The Reality of Project Management Practice in Russia: Study Results

Abstract

Russian Project Management Association SOVNET and National Research University – Higher School of Economics conducted the study to generate better knowledge about project management practices in the real world of Russian economy by painting a true picture of the use and perceived value of project management tools and techniques. The main questions were the following: what is maturity level of organizational project management in Russian companies; what are the values associated with project management usage in Russian companies; which project management tools and techniques are used in reality, considered as the most valuable and are planned to be used in the future. The questionnaire was developed based on analysis of recent academic papers in the field of project management all over the world and real practice of project management in Russia. Theoretical background of the study is the value-driven project management model by G.Kerzner, Bessner&Hobbs investigation on project management tools and techniques, organizational project management maturity models. Individuals from more than 140 companies answered the questionnaire. Respondents came from different sectors (Information Technology, Financial Services, Engineering & Construction, Telecommunications, Oil&Gas, Education, Consulting and others). Respondents reported working in different organizational roles and also reported having significant experience in project management. The tools and techniques that were studied included 36 well-known project management tools and techniques such as cost/benefit analysis, critical path method, critical chain method, earned value management, work breakdown structure etc. The list of values of project management consists of 18 values, i.e. projects’ time and cost, transparency of project-oriented activity, image of a company, customer's satisfaction, cross-functional interaction and others. Analysis of the survey results allows to determine dependencies between level of company's maturity level in project management, used project management tools and techniques, and values gained by the company from project management.