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Abstract
This study investigates whether project management in the Republic of South Africa: has developed to such an extent to warrant professional status on a par with engineering, architecture and quantity surveying; is being implemented effectively in the manufacturing industry; and whether project management education and training offered by universities and technikons can be improved.
These hypotheses are tested by sending out three carefully constructed questionnaires to selected populations, namely a project management population, a project finance population and a manufacturing population. The empirical results are statistically evaluated in terms of the respondent's type of industry, profession, age and position in the organization/company/practice or institution. The results obtained from this study show that: (1) there is a definite need for the establishment of project management consultancy practices; (2) the introduction of a project management certification programme will improve the current standard of project management; (3) project management is regarded by manufacturing organizations/companies as being of equal importance to production/operations management; and (4) project management education and training presently offered by universities and technikons needs to be improved.
In view of the research findings the abovementioned hypotheses are acceptable.