Background

Recent years have seen an intensified debate on business ethics and corporate governance.  One aspect of this tries to develop particular business ethics; another asks whether they could be substituted by governance rules, and under which settings; while a third aspect leads into corporate governance laws (legal and in some cases criminal) and codes of conduct.  Some of the latter are complemented by company specific codes.

Many governments have now introduced laws and/or regulatory requirements of organizations (mainly at publicly listed corporations) to improve governance and risk issues (for instance Sarbanes-Oxley or Basel II).  Although these have had a significant impact at senior levels of organizations, their influence is less determinable at levels where programs and projects are delivered.  Going forward there are likely to be more regulations at senior levels of organizations.

It is currently unknown what influence this will have at the delivery level and what influences they may have on project management.  Some of the specific problems that might arise for project managers and their teams could be:

 - Ethics or government regulations that conflict with project management rules and practices (PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct)?

- How can conflicting supranational or national governance regulations in international projects be managed?

- Which ethics or governance regulations are of particular importance for managing virtual teams (national and international)?

- How to define and to manage compliance projects (is it appropriate to manage them in the same way as regulatory projects in environments such as banking and finance industries)?

- Are company specific codes supportive to managers of projects and programs, and when used with professional codes, such as the ‘PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, which should remain prime?

- Are professional organization ‘codes of conduct’ sufficient to provide adequate ethical and governance guidance when operating in a national and/or international environments?

Research Proposals Requested

The PMI Research Program is seeking proposals for research that deal with Ethics and Corporate Governance in project management and seek to explore such or related questions empirically or by suggesting conceptual or theoretical frameworks. They should be titled, “Response to RFP: “Ethics and Corporate Governance in PM.” The investigation team should incorporate the following deliverables for the completed project as well as others deemed appropriate by the project evaluation team:

1.   Documented and annotated literature search and other sources of background information.

2.   Discussion of the specific research methodology used for hypotheses testing.

3.   Discussion of the acceptability of these methods and measures.

4.   A one-year project may be considered exploratory in nature and would require status reports as requested to the Research Member Advisory Group liaison assigned to the project and a final report suitable for publication in a well reputed peer reviewed journal.

5.   A project longer than one year is considered a full project and may be eligible for multi-year funding. As above and dependent on the anticipated duration, the project will require reports as requested. Additionally, there will be required one or more interim papers for presentation at a peer reviewed conference or symposium as well as a final report suitable for publication in a well reputed peer reviewed journal.

6.   Investigators may be asked to: present preliminary or final findings at a PMI Research Program Working Session; or, participate in a telephone conference with the Research Member Advisory Group should they deem it necessary to clarify the status and direction of the research.

7.   A final report ready for publication as a book, monograph or product appropriate to the subject matter, as described previously in this section, with copyright assignment to the PMI.

8.  The contribution this research will make to the project management community.

Proposal Resources and Schedule

PMI Research Program financial resources for this investigation are limited to $30,000 U.S. in total, regardless of the agreed to project duration. Therefore, the Program seeks proposals from researchers who will have access to other financial resources needed to plan, conduct, and complete this investigation. Researchers must also be able to independently obtain data and/or participants for the research investigation without reliance on PMI.

The initial research proposal must be received by 30 June 2008. Following evaluation, selection and notification by 4 August 2008, expanded proposals will be required by 15 September 2008. The research grant decisions will be made by 24 October 2008. The completed signed contract must be received by 22 December 2008. Initial payments will be forwarded per agreed contract dates in 2009.

The deadline for all dates is 5:00PM (1700) US Eastern Time (-5 GMT).

Proposal Submission and Evaluation Process

The PMI Research Program-Supported Research Project Requests may be viewed at http://www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/Current-Research.aspx.

An initial proposal of approximately three pages, in 12-point type, must include:

• - The project title
• - The name(s) of the researcher(s)
• - Relevant credentials
• - Affiliated institution(s)
• - Underlying hypothesis
• - Preliminary strategy to accomplish the goal
• - Conceptual plan of action
• - Expected outcome or deliverable(s)
• - Anticipated completion date
• - Proposed cost of the research
• - Other sources of funds for this project
• - Potential source(s) of data and/or participants
• - Other information deemed relevant by the submitter

The proposal should be accompanied by curriculum vitae for the primary investigators. This is not to be counted as part of the three pages of the preliminary proposal.

Following the initial process of receipt, evaluation and selection, expanded proposals of no more than 10 pages will be solicited from those chosen to be finalists. The proposal should contain a more detailed explanation of the information included in the initial proposal along with the investigative approach, potential barriers to success and possible approaches to overcoming the barriers.

Acceptance of a research proposal will require the signing of a mutually amenable work-for-hire research-grant agreement covering specific deliverables, status reports, payment schedule, intellectual property rights, and other relevant terms. Copyright assignment of the final report to PMI will be part of the research-grant agreement. However, the researcher will be able to use the data and content from their work for other professional endeavors. Any publication of the work by the authors must be approved in writing by PMI.  Evaluation of the submitted proposals and selection of proposal(s) for funding will be completed by the PMI Research Program Team. Their decision(s) will be final.

E-mail submission of the proposals is preferred, but postal mail will be acceptable for this preliminary, first round process as well as for the final, second round proposal for those selected. Please put “Ethics and Corporate Governance in PM” in the subject line of the emails.

Project Management Institute
Research Department
14 Campus Boulevard
Newtown Square, PA  19073-3299 USA
Telephone: +1-610-356-4600 x 5067
Fax: +1-610-356-1656
E-mail: jeanmarie.martin@pmi.org

For complete details on the RFP process, please visit: http://www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/Research-Request-for-Proposal-Process.aspx.

Please direct any questions about the desired investigation(s) or the personal submission and evaluation process to Jean Marie Martin, PMI Research Coordinator, at +1-610-356-4600, extension 5067 or jeanmarie.martin@pmi.org.