PMI Announces Academic Research Grantees

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pennsylvania, February 24, 2010 - Project Management Institute (PMI), the world's leading professional
membership organization for project managers, announced that it will fund
eight academic research projects in 2010. Selected from a pool of nearly 190
proposals submitted from around the world , the research projects will focus
on a range of subjects that are critical to today's organizations, including
cultural perspectives, procurement and supply, sustainability, and others.
PMI's sponsored research program, which has invested more than US $14 million
in academic research since its inception in 1997, supports studies in project
management that help businesses, governments, and academic institutions
execute strategy and drive innovation.

"PMI's commitment to research is a unique and vital element of our
contribution toward the expansion of the body of knowledge for project,
program, and portfolio managers," said Dr. Edwin Andrews, director of
academic and educational programs and services for PMI. "PMI's sponsored
research program enables academic researchers - many of whom lack other
resources - to begin exploratory studies and secure additional funding for
work that advances the profession and helps practitioners advance their
careers."

The following projects have received PMI's academic funding.

    - Udechukwu Ojiako, PhD, University of Southampton: "The effect of
      cultural perspectives in perceptions of IS/IT project success and
      failure"

While globalization of projects and project teams represents an exciting
development in project management, cultural differences within projects can
create a platform for uncertainty, which, if not addressed, can lead to
negative consequences or project failure. This research will explore the
influences of culture on individuals' perspectives on failure in IS/IT
projects. A multi-cultural team will use a mixed methods approach with a
large international sample of respondents.

    - Douglas MacBeth, University of Southampton: "Procurement and supply in
      projects: misunderstood and under-researched"

This project will investigate the current levels of understanding of
procurement management in major projects and the impact procurement
performance has on successful project completion. A two-phase, mixed method
approach, yielding both qualitative and quantitative data will be used.

    - Francois Chiocchio, PhD, PMP, CHRP, University of Montreal: "Can
      collaborative skills help health care project teams attenuate the
      impact of stress?"

A multidisciplinary research team will focus on collaboration as a
determinant of team performance, expertise in project management and
implementing change in professional practices through learning projects.

    - Professor Roland Gareis (HUEMANN), PhD, WU Vienna: "Sustainable
      Development & Project Management"

This research will explore whether sustainable development is implicitly
considered in project management, conceptualize how sustainable development
can be explicitly considered and analyze the challenges and potentials that
may arise when sustainable developed is considered. The research will also
draft instruments for explicitly attending to sustainable development in
project management.

    - Nuno Gil, PhD, University of Manchester: "Building Options in the
      Project Front-End: Integrating Strategy, Execution and Option Fees"

This project aims to develop, test, and validate a method that can guide
project teams to integrate front-end strategizing, execution, and option fees
in asset acquisition projects, large-scale infrastructure and defense
systems.

    - Peerasit Patanakul, PhD, Wesley J. Howe School of Technology
      Management, Stevens Institute of Technology: "Key Determinants of
      Effectiveness in Project Portfolio Management: A Context-Specific
      Perspective"

This research seeks to discover the key determinants of PPM effectiveness
and measures of effectiveness in a variety of business contexts. The study
will go beyond traditional PPM research by focusing on executive level
activities, especially the decision making process. Other organizational
factors that may influence PPM effectiveness will also be considered.
Studying PPM in different contexts, the research will suggest a contingency
theory in portfolio management.

    - Thomas G. Lechler, PhD PI, John C. Byrne, PhD Co-PI, Wesley J. Howe
      School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology: "The
      Gestalt of Project Opportunities Recognized and Exploited During
      Implementation"

This research will analyze the Gestalt of project opportunities,
including the specific classes of opportunities and contextual situations
under which they occur. It will also contribute to the development of a new
project management paradigm that allows for a better explanation of specific
phenomena and the achievement of better project results.

    - Peter Storm, PhD, Kennis&Co, the Hague, the Netherlands, Open
      University of the Netherlands/Kennis & Co: "Improving project team
      performance through team learning"

This project is a follow-up to the PMI-sponsored investigation, "Coping
with stress in organizational roles through team learning." The earlier
descriptive study showed that role stress, team learning, and team
performance are significantly related to one another. The current study is
aimed at testing the assumption that the positive effects of team learning
can be enhanced to carefully design interventions within a project team.

About The PMI(R) Research Program

The PMI(R) Research Program is an essential part of PMI's mission to make
project management indispensable for business results. Formed in 1997, the
Research Program at PMI works to advance the science and profession of
project management. The request for proposals for 2011 funding is now open.
Preliminary proposals will be accepted until April 25. To view current RFP
and the list of completed
(www.pmi.org/Resources/Pages/Completed-Research.aspx ) and active
projects, and to find out more about PMI's academic research program, please
visit www.pmi.org.

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

The world's leading professional membership
organization for project managers, PMI shares knowledge with more than
500,000 members and credential holders in over 185 countries. Since 1969, PMI
has impacted more than one million practitioners, businesses, governments,
students and training organizations. Today, PMI's products and services range
from world-class standards for project, program and portfolio management to
five professional credentials, including the gold standard Project Management
Professional (PMP)(R). PMI's exclusive Global Corporate Council and European
Corporate Networking Group engage large multinationals and government
organizations in endorsing the value of project management. The only project
management association with an established academic research program, PMI has
invested more than US $14 million in support of dozens of research projects
since 1997. Learn more at www.pmi.org.

Megan Maguire Kelly, +1-610-356-4600 ext. 7030, Megan.Kelly at pmi.org or Glenn R. Boyet, +1-610-356-4600 ext. 1112, Glenn.Boyet at pmi.org, both of the Project Management Institute