The PMI® Research Department supports projects all over the world. Each year, the group welcomes new proposals for research projects. PMI Research actively seeks projects to support on a regular basis.
For more details on this annual activity, refer to the request for proposals (RFP) process. 
The next RFP period begins with the call for pre-proposals, which is open from 1 May 2008 through 30 June 2008.
Current PMI-Sponsored Projects:
Milestone Markets: Software Cost Estimation through Market Trading
Donald Berndt and Joni Jones, University of South Florida, USA
From the inception of software engineering as a discipline, both researchers and practitioners have struggled to devlop effective methods for estimating the required develoopment effort and overall cost of projects. This research seeks to describe a market mechanism for software cost estimation and explores the characteristics that make such an approach prossible.
Estimated Completion: Q1 2008
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Project Management in Non-Profit Organizations
Valẻriẻ Lehmann, MSc, MBA University of Quebec at Montreal Business School, ESG-UQAM, Canada, and Laurent Bourgeon, MSc, Dr. of Economics, Essec, Ecole Supẻrieure en Sciences Ẻconomiques Paris, France
The participaation of non-profit organizations to the growth of the industrial and services sectors in occidental societies has increased over the last three decades. For the vast majority of these organizations, projects are core activities. This research seeks to investigate project management practices in use in nonprofit organizations and to compare differences between normative practices in Project Management and those Project Management practices used in the non-profit organization.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Literature Review on the Implementation of Research to Practical Project Management Applications (Special RFP)
David R. Plumer, Springfield, Virginia, USA
The project is aimed at defining he impact that project management research has had over the past 20-plus years on the actual practice of project management, using in-depth reviews of project management literature, as well as that of allied disciplines. The main means of explaining and outlining this influence is the tracing on now normal organizational entities (examples: the project management office (PMO) and the project management maturity model) from their beginnings as concept descriptions in research papers to their practical use by today's project managers and their organizations.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Modeling Organizational Project Management and Project Management Office Performance
Brian Hobbs, Denis Thuillier and Monique Aubry, University of Québec at Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Project management has pushed the boundaries further than ever before, embracing not only projects, but programs and portfolios within organizations, as well. This research aims to create the foundation on which the project management community can develop concrete applications specific to individual organizations.
Estimated Completion: Q1 2008
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Cost Estimation: Frameworks for Public Project Development and Estimation
Terence M. Williams, University of Southampton, Southampton, England; Ole Jonny Klakegg and Ole Morten Magnussen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
With the spotlight on public investment projects, this research will examine the framework under which projects are planned and executed. The questions are how much planning time is needed, and to what level of detail, for project management to be most effective.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Mapping the Field of Complexity Theory, and Using One Concept of Complexity as an Interpretive Framework in Studying Projects and Project Management Practice
Svetlana Cicmil, University of the West of England, Bristol, England; Lynn H. Crawford, ESC Lille/University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia; Terence J. Cooke-Davies, Human Systems Ltd./University College London, London, England; Kurt Richardson, Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence, Mansfield, Mass., USA
Complexity theory is used to examine project success and failure, the unfolding of project plans and processes over time and space, and dealing with project team dynamics and relationships, both inside and outside the team. This research is based on the thought that focusing on pertinent unresolved issues like these will make it possible to better understand complexity in projects and how to handle it.
Estimated Completion: Q3 2008
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Project Managers as Senior Executives?
Jean-Pierre Debourse and J. Rodney Turner, ESC Lille, Euralille, France; Russell D. Archibald, Independent Consultant; Guru P. Prabhakar, University of the West of England, Bristol, England.
Does project management prepare its practitioners for the C-suite? How many project managers actually get there? What, if any, difference is there between the path of project managers and that of others to the top? This project will examine these and other important career path-related questions.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Understanding Decision-making within Distributed Project Teams
Mario Bourgault, Ècole Polytechnique de Montrèal, Montrèal, Québec, Canada; Natalie Drouin, Université du Québec à Montrèal, Montrèal, Québec, Canada.
Decision making is a fundamental driver of all organizations. In view of the increasing number of project teams acting simultaneously on several sites and with different cultural and organizational backgrounds, decision-making needs to attract more attention as a central concept in projects. The results from this research project intend to offer practitioners new, valid knowledge about an emerging aspect of projects. By identifying best practices and presenting real "success stories," it will help the project management community increase organizational and individual abilities to deal with these kinds of projects, which are likely to become the norm rather than the exception.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Project Management in China: Establishing a National Baseline
Huang Jun and William G. Wells, Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
This exploratory one-year project will detail the current maturity of project management throughout China, including its practice, as well as its training and education programs. The study is a joint effort with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and partially funded by PMI. Based on the findings of the exploratory study, a larger, more detailed study may be proposed and conducted in future years.
Estimated Completion: Q2 2008
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Understanding the Value of Project Management
Janice L. Thomas, PhD, Associate Professor, Athabasca University, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada; Mark Mullaly, President, Interthink Consulting Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
The value of investing in project management has been hard to define and measure. This rigorous, coordinated, multidisciplinary, multi-method investigation is designed to aid practitioners in understanding and quantifying the value of implementing project management in today’s organizations.
Read the project’s press release issued 16 May 2005
Estimated Completion: Q4 2008
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The Value Mindset of Project Managers and It’s Influence on Project Success
Thomas Lechler, Ph.D., Howe School of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology
Personality traits are an important variable to describe a specific mindset of a person. However, the mindset to maximize a project’s value is not explained just by the personality traits of project managers. A thorough description of this mindset needs to include behaviors such as the search for opportunities and the taking of definitive action in their implementation.This research will investigate the contribution of a project manager’s mindset to the achievement of project value and will answer the question: To what degree does the mindset of the Project Manager affect the achieved project value?
Estimated Completion: Q4 2008
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A Global and Cross Industry Perspective on Earned Value Management Practice and Future Trends
Lingguang Song, Ph.D., University of Houston
In recent years, the ever increasing level of globalization and cross-industry collaboration in a project environment generates a great need for a clear understanding of Earned Value Management practice and standards across geographic and industry boundaries. Currently, there is very little synthetic work to improve the understanding of the current EVM practice and future directions to further enhance the level of EVM acceptance. The goal of the research is to characterize industry needs and identify best practices and standards of EVM to improve overall project planning and control practice.
Estimated Completion: Q4 2008
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The Use and Development of Emotional Intelligence (Abilities in Projects)
Nicholas Clarke, Ph.D., School of Management, University of Southampton
This study is the first of its kind; investigating the impact of a training program designed specifically to improve the emotional intelligence (abilities) of those working in projects and whether any subsequent changes in EI influence other key outcomes. The research aims to achieve a greater understanding of the processes by which emotional intelligence may be developed through training, and the impact of EI on pm behaviors and outcomes and how training in EI for projects should be designed and implemented to maximize its impact. The findings from the project will provide recommendations as to how organizations and projects can best support the learning needs of group team workers in relation to improving their emotional intelligence.
Estimated Completion: Q1 2009
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Understanding the Antecedents of Project Management Best Practices; Lessons to be Learned from Aid Relief Projects
Paul Steinfort and Derek H.T. Walker, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
At the end of 2004, a series of natural disasters that struck and killed hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians raised research interest in improving disaster prediction and relief. This project will explore project management's potential contribution to this important need by uncovering the tacit assumptions regarding project performance, and applying them to relief and recovery projects to decrease the waste and inefficiency that accompanies such efforts.
Estimated Completion: Q4 2009
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Increasing Project Flexibility:Preparing for the Unknown in the Concept Stage
Serghei Floricel, Ph.D., University of Quebec at Montreal Business School (ESG-UQAM)
Many projects fail because the very structure put in place for dealing with anticipated uncertainties and risks contrains participants’ response to unexpected events. This research aims to develop a framework for understanding how the concept stage of the project can be used to increase the chances that a project will achieve its goals in spite of unexpected occurrences.
Estimated Completion:Q4 2009
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Identifying the Forces Driving the Frequent Changes in PMOs
Brian Hobbs, Ph.D. and Monique Aubry, Ph.D. University of Quebec at Montreal Business School (ESG-UQAM)
Many organizations have implemented one or more Project Management Offices as part of organizational project management attributing a variety of both operational and strategic roles to their PMOs. While now a prominent feature of organizational project management, the underlying logic that leads to succeed in PMO implementation or renewal is still not understood. The goal of this research is to develop an empirically sound model of the processes of organizational change that shape PMOs and to provide guidance to project management practitioners and senior management in the implementation, remodeling and management of PMOs.
Estimated Completion: Q4 2009
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Refining the Knowledge Production Plan
Serghei Floricel, Ph.D., University of Quebec at Montreal Business School (ESG-UQAM)
The performance of large established companies and the emergence of start-ups are increasingly conditioned by the success of their innovation projects, yet the managers of such projects face a major dilemma; they can either use formal project management, relying on tools that have proven their effectiveness in less innovative projects but not in highly innovative ones, or let projects be guided informally, relying on individual leadership. At the core of this dilemma is an understanding of the fact that innovation projects, with their much higher uncertainty and serendipity, cannot be treated in the same way as less innovative projects. The goal of the research is to improve the planning practices for high innovation projects by contributing to the understanding of how knowledge production affects the interdependencies between project activities.
Estimated Completion: Q4 2009
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Coping with Stress in Organizational Roles Through Team Learning
Peter Storm, Ph.D.and Chantal Savelsbergh, MSc, Open University of the Netherlands
Stress is a universal phenomenon in projects. Tension between the interests of owner and contractor is the most documented type of stress. There is less known about role stress particularly with regard to the course of its development during the lifetime of the project. This research seeks to discover the major causes of role stress and whether role stress within the team is related to role stress caused at other levels. The research investigates what the direct and indirect, short and long-term effects of role stress are, and how it develops over the course of a project, and how both individuals and teams react to it.
Estimated Completion: Q4 2009
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