Project management competence in public sector infrastructure organisations

Abstract

Public sector organisations responsible for infrastructure development in most non-industrialised countries, which include infrastructure departments/ministries, parastatal organisations and other statutory organisations qualify as project-oriented organisations (POO). There are strong indications to suggest that these organisations' project management (PM) competencies leave a lot to be desired. At face value they purport to be fully fledged project-oriented organisations and performing as competent PM organisations, while in reality they are predominantly dependent on accidental project managers. This paper reports on a study that was carried out in one of the large infrastructure departments in South Africa. The focus is on one of the premiere programmes managed by the department. The management of the programme is scrutinised in order to establish the department/ministry's PM competence. An evaluation of the performance of the programme was carried out in relation to the ministry's mandate in order to assess its PM competence. It is found that the programme in its current form could be described as a 'white elephant' and a programme that does not have an appropriate organisation structure, nor appropriate and sufficient staff to carry out its objectives. The programme's management system is found to be very poor and at the lowest level of maturity (level 1 out of 5). Recommendations are made that the programme in its current form cannot fulfil its mandate successfully without a fundamental overhaul, addressing its organisational structure, personnel qualifications and programme management system.Project management competence, public sector, culture, infrastructure organisations, South Africa, non-industrialised countries,

The Relationship Between Project Management Office Maturity and Organisational Project Management Maturity: An Empirical Study of the South African Government Infrastructure Departments

“…Due to these changing dynamics of the environment, project management is essential for helping public organisations to run projects successfully. Formal project management practices in South African public organisations are still in the development phase, while most organisations have a low maturity level [7]. Many of the project management concepts are not well formalised and/or standardised, the cost-benefit results are questioned, and there is no general consensus about the role of project management in many matrix-structured organisations [8].…”

Methodology for developing capability maturity levels for PPP stakeholder organisations using critical success factors

“…Bay and Skitmore (2006) conducted six case studies when assessing the level of project management maturity in Indonesian companies. Rwelamila (2007) conducted one case study when exploring project management maturity in public sector infrastructure organisations in South Africa. Rwelamila and Phungula (2009) undertook one case study when assessing organisational project management maturity of the South African public institutions involved in publicprivate partnership (PPP) projects.…”

Public Sector Project Management Efficiency Problems, Case of Latvia

“…The vast majority of public sector organizations still generate most of their income from the State (ibid). However, the capability of the public sector is pivotal to the growth of the economy (Rwelamila, 2007). Furthermore, the need for project management expertise in public sector organizations has become fundamental in order to deal with the enormous responsibility of managing a number of projects (ibid).…”