A Conceptual Framework of the Alignment of the Project Management Office (PMO) with the Organizational Structure

Despite the intensity of information technology investments, too many projects fail to meet their multiple objectives of time, cost, quality, scope and stakeholder expectations. Consequently, organizations are implementing project management offices (PMO) – an organizational unit that centralizes and coordinates the management of projects. While there is a growing interest in practice, there is a paucity of theory and research on PMO’s to guide practice in unlocking the potential benefits offered from such a structure. PMOs can operate on a continuum, from providing project management support functions in the form of training, software, standardized policies and templates, to the direct management and responsibility of achieving project objectives. In this research, a conceptual framework is developed using governance and organizational structures to examine the alignment of configuration dimensions or arrangements of the PMO needed to exploit the various potential features and benefits, as well as the potential costs (in terms of innovations) of such configurations. The implications for researchers and practitioners of the presented framework are also discussed.