An Exploratory Study on the Project Performance by PMO Capability

In recent years, although numbers of corporations are bringing in PMO, they seem to be indifferent to PMO performance measurement. This demonstrates that there are also other reasons beside performance measurement of information systems (IS) project being ambiguous by introducing PMO; the lack of acknowledging the concrete function of PMO, and the scarcity of empirical study about the effect of PMO on the project members and project performance. In this sense, this study is aimed at proposing a new research model in which project success factors (i.e., standardization, management advocacy, and staff expertise) affect PMO capability (i.e., knowledge management, resources management, and problem solving competency) positively, leading to project performance (i.e., task outcomes, psychological outcomes, and organizational outcomes) eventually. To empirically test the research model, data are surveyed from PMO department and IS department. To prove the validity of the proposed research model, PLS analysis is applied with valid 132 questionnaires. By employing PLS technique, the measurement reliability and validity of research variables are tested and the path analysis is conducted to do the hypothesis testing. The path analysis results can be organized into 7 ways in large scale. First, standardization of project success factors has a positive association with knowledge management, resources management, and problem solving competency of PMO capabilities. The findings of this result indicate that the multiple or single project management should satisfy standardization in order to operate an effective PMO. Second, management advocacy of project success factors has a positive association with knowledge management, resources management, and problem solving competency. Management advocacy refers to the willingness of management to provide the required resources and authority for project success. There is agreement among researchers regarding the importance of management advocacy for favorable PMO capability. Third, staff expertise of project success factors has a positive association with knowledge management, resources management, and problem solving competency. The findings of this result indicate that the formation of an exceptional consultant or members with a proficient knowledge for staff expertise of project member is the key factor to elevate the PMO capability. Past research suggests that experience and knowledge and the resultant familiarity with the problem faced can be an important determinant of PMO capability. A capable project with appropriate staff expertise means that it enjoys a diversity of abilities and experiences. Fourth, knowledge management competency of PMO capabilities has a positive impact on psychological outcomes but has no direct effect on task outcomes and organizational outcomes. In domestic case of S. Korea, PMO was finally introduced to many other corporations in 2005 though it started bringing in 2000. Therefore, it had neither a significant impact on the task outcomes nor organizational outcomes by lacking the contents and the infrastructure of the knowledge management because the knowledge consolidation and management period of PMO is comparatively shorter by terms than other foreign nations. Fifth, resources management competency of PMO capabilities has a positive association with task outcomes, psychological outcomes, and organizational outcomes. In addition, problem solving competency of PMO capabilities has a positive association with task outcomes, psychological outcomes, and organizational outcomes. Therefore, the findings of this results stress that PMO capabilities has a positive impact on project performance. Sixth, according to the path analysis of the hypothesis, which suggested in this research, problem solving competency is the PMO capability which is the key success factor for task, psychological, and organizational outcomes as an integrated performance model. Further, the analysis reveals that problem solving competency is an important factor for integrated performance model. The finding is in line with past IS research, which affirms that the work of IS projects is essentially a problem solving endeavor. Seventh, in the path analysis of the hypothesis in this research, the path of the management advocacy $\rightarrow$ problem solving competency $\rightarrow$ organizational outcomes appears to be the most important and strongest path. In brief, the finding of this study suggests that project success factors influence PMO capability positively, and project performance as well. From the results, it can be concluded that PMO helped great improve the project success rate and project performance. This study advances research on PMO capability in three important aspects. First, the findings of our study have implications for IS theory and future research. Our study contributes to IS theory by synthesizing concepts from PMO research and project management research with those in IS research. We proposed and tested PMO capability of IS projects and the findings of our investigation provided some preliminary answers to some of the questions raised. Secondly, this thesis does not only help depicting the concept of IT governance but also approaches empirically. It makes a gradual approach to the main content, step by step, in contrary of simple standard, scholastic way of thinking. Finally, we argued that this task-oriented(technical) view is not sufficient to adequately conceptualize IS project performance. Hence, we applied that the research on organization teams, which provides a flip viewpoint to that of project management research in that it gives more weight for psychological outcomes of organizational work groups, can be very helpful in reconceptualizing the IS project performance construct. The limitations of this study are also discussed to provide research directions for future research.

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