Project complexity as an influence factor on the balance of costs and benefits in project management maturity modeling

Project management maturity models provide a framework to gauge an organization's project management competences. The basic premise in connection with these models is that with a higher maturity level, the chances for an organization to successfully complete its projects increase. As it seems to be apparent that professional project management is possible below the highest maturity level, both academics and professionals have asked the question for an "ideal" maturity level for a certain organization. Since every action of an organization to increase its maturity level will be connected to some (opportunity) cost, this ideal level stands for an optimal ratio of investment in an enhanced project management maturity and the benefits that accrue from this maturity level. Some research has been conducted in this field, particularly in the path of Return on Investment of project management. The question what factors and parameters influence or determine the ideal maturity level remains unanswered, yet, and thus requires further exploration. In this paper the results of a number of qualitative case studies with industrial enterprises are presented. The data of the case research indicate a linkage of the benefits of a high level of project management maturity to the degree of complexity of the projects undertaken by the companies. Drivers of project complexity resulting from the cases are introduced. A possible moderating function of project complexity towards the relationship between project management maturity and project success is currently researched via a quantitative field study, whose approach is explained. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.