Role of the project management office in University Research Centres
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2021 |
Outros Autores: | , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | https://hdl.handle.net/1822/76376 |
Resumo: | University Research Centres (URCs) have become a primary organisational structure in universities for bringing together a critical mass of multidisciplinary research interests that can compete for large, funded research projects and create breakthrough research results. Some of the more successful URCs are now developing specialised project management offices (PMOs) that can coordinate key activities, from proposal development to project execution, and ensure that research results are disseminated. A key challenge for URCs is to define what roles, functions, and competencies such a PMO should have. This research identifies a number of key attributes of PMOs that meet the unique challenges of URCs. This paper presents an initial conceptualisation of roles and functions developed from a literature review and that are later tested via a detailed survey among 370 URC participants involved in collaborative R&D projects worldwide. The study suggests that there are three PMO maturity stages: ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’, and ‘advanced’. The resulting conceptualisation highlights six functions for a ‘basic’ PMO stage, an additional ten functions for an ‘intermediate’ PMO stage, and a further ten functions for ‘advanced’ PMO. The research presented provides guidance and decision support to URCs when selecting the role that a PMO should play for achieving tangible and intangible project benefits. Although the study suggests a lengthy list of functions, none of these should be considered in isolation. Most of the functions interact with each other and affect the PMOs’ impact within the URC in various ways. The paper contributes to the transformative and evolutionary nature of PMOs, and illustrates that universities are receptive and even demanding of the need to create an effective PMO to improve the operation of major R&D projects and programs and create greater societal impact by URCs. |
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Role of the project management office in University Research CentresProject managementProject management officesPMO role and functionsUniversity Research CentresScience & TechnologyUniversity Research Centres (URCs) have become a primary organisational structure in universities for bringing together a critical mass of multidisciplinary research interests that can compete for large, funded research projects and create breakthrough research results. Some of the more successful URCs are now developing specialised project management offices (PMOs) that can coordinate key activities, from proposal development to project execution, and ensure that research results are disseminated. A key challenge for URCs is to define what roles, functions, and competencies such a PMO should have. This research identifies a number of key attributes of PMOs that meet the unique challenges of URCs. This paper presents an initial conceptualisation of roles and functions developed from a literature review and that are later tested via a detailed survey among 370 URC participants involved in collaborative R&D projects worldwide. The study suggests that there are three PMO maturity stages: ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’, and ‘advanced’. The resulting conceptualisation highlights six functions for a ‘basic’ PMO stage, an additional ten functions for an ‘intermediate’ PMO stage, and a further ten functions for ‘advanced’ PMO. The research presented provides guidance and decision support to URCs when selecting the role that a PMO should play for achieving tangible and intangible project benefits. Although the study suggests a lengthy list of functions, none of these should be considered in isolation. Most of the functions interact with each other and affect the PMOs’ impact within the URC in various ways. The paper contributes to the transformative and evolutionary nature of PMOs, and illustrates that universities are receptive and even demanding of the need to create an effective PMO to improve the operation of major R&D projects and programs and create greater societal impact by URCs.This work has been supported by national funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, within the R&D Units Projects UIDB/00285/2020 and UIDB/00319/2020.Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)Universidade do MinhoFernandes, GabrielaSousa, Hugo Daniel CortêsTereso, Anabela PereiraO’Sullivan, David2021-11-072021-11-07T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/1822/76376engFernandes, G.; Sousa, H.; Tereso, A.; O’Sullivan, D. Role of the Project Management Office in University Research Centres. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1321122842071-105010.3390/su13211228412284https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12284info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-21T12:23:59Zoai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/76376Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T19:17:51.044679Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
title |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
spellingShingle |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres Fernandes, Gabriela Project management Project management offices PMO role and functions University Research Centres Science & Technology |
title_short |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
title_full |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
title_fullStr |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
title_full_unstemmed |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
title_sort |
Role of the project management office in University Research Centres |
author |
Fernandes, Gabriela |
author_facet |
Fernandes, Gabriela Sousa, Hugo Daniel Cortês Tereso, Anabela Pereira O’Sullivan, David |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Sousa, Hugo Daniel Cortês Tereso, Anabela Pereira O’Sullivan, David |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade do Minho |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Fernandes, Gabriela Sousa, Hugo Daniel Cortês Tereso, Anabela Pereira O’Sullivan, David |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Project management Project management offices PMO role and functions University Research Centres Science & Technology |
topic |
Project management Project management offices PMO role and functions University Research Centres Science & Technology |
description |
University Research Centres (URCs) have become a primary organisational structure in universities for bringing together a critical mass of multidisciplinary research interests that can compete for large, funded research projects and create breakthrough research results. Some of the more successful URCs are now developing specialised project management offices (PMOs) that can coordinate key activities, from proposal development to project execution, and ensure that research results are disseminated. A key challenge for URCs is to define what roles, functions, and competencies such a PMO should have. This research identifies a number of key attributes of PMOs that meet the unique challenges of URCs. This paper presents an initial conceptualisation of roles and functions developed from a literature review and that are later tested via a detailed survey among 370 URC participants involved in collaborative R&D projects worldwide. The study suggests that there are three PMO maturity stages: ‘basic’, ‘intermediate’, and ‘advanced’. The resulting conceptualisation highlights six functions for a ‘basic’ PMO stage, an additional ten functions for an ‘intermediate’ PMO stage, and a further ten functions for ‘advanced’ PMO. The research presented provides guidance and decision support to URCs when selecting the role that a PMO should play for achieving tangible and intangible project benefits. Although the study suggests a lengthy list of functions, none of these should be considered in isolation. Most of the functions interact with each other and affect the PMOs’ impact within the URC in various ways. The paper contributes to the transformative and evolutionary nature of PMOs, and illustrates that universities are receptive and even demanding of the need to create an effective PMO to improve the operation of major R&D projects and programs and create greater societal impact by URCs. |
publishDate |
2021 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2021-11-07 2021-11-07T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/76376 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1822/76376 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Fernandes, G.; Sousa, H.; Tereso, A.; O’Sullivan, D. Role of the Project Management Office in University Research Centres. Sustainability 2021, 13, 12284. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112284 2071-1050 10.3390/su132112284 12284 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12284 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
instacron_str |
RCAAP |
institution |
RCAAP |
reponame_str |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
collection |
Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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1799132632125014016 |