Mr. Le Quang Khanh made a case study which objectives were to: (1) assess the organization project management maturity of an stated owned enterprise on the role of project owner, analyze what it has and what it has not in comparison with the modern project management theory; and (2) propose recommendations for project management improvement.
Conclusion
This study has demonstrated an intensive exploration into the current status of an owner construction project management system. Each management process has been described, assessed, analyzed basing on the definitions, requirements of modern project management processes established by PMI in PMBOK Guide (2008) and OPM3(2003).
The assessment has found that, although the assessed company applied nearly all processes of project management, the maturity level of these processes in the company are still rather low. Company is at the first steps of project management maturity ladders. Reference to OPM3 (PMI, 2003), the Company project management maturity level is at about the standardization stage as shown in the figure below. There are many process need to be standardized, many procedures, guidelines need to be established in order to help the company improve its project management maturity, develop the company competence.
Following are some main problems of the company in project management system:1. Many processes are not standardized: performed basing only on the experience, practice; there are no standard documented procedures, instructions/guidelines to conduct. Many useful tools and techniques are not applied during project management processes because of the lack of the modern project management knowledge in project staff.
2. The planning processes are not well implemented. There is no specific project management plan, project scope, or project quality plan for each project. The project control and execution activities of project team members are almost unplanned, basing on experience.
3. There are no standards, procedures, no formal performance system to measure, evaluate the degree of success and failure of each process, phase or project, the performance of project team members. Therefore there is no steady foundation to plan for project management performance improvements.
4. There is a formal process for assessing, auditing the existing procedures, instructions and suggesting, implementing improvements (included in ISO9001 quality system). However, because of the limit of the staff knowledge and skill about the modern project management, there are not many effective improvements as expected.
5. There are no procedures or instructions about collecting information of the contractors/suppliers, the project issues, lessons learned…to keep in a convenient place (like project management office) for analyzing and using in future project management. Therefore, there is also no formal historical information and lessons learned knowledge databases system. All the project records, after the project completion, are kept in the store.
Recommendations
1. For the assessed company and other state owned companies in general on the role of owner:
- There should be more training on modern construction project management for the company staff. The training content include (but are not limited to) the knowledge/skills of project management for individual, for organization; the experience in organizing and managing a project management organization, the existing effective systems of construction management procedures and instruction of international project management groups. The staff need to be trained are: the top management for having far more vision, more correct evaluation about the importance and effectiveness of building a standard project management system; the middle management and the project team member to be more effective in managing projects and composing the necessary procedures and instructions;
- Company should pay more attention on the planning processes; make all the management plans before carry out management activities.
- Company should improve the formal system of procedures and instructions to standardize all the project management processes in the company. The guidelines about the applied range of each process are also needed. This help to keep the consistency of quality and increase the effectiveness of management processes.
- Company should improve and increase the effectiveness of ISO9001 assessing and auditing processes by using the competent auditors who are professional in construction project management, training the project staff to be good and innovative self-auditors.
- Company should establish and apply the formal standards, tools, guidelines for measuring, evaluating the success, failure of project goals in order to collect experience and lessons learned for future investments.
- Company should build a small project management office/center where the project management staff can easily access to the historical information and lessons learned of all past projects; refer to the modern project management tools and techniques. And besides, Company should build the procedure, instruction for collecting, storing those data. These works will be very useful for the future project management of the project staff, especially the new comers.
2. For further study
Further study needs to be carried out to have more comprehensive assessment of state owned project management organizations and give more detailed recommendations for competency development of this type of project management organization.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Nowadays, the increase of world population, the development of technology and the globalization of competition are day by day giving construction industry the increasingly requirements both for the quantity and the quality of construction projects. Hence, many organizations and the individuals involved in construction industry are paying more concern in studying and applying the modern project management knowledge/skill into project management process.
To be successful in managing projects, not only contractors but also the owners need to be competent in project management.
This case study will assess the degree to which an owner-a state owned company, apply the project management processes and give the recommendations for improvements.
