My emphasis in the quotation below from the review of project management practitioner development by Crawford et al. (2006).
“From a research agenda perspective this review highlights a number of potentially important research initiatives that are needed to support the types of practitioner development initiatives discussed above. First, there is no empirical evidence that project management training of any sort (tactical or reflective) actually improves a practitioner’s capacity to manage projects. Research of this nature exploring what practitioners can get from training vs other development practices is long overdue. Second, given the demographic changes facing organisations today and discussed above, those interested in developing practitioners need to give some thought to how to do this appropriately for the different generations of workers we have today. In particular, how is tacit project management knowledge best developed and transferred and how can we leverage the ‘‘greybeards’’ before we lose them. Cultural research into how to develop a climate and reward system encouraging passing on instead of hoarding of knowledge would also be of benefit. Third, an important foundation for the development of practitioners is the development of a categorisation system for projects or project management roles that would allow training to be appropriately targeted and delivered to relevant audiences.”
Reference:
CRAWFORD, L., MORRIS, P., THOMAS, J. & WINTER, M. 2006. Practitioner development: from trained technicians to reflective practitioners. International Journal of Project Management, 24, 722-733.