Changes in Public Sector Management: Establishment of Project Management Offices – A Comparative Case Study of Lithuania and Denmark

Abstract

This paper analyses an attempt to initiate an organizational-administrative reform on the basis of experimental (pilot) project initiated by the Ministry of Economy in Lithuania which established a specialized unit – Project Management Office (PMO) – responsible for portfolio1 of programs and projects’ coordination at ministerial level. The paper shortly describes types of reforms and how they can be implemented, as well as the notion of portfolio, program and project management and organizational capability to manage them, as one of the attributes of organizational maturity in project management is an existence of PMO. This article focuses on the main features of PMO and describes two qualitative case studies. Lithuanian and Danish cases are provided and differences of PMOs are analysed. The cases provide insights that the transition to portfolio, program and project management might last for decades. Although the reform did not gain the acceleration in Lithuania, the trend toward project management embedment in the public sector in Europe is evidenced and more cases of the establishment of PMO are observed.

Comparison of project portfolio management practices in the public and private sectors in Brazil

“…Pilkaitė and Chmieliauskas (2015) show that PPM focuses on attaining strategic goals for the organization, and thus are often seen as a continuous strategic process directed at strategic activities; however, there is little recognition of the entrepreneurial role of project portfolio managers in strategic adjustment (Young et al , 2012). Support of the top management is a key factor for project success leading to portfolio success (Berssaneti et al , 2016; Berssaneti and Carvalho, 2015).…”

“…In the public sector, the higher the level of transparency, the greater will be the quality of governance and trust in the government and its projects (Bauhr and Grimes, 2014; da Cruz et al , 2016; Maceta and Berssaneti, 2017). One must not forget that public administration is under pressure from stakeholders to achieve transparency and performance and take responsible and reasonable decisions on public spending (Hefetz et al , 2014; Pilkaitė and Chmieliauskas, 2015). There is another issue in the public organizations that is the difficult to evaluate public programs with multiple goals (Negoita, 2018).…”

Untitled

“…A risk assessment component within the effective Internal Control System in order to support the activity of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the developing countries was described in (IDI INTOSAI 2014). Lithuanian scientists pay specific attention to risk management issues within a specialized unit -the Project Management Office (PMO) -responsible for a portfolio of programs and projects coordinated at the ministerial level (Pilkaite and Chmieliauskas 2015) as well as risk assessment in public investment projects (Jasiukevicius and Vasiliauskaite 2015).…”

Gerenciamento de portfólio de projetos no setor público: uma revisão da literatura

“…O gerenciamento de portfólio, apesar de ainda não ser muito adotado pela iniciativa pública, foca nos objetivos estratégicos das organizações, sendo um processo estratégico contínuo com foco nos projetos e atividades estratégicas (PILKAITĖ;CHMIELIAUSKAS, 2015), gerando uma correlação com a NGP.…”

“…Tal lacuna também foi identificada na revisão da literatura realizada como demonstrado no item 3 do presente trabalho; e (3) no fato do setor público ainda estar iniciando a adoção do uso do gerenciamento de portfólio (BAKER; SOLAK, 2014) e, portanto, seus resultados ainda levarão algum tempo para serem sentidos (PILKAITĖ;CHMIELIAUSKAS, 2015).…”