Looking again at current practice in project management
International Journal of Managing Projects in Business
ISSN: 1753-8378
Article publication date: 13 September 2011
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a survey designed to: capture the “real world” experiences of people active in project management (PM) in Australia, Canada and the UK; determine the extent to which those involved in the management of projects make use of the methods and techniques that are available; and discover how effective the methods and techniques are felt to be.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire comprising 24 questions with a mixture of yes/no, Likert‐scale, multiple choice and open questions was developed. These were designed so that the data gathered could be compared with the results of a similar survey conducted in the UK a decade ago. Professional networks and direct e‐mails were used to distribute the survey electronically to potential respondents who were actively involved in PM in the three countries. A total of 150 responses are used in the analysis, 50 from each country.
Findings
The results show that there are many areas where the experiences, practices and views are similar across all three countries and are comparable to the earlier UK survey. However, as is often the case, it is perhaps the differences that are of most interest and these are commented upon throughout the paper.
Originality/value
This paper sheds light on current practice across three countries and presents a useful historical perspective on PM trends in practice and rates of credentialization of those surveyed. It also provides useful quantitative results that can be used to more broadly speculate and make sense of other qualitative studies.
Keywords
Citation
Fortune, J., White, D., Jugdev, K. and Walker, D. (2011), "Looking again at current practice in project management", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 553-572. https://doi.org/10.1108/17538371111164010
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited