Project leadership: an empirical investigation

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with effective project leadership. The main objective of this work is to support more effective project leadership by providing project managers with a stronger, more relevant and practical framework of key skills and competencies for specific project environments. Interest in project management has increased over the past several decades. Projects have become more prevalent and important within organizations and relied upon more heavily for organizational success; they have also become larger and more complex. These factors and others make projects more difficult to manage. At the same time, the effectiveness of the project manager is widely recognized as critical for project success, therefore it is essential to know which key skills and competencies are most important. Also, because projects can vary in terms of their characteristics and the work they require of the project manager to be successful, the required project manager skills and competencies may be very different for different projects. The research used three phases in the investigation. Phase 1, a Delphi Study, solicited the input of expert project professional about project manager skills, competencies, and project characteristics. Phase 2, focus groups, considered the potential fit of the project manager's work and the skills and competencies deemed most important from the perspective of the project manager and project sponsor. Phase 3, surveys, validated the findings from the prior research related to the importance of project manager skills and competencies and work. The results. of this investigation have provided new insight into key areas related to project manager effectiveness, revealing that the importance of project manager skills and competencies changes depending on the context in which the project is delivered. In general, "soft" skills and competencies are more often cited as very important than are "harder" or more technically focused skills and competencies. The research further showed discrepancy between the work of the project manager and the skills and competencies considered critical for them, as well as inconsistencies between the views of project managers and sponsors.