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Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Dr. Ed Andrews of PMI highlights the Value of Project Management at 3rd UT Dallas PM Symposium in Texas
Leading off as keynote speaker on day two of the 3rd UT Dallas Project Management Symposium on 14 August 2009, Dr. Edwin Andrews presented the results of PMI's major research project entitled "Researching the Value of Project Management." Edwin Andrews, PhD, is the Director of Academic and Educational Programs and Services for the Project Management Institute (PMI®).
The 3rd Annual UT Dallas Project Management Symposium was held in the School of Management on The UT Dallas campus in Richardson, Texas during 13-14 August 2009. The event was organized by the Graduate Program in Project Management (PM) in the School of Management's Executive Education Center at UT Dallas, in partnership with the Dallas Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and PMForum. The theme for this year's symposium was "Managing in a Changing World".
Dr. Andrews briefly described PMI, including its current size and recent growth, then reviewed the PMI research project that resulted in the seminal book entitled "Researching the Value of Project Management" by Janice Thomas, PhD of Athabasca University in Canada and Mark Mullaly, PMP of Interthink Consulting, Inc. The research project was a four year effort involving 48+ researchers around the world, 90 case studies, 447 interviews and costing approximately $2.5 million. The project was concluded and book published by PMI in 2008.
According to Dr. Andrews, "Quantification of the value of project management could not be answered, since not a single organization measured the return on investment of project management. Organizations do not measure the full cost of project management implementation; therefore, they cannot calculate financial ROI. In fact, many executives do not even think it is important!"
"While financial returns from PM implementation are not measured," he added, "a great deal of non-financial value was identified. The levels of value noted in the study included satisfaction, alignment with strategies, process improvements and other tangible benefits. But the context of implementation is extremely important. Organizational 'fit' is key, and maturity also matters. Even less mature organizations find value in project management, but highly mature organizations gain much greater value."
"Organizational culture is also very real and affects value realization. Project management must also be nurtured. Once project management is implemented, value can be increased or sustained by nurturing."
"ROI really means 'Right Organizational Implementation'," he concluded. His remarks were well received by the 200+ in attendance.
Dr. Edwin J. Andrews, V.M.D., Ph.D., Dipl. A.C.V.P., Dipl. A.C.L.A.M., joined PMI in 2005 as the Manager of Research, after a distinguished record in both industry and academe. Ed was educated as a veterinarian and obtained a PhD, establishing himself as an academician and sponsored researcher at The Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine and at Cornell University. He was recruited to industry and rose to vice president in several Johnson & Johnson companies. During his tenure with J & J he was also a Director of Global Marketing. He then served as Dean of Veterinary Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania until his return to industry with Mallinckrodt, Inc as Senior Vice President for Science & Technology. Dr. Andrews is the author of over 50 refereed publications and books and has spoken at seminars, congresses and symposia worldwide. Dr. Andrews has served on many boards as well as academic, corporate, government and international committees. In 1992 he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Research Resources Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health.
The 3rd UT Dallas PM Symposium was launched on Thursday, August 13, with welcoming addresses by James Joiner, Director of the Graduate Program in Project Management at The UT Dallas and Hasan Pirkul, PhD, Dean of The UT Dallas School of Management. They were followed by two keynote speakers, retired US astronaut James Reilly, PhD, and Tom Leppert, the popular mayor of the City of Dallas. Other events on 13 August included 24 professional presentations in five streams by project management experts and professional practitioners. The first day ended with a networking reception for participants in the atrium in the School of Management.
In addition to the keynote address by Dr. Andrews, the second day of the symposium, August 14, featured keynote speeches by Mark Penny, Project Executive at Manhattan Construction, the prime contractor for the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas; and Veikko Välilä, Secretary General of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). The second day also included 15 professional presentations and three panel discussions. Official attendance for the two day event was around 225. To see the full symposium program, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/graduate/execed/projectMgmtProg/projSymposium/.
The Project Management Program at UT Dallas provides application-oriented education for professionals with significant project, program or general management responsibilities. Established in the Executive Education Center in The UT Dallas' School of Management, students have the option of earning a Certificate in Project Management, a Master of Science degree with an emphasis in project management, or a Master of Business Administration degree with project management emphasis.
The UT Dallas PM program, originally developed in 1997, is accredited by the Global Accreditation Center for Project Management (GAC) of Project Management Institute (PMI®) and is a PMI Registered Education Provider Program (PMI R.E.P.). The program is taught by world-class faculty with a blend of industrial project management, consulting and teaching experience. The UT Dallas PM Program is delivered both on campus and online, and attracts students from across the USA and worldwide. For more information, visit http://som.utdallas.edu/project/.
The PMI Dallas Chapter is a volunteer-based professional association dedicated to supporting the growth and development of project management practitioners, as well as building awareness of the project management discipline and its critical role in business and organization success. With more than half a million members and credential holders in over 170 countries, the Project Management Institute (PMI®) is the leading membership association for the project management profession. Founded in 1984 and with over 4,000 members, the PMI Dallas Chapter is one of the world's largest PMI components. To learn more about the PMI Dallas Chapter and its service offerings, visit http://www.pmidallas.org/
PMForum operates www.pmforum.org , the world's oldest website devoted to professional project management and still one of the world's most popular sources of project management news and information. PMForum also produces the monthly online PM World Today eJournal where articles, case studies, papers and stories by leading PM authorities from around the world can be found; free subscriptions are available at www.pmworldtoday.net .