The Contribution of the Project Management Office: A Balanced Scorecard Perspective

Abstract

Many organizations turn to project management offices (PMOs) in order to increase project efficiency, cut costs, and improve success rates in project delivery. However, many PMOs face the challenge of a lack of recognition of their contribution, leading to the need to repeatedly justify their existence. This article provides new insights into the success and failure of PMOs and also provides the rationale and structure for a holistic approach to establishing and sustaining a PMO.

Keywords:

• contribution
• project management office
• projects
• performance
• strategy mapping
• information systems
• projects

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elmar Kutsch

Elmar Kutsch is a visiting professor at IÉSEG (France) and is also associated with Umeå University (Sweden) as a guest researcher. In order to raise enthusiasm for his expertise in managing risk and uncertainty, Elmar engages widely with industry and advocates of Project Management. Over the past few years, Elmar has become involved in the development of Graduate Programs and Customized Executive Development at Cranfield University, providing intuitive and deliverable based learning methods. He publishes widely on aspects of risk management, resilience, and mindfulness.

John Ward

John Ward MA, FCMA is Emeritus Professor at Cranfield University, School of Management, having been Professor of Strategic Information Systems at Cranfield from 1992 to 2010. His main areas of interest are the strategic uses of IS/IT, the integration of IS/IT strategies with business strategies, and the management of IS/IT investments. He has published many papers in leading journals and is co-author of the books Strategic Planning for Information Systems and Benefits Management: How to Increase the Business Value of Your IT Projects. He is a past-president of the UK Academy for Information Systems.

Mark Hall

Mark Hall is a senior lecturer in project and operations management at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. Apart from operations and project management, he has also taught change and innovation management, organizational theory, and research methods, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. His main areas of research are in behaviors in response to risk in projects, high reliability, public sector projects, public–private partnerships, and sustainability.

John Algar

John Algar specializes in the area of international project management and dispute resolution issues on medium-large contracts, with an emphasis on contracts, proposals and tendering issues, risk at all levels, and cultural and people/relationship issues. His specialist areas of interest and research are executive education benefits delivery; risk management; collaboration; contractual strategies and efficiencies; rule-based relationship research; international contractual negotiations; facilitation; and individual and team development.