The uniqueness of public sector project management: a contextual perspective

Abstract

Debates about the differences between management applications in public and private sector settings are prevalent in higher education institutions. Within the context of these debates, higher education service providers offering project management training increasingly find it difficult to develop qualifications and programmes to cater for the peculiar needs and applications of project management in public and private sector settings. Although there are virtually no differences as far as principles, approaches, techniques and methodologies are concerned, it is the contention of this article that the application context thereof within the two sectors differs. The literature seldom makes adequate provision for the particular nature of government projects and therefore public managers, who need to act as project managers in various service and product delivery capacities, find it difficult to apply the principles, processes and procedures to the particular environment in which they have to execute projects. The purpose of this article is to explore the potential uniqueness or distinctiveness of project management applications in the public sector, in comparison to those in private sector settings. By clarifying the uniqueness of public sector projects, training and development service providers could optimally cater for prospective project managers by ensuring that their capacity-building programmes make provision for these contextual peculiarities.