Organizational Competence of Public Hospitals in Project Management

Abstract

Health organizations are challenged every day to manage their projects in a dynamic context of multifactorial complexity, are intrinsically linked to the organizational competences for PM and project success (on time and budget, with quality, in alignment with the requirements defined by the project owner and stakeholders), through articulation between people, resources, processes and project support structures.The aim of this research was to study the Competence of Portuguese Public Hospitals in PM, carrying out a diagnosis of organizational competences in PM, reflecting on the existing competences and those that are needed, proposing strategies for its development. This study was carried in three public hospitals (51 respondents) and evidence that they can improve their organizational competence in PM. It also shows that there is a statistically significant association between the organizational competence in PM, the role of professionals in projects and their experience. On the other hand, the results also show that the success of projects is influenced by the existence of a PMO dedicated to supporting the project management activity in the organization. Likewise, the existence of a PMO, combined with certification or specific training in PM, and having already managed projects in the organization, didn´t revealed a strong influence on the state of development of organizational competence to manage projects. The results demonstrate that these health organizations need to invest in the development of organizational competence for the success of their projects and that there are not many professionals with certification or specific training in PM. Hospital´s need to improve people´s competences and create internal structures to support PM.