Project management for a developing profession

Abstract

Project management claims to be a profession, but its educational and training programs are focused on vocational needs only. A profession is defined by a wide variety of characteristics which include subjective values relating to ethics and values apart from a high level of professional skills and competencies. This paper looks at the early stages of doctoral research into project management education and suggests that the standards required of project managers for professional certification are too narrow and are inconsistent with the standards required of professionals in disciplines such as medicine, law, engineering, and architecture.