Current Research

PMI^® Academic Resources supports research projects all over the world in the area of Project Management. Each year, PMI welcomes new proposals for research projects. PMI seeks active research projects to support in the area of Project Management on an annual basis. Learn how you can submit a proposal for 2012 research funding.

2013 Call for Proposals Schedule:

Current PMI-Sponsored Research Projects

Sustainable Development & Project Management
Roland Gareis, Ph.D, WU Vienna
This research will explore whether sustainable development is implicitly considered in project management, conceptualize how sustainable development can be explicitly considered and analyze which challenges and potentials may arise when sustainable developed is considered. The research will also draft instruments for explicitly attending to sustainable development in project management.

Building Options in the Project Front-End: Integrating Strategy, Execution and Option Fees
Nuno Gil, PhD, University of Manchester
This project aims to develop, test, and validate a method that can guide project teams to integrate front-end strategizing, execution, and option fees in asset acquisition projects, large-scale infrastructure and defense systems.

Key Determinants of Effectiveness in Project Portfolio Management: A Context-Specific Perspective
Peerasit Patanakul, Ph.D., Stevens Institute of Technology
This research seeks to discover the key determinants of PPM effectiveness and measures of effectiveness in a variety of business contexts. The study will go beyond traditional PPM research by focusing on executive level activities, especially the decision making process. Other organizational factors that may influence PPM effectiveness will also be considered. Studying PPM in different contexts, the research will suggest a contingency theory in portfolio management.

The Gestalt of Project Opportunities Recognized and Exploited During Implementation
Thomas G. Lechler, Ph.D. and John C. Byrne, Ph.D., Stevens Institute of Technology
This research aims to analyze the Gestalt of project opportunities to identify specific classes of opportunities and specific contextual situations under which they occur. It will also contribute to the development of a new project management paradigm that allows for a better explanation of specific phenomena as well as achieving better project results.

Project Management and Organizational Change
Lynn Crawford, FAIPM, MAPM, Anat Hassner Nahmias and Alicia Aitken, Bond University
This research study will identify the nature of organizational and behavioral change in project management, and the extent to which it varies by type of project, and by the context and degree of organizational and behavioral change that is involved. The study will also explore patterns of involvement of those with backgrounds in organizational development and project management in the management of organizational change projects. Potential outcomes include guidance for decision-making and the development of role descriptions that recognize change management requirements.

Currently in the Publication Queue

The Contextualization of Project Management Outcomes and Practices
Brian Hobbs, PhD, PMP, and Claude Besner, PhD, PMP, University of Quebec at Montreal
The objectives of this study are to provide guidance to:

• Define the specific challenges and best practices of project management by industry
• Identify contextual factors that may increase or displace the effects of industry type in defining best project management practices
• Articulate regional differences in project management best practices

The Effect of Cultural Perspectives in Perceptions of IS/IT Project Success and Failure
Udechukwu Ojiako, PhD, University of Southampton
While globalization of projects and project teams represents an exciting development in project management, cultural differences within projects can create a platform for uncertainty, which, if not addressed, can lead to negative consequences or project failure. This research will explore the influences of culture on individuals' perspectives on failure in IS/IT projects. A multi-cultural team will used a mixed methods approach with a large international sample of respondents.

Procurement and Supply in Projects: Misunderstood and Under-Researched
Douglas MacBeth, MSc, CEng, MIET, MCMI, MCIPS, FRSA, University of Southampton
This project will investigate the current levels of understanding of procurement management in major projects and the impact procurement performance has on successful project completion. A two-phase, mixed method approach, yielding both qualitative and quantitative data will be used.

Improving Project Team Performance Through Team Learning
Chantal Savelsbergh, MS and Peter Storm, PhD., Open University of the Netherlands/Kennis & Co
This project represents the follow-up on the previous, PMI-sponsored investigation, "Coping with stress in organizational roles through team learning." The earlier descriptive, study showed that role stress, team learning, and team performance are significantly related to one another. The current follow-up study is aimed at testing the assumption that the positive effects of team learning can be enhanced to carefully designed interventions within a project team.

Governance and Communities of PMOs
Monique Aubry, PhD (University of Quebec at Montreal), Ralf Müeller, MBA, DBA, PMP (Norwegian School of Management, BI, Umea University) and Johannes Glücker, PhD (University of Heidelberg)
This research project seeks to provide an integrated model of PMO networks within large organizations. The model will help practitioners and senior managers to pursue existing approaches, and to articulate new strategies and structures for the delivery of optimal project management value.

The Project Portfolio Change Management Process in Dynamic Environments
Brian Hobbs, PhD, PMP, and Yvan Petit, M.Eng, PhD, University of Quebec at Montreal
The study will explore how managers in dynamic environments regulate changes that affect their project portfolios. In-depth understanding of their decision-making process will help project professionals manage similar situations in their individual practices.

Best Industry Outcomes
Terry Cooke-Davies, PhD, and Lynn Crawford, FAIPM, MAPM, Bond University, Cranfield University and ESC-Lille
This project seeks to identify strategic drivers that characterize specific industries, application areas and/or project types, as well as outcomes that are typically most valued by organizations. The project also aims to research the characteristics or patterns of project management practices and systems that are associated with particular types of outcomes and/or strategic drivers.

Stress and Performance in Health Care Project Teams
François Chiocchio, PhD, PMP, CHRP, Université de Montréal
Project work in project-mature industries is often stressful. Projects undertaken by multidisciplinary teams of physicians and other health care professionals pose even more acute risks of generating stress because team members' involvement in projects occur over and above “normal”, already pressure-intense health care delivery work. Using a sound and tested theoretical framework—the Demand-Control-Support model—this study will be the first to address stress in multidisciplinary project work undertaken in non-traditional fields.