ADVISORY
By Harold Kerzner, Ph.D. and Al Zeitoun, Ph.D.
California & Maryland, USA
INTRODUCTION _______________________________________________________
What every company realizes eventually is that organizational change is inevitable. The question is; when will it happen and how long will it take to implement the change? Some changes are reasonably small, and transformation can be done quickly. Other changes can flounder significantly and disrupt the workforce to the point where there exists significant resistance. Effective leadership and management of organizational changes can significantly improve the organization’s ability to successfully adapt to the change and lead to business growth.
For years, leadership and management for organizational changes were primarily the responsibility of senior management. Today, this has changed. Companies believe that they are now managing their business by projects and project management is one of the four or five strategic career paths for corporate growth. Project teams are now actively involved in business decision-making whereas previously it was mainly technical decision-making. Project management is now being recognized as an effective contributor and participant in organizational change management.
UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT _______________
We will begin with an understanding of the definition and need for organizational change management, (OCM). OCM is a structured approach whereby an organization transitions from the current way of doing business to a new approach which may be continuously changing. The structured approach can require individuals, project teams, organizational units, and even the entire company to adapt to environmental changes. The changes needed can impact technologies, tools, processes, corporate business models and corporate/project cultures.
Some of the factors that drive the need for OCM include:
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- Market shifts
- Use of new technology
- New organizational leadership with new goals and objectives
- Changes in customer demands
- Need for new or updated business models
- New legislation mandates
- Mergers and new partnership arrangements
- Changes in the enterprise environmental factors
- Changes in the enterprise environmental risks
Some changes can be made quickly or over time, especially if the changes are small. These are referred to as adaptive changes. Larger changes, which can require a significant number of resources, are called transformational changes and may take a great amount of time because of the potential shift in business strategies that can result in major disruptions to the core businesses.
Organizational change management is most often referred to as a structured process because there are numerous changes possible between adaptive and transformational changes, and the management of all of the changes must have some degree of structure in the way they are managed. The structured process helps managers and OCM leaders determine the people necessary for the OCM team.
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How to cite this article: Kerzner, H., Zeitoun, A. (2026). Using Project Management to Drive Organizational Change, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue VI, June. Available online at: https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pmwj165-Jun2026-Kerzner-Zeitoun-Using-PM-to-drive-Organizational-Change.pdf
About the Authors
Harold Kerzner, Ph.D., MS, M.B.A
Senior Executive Director for Project Management
International Institute of Learning
New York & California, USA
Dr. Harold Kerzner is Senior Executive Director for Project Management for the International Institute for Learning (IIL). He has an MS and Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Utah State University. He is a prior Air Force Officer and spent several years at Morton-Thiokol in project management. He taught engineering at the University of Illinois and business administration at Utah State University, and for 38 years taught project management at Baldwin-Wallace University. He has published or presented numerous engineering and business papers and has had published more than 60 college textbooks/workbooks on project management, including later editions. Some of his books are (1) Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling; (2) Project Management Metrics, KPIs and Dashboards, (3) Project Management Case Studies, (4) Project Management Best Practices: Achieving Global Excellence, (5) PM 2.0: The Future of Project Management, (6) Using the Project Management Maturity Model, and (7) Innovation Project Management.
He is a charter member of the Northeast Ohio PMI Chapter.
Dr. Kerzner has traveled around the world conducting project management lectures for PMI Chapters and companies in Japan, China, Russia, Brazil, Singapore, Korea, South Africa, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Croatia, Mexico, Trinidad, Barbados, The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Venezuela, Columbia, United Arab Emirates, France, Italy, England, and Switzerland. He delivered a keynote speech at a PMI Global Congress on the future of project management.
His recognitions include:
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- The University of Illinois granted Dr. Kerzner a Distinguished Recent Alumni Award in 1981 for his contributions to the field of project management.
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- Utah State University provided Dr. Kerzner with the 1998 Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the field of project management.
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- The Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Project Management Institute gives out the Kerzner Award once a year to one project manager in Northeast Ohio that has demonstrated excellence in project management. They also give out a second Kerzner Award for project of the year in Northeast Ohio.
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- The Project Management Institute (National Organization) in cooperation with IIL has initiated the Kerzner International Project Manager of the Year Award given to one project manager yearly anywhere in the world that demonstrated excellence in project management.
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- The Project Management Institute also gives out four scholarships each year in Dr. Kerzner’s name for graduate studies in project management.
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- Baldwin-Wallace University has instituted the Kerzner Distinguished Lecturer Series in project management.
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- The Italian Institute of Project Management presented Dr. Kerzner with the 2019 International ISIPM Award for his contributions to the field of project management.
Dr. Harold Kerzner can be contacted at hkerzner@hotmail.com
Dr. Al Zeitoun, PgMP, PMI Fellow
System Thinker & Transformation Advisor
Maryland USA
Dr. Al Zeitoun is a Future of Work, business optimization, and operational performance excellence thought leader with global experiences in strategy execution. His experiences encompass leading organizations; delivering their Enterprise Digital and Business Transformation; guiding fitting frameworks implementations; and using his empathy, engineering insights, and collaboration strengths to successfully envision new business models and execute complex missions across diverse cultures globally.
In his recent role with Siemens, he was a Senior Director of Strategy responsible for driving the global program management practices, Master Plan governance, and enabling the Strategy Transformation processes and priorities.
In his position, as the Executive Director for Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Abu Dhabi, UAE, he was responsible for creating the strategy execution framework, achieving transformation benefits, governance excellence, and creating the data analytics discipline necessary for delivering on the $40B complex country energy mission roadmap.
At the McLean, USA HQ of Booz Allen Hamilton, Dr. Zeitoun strategically envisioned and customized digitally enabled EPMO advisory, mapped playbooks, and capability development for clients’ Billions of Dollars strategic initiatives. Furthermore, he led the firm’s Middle East North Africa Portfolio Management and Agile Governance Solutions.
With the International Institute of Learning, Dr. Zeitoun played a senior leader and global trainer and coach. He was instrumental in driving its global expansions, thought leadership, and operational excellence methodology to sense and shape dynamic ways of working across organizations worldwide. He speaks English, Arabic, and German and enjoys good food, travel, and volunteering. Dr. Al Zeitoun can be contacted at zeitounstrategy@gmail.com
