Evaluating the impact of project management qualification and certification on the success of project functions within major capital organisations

Abstract

This thesis aims to evaluates the impact of project management qualification and certification on the success of project functions within Major Capital Organisations (MCOs). Project management systems have been widely adopted by various industries as an efficient strategy for successfully managing and executing projects. Arguments have ranged from affirmation that project management education is worthwhile, to denial that there is no evidence that project management education and training improves the competency of a project manager or the project functions. This study therefore addresses the unanswered question which is ‘What is the impact of project management qualification and certification on the success of project functions within major capital organisations?’. The study addresses this by first identifying and bringing comprehension into various project management qualifications and certifications available on a global scale, then establishes the factors that influence the success of project functions within MCOs; and lastly evaluates the relationship between project management qualifications and or certification and project functions’ success within these MCOs. It thus, adopted a mixed methods approach where both qualitative and quantitative data was collected through the use of survey questionnaires and interviews. The study then found that there is a strong correlation between project management qualification and certification and project function success. Hence, it was concluded that project management qualifications and certifications have an impact on the success of project functions within Major Capital Organisations. Only three MCOs could be employed for the study due to possible time and resource constraints. This is because these MCOs are generally parastatals, which require many levels of signatories and a Delegation of Authority (DOA) before undertaking a study, while also a large fraction of these organisations have their own signatories in each region that are separate from the total entity. Therefore, greater research with other MCOS outside of parastatals or government-owned entities is advised in order to substantiate the findings of the study in a wider spectrum.