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PM Solutions provides project management consulting, training, and resources to help organizations improve performance and deliver critical projects successfully. 

Project Management Solutions News Archive 2006

Organizational Success Tied to Integration of Corporate Strategy and Project Management


Research from PM Solutions' Center for Business Practices reveals strategy and project integration best practices at high-performing organizations

HAVERTOWN, PA (Jan. 10, 2006) – Once corporate strategies are established, how they are executed is crucial to organizational success. According to the latest research from the Center for Business Practices (CBP), the research arm of project management consultancy PM Solutions, organizations can increase their overall success by closely integrating their corporate strategies with their project initiatives.

The CBP released these findings in its new report, "Strategy and Projects: A Benchmark of Current Best Practices." The research study polled 87 senior project management practitioners about their organizations' use of a comprehensive set of strategy and project integration best practices. These practices focus on:

  • Governance
  • Strategy Management Processes
  • Project Portfolio Management Processes
  • Program/Project Management Processes
  • Structure
  • Information Technology
  • People
  • Culture

According to study participants, the following best practices, in particular, indicate project management's likelihood to positively influence organizational success:

  • Project management is clearly established and embedded within the organization's business management structure;
  • Senior management consistently rewards successful project behaviors;
  • Program/project performance feedback is used for managing strategy execution;
  • Project management is valued throughout the organization; and
  • The company has an organizational structure – including a strategic project office, an office of strategy management, or a strategic steering committee – that is responsible for managing strategy execution.

In addition, the study found that organizations that implement these best practices perform better than average in all areas measured, and that high performers most often use best practices in governance, strategy management, and project portfolio management.

The degree to which Strategy & Projects are performed is rated from 1 (not at all) to 7 (to a great extent). This chart compares the degree to which Strategy & projects best practices are performed by high performers, versus low performers, versus all companies surveyed.

"Strategy execution is a dynamic process that depends on the seamless integration of a number of elements to work properly," said Jim Pennypacker, director of the CBP. "Project management plays a crucial role in this process. An organization would be wise to use project management practices as the foundation of effective strategy execution."

About the Center for Business Practices®
The Center for Business Practices (www.cbponline.com) is a knowledge center created to capture, organize, and transfer business practice knowledge to project stakeholders, helping them excel in today's rapidly changing business environment. Harnessing project management knowledge and expertise, the CBP holds regular benchmarking forums and publishes research and benchmarking reports; a free e-mail newsletter, The Best Practices e-Advisor; and the PM Practices book series. Access to all of the CBP's best practice resources is available as part of membership in the Project Management Benchmarking Consortium. The CBP also offers a pmValue measurement system designed to help organizations justify their continued investment in project management practices.

About PM Solutions
PM Solutions is a management consulting, training, and research firm dedicated to helping companies optimize business performance and successfully execute their strategies through project management improvement initiatives. Core services include on-demand project and program staffing, remote project controls support, project portfolio management, organizational project management maturity assessments, process and methodology development, project office deployment and enhancement, value measurement, and corporate training delivered through the PM College® (www.pmcollege.com). Headquartered near Philadelphia, Pa., USA, PM Solutions' diverse client roster includes some of the world's leading organizations.