There has been much debate about the future of project management and the advances needed to increase the professionalisation of project management. In this week’s newsletter from Arras People we look at just one area – further education and ask the question, “does a degree in project management help differentiate in the project management marketplace?”.
There are views from everyone involved – the role of the educator (we talk to various lecturers and course leaders from around the globe), the educated (those practitioners who have already taken and completed a degree in project management), the employers and of course practitioners who have opted not to undertake further education in their fields. You can sign up and receive the newsletter (released today) here.
In this post I talk to Don Hazeldine, Project Manager for the Global People Capability Development for over 6000 PMs worldwide at BAe Systems. In Don’s previous role (Project Management Learning & Development Manager in the central Project Management function) he designed and project managed the organisation’s Project Control Foundation Scheme. The scheme is just one of the ways that BAe is creating apprenticeships for school leavers to enter the field of project management. Not only is there a career path, development, training and support also – and by tying into our newsletter for September on Further Education in Project Management – these apprentices have the opportunity to secure a degree in project management.
It sounds like the best of both worlds for young school leavers – the opportunity to obtain a degree whilst developing that all important thing – works experience. Could this be the future for project management?
Back in March this year we already blogged about a report that showed that some sectors where project management features heavily were going to struggle with their resourcing of projects by 2020, especially the leadership role of project manager. In that post, we looked at current school leavers, who are our next generation project managers, and saw that “by 2020, a 17 year old today will be 26.” And asked the question “How many capable project managers with a solid construction engineering background will have been developed to fill the shoes of the retirees?”
It seems that BAe are ahead of the curve when it comes to their future planning of the project management workforce. Here’s an overview of how they are doing just that.
So why did BAe introduce the apprenticeship programme?
The programme started back in 2007 as a direct response to the issue of ensuring the organisation had enough experienced project controllers to work on the many projects and programmes spanning the business. There were highly experienced individuals already within the business but too few to meet the demands of the projects. So there were limited resources, and this, coupled with the competition for good project controllers in the marketplace led to BAe setting up a “project control academy”. The academy would also specifically target school leavers who were not already destined to continue their education at university level (BAe already had a programme for graduate level intakes) and would initially target school leavers that were close to BAe’s main office and facility locations. The academy once set up and running would then ensure a steady stream (or talent pipeline) of project controllers to meet the business and project needs over the coming years.
The analysis carried out beforehand also gave some interesting results “….whilst it takes 5 – 10 years to develop a competent project manager, it still takes 3 – 5 years to develop a competent project controller“. Clearly an apprenticeship scheme like this is a long term investment in talent (from both BAe and the employee) and the Project Control Foundation Scheme (PCFS) is just that – a five year programme which combines on-the-job training and work with that of an academic programme of study.
What does the apprenticeship programme for project management consist of?
The apprenticeship is open to school leavers with an A Level education (or equivalent) and the programme was created specifically to attract those not necessarily looking to go straight on to university. The apprentices commence employment in a project controller role and begin a 2 year HNC in Project Management leading to Foundation Degree in in the third year at an Further Education college. This is then followed by a 2 year honours degree at university. The programme also includes the APM accreditation, the APMP. The apprentice works a 30 hour week with a day release for study (further details in this PDF)
Talking to Don about the rate of return in productiveness for a new project controller and he said they started to see a return pretty quickly, at least by the second term, the apprentices were becoming experienced enough in areas of process and control that others within the project would approach them for advice and guidance. The programme has also helped the profession of “project controller” become much more centre stage and recognised as a profession in its own right (which those of you who know my love of PMO will know that’s music to my ears!).
Could this be the future for project management?
One of the biggest concerns about undertaking a project management degree (after the cost and time investment) is getting a return on the effort put in. We see too many undergraduates (BSc level) that struggle to make the jump from academia into their first working role in project management. It seems that there are too few graduate level entry roles available in the marketplace and for other organisations not looking for graduate level employees they want their new recruits already experienced and skilled in PM. The BAe model is certainly worth looking at in further detail if the organisation is large enough to fund and support this type of activity. And that’s the catch, the organisation has to be large enough, with enough programme and projects spanning into the next decade to be able to give gainful employment to the employees being developed.
There is also the worry that BAe’s hard work means other organisations could easily come along and headhunt their well educated, trained and experienced staff in 5 or 10 years time. I asked Don about these concerns and this was something they had already considered. The key to retaining staff is very much like any other role or organisation. There has to be a clear career path that ensures employees can continue to grow and learn and be promoted to other roles within the business or within other levels of seniority in the project management discipline. In BAe, there is a clear path defined to Managing Director levels in the organisation, starting with the controller role through to project manager, programme manager and beyond. Employees being headhunted away only becomes a real issue if there are no compelling reasons to stay within the current organisation. Only time will tell to find out if BAe’s recent apprentices become the business leaders and managers of the future.
Image: By Tulane Public Relations
Interesting post. There is definitely a talent shortage concern (I just did some research on that for an upcoming whitepaper). The program makes a lot of sense for larger organizations like BAe. There are a lot of people that are in smaller organizations that would never have access to that kind of program. I wonder if Don has any ideas on that or if perhaps his ideas could somehow be incorporated into the project management community.