A Study of Project Management Practices in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The importance of project management has hastly increased and its rapid development and tendency towards innovaton has made it one of the key components of organizatons’ performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper was to conduct a systematc study of the current situaton and practces in the feld of project management in the Czech Republic. Four areas of project management are closely studied: stakeholders´ main demands and requests, main characteristcs of project management, level of use of project management methods and identfcaton of the characteristcs of the respondents. The research has an explanatory character and works with primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained through an online cross-sectonal survey comprising of four parts (identcal to the areas studied) conducted in the Czech Republic in 2016. The questonnaire consisted of twenty questons in total and it had elements of both quanttatve and qualitatve research. It yielded 118 usable responses. The sample examined was random but expert - it covered organizatons operatng in the Czech Republic and respondents were asked to identfy their professionalism and experience in the area of project management. Furthermore, the results of the authors’ survey were compared with the results of similar surveys from the last fve years providing secondary data. This comparison brought forth additonal insights and beter understanding of the theoretcal grounding. The results showed a prominent relatonship and, to some extent, a correlaton between understanding (defning) a successful project and identfying success factors, stakeholder demands and problematc areas, displaying a complexity of working in the feld of project management. Furthermore, a vaguely-defned scope was identfed as the most problematc area and issue influencing project success. Overall, the study indicates the necessity for innovaton, such as the development of a basic framework for project governance approaches as well as an increase in the use of available project management methods. These directons will not only improve project management, but will also boost entrepreneurship spirit and help modern, highly potental start-ups to be compettve in the market.