Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2003.

Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2003.

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Project failures worldwide are still significantly high, despite the availability of project management frameworks, standards, techniques and methodologies. A project’s success is, in part, contingent on effectively managing the constraints of time, costs and performance, and in order to achieve this, it is essential for the project manager to possess and display appropriate competencies. The problem addressed in this study is to gain understanding of the project management competencies needed for the successful implementation of South African Built Environment industry projects. South Africa is faced with the challenge of reducing the huge backlog of infrastructure delivery. Given the delivery prioritisation by the government, the construction industry is the preferred vehicle of delivery. However, the industry lacks the requisite project management expertise and experience to make good on this objective. This study investigates the project management competencies required to improve the performance of the industry in delivering the much-needed infrastructure. The study also identifies those competencies that are instrumental to the effective implementation of project management techniques and examines the contributory issues of project management leadership and project success. Given the aforementioned, a survey was conducted among members of Project Management South Africa (PMSA). The data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics. Overall, respondents agreed that project management requires much more than just knowing how to manage the constraints of time, costs and performance. Of particular note, respondents indicated that, in addition to the more commonly emphasised project administration expertise (i.e. setting and managing scope, timelines and budgets), a project manager must be competent in structuring the project task and clarifying scope, communicating effectively, developing the project objectives, showing reliability and planning the project economy. ii This study contributes to research and practice in two ways. Firstly, we identify and report on core project management competencies. The identified competencies also contribute to the available literature. Secondly, the study proposes a framework that would provide an organisation with a system for recruitment, measuring performance, identifying training and development needs of individual employees and rewarding effective performance for superior performers. The study is significant because by gaining a greater understanding of what key competencies are needed to effectively manage a Built Environment industry project, more effective education and training methods, as well as procedures, can be developed to facilitate the instruction of the defined key competencies and improve the effectiveness of future project managers in the South African Built Environment industry. It furthermore adds to the existing body of project management competency research.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-107)

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): David F. Matthews, Thomas C. Pieplow. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-87). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Not available / text

This thesis will highlight leadership styles applied by project manager in different situations. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of the leadership style, the thesis will review some of the well known leadership theories including traits theory, behaviour theory and contingency theory etc. In addition, the concept of project management and project manager as well as project success are mentioned in the thesis. Issues will be identified at the end of literature review and they will be the focus in the following chapters. / Based on the information gathered from the literature review, case study and questionnaire survey are conducted to further investigation. Three cases related to construction and IT industries have been selected and they will be analysed to examine the situations matched with appropriate leadership style. Furthermore, project manager and his team members' roles will be identified in each case. Questionnaire survey has 50 questions that are designed to identify the respondent's opinions to project manager's roles, traits and their leadership style etc. / The findings of the research will be concluded in the last chapter. These findings show that project manager can not use a single leadership style in all situations. Therefore, project manager needs to clarify the surrounding and choose an appropriate style that will help him to achieve an effective environment in which project team members and other stakeholders can contribute their knowledge and skills to project success. Recommendations for the further investigation will also be put forward at the end of this chapter. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2006.

A professional status for project management will enable it to provide a better service to society. Project management is recognised as a discipline and embraced by many practitioners as an occupation. However, it is still not fully recognised as a profession due to some barriers that hinder its maturation as a profession. Judging by a sociological analysis of professions, occupation reach professional status by fully satisfying approaches of 'process' and 'characteristics'. / The endeavour to professionalise project management is an international effort. The process to achieve professional status and the characteristics of professions follows universal principles. Therefore, the literature review draws on information from the global context whilst the questionnaire survey focuses on Australia. / Outcomes of the literature review have been supported and enlarged by the questionnaire survey findings. The main barriers that hinder the maturation of project management as a profession are the following: firstly, weaknesses in knowledge base and philosophical principles; secondly, lack of project management competency at individual and organisational levels; thirdly, lack of project management courses at university levels; fourthly, lack of solid professional standards; fifthly, lack of project management culture in business organisations; sixthly, misuse of the title 'project manager' in the work environment; and seventhly and finally, frailness in professional culture and weak sense of community among practitioners. These barriers interact with and influence each other, thereby creating more barriers. / Project management is in the process of maturation as a profession. However, for project management to achieve this, it will mainly rely on the competency of practitioners and professional organisations to overcome the mentioned barriers. There is also the inherent factor of maturation: that is, time to achieve it. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (MProjMgmt)--University of South Australia, 2001.