EXPLORING UNIVERSITY PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRESENCE AS RELATED TO ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS

• Main Author: Lockwood, Arden
• Format: Others
• Published: OpenSIUC 2015
• Subjects: American university; confirmatory factor analysis; Higher Education history; organizational theory; policy analysis research; project management
• Online Access: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/1018; https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2022&context=dissertations

This dissertation explores the presence of Project Management (PM) at 162 American Universities via data gathered from their publicly accessible websites. Motivated to expand the inventory of American university PM data to the international literature, I experimented with the potential to correlate statistically PM data items to organizational models and the effectiveness of university management. Using Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analysis (CFA and EFA) statistical methods, I investigated two University Project Management Presence Models [U(PM)2] and their relationships to the interdisciplinary research framework. Drawing from Project Management, Policy Analysis Research, Organizational Theories, and American Higher Education Histories, I also included qualitative techniques in the research design. I conclude that this study facilitates the analysis of universities as complex organizations through a Higher Education administrator's point of view. Not only do the findings suggest a correlation of PM data to predict a university's graduation rate, but also--more foundationally--the study confirms that Project Management does exist at American universities, even if that expertise does not yet exist.