Strategic project management concept for executing research and development projects in public research organisations in Nigeria: an empirical study

As observed from the reviewed literature, the execution of research and development (R and D) projects in Nigeria is challenged by many social, political and economic factors interacting in complex and dynamic ways. This interaction is reflected in the history of science and technology in Nigeria, its culture, legal systems, institutional frameworks and social capital. The economic and social development of Nigeria is critically dependent upon the ability to establish a competitive, productive and efficient industrial sector built on a strong technology base. This implies that her natural resources must be developed and utilised as inputs to industrial production and as direct products to improve the life of the population. Public research organisations (PROs) are considered to be critical to the survival of industries and to the achievement of self-reliance through the use of locally available raw materials. This thesis explores the application of strategic project management (SPM) practices in the execution of R and D projects in PROs in Nigeria. The research employed a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research in order to capture the experiences of project management practitioners with SPM practices in PROs in Nigeria. Although areas of variations in practice were identified, the major findings highlighted that there was a gap in the practical implementation of SPM. The findings also revealed key determinants associated with the implementation of SPM and the factors that affected its application in PROs in Nigeria. The research findings were further synthesised into a framework, capturing ten key dimensions that must be taken into account in the execution of research and development projects. The determinants include having a project-based organisational structure, top management involvement in the project execution, strategic project leadership style, the appointment of a project team, the project team's competence, project alignment with organisational strategy, project prioritisation and selection, maximising R and D strategy, the project management process, and the SPM process. The framework validation was a follow-up discussion, which was conducted with project management practitioners in the selected research organisations in Nigeria. Reflecting on their experiences in the management of R and D projects, the participants acknowledged that the proposed SPM framework and its ten key variables were fundamental to the effective execution of R and D projects in PROs in Nigeria. It was concluded that the use of such a framework would highlight areas that needed to be addressed in order to achieve effective execution of R and D projects in these organisations

Strategic Project management (SPM): An empirical perspective on the practice in pubic organisation

The project management discipline has had its concentration more on engineering, Information Technology (IT) and construction projects, with little or no attention to Research and Development (R&D) projects. Public research organisations are important organisations that need to increase their effort in research and development in projects so as to enhance their competitive advantage in the economy. The purpose of this research was to examine the application of strategic project management (SPM) in the execution of R&D projects in public research organisations. The research employed a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research. A total of 213 questionnaires were retrieved from four public research organisations while 20 project management practitioners were interviewed. These were analysed using SPSS version 21 and NVIvo. The questionnaires sort information on the project management processes employed. The findings revealed that the majority (80%) of public research organisations follow a formal and inflexible traditional project management process in the execution of R&D projects. Also, there seems to be very little space for strategic learning and the evolution of emergent strategies. There is the need therefore for public research organisations to adopt the concept and process of SPM so as to enhance the successful execution of R&D projects and hence impact positively on the economy

Strategic for enhancing the Application of strategic project Management (SPM) in Research Organisation: case of Nigeria

The study examined barriers and key criteria for enhancing strategic project management application in public research organisations in Nigeria. Given the economic and social challenge in Research and Development (R and D) projects, a multi-methodology consisting of quantitative and qualitative analysis was employed. A total of 213 questionnaires were used and 20 senior practitioners interviewed. The findings revealed that organisational culture such as employee’s behaviour, lack of knowledge in strategic project management (SPM), organisations routines were the significant barriers to the application of SPM. Strategies for enhancing SPM application were identified to include: proper definition of projects, use project teams approach, stakeholder’s involvement enhanced, using the problem-driven-approach to select projects and increased employee’s motivation