This article presents the results of an empirical investigation of project management practice. Practice is investigated through the study of the extent of use of a large number of practices, tools, and techniques specific to project management. A sample of 2,339 practitioners participating in a large-scale international survey is used for this article. The sample size and the diversity of contexts in which the respondents are working render the analysis feasible and the results reliable. The data is analyzed to identify patterns of practice. More specifically, using principal component analysis, the research identifies patterns that demonstrate that practitioners use project management tools and techniques in groups or “toolsets.” A brief attempt is made to compare results with A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (PMI, 2008) Knowledge Areas and Process Groups. The article also shows how practice varies with the management of different types of projects: engineering and construction; business and financial services; information technology (IT) and telecommunications; and software development projects. The identification of these variations has important consequences for practice and for the study of practice.
Bani AliA. S., AnbariF. T., & MoneyW. H. (2008). Impact of organizational and project factors on acceptance and usage of project management software and perceived project success. Project Management Journal, 39(2), 5–33. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20041
2.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (2006a). The perceived value and potential contribution of project management practices to project success. Project Management Journal, 37(3), 37–49.
3.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (2006b). Project management software functionality: Usage, perceived value and potential to improve performance. Paper presented at the IRNOP VII, Xi'an, China.
4.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (2008a). Discriminating contexts and project management best practices on innovative and noninnovative projects. Project Management Journal, 39(S1), S123–S134. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20064
5.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (2008b). Project management practice, generic or contextual: A reality check. Project Management Journal, 39(1), 16–33.
6.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (2012). Contextualization of project management practice and best practice.Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
7.
BesnerC., & HobbsB. (in press). Contextualized project management practice: A cluster analysis of practices and best practices. Project Management Journal.
8.
BlomquistT., HällgrenM., NilssonA., & SöderholmA. (2010). Project-as-practice: In search of project management research that matters. Project Management Journal, 41(1), 5–16. doi: 10.1002/pmj.20141
9.
CooperR. G., EdgettS. J., & KleinschmidtE. J. (2004). Benchmarking best NPD practices—1. Research Technology Management, 47(1), 31–43.
10.
CrawfordL., Cooke-DaviesT. J., HobbsB., LabuschagneL., RemingtonK., & ChenP. (2008). Situational sponsorship of projects and programs: An empirical review.Newtown Square, PA: PMI.
11.
CrawfordL., & PollackJ. (2004). Hard and soft projects: A framework for analysis. International Journal of Project Management, 22(8), 645–653.
12.
DaiC. X., & WellsW. G. (2004). An exploration of project management office features and their relationship to project performance. International Journal of Project Management, 22(7), 523–532.
13.
FieldsA. (2000). Discovering statistics using SPSS for Windows.London, UK: Sage.
14.
HairJ. F. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
15.
HargraveB. L., & SingleyJ. (1998). PMBOK: A guide for project management in the next century. Paper presented at the 29th Annual PMI Seminars and Symposiums, Long Beach, CA.
16.
HudsonK., & MoussaN. (2006). The skills of an information technology project manager—Do project management competency standards have what it takes?Project Perspectives, 1(2006), 92–97.
17.
International Institute of Business Analysis. (2009). A guide to the business analysis body of knowledge® (BABOK® guide). Marietta, GA: Author.
18.
JacksonJ. E. (1991). A user's guide to principal components.New York, NY: Wiley.
19.
JannadiaM. O., AssafS., BubshaitA. A., & NajiA. (2000). Contractual methods for dispute avoidance and resolution (DAR). International Journal of Project Management, 18(6), 41–49.
20.
KimH. C., KimD., & BangS. Y. (2002). Face retrieval using 1st- and 2nd-order PCA mixture model. Paper presented at the IEEE ICIP Conference, Rochester, NY.
21.
KujalaJ., & AholaT. (2004). A conceptual framework for analyzing the value and role of customer satisfaction surveys: An application to project-oriented organization. Paper presented at the IRNOP VI Conference, Turku, Finland.
22.
LeechN. L., BarrettK. C., & MorganG. A. (2005). SPSS for intermediate statistics: Use and implementation (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
23.
McDermottR. (1999). Learning across teams: The role of communities of practice in team organizations. Knowledge Management Review, 2(8), 32–36.
24.
McMahonP., & LaneJ. D. (2001). Quality tools/techniques and the project manager. Paper presented at the 33rd Annual PMI Seminars and Symposiums, Nashville, TN.
25.
MeskendahlS. (2010). The influence of business strategy on project portfolio management and its success—A conceptual framework. International Journal of Project Management, 28(8), 807–817.
26.
MillerR., & FloricelS. (2004). Value creation and games of innovation. Research Technology Management, 47(6), 25–37.
27.
MorrisP. W. G., CrawfordL., HodgsonD., ShepherdM. M., & ThomasJ. (2006). Exploring the role of formal bodies of knowledge in defining a profession—The case of project management. International Journal of Project Management, 24(8), 710–721.
28.
MurphyT. E., DugganJ., NortonD., PrenticeB., PlummerD. C., & LandryS. (2010). Predicts 2010: Agile and cloud impact application development directions. Vol. Research ID Number: G00172203.Stamford, CT: Gartner Group.
29.
NiebeckerK., EargerD., & KubitzaK. (2008). Improving cross-company project management performance with a collaborative project scorecard. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 1(3), 368–386.
30.
NunnallyJ. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
31.
Papke-ShieldsK. E., BeiseC., & QuanJ. (2010). Do project managers practice what they preach, and does it matter to project success?International Journal of Project Management, 28(7), 650–662. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2009.11.002
32.
PintoJ. K., & CovinJ. G. (1989). Critical factors in project implementation: A comparison of construction and R&D projects. Technovation, 9(1), 49–62.
33.
PintoJ. K., & SlevinD. P. (1987). Critical factors in successful project management. IEEE Transactions of Engineering Management, 34(1), 22–27.
34.
Project Management Institute (PMI). (2004). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide; 3rd ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Author.
35.
Project Management Institute (PMI). (2005). Practice standard for earned value management.Newtown Square, PA: Author.
36.
Project Management Institute (PMI). (2007). Construction extension to the PMBOK® Guide—Third edition.Newtown Square, PA: Author.
37.
Project Management Institute (PMI). (2008). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK® guide; 4th ed). Newtown Square, PA: Author.
38.
RazT., & MichaelE. (2001). Use and benefits of tools for project risk management. International Journal of Project Management, 19(1), 9–17.
39.
ShenharA. J. (2001). One size does not fit all projects: Exploring classical contingency domains. Management Science, 47(3), 394–414.
40.
Software Engineering Institute. (2010). CMMI® for development (version 1.3). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University.
41.
ThamhainH.J. (1998). Integrating project management tools with the project team. Paper presented at the 29th Annual PMI Seminars and Symposium, Long Beach, CA.
42.
ThiemeR. J., SongM., & ShinG.-C. (2003). Project management characteristics and new product survival. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 20(2), 104–119.
43.
ThomasJ., & MullalyM. (2008). Researching the value of project management.Newtown Square, PA: Author.
44.
TurnerJ. R. (2006). Towards a theory of project management. Paper presented at the IRNOP VII Conference, Xi'an, China.
45.
TurnerJ. R., LedwithA., & KellyJ. (2009). Project management in small to medium-sized enterprises. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2(2), 282–296. doi: 10.1108/17538370910949301
46.
WangL., & TanT. K. (2000). Experimental results of face description based on the 2nd-order Eigenface method. Paper presented at the ISO-MPEG m6001, Geneva, Switzerland.
47.
WengerE., & SnyderW. (2000). Communities of practice: The organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 139–145.
48.
WhiteD., & FortuneJ. (2002). Current practice in project management—An empirical study. International Journal of Project Management, 20(1), 1–11. doi: 10.1016/s0263-7863(00)00029-6
WilliamsT. (2007). Post-project reviews to gain effective lessons learned.Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
51.
WinchG. M., & KelseyJ. (2005). What do construction project planners do?International Journal of Project Management, 23(2), 141–149. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2004.06.002
52.
ZeitounA. (1998). Raising the bar in project management awareness and application. Paper presented at the 31st Annual PMI Seminars and Symposiums, Houston, TX.
53.
ZwikaelO. (2009). The relative importance of the PMBOK® guide's nine knowledge areas during project planning. Project Management Journal, 40(4), 94–103.
54.
ZwikaelO., & GlobersonS. (2004). Evaluating the quality of project planning: A model and field results. International Journal of Production Research, 42(8), 1545–1556.
