A performance-based approach to project assignment and performance evaluation

•A new approach for integrating project assignment and performance evaluation.•An optimal assignment model based on project contribution and manager’s performance.•Special constraints for accommodating actual project assignment settings.•Efficiency-based DEA models for evaluating the performance of projects and managers.•A proactive mechanism for managing projects in an objective-focused manner.

Project assignment and performance evaluation have been addressed as two important and separate research issues in project management. This paper develops a new performance-based approach for integrating the project assignment and the performance evaluation processes in a project-based organization. An objective-oriented preference-based assignment process is developed to assign a project to a project manager. An optimal project assignment model is developed to maximize the total weighted contribution value of all new projects to the organizational objectives. An efficiency-based evaluation process is developed using data envelopment analysis to measure the relative performance efficiency of the completed projects and of the project managers. The approach provides a proactive mechanism for facilitating objective-focused management of projects. The outcomes of an empirical study conducted provide managerial insights in assigning projects to project managers and in evaluating the performance efficiency of both projects and project managers.