Hamed Yavari - Iran University of Science and Technology
M. Reza Hosseini - School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Barbara Hardy Institute (BHI)
Nicholas Chileshe - School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Barbara Hardy Institute (BHI)
Raufdeen Rameezdeen - School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Barbara Hardy Institute (BHI)

This paper presents the results of a quantitative study aiming at benchmarking the impacts of implementing Project Management Knowledge Areas (PMKAs) of PMBOK within prominent Iranian construction companies. Hence, the level of effectiveness of implementing 9 PMKAs of PMBOK were regarded as the key performance indicators (KPIs). The deployed evaluation tool incorporated 40 questions to elicit the perceptions of managers of 81 grade 1 construction companies. This involved assigning scores to each company with respect to considered KPIs. Afterwards, all the companies were divided into two categories namely the leading ones and the others. The findings revealed that implementing PMKAs of PMBOK has resulted in highly dissimilar outcomes. In addition, the results showed the wide gap existing between the two mentioned groups of companies. Eventually, the paper highlights the main weak points followed by proposing guidelines to resolve the detected shortcomings.

Benchmarking, Project Management, Knowledge Area, KPI, Construction Industry, Iran