Engineering a Better IT Program Manager: A Comparative Study of IT PM Education and Training

This article examines the relationship between Department of Defense information technology (IT) program managers (PMs), their technical education, commercial project management certification, and project management success—also known as project efficiency—for IT PMs. The researcher asked, “To what extent does project management success in scope, schedule, and cost compare among PMs, specifically their technical education, commercial project management certification, and interaction effects between education type and commercial PM certification?” A gap in research exists on whether IT PMs with a technical education positively or negatively impact project outcomes. The IT PM community needs more studies on the extent to which commercial PM certifications affect project efficiency. The researcher used factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to compare education and PM certification to project efficiency. MANOVA provided for the examination of the interactive effects. A Mann-Whitney post hoc test confirmed the MANOVA results. Both tests concluded that no relationship exists between undergraduate technical degree, commercial PM certification, and project management success.

Engineering a Better IT Program Manager: A Comparative Study of IT PM Education and Training

This article examines the relationship between Department of Defense information technology (IT) program managers (PMs), their technical education, commercial project management certification, and project management success—also known as project efficiency—for IT PMs. The researcher asked, “To what extent does project management success in scope, schedule, and cost compare among PMs, specifically their technical education, commercial project management certification, and interaction effects between education type and commercial PM certification?” A gap in research exists on whether IT PMs with a technical education positively or negatively impact project outcomes. The IT PM community needs more studies on the extent to which commercial PM certifications affect project efficiency. The researcher used factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to compare education and PM certification to project efficiency. MANOVA provided for the examination of the interactive effects. A Mann-Whitney post hoc test confirmed the MANOVA results. Both tests concluded that no relationship exists between undergraduate technical degree, commercial PM certification, and project management success.

Impact of project management certification on project performance

In general, certified project management professionals are perceived to enhance project performance. However, this narrative has quite often been challenged in previous literature. We investigate this controversy by including professionalism and psychological capital as intervening variables. The research is based on an empirical survey of certified project managers in the region of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. 373 data samples were collected and further analyzed on the basis of critical success factor theory. The impact of project management certification along with intervening variables were hypothesized and validated to have direct and indirect relationships with project performance. Responses from certified project management professionals in the region of Rawalpindi/Islamabad support the perception but reflect that professionalism plays a supporting role between certification and performance. However, the study dismisses the role of psychological capital between professionalism and performance. We conclude that project management institutes and associations should ensure professionalism in the certification process to actually enhance project performance. The findings contribute to the body of knowledge in predicting improved project management performance by employing certified project managers with strong professional skills. Consequently, the research will help professional institutes to review the conformity of the required professional skills rather than just focusing on just passing an exam.