Project managers - do they need to be certified?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the drivers behind the certification of project managers in Irish organisations, to identify the benefits and drawbacks of project management certification and to determine whether it is really necessary for project managers to be certified. Five organisations in Ireland participated in the study and one project manager from each organisation was interviewed. The size of the organisations, the level of experience of the project managers interviewed and the certification programmes completed varied. Differences as well as similarities across the organisations were identified. The results of the study put forward that the selection of an appropriate certification programme can depend on factors such as the availability of certification providers for training and support; the ease with which the certification programme can be adapted to suit the business; and the requirement to renew certification. While the findings show that project management certification does have several benefits these benefits do not require certification and could be realised by simply having good project management practices in place.