Implementation of PMO in GCC

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Date
2011-05
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Publisher
The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
The Middle East Economy is booming. Riding on high oil prices historically the region has accumulated billions of dollars in sovereign funds. These sovereign funds have become a source of unprecedented projects launched by Gulf States in order to emerge as 21st century super power. Qatar is hosting 2020 Football World Cup and U.A.E. has some very ambitious plans for future in regards to Infrastructure. It is heartening to note that some very ambitious projects have been completed such as the tallest building in the world, largest mall in the world, Islands in the sea and much more in U.A.E. which shows the achievements of Project Management in the Middle East. However a detailed analysis has shown that many western project management approaches either fail or are customized according to the local needs in the gulf area. It also shows that the Project Management Office (PMO) is still evolving and their role still being debated. The topic that was chosen for the research basis in this dissertation was ‘Implementation of PMO in Middle East”. In this regard, some multi national companies were approached and their Project Management issues were discussed. A detailed survey was carried out with questionnaires and interviews with the Project Managers, who were quite cooperative. The local culture was also taken into consideration and local practices were also studied in this research. The challenges faced by PMO were highlighted and recorded and at the end recommendations are suggested to improve the overall environment in PMO’s of Middle East. It is hoped that this research shall go along way to help project managers setup PMOs in the Middle East and achieve the required maturity to handle massive projects coming up in the future.
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Keywords
Middle East, economy, infrastructure, project management, Project Management Office (PMO), project managers
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