The ‘accidental profession’

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Project management is an internationally recognised discipline. Once called the ‘accidental profession’, project management has emerged as a distinct management discipline. Increasingly, government and private companies are turning to project management approaches to encourage innovation, improve efficiency, solve problems and manage scarce resources.

An understanding of the initiatives driving the project management profession is important to career development, company bottom line and national economic programmes. Project management is a subset of general management. Some believe that it is the unrecognised engine of economic improvement!

How is it structured internationally from an organisational perspective, what certifications are available from these organisations and how is Ireland’s project management discipline positioned within this international framework?

Project Management Organisations

The world of project management is dominated by two international organisations, each with their own body of knowledge and accreditation programme. These are: the IPMA (International Project Management Association) and PMI (USA). The Institute of Project Management of Ireland is the Irish National association for project management within the IPMA family and also operates an international co-operation agreement with PMI (USA).

The IPMA is an association of 30 equal National Associations. It is not in the business of recruiting individual members. Its mission is to promote project management through collaboration and co-ordination of the national association’s activities. The IPMA believes that national societies should be the voice of project management at the level at which national societies really belong — the national level. The IPMA does not support the principle of the development of national organisations subject to foreign country laws and policy.

PMI exists primarily as a professional society for its members, of which there are more than 100,000 presently, with approximately 70 per cent of them being located in North America. PMI is comprised of domestic USA chapters and international chapters. These ‘off shore’ PMI Chapters remain subject to the policies of PMI and ‘the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States of America’ (a direct quote from the PMI Constitution).

Project Management Certification

Both of these organisations offer internationally recognised certification programmes. The IPMA has a career profile of four levels including certification of project managers. Certification involves a combination of self-assessment, written examination tests, a written project report (5000-8000 words), proven experience and independent, third party interview assessment. To achieve certification, each candidates must demonstrate an acceptable level of understanding, knowledge and practical experience in project management.

This programme was launched in 1999 and has experienced rapid growth since then, with more than 24 countries currently operating it. In the last two years since its inception in Ireland, more than 400 candidates have been certified at different levels within the IPMA four-level certification structure.

PMP Certification

The requirements for PMP certification are:

• the applicant having the requisite hours’ exposure to project management over a specific number of years.
• a multiple-choice examination of 200 questions on project management.
• a minimum of 35 hours project management training prior to sitting the exam (this requirement was introduced approximately two years ago.)

The PMI PMP Certification Programme continues to be a best seller. The entrance requirements are basic and it is a ‘relatively’ easy approach to becoming certified as a ‘professional’. Increasingly North American corporations demand the PMP qualification on job profiles. It is estimated that over the last seven years or so, some 500 people in Ireland have acquired PMP certification status.

However worthwhile the PMI Project Management Professional Certification is, and it is an international marketing success, many question marks still hang over it. Is the PMP really a certification as a project manager or is it a certification as a project management professional?

Bill Duncan former PMI director has written that: ‘certification as a PMP should not be used to imply or warrant that your PM’s actually know what they are doing’. He believes that it can be used to: ‘demonstrate commitment to the profession and evidence of a certain level of knowledge’.

The Future

There are at least two key issues currently facing the international project management community, namely professional certification and a single international project management organisation.

Both the IPMA and PMI are actively promoting their own certification programmes. The identification of equivalence and mutual recognition of each other’s certification would make eminent sense. The IEI (Institute of Engineers of Ireland) has successfully negotiated this route of reciprocal international recognition for its chartered engineers. The task looks formidable at the moment but given the surge in IPMA certification in the last two years, competitive forces may lead to mutual recognition.

We will soon have levels of certification and project management certification authorities that recognise the reality of experience and competency credentials. The IPMA has adopted a career progression programme. In the near future perhaps we can look to a similar model to be developed in North America.

Many believe that the pressure of industry and government demands will require such a programme. A single international project management organisation does not appear to be immediately at hand. Both organisations will continue to plough their furrows, but the signing in June 2003 in Moscow of a ‘statement of principles’ agreement between the two is a positive step, that will hopefully in the future lead to greater co-operation.

Through its relationships and involvement with both of these leading international organisations, the Institute of Project Management of Ireland continually tries to ensure that its knowledge base, certification and education programmes are at the cutting edge of international developments. In recent times a migration of IT related jobs has followed a previous migration of customer services jobs to less developed countries. This shift puts pressure on us as a nation to move our knowledge based workforce further up the value ladder. The Institute see the development of strong national project and programme management capabilities as a mandatory requisite during this phase of the globalisation cycle.

The author is the Director General of the Institute of Project Management of Ireland (www.projectmanagement.ie). The Institute spearheads project management education, certification and research in Ireland.

01/09/2003

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