ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the nature of project management maturity models, before developing a model for Project Risk Governance (PRG). The emergence of maturity models can be attributed to the increasing number of project managers in the 1990s, when organisations recognised that they would best be managed in project mode. A maturity model is a structured collection of elements that describe characteristics of effective processes. Maturity models are standards that shape institutional designs and management practices as well as social norms and expectations about behaviour [and] define excellence in a particular domain and steps to achieve it. Among project management professionals, two models are popular: the UK Government's Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3) and (Project Management Institute) PMI's Organisational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3). Assessment guides the evaluation of current capabilities and identifies areas in need of improvement, while improvement lays out the steps to be followed to achieve performance improvement goals.
