Project Managers as Senior Executives

Research Results, Advancement Model, and Action

Russell D. Archibald, PhD (Hon), Msc, PMP, Jean-Pierre Debourse, PhD, MPM

• Publisher: Project Management Institute
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781935589259
• eBook ISBN:
  9781628250251
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

A model for advancement for program and project managers. Project Managers as Senior Executives maps out a model for advancement for program and project managers and contributes new thinking on the emerging leadership of project managers as senior executives. The research is published in two volumes. Volume I—Research Results, Advancement Model, and Action Proposals presents the results and proposals from the study and Volume 2—How the Research Was Conducted: Methodology, Detailed Findings, and Analyses contains the research-oriented materials from the study. This book is for project managers, program managers, senior executives, and HR professionals who want to understand the strategic value of project management and how to develop executive skills. It addresses the lack of career advancement opportunities for project managers and the difficulty in transitioning to senior executive roles.

CHAPTER 1

Executive Summary

This Executive Summary covers both Volumes I and II of this research report.

1.1. The Purpose of This Research Study

Over the past five decades in the evolution of modern project management there has been little research regarding the career paths of persons working in this field: project planning and control specialists, project managers, program managers, and executives in charge of the project management function within business, industrial, and governmental organizations.

Since its founding 42 years ago, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has been a leader in fostering and conducting the development and application of the project management discipline and related methods, tools, and techniques, plus the publication and acceptance of related standards, advanced academic degrees, training, and certification programs. Over the same period, a number of other professional associations, including the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and others, have contributed to the development of this management field.

PMI has always worked on the definition of the project management profession and the required skills (Roecker, 2007). PMI has a pyramid of all specializations in project management, definitions, respective hierarchies, and related orderings. However, what about the apex of the pyramid where project/program management stops and where strategic management begins?

The purpose of this study is to focus on this interface from a career development point of view.

1.2. Introduction to the Research Project (Chapter 2)

The project is a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product service or result” (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2008, p.5). In any organization, projects are related to strategic movements. The other major activities of an organization are the ongoing, repetitive operations.

A project is a onetime activity whereas operations are repetitive. A project is subject to many external factors, which may cause irreversibility in action. It is a risky activity, often with high creativity, and it takes its place in the history of the organization that bears it. It requires a strong psychological commitment from the people who manage it.

In many different kinds of organizations, specialized managers have appeared; these managers are totally or predominantly devoted to the success of their programs or projects: they are the program or project managers or directors. The scientific and professional community tends to admit that a certain number of skills are necessary to succeed. The skills are as follows: ability to operate in an uncertain universe; leadership and communication; decision making; power and authority; negotiation; conflict identification and resolution; orientation towards results; analytic and holistic perception ability; conceptualization and modeling; vision; personal skills: empathy, courage, charisma, creativity, discipline, and ethics.

When we compare these skills to those required from a functional manager or from a senior executive (including CEO), the conclusion is simple: there is a very close proximity between program and project managers and a senior executive in charge of a company in terms of role definition and skills.

Many authors (see Chapter 9) consider a program or project as a mini company. They often word it as “a small company” but some projects can be huge, for example, the Channel Tunnel.

Managing a project would then be managing a “small” company, but the difference is that the project has finiteness. Therefore, either in terms of skills, of difference between projects and operations or of “small company” projects, we could wonder why one who is efficient in managing projects or programs could not be efficient in managing the whole company.

1.3. Progression of Program and Project Managers to Higher Positions: Answers of the Respondents (Chapter 3)

Career Paths of the Respondents

The main retained conclusions are that at an intermediary level of the hierarchy, project and program managers progress in a quite normal manner towards their superior levels. However, we have few indications on their possible progressions to the top level.

We noticed that project and program managers stay longer in their first positions than the other categories (52.5 months compared to the average of 44.1 months) and in their first functions (107.2 months compared to the average of 71.9 months). The stay is significantly shorter for a senior executive, 68.1 months.

The other main conclusion on the analysis of career paths regarding CEOs biographies is that starting one's career in a high level responsibility position as a first function is far better for progressing upwards later.

Among the respondents, there are very few top executives who could show us how they reached this position. This reflects the fact that few executives answer web questionnaires, which is why we endeavored to conduct face-to-face interviews with CEOs (see Chapter 12).

The survey questionnaire gave a voice to project managers as to their opinions on whether they are prepared for a senior executive function; then as to how they intend to reach this function, particularly by a certain type of education, work experience, or through networks and political actions.

Among skills required for a successful career, soft skills often have a predominant influence. We then asked our respondents to evaluate the proximity between senior executives and program/project managers of soft skills and of the roles components.

A large majority of respondents (88%) stated that project management experience prepares them for a senior executive position, even if it also constitutes a pro domo pleading.

Then the following question was asked: “How does experience as a program/project manager prepare you to become an effective senior executive?” For the results, we put in parallel the responses of program and project managers on project management experience to prepare them first to reach the senior executive positions and second to work efficiently in the senior executive positions.

Project managers believe that skills coming from experience, and therefore related to the tasks, are more important for getting to a senior executive function, than for exercising it, when soft skills more related to the individual prevail.

Obviously, they also mention the differences (importance of management, role of power and networks, and scope of responsibilities). However, they are often stamped with the positivist paradigm: being successful in program/project management will lead to a senior executive position.

In addition, project managers’ answers provide a confirmation and an internal validation to the research question 1, “Does experience as a successful program and project manager prepare a person for Top level executive positions?” We already had an external validation of this with the CEOs’ answers in the face-to-face interviews (see Chapter 12).

The Perceived or Preferred Ways of Progression Through a Certain Type of Education

Question 64, “Do you believe that having a certain type of education helps get people a promotion to senior executive positions in your company,” is controversial. The answer rate is not very high: 62%. Among the respondents, 28.5% consider that continuing a certain type of education does not help to get a promotion; 8% consider that it is not enough. These results are contrary to what the importance of certain types of degrees are in France and in the United States with the MBA. This is shown by the degrees held by senior executives a reported above in Sections 1.5 and 1.8. Graduation from a specific university is not determining in itself, but, as we show in Section 1.5 and later in Chapter 5, the CEOs’ education in the top business or engineering schools is very important.

The main benefits from a particular type of education are more abilities, skills and confidence, knowledge and thinking, business understanding and management, and understanding of finance. The right education is also a factor in a world of competition and developing a role of towards general direction. It is also important to have an education similar to that of the existing senior executives, and this often enhances the possibility to create a network of personal contacts with senior executives in other organizations.

The Perceived or Preferred Ways of Progression With a Certain Type of Work Experience

This field is familiar to our respondents. They consider that work experience better promotes the access to senior executive functions (70%). The three main paths for reaching the top level get quite similar response rates:

• 31.5% for the expertise in a functional area;
• 28.1% in an area developed across project management; and
• 30.1% with an experience as department or division head.

This means that 61.6% of the answers belong to the category that is outside of the areas of project management.

The Perceived or Preferred Ways of Progression Using Networks and Political Actions

Generally, project managers (especially women) as represented by our respondents do not like much political actions. However, they do not ignore that organizations are political places. This is why we have 83% of answers to that question. Nevertheless, they consider it more as development of personal skills linked to political aspects than to proper political actions or to networking. We have grouped the responses in this area into three steps:

The first step is to develop personal skills. The reported areas of development to operate in order to better play the political game are as follows: communication, personal abilities, management skills, organizational analysis, and knowing how to deal with people.

The second step relates to developing networking opportunities and activities: analysis of stakeholders is often mentioned. This second step consists in getting these skills. Having the required skills is good, implementing them is better.

The third step is building the networking activities and acting to belong to the best networks, developing visibility, and relations with senior executives. An old friend, a famous expert in project and program management, with a long experience, maliciously adds “ass kissing” probably because he never had to practice it.

Soft Skills: Comparison Between Those Needed for Successful Program and Project Managers and for Senior Executives

This is a synthesis of all the soft skills characteristics and importance t...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter 1—Executive Summary
• Chapter 2—Introduction to the Research Project
• Chapter 3—Progression of Program and Project Managers to Higher Positions
• Chapter 4—The General Advancement Model and its Variations According to the Feelings about Professional Advancement
• Chapter 5—Verification of the Research Hypotheses and Answers to the Research Questions
• Chapter 6—Proposals to Enhance Advancement: Individuals, Enterprises, and Professional Associations
• Chapter 7—General Conclusions and Proposals for Further Research
• References
• Brief Bios of Co-Authors