Project management knowledge and project success among religious institutes of the Catholic Church in Kenya: a case of Nairobi Archdiocese

Abstract

Projects and project managers must balance between competing priorities obstacles and constraints to deliver the project successfully. Project managers therefore need the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies if they are to manage a project to its successful completion. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between project management knowledge and project success in the Religious Institutes of the Catholic Church in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to examine the role of general management skills on project success in Religious Institutes of the Catholic Church, determine the role of technical project management skills on project success in Religious Institutes of the Catholic Church and establish the role of industry skills on project success in Religious Institutes of the Catholic Church. The study was anchored on the theory of constraints and the human capital theory. A simple random sampling method was used. 145 project managers, coordinators and leads of the Religious Institutes in the Archdiocese of Nairobi formed the sample and were surveyed using a questionnaire. A cross-sectional analysis was done so as determine and gain insights on the extent of the relationship between project management knowledge and project success. This was done by use of SPSS 21 and Excel. The Pearson r coefficient and regression analysis was used to determine if there was any correlation and influence between project management knowledge and project success. The study determined that 54.9% of the respondents did not have general management skills while 45.1% did, 60.4% did not have technical project management skills while 39.6% did, and 59.3% did not have industry skills while 40.7% did. It also revealed that only 33% of the respondents thought the factors of project success were important while 67% did not. Project success in the Religious Institutes of the Catholic Church in Kenya was correlated to and influenced by general management skills, technical project management skills, and industry skills. The Pearson r values were 0.509 for general management skills, 0.566 for technical project management skills, and 0.602 for industry skills. The study also proposed that further research should be explored in the areas of leadership, Skills for project success as opposed to skills for project management, and the project success practices of contributing and impacting the vision, mission, and future of the Religious Institutes.