Project Manager Development Paths

Liselore Havermans, Chantal Savelsbergh

• Publisher: Project Management Institute
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781628250664
• eBook ISBN: 9781628251173
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

This study has investigated the professional development of project managers through interviews, surveys, and personality inventories from a sample of practitioners. Results from the research reveal how learning experiences as well as personal characteristics comport with professional development.

CHAPTER

1

INTRODUCTION

This Research Project

This research project is about project managers’ experiences while leading their projects and, in particular, about what they learned from these experiences and how this knowledge has influenced their professional development. Project management is, perhaps more than any other management discipline, a practitioner’s field. For many project managers it is mostly learning by doing rather than learning by studying. Why? Well, one reason is—as we shall see later in this report—that many project managers did not foresee the paths their careers would take during their years of formal education.

Cicmil, Williams, Thomas, and Hodgson (2006) notice that there is a lack of research that “takes seriously practitioner’s lived experience of projects” (p. 675). In the same vein, Morris (2013) argues that to increase the validity of our common knowledge we need more interpretative epistemologies in addition to the positivist epistemology that seems to dominate public knowledge.

An example of the positivist epistemology—the “theory of knowledge”—that Morris refers to is Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) – Fifth Edition. This widely accepted standard is based on the practical experience of those who created it. But we don’t know which experiences these are and why these experiences led them to conclude that their lessons learned are truly best practices.

The purpose of our investigation is to make a small but specific contribution to filling the gap in our knowledge that Cicmil and colleagues and Morris refer to. As this contribution is primarily about what happens in reality, we expect that it will not only serve the interests of academia but even more so those of the practitioners—human resource (HR) managers, in particular—who contribute to the professional development of their project managers.

Structure of This Report

Following common practice, we start out with an Executive Summary. In this summary we briefly describe our research approach and focus on why we did this investigation and what practitioners can take away from it. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the study and its contents.

Chapter 2 introduces the theoretical background of the study. This chapter focuses on the topics of becoming and being a project manager through learning experiences and development paths. Chapter 3 describes how we designed and executed the investigation.

In Chapter 4 we present the results of a pre-study, focusing on the views and expectations of line managers—those who have responsibility for the professional development of project managers.

Chapters 5 through 7 represent the main body of our research effort. The leading questions in these chapters are: Why and how do people become project managers? What do project managers learn from their experiences, and when? How does the experiential learning of project managers take place and who influences their learning?

In Chapters 8 and 9, we introduce the issue of whether or not personality and personal inclination play a role in the professional development of project managers. Hence, these chapters focus on individual differences.

Chapter 10 presents an overall view of how project managers develop and what they learn along the way. Here we disregard individual differences and look for commonalities.

Finally, Chapter 11 presents our conclusions and our advice on how to apply the results of our investigation.

CHAPTER

2

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Introduction

Although the literature has extensively addressed the competences needed to be an effective project manager (see Müller & Turner, 2006), very little is known about the development paths through which people become effective project managers. Though much learning occurs on the job (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, & McKee, 2013), most research on the development of project managers is focused on formal education programs (Berggren & Söderlund, 2008; Crawford, Morris, Thomas, & Winter, 2006; Ojiako, Ashleigh, Chipulu, & Maguire, 2011; Pant & Baroudi, 2008; Thomas & Mengel, 2008). This raises the question of how the professional development of project managers progresses. What learning experiences shape the development of project managers? To what extent are these learning experiences related to formal or informal learning?

The development of project managers is not only of importance for the motivation and career progression of project managers themselves, but also for the projects and organizations in which they work. Investments in project-based learning can be beneficial on multiple levels, such as the individual, project, organization, and beyond (Arthur, DeFillippi, & Jones, 2001; Huemann, Keegan, & Turner, 2007).

Though research often focuses on either formal or informal learning, these two broad forms of learning are intertwined in practice (Marsick, 2009). This calls for research on the professional paths project managers take, both through formal development programs and ongoing practice (Cheetham & Chivers, 2001; Day et al., 2013).

With this study, we aim to explore the paths project managers have taken by capturing the types of learning that they perceive as having stimulated their professional development. This study responds to the call for research that focuses on practitioners’ lived experience of projects (Cicmil et al., 2006). Before moving on to the details of the current study, we introduce the theoretical background and explore the development paths of project managers. We discuss why and how people become project managers and the learning experiences that have shaped their development.

Becoming and Being a Project Manager

To date, the literature on motivation in projects has mainly focused on how project managers can motivate others (e.g. Dunn, 2001; Peterson, 2007; Schmid & Adams, 2008), while very little research has focused on what motivates project managers themselves (notable exceptions are Seiler, Lent, Pinkowska, & Pinazza, 2012; Tampoe & Thurloway, 1993). Project managers are often expected to be self-motivated; however, this assumption oversimplifies the important issue of what motivates project managers (Seiler et al., 2012). Hodgson, Patton, and Cicmil (2011) indicate that although project management is increasingly seen as an attractive career path, the reality of becoming a project manager can be a disillusioning experience. It is thus important to look at both initial attractors and current motivational and demotivating aspects of the work of project management.

Is it useful to know more about what motivates and what demotivates project managers in their job? We think it is. In line with Seiler et al. (2012), we believe that basic motivations are predictors of how people do their job and, consequently, of how successful they will be in doing their job. Expanding knowledge on the motivation of project managers can help line management in selecting those project managers with the highest potential to succeed. In addition, knowledge about the motivations of experienced project managers can help line management decide which subsequent project will be most appropriate to stimulate the further development of project managers, and can provide more insight into how the motivation of project managers can be stimulated throughout their careers. In addition, project managers themselves can benefit from having a thorough awareness and understanding of what does and does not motivate them.

Becoming a Project Manager

Holland’s model of vocational choice (Holland, 1959; Holland, 1997) is the most prominent theory of vocational interest (Furnham, 2001; Van Iddekinge, Putka, & Campbell, 2011). Holland’s model categorizes individuals into six types on the basis of their interests: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Realistic types like work that involves hands-on activities. Individuals with investigative interests like intellectual and scientific work activities. Artistic types like work that involves creative, expressive, and unconventional activities. People with social interests like work that involves helping and teaching. Enterprising types like assertive and leadership activities. Finally, people with conventional interests like a well-ordered work routine.

The role of project manager has specific characteristics that can potentially attract and motivate people to become and stay project managers. For example, Gaddis (1959) described the role of the project manager as challenging, exciting, and crucial. Though project management has many characteristics that could potentially motivate people to become project managers, not every project manager deliberately chose this as a career. Career decision making can be seen as including both rational and intuitive processes (Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2009). People often drift into jobs instead of consciously choosing them (Furnham, 2001). This can be explained by expectancy theory in which the motivation to pursue job alternatives is seen as a function of both attractiveness and attainability of the job (O’Reilly & Caldwell, 1980; Rynes & Lawler, 1983). This might be especially true for project management, as Hodgson et al. (2011) even talk of the “accidental profession” of project management. We will explore to what extent people consciously choose to become project managers, especially in relation to the vocational interests of project managers.

Information Received About Career Path

Career paths have changed from “linear” to “multidirectional,” making them more dynamic, asking for repeated, sometimes cyclical, career choices and transformational change (Baruch, 2004). In order to develop their careers, project managers rely on the continuous movement from project to project (Huemann et al., 2007). However, human resource management has largely neglected career possibilities and career design for project managers (Hölzle, 2010).

According to Bredin and Söderlund (2012), transparency about career opportunities can enhance motivation, clarify project management as a development opportunity, and also enhance the employer’s image. They show that project management career models can help give direction and perspective (Bredin & Söderlund, 2012). This leads us to the question: to what extent do project managers receive information about a possible career path?

Being a Project Manager

Though most research has focused on how project managers motivate others, some studies have focused on what motivates and demotivates project managers themselves. Project managers experience a range of positive factors in their work. For example, Tampoe and Thurloway (1993) identify mutuality, recognition for personal achievement, belonging, bounded power, and creative autonomy as key motivators for project managers. Seiler et al. (2012) show project managers’ motivation is influenced by interpersonal interaction, task, general working conditions, empowerment, personal development, and compensation.

Project managers also experience a range of negative factors in their work. Sotiriou and Wittmer (2001) find that project managers can experience frustration over a perceived authority gap; they feel they are responsible for much more than what they have authority over. Gällstedt (2003) identifies resource allocation problems and incidents related to priority problems within the organizations as the two most important issues that negatively affect motivation in project work. Tampoe and Thurloway (1993) find a number of factors that fall short of project managers’ expectations. These factors include the ability to influence decisions that affect them, the ability to use their delegated authority, the resources to do the job, personal development, and career progression. We will further explore how project managers perceive the positive and negative aspects of their job, and how line managers of project managers perceive positive and negative aspects of the project management profession.

Learning Experiences and Development Paths

What Do Project Managers Need to Learn (According to Existing Theory)

As various academics state, project managers have to develop a wide range of competencies in order to be successful in their role. For example, Crawford (2005) divides essential competencies of project managers into three categories. First, she discerns input competencies in the form of knowledge and skills people bring to the job. A whole range of competencies can be categorized as input competencies. For example, according to Katz and Allen (1985), project managers have a focus on integrating efforts to develop new products, and a short-term view, as opposed to functional managers who have a focus on ensuring technical integrity, and have a long-term view. Moreover, as Sotiriou & Wittmer (2001) state, project managers have to deal with both the task and people-related aspects of projects; these responsibilities come with a broad range of needed skills, in categories such as human, conceptual, organizational, and technical skills (El-Sabaa, 2001; Madter, Bower, & Aritua, 2012). Examples of human skills perceived as important by project management practitioners are understanding behavioral characteristics, leading and influencing others, conflict management, and cultural awareness (Fisher, 2011). In addition, Thomas and Mengel (2008) state that in order to deal with the complexity inherent in project contexts, it is important for project managers to be able to foster continuous change, reflect creatively and critically, cope with uncertainty and different perspectives, and increase self-knowledge.

Moreover, in order to progress in their careers, project managers need career competencies. In a project-based career it is especially important to shape your own career path, as people continuously have to move from project to project. Therefore, project managers should proactively look for development opportunities instead of depending on others to provide opportunities for them (Jones & DeFillippi, 1996). These career competencies can be divided into “know-why,” embedded in their beliefs and identities, “know-how,” embedded in their skills and knowledge, and “know-whom,” resulting from their relationships and contacts (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994). Part of the know-how that is especially important for project managers’ successful career progression is being able to understand multiple disciplines (El-Sabaa, 2001).

Second, Crawford (2005) discerns personal competencies in terms of personality characteristics underlying someone’s ability to do the job. We will explore individual differences and their possible impact on the development of project managers below, under the header “Personal Differences.”

And third, Crawford (2005) discerns output competencies in the form of demonstrable performance. For example, developing a certain leadership style and exhibiting associated leadership behaviors can have an impact on relationships among project team members enhancing their teamwork, which is related to project performance (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). In addition, it is important to learn how to adapt leadership behaviors to the project context (Müller & Turner, 2010).

In the current study, the focus will be on exploring what project managers have actually learned from experiences throughout their career as opposed to prescribing what they should learn.

Categories of Learning and Development

We know projects can be an essential medium for learning, but time pressure and deferral of learning until after projects have been finished often limits learning on projects (Keegan & Turner, 2001; Schindler & Eppler, 2003). In project contexts, idleness is necessary for reflection and learning (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1998). In order to understand how project managers learn and develop, we need to take into account a number of different routes for learning and development.

Crawford, Morris, Thomas, and Winter (2006) argue that, within the field of project management development, the focus should shift from training technical skills to reflective practice. For a significant part, professional development ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Theoretical Background
• Chapter 3: Research Method
• Chapter 4: A Prelude: The Perspective of the Line Manager
• Chapter 5: Why and How do People become Project Managers?
• Chapter 6: What do Project Managers Learn from their Experiences, and When?
• Chapter 7: How does the Experiential Learning of Project Managers take Place and Who Influences their Learning?
• Chapter 8: Personality Influences on Project Managers’ Learning and Development
• Chapter 9: Learning Experiences and Team Culture
• Chapter 10: Development Paths
• Chapter 11: Conclusions, Discussion, and Recommendations
• Appendix A: Interview Protocol
• Appendix B: List of Codes
• Appendix C: Survey
• References
• Author Biographical Sketches and Contact Details