PMO vs Executive Management

Ideally, it should be a partnership, and not a competition.

Satish, sorry if I did not understand your post but I fully disagree with you. First of all, PMO is born from strategy analysis where organizations determines that some functions that belong to project management deserves to open a new business unit named, for example, PMO. When organization creates a PMO without following that path is when PMOs have hugh problem from the genesis. On the other side, in some organizations around the world the PMO leader belongs to executive management team. Let me say that this situation will not make better the PMO existence inside the organization.

What I tried to say is: if the PMO was born derivated from strategy formulation then the PMO Leader is part of the Executive Management. Those are what some people named "Strategic PMO". The aligment with the strategy is implicit because the PMO was born from strategy formulation. When the PMO is creating for any other reason is when the PMO has to demostrate the value it delivers to the organization. But always PMO is aligned with the strategy because portfolio/program/project are started to put the strategy to action.

PMOs (regardless of their charters) are always service organizations that must be aligned with Executive management on a number of dimensions. I don't think this relationship changes, regardless of the maturity of either entities.

What does change is the importance and credibility the PMO can bring to allocating resources, and in some cases, achieving results, relative to the strategic direction set by the executives.

I agree with my colleagues, a PMO is created from a strategic need and, thus, from senior management.

I have seen attempts at starting a PMO at a lower level of the organization, like IT. They usually spend a lot of time justifying themselves and their services.