Project management - the high ground of professionalism or the swamp of the real world

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of anomalies that exist in the education and training of project managers to assist them in becoming the future members of a truly recognisable and sustainable profession. The current education model for project management (PM) is substantially different to that of other professions and has been examined previously, but there has been little research into where the primary responsibility should lie for developing future generations of project managers. Many questions arise by virtue of the unique nature of PM. Will practitioners see themselves as professional project managers first and foremost, or will 'accidental' project managers continue to see their role as an overlay to their substantive role as engineer, IT specialist, health care worker, etc? Executive committees of professional PM bodies are generally dominated by passionate practitioners, but who lack formal academic PM qualifications. Formal PM education is predominantly delivered by educators without PM qualifications and with limited practical experience in the discipline. Would this be tolerated in professions such as medicine, engineering or architecture? PM desperately needs experienced and qualified educators who can provide a platform for effective education and training based on established pedagogical models, rather than fragmented profit-driven programs.