Project Management Maturity and Business Excellence: Comparison
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Even though Industry 4.0 is primarily focused on the implementation of advanced digital technologies, this is not the only aspect that should be taken into consideration. One of the aspects that calls for attention is the ability to create a sustainable and agile industrial environment. In this sense, the role of project management is crucial for achieving business excellence in a new industrial paradigm. The main goal of this paper is to determine the impact of different levels of project management maturity on business excellence in the context of Industry 4.0. The research in the paper was made on a sample of 124 organizations, differing in industry and size, and recognized through the business excellence awards or recognitions given by European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). Using the Project Management Maturity Model (ProMMM), a significant connection was found between project management maturity and business excellence. In light of technology advances, these relations were further examined in the context of Industry 4.0Empirically-based conclusions were drawn, which contribute to the literature on project management and business excellence in the context of Industry 4.0. Practitioners can implement them for more effective project management with the intention to thus bringing excellence into organization’s operations and results. Additionally, they can be useful to help practitioners better cope with changing technology trends 

  • project management maturity
  • business excellence
  • Industry 4.0
  • EFQM

1. Introduction

Strict rules and requirements regarding the knowledge economy and the modern industrial paradigm make organizations strive towards higher business excellence levels. The ‘quality management’ paradigm is moving towards ‘managing quality’, which is the basis of the business excellence concept that organizations strive for. Porter and Tanner [1] stated that ‘the concept of business or organizational excellence provides support for the absolute integration of improvement initiatives within the organization’. It is based on the philosophy of continuous improvement, directing all organization’s activities to enhance business performance, stakeholder satisfaction, corporate social responsibility, and environmental protection [2,3][2][3]. Toma and Marinescu [4] stated that there is a growing interest among companies in implementing business excellence strategies, which lead to increased quality of their business philosophy and improved business performances [4,5][4][5]. Effective formulation and implementation of these strategies have motivated organizations to change their way of doing business, and in this respect, to adopt various tools, methods, and techniques, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) [4[4][6],6], balanced scorecard [7[7][8],8], lean or six sigma practices [9[9][10][11],10,11], and project management approaches [12[12][13][14][15][16],13,14,15,16], etc.
According to Kerzner [12], one of the main characteristics of organizations that were awarded the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige Business Excellence Award, was the existence of a project management system, which indicates a strong relationship between project management and business excellence. Effective project management at the organisation level does not just involve the application of software or the use of a specific tool [17]. To effectively implement this practice, which is thought to deliver sustainable project results, it is necessary to have acceptance and a positive attitude towards the project approach at all levels in the organisation, followed by the establishment of stable and long-term processes and competencies that will support its implementation and ensure excellence in their operations and results.
A key component of today’s economy is a greater reliance on intelligence and intellectual abilities, rather than physical or natural resources [18], which contributes to the accelerated pace of scientific and technological progress related to Industry 4.0. This concept, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, helps “in implementing innovative technologies to improve productivity and working system” [19]. Jally et al. [19] also stated that the approaches to managing a project will be significantly altered due to the creation of these changes. The central aspect of the implementation of Industry 4.0 is the initiation of “smart business” and the acceleration of innovations through continual advancements where projects have a crucial role. Bag et al. [20] highlighted the role of project management in the process of Industry 4.0 integration and in achieving sustainable business. Considering everything aforementioned, the following research question arises: how does project management maturity affect organizational business excellence in the context of Industry 4.0?

2. Evaluating the Relationship between Project Management Maturity and Business Excellence

According to the EFQM [2], excellent organizations ‘achieve and sustain outstanding levels of performance’. The study introduced by Talwar [23][21] acknowledges a positive relationship between business excellence implementation and organizational performance. Nowadays, several models are used to measure business excellence within an organization. The most cited models in the literature are the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (CPE) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). These models are based on TQM principles, and they cover topics such as customer focus, leadership, people involvement, continuous improvement, etc. The purpose of any business excellence model is to help organizations to sustain flexibility and embrace changes that could have a positive impact on their competency in the digital business environment. Achieving excellence in business activities implies adopting Deming’s continuous improvement approach: plan, do, check, and act [24][22]. Many management practices support this approach. For example, project management [12,13,14,15,16][12][13][14][15][16] can be seen as a complementing part to the organisation’s practice while reaching business excellence [1], even in the uncertain conditions that characterize technological changes. Planning, implementing, and controlling changes effectively are crucial in the process of implementing continuous improvements within organizations that aim to achieve business excellence. Vora [25][23] stated that only 30% of organizational change programs are considered successful. One of the main reasons why most change management efforts fail is ineffective project management [25][23]. Project management is essential in today’s business world—it is an approach that promotes continuous improvement through different types of projects that lead to improved organizational performance [26][24]. As already noted, Kerzner [13] emphasized the strong relationship between project management and business excellence, indicating that all organizations involved in the research which won the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Excellence also had a high level of project management implemented. In addition, Craddock [14] has proved that project success and sustainability are directly related to business excellence. As the business excellence models are based on the TQM principles, it is important to make links between TQM and project management approaches. The TQM is a fundamental concept of continuous improvement, within which organizations constantly review and enhance their business processes. Bryde and Robinson [27][25] emphasized that the TQM principles are important for maintaining effective project management, especially in customer service, failure prevention, professional development of employees, and strong leadership. To measure an organization’s project management effectiveness, different project management maturity models can be deployed. According to Kerzner [13], maturity in project management can be defined as ‘the development of systems and processes that are repetitive in their nature to provide a high probability that each project will be successful’. The most used maturity models in the literature are the PMMM model [28][26], PM2-Project Management Process Maturity Model [29][27], and the Kerzner’s project management maturity model [30][28]. On the other side, some models have moved from a strict relationship between CMMI and PMBOK group processes. Pennypacker and Grant [31][29] stated that one of these models is the ProMMM model [21][30], which is also based on the CMMI model, but instead of PMBOK elements, relationships from the EFQM Model are taken. Most existing models test the maturity of the project management processes, while using this model, organizations assess other attributes and provide a true picture of their project management capability. Therefore, the ProMMM model has a wide application in practice and empirical studies [32,33,34,35][31][32][33][34]. Achieving a satisfactory level of maturity is a continuous and long-term process. However, due to built-in constraints and environmental factors, many organizations are not able to reach the highest levels of maturity during their existence [21][30]. Andersen and Jessen [35][34] stated that fully matured organizations do not exist in the real world, so considering different levels of maturity is a reasonable task for any organization. Research presented by Backlund et al. [36][35] revealed that higher levels of project management maturity led to success in project implementation, which further leads to improved organisation’s processes in their road to bring excellence [37][36].

3. Project Management Maturity and Business Excellence in the Context of Industry 4.0

Determining a relationship between project management maturity and business excellence is a complex issue affected by many factors related to Industry 4.0 and digitalization that comes with it. Raj et al. [39][37] opined that there is a growing need for implementation of standards and government regulations to accelerate the process of adoption of Industry 4.0 digital technologies. They also asserted that the “lack of a digital strategy alongside resource scarcity” followed by a “lack of standards, regulations, and forms of certification”, constrains companies from strengthening their capabilities in the process of fully leveraging Industry 4.0 digital technologies. This concept is especially applicable to the manufacturing and IT industry, while Al Amri et al. [40][38] stated that its applicability to measure was still uncertain for other areas. On the contrary, there are studies that confirm the importance of Industry 4.0 for service organizations [41,42][39][40]. The modern business excellence paradigm is strongly oriented ‘to the necessity to transform the current organization for the future’ [3]. Gunasekaran et al. [43][41] stated that it is important to define ‘what might be the future of excellence’. The term ‘future’ relates in this context to digital transformation, Industry 4.0, and organizational agility with special emphasis on technology and human capacity development. Fonseca [44][42] made the comparison between the EFQM 2013 and EFQM 2020 models and stated that the new model has “a focus on the futuristic requirements of the organizations rather than merely a business excellence model and/or just a quality award enablement model”. According to the EFQM 2020 model, both concepts of business excellence and Industry 4.0 share a common goal to improve organizational operations and results. The Singapore Smart Industry Readiness EDB report [45][43] indicated that business excellence is directly related to human resource ability to adopt a range of different approaches, methods and tools promoted within Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 promotes the adoption of new organizational models but also the adaptation of existing ones to achieve excellence in the conditions set by the new industrial paradigm. Accordingly, project managers are looking for different ways to understand technological change and its impact on project management processes. Moreover, the role of project management in the development of Industry 4.0 is essential for its success and vice versa [46][44].

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