Best Industry Outcomes

Project Management Institute (PMI), through its research program, called for proposals to explore and fi nd the best practices common not to specifi c companies but to a particular industry or project type. Most importantly, the research was required to delineate the best outcomes that are expected for organizational success in different industries.
In response to this request, and with the aim of providing a basis for informed and contextually sensitive development of organizational project management capability in alignment with business strategy, research was designed and undertaken to answer the following questions:

1. What strategic drivers are characteristic of specific industries and project types?
2. Are there project outcomes that are typically most valued relative to specifi c strategic drivers, industries, and project types?
3. Are there characteristics or patterns of project management systems and practices that are associated with particular strategic drivers and goals, industries, and project types?

The research adopted a mixed method approach and was conducted in two phases. The fi rst phase was a qualitative study, involving interviews with 39 senior managers across nine industry sectors: aerospace and defense, automotive, engineering and construction, fi nancial and business services, government, IT and telecommunications, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and utilities. The aim was to gain insight into the nature of context in
each of these industry sectors and to identify strategic drivers. Results provided input to the second phase of the research, which adopted a quantitative approach, utilizing a web-based questionnaire, resulting in 437 responses of which over 50% were from persons in the general and program management roles. This phase aimed to verify the fi ndings of Phase One concerning strategic drivers, success criteria and outcomes, and to gather data on patterns
of project management capability in each sector.