Project Manager Development Paths: What Project Managers Learn from Their Experiences and What Influences Their Learning
... Numerous scholars have studied the issue of how to carry out knowledge management actions in the project environment (Havermans et al., 2014;Isabalija et al., 2010;Love et al., 2003). ...
Over the last 20 years, there has been an increase in the study of project-based learning to deploy knowledge management strategies and the concept of organizational capability. We address this topic in the context of infrastructure development projects. Through a review of existing literature complemented by pilot empirical research carried out in MultiWaterWork program, and Gaasperdammer tunnel project in the Netherlands, Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge in China and Crossrail in the UK, research propositions are presented on the relationship among knowledge management, project-based learning, and organizational capabilities. The findings reject the position of knowledge management as a best practice toolkit for immediate use and emphasize that there is no pure copy-paste knowledge learned from one project to another. Learning is proposed as the missing link between project capabilities and knowledge management. The study then focuses on the contribution of sets of project capabilities to achieve project performance. It is suggested that the critical role of learning in the development of project capabilities should be on the future research agenda of infrastructure development projects.
... The authors received financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research is (in part) supported with a grant and published in a practitioner monograph (Havermans, Savelsbergh, Storm, & Broekema, 2015) by the Project Management Institute. ...
The number of people who, at a certain point during their career, assume responsibilities as a project manager is increasing every year. Yet, we know little about the reasons why people want to become project managers, how they become project managers, and the ways in which they perceive their job once they have become project managers. In the current qualitative study, we conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews, using a multisource approach, from the perspectives of both project managers (n = 31) and direct supervisors of project managers (n = 21) from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Our results indicate that project managers tend to be drawn into the field by their enterprising interests, and mainly “roll into their profession” knowing little about possible career paths, and experience multiple positive and negative aspects of their jobs. Reflections on the outcomes are discussed, and practical implications for individuals considering a career in project management and their working organizations are given.
... We would like to thank Henk Broekema and Ties de Ruijter for their involvement in this study, and all participating project managers for sharing their insights with us. This research is (in part) supported with a grant and published in a practitioner monograph (Havermans et al., 2015) by Project Management Institute America (PMI). ...
The development paths of project managers are paved with formal and informal learning experiences. Knowledge of the learning experiences that project managers indicate as important for their development as professionals is limited in both the academic and the practitioner world. In the current study we explore what and how project managers learn from experiences, and what is perceived as supporting this learning. We used a multi-method approach, consisting of in-depth interviews and a short follow-up survey among 31 project managers. Results show that most learning experiences occur more or less accidentally on the job and support for learning from these experiences is limited. This suggests potential to improve the quality and pace of the development paths of project managers. Limitations of the current study, and implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed opening up avenues for future research.
Coaching can play an important part in meeting the challenges of project management (Berg & Karlsen, 2007). However, there remains a lack of research into project managers’ perceptions of coaching and the opportunities for using it. This grounded theory study explores the awareness and application of coaching in project management
contexts. Analyses of interviews with 14 project managers have indicated that the provision of coaching opportunities is patchy. Findings confirm that organizational
culture is important, that where project managers are involved with coaching this
can lead to them becoming advocates, and emphasize the need for organizational intervention to maximize the benefits of coaching in this context.
We explore publishing trends regarding HRM and PBO in the main journals in the field of project management to highlight key empirical and theoretical contributions during the period 1996–2016. We offer three contributions to the field of project management. The first is theoretical where we analyze twenty years of research in key project management journals by adapting and extending the framework of Wright and Boswell (2002), and identifying categories of HRM research at three levels of analysis. This analysis provides an overview integrating exemplary research to date on the HRM-PBO link at different levels, showing areas where research is well-developed and also areas that, while promising, have not been examined in a systematic manner to date.
Work motivation is a topic of crucial importance to the success of organizations and societies and the well-being of individuals. We organize the work motivation literature over the last century using a meta-framework that clusters theories, findings, and advances in the field according to their primary focus on (a) motives, traits, and motivation orientations (content); (b) features of the job, work role, and broader environment (context); or (c) the mechanisms and processes involved in choice and striving (process). Our integrative review reveals major achievements in the field, including more precise mapping of the psychological inputs and operations involved in motivation and broadened conceptions of the work environment. Cross-cutting trends over the last century include the primacy of goals, the importance of goal striving processes, and a more nuanced conceptualization of work motivation as a dynamic, goal-directed, resource allocation process that unfolds over the related variables of time, experience, and place. Across the field, advances in methodology and measurement have improved the match between theory and research. Ten promising directions for future research are described and field experiments are suggested as a useful means of bridging the research–practice gap.
The development paths of project managers are paved with formal and informal learning experiences. Knowledge of the learning experiences that project managers indicate as important for their development as professionals is limited in both the academic and the practitioner world. In the current study we explore what and how project managers learn from experiences, and what is perceived as supporting this learning. We used a multi-method approach, consisting of in-depth interviews and a short follow-up survey among 31 project managers. Results show that most learning experiences occur more or less accidentally on the job and support for learning from these experiences is limited. This suggests potential to improve the quality and pace of the development paths of project managers. Limitations of the current study, and implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed opening up avenues for future research.
Five types of project managers were identified and the level of success of each and its frequency of occurrence in the project manager sample were determined. When refined through further research, this typology holds the promise of more effective project manager selection and development tools, and the possibility of maintaining a population of project managers in an organization that is optimum for the needs of that organization.
Using a sample of 177 firms with matched dyads of middle managers and senior managers, we developed a model on the antecedents and consequences of project management competence retention (PMCR). Our results reveal that providing project managers formal developmental perspectives in project management, such as a career path or qualification opportunities, as well as establishing a formal lesson learned system both positively relate to PMCR. Moreover, our results show that PMCR is positively associated with average project success of the organization. Finally, our results confirm the substantial importance of average project success for overall business success in project-oriented organizations.
Sustainable success calls for contextually ambidextrous organizing. According to theory, this entails enabling simultaneous high levels of exploration and exploitation within a subsystem. The practices involved in enabling contextual ambidexterity form a major and relatively unexplored leadership challenge. Our main aim is to draw on a combination of ambidexterity and complexity theory insights to understand how contextual ambidexterity emerges in dynamic contexts. We contribute to the literature on the role of leadership in enabling contextual ambidexterity by exploring the daily practices leaders enact to stimulate exploration and exploitation as well as to shift dynamically between them to (re)gain contextual ambidexterity. We present the results of two qualitative studies exploring leadership in project-based organizations where the pressure for contextual ambidexterity is relevant. We show that in responding adaptively to environmental stimuli, leaders shift between practices to emphasize exploitation or exploration to (re)gain the needed high levels of both, and their enactments are bounded by the conditions of keeping exploration and exploitation simultaneously high. We discuss the implications of these fi ndings for understanding contextual ambidexterity as a dynamic accomplishment that emerges in everyday interactions, the role of leaders in enabling contextual ambidexterity, and the need for HR managers to support leaders in enacting this dynamic form of leadership.
This article proposes a perspective on careers that recognizes the interdependencies between work and home over the life course and is particularly suitable to contemporary careers. We first discuss the meaning of a work–home (WH) perspective and elaborate on the economic, organizational, and workforce changes that have affected contemporary careers. We then illustrate the implications of adopting a WH perspective for four streams of scholarship relevant to contemporary careers (career self-management, career success, global careers, and sustainable careers), suggest directions for future research in each area, and discuss the practical implications of adopting a WH perspective. We conclude that contemporary careers can be better understood by considering how employees’ home lives influence and are influenced by career processes and that the adoption of a WH perspective requires understanding the role of gender norms in prescribing and sanctioning women’s and men’s participation in the work and home domains in a given culture.
In this study, the authors used qualitative techniques to look for
reoccurring themes related to 87 project managers? responses to interview questions
associated with entry into the field of project management and career progression. The
study found that despite the efforts of higher education, professional associations, and
their professional development and certifications, the project management remains a
destination by accident. Professional project managers do not intend to be project
managers but ?fall into? the profession. This study provides a conceptual framework for
project manager career trajectory that has implications for project management training
and mentoring and contributes to the growing literature on the accidental
profession.
Projects and project management work present what would seem to be a paradox. Although business and industrial companies regard projects as strategic vehicles for innovation and growth, it is doubtful whether project managers are seen as a similarly strategic asset, due to their working environment. This article, which is based on interviews conducted at four major Scandinavian companies, describes several empirical cases of a project as a workplace. In line with previous research we observe a challenging and in many cases exposed situation for many project managers. Our main finding is that a considerable part of what makes up a non-sustainable project work environment stems from the imbalance of power that exists between permanent and temporary organisational forms. The article concludes that a process of “deprojectification” of project employees, i.e. making the distinction between line and project work less distinct in organisations may actually lead to more sustainable project work.
Project management processes and the training of new project managers (PM) must consider the impact of organizational change on the success and failure of project implementations. The case for requiring project managers to be conversant with organizational change management (OCM) is made by the author by reviewing supportive literature. In addition, PM certifying agencies like PMI and IPMA are strongly encouraged to include education on OCM to the certification process for new PMs. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Association for Project Management and the International Project Management Association.
This paper describes a survey of 280 project managers that reveals both their personality types (via Myers‐Briggs personality inventory) and their success in project management. The results show that a project manager's personality is better suited for functioning with partial data and under ambiguity than the rest of the population. These traits were found for both women and men. The conclusion is that project managers (females and males) have a unique personality‐type distribution that distinguishes them from the general population. The findings can contribute to better understanding the traits that characterize the project management population, and their relationship to project success.
More than 4 decades of research and 9 meta-analyses have focused on the undermining effect: namely, the debate over whether the provision of extrinsic incentives erodes intrinsic motivation. This review and meta-analysis builds on such previous reviews by focusing on the interrelationship among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic incentives, and performance, with reference to 2 moderators: performance type (quality vs. quantity) and incentive contingency (directly performance-salient vs. indirectly performance-salient), which have not been systematically reviewed to date. Based on random-effects meta-analytic methods, findings from school, work, and physical domains (k = 183, N = 212,468) indicate that intrinsic motivation is a medium to strong predictor of performance (ρ = .21-45). The importance of intrinsic motivation to performance remained in place whether incentives were presented. In addition, incentive salience influenced the predictive validity of intrinsic motivation for performance: In a "crowding out" fashion, intrinsic motivation was less important to performance when incentives were directly tied to performance and was more important when incentives were indirectly tied to performance. Considered simultaneously through meta-analytic regression, intrinsic motivation predicted more unique variance in quality of performance, whereas incentives were a better predictor of quantity of performance. With respect to performance, incentives and intrinsic motivation are not necessarily antagonistic and are best considered simultaneously. Future research should consider using nonperformance criteria (e.g., well-being, job satisfaction) as well as applying the percent-of-maximum-possible (POMP) method in meta-analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
The Project Management Institute has commissioned the authors to conduct research into whether the project manager’s leadership style is a success factor on projects, and whether its impact is different on different types of projects. In this paper, we review the literature on the topic. Surprisingly the literature on project success factors does not in general mention the project manager, his or her leadership style or competence as a success factor on projects. This is in direct contrast to the general management literature which views effective leadership as a critical success factor in the management of organizations, and has shown that an appropriate leadership style can lead to better performance. We review the general management literature on leadership and leadership styles and show how this is reflected in the project management literature. We indicate where the literature on leadership competencies and emotional intelligence show that appropriate leadership can deliver higher performance. We then review the literature on project success factors, and discuss how and why it ignores the contribution of the project manager. The project management literature does consider the role of the project manager, and so we review what it does say about his or her leadership style and competence. We close by suggesting how this indicates the need for the research project sponsored by the Project Management Institute.
Human resource management (HRM) can be viewed as core processes of the project-oriented company, affecting the way the organization acquires and uses human resources, and how employees experience the employment relationship. Knowledge about HRM is produced by researchers and theorists who, through publishing their work in books and journals, construct knowledge in particular ways and in so doing frame the way HRM debates take shape in the academic and practitioner literatures. In most of the extant literature HRM is framed primarily in terms of large, stable organisations, while other organisational types, such as, those relying on projects as the principle form of work design, are marginalised in discussions about what HRM is and how it should be practiced. The authors argue that due to specific characteristics of the project-oriented company, particularly the temporary nature of the work processes and dynamic nature of the work environment, there exist specific challenges for both organisations and employees for HRM in project-oriented companies, and that these have – been neither widely acknowledged nor adequately conceptualised in the extant mainstream HRM or project management literatures. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of past research on HRM in the context of projects, published in the project management, general management, and HRM literatures. We develop a model of what we see as the critical HRM aspects of project-oriented organizing, based on prior research and use it to structure the review. Finally we summarize what we see as the major shortcomings of research in the field of HRM in the project-oriented company and outline a research agenda to address outstanding areas of research on this topic.
The topic of what human resource management (HRM) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four project-oriented companies (POCs) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and the project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices.
The goal of this study is to develop a theoretical framework to illuminate the process of careers unfolding over time in an overall life context. We draw on data from a qualitative field study of the career paths of 81 professionals who pursued working on a reduced-load basis as a strategy for sustaining commitment to both their careers and family lives. Using multiple methods to analyze what happened between two interviews approximately six years apart, we identify five distinct career narratives and present a model of the evolution of careers. The model suggests that individuals construct careers over time through their own sensemaking of constantly shifting entangled strands of their personal, family, work, and community lives and three key dynamics that are ongoing: external events, gradual developments, and individual actions.
The purpose of this study is to understand the constructs of work motivation in project-based organizations. We first juxtapose work motivation in traditional and project-based organizations to put forward an operational definition of work motivation for our study. We then present the research methodology where we profile work motivation as perceived by project workers using principal component analysis. We obtain a five factor structure of work motivation. Finally, we discuss these results by putting them within the project management perspective and suggest managerial implications.
In Project Society, organizing by projects plays a prominent role. This type of society is already here, but projectification continues to lead developments and transformations along a set of paths and trajectories. One way to describe this trend is to say that there is societal organizing in which various types of projects are becoming even more prevalent and diverse. The projectification trend seems to be the result of a variety of mechanisms at work, where a wide set of traditional institutions—ranging from laws to mindsets—is constantly challenged and reformed. Managing, along with the nature of work, are changing and adapting.
This paper approaches the sustainability of careers, departing from contemporary views on sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) and key concepts in the current career literature. Recently, the notion of sustainable careers has gained attention as a key perspective on contemporary careers and is assumed to be critical for the resilience of individuals in an increasingly complex and unpredictable career environment. Viewing careers as an ecosystem in which several actors (individual, organization, labor market) are involved, this paper reviews current thinking on sustainable HRM to elaborate our thinking on sustainable careers. We highlight pertinent challenges for realizing continuity in careers that are: Firstly, becoming increasingly longer and less predictable; secondly, in general, less bounded to one organizational context and characterized by new ways of working; thirdly, putting an increased responsibility on the individual career actor; and finally, that have moved from a socially shared view on the meaning of career success as steady progression to a focus on personal meaning. We conclude that further research is important for understanding how different actors within the career ecosystem can help to ensure that the conditions for sustainability are met in view of creating a more resilient career system.
Project careers typify contemporary career theories that place the individual, rather than the organisation, as the sole architect of employability and career satisfaction. However, a gap now exists between the strategic importance of projects and the ability of permanent organisations to support and develop the project management role. Using survey data (N = 207) of IT project managers our theoretical framework hypothesizes relationships between project management identity and career satisfaction, and the moderating effect of how project managers relate to their role as a job, career or calling. Findings suggest that project managers with a high level of professional identification achieve validation from external project networks reducing the reliance on internal organisational support. However, not all project managers relate to their role as a career. The article discusses the implications for project careers, professionalization and organisation support.
The notion of ‘innovative projects’ is popular and often taken for granted. This article challenges this taken for granted concept and attempts to provide detailed insights into what constitutes an ‘innovative project.’ Specifically, the article focuses on three main questions: (1) What kinds of projects are considered innovative? (2) How do projects become recognized as innovative and by whom? And (3) Why are projects recognized as innovative? This research follows the ‘linguistic turn’ occurring in project management studies, showing that social identity theory is a useful and insightful way of understanding discursively constructed labels chosen by practitioners to identify projects as innovative. Labeling projects as innovative has implications for practice as playing an important strategic role in bolstering the reputations of organizations and attracting customers; such labels are often used meaningfully, but also purposefully in project-based organizations.
Much and significant research was done for more than 100 years in the area of leadership. However, with the exception of the studies by Hodgetts (1968) and Thamhain and Gemmill (1974), not much has been done in the area of project leadership. This paper presents the findings of four research studies in this area. Among others, the findings show that professionally challenging projects are the single most important factor influencing the behavior of project team members. Team members need to be challenged, they respect leaders who know how to properly exercise their authority, and they need to believe in their leaders, both in terms of the leaders' competence and ethical character.
As firms rely on advancing technologies to meet the demands of complex business processes, there is an increasing need for IT project managers (PMs) to resolve paradoxical tensions that accompany uncertainties. Paradoxical tensions exist because IT project knowledge has assumed a clear separation and borderline between business and IT. There is an increased pressure on PMs to resolve paradoxical tensions arising from short-term efficiency/goals versus longer-term flexibility/success. A field survey of 108 IT projects suggests that a shift in the required knowledge set of PMs is needed as their role expands to include greater responsibility and knowledge base – a hybrid PM with one foot in the IT domain and the other foot in the business domain – to deal with a diversity of paradoxes and contradictory demands associated with business and technical uncertainties. Shifting the focus of business knowledge towards PMs is likely to increase the chance of project success.
Although theory and research from the domains of organizational behavior and human resource management suggest that individuals’ perceived organizational support (POS) plays a crucial role in enhancing job satisfaction and in reducing turnover intentions, there is a lack of research applying Organizational Support Theory to the realm of project management. Project-based organizations have an increasing demand for highly qualified project managers who feel supported by their employing organization and intend to remain in their positions. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study was to investigate predictors of project managers’ POS (both from a career management and from a project portfolio management perspective) and to examine how this variable related to their job satisfaction and intention to quit their project manager position. Using a sample of 541 project managers and 135 project portfolio coordinators nested in 135 firms, the analysis revealed that POS related positively to project managers’ job satisfaction and negatively to their turnover intention. A career path for project managers was positively associated with POS, especially when it was accompanied by adequate qualification opportunities. Results further stress the significance of top management involvement and the support of project management offices for project managers’ POS.
In this article, I explore how the traditional understanding of uncertainty in project management can be revised in light of the philosophical input from Kierkegaard, Dewey, and Wittgenstein. Planning models of projects tend to view uncertainty as a threat to successful project implementation. An alternative approach can emerge
from a philosophical investigation of the potentials embedded in surprising turns of events. It
is possible to retain a planning orientation to projects while also embracing uncertainty as a
potentially energizing dimension of projects, one that can activate positive personal and collective
drama in project management.
Projects have become omnipresent not only in the economy but also in our society and our lives. Projects organize and shape our actions at work, in our professional profiles and networks, and also in our homes and free time activities. Drawing on the philosophical cornerstone concepts of activity, time, space, and relations, this article introduces an alternative conceptualization of projects as a “human condition.” The article
concludes with implications to the project management community, in terms of both project management practice and research.
This paper addresses the influence of academic education and formal training on Project Managers' (PM) behavior. A survey was conducted to assess how PMs' academic education and formal training influence their behavior. The results have provided evidence that PMs with Engineering qualifications and background tend to be more technically oriented. This may raise concerns that PMs pre-occupation with the technical aspects of project management may overshadow the need for them to pay more attention to people management. However, PMs with the experience of working on projects at the "operational" level have been less technically oriented. Such experience seems to have enhanced PMs motivational and conflict management skills. These results highlight the need for academic and professional development programmes to provide the right balance, in content and emphasize, between the technical knowledge and the people management skills'for young professionals to take project management responsibilities.
Australian construction projects today are usually more successful than information technology (IT) projects. One reason lies in the way construction companies manage project management. Based on in-depth research of four successful construction companies, this paper describes a project management-centered organizational form. It describes the organizational and management arrangements that support project performance and the individual and organizational capabilities that underpin sustained project success. This particular form of organization is shown to be stable and effective because its constituent arrangements are logically consistent and mutually reinforcing. The authors show how many of these arrangements can be adopted by IT service firms and in-house IT organizations to improve their performance on projects.
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
A project team in a matrix organizational structure is assembled by collecting individuals from supporting organizations with specific skills required for that project. Thus, its management guidance comes typically from one functional manager and one or more project managers. Historically, the functional manager has been identified with the oversight and well-being of the employee, while the project manager is focused on project deliverables. There has been very little empirical research examining the behavioral aspects of this multiple-manager form as it pertains to project team members. This article documents a study of 222 individuals from 18 matrix-type organizations that examines who provides influence or control for factors that result in job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Factors developed by Frederick Herzberg were used in the study, with an examination of the factor groupings that Herzberg called hygiene (or maintenance) factors and motivators. This study provides empirical evidence that project managers bear a significant responsibility for the well-being of project team members, in that functional managers have control or influence for the hygiene factors while project managers have significant control or influence for the motivator factors.
The construction industry is placing increased emphasis on developing leadership skills for project managers. This paper describes a research project that was executed to analyze the causal influences on the development of project managers, whom the authors believe also Must be leaders. The research compared two groups of project managers within a large construction company. One group was top performing construction managers as selected by corporate executives, while the second group was a randomly selected control group. The research examined influences on career development including job experience, project management experience, formal project management training, formal leadership training, and job assignments. The research also solicited opinions from both groups as to what they perceived as factors impacting leadership career development. Statistical differences between the groups were found in the areas of project management experience and number of positions held prior to the first project management assignment. Both groups believed there was more of a need within their company for leadership training than for project management training.
This study, among 330 pairs of employees and their supervisors, tested whether self- versus supervisor ratings of five employability dimensions (occupational expertise, corporate sense, personal flexibility, anticipation and optimization, and balance) are associated with different learning characteristics in the workplace, and whether age moderates these relationships. Results of structural equation modelling showed that the learning value of the job positively related to both self- and supervisor ratings of corporate sense, personal flexibility, and anticipation and optimization. Applicability in the job of recently followed training and development programmes was associated with all dimensions of self-rated employability and with supervisor ratings of anticipation and optimization. Regarding the hypothesized age moderation effects, contrary to our expectations, it was found that both learning value and applicability of training and development related more strongly to self-rated anticipation and optimization for younger workers. In addition, age appeared to moderate the otherwise non-significant relationship between learning value and self-rated occupational expertise. Implications for Human Resource Development (HRD) practices are discussed. As learning characteristics are differentially related to the unique employability dimensions, tailor-made development programmes are key. Moreover, it is advocated that having a job with a high learning value is an important factor in the light of the employee’s sustainable employability
The present study proposes a seven-step method for the project management competency map. Additionally, the method helps to evaluate and design evolution trajectories based on organisational experience and challenges. This methodological approach merges literature reviews with qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data were collected in a large Brazilian engineering company through the analysis of documentation, behavioural event interviews, self-assessment surveys and statistical analyses. The proposed method is simple, replicable and insightful for managers across all industries and consists of the following: a description of competence and performance criteria, an assessment process, a diagnosis of the current proficiency level, the identification of competence levels that differentiate professional categories, the establishment of expected profiles, a gap analysis and the association between experience and competency development.
This paper presents the results of a structured review of the rethinking project management (RPM) literature based on the classification and analysis of 74 contributions and in addition takes a critical look at this brave new world. Through the analysis, a total of 6 overarching categories emerged: contextualization, social and political aspects, rethinking practice, complexity and uncertainty, actuality of projects and broader conceptualization. These categories cover a broad range of different contributions with diverse and alternative perspectives on project management. The early RPM literature dates back to the 1980s, while the majority was published in 2006 onwards, and the research stream appears to be still active. A critical look at this brave new world exhibits the overall challenge for RPM to become much more diffused and accepted.
There is a gap between what education providers are offering and what is needed to deal with projects in today's complex work environment. This paper explores how education and training institutions can educate and prepare great project managers for the future by evaluating project management development from the perspective of working project managers. The authors report on a qualitative study of project managers working in the oil and gas sector in Calgary. This paper formulates three main areas which educational institutions should consider in developing and preparing future project managers: 1) developing critical thinking for dealing with complexity, 2) developing softer parameters of managing projects, especially interpersonal skills and leadership as opposed to just technical skills, and 3) preparing project managers to be engaged within the context of real life projects. The authors argue that the education and training systems must do more to prepare project managers on their journey from good to great.
Project-based work has long been characterized as frenetic, fast-paced, and dynamic. The often competing constraints imposed by schedules, stakeholders, and budgetary restrictions make project activities conflict-laden and highly conducive to work-related stress. Stress is not an end unto itself but instead, is often a precursor for burnout. Burnout is a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced personal accomplishment. This paper reports on the results of a study of burnout among project management personnel. Using the Demand–Control–Support model as our conceptual framework, we analyzed a sample of respondents from four project-intensive organizations. Our findings demonstrated that women tend to experience emotional exhaustion to a greater extent than their male counterparts. Further, control and social support do serve as moderators for the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion and cynicism, suggesting limited support for the Demand–Control–Support model. Implications of this study for project management and workplace burnout are discussed.
With the growth in project management as a form of work organisation in many sectors of the economy has come the significant rise in the number of project managers and project team members. This change in work organisation brings issues in forging career paths and determining career support in work situations that are often dynamic, short lived and intense. In the relatively small but substantially robust Australian economy, a unique labour market and the tyranny of distance bring their own difficulties. Innovative and collaborative project structures and increasing prevalence of contract work provide both challenges and opportunities for new career pathways in many industries. A growing percentage of Australia's workforce is employed in project-based or project-oriented organisations, leading to the claim that Australia is a project-based economy. This provided a context for our research into the career paths and the issues of career management for project managers working in a project based economy. Using in-depth interviews with project managers from three industry areas we found generational and gender differences in experiences of work, workplace support and mentoring for career development. For a continued strong performance in this economy, organisations that employ project personnel will need to consider how they will ensure the supply of high quality project professionals into the future.
Prior research has paid little attention to the careers and career models of project managers. This is troublesome for at least two reasons. First, project managers are becoming an increasingly important category of managers and today they constitute a major part of many organizations' leadership capability. Second, traditional literature on careers generally does not address project-based careers as a specific case in point, although this kind of career is unique in the sense that it is based on temporary assignments and lack of formal positions. The research presented in this paper identifies and explains patterns of similarities and differences among applied career models in ten large, mature project-intensive firms in Sweden. The paper identifies a number of factors that seem to be critical for the design of career models for project managers, including the number of levels, the complexity of assignments, and the degree of formal requirements. The paper also outlines two archetypes of career models applied by the firms under study: the competence strategy model and the talent management model.
This paper conceptually examines how and why projects and project teams may be conceived as highly generative episodic individual and team learning places that can serve as vehicles or agents to promote organizational learning. It draws on and dissects a broad and relevant literature concerning situated learning, organizational learning, learning spaces and project management. The arguments presented signal a movement towards a project workplace becoming more organizationally acknowledged and supported as a learning intense entity wherein, learning is a more conspicuous, deliberate and systematic social activity by project participants. This paper challenges conventional and limited organizational perceptions about project teams and their practices and discloses their extended value contributions to organizational learning development.