their needs system; includes the most significant values of each participant and
»» the values, that used for the project implementation, are can make provision full project realization.
the material and nonmaterial resources needed for the
project implementation.
3. THE POINT FORMATION OF THE
The value-oriented approach becomes developing on the VALUES IN THE PROJECT
base of the P2M. According to this approach, the “value” is
defined by the benefits that the project creates and delivers Not every produced value can be perceived and absorbed
to a product in the frame of the requirements contained in by society. The project value must be correlated with the so
205
cial values and its members. The value of each project team that later they can be used in the implementation of the fol-
member (its beliefs, patterns of motivation, goals, etc.) lowing projects (Figure 1).
should also be correlated with the project value.
According to the study of the mental spaces (project man- 4. VALUES MANAGEMENT
ager, stakeholders, project, and movable context) (Ver-
enych, 2015; Verenych, 2016a, 2016b; Verenych and Bush- According to P2M, each project must have values. Values
uyev, 2018), the values are their key elements. The crossing may be different for different stakeholders. If the values are
of these spaces the Blended Mental Space appears (Bush- completely the same, then the project implementation pro-
uyev and Verenych, 2017). The space is a single project cess is carried out easily. However, it is not so often in prac-
mental space that appears as a result of the project activ- tice. Often, all stakeholders in the project have their own
ity (Verenych and Bushuieva, 2017, Verenych and Dorosh, values, some of which may coincide. The more such coin-
2017). It is temporary, appears when the project is initialized cidences exist; it is the better for the project. Those values
and disappears when it completes. The aim of the Blended that do not coincide may have an impact on other values,
Mental Space is the creation and functioning of a mental but they themselves will not be any influenced. They can be
space in the process of the project implementation. Space’s considered as inputs or limitations for the project. Others
function is the interaction and communication support of may be under influence, but they themselves do not influ-
all participants in the project process throughout the pro- ence others. Such values can be considered as outputs.
ject lifecycle. Its elements are the set of knowledge, values,
and practices that fall into it from other mental spaces (pro- For successful management of the Blended Mental Space in
ject manager, stakeholders, movable context, and project), the part of the values management, it is necessary to deter-
changing in the process of project implementation, forming mine the core of the system of values of project participants.
new elements or transforming existing ones. Upon project Other words, it is necessary to form an integrated system of
closure, the Blended Mental Space’s elements return to the project’s values. For achieving this goal, a model for deter-
original mental spaces, but already in a modified state, so mining the convergence degree of values of project partic-
Figure 1. The transformation of the mental spaces’ elements (Bushuyev and Verenych, 2018)
Data inputs MS transformation after MS transformation after

the project 1 realization the project 2 realization
PM’s MS PM’s MS PM’s MS
BMS #N
SH’ MS BMS #1 SH’ MS BMS #2 SH’ MS
MC’s MS MC’s MS MC’s MS
P’s MS
P’s MS P’s MS
Legend: PM’s MS – the project manager’s mental space; SH’ MS – the stakeholders’ mental space; MC’s MS – the movable context’s mental
space; P’s MS – the project’s mental space; BMS – the blended mental space; arrows indicate transformation movements; color changes
indicate knowledge/practices/skills/values accumulation; “circle” – knowledge; “square” – values; “triangle” – practices; “pentagon” – skills.
206
ipants has been developed. It allows monitoring the process

of definition, transformation, and change of values during
the project implementation and can be considered as the
basis for constructing an effective system of values of mon-
itoring the convergence of values of project participants.
The value of the ki element for the project may be calculat-
The principle of values approximation allows forming a sys- ed using the next indexes: the degree of impact on the pro-
tem of values of projects and programs in accordance with ject’s result and elasticity. The project’s team can carry out
the all stakeholders values. Determining the degree and this assessment using the pair-wise comparison method.
measure of convergence of values in the project can be the
basis for the formation of a common system of indicators A convergence measure is an area of convergence of the
for implementation, both individual projects and the pro- system of values of the project’s participants in the mul-
gram as a whole. The studies show that the value of project ti-dimensional space that defines the approximation de-
participants can be fundamentally different, so it is very dif- gree of the system.
ficult to develop and adopt a certain indicator of project
success. It is necessary to use balanced, complex, integrat- In general, the formula for calculation will be (the formula 3):
ed indicators, monitoring which will provide a clear under-
standing of progress in achieving the values of the entire
program, reflecting the principle of the value determining of
integration activities. where: Mcon is the convergence measure; CONi, is the
convergence for the i-th value j-th and the next j+1-th
The convergence degree and measure of the systems can participant; N is the number of values; M is the number of
be determined to monitor the effectiveness of the interac- the project’s participants.
tion of management systems in a project. For this purpose,
the normalization of the indicators of the system elements The Shewhart control charts can be used for statistically as-
are carried out or a point rating assessment of the value sessment and control of the degree and the convergence
from the standpoint of its importance for each participant measure. These charts allow excluding unusual variation of
can be performed. Also, it is necessary to consider the value data by the procedure of separating variations due to cer-
of each element for the project, then the degree of conver- tain causes and variations due to accidental causes (ISO
gence (Con) can be determined as (the formula 1): 8258-2001).
The chart has the central line [CL], the two control limits
(the upper [UCL] and the lower [LCL]), and the value of
the measure of degree or convergence degree of the val-
ues of the project’s participants during the life cycle that
where Ai and Bi are the degrees of value i-th element for are plotted on the chart to represent the process state. If all
two different project’s participants; N is the number of pairs these values lie within the control limits and do not show any
of the interaction of the project’s participation for i-th value. tendencies, then the process is considered as controlled.
Otherwise, the process has come out of control.
A convergence degree is the approximation degree of the
system of values of the project’s participants in many-di- The project team’s task is timely to identify variations that
mensional space. are due to certain causes and determine the factors that
cause variation. Usually, these factors are real, they can be
A convergence measure can be taking into account the in- detected and studied. The ultimate goal of control is to ex
fluence of each factor for the project (measured conver- clude unwanted factors or to reduce or neutralize their im-
gence Conms) (the formula 2). pact on the convergence indicator.
207
Different charts types can be used to assess the conver- values of the project’s participants received values as a re-
gence degree and measure, depending on the scale of the sult of project implementation.
project and the amount of data (Bushuyev et al., 2012).
The task of the value management of the project’s partici-
pants is multi-dimension. The charts of the continuous val-
5. PRACTICAL RESULTS OF MODELING ues of the convergence indexes can be used, for example,
x – R – charts. Using this chart, the chart of the average
The theoretical results were tested in the frame of the in- values of the convergence degree for the period of the pro-
ternational project for cybersecurity. The project was imple- ject implementation was created (Figure 4).
mented in the Chernigiv National Technological University
(Ukraine). The project is grant program (Dorosh et al., 2015; The output of the index of the convergence degree beyond
Dorosh et al., 2016). the Upper control line is at the closure phase. The output
attests to the degree of approximation of the value systems
The datum chart of the calculated convergence degree of of project participants. It is a good indicator. It must be held
values systems of the project’s participants according to fixed and tried to keep. In this case, the approximation shows
the criteria of values is shown in Figure 2. The chart shows the high efficiency of changes management of the conver-
the dynamics of the convergence degree in the project im- gence of value systems.
plementation.
The management effectiveness will be determined by the
The dynamics of changes of the convergence measure dur- output variable out the Upper control line because until this
ing the project implementation is presented in Figure 3. The line the process can be characterized as accidental. The
chart shows the change in the convergence degree, taking management efficiency (Em(t)) can be determined by the
into account the assessment parameters. The effectiveness formula 4:
of the certain project’s values management can be present-
ed on the chart.
The highest value index is obtained at the last stage. It in-

dicates the high degree of correspondence of the planned
Figure 2. The changing of the convergence degree accordance the project’s stages (own resource)
1,00 Increase resources

Safety
0,80 Improving the quality of life
projectification
Profit-making
0,60 Sustainable development
Responsibility
0,40
0,20
0
CON CON CON CON CON CON CON CON CON
(3B) (3B) (3B) (3B) (3B) (3B) (3B) (3B) (3B)
(I) (II) (III) (IV) (1.1) (2.1) (3.1) (4.1) (5)
208
Figure 3. The dynamics of changing of convergence measure for the realization stages (own resource)
0,40 Increase resources

Safety
0,35 Improving the quality of life
0,30 Profit-making
Sustainable development
0,25 Responsibility
0,20
0,15
0,10
0,05
0
MCON MCON MCON MCON MCON MCON MCON MCON MCON
nap. nap. nap. nap. nap. nap. nap. nap. nap.
(I) (II) (III) (IV) (1.1) (2.1) (3.1) (4.1) (5)
Figure 4. The chart of the average indexes of the convergence degree (own source)
0,950 UCL
X cp
0,900
LCL
0,850 CL
0,800
0,750
0,700
0,650
0,600
CON CON CON CON CON CON CON CON CON
(I) 1.1 (II) 2.1 (III) 3.1 (IV) 4.1 5
Figure 5. The chart of the indexes ranges of the convergence degree of the project’s values (own source)
0,500 UCL
R
0,400
LCL
0,300 CL
0,200
0,100
0,000
CON CON CON CON CON
(I) (II) (III) (IV) 5
209
This indicator of effective management should be great- The standard deviation is the assessment for the mean
er than 1. If the indicator is negative (under condition square deviation and is evaluated as
LCL(t)≤E m (t)≤UCL(t) ), then, the process is stable
without significant changes. If E m (t)<LCL(t), then the If the IMC values are less than 1, the process is objectionable.
project team does not provide support for the needed con- If the IMC is equal 1, the process is on the border of the re-
vergence degree of the project’s values. quired capabilities.
The completed chart for ranges (R) is shown in Figure 5. The predictive modeling can be performed on the basis of
statistical data appearing in the project during its imple-
The decrease of the values of the ranges indexes is shown mentation.
on the Figure 5. It confirms the increase of the degree of ap-
proximation of the value systems of the project participants. Based on the constructed statistical series, a model for
The tendency of a permanent reduction in the ranges indi- forecasting and planning of convergence values at differ-
cators during the implementation and closure phases can ent values of the indexes of the weighting coefficients of the
be observed. project’s values can be created.
The reading the charts for the convergence degree is the dif- The extended multifactorial linear regressive model is pre-
ference from others spheres. sented below (formula 7):
In addition, the planned values (ΔCON(P)) can be deter-

mined depending on the type of project being implemented.
These data can be established, either on the basis of statis-
tical analysis or expertly. Taking into account the experience
of projects implementation of different scales, the planned where CONtri is the trend value of the convergence index
values of the deviation rates of convergence ΔCON(P) are for i-th value; x1,
x2, …, xi are the value of the assessment
generally higher than the calculated reference values (for- of the i-th value of the j-th project participant; b0, bi are the
mula 5). assessed values of the parameters that should be calculat-
ed. In our case and
The model coefficients for existing indicators are being cal-

culated and the equations for each i-th value are being
compiled for determination CONtri Equations on the values
In general, the possibility of the process management can for the project’s core of the cybersecurity are presented in
be determined using IMC (index management capabilities) table 1.
(formula 6):
210
Table 1. Equations of the multifactor regressive for the indexes of the convergence degree (own source)
VALUE EQUATION R2
Increase resources CONtri = 1,14 + 0,21x1 – 0,54x2 – 0,29x3 + 0,18x4 – 0,14x5 0,99
Safety CONtri = 0,5 – 0,33x1 + 0,88x2 – 0,26x3 – 0,08x4 – 1,12x5 + 0,63x6 0,98
Improving
CONtri = 0,71 – 0,15x1 + 0,5x2 – 0,4x3 + 0,4x5 + 0,06x6 0,99
the quality of life
Profit-making CONtri = 0,84 + 0,2x1 – 0,73x2 – 0,06x3 – 0,04x4 – 0,13x5 + 0,67x6 0,95
Sustainable
CONtri = 0,9 – 0,28x2 + 0,14x3 + 0,35x4 – 0,26x6 0,99
development
Responsibility CONtri = 1,55 + 0,4x1 + 0,63x2 + 5,73x3 – 7,04x4 – 0,23x5 + 0,11x6 0,94
Our models have a high level of approximation, that is why The main “problem” project values are “Safety” and “Prof-
they can be used for forecasting. it-making”. Their charts are presented at the Figure 6 and 7.
A confidential interval is as it is called “interval estima- According to the charts, the forecasting indexes for the val-
tion” of the parameter. The interval estimation is the value ue “Safety” is optimistic. This indicates a high degree of trust
set that will include true values with higher pre-determined between the project participants and the high quality of the
probability - project team’s work in this direction. On the other hand, it is
observed the decrease in the convergence degree for the
Using the mathematical approach of the confidential inter- value “Profit-making”. It can through two main reasons:
val, the root-mean-square deviation, and variance can be »» the activity of some participants, in general, is not aimed
calculated. at profit, or it has little value for them;
»» a conflict situation will appear during the project closure
when the obtained project values will be distributed.
Figure 6. The chart of the forecasting convergence Figure 7. The chart of the forecasting convergence
indexes for the value “Safety” if the project is indexes for the value “Profit-making” if the
continuing project is continuing
1 1,2
1
0,8
0,8
0,6 0,6
0,4
0,4
0,2
0,2 0
1 1.1 2 2.1 3 3.1 4 4.1 5 6 7 1 1.1 2 2.1 3 3.1 4 4.1 5 6 7
Ytr CON Ytr - Δ Ytr + Δ Ytr CON Ytr - Δ Ytr + Δ
211
The presented method provides additional mechanisms for integrated understanding can appear, on the one hand, on
regulating the overall project value system. It can be used to base the concepts and terms, on the other hand, on the
select the participants’ values indexes for making decisions creating integrated values. For creating of the integrated
of further cooperation with identified participants and seek- values the proposed method can be used. The method of-
ing methods to improve it. fers to monitor the changes in the convergence of project
values during its implementation using control charts. The
method is a tool for preventing conflict situations due to
SUMMARY the low convergence degree of values by timely identify-
ing approximation points of indicators to the edge states.
The Blended Mental Space creates a space for interaction
and integrated understanding all project participants. The
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213
Alexandre C. Pinto | Patricia G. Cesar | Alexandre A.
Andrade | Julio F. Blumetti Facó
Doctoral Researcher, University of Quebec in Outaouais, Canada
Building capacities through digital transformation using

scenario-based PPM
Value creation through projects / project management for the society
industries. The selected method is innovative if considered

ABSTRACT scarce applications of grounded theory in fields related to
organizational innovation and portfolio management.
PURPOSE: This paper is dedicated to exploring the use of
scenarios to support the evaluation and selection of digital Keywords: portfolio management, digital transformation,
transformation projects. The context where its constructs organizational innovation, scenario-based planning, busi-
were evaluated was the eminent digital transformation par- ness models
adigm that occurs in various infrastructure industries, on
which telecommunications sector was selected. Paper type: Research paper
DESIGN / METHODOLOGY / APPROACH: The research is

qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and structured through INTRODUCTION
grounded theory method applied in two brazilian telecom-
munications operators. Digital transformation, also known as Industry 4.0 in Ger-
man-speaking countries, has brought considerable chal-
FINDINGS: Portfolio management, which includes project lenges to organizations in various industries (Hermann,
evaluation and selection, relies on numerous methods of Pentek and Otto, 2016; WEF, 2017a). Whilst any organiza-
analysis ranging from financial tools to strategic approach- tion embrace the intensive use of information and commu-
es. Investigated organizations presented a consistent sub- nication technologies (ICTs), it raises the need for careful
set of project and portfolio management processes, tools evaluation and selection of projects designed to digital-
and strategies that included some scenario planning as- ly transform its culture and approach. Organizations born
pects during the evaluation and selection phases but strug- in traditional sectors of the economy need a guide to en-
gle to integrate these elements onto its emerged processes sure such business transformation is managed successfully,
and mainly, future business models. and the lack of such preformatted recipe makes this transi-
tion challenging as opposed to many digitally born startups
ORIGINALITY / VALUE: The main contribution of this paper is (Thiel and Masters, 2014; Chassagne, 2015; Anderson, 2016).
a proposition of a conceptual framework that integrates pro- In the same direction, recent studies of innovation theory
spective scenarios to evaluation and selection of projects focusing on servitization, detected significant value crea-
in organizations helping them to conduct their transformation through innovations in the value proposition offered to
tion, through the creation of digital capacities in a structured customers, draining more investments than pure R&D with
way considering the pillars of business processes and busi- strong technological emphasis (Barnett et al., 2013; Von
ness models. Such model is adaptable to other infrastructure Leipzig et al., 2017). By having in perspective Brazilian tel-
215
ecommunications operators segment, its own origins have tions, the frontier of value contribution at each link in the
ensured long cycles of change (Siqueira, 1993; Padilha, value chain becomes more diffuse and thus, the pervasive
2001) that suggests this industry might not keep pace with role of ICT is becoming increasingly preponderant (Porter
disruptions brought by digital transformation (WEF, 2017b). and Millar, 1985; Duhan, Levy and Powell, 2001; Ismail, 2014;
In that sense, in their quest for optimal portfolio of projects, Schwab, 2016). Considering specific technologies associat-
organizations have a myriad of methods to choose from ed with the telecom sector like software-defined network-
and its selection directly influences the quality of the de- ing (SDN) and network-function virtualization (NFV), these
cision (Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt,1999; Killen and boundaries might become even more undefined within each
Hunt, 2010; Gemünden, Killen and Kock, 2013). Therefore, link of the value chain which in turn, contributes to a cre-
the correct evaluation and selection of innovation projects ation of disruptive mechanisms of revenue generation with
connected to digital transformation, which occur at portfo- distinct business models (Jain and Paul, 2013; Kirkpatrick,
lio level (Cooper, Edgett and Kleinschmidt, 1999, 2001; Jolly, 2013; Han et al., 2015; Kreutz, 2015).
2003; PMI, 2017), should encompass not only concepts with
a strong technological base such as: big data, cloud com-
puting, mobility, internet of things, artificial and cognitive CREATING VALUE THROUGH
intelligence, distributed ledgers technologies (blockchain), ORGANIZATIONAL INNOVATION
network-function virtualization and software-defined net-
working, but can also benefit from scenario-based tooling Inovating in business models
to ensure clarity on the path to be followed, as well as its
intermediate scenarios for each technology roadmap step Even though there are distinct perspectives with respect of
(Porter, 1980; Wack, 1985; Schoemaker, 1995; Chermack, business models according to its seminal typology, other
Lynham and Ruona, 2001; Phaal and Muller, 2009; Phadnis theoretical approaches believe that, in fact, an organization
et al., 2015; Meissner and Wulf, 2013). can select a business model from a portfolio of available
business models, noting that choosing erratically can re-
duce its chances of success (Osterwalder, Pigneur and Tuc-
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE ci, 2005; Teece, 2010). As there are many variants of busi-
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR ness models replicable through ICTs, it is particularly useful
to understand the layered model that explores the possibil-
Specifically, the World Economic Forum and MIT perceives ities for the telecommunications sector, object of this paper
digital transformation as the conjunction of distinctive (Fransman, 2002). Even though is observable a rapid as-
technologies categorized as digital innovations with the similation of ICTs in several sectors with distinct degrees of
aim of completely redefine industries and radically improve intensity, it is fundamental to establish in a more advanced
its performance by challenging its current business models stages, innovative business models capable of creating
(Westerman et al., 2011; WEF, 2017a). In short, the paradigm new and sustainable sources of value and revenue, spe-
of digital transformation can be better understood by ref- cially within a sector of declining margins like telecommu-
erencing its three constructive blocks: business processes nications (Gallindo and Quadros, 2017). Since its inception,
and business models supporting the customer experience business models typologies have evolved in line with the dy-
mediated by mixed technologies that will interact unpre- namics imposed by the digital transformation and its port-
dictably. Regarding the potential impact of digital transfor- folio of technologies (Tapscott, Ticoll and Lowy, 2000; Jain
mation in telecommunications sector, it can be inferred that and Paul, 2013; Kirkpatrick, 2013; Kreutz, 2015; WEF, 2017b).
it might reach a global figure of USD$ 10 trillion dollars when Traditional value chains, agoras, aggregation, alliances and
considered a combined effect in five other sectors that will partnerships, and several of them with strong focus on open
rely on telecom infrastructure to leverage their own digital innovation (Chesbrough, 2004), are amongst the various
transformation projects (WEF, 2017b). Presently, an analy- business models found nowadays (Enkel, Gassmann and
sis of the intensity of the information contained in the pro- Chesbrough, 2009; Bigliardi, Ivo Dormio and Galati, 2012).
cesses along the value chain and its products, shows that Organizations daring to analyze and propose scenarios in
in the case of knowledge-based and exponential organiza- which new business models propitiated by the digital trans-
216
Figure 1. Business models and business processes: foundations of Digital Transformation
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
BLOCKS
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
SCENARIOS SCENARIOS
Telecommunications
BUSINESS BUSINESS Operator
MODELS PROCESSES
Consumers & users
ALLIANCES DISTRIBUTIVE
Application & NETWORKS B2B B2B2C
Content
Partners, Integrators, Channels, Distributors
Web browsing & Providers Wholesale and Retail
Middleware BUSINESS PROCESSES
AGORAS AGGREGATION BUSINESS PROCESSES
Internet Service
Providers BUSINESS PROCESSES
Telecommunication Cost structure

Value proposition
Partnerships
VALUE GENERATION FLOW

Networks VALUE CHAIN Target market
Capacities
Distribution channels
Equipment & Revenue
Relationships Time, Space (Physical or digital) and resources
generation
Software
Source: Adapted from Tapscott, Ticoll and Lowy (2000), Fransman (2002), Osterwalder, Pigneur and Tucci (2005)
formation technologies might allow an extension of the nature (internal and or external), relevance for evaluation
spectrum of possibilities for the telecommunications sector, and or selection and, finally, its influence on processes and
might benefit all its participants and customers. or business models, to allow the conceptual structure to be
properly identifiable at the end of the data analysis process.
Inovating in business processes The key constructs tracked throughout the 12 validated in-
terviews and identified in Appendix A were: technological
Specifically, with respect to business processes, it’s under- trends (TTND), business model and servitization dilemma
stood it includes human and technological resources that, (BMDS), business model typology (BMTP), environment
when performing activities within a pre-established logic, scenarios (ESCN) , typology of project management of-
generate a result within an expected time in either a physical fice (PMOT), typology of projects (IFPT), innovative strate-
or virtual space (Hammer, 1990; WEF, 2017b). Such transfor- gies (INST), degree of business transformation (DBTR), val-
mational journey, initiated with process-driven perspective ue generation through ICTs (VICT), decision making in ICTs
was sagaciously perceived as evolutionary in its two initial (ICTD) and finally, Project, Program and Portfolio Manage-
approaches and revolutionary in a measure of its capacity to ment standards (PPMS). Two telecommunications oper-
innovate in three additional levels aiming the transformation ators were selected based on following criteria: operation
of the business (Venkatraman, 1994; Röglinger et al., 2016). license (fixed and mobile) and high dominance of market
While intuitively decision-makers understand greater value share, due to high level of concentration of telecom sector
potential of ICTs is at revolutionary levels, they also recog- (Telebrasil, 2018). Data collection was divided in two phas-
nize there is no triviality in planning, executing and collecting es: Thirteen (13) semi-structured questions were answered
the benefits of such transformational endeavors to develop by executives and such inputs were used to increment the
digital capacities (Hess et al., 2016). The inherent complexity level of detail used in the next phase. Six high level exec-
of change and the difficulty of mensuration of its results ex utives iteratively interviewed, were participants of steering
ante are among some of these obstacles, that are associat- committees or PMOs responsible for ICT portfolio manage-
ed with intangibility of most strategic uses of ICTs contained ment processes. Fifteen (15) face to face interviews were
in any transformation effort (Ross and Beath, 2002; Neto e conducted (2 discarded due to conflicting inputs) to prop-
Leite, 2015). Thus, relationship between the layered model, erly map key constructs and collect documental evidences
typology of business models and business processes inter- according to the directives of ground theory method (Corb-
leaving is seen on figure 1. in and Strauss, 1990; Charmaz, 1996; Goulding, 2002).
Results
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS
All executives from mobile operators demonstrated a high
Methodology and proposed conceptual framework prevalence on projects destined to rethink customer ex-
perience from digitalization standpoint, but 50% of them
The grounded theory method is a logically consistent set also attributed a high level of uncertainty to determine the
of data collection coupled with analytical procedures that correct business model from a sustainability perspective
contribute to the development of a theory through induc- (BMDS) and scored only 23 in comparison to 46 obtained
tive strategies. It offers “a set of strategies for conducting from fixed operator executives. Perceptions regarding tech-
rigorous qualitative research”, since it has proper system- nological trends (TTND) scored highest 83 (mobile) and 70
atics for handling and modeling of qualitative materials col- (fixed), in a clear indication they have proper mechanisms to
lected (Corbin and Strauss, 1990; Charmaz, 1996, p. 27). identify which technology has a potential impact, however
The key constructs identified, were recorded in a selective the degree of business transformation projects (DBTR) was
coding tabulation and categorized for each type of opera- significantly lower on both cases scoring 18 and 38 for both
tor, during the application of the method supported by QDA mobile and fixed operators. This might be an indication that
miner software package. To facilitate referencing during the mobile operators are some steps ahead fixed operators and
interview process, for each one of eleven key constructs it already have a flow of project and programs connected to
was assigned four components: an identifier (4-letter code), digitalization as several artifacts collected during field work
218
Building capacities through digital transformation using scenario-based PPM
suggest. Project, program and portfolio management stand- project types (IFPT) were alliances and platform, including
ards (PPMS) scored 46, on both mobile and fixed, suggest- cases of heavy collaboration with external advisors in 60%
ing adequate level of adherence of best practices and hybrid of the cases and scored 36 and 38 for mobile and fixed, re-
methodologies (traditional and agile), confirmed through- spectively. Other key constructs (ICTD and VICT) scores were
out the interview processes. Even though, project manage- intermediate in terms of contribution. Intensity of key con-
ment office (PMOT) did not appear with significant inten- structs mapped along each step of data collection allowed
sity during the interview processes, scoring of 35 (mobile) a portrait of an emerging conceptual framework investigat-
and 29 (fixed) it might indicate a duality with the functions ed from the data collection for each type of operator which
assumed by the PMO, once 80% of the organizations indi- are evidenced in figure 2 and Appendix A.
cated a presence of this structure at different organization-
al levels. One possibility is that, even with presence of stra-
tegic PMO, decision process is still dominated by steering CONCLUSIONS
committees and other board members as several evidenc-
es indicated in some interviews. When innovative strategies This paper proposes that independently of methodology
(INST) scores of 55 (mobile) and 67 (fixed) are analyzed is chosen in the pre-screening and individual analysis activities
possible to identify a mix of defensive and traditional strat- (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999) such assessment is com-
egies indicating a responsive characteristic. Business model plemented with use of prospective scenarios when digital
typology (BMTP) scoring was 52 (mobile) and 48 (fixed) and transformation projects are considered. By designing a com-
confirmed during the interview processes that, both opera- bination of scenarios likely to fit organization’s portfolio, ex-
tors have good referencing in terms of a portfolio of busi- ecutives drive strategic analysis that are more grounded
ness models, even though the decision itself amongst which and closer to feasibility for executing their projects that are
business model shall be successful is ambiguous. Use of sce- part of their transformation effort, paving a road for build-
narios techniques (ESCN) was vaguely mentioned by fixed ing digital capabilities under a more structured way (Archer
operators that scored 30 as opposed mobile operator exec- and Ghasemzadeh, 1999; Gordijn, Akkermans and Van Vliet,
utives that contributed to score of 43. Most cited innovation 2001; Marcial and Grumbach, 2008; Phaal and Muller, 2009;
Van Wyk, 2010; Derbyshire and Giovanetti, 2017). In view of
the highly unpredictable trajectories on which different tech-
Figure 2. Intensity of contribution per construct nologies associated with digital transformation may collide
or merge within the market dynamics, the use of the scenar-
ios in this paper is quite timely. Such strategy allows organ-
TTND
TTND izations to contextually understand the sensitivity of digital
90
PPMS
PPMS 80 BMDS
BMDS business models, considering their financial aspects, possi-
70 ble alliances (Velu, 2015), future consumer and technologi-
60
50 cal trends with its feedbacks that should be considered in the
ICTD
ICTD 40 BMTP
BMTP portfolio (Gordijn, Akkermans and Van Vliet, 2001; Van Wyk,
30
20 2010). From a regulatory perspective, some obscure points
10
still pending definitions for Brazilian National Plan of IoT im-
0
VICT
VICT ESCN
ESCN pact creation of disruptive business models and call into is-
sues such as network neutrality (Wallsten and Hausladen,
2009), user privacy in cloud environments (Takabi, Joshi and
PMOT Ahn, 2010) and new compliance regulations for ecosystems
DBTR
DBTR PMOT
with platform approaches (Losavio et al., 2018) among many
INST
INST IFPT
IFPT others that pose regulatory challenges that the telecom-
munication industry itself has been unable to respond ade-
Mobile Fixed quately (Caixeta, 2017; WEF, 2017b).
Source: Authors
219
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Appendix A: Conceptual framework
DIGITAL
DIRECTIVES CONSTRAINTS ASSUMPTIONS REQUIREMENTS GAPS PROJECTS
CAPACITIES
TECHNOLOGIAL TRENDS ENVIRONMENTAL ESCN EVALUATION (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999) SELECTION
Mobility, IoT, AI, Cloud, Blockchain, Big Data, TTND SCENARIOS
Network-function virtualization (NFV) and Software-defined networking (SDN)
BMDS PRE-TRIAGGE TRIAGGE
• Megatrends and disruptions
BUSINESS MODEL • SWOT INDIVIDUAL PROJECT ANALYSIS
(Linden and Fenn, 2003; Westerman et al., 2011, Jain and Paul, 2013; Kirkpatrick, 2013) DILEMMA AND PPMS
• Risk analysis (Archer and Ghasemzadeh, 1999)
SERVITIZATION • Events STEERING COMITEE Other
BMTP BUSINESS MODELS • Delphi and Crossed impacts
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION executives
TIPOLOGIES (Tongur and Engwall, 2014) (Godet, 2000)
BLOCKS Strategic
alliances (Grumbach and Marcial, 2002)
agoras PMO
distributive networks SHORT MEDIUM LONG
agreggation PPM standards
CUSTOMER value chain (Tapscott, Ticoll
EXPERIENCE and Lowy, 2000) PAST SCHEDULE VISION
(Bigliardi, Ivo Dormio
Perspectives Sources of (AXELOS, 2011)
BUSINESS BUSINESS and Galati, 2012)
Market information (Verzuh, 1999) (PMI, 2017)
PROCESSES MODELS
cost structure Business
(Westerman et al., 2011) partnership Model LIKELY ICTD
capacities ICT decision process D
revenue generation Products
IDEAL
Experts
Strategic • understading of
value proposition business needs C B
PMO
target market Services • Tangile and intangible A
OPTIMISTIC benefits
distribution channel • Decision making skills
relationship Systems Historical • Analysis techniques
TREND • Strategic vision
(Osterwalder, Pigneur and Design Data • Third party perspectives
Tucci, 2005) Operations ICTs
Enkel, Gassmann and PESSIMISTIC
(Bannister and Remeny, 2000)
Chesbrough, 2009)
Science
TTDD
Market
Technology
INST INNOVATIVE R&D Resources VALUE GENERATION THROUGH ICTs
STRATEGIES VICT
dependent defensive
Where are we ? How do we get there? Where do we want to be?
(Marcial and Grumbach, 2008) PMIS/DSS
oportunist (Phaal and Muller, 2009) (softwares)
imitative ICT ICT
(Featherston et al., 2016)
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION
(Derbyshire and Giovannetti, 2017) conversion impacts
DBTR V
Investments ICT assets
ofensive traditional Revolutionary A
(Freeman and Soete, 2005) Business scope Strategically Oportunistic ICT L
INNOVATION FUNNEL redefinition aligned Projects in the portfolio U
PMOT IFPT PROJECT TIPOLOGY GARTNER HYPE CYCLE
INNOVATION Business networks AND PPM SOFTWARE projects E
PMO TIPOLOGY
reengineering
Center of excellence
Support office Commercial Development projects
Project Office ▪ Derived Processes Reengineering A A
Program Office ▪ Risky Evolutionary
B C 1st B
Executive Office ▪ Platform C
R&D Projects 2nd 3rd
(Verzuh, 1999) Internal processes
Alliances and Partnership projects
integration
Basic Research projects (Linden and Fenn, 2003)
(Clark and Wheelright, 1993) Localized exploration (Stang and Light, 2018)
(Venkatraman, 1994) (Soh and Markus, 1995; Garfein, 2009; AXELOS, 2010)
Source: Authors
Juliana Cariello | Juliana Correa | Fabio Athayde |
Carlos R. Araujo | Luiz Rocha
IPMA Brazil
Implementing Excellence in Social and Humanitarian

Organizations
ABSTRACT: The social and humanitarian sector has been Keywords: humanitarian projects; aid sector; management
growing year after year. There are 10 million non-govern- by projects; excellence in management
mental organizations around the world and 800.00 in Brazil.
If they were a country it would be the 5th largest economy.
The heterogeneity of the players and the amounts involved 1. INTRODUCTION
generate a debate about the efficacy of the aid industry.
On September 2015 the United Nations adopted 17 sustain-
People are the weakest and the strongest link in every organ- able goals to transform the world by 2030. These goals are
ization. Accordingly, an adequate management structure is related to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure pros-
essential for the alignment and direction of the entire organ- perity for all.
ization. Aware of the importance of social organizations and
the issues involved IPMABrasil established an approach based Multistakeholder partnerships, involving government, the
on the search for excellence in management by projects. private sector and civil society are what will hold this process
together, and will be the only way of ensuring these incredi-
By middle 2015, Associaçao de Apoio a Criança com Neo- bly ambitious goals are met (Thompson, 2015)
plasia in Rio de Janeiro decided to create a Program of Ex-
cellence in Management based on IPMABrasil’s approach.
They are a non-profit institution with the mission to “Give
integral care to children with cancer and their families”. Figure 1. United Nations Sustainable Goals
The first strategic cycle resulted in a Program portfolio with

13 projects. Culture transformation was the first project to
be executed with the purpose of working with the habits, be-
haviors, beliefs, ethical and moral values of the organization
in order to prepare people for the change and transforma-
tion involved.
Reaping the benefits of such an approach takes time and ef-

fort. Additionally, as in every transformation endeavor, oc-
casional complaints of waste of time and that is taking too
long are always heard. Nevertheless the results are encour-
aging and serve to point the way forward.
225
Globally, thousands of organizations, even before the real, Soussan became the first insider to call for an independ-
lease of these goals, have been working on many of these ent investigation of the U.N.’s dealings with Saddam Hussein.
themes. Together, these organizations form an extremely One week later, a humiliated United Nations president Kofi
heterogeneous group that differ in an array of ways. Some Annan appointed Paul Volcker to lead a team of sixty inter-
are government affiliated, others bilateral or multilater- national investigators, whose findings resulted in hundreds
al agencies; many are associated with religious institutions, of prosecutions in multiple countries (Meyer and Califano,
and most are non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 2009). Ultimately, the case involved US$ 110 billion of sales
of Iraq oil and purchases of humanitarian goods. The inves-
Considering only NGOs, there 10 million worldwide (NGO- tigation committee’s main conclusions with respect to UN
FACTS, 2018), and 820.000 in Brazil (Observatório Tercei- itself were unambiguous: the organization required thor-
ro Setor, 2018). If NGOs were a country they would have ough administrative reform, stronger executive leadership,
the 5th largest economy in the world (Observatório Tercei- more effective controls, and auditing. This case demon-
ro Setor, 2018). The heterogeneity of the players and the strated how poor the management of such a huge organ-
amounts involved generate a debate about the efficacy of ization can be.
the aid industry considering: first that too much money goes
to international development; second that very few positive The documentary, Poverty Inc. (Miller, 2014), reveals that
effects are achieved; and finally that the amounts of aid the current dominant model of economic development
matter less than how it is given ( Hann, 2009). is broken, and foreign aid is the big element of it. The so-
called attempts to help are actually excluding people and
As part of this debate, in 2011 McKinsey-Devex published keeping them poor. The issue present is paternalism. When
a survey on Development Agency Effectiveness. Only 36% westerns step in during an emergency crisis with donations
of those surveyed said that most aid projects achieved their from generous-minded humans they may not be aware of
intended impact. The four main areas needing improve- the long-term social impacts with the continuity of their
ment were: planning for financial sustainability, ensuring giving. It all comes down to giving a fish versus teaching
stakeholder skills, forward-planning allocations and evi- someone to fish. Donations may provide a temporary fix
dence-based resource allocation (Hekala, 2012). while developing competences and creating connections
to the world market could be much more productive. The
A series of documentaries and films also illustrate many of real issue is to empower people to exit poverty in a sus-
the issues in the sector. The 2012 documentary, The Trouble tainable way.
with Aid (Pollack, 2012 ), brings together some of the most
influential figures in emergency aid to comment about dis- Another documentary (Rothwell, 2015) looks at the very
aster cases related to the humanitarian phenomenon over early days of the modern eco-movement and the humble
the past 50 years. From the Biafran War in 1967 to Afghan- beginnings of Greenpeace to its global expansion. One of
istan, the 7 cases presented indicate that suppliers of aid, the pivotal issues underlining the documentary is how NGOs
driven by compassion and idealism offer, many times, sim- organize their management in general and project man-
plistic solutions to complex problems and are frequently agement in particular. The documentary details a gradual
confronted with moral and political dilemmas as their at- process of growth, infighting and disillusionment. At some
tempts to help are often compromised and undermined, point Greenpeace found theirselves caught between con-
and may do more harm than good. flicting notions of Greenpeace’s mission. Still adversarial
today among many reminiscing original participants are
More recently, the film Backstabbing for Beginners (Fly, Paul Watson (who would split to found the Sea Shepherd
2018) exposed the Oil-for-Food scandal that plagued the Conservation Society) and Patrick Moore (whose environ-
United Nations around the time of the invasion of Iraq in mental corporate-consulting firm is considered a betrayal
2003. It reveals the efforts of humanitarianism to degen- of his Greenpeace origins). One of the lessons to be learned
erate into greed, and an opportunity to profit at the misis that any growing movement to promote change can-
ery of others. The film is based on real-life memoir (Soussan, not be held by few. This force must be liberated and many
2008). On March 8, 2004, in a Wall Street Journal editori- empowered. At this moment, there is a need for structure,
226
planning and control. The big problem is that those capable Nowadays, with the speed of changes and the constant lim-
of implementing such structures are not the same idealists itation of resources in organizations, meeting expectations
on the stage of operations. The way of thinking of these two is not enough. It is essential to innovate, improve, and seek
poles is very different bringing to surface the importance of sustainable solutions as a way to achieve extraordinary re-
management. sults. This is the organizational Areté. According to Jim Col-
lins, one of the gurus of modern management, “compla-
While development organizations are heterogeneous and cency is one of the enemies of excellence. The enemy of
unique in many ways, they all share one thing in common: excellence is not to be bad but to be good” (Collins, 2001).
their main reason to exist is to create social transforma- Pursuing excellence means leaving the good and looking for
tion managing their initiatives as projects. The success of something better and to create a culture of discipline and
all these organizations and the livelihoods and well-being of perseverance.
the hundreds of millions of people they serve depends on
their ability to have a clear purpose, values and objectives Some organizations have the capability to consistently
aligned through all the organizational layers. As a result deliver results effectively while others do not. The key ele-
they must deliver project effectively and efficiently. These ment for success is to have a repeatable approach capable
organizations must mature teams to elaborate project proof improvement along time. Reaping the benefits from us-
posals, to develop project plans, to implement project ac- ing a standard approach takes time and effort. Many may
tivities (many with the essential help of the beneficiary com- complain that the adoption of such an approach introduc-
munity), and to monitor their progress and evaluate their es overhead, cost and waste of time. However, the issues in
impact. Unfortunately, frequently their management needs the humanitarian sector indicate that vision with clear ob-
improvement and project management is rarely identi- jectives, standardization, discipline, planning, stakeholder
fied as a strategic priority for these organizations although management, and progress evaluation are the way forward.
a culture of project management should pervade their work.
In order to achieve the expected organizational change and
In summary, there are a number of issues present in the so- results it is likely there will be numerous inter-connected pro-
cial and humanitarian sector: aid projects are not achieving jects on the go at any one time. How does an organisation
the desired impacts; compassion and idealism may only re- allocate resources efficiently across these projects? How
sult in simple solutions to complex challenges instead of en- can the organization be sure that collectively these pro-
powering people to exit poverty in a sustainable away; poor jects will provide the desired business outcomes? This need
management is present even in large and well known organ- for alignment, visibility and control over several projects is
izations in the sector; at some point a growing movement where programme management comes into play to manage
will need structure, planning and control and in the long- and coordinate multiple projects as one unit with the objec-
term can not be led by idealism only. tive of achieving (often intangible) outcomes and benefits.
Aware of the importance of the social-humanitarian or-

2. FROM GOOD INTENTIONS TO IMPACTS ganizations and the issues involved IPMABrasil established
AND RESULTS an approach based on the search for excellence (Areté) in
management by projects structured as a Program of Excel-
The greeks’ view of man is unique in history. It was of man lence in Management with the following drivers:
the achiever, the successful, the intelligent, the powerful,
the beautiful. The word that described this ideal was Areté An Organizational Excellence Model
and they believed that every human being should live a life
in search for Areté, an ideal state never reached in its to- The excellence model in use is adapted from the European
tality, always existing space for improvement and develop- Foundation of Quality Management’s Model of Excellence
ment. The greek concept of pursuit of excellence required (EFQM, 2012) which correlates cause and effect relation-
dedication, persistence, patience, and an attitude of always ships between what an organization do, the enablers, and
pursuing the best. the results achieved.
227
Figure 2. The Excellence Model
Enablers Results
Leadership
Vision
Performance
Mission Best practices
Performance evaluation
indicators
Culture Processes
Results
Strategy Products
People and Impacts and benefits
collaboration
Governance Services
Communication
Conformities
Partnership
and resources
Learning, Creativity, Innovattion
Excellence is a journey not a destination and to achieve sus- »» Use excellence as a catalyst for strategic renewal and
tained success, an organization need, first of all, to establish change;
a clear strategic direction having the excellence model as »» Make it a strategic imperative to integrate the organiza-
a principle. They also need a strong leadership, a clear gov- tion, technologies and partners for leverage and econ-
ernance in place, develop and improve their people, and omies of scale.
measurement based on performance indicators in order to »» Extend excellence to all relevant functions and process-
deliver value-adding products and services to their benefi- es including those that are external to the organization.
ciaries. If the right approaches are effectively implemented,
the results and benefits achieved will be what stakeholders Strategic Management
expect. The loop is closed by analyzing the lessons learned,
the practices that must be disseminated, and an action plan Strategic management is the decision-making process that
for improvement. guides the actions of the organization over time, considering
its relationship with internal and external environments in or-
Agility is associated with the continuous pursuit for excel- der to direct behavior towards their objectives (Ansoff, 2014).
lence. Organizational agility is the ability to deliver rap-
id strategic adjustment in response to external or internal The process of strategic management is linked not only to
factors. Such as excellence, agility is more a matter of be- rational analysis, but also to creativity and social trans-
coming than being. Organizational agility requires specif- formations. It is about managing the changes that the or-
ic capabilities and resources and must be embedded into ganization is subjected in order to preserve or change its
the organizational structure, culture, technology, leadership, culture while seeking to establish competitive advantage.
management, and the mindsets of those within the organi- The strategic management approach must consider two
zation (Harraf et all, 2015). types of strategies: deliberate strategies, realized as in-
tended and emergent strategies, patterns or consistencies
Organizational excellence and agility are the basis for high realized despite, or in the absence of intentions. Emergent
performance and strategic renewal to develop adaptable strategy is the view that strategy emerges over time as in-
organizational cultures. High-performance organizations tentions collide with and accommodate a changing reality.
exhibit excellence and agility in a number of ways: Emergent strategy implies that an organization is learning
228
Figure 3. Strategic Management Process
MISSION
VISION
VALUES
PROGRESS SITUATIONAL
MONITORING Enablers Results
ANALYSIS
Learning, Creativity, Innovattion
STRATEGY OBJECTIVES
IMPLEMENTATION SETTING
STRATEGY
FORMULATION
what works in practice. Thus, once a strategy is formulated, done right. It is essential that the appropriate supervisory
other strategies can emerge, making the process subject approach is in place.
to adaptation and change (Mintzberg and Waters, 1985).
This point reinforces the assumption that strategy is not The strategic project office is the entity that takes programs
something simply done top-down but includes a bot- and projects identified after strategy formulation and pro-
tom-up approach. vides a standard organizational orientation for planning,
executing, prioritizing, and learning. This organizational unit
Strategic Project Office does not need to be neither big nor a resource ditch. It can
be even be represented by a professional responsible for it.
Typically strategic initiatives are identified as part of an an-
nual planning process although they may arise throughout Another reason for the disconnection between strategy and
the year as a result of emergent strategies. The screening, projects is the lack of capability for integrating and manag-
selection, and management of strategic initiatives are the
drive to strategy implementation. Normally, strategic initi-
atives are accomplished by the execution of programmes Figure 4. Bridging Strategy and Execution
and projects. Despite of that, too often projects have been
chartered with little or no connection to the formulated or-
ganizational strategy.
A reason for this misconception has been the lack of an or-

INITITATIVES MANAGEMENT
ganizational entity with the responsibility to map the way STRATEGY
FORMULATION
PROGRAMS OF PROGRAMS
STRATEGY
IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT PROJECT
from strategy to projects, and to monitor programs, pro-
jects and portfolios to ensure that they continue to address
STRATEGIC
strategic initiatives, even as these initiatives change over PROJECT OFFICE
time (Crawford, 2010), across multiple organizational layers.
It is not enough to ensure the right combination of projects
229
ing projects into a project portfolio. Project portfolio man- The purpose of PMDPro’s project phased model is to provide
agement enables the alignment of projects and programs balance and comprehensiveness in the project model. Too
with strategy in a dynamic decision process wherein pro- often, development organizations have placed an especial-
jects and programs are evaluated, selected and prioritized ly strong emphasis on project design, monitoring, and eval-
and resources allocated accordingly. uation and overshadowed the importance of other phases.
A project team must not only invest in one strong, coherent
As many organizations adopt management by projects to phase, but also commit similar levels of resources and effort
their strategic framework, the strategic project office takes in all the phases of the project lifecycle.
many responsibilities:
»» Ensure that the organization invests in the best set of Competence Development
projects and programs to achieve the desired strategic
goals; As humanitarian organizations have grown larger and more
»» Guarantee transparency on how to manage the portfo- professional they have felt the need for their staff to have
lio of initiatives; new and deeper skill sets. Given the size and geograph-
»» Provide an organizational focus on improving the man- ic spread of their organizations, they have responded with
agement of projects, and programs; a combination of strategies, including the development of
»» Identify and raise strategic issues to the highest levels competency frameworks, implementation of performance
of the organization in order to facilitate effective deci- appraisals, coaching and mentoring programs, facilitating
sion making. learning and training opportunities, and thinking more sys-
tematically about career paths.
A Methodology to Manage Programs and Projects
No strategic approach can be effective unless the people
Aware of the importance of the humanitarian sector, IPMA- who have to carry it out are motivated and capable to ex-
Brasil and PM4NGOs established a partnership to help hu- ecute their activities. They need to develop a set of com-
manitarian organizations to create social transformation in petences, i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes to support the
an effective way through management by projects in Brazil. strategic needs. The competence framework adopted is IP-
The adopted project-program methodology was PMDPRO MA’s Individual Competence Baseline v.4 (IPMA, 2015) which
(PM4NGOs, 2013) which builds on established methodolo- is based on the following views:
gies to provide practical guidance to run humanitarian and
social projects and is available for free in different languag- Perspective Competences – each project is highly influ-
es. Over 10,000 individuals in more than 70 countries have enced by the context in which it is embedded. For this rea-
been trained in the approach and have been using it (Ramos son, in a formal or explicit way, the formulation of the project
et all, 2016), (Ramos et all, 2017). strategy, its structure, processes, standards and conformi-
Figure 5. Methodology Adopted
Project
Project End of Project
Identification Planning Implementation
Set Up Transition
and Design
MONITORING, EVALUATION AND CONTROL
230
ties must take into account the context and the local cul- reers while perfecting their personal, interpersonal, and de-
ture where the project will be implemented. Competenc- velopment-specific skills.
es related to this perspective need to be developed by the
project team to better understand the scenario, the various The iceberg metaphor developed by Wilfried Kruger sug-
levels at which decisions will be made, and the governance gests that project managers should not only look at what is
and conformities involved; apparent but also to the hidden barriers required to imple-
ment change. Most managers focus on what they can see
People Competences – projects are delivered by people. above the waterline. However, they forget that most ice-
In this way, interpersonal and social skills are fundamental to bergs extend below the surface hiding perceptions, beliefs,
the success of the project and are commonly treated as the power and politics which are the stronger and more influen-
“art of project management”. To understand other people it tial barriers as in the figure below (Hay Group, 2003).
is necessary first to understand yourself. It is the ability to
look inward and be able to reflect and self-manage. If you Seven Tools to Promote Alignment, Incrementality and
are able to understand yourself, you can develop empathy Iteractivity
with others, communicate, inspire, align teams, and manage
conflicts throughout the project life cycle; Humanitarian organizations whether at the local, national or
international level are judged not by what they do, but by
Practice Competences – are commonly treated as the what they deliver. In short, they are accountable for results.
“science behind project management”. The project manag-
er must identify, select and employ the right tools and pro- Planning is always necessary but things will happen and you
cesses to meet the expectations of key stakeholders and must be ready to deal with managing uncertainty and re-
control the project from start to finish in order to deliver sponding to change. The fact that unknown things will al-
a successful project. It is an approach that includes the log- ways materialize indicate that there is no point in trying to
ical interconnections between scope, time, quality, resourc- define and know everything before you start. It is in reality
es, risks and opportunities based on stakeholder expecta- dangerous and costly and the way to deal with this fact is
tions. through alignment, incrementality and iteractivicty: align-
ment is the condition where project stakeholders are work-
It is undeniable that project managers must gradually take ing to meet a set of clearly understood objectives and gain-
on greater and more complex responsibilities in their ca- ing commitment to work toward those goals; incrementality
Figure 6. IPMA Individual Competence Baseline V.4
PROJECTS PROGRAMS PORTFOLIOS
Project design
Requirements and objectives
Self-reflection and self management
Scope
Personal integrity and reliability
Time
Personal communication
Organization and information
Relations and engagement
Quality
Leadership
Finance
Teamwork
Resources
Conflicts and crisis
Procurement
Resourcefulness
Plan and control
Negotiation
Risk and oportunity
Results orientation
Stakeholders
Change and transformation
Governance Compliance Power Culture

Strategy structure standards and and
processes regulations interest values
231
Figure 7. The Iceberg Model of Competencies
SKILS
I cannot KNOWLEDGE I can
I don’t know how EXPERIENCE I know how
It’s not important or It’s important to me

SOCIAL ROLE, VALUES
appropriate to me
(how I see myself in society) It’s me
It’s not me TRAITS
It comes easily to me
(my non concious pattern of behaviors)
It doesn’t come easily to me
SEF IMAGE I enjoy it
I don’t enjoy it (what I value in myself)
MOTIVES
(what excites me)
COMPETENCY: ANY CHARACTERISTIC OF A PERSON THAT DIFFERENTIATES LEVEL OF

PERFORMANCE IN A GIVEN JOB, ROLE, ORGANISATION OR CULTURE.
is associated with giving greater clarity to what is important Execution Sprint – is a tool involving two concepts: the first
and what should be developed as the process progresses; one is the evaluation of the critical resources needed. They
and iteractivity is connected to providing a regular, predict- are critical because they are shared within the organization
able cadence for teams to produce an increment of value, and with other projects which affects its planned availabil-
as well as to refine those previously developed. Each itera- ity; the second concept is the sprint (to run as fast as you
tion is a standard, fixed-length timebox, where teams deliver can over a short distance either in a race or because you
incremental value. are in a hurry to get somewhere) representing the iteraction
done during a timebox (normally one month) when a set of
In order to promote alignment, incrementality and iterac- activities is completed. Using these two concepts scope is
tion, facilitate planning, progress evaluation, and timely adjusted in each iteraction depending on the availability of
decision-making by senior management, seven tools were critical resources as well as what will be done in the following
used: three timeboxes;
Project Formulation Canvas – is a visualization meth- Project Monitoring – is the basis for regular meetings
od which breaks an idea into the basic elements to devel- (together with the sprint) as a creative space to facilitate
op a project. It is an ideal instrument for the definition stage comprehension of needs and interdependencies, and to
and for alignment of project’s purpose and goals; structure information for progress evaluation and deci-
sion-making indicating: what was done and delivered dur-
Project Charter – is the official mandate by the senior man- ing the last timebox; what issues need to be solved by senior
agement that authorizes the start of the project aligned with management; what are the steps ahead (three timeboxes);
organisational objectives, and broadly defines project deliv- what are the actions for the next timebox;
erables, schedule and budget;
Project Dashboard – presents the set of strategic projects,
Project Workbook – is a tool used to promote the consoli- displays performance indicators, and highlights problems
dation of the work done. It details the canvas elements inas- that require attention from senior management every three
much as the organizational project maturity increases and timeboxes. It also gives management an integrated over-
it also includes the other six tools presented; view of status and facilitates discussion about the issues as-
sociated with the program and the projects chatered;
232
Strategic Map – is a diagram that shows the organization’s One critical issue that must be carefully evaluted is execu-
strategy on a single page. It’s great for communication and tion. 70% of strategic failures are due to poor execution.
alignment. With a well-designed map, every employee can Rarely the failure is because of lack of vision or intelligence.
know the overall strategy and where he fits in. Execution has to be a part of an organization’s strategy and
their goals. It is the missing link between aspirations and re-
This set of tools is not meant to be bloated bureaucracy but sults. As such, it is a major–indeed, the major–job of a busi-
to facilitate governance and accountability, promote team- ness leader (Bossidy and Charam, 2002).
working and interdepencies discussion by the use of can-
vas, and stimulate agility with the concepts of incremental- After the objectives and goals towards a desired vision are
ity and iteractivity. established and the transformation process is en route, it is
very common to have questions such as “when is this go-
ing to finish?”. One must understand that incremental im-
3. FROM STRATEGY TO CHANGE AND provements on quality, productivity and deliverables create
TRANSFORMATION momentum towards a desired future and must be acknowl-
edged. It is not only about reaching the objectives but also
Organizational transformations are inherently complex. You about the accomplishments along the way. As the concept
learn along the way and the effort proceeds in an evolution- from Jim Collins, “the process resembles relentlessly pushing
ary manner. Focus is essential. Ineffective efforts exhort the a giant, heavy flywheel, turn upon turn, building momentum
organization to fix everything at once. Far better to choose until a point of breakthrough and beyond“.
just a few objectives and devote all energy to them until
measurable progress is achieved. In every transformation process, however well led and or-
ganized, the uncertainties are many and the results un-
Two realties exist when addressing organizational change. certain. The status quo remains virtually unchanged until
First, “what do we change?” and second, “how do people in a time when initiatives are beginning to show results. This is
the organization embrace change and ultimately change the “tipping point” (Gladwell, 2000). Up to this point, a very
themselves?”. For many, just getting through their job done small percentage of individuals do most of the work by de-
is enough. Asking them to be a part of the learning process veloping momentum. What is interesting is that viralization
may be overwhelming.
Fig. 8 The Steps to Change and Transformation
WHY DO WE EXIST? mission
WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR US? Values
WHAT WE WANT TO BECOME? Vision
HOW ARE WE GETTING THERE? Strategy
WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO? Initiatives and project
COMMUNICATING OUR STRATEGY Strategic Map
PROGRESS MONITORING Execution
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO? Personal Objectives
Satisfyed Stakeholders Financially Sustainable Efficient Processes Competent Collaborators
233
does not happen gradually but in a decisive moment, “the 4. THE CASE ASSOCIAÇAO DE APOIO
tipping point”, when the effort becomes memorable. A CRIANÇA COM NEOPLASIA (CRM-RJ)
The journey to the tipping point requires engagement of the By middle 2015 CRM-RJ decided to create a Program of Ex-
main stakeholders. This includes identifying main concerns cellence in Management based on IPMABrasil’s approach.
and developing a broad consensus. It is also about bene- They are a non-profit institution with the mission to “Give
fiting from the vast amount of information and knowledge integral care to children with cancer and their families”. An-
that stakeholders hold to find workable, efficient and sus- nually they offer lodging, food, and transport to hospitals, to
tainable solutions. It is fundamental that since the very Pro- 400 children and adolescents through the dedicated sup-
gram beginning to consider stakeholders, and also unfold- port of 50 collaborators and 436 volunteers.
ing the analysis for each project started and associated with
the Program. The Program addressed specifically goals 3 and 12 of UN
Sustainable Development Goals which are: ensure healthy
The fact is that every organization faces storms but what lives and promote well-being for all ages, and ensure sus-
matters most is how you handle the boat, the resources you tainable consumption and production patterns. It also ad-
place on it, and the crew you select to navigate rough wa- dresses goal 9 with a slightly change because of the nature
ters while you’re in the storms ( Pricey and Toye, 2017) . The of a social organization: build resilient infrastructure, pro-
reason to have clear and transparent steps is to create the mote inclusive and sustainable organization and foster in-
conditions for a more predictable journey. novation.
Figure 9. CRM-RJ Strategic Map
VISION 2022
WE WILL BE RECOGNIZED AS REFERENCE OF EXCELLENCE IN THE SUPPORT OF CANCER TREATMENT
MISSION GIVE FULL ATTENTION TO CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER AND THEIR FAMILIES
STAKEHOLDERS
To archive our Mission, how should
me appear to our stakeholders and
Marketing External Comunication Internal Comunication
beneficiants?
PROCESSES
Governance, accountability
To safety our stakeholder, at wich Audit
processes must we excel? and transparency
Employees and volunteers

Culture Transformation Develop event teams
LEARNING&GROWTH integration
How will we sustain our ......... to
change and improve? Performance evaluation Setting targets with
Competency development
guidelines indicators
FINANCIAL
Financially sustain our Mission, Financial Sustentability Fundraising
on what must we focus?
VALUES
What are our atitude standards? INTEGRATION RESPECT SOLIDARITY ENGAGEMENT PROFISSIONALISM TRANSPARENCY
234
The approach followed the steps presented on fig. 8 and re- build valuable skills and knowledge, and experiencing the
sulted in a strategic map with 13 initiatives. power and satisfaction resulting from self-management
and surmounting challenges to established objectives;
Culture transformation was considered priority 1 in the Pro-
gram of Excellence because culture is responsible for bring- Process Management – Covers how organizational pro-
ing together the habits, behaviors, beliefs, ethical and moral cesses are defined and monitored to ensure that they run
values and internal and external policies of an organization. smoothly and can be improved over time. It is about formaliz-
A healthy culture can motivate employees and help them grow. ing and institutionalizing better ways for the work to get done.
To promote a culture transformation the project was struc- Developing a process management approach and its con-
tured with 4 modules targeting the behavioral and the ra- sequent flow of information means intervening in effecting
tional perspectives ingrained into the culture: change. By it’s own nature it integrates employees in the
design, promotes agility and estimulates continuous im-
Alignment of Mission, Vision and Values – Alignment is an provement.
often-missing component that, if consistently applied, will
dramatically enhance the progression of strategy creation, The four modules were, as possible, brought into line with
communication and execution. The message from the top the expected reactions involved along the process (Kü-
can mutate as it cascades down through various layers of bler-Ross, 1969):
management, losing coherence at each level. For this rea-
son a continuous communication effort needs to be made Denial is usually a temporary defense stage to absorb news
so that internal and external stakeholders have clarity about of change. This is when reality of the change hits, even if the
the organization purpose, direction, and principles; change has been well planned. People may be in shock or
in denial and express that they have already seen all this
Resilience Development – Resilience is a fundamental happen. However, they need time to absorb information
quality of individuals, groups, and organizations to respond and adjust.
productively to change that disrupts the status quo. Indi-
vidual resilience is regarded as a positive psychological ca- The way to deal with denial is by creating a participatory en-
pacity for performance improvement and is related to or- vironment with the stakeholders identified, and communi-
ganizational changes, in dealing with interpersonal conflicts cate without overwhelming people. They’ll only be able to
at work, and in teambuilding. Resilience is the ability to face take in a limited amount of information at a time. This is the
adversity with a strategic advantage. The resilience module main stage for communication and alignment.
was focused on preparing people for the change and trans-
formation resulting from the strategic plan in place. As such, Fear stage is often noticeable when people may reach
developing resilience is related to challenge, commitment a point of feeling demotivated and uncertain about their
and control. If an individual ranks high in commitment, but future and start to feel concern, anger, resentment or fear.
has no control or sense of challenge, he may lose the per- They may resist the change actively or passively and may
spective of his goals and may be overwhelmed by change. even try to sabotage execution
Individuals high in challenge, but low in commitment may
frequently abandon new processes. Control without com- For the organization, this is a critical zone that if badly man-
mitment (or patience ) to a process or a person will also gar- aged may descend into crisis or chaos. Clear communica-
nish few results. tion and support, and action to minimize and mitigate the
problems that people may experience are needed. It is time
Coaching – Coaching expands people’s capabilities and to bring in resilience and coaching modules;
therefore the capability of the organization. Savvy line
leaders have figured out that the alignment and develop- Acceptance happens when people start to consider their
ment of team members through coaching is essential to options. Acceptance grows. This phase can be a creative
achieve desired objectives and capable of helping them to space and it is the opportunity to give people the chance
235
to explore, look for new possibilities, and investigate inter- utives have to manage strategy, financials and budgets,
dependencies. and last but not least office politics. Striking the right bal-
ance between project sponsorship and these activities is
This is the turning point for individuals and for the organi- extremely demanding. Having a member of the board as
zation. People will not be a hundred percent productive. It a sponsor was a way of having the desired balance and
is a good point to lay good foundations for process man- with the appropriate authority to connect with the organ-
agement. ization and to have the issues timely solved.
Commitment is the phase where people embrace the im- 2. Cultural transformation is key to achieving goals and
provements to the way they work. People learn that they succeeding in strategy execution. Organisations don’t
are part of the solution and contribute to emergent strate- transform. People do . It begins with personal transfor-
gies. Teams start to become productive. The flywheel finally mation, especially of the leaders. However, you can’t just
crosses the tipping point. It is when lessons learned can be tell people what the new behaviors are, you have to teach
evaluated to help the development of another cycle. them the necessary skills needed in order to achieve the
common purpose.
The first module set up the context, followed by resilience

Figure 10. The Change Curve and coaching focused on developing self-reflection and
self-management competencies to ingraine new habits
and behaviors. It’s very easy to get stuck and stagnate,
hating a job, or focus on the small, trivial things and lose
sight of the bigger picture. Once one has this broader pic-
Impact ture and priorities in place, the result is empowered em-
ployees, and synergic teamwork.
Finally came the process management module taking ad-

vantage of the work on the previous modules. If a process
STATE STATUS QUO DISRUPTION EXPLORATION REBUILDING redesign has any hope of success, it must ultimately be an-
REACTION DENIAL FEAR ACCEPTANCE COMMITMENT chored in the people doing the process work and in bridging
the gap between organization strategy and the individual.
3. Creating momentum is important to keep the flywheel

5. BENEFITS, RESULTS AND LESSONS moving towards the tipping point. This is achieved by
LEARNED developing special habits: communicating and engag-
ing long-term and short-term goals and priorities; main-
The program structuring and the organizational culture taining priorities (what we are going to focus on when);
transformation project presented diverse results worth data (how we are going to measure our progress / result);
mentioning: rhythm (the timeboxes of meetings, in line with sprints, to
review, discuss, and solve). These habits, associated with
1. The Program and prioritized projects directly linked to the incrementality and iteractivity are the roots of momen-
administrative board, with sponsorship from one of its tum creation.
members, was very important in order to give agility and
to facilitate the decision making and solution of issues as 4. To maintain the correct course people need support
they emerged. along the way. This is well accompished with the Strategic
PMO acting as as guardian of the methodology and the
Program and project sponsorship is an active senior seven collaborative and participatory tools and as facili-
management role. The problem is that high level exec- tators of the journey to excellence.
236
5. External advisors are part of the solution because they are It is important for the stakeholders and the public to know
more independent players with an inquisitive and firm hand that a social organization operations are excellent stewards
contrary to internal advisors who literally depend on their of their contributions, efforts and trust. The approach influ-
own organization. Ten external advisors have been working enced governance, accountability and transparency, prior-
voluntarily in the program since the very beginning; itized these items as initiatives and facilitated the change
process towards a more agile decision-making organization.
6. CONCLUSIONS With limited financial resources, establishing successful

partnerships is essential. The work of volunteer specialists
International humanitarian projects have a complex web of and consultants has resulted in a comprehensive review of
stakeholders involving, among others: the donor or funding CRM-RJ management. Additionaly, the commitment of the
agency that does not directly use the project outputs; the entire Executive Board, its employees and its volunteers was
implementing unit, responsible for the best utilization of the essential to the program continuity ans success. All these
resources available; and the affected communities who ac- efforts combined impacted beneficially the institution to
tually benefit from the project outputs but normally do not overcome major obstacles. Today it is possible to affirm that
pay for the project. The huge cultural gap between these CRM-RJ is already a reference in the care of children and
groups may result in poor project design, failure in imple- adolescents with cancer and their families. Needless to say
mentation and in the achievement of the desired goals and that the approach can be applied to other organizations in
benefits. the social and humanitarian sector.
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Contributors
Alexandre A. Andrade has its degree in Electrical Engineering (1997), MsC and PhD in Electrical Engineer-
ing (Automation) at Polytechnic School/USP in 2001 and 2007, respectivelly. It has trajectory a divided
between the activities of teaching and the practice of Engineering. As a teacher, taught for fifteen years
for Engineering degree as well as specializations and postgraduate courses. Participated in industrial au-
tomation projects for 12 years where he worked with some of the largest companies in the Brazilian market
such as Petrobras, DuPont, Rhodia, Termag, Colgate, Unilever. Alumar, Vale and Carbocloro. Professor with
exclusive dedication of UFABC since 2012. Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences
UFABC, Santo André, Brazil.
| aacacio@ufabc.edu.br
Carlos R. Araujo has a broad experience in the public and educational sector. Carlos was Administrative and
Financial Diretor in the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Comission, and vice-rector in Estacio S.A, a pri-
vate university among others. He is presently member of the Administrative Board at Casa Ronald – RJ, co-
ordinator of the Financial Board of Rio de Janeiro Administrative Council, and member of IPMA Brasil Stra-
tegic Board. He has a master degree in public administration Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
| carlosrobertoaraujo49@gmail.com
Fábio Athayde has been working with projects since 2008. He worked in the planning and assembly of the
Viracopos Airport Fire System, and the Termofuldodynamics at Petrobras. Presently he is a real estate con-
sultant and IPMA Brasil volunteer. Fábio holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering (Gama Filho – Brazil),
and postgraduation in Project Management (AVM / UCAM – Brazil).
| fsathayde@gmail.com
Luis Ballesteros-Sánchez is an industrial engineer and PhD from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and
holds a Master’s degree in the psychology of human behavior. He is Assistant Professor of Engineering Pro-
jects at this university. Luis is executive coach and a member of the Project Management and Quality Re-
search Group. The research fields of interest to him are the development of project management personal
competences, such as leadership and communication that applied to project success.
Julio F. Blumetti Facó holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia (1999),
a postgraduate degree in Marketing from ESPM (2002), a MsC in Business Administration from FGV (2006)
and a PhD with emphasis on Innovation in Supply Chain and Operations by FGV (2009). He is currently
a professor at UFABC (Federal University of ABC). He has led and participated in various projects in public
and private organizations in areas of innovation, capacity for organizational innovation, development of
239
new products and services, performance, operations management, supply chain management, 3BL and
environmental management strategies. Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences
UFABC, Santo André, Brazil.
| julio.faco@ufabc.edu.br
Timo Braun is Junior Professor for Project Management at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany. He has
won the IPMA Research Award 2018 for his research on interorganizational projects and underlying pro-
ject networks as well as their organizational and behavioural foundations. Moreover, some of his research
is related to the projectification in the start-up scene. Timo has founded the scientific network “temporary
organizing” which is supported by the German research foundation and which engages junior and senior
scholars to collaboratively work on related topics. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the International
Journal of Project Management (IJPM) and his research is published in the British Journal of Management,
International Journal of Project Management, the Project Management Journal, the International Journal of
HRM, the Scandinavian Journal of Management, as well as in various book chapters. For more information
visit: http://wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/braun
| timo.braun@fu-berlin.de
Juliana Cariello works with projects in the development sector since 2014. Nowadays, is a project analyst at
Ismart Institute. Since 2012, has been working as a project volunteer in ENACTUS CEFET/RJ, IPMA Brazil and
PMI-Rio. She has the international PMD Pro 1 certification from APMG, focused on Project Management in
the Development Sector. She is graduated in Journalism (PUC-Rio), graduated in Administration (CEFET/RJ),
postgraduated in Management and Marketing (ESPM/RJ).
| juliana.cariello.machado@gmail.com
Juliana Corrêa has 8+ years of experience in project management as planning engineer for the shipbuilding
and oil & gas Industry, She has been IPMA Brasil volunteer since 2016. Juliana has graduated in Industrial
Engineering (UERJ – Brazil), postgraduated in Project Management (UFRJ – Brazil) and IPMA-D certified.
| juliana.cariello.machado@gmail.com Caroline Coulombe, Ph. D.
Mariia Dorosh, assistant Professor of Information Technology and Software Engineering Department,
Chernihiv National University of Technology, Chernihiv, Ukraine. PhD. M. Dorosh successfully defended her
thesis in “Management of Projects and Programs” and get the Ph.D. degree in 2006. Her research inter-
ests lie in the field of integrative project management processes and ensure effective interaction of pro-
jects. As a project manager she realized some projects namely Reconstruction of the building of the cine-
ma “Shchors” for the development of tourism infrastructure in Chernigov (she was responsible for business
planning and project planning and monitoring), the establishment of enterprises producing medical-table
water (she was responsible for business planning and project planning) and replacement equipment for
printing and publishing plant “Desna” (she was responsible for business planning and project planning).
| mariyaya5536@gmail.com
240
Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson Thordur Vikingur graduated as a Mechanical and Business Engineer (MSc)
from Aalborg University in the year 1990. Since then he has acquired huge experience as a professional
manager, project manager, entrepreneur and academic person. Thordur Vikingur defended his PhD the-
sis named Improvement of the Governance and Management of Icelandic Public Projects in February
2015. 1990-1994 – Director of Quality Management at Directorate of Fisheries. Main task was the pro-
ject of implementing the HACCP quality procedure within the Icelandic fisheries. 1994-1999 – Director of
Business Development at Taeknival (TV). TV was at the time the largest IT company in Iceland. In this pe-
riod Thordur Vikingur organized several company takeovers and mergers plus the establishment of seed
companies. He also managed several international R&D projects and technical installations. 1993-pres-
ent – Management consultant at MidPoint Consulting ehf. Among the clients are some of the largest and
most complex organisations in Iceland both private and public. The main consultation work is advanced
round lean management through reengineering, project management structures and risk management
structures. The latest addition to the MidPoint consulting services is Mindful Leadership. 2006-to pres-
ent – Assistant Professor at Reykjavik University. The main research and teaching work is on public pro-
jects addressing project management, risk assessment and decision analysis theories. From 2015 Thordur
Vikingur has lead the research hub CORDA (Center of Risk and Decision Analysis) at the School of Sci-
ence and Engineering at Reykjavik University. Thordur Vikingur and CORDA have arranged conferences,
workshops and publications in the domain of project management, decision analysis and risk management.
Thordur Vikingur is holding a B Certification from IPMA (International Project Management Association)
| thordurv@ru.is
Stanisław Gasik, PMP is a project management expert. He holds M. Sc. in mathematics and Ph. D. in or-
ganization sciences (with specialty on project management), both from University of Warsaw. Stanisław
has over 20 years of experience in project management, consulting, teaching and implementing PM
organizational solutions. He published in local and international journals and lectured at many lo-
cal and global conferences. He was a significant contributor to PMI PMBOK® Guide and PMI Stand-
ard for Program Management and contributed to other PMI standards. His professional interests in-
clude, among others, public project management, maturity models, and project knowledge management.
| sgasik@sybena.pl
Patricia Gonzaga Cesar is a lawyer and has its MsC and Phd in Consumer and Environmental Law by UNIMES.
She is MBA teacher at FGV and post doc student affiliated to the Engineering and Innovation Management
program at Universidade Federal do ABC. Her research interests are connected to innovation through shar-
ing economy and digital platforms aiming to understand how these disruptions affect consumer perspec-
tives. Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences UFABC, Santo André, Brazil.
| patricia.cesar@fgv.br
Calvin Hsiung is a researcher working under Professor Ou Lixiong at Northwestern Polytechnical University.
He is an international student from Pakistan currently pursuing a Masters Degree in the field of Manage-
241
ment Science and Engineering. He has previously assumed the role of Senior Officer Marketing Operations
at China Mobile Pakistan. He also holds a Bachelors Degree in the field of Automotive Engineering and
Motorsports from the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Besides academics He has a passion
for learning new languages and can currently speak 6 languages including English, Mandarin, Hakka, Urdu,
Hindi & Pashto.
| calvin_hsiung@hotmail.com
Helgi Thor Ingason is a professor at Reykjavik University and leads the Master of Project Management
(MPM) program. He is also a consultant and Certified Senior Project Manager. His research fields range from
project management and quality management to system dynamics and renewable energy. He is the author
and co-author of several books on management in Icelandic and English and his work has been published in
such journals as Project Management Journal, International Journal of Project Management and the Journal
of Metals. Helgi Thor served as the member of the Research Management Board of IPMA.
Beata Jałocha is an Assistant Professor in Management, at the Institute of Public Affairs, Jagiellonian Uni-
versity in Kraków, Poland. Her research focuses on projectification processes, mainly in public and non-gov-
ernmental sectors. She also conducts projects, which are dedicated to transformation of institutions of
higher education through Action Research.
Haukur Ingi Jónasson (b. 1966) is an professor in leadership, management and organization behavior in the
School of Science and Engineering at Reykjavik University. He is the Head of the Board of the Masters in
Project Management (MPM) of the university. He holds a cand. theol. degree from the University of Iceland,
and a PhD degree in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary in New York and has clin-
ical certifications in pastoral counseling from The HealthCare Chaplaincy Inc. and in psychoanalysis from
the Harlem Family Institute in New York. Mr. Jonasson has also pursued business education at the Indiana
University School of Business and the Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh Business School. He is the co-founder of the
Nordica Consulting Group, Reykjavik, Iceland. Haukur is the co-author of five books in Icelandic and five
books published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis in the UK/USA. Dr Haukur Ingi Jónasson Lektor | Assistant
ProfessorBeint.
Marie-Pierre Leroux holds a PhD in Industrial Relations and is currently adjunct professor at ESG-UQAM,
Montreal, Canada. She is Co-director of the scientific subtheme: «Strategic Human Resources Manage-
ment in a Projectified Context» within the Chaire en gestion de projet. She is also member of the scientific
committee of the Canadian Research Institute of Humanitarian Crisis and Aid. Her research domains fall
within human and relational aspects in project context.
| leroux.marie-pierre@uqam.ca
Genevieve Marquis is completing her doctoral research in Project Management in Canada, at University du
Quebec en Outaouais (UQO). She holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences and a second M.Sc. in PM. Her
primary research in project management is innovation and value creation. She is teaching at UQO in the
242
field of project management and organizational changes. She is also the Senior Manager of Airborne Geo-
physics and Geospatial Analysis at the Federal Department of Natural Resources of Canada. She is leading
and conducting project management with the target of value creation for public society, in particular with
artificial intelligence and other innovative approaches.
Sandra Mišić currently works as Assistant to the IPMA President and Executive Director. Since joining IPMA
in 2012, Sandra worked in FMCG sector for Procter&Gamble. She holds Master in Economics from Faculty
of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb. After graduation she continued at the same University
the doctoral programme in Business Economics. Her particular research interest is behavioral economics.
| sandi.misic@gmail.com
Lina Maria Moreira Garai da Silva has a MsC in Marketing Communication and is a PhD student in Augment-
ed reality applications for small businesses, both from the Methodist University of São Paulo. She has 10
years, of experience dedicated to communication and marketing projects in the higher education. In ad-
dition to teaching, she is curator of the country’s first visibility event to bring together more than 30 black
professionals from the communication, technology and internet market, who favored the implementation
of afro-entrepreneur project. Volunteer mentor for Brazilian startups ecosystem. Universidade Metodista
de S. Paulo UMESP, S. Bernardo do Campo, Brazil.
| alacacio@hotmail.com
Manuel Nicklich is postdoctoral researcher at the Nuremberg Campus of Technology. He is a sociologist

with a special focus on new forms of organizing work and questions of professionalization. Currently he
works in a project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and ESF which deals
with agile forms of project management and the examination of models and methods to achieve decent,
agile project work. His research is published in the Journal of Professions and Organization, the European
Journal of Industrial Relations and the International Journal of Human Resource Management.
| manuel.nicklich@fau.de
Isabel Ortiz-Marcos is a mechanical engineer who holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the Universi-
dad Politécnica de Madrid. She is Associate Professor of Engineering Projects at this University. Dr. Marcos
has been certificated as Project Manager Professional (PMP) by the PMI and IPMA (level D). She is a mem-
ber of the Project Management and Quality Research Group, and a member of the Organization, Quali-
ty and Environment Cooperation Group at the same university. Her current research fields of interest are
competences and professional skills applied to Project Management in multicultural contexts and interna-
tional development projects and quality management.
Vasili Osmakov Deputy Minister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation. Graduated from Moscow
Lomonosov State University, majoring in Oriental studies, African studies, translator of the Arabic language.
PhD in economics. Associate Professor, Institute of statistical studies and Economics of knowledge, Higher
school of Economics. Certified project Director (IPMA Level A). He speaks English, Arabic and German.
243
From 2004 to 2008 he held various positions in the Ministry of industry and energy of Russia – from the
chief specialist to the head of the Department of strategic planning and research of the Department of
economic analysis and long-term planning. Over the next four years he worked as an assistant to the Min-
ister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation, was an adviser to the Minister.
From 2012 to 2016 he headed the Department of strategic development and project management of the
Ministry of industry and trade of Russia. Currently, he supervises the Ministry of regional industrial policy,
machine tool and investment engineering, the work of the Department of strategic development and pro-
ject management. Co-chair of the TechNet working group (advanced production technologies) of the Na-
tional technology initiative.
Lixiong Ou is Professor and Director of Project Management Education Programs at Northwestern Poly-
technical University (NPU) located in Xi’an, China. He is also the standing deputy director of International
Project Management Institute at NPU and has been a deputy Dean of Management School of NPU for eight
years. He is now the Executive Vice President of Project Management Research Committee, China(PMRC)
which is a national PM association in China, Vice President of International Project Management Associa-
tion(IPMA) and the head of IPMA Certificate Body in China. His research interests include Mega-programme
Management, Organizational Project Management, Project Management Maturity Model and Project Man-
agement Body of Knowledge, etc.
Alexandre Caramelo Pinto is an electronic engineer and specialist in IT and Project Management. He is an
MBA professor at FGV and MsC student affiliated to the Engineering and Innovation management program
at Universidade Federal do ABC. His research interests are related to project portfolio management and in-
novation connected with information technology advances, particularly related to Digital Transformation.
He possesses 23 years of executive experience in ICT sector and 10 years teaching IT Management and
Project Management at FGV. Center for Engineering, Modeling, and Applied Social Sciences UFABC, Santo
André, Brazil.
| alexandre.pinto@ufabc.edu.br
Mladen Radujković (CAPM Croatia) is former Dean at the FCE University of Zagreb, and currently Head of
International Doctoral Study in Project management at Alma Mater Europaea ECM, so as visiting Professor
at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan China. He is President of the Croatian
Association for Project Management (CAPM) and one of the founders of regional PM association (SEN-
ET), so as Honorary Fellow at IPMA. He held different positions at IPMA, like Vice-president for education
and research during three mandates 2007-2012., President in mandate 2013-2014. and Chair of the IPMA
Council of Delegates for 2014-2017. During his career he published around 200 research papers, and par-
ticipated in many local or regional projects implemented within research & development, infrastructures,
construction, tourism, water, transport, entrepreneurship, investment or education.
| mladen.radujkovic@almamater.si
244
Luiz Rocha has 35+ years of experience in industry and business consulting. Luiz worked with Andersen Con-
sulting and Delloite in the US and Europe when he had the opportunity to manage multi-cultural and geo-
graphically dispersed projects in Latin America, North America and Europe. In Brazil Luiz worked for 5 years
as Project Director with Dinsmore Associates and 23 years with Petrobras, the Brazilian Oil & Gas company.
Luiz is an engineer by background, MSc. in industrial engineering from UFRJ – Brazil. He is IPMA First Asses-
sor and of IPMA Brasil Strategic Board.
| luiz.rocha@ipmabrasil.org
Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero is an electrical engineer formed at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, experi-
enced in international engineering projects. She is Assistant Professor of Engineering Projects at this uni-
versity and a member of the Project Management and Quality Research Group. The research fields of inter-
est to her are Risk Management in multicultural contexts and international development projects.
Yvonne Schoper is professor for International Project Management at the HTW university of applied scienc-
es Berlin. She has 25 years of experience in project management in the automotive industry. Since 2009
she is associate professor for Project Management at Tongji University in Shanghai (China) and at the Uni-
versity of Reykjavik (Iceland). Since 2012 she is member of the Executive Board of the German Project
Management Association (GPM) and of the research management board of International Project Manage-
ment Association (IPMA), where she runs the annual IPMA Research Conference and the Diversity in Project
Management Award. Her research interests are the projectification of national economies, future trends in
project management and intercultural project management.
Aleksandr Tovb is president of the Russian Project Management Association SOVNET and Chief editor of the
“Project and Program Management” journal. Alexandr Tovb is project manager with over 45 years of experi-
ence in a variety of organizations and industries, primarily associated with IT projects. Mr. Tovb is associated
professor of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS teaching Project Management for
Bachelors and Masters in Graduate School of Business in Moscow Lomonosov State University, performs
coaching, trainings, seminars, courses, workshops and master-classes on project management.
Mr. Tovb served as vice president of International Project Management Association (IPMA) responsible for
Certification in 2009-2010, VP for Administration and Finance in 2011-2012 and as IPMA Certification Val-
idation Management Board Member in 2013-14.
Alexandr Tovb is IPMA Honorary Fellow and Advisory Committee Member. Alexander is the Chairman of the
Organizing Committee for the 32nd IPMA World Congress in Saint Petersburg in 2020.
Grigory L. Tsipes, PPMC IPMA, CSPM IPMA, PhD, is Chief Consultant of Information Business Systems (IBS), a lead-
ing IT company in Russia, and a Vice President of the Russian Association of Project Management, SOVNET.
He is Deputy chief editor of the journal Project and Program Management (Russia) and Associate Professor
at High School of Economy and national University of Science and Technology MISIS (Moscow). Grigory is
the Chairman of the Program Committee for the 32nd IPMA World Congress in Saint Petersburg in 2020.
245
Aleksey Uchenov, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia
Olena Verenych, associate Professor of Project Management Department, Kyiv National University of Con-
structional and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine. Ph.D. O. Verenych has been working from 2005 in the University.
She is an author more than 50 scientific papers. The main scientific researchers are distance education and
mental space, and interaction in Project Management. She worked with the project manager in projects of
distance courses creation and the project, which was financed by the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development, Cadaster System creation. She was the chairperson of Technical Session in the frame of
the conference “The Society of Project Management” (ProMAC 2017), which was held in Munich, Germany
| verenych@ukr.net
Reinhard Wagner has been active for more than 30 years in the field of project-related leadership, in such
diverse sectors as Air Defense, Automotive Engineering, and Machinery, as well as various not-for-profit
organizations. As a Certified Projects Director (IPMA Level A), he has proven experience in managing pro-
jects, programmes and project portfolios in complex and dynamic contexts. He is also an IPMA Certified
Programme and Portfolio Management Consultant, and as such supports senior executives in developing
and improving their organizational competence in managing projects. For more than 15 years, he has been
actively involved in the development of project, programme and portfolio management standards, for ex-
ample as Convenor of the ISO 21500 “Guidance on Project Management” and the ISO 21503 “Guidance on
Programme Management”. Reinhard Wagner is Past President of IPMA and Chairman of the Council, Hon-
orary Chairman of GPM (the German Project Management Association), as well as Managing Director of
Tiba Managementberatung GmbH.
Wang Yan, born in 1994 in Shaanxi China, is a researcher working under Professor Ou Lixiong at Northwest-
ern Polytechnical University. She is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in the field of Management Science
and Engineering, and she also did her bachelor’s degree from the same university majoring in Engineering
Management. She is also an active member of students Art and Drama Society, and she loves choreo-
graphing stage performances.
| 849929742@qq.com
IPMA World Map
ALGERIA CROATIA ICELAND NEPAL SOUTH AFRICA

ARGENTINA CYPRUS INDIA NETHERLANDS SOUTH KOREA
AUSTRALIA CZECH REPUBLIC INDONESIA NIGERIA SINGAPORE
AUSTRIA DENMARK IRAN NORWAY SPAIN
AZERBAIJAN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IRELAND PANAMA SWEDEN
BOLIVIA ECUADOR ITALY PARAGUAY SWITZERLAND
BOSNIA EGYPT JAPAN PERU TAIWAN (CHINA)
AND HERZEGOVINA ESTONIA KAZAKHSTAN POLAND TURKEY
BRAZIL FINLAND KOSOVO PORTUGAL UNITED KINGDOM
BULGARIA FRANCE LATVIA PHILIPPINES UKRAINE
CANADA GEORGIA LITHUANIA ROMANIA UNITED STATES
CHILE GERMANY MALAYSIA RUSSIA URUGUAY
CHINA GREECE MONTENEGRO SERBIA
COLOMBIA GUATEMALA MOROCCO SLOVAKIA
COSTA RICA HUNGARY MEXICO SLOVENIA

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IPMA Research Conference

| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept 3-4, 2018

Edited by Yvonne Schoper, Ph.D

IPMA Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept 3-4, 2018

© 2018 International Project Management Association (IPMA®)

IPMA´s Legal Address:

IPMA´s Operational Address:

ISBN (PRINT): 978-94-92338-25-9

The publication in hand shows the various aspects of projectification.

THE REVIEW PROCESS

Yvonne Schoper, Ph.D.

About the IPMA Research Conference (by Yvonne Schoper) 7

I Status of projectification in different societies

Beata Jałocha How to projectify a country?

Ou Lixiong, Hsiung Calvin, Wang Yan Projectification in China:

Helgi Thor Ingason, Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson, Haukur Ingi Jonasson

II National Project Management Maturity Models

Reinhard Wagner Towards an IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model 79

Luis Ballesteros-Sánchez, Isabel Ortiz-Marcos, Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero

Yvonne Schoper Light and shadow of projectification 139

IV Public administration based on transparent project governance structures

Vasili Osmakov, Aleksey Uchenov, Aleksandr Tovb, Grigory Tsipes

V Value creation through projects / project management for the society

Geneviève Marquis The Value Creation Target of Project Management 189

Olena Verenych, Mariia Dorosh Evaluation and management

Alexandre C. Pinto, Patricia G. Cesar, Alexandre A. Andrade, Julio F. Blumetti Facó

How to projectify a country? The impact of the European

INTRODUCTION in the times of an interregnum (Bauman, 2012), a moment

1980s Launching of programmes (Integrated Development Operations (IDOs) and Integrated

1988/1989 Annual budgeting of EU replaced by the multi-annual financial frameworks (Multiannual

2016 “PM² Project Management Methodology” — developed by the European Commission

After discussing the issue of project financing by the EU,

ALLOCATION (IN % SHARE IN

Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 28.3 41.8%

Human Capital Operational Programme 10 14.7%

Innovative Economy Operational Programme 8.7 12.7%

Operational Programme Eastern Poland 2.4 3.5%

Technical Assistance Programme 0.5 0.8%

European Territorial Cooperation Programmes 0.7 1.1%

16 regional programmes 17.3 25.4%

Total 67.9 100

Source: https://www.funduszeeuropejskie.2007-2013.gov.pl/OrganizacjaFunduszyEuropejskich/Strony/NSS.aspx (reading: 20.05.2018)

Figure 1: EU funds for Poland in the years 2007-2013 in EUR

Total expenditure PL (EUR million)

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/2007-2013/index_en.cfm reading: 10.06.2018.

As indicated by the above data, almost one in three of the

% OF THE OVERALL NUMBER

Private 53,104 50.1%

Public 39,420 37.2%

Non-profit 13,359 12.6%

Total 105,910 100%

Source: own research

TOTAL VALUE OF EXPENDITURE IN

Private 169,815,257,238 44%

Public 208,176,803,002 54%

Total 387,961,394,980 100%

Source: own research

As it appears from the above data, organ-

Table 5: Duration of projects divided into hard and soft

MEDIAN OF DURATION AVERAGE DURATION LONGEST PROJECT

Source: own research

7% public organisations at commune or municipality level

public organisations at district level

Reinhard Wagner Towards an IPMA National Project Management Maturity Model 79