Structure and Satisfaction:Project Management as Morale Booster

If you read the hip-hop business press–Fast Company, Business 2.0 and Wired come to mind–you wouldn’t think that "structure" and "satisfaction" are two words that go hand-in-hand for today’s creative, project-oriented knowledge workers. But recently released preliminary data from the Center for Business Practices Value of Project Management Study included an interesting highlight: well over a third (37%) of the companies in the survey group reported that implementing project management had resulted in higher morale and satisfaction among employees.

Why would that be the case? When you think of all the grousing you’ve heard about project management ("Do you want me to do project management, or do you want me to get some work done?"), the complaints about the project managers, about changes to the organization, about the complexity of the software, etc., etc.--why would a large portion of companies report that personnel were happier when project management structure was imposed on their jobs?

Interviews with project managers from some of the companies participating in the survey (organizations that range from telecom giants to Internet startups, from huge utilities to small city governments) reveal that organizations in which a structured project management process and methodology are in place (or even promised!) …