Complexity of educational projects in public administration

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors related to organizational evaluation and management in the complexity of projects with professionals working with projects in the area of education in the Brazilian public administration. The data were analyzed for a total of 536 respondents involved in this study. The constructs ‘project variety’, ‘elements of context’, ‘interdependencies within the project’ and ‘project complexity’ were analyzed by using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). This was in conjunction with an evaluation and estimation model with the application of the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with the use of the R software. The four identified measures played a significant role in the goodness of fit index of an underlying construct for the model. As a result, it was found that as the length of experience increases, the perception in understanding the complexity (trust and capacity) inherent to the projects, interferes in familiarity with the activity, but not in familiarity with the methodology. Finally, it is necessary that project managers who work in the public area are attentive to the socio-political aspect, since it presupposes the combination of the political and emotional aspects of those involved in the projects. This study contributes to a gap within the literature on the phenomenon ‘complexity of projects’ in the area of education in public administration, what is very important considering the Brazilian reality and its challenges for public managers, both from the point of view of strategic challenges and the complexity of the decisions required.