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An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Benjamin, Nuhaah
Other Authors: Smith, Derek
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Information Systems 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Benjamin, Nuhaah
author2 Smith, Derek
author_browse Benjamin, Nuhaah
Smith, Derek
author_facet Smith, Derek
Benjamin, Nuhaah
author_sort Benjamin, Nuhaah
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13063
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:17.409Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Department of Information Systems
publisherStr Department of Information Systems
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13063 An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs) Benjamin, Nuhaah Smith, Derek Information Systems Includes bibliographical references. PMOs are complex organisational-specific entities. Companies are increasingly establishing PMOs in search of more favourable outcomes for their projects. However, these PMO organisational structures are rarely found to survive and are often disbanded or transformed every few years. The PMOs implemented in the public sector are faced with the task of justifying their value to business over time. These PMOs function in particularly stressful environments as they run complex projects that are driven by politics. The public sector provides a unique context in that organisational transformation is likely to occur every few years with the election of a new political cabinet. The notion of a PMO is a relatively new phenomenon with limited research available at present. There are few practical and theoretical guidelines identified in the research literature. The public sector environment has received even lesser research despite offering a unique organisational structure that commonly undertakes large, complex and political-focussed projects. The purpose of this study is to seek a better understanding of the contribution made to public sector PMO value in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. An understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness factors involved can aid managers in identifying where to focus their efforts to ensure value-add of new services and products are achieved in the public sector. A mixed method research approach was employed to investigate the public sector PMO organisational environment case study, using interviews and a complementary survey. A model of the factors that contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of a PMO was derived from the research literature. This was followed by an in-depth case study of a public sector PMO. The factors relevant to the case study were captured using interviews and then analysed using thematic analysis. The results were then compared to the model. The study revealed that most of the public sectors PMOs (77%) was found to be structured as virtual PMO offices with varying levels of capacity and authority. The results of the survey found that most of the PMOs focus in terms of efficiency was on productivity (60%), planning (20%), and profit (20%). In terms of effectiveness, the foci were mainly on responsiveness (40%) and flexibility, adaption and innovation (60%). It was concluded that project management maturity could be significantly improved by focussing on the areas that were lacking for these PMOs, i.e. benchmarking, hiring external consultants with PM knowledge and linking with external consultants. 2015-06-15T06:56:15Z 2015-06-15T06:56:15Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13063 eng application/pdf Department of Information Systems Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Information Systems
Benjamin, Nuhaah
An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
thesis_degree_str Master's
title An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
title_full An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
title_fullStr An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
title_full_unstemmed An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
title_short An investigation into the efficiency & effectiveness of Project Management Offices(PMOs)
title_sort investigation into the efficiency effectiveness of project management offices pmos
topic Information Systems
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13063
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