Application of sustainable strategic project management in public institutions within the scope of the Project Excellence Model: Case of Mugla

This study recommends a systematic approach for the development of project management in Turkey, based on the needs of the public organizations on the new public management axis. In this context, the study brings in the Project Excellence Model into the Turkish Public Administration Literature which was developed by IPMA (International Project Management Institute) and used as a baseline for "Global Project Excellence Awards" moreover used by the Swedish transportation authority Trafikverket since 2016. In the study, It is being argued that, the Model could be used as a coaching, monitoring and controlling tool for the public organizations in terms of capacity building. According to the findings of the questionnaire, which is conducted with 183 public personnel from public institutions in Muğla, Project Excellence Model is not known in public institutions. According to evaluations of specialists, managers and institutions within the concept of the Model, the knowledge in the areas of strategic management, stakeholder management, sustainability, project management maturity, risk management, leadership, quality management, time management, internationally valid certificates, success criteria development in projects, benchmarking, Deming cycle in project management are generally low. This gap reduces the capacity of development and implementation of projects in public institutions. It is recommended to adopt coaching based Project Excellence Model as a tool for the public institutions in order to eliminate the knowledge gap.