Is project management an expense or benefit?

Good Project Manager = Benefit

Poor Project Manager = Expense.

i would say, it is to reduce management expenses to gain more benifit

A project can be seen as an investment that aims to have positive returns. As we want to protect our investments, and reduce risks, we tend to go through standardised guidelines that have been practically proved to be successful (a recipe for success if you may). Yet, like investments, we cannot have successful projects all the time, as there are certain unknowns that were not considered earlier.

project management is both an expense and abenefit.

successfully run and managed projects will contribute to the success of the company and add value in terms of profitability and market presence .

Definitely it is a benefit. A project which is being well-managed results to reduced costs and more profit due to the following ;

-       Work and Time Schedules as well as Procurement Schedules are analysed and controlled to prevent delays of works.

-       Quality of works is inspected to prevent enormous repairs or avoid the extent of demolishing & re-constructing defective works

-       Safety rules are enforced to prevent occurrences of accidents

-       Contract is managed to ensure compliance with project requirements

-       Variations are properly assessed to control additional costs

-       Employees’ performance and awards are regularly evaluated to promote efficiency and enhance productivity

-       Etc

However, if the Leadership of the Project Management Team has been found inferior at the early stage, the Employer must change such poor leadership at the earliest possible time.

I tend to agree to all the previous answers given by my friends. Just to add to those, by taking a real life example.. again, i will share from my personal PMP notes. 

Scenario: you are constructing a building, you have the requirements, you have the budget, the timelines, you know your potential buyers.. and you know which vendors you would outsource this work to. IF you leave this work (without managing, monitoring, questioning, tracking) You will certainly Not get What you expected. This will lead to Re-Work, Loss of Reputaion and goodwill, Unhappy buyers/investors (and even loss of your job !!!). Losing these obviously is Costlier than Money !

Now imagine - You conducted a survey on Who your Stake-holders would be, You clearly define the SCOPE of work, Track accurate TIMELINES and COST, Emphasize on QUALITY of materials used, List the RISKS in advance and devise solutions to mitigate them, Follow ethical & correct PROCUREMENT methods (vendor mgmt), etc etc ... Life would be much easier... You deliver a fantastic end product... And in return your company will receive more orders ! :-)

I tried to explain in a very lucid way... Hope you all will like it. 

Best Regards, Ananth

All depends on his performance and know how?

you have asked about Project Management and not about Project Manager, now it depends on the person who would mange the project, if the project manaher is good then obviously benefits but still it would be expense but surely not loss

I see that project management is a necessary investment rather than an expense or a benefit. This investment will become an expense if poorly implemented and a benefit if professionally implemented.

Project management is the most vital step in achieving the goals of that project and a good manager will not only assure, that a suitable environment is created to educate and lead the team towards accomplishing it, but will motivate and facilitate the process competently and within the required time frame.

Project includes the delivery of owner inputs to the contrcating agency , who is in the construction. These inputs are vital for the timely completion of project. If a project management group is in place, they will provide assistance in  facilitating such inputs. This is apart from normal jobs of monitoring of project progess ( from Engineering to Commissioning).

Project management can be more valuable, if it can acquire the lessons which might have learnt from the issues arising outof the project. Thiscan be effectively utilised in future projects