The role of technology in the project manager performance model

Technology assumes importance in the context of project management due to greater challenges in today's technology‐enabled work environment, where technology tools are routinely used for collaboration, communication, and deployment of project management practices. It is becoming common practice for even co‐located project teams to use the electronic medium for these purposes. Notwithstanding the importance of technology, research has shown that it is difficult to associate the use of technology with business performance and the absence of such relation can be extrapolated to project performance as well. However, technology can play a major role in supporting project managers in managing projects effectively and efficiently. Several studies have addressed the importance and leadership style of project managers. However, specific roles and responsibilities of a project manager toward the project team is an area that needs further study. In this research effort, using the literature review, important people‐related factors of project performance are identified. Then structured personal interviews were used to gather data for understanding relations among these factors in order to develop a project manager performance model. The model was developed employing the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methodology. The model was used to determine the role of the project manager in managing the project team and improving the project performance. Results show that both leadership and management roles are important. This study helped to analyze underlying interactions among these factors and, consequently, understand the supportive function of technology to the project manager in improving project performance.     

Information systems project manager soft competencies: A project‐phase investigation

This article investigates the soft competencies by project phase that information systems (IS) project managers require for project success. The authors conducted 33 qualitative interviews to collect data from a sample of 22 IS project managers and business leaders located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The authors identified the key competencies for each of the IS project phases (initiation, planning, implementation, and closeout). The competencies were sorted into competency categories: personal attributes (e.g., eye for details), communication (e.g., effective questioning), leadership (e.g., create an effective project environment), negotiations (e.g., consensus building), professionalism (e.g., lifelong learning), social skills (e.g., charisma), and project management competencies (e.g., manage expectations). Each of the most important competencies is discussed and interconnections among competencies identified. How this research can be used by the practitioner and academic communities and the broader implications of this research are examined.     

Positioning of the stakeholders in the interaction project management–project marketing: A case of a coconstructed industrial project

Based on a business‐to‐business (B‐to‐B) case within the automotive industry, this study proposes logics (constructivist and determinist, respectively) of protagonists and highlights the complexity of their dynamics during the successive project's phases. The concept of milieu will emphasize the complex business in which project marketing takes place; notably, it allows better identification of relevant relationships. Our article focuses on this concept of milieu with regard to the interactions between project marketing and project management actors during project phases. In particular, this article underlines the difference and the accommodation between the dynamics of interaction and the dynamics of congruence of marketing and management logics.     

Understanding the value of project management from a stakeholder's perspective: Case study of mega‐project management

Project management can generate significant value for organizations (Thomas & Mullaly, 2007). However, the value of project management varies depending on the different size and complexity of projects managed. Focusing on mega‐projects, this study explores the value of project management from the stakeholders' perspective, thereby creating a value framework. In the case of SHRBC Company, it analyzes the company's project management practice and the value of project management, and consequently certifies the applicability of this value framework through empirical study.     

关于工程项目质量文化建设与安全文化建设的几点思考

随着我国建设事业的迅速发展,工程建设项目的安全和质量问题日益成为人们关注的重点,工程项目质量文化建设和安全文化建设也必然成为企业文化建设的重要组成部分和重要内容,也是我国目前开展的一项重要活动。文章就工程项目质量文化建设与安全文化建设进行探讨,结合项目安全质量管理提出一些看法、意见和建议,供大家参考。     

浅谈建筑工程施工项目管理与工程质量

文章在论述建筑工程项目管理与施工质量之间关系的基础上,详细探讨了如何在项目管理中实现有效的施工质量控制,为提高项目管理水平、保证施工质量提供启示。     

Demystifying the folklore of the accidental project manager in the public sector

Many individuals are called upon to undertake project management responsibilities with little or no preparation. Such project managers have been referred to as accidental project managers. This article examines the experiences of 46 accidental project managers within the Western Australian public sector through a questionnaire survey. Findings reveal that most project managers were selected based on their technical or managerial expertise and thus lacked the required competencies to deliver a project. There was a greater propensity for accidental project managers to act in a part‐time mode, undertake nontechnical projects, and be provided with limited training and education.     

Exploring the dynamics of value and fit: Insights from project management

The strategic management literature has struggled with how to recognize, measure, and even understand the concept of “fit” between strategy, structure, and environment. Nevertheless, the concept of fit was fundamentally important from the beginning of the Value of Project Management project. In this article, we compare the “fit” construct defined by Miles and Snow (1984) with our concerns with value direction (Thomas & Mullaly, 2008). A comparative analysis of these two constructs provides insights into how both dimensions improve overall organizational understanding. We demonstrate that while each of these dimensions independently provides useful information, it is their intersection that provides a means of interpreting not just current realities but appropriate future actions.     

The role of project management maturity and organizational culture in perceived performance

This study investigates whether project management maturity (PMM) relates to perceived organizational performance and how an organization's cultural orientation is a contributing factor. Perceived organizational performance is defined as project effectiveness and efficiency followed by resulting business performance. A survey‐based research was conducted with 86 project professionals from various U.S. service and manufacturing organizations. The study revealed that PMM is significantly related to business performance but not to project performance. Furthermore, while clan organizational culture is a sole contributing factor for project and business performances, PMM interacts with market culture in improving business performance. This study shows that in order to deal with project time, budget, and expectations issues, an organizational culture change toward sharing, collaboration, and empowerment is a must. Furthermore, an increasing project management maturity along with a results‐oriented organizational culture improves an organization's competitiveness, resulting in cost savings and increased sales. PMM efforts are therefore crucial. PMM accompanied by an understanding of cultural orientation is a best strategy for today's project‐based organizations.     

Characteristics of Portuguese public‐sector project managers: Toward closing the effectiveness gap

Using a sample of 102 Portuguese public‐sector officials with project management experience, this study examines the characteristics of effective project managers in the Portuguese public sector. Factor‐analysis procedures are used to identify the factors related to areas of knowledge relevant to effective project management. The results appear to stress the increasing importance of people, organizational, and leadership skills in the effective management of today's complex and dynamic projects.     

A project management research framework integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors

The increasing projectification of the business world corresponds with a high diversity of theoretical perspectives used in project management research. This diversity is reflected by a variety of influencing factors, which have been the subject of empirical studies. This article aims to systemize the different streams of research on the basis of a literature review and at developing a research framework by integrating multiple theoretical perspectives and influencing factors. We elaborate on the crosslinks between the perspectives and identify fundamental elements of a project management theory. The framework consists of three dimensions: design, context, and goal. Its purpose is to support the combination of different perspectives and the development of strategies for further research.     

Motivation in project management: The project manager's perspective

Project motivation is a key aspect to a successful project, yet few studies exist that shed light on this important subject. This article reviews the current literature and theoretical aspects of motivation and provides an analysis of the data. A survey was conducted by soliciting project managers to tell how they perceive their ability to influence motivation. In total, 115 certified project managers responded to the survey. A discussion and suggestions for future research follow the data.     

The relative importance of the PMBOK® Guide's nine Knowledge Areas during project planning

Although A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fourth Edition identifies nine Knowledge Areas that project managers should focus on while managing projects, it does not indicate the relative importance of each of these Knowledge Areas. However, such information can be of great significance in helping project managers determine how to use their available resources most effectively. This article investigates the relative importance of the project management Knowledge Areas used during the planning phase of a project and their impact on project success. Results presented in this article are based on a field study that involved 783 project managers from different countries and industries. The study revealed that the Knowledge Areas with the greatest impact on project success were Time, Risk, Scope, and Human Resources. However, these results have been found to be sensitive to the industry in which projects were undertaken. Differences among industries are described and discussed in the article.     

Shared human capital in project management: A systematic review of the literature

From the viewpoint of project success, the importance of human capital in projects cannot be overemphasized. Despite this, previous studies have only explored some segments of human capital in projects (e.g., commitment or trust). The aim of this study is to gather studies on the concept of human capital in project management and create an aggregating concept of recent studies. We report and discuss the findings from a systematic review of the research literature. This article focuses particularly on shared human capital (common meanings on the interfaces of the individual and team), and we conclude that the constructive elements of shared human capital are values, tacit knowledge, and social support.     

Project management systems: Moving project management from an operational to a strategic discipline

This article illustrates one aspect of the concept of “fit” between an organization's implementation of project management and its organizational context by exploring how the underlying drivers of an organization's strategy might influence not only the nature of the projects that it undertakes, but also the appropriateness of the arrangements that it makes to manage those projects. Using a model conceptualized from the literature on strategic management, an analysis of four organizations that have made significant investments in project management over the past 5 years supports the hypothesis that the degree of “fit” between an organization's strategic drivers of value and the configuration of its project management system influences the value it obtains from project management.     

Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences

Key dimensions of project manager behaviors considered to be associated with successful project outcomes have included both appropriate collaborative behaviors and transformational leadership. More recently, emotional intelligence has been suggested as a unique area of individual differences that is likely to underpin sets of behaviors in this area. Based on a sample of 67 UK project managers, it was found that emotional intelligence ability measures and empathy explained additional variance in the project manager competences of teamwork, attentiveness, and managing conflict, and the transformational leadership behaviors of idealized influence and individualized consideration, after controlling for cognitive ability and personality.     

浅论我国工程项目管理的发展

文章在对国外先进的项目管理理念进行全面学习和分析的前提下,理清我国建设工程项目管理模式发展的脉络,找出其中的不足和缺陷,并及时解决存在的问题,最终找到适合我国国情发展的工程项目管理模式。     

Understanding the adoption of project management in Serbian organizations: Insights from an exploratory study

The article contributes to our understanding of the drivers behind, and the nature of, project management implementation in the complex context of a transitional economy. Relevant insights are generated through an integrated and dynamic analysis of interviews and secondary data from a sample of local organizations, based on a conceptual model of strategic transformation. The analysis concludes with propositions about how both adoption of and resistance to project management implementation in the region could be understood from a strategic point of view, taking into account complex and dissonant circumstances of transition, history, cultural tradition, embedded social values, and identities of individual organizational members.     

Availability‐impact analysis of project management trends: Perspectives from allied disciplines

The goal of this research was to analyze current and future trends of the allied management disciplines that influence project management. We asked academicians and practitioners about the availability of knowledge and the potential impact of allied disciplines on project management. We were able to assess where the allied disciplines currently stand in terms of availability and impact as well as make predictions about the future. The thoughts and visions collected from this research provide valuable insights for identifying trends in the allied disciplines and their impact on the future of project management, as well as opportunities, challenges, and obstacles.     

企业信息化项目管理对项目成功的影响研究

在企业信息化项目中,项目管理是企业深化改革和提高信息化效益的重要途径。但是项目管理究竟在项目建设中发挥了多大作用,对项目成功起到了怎样的影响,这一直以来都是一个模糊的概念。文章通过问卷调查和结构方程模型具体衡量项目管理对项目成功的影响程度。