The project handbook : a working tool for daily operations in a political environment

Abstract

The quality of the project handbooks in the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) and other institutions in Scandinavia and the EU was examined and compared to the ISO21500 guidance on project management. Project management maturity in the NCM was also investigated and the following research question was answered: Is the project handbook of the Nordic Council of Ministers and other public institutions in accordance with the guidance of project management? The hypothesis is that maturity of project management in the NCM is lacking and project handbooks are underrated tools in project management. The prime methodology was a case study involving the uncovering of both explicit and implicit uses of project attributes in management. The research methodology adopted was dialectical and exploratory research through gap analyzing, interviews, and discussion. The evaluation indicated that the project handbooks fulfill approximately 60% of the guidance of the ISO21500 standard but lack emphasis on quality, procurement, lessons learned and sudden aspects of controlling. Interviews with key senior advisors from different managements in the NCM indicated that executive management has neither the understanding of project management, nor the support and commitment in line management. Basically, the NCM is still in the first maturity phase. Indications for future research are discussed and advice is provided for future developments. Finally, conclusions and insight are offered for future project management handbooks.