The document discusses the challenges of implementing a Project Management Office (PMO) and proposes solutions. It outlines several key challenges to PMO implementation including lack of experienced personnel, poor leadership, and rigid corporate culture. It then proposes several approaches to overcoming these challenges, such as hiring experienced project managers, implementing a flexible change management strategy, standardizing processes before PMO implementation, and having strong PMO champions. The document argues that properly addressing challenges is critical for organizations to realize the benefits of a PMO such as improved project performance and outcomes.

1. Running head: OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF
IMPLEMENTING PMO2
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF IMPLEMENTING PMO2
OVERCOMING PMO PROPBLEMS FACED IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Srinivasa Yadlapalli
Harrisburg University
GRAD 695 PGMT
Overcoming Challenges of Implementing PMOAbstract
Project Management Office (PMO)is a common phenomenon in
many organizations. Many of these firms are confronted with
the challenge to manage multiple competing projects
successfully which is possible through the incorporation of

2. PMO. In this regard, firms are ratcheting up their governance
structure and corporate culture by implementing PMO.
However, many existing anecdotal pieces of evidence indicates
that PMO enforcement is quite an uphill task. This research
highlights the main challenges involved in implementing PMO
and the possible ways that can be applied by organizations to
overcome the difficulties. The research addresses issues such
as: Why do organizations implement PMO? What are the
challenges of implementing PMO? What measures are put in
place to deal with the challenges involved? The project,
basically, analyzes the existing literature on PMO and how to
overcome challenges associated with it. It also helps in ranking
the challenges in order of importance. Thirdly, the literature is
critical in discovering how various top-level organizations have
overcome the major challenges of PMO. Some of the major
PMO challenges highlighted in the research include; (1) lack of
experienced personnel to manage the PMO software, (2) Poor
PMO leadership, (3) inappropriate change management strategy,
(4) rigid corporate culture due to the organization’s resistance
to change. The research also addresses various mitigation
measures that can be undertaken to overcome the challenges
associated with PMO. The actions include, among others, hiring
experienced project managers and personnel to help in the
proper implementation of the PMO. Besides, the organization
needs a flexible change management strategy that is in tandem
with the implementation processes. Other measures include
efficient utilization and allocation of resources, standardizing
process before the PMO implementation stage, hiring the most
talented project managers to manage the implementation team,
having strong PMO champion and opinion leaders who can
demonstrate the value of PMO. Lastly, the research
acknowledges the difficulty in implementing PMO tools and
calls for proper project management and planning culture to
mitigate the challenges.Key Words:
project manager, Project Management, Implementing PMO,
Project Management Office (PMO)

3. Table of Contents
Contents
Abstract2
Key Words:3
Introduction5
Problem Statement and Justification7
Problem Statement7
Research questions7
Justification8
Hypothesis10
Literature Review10
Definition and History of PMO10
The Changing Roles of PMO13
Challenges of implementing PMO15
Conclusion17
Proposed

4. Solution
Approaches to the Challenges17
Conclusion and Summary22
References24
Introduction
Organizations are faced with many challenges including the
challenge of PMO to deliver value to the organizations.
Regardless, the Project Management Office (PMO) plays a
critical role in spearheading the success of a project by
improving its overall productivity, performance, and
profitability. In this regard, the main reason for implementing
PMO is to empower the organization to thrive. The world is now
more advanced, and IT-enabled innovations are taking center
stage of many organizations focusing on the execution of the

5. organizational projects. The Standish Group report of 1994
cited only 16% of successful IT projects within the stipulated
time and budget (Aubry & Hobbs 2011). In 2006 Standish report
found out that the estimated success rate of IT projects varied
from 35% to 67% in a survey of over 400 project managers
(PMs) (Letavec 2006). The statistics create a clear impression
that about 33 to 65% of projects are somehow less successful.
Such a scenario results in both cost and time overruns. It also
causes a deficiency in features and function prompting the
organization’s failure to meet customer expectations.
Aubry & Hobbs (2011) note that many large-scale organizations
are confronted with the challenge to manage IT projects due to
increasing organizational complexities, technological
complexity and size of projects that continue to grow over time.
Most of the project failures can be attributed to inadequate
skills, knowledge, and expertise in project management
discipline. Therefore, the organizations must initiate
appropriate measures to address the challenges causing the
project failures. In that regard, the organization should first
address its software capability before implement any project
management discipline. The assumption is that organizations
with higher software capabilities yield the most successful
project outcomes. A firm’s software capability can be accessed
by either OPM3 (Organizational Project Management Maturity
Model) or CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration)

6. models. OPM3 and CMMI are products from the Project
Management Institute (PMI) and Software Engineering Institute
respectively. They focus on testing the maturity of the process
involved in project management.
Another approach of improving organizational project
management is by establishing PMO strategy into its operations
(Letavec 2006). The focus of this revolves around identifying
the obstacles that impedes PMO implementation. Many existing
literature advocates for the implementation of PMOs to improve
the performance and outcome of projects. One of the most
regularly mentioned significance of PMO is the training and
mentoring of project managers and personnel. PMOs are also
instrumental in developing standards for project management
and delivery of the project’s objectives. PMO would also
facilitate the development of best project management practices
in an organization, i.e., appropriate planning and resource
allocation. Most companies are in the dilemma of choosing the
approach that would successfully implement the PMOs. Without
an appropriate approach, the PMO initiatives are futile. Hence,
the challenges must be identified and evaluated to curb their
threat on the implementation of PMO. Project coordinators and
managers must be guided on how to overcome the challenges
they are likely to encounter during the implementation exercise
of PMO. Therefore, more research needs to be conducted to help
in understanding the challenges associated with PMO

7. implementation and the best possible ways of addressing the
problems.
The paper is thus organized into other four sections which
include (1)problem statement and justification, (2)review of the
relevant literature relating to PMOs, (3)proposed solution
approach and (4)conclusion. Problem Statement and
JustificationProblem Statement
PMO is a relatively recent phenomenon having lasted for about
10 to 15 years only. Nevertheless, it is emerging as a prominent
feature in many organizations engaged in multiple and
sophisticated projects. For many organizations, PMO is applied
as a centralized unit for planning and overseeing project
management. Despite, the positivity of PMO, many
organizations continue to face challenges in implementing PMO
as part of project management. The problems are so ingrained
that the organizations sometimes opt to abandon the use of
PMO. Due to the challenges in implementation, PMO has not
been successful in realizing the kind of improvements that
project stakeholders hoped to achieve. The challenges range
from incompetent personnel and project leaders to inefficiency
in resource allocations for the successful implementation of
PMO. In most cases, the project managers are clueless about
matters about PMO; thus, making the whole project
unattainable. In such a scenario, the managers lack the requisite
guidelines on how to tackle any potential challenges associated

8. with PMO implementation. Research questions
The research questions guiding the research include the
following:
· What are the Main challenges in PMO implementation in
project management?
· Do the challenges have any significance?
· What measures should organizations adapt to curb the
challenges associated with PMO?
· What is the role of PMO in project management?Justification
PMO has become a common phenomenon in many
organizations. Most companies encounter numerous problems in
handling multiple projects simultaneously; hence, they could
not finish the projects within the stipulated time. In addition to
time wastage, the projects become unnecessarily costly, in
terms of resource utilization and failure to meet the expected
objectives. Therefore, most companies have opted to
incorporate PMO to help them in proper planning, management
and implementation of projects. Dai & Wells (2004) describes
PMO as an organizational body or entity assigned various tasks
relating to a given project intended to be accomplished by an
organization. PMO has a direct influence on the management
process of a project, i.e., it facilitates project management
functions.
Despite any existent Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), PMO
implementation is still challenging, especially when it comes to

9. maintaining standard in project management. Since it is the
PMO that is responsible for defining and maintain project
management process, any slight problem in the department
(PMO) is likely to alter the whole project. Such a problem
impacts negatively on the overall budget and schedule of the
projects. As a result, the organization experience delays in the
completion of the project. Besides, the quality of the project is
altered and eventually harming the image and reputation of the
company. The problems can also occur due to lack of proper
change management mechanism. According to Aubry & Hobbs
(2011), a proper change management model is an effective
remedy to challenges associated with PMO. The problems are
also necessitated through a lack of a prioritization during the
project. Activities are supposed to be placed or performed in
order of priority throughout the project management exercise
(Hornstein 2015).
The world is more technologically advanced; hence, businesses
must tighten up to be relevant in the competitive corporate
world. Some of the things that make organizations stand out in
the market are how they manage and conduct their projects
(Aubry & Hobbs 2011). Often, organizations are striving to be
more innovative and technologically advanced. Therefore, such
organizations are confronted with multiple complex projects. As
such, PMO becomes the only viable solution to help in handling
the tasks associated with the project. Unfortunately, there exist

10. challenges in PMO implementation which must be addressed for
the organizations to achieve its objectives. Companies that
implement PMO expects positive improvements in the success
of the project. However, without proper redress of those
challenges, the improvements expected by project-oriented
companies remains an unachievable dream.
The significance of this research is anchored on its main
objective, “to overcome challenges associated with PMO
implementation.” The use of PMO is inevitable, especially, in
this era of advanced technology, whereby companies are
confronted with complex projects that require proper planning
and initiation,” (Aubry & Hobbs 2011). PMO is a collection of
management, planning and review process involved in a project.
It is useful in clarifying performance metrics and the
responsibilities of oversight and accountability. Project
managers must be competent enough to identify and find a
solution to any challenges that would hinder the successful
implementation of PMO in project management. It is important
to utilize resource efficiently while performing any project.
Most projects fail due to limited resources and incompetent
project stakeholders. This study helps in understanding the
nature of problems that PMO face during project management.
It also accesses the probable cause of the challenges and the
best possible measures to undertake in addressing them.
Hypothesis

11. The research aims to test the following hypothesis based on
analysis of different existing literature on PMO:
· The challenges in implementing PMO cause of project failure.
· PMOs are catalysts of positive project outcomes
· Inefficiency in resources hinders the successful
implementation of PMO
· Incompetent Project Managers impedes the functionality of
PMO and overall project completion.Literature Review
The review of the relevant literature about PMO follows a
theoretical framework. The literature outlines the meaning of
PMO and the various perspectives that project stakeholders
should keep in mind before implementing PMO into an
organization’s project framework. In this case, the goal of the
literature review is to assess the meaning and significance of
PMO. It also discusses the main challenges in the
implementation of PMO.Definition and History of PMO
According to Kwak & Dai (2000), the use of PMO can be dated
back to 1930s. Today, PMO is a popular aspect of many project-
oriented organizations. The project office long-term vision is to
facilitate an organization’s projects to success. Kwak & Dai
(2000), provides two key definitions of the Project Management
Office. The authors describe PMO as an organizational entity
that helps project managers and other project stakeholders on
the strategic issues about the project in question. The project
teams are advised of the functional entities in the organization

12. to help them in implementing the project management
principles, practices, tools, methodologies, resources, and
techniques. Secondly, the authors, Kwak & Dai (2000),
attributes PMO to the entity vital for managing a given project
headed by project managers.
The article, ”The project management office as an
organizational innovation,” by Hobbs, Aubry & Thuillier (2008)
views PMO as a formal, centralized layer of control that
facilitates the information sharing amongst projects teams
which include senior management, staffs and project
management. PMO provides the opportunity for centralized
integration within an organization (Aubry, Hobbs & Thuillier
2007). For instance, PMO is a crucial source of knowledge that
is instrumental in the effective and efficient enforcement of
organizational projects, such as IT project or a marketing
project. Other researchers such as Singh, Keil & Kasi (2009);
Παπαχαραλάμπους & Papacharalampous (2017), (Aubry, Hobbs
& Thuillier 2011), and Hornstein (2015) views PMO
implementation as fundamental part of the organization. As an
administrative mechanism, PMO harness project activities and
procedures with the policies and cultures of the enterprise.
Therefore, successful implementation of PMO reflects the
organization’s maturity and advancement in project
management.
Παπαχαραλάμπους & Papacharalampous (2017), argues that

13. PMO’s is to ensure corporation amongst teams and groups
within an enterprise; thus, PMO ensures that team coordinates
well and working as planned. The author further provides
insights into the project office’s role in facilitating the
functionality of project teams. However, Hauck (2007) insists
that PMO is the most valid approach for the simultaneous
management of multiple projects in a multi-functional setting.
Letavec (2006) and Hornstein (2015) argue that PMO ensures
the efficient utilization of finite organizational resources. It
rejuvenates an organization’s growth by facilitating the parallel
efforts involved in a multi-sectoral business environment.
Through PMO, the project teams and managers are aware of
their roles in the project. Every organization wants to fulfill its
mission in providing goods and services that meet the market
demand and customer specifications. The organization must also
ensure that it realizes increased sales to create enough profit for
the shareholders. The organization, therefore, must adopt the
best practices in project management by ensuring that its
projects are properly planned and executed Hornstein 2015).
The Project Management institute defined PMO as a firm’s
entity assigned various roles based on the types of projects
under the organization’s domain (PMI 2015). In this regard, the
implementation of PMO, undoubtedly, poses significant change
in the culture and structure of any given organization. Hauck
(2007) asserts that every institution has a unique culture due to

14. the different individuals sharing common work ethics and
values. Hence; PMO must facilitate the structural development
of a system that supports systemic, repeatable and documented
processes. As argued by Hobbs, Aubry & Thuillier (2008),
PMOs must be geared towards conduct projects in the right way.
In that sense, the most fundamental functional groups of PMOs
are monitoring and control of projects. According to Hobbs &
Aubry 2007, the role of PMO in enhancing project management
competencies include: PMO helps in reporting the status of the
project to the senior management. Secondly, it critical in the
development and implementation of standard methodologies and
metrics for measuring the success of a project. Fourth, PMO
mentors and guides project managers are improving their
functionality. Fifth help in monitoring of project performance.
Sixth, it documents the training and development of personnel.
PMOs also monitor the project information system and maintain
the project scoreboard.
Based on the literature reviews, it is evident that PMOs plays a
crucial role in the management of an organization. Therefore,
PMOs can be viewed as part of the organizational innovation
that improves project management practices resulting in the
transformation of an organization. Since its inception in the
1930s, PMO has been reported in numerous fields including
business entities, healthcare organizations, aerospace, telecom,
and defense industries (Kwak & Dai 2000). Today, there is a

15. widespread interest in the establishment of PMO as a means of
improving the performance of IT projects in different
organizations. The aim is to limit issues of project failure and
overall failure in the organizations’ performance. Most PMOs
were established in the mid-1990s as a means to oversee IT-
related project, e.g., the Y2K project. However, some of the
organizations opted to disband their PMOs on completion of the
IT projects. Other companies retained the PMOs by expanding
their scopes to perform other projects. PMO is now a popular
phenomenon in most organizations and has been instrumental in
the management and execution of projects. The Changing Roles
of PMO
PMO is not only helpful to the project manager but also a
relevant aspect of every organization. It helps in the
understanding of professional practices involved in project
management (Dai & Wells 2004). It also facilitates the
integration of business interests with the efforts of project
management. Letavec 2006 suggests four different roles
facilitated through proper implementation of PMO, i.e.,
consulting, management of knowledge, the setting of standards
of doing the project, and hands-on implementation of the
program. Otherwise, PMO has many other different roles all of
which aims at improving the overall success of the project. The
many different roles have contributed to the configurations of a
wide spectrum of different PMOs. On one spectrum is PMO-

16. light which plays a rather passive role in facilitating project
managers. In such configuration, the PMO features very
minimal staffs and does not have direct control over the
management of projects.
Nonetheless, such PMO still helps in creating standards for
implementation of the project and acts as a repository for
project information. On the contrary, PMO-heavy offers more
direct control over the project and project teams. In such a
configuration, PMO plays a more proactive role and is
responsible for the overall outcome of the project. The two
configurations of PMO are set such that they facilitate the
project management (Hobbs, Aubry & Thuillier 2008). First,
PMO offers a consulting opportunity for Project managers
through training and guidance on the best project management
practices. Secondly, the centralized version which involves the
guidance of temporary staffs loaned out to business units to
perform certain organizational projects. Organizations need to
focus more on the PMO-Heavy model more than the PMO-Light
Model. According to Hauck, C. (2007), PMO-Light model of
configuration exhibits little resistance to change. Nevertheless,
the model occupies just a supporting role of PMO. It also has
minimal influence on the project execution implying that it
cannot be directly liable for the failure of the project. The
model is highly criticized for its limited impact on the project
execution.

17. Besides, the PMOs’ role in the organization depending on the
configuration adopted by the enterprise, i.e., PMO-Heavy or
PMO-Light. Above all, the structure and functionality of PMO
are continuously evolving depending on the organizations
changing needs and capability (Dai & Wells 2004). The PMO
competency and associated roles and abilities can be
highlighted as follows:
Image 001: The changing roles of PMO.
Source: (Singh, Keil & Kasi 2009).
The figure indicates how PMO and organization achieve more
maturity. The PMO plays the basic project oversight role. It
also acts as a formidable epicenter of excellence that is in a
strategic position to meet organizational business goals. In that
regard, PMO establishes itself as a basic ingredient of achieving
organizational competency.Challenges of implementing PMO
Stanleigh (2006) argues that the implementation rate of PMO is
very low, i.e., most of the project-oriented organizations have
been unsuccessful in implementing PMO. Stanleigh conducted a
survey of 750 organizations to test the implementation rate of
PMO into their system. Based on the survey, Stanleigh (2006)
discovered that over 75% of the companies that adopted PMO
initiative abandoned it citing failure to meet its intended
purpose. The organizations shut down the PMOs after realizing
no added value to their ongoing and prospective projects. A
similar conclusion was made by Hobbs, Aubry & Thuillier

18. (2008) upon the survey of over 500 project managers. The
researchers noted that most of the PMOs are too expensive and
has very minimal contribution to the project and organizational
performance. Based on the researchers’ findings, the outcome of
PMOs is often unpredictable. They (PMOs) are unstable
structures, i.e., companies waste too much time and resources in
reconfiguring the PMOs every time they malfunction or fail to
meet their intended purpose. The findings are also backed up by
Singh, Keil & Kasi (2009) and Dai & Wells (2004) who
considers the implementation of PMO as the most difficult task
of an organization.
There exist many factors that impact on the success of PMO
implementation. Such factors include the agreed upon structure
and whether the organization’s corporate culture is conducive
for the development of PMO (Παπαχαραλάμπους &
Papacharalampous 2017). Other factors are the scope of
governance and mission of the organization. Hauck (2007)
argued that with a clearly defined mission, structure and scope
of governance, the likelihood of the PMO failing is very high.
Stanleigh (2006) also stresses the importance of PMO being part
of the companies’ corporate culture. He suggests that project
management exercise must reflect, an organization’s corporate
culture.
According to Aubry & Hobbs (2011), the possible major causes
of failure in implementation of PMO are as follows: (1) In cases

19. where there is no clearly defined value proposition for PMO,
the project, definitely, fails to meet its objective. ( 2) The
PMOs might lack the ability to consolidate and utilize resources
effectively leading to many wastages. (3) Incompetent program
managers who have not idea on how to implement PMO. The
implementation of PMO also becomes a challenge in situations
where PMOs become too authoritative and starts to
micromanage organizational projects. In some scenarios, PMOs
create unnecessary overhead costs making the organizational
project very expensive (Aubry, Hobbs & Thuillier (2007).
Besides, today’s business landscape is continuously changing,
and PMOs are typically struggling to achieve the desired
objectives.
Other challenges include the failure of the project planners to
develop a PMO based on specific needs of the company and lack
of commitment by stakeholders in implementing the common
methodologies and tools of PMO. Thirdly, an inadequate
support system from the senior management and PMO
stakeholders. Besides, the organizers of the project can have
trouble in identifying the most suitable and experienced
personnel to occupy the PMO. In some cases, there is no
specific training and communication mechanism on how to
implement PMO. Sometimes, the project manager may fail to
align the PMO implementation strategy with that of the
organization. The implementation challenge further persists due

20. to poorly designed scope and size of PMO. Conclusion
The literature review provides an elaborate illustration of PMO
and the challenges associated with its implementation. The
publications assert that the main reason why organizations
incorporate PMOs into their system is to facilitate project
management. The project manager must ensure that all the tasks
associated with a project are handled within the stipulated time
frame. Successful completion of a project is a vital component
for enhancing organizational growth and success. The main
challenge associated with implementing PMOs is the case of a
rigid corporate culture and the firms’ resistance to change. The
lack of competent and experienced project managers and PMO
leadership is also an impediment to successful implementation
of PMO. In a nutshell, successful implementation process
requires that the role, responsibility, and authority of PMO is
simple, clear and coherent.Proposed