Implications of the Third Research Objective: To explore the extent that professional services firms and clients implement and monitor adherence to the Corpus

6.3.1 Professional Services Firms - Implications of Research Objective 3

The findings from PSFs highlight the implications of the limitations of the Corpus and the requirement to have reflective practitioners.

6.3.1.1 Limitations of the Corpus

It is noted in Section 4.5.1 (Professional services firms' In-house standards), that the data provided evidence of PSFs' extensive use of In-house standards. The limitations of the Corpus from this research are consistent with the literature review (Crawford, 2005; Dalcher, 2014a; Hodgson & Cicmil, 2006b). The research findings suggest that the Corpus isn't regarded as complete guidance on projects and practice has moved ahead of the Corpus. Maylor (2001) argued that BoKs did not keep pace with practice. Crawford (2007) argued that the BoKs were conservative in their content and behind current practice. It is proposed that a fundamental limitation of the Corpus and codified knowledge is that it cannot address every conceivable project management issue. The issue that codified knowledge is not sufficient to manage complex projects has previously been recognised (Hatfield, 2014). 6.3.1.2 Reflective Practitioners

It is suggested that a key implication of recognising the limitations of the Corpus is that PSFs and practitioners should think critically about how to resolve non-standard project management issues that may arise. However, it suggested that the development of reflective practitioners takes time and effort which could be facilitated by CPD. Accordingly, it is suggested that the current allowance of 20 hours for (CPD) for RICS members is increased. In comparison, the CPD requirement for APM members is 35 hours. CIOB members do not have a minimum amount of time stipulated for CPD (CIOB, 2017b).

It is suggested that the PPMAs, in conjunction with tertiary level providers have a long-term role to encourage under-graduates to develop into reflective practitioners. Tennant, Murray, Forster, and Pilcher (2015) raised concerns that the contextualised teaching necessary for construction education is being eroded, due to UK universities facing unprecedented commercial pressure to undertake revenue-generating research projects. Ramazani and Jergeas (2015) argued that the traditional approach to teaching project management needed to

be revisited so that the profession produces creative and reflective practitioners. It is suggested that this is particularly relevant in the long-term as it is likely that projects will continue to be complex in the future.

6.3.2 Clients - Implications of Research Objective 3

It is suggested that some PPMAs may be disappointed that the primary data generated by clients did not refer to the implementation or monitoring of the Corpus. However, it should be noted that while PPMAs may regulate PSFs, they do not have a role in regulating clients. Arguably, there is no obligation for clients to use the Corpus. Each interviewee confirmed their In-house standards took precedence over the Corpus and therefore this is interpreted that senior management does not think there would be any guaranteed improved performance if project managers used the Corpus.

On this interpretation, these findings are consistent with the views in the literature, e.g. that senior management did not perceive that project managers adhering to the PMI's BoK and the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management were better performers than those who did not (Crawford, 2005). Additional research undertaken in the IT industry revealed that no difference between certified PMI managers and those who were not (Starkweather & Stevenson, 2011). It is argued that the implications of these findings are profound for the PMMAs as it would appear their promotion of the Corpus does not resonate with clients.

6.3.2.1 Limitations of the Corpus

The data generated from clients did not refer to the implementation and monitoring of the Corpus. As noted in Section 6.3.1.1 (Limitations of the Corpus), the shortcomings of the Corpus are apparent and it is argued that the data generated from the clients reinforced the views of the PSFs. It is suggested that the view that managers will continue to do business as normal regardless of requests from the professional bodies and standard writers (Hatfield, 2014) is evident. The implication of this research is that it is critical that the flaws within the Corpus are conveyed by Senior Professionals to Early-career Professionals when starting their career in project management. The concerns regarding the diminishing professional autonomy of practitioners are discussed in the next Section.

6.3.2.2 Project Delivery and Ethical Considerations

All clients mentioned that they were focussed on project delivery. One of the advantages of In-house standards is that they could lead to the simplification and codification of project management procedures. Connaughton and Meikle (2013) argued that the codification of professional services could lead to increased profits for the PSFs. However, it is suggested that a potential danger of having heavily prescriptive In-house standards is that this could lead to a diminishing professional autonomy of practitioners, particularly for Early-career Professionals. It is suggested that Early-career Professionals could by unduly influenced by the Corpus and their desire to become a member of one of the PPMAs.

One of the potential long-term consequences of In-house standards is whether theses could encourage greater corporate thinking that in certain circumstances may be at the expense of professional ethics. Volkswagen (VW) confessed that it had installed software in its vehicles that deliberately misled consumers about the level of emissions from diesel engines and was now in consultation with the USA Department of Justice to pay €4.3bn in penalties and plead guilty to the associated criminal damages (McGee & Lynch, 2017). Initially, VW tried to blame their fraudulent action as the work of a few rogue engineers but later had to acknowledge their deceitful corporate actions (McGee, 2017a). One employee disobeyed VW's senior management instructions not to speak candidly to USA Department of Justice, and admitted that VW's senior management knew the software installed in the cars was misleading (McGee, 2017b).

It is suggested that practitioners blindly following In-house standards could potentially lead to a neglect of professional ethics, honesty and creativity. It is suggested that In-house standards contain ethical standards should practitioners feel there are potential legal or criminal issues.

6.3.3 Triangulation of Research Objective 3 - To explore the extent that professional services firms and clients implement and monitor adherence to the Corpus

Clients, PSFs and CPMSs agreed on three matters: the importance of experience, that the Corpus was not directly relevant to delivering projects and that there is a risk that Senior Professionals are not keeping up to date with the Corpus.

It is proposed that that all three groups would consider tacit knowledge and experience as being more important that codified knowledge. Project managers have to rely on their

professional experience to make judgments where there are no precedents and it likely that this will continue given the growing complexity of projects. PSF5 summed this up by saying "you can't lay down paperwork, processes and flow charts for every single eventuality". The Corpus was not deemed to be directly relevant to project delivery. It is suggested that this view is likely to remain as there are more significant factors that impact on project delivery, e.g. the client, the other members of the design team, the contractor, the form of building contract, etc.

All three groups of interviewees agreed that there was a risk that Senior Professionals are not keeping up to the date with the Corpus. It is suggested that this has some potential negative and long-term implications for Senior Professionals and the profession, e.g. the inability to keep up to date with key developments (such as building information modelling and the growth of artificial intelligence), may make them appear stale and ultimately uncompetitive. However, the risk of Senior Professionals not keeping up to date could be mitigated in three ways, firstly, their In-house standards are reviewed and up to date. Secondly, the Corpus is updated on a regular basis, some of the BoKs that are published is regarded as too conservative and out of date, (Crawford, 2007). Thirdly, the minimum requirement for the CPD is increased for all practitioners.

6.4 Implications of the fourth research objective: To analyse how professional services