Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
Currently, many project dependent companies are facing a number of problems such as too many active projects, not enough resources to complete the projects and lack of ability to deal with changes in the project environments. These problems will lead to failure in the company’s ability to fulfil its mandate and execute their strategic imperatives.
These problems were identified to lead to numerous complications that may threaten the company’s business. The question that was asked was how can organisations use proper project portfolio management to deal with uncertainties in their environments. Hence, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the ability of project portfolio management in handling uncertainty, and the extent to which project portfolio management is used to circumvent the effects of uncertainty on the projects.
To this end, two project-driven companies were investigated. The choice of company was made by looking at the availability of information and the company structures. The author had access to resources within the company. It was found that there is an unclear understanding on the role of project portfolio management in both companies. One company claimed to have a fully functioning project portfolio management department, while the other is still in its infancy in this regard....