Measuring Change Readiness for Implementing a Project Management Methodology an Action Research Study

The main purpose of this paper is to measure the readiness for change when implementing a Project Management Methodology (PMM) within a Moroccan construction company. Based on a review of literature and on the experimentation of the change through an action-research, a model for assessing change readiness was proposed and then applied within this company. This model allows change managers to assess change readiness for adopting a PMM by considering four main dimensions: organizational readiness, individual readiness, project management maturity and change management maturity. The findings of this study provided insights related to the readiness level for adopting a PMM within the studied company. These include: (a) lack of individual readiness of some categories of employees namely site managers and support functions employees because they think they lack the necessary knowledge and they are undecided about management support. (b) Lack of organizational readiness in terms of process adaptability, organizational system, people ability, time availability and skill development. (c) Low level of project management maturity because main processes and good practices are poorly defined and documented. (d) Lack of change management activities and lack of a formal approach for managing the human side of change. Based on the findings of this study, some activities that could assist in building change readiness for implementing a PMM have been proposed. These include communication, empowerment and coaching, training, executive engagement, development of project management culture and building capacity of change.