Assuring the managerial capability of public organizations implementing projects : The Greek case

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the requirements for assuring the managerial capability of organisations implementing projects of public interest. It presents the case of Greece, and the family of newly developed set of standards concerning the managerial maturity of public organisations and the management of projects funded by European Union support frameworks. Design/methodology/approach – Using the case study approach, the paper presents the current status in Greek public administration concerning project management. Further, it presents how the new set of standards improves public management and public organization maturity for managing projects. Findings – The paper presents the problems faced and the drawbacks encountered from the management of large programmes and projects from public bodies in Greece. Further, it presents the structure of a system for assuring managerial capability (SAMC) in Project Management and how its application can improve management efficiency and effectiveness. Originality/value – The paper presents a newly developed SAMC in project management that can be applied to public bodies and organisations managing projects. This system has been adopted by Hellenic Organization for Standardization as the new standard ELOT‐1429:2008.