Please participate in this academic survey which benefits the Project Management professional community. Gabriela will make a copy of the results available to the PMI Atlanta when the results are compiled.

*EXPERTISE REQUEST ON PROJECT MANAGEMENT* Please find an attached link to a survey on 'improving and embedding project management practices in organizations'. Your participation will be very valuable.

The survey can be accessed HERE.

The study is being conducted by myself, Gabriela Fernandes, as part of my PhD research in the Management School at the University of Southampton. The study has received Ethics approval through the University’s research governance process (Reference: ERGO 4911). The supervising faculty member for this study is Professor Stephen Ward.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to help organizations to improve and embed project management practices in an effective way. The survey is divided into the following parts:

• Part A – Key factors for improving project management practices
• Part B – Key factors for embedding project management practices
• Part C – Project management practices
• Part D – Some characteristics of the respondent and respondent’s organization

All responses will remain confidential and will be reported only in anonymous, summary form in a PhD Thesis and any  subsequent research articles. The participants have the opportunity to receive a summary of the results from this study.


The results of this survey will be used to pursue the following research objectives:
• identify the priorities of organizations when they chose to invest in PM practice improvement;
• identify the key factors that influence the embedding of PM improvement initiatives into organizations;
• identify the main inter-relationships between the key factors to improve and embed PM practices, and
• find if these factors are dependent on the organizational contexts (industry, size, geographic location and project type).

The research methodology comprises four phases. Firstly, based on an extensive literature review and on the researcher’s own professional experience, an ‘initial framework’ to improve and embed PM practices was produced. Secondly, semistructured
interviews and qualitative data analysis have been conducted in order: 1) to get confirmation for the key factors identified 2) to explore new factors and 3) to reduce the number of factors identified. As a result a ‘revised framework’ was constructed. Thirdly, a questionnaire survey is being administered, with the objective of getting insights from more people and confirming or not the findings from the interviews. The questionnaire will be also used to identify the main interrelationships between the key factors, and find if these factors are dependent on the organizational contexts. The last phase, will comprise the consolidation of the research findings, constructing the final ‘proposed framework’.

Any issues about the study contact by e-mail: gabriela.fernandes@soton.ac.uk or phone: +351 934883976

Many thanks in advance for your attention and valuable contribution to my PhD research project.

Gabriela Fernandes, Eng. MSc. PMP
PhD Researcher at University of Southampton
Porto Area, Portugal