Investigating the roles, responsibilities and practices of portfolio managers in Australia: A literature review and research outline

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is increasingly adopted by organizations in Australia. In order to select, prioritize and monitor simultaneous on-going projects with limited resources, there is a need for PPM to optimize investment by utilising a PPM governance structure to deal with constant change and focus on achievement of organizational strategy. This is particularly relevant in order to build on national and global recovery. PPM, due to its ambiguity and complexity, brings a great challenge for the portfolio manager to manage its processes, people and practices. However, literature indicates that PPM practices vary and need to be adapted to organizational situations according to project types and environmental complexity. The aim of the research discussed in this paper is to investigate the roles, responsibilities and practices of project portfolio managers in services and products organizations in Australia. It also aims to relate the relationship between project types and environmental complexity of organization with the practices, roles and responsibilities of Portfolio Manager. Their influences to ensure that the best projects are selected and investments are optimized are the concern of this paper. By reviewing the literature on PPM, this paper hypothesizes that project types and environmental complexity will influence the roles, responsibilities and practices of the project portfolio manager. Based on these findings, a research model is proposed, and further research to test the validity of the model is suggested.