MBTI Personality Types of Project Managers and Their Success: A Field Survey

Jungian personality type preferences of female and male Hungarian leaders

In this study, we investigated the personality type preferences of female and male Hungarian non-managerial individual contributors, middle managers, and executives. We aimed to investigate the preferences among successful females and males (i.e., executives) compared to non-executives. The preference distinctions between successful females and males were also analyzed. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using the Jungian-based Golden Profiler of Personality (GPOP) questionnaire (N = 5,376; 2,678 females, 2,698 males; average age 35.98 with an SD = 8.977). Executives scored higher in extraversion, intuition, thinking, perceiving, and calm preferences compared to middle managers and individual contributors while scoring lower in sensing and tense preferences. Extraversion, intuition, and feeling preferences were more prevalent among female executives than both male executives and women in general. Our findings suggest that Hungarian female executives' personality preferences align with either stereotypically feminine traits (intuitive and feeling) or male executive-like preferences (extraverted, sensing, thinking, and judging combination). We also discussed the influence of cultural norms and expectations on the personality preferences of female and male executives. Our results are in line with prior research conducted in the Western context, however, the gender differences are more striking. We concluded that men have a reasonable chance of success across a spectrum of personality preferences as they ascend the hierarchy, while women need to exhibit specific preferences to be successful on the same journey. The self-descriptive and cross-sectional nature of our data spell limitations, therefore we suggest conducting future longitudinal studies, including explanatory and contingency variables (e.g. perceived cultural norms).

Barriers of knowledge management in virtual project teams: a TISM model

In an era of global integration, especially after the release of covid-19, more and more project teams have started working from home. However, the creation of virtual teams is not without barriers for which leaders should be especially prepared. There is a lack of research on knowledge management in the context of virtual project teams. This study aims to reduce the identified gap by identifying the main barriers as well as analyzing their impact on the functioning of virtual teams. The study used analysis of the literature, TISM and MICMAC models, and research among experts. The results indicate key barriers, that are plan of work and collaboration among team members.

Personality in information systems professions: identifying archetypal professions with suitable traits and candidates' ability to fake-good these traits

Purpose

The importance of information systems (IS) professions is increasing. As personality–job fit theory claims, employees must have suitable personality traits for particular IS professions. However, candidates can try to fake-good on personality tests towards the desired personality type. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify archetypal IS professions, their associated personality types and examine the reliability of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test in IS recruitment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors reviewed academic literature related to IS professions to identify job archetypes and personality traits for IS professions. Then, the authors conducted an experiment with 452 participants to investigate whether candidates can fake-good on personality tests when being tested for a particular IS profession.

Findings

The identified job archetypes were IS project manager, IS marketing specialist, IS consultant, IS security specialist, data scientist and business process analyst. The experimental results show that the participants were not able to fake-good considerably regarding their personality traits for a particular archetype.

Research limitations/implications

The taxonomy of IS professions should be validated further. The experiment was executed in an educational organisation and not in a real-life environment. Actual work performance was not measured.

Practical implications

This study enables a better identification of suitable candidates for a particular IS profession. Personality tests are good indicators of the candidate's true personality type but must be properly interpreted.

Originality/value

This study enhances the existing body of knowledge on IS professions' archetypes, proposes suitable MBTI personality types for each profession and provides experimental support for the appropriateness of using personality tests to identify potentially suitable candidates.

Project Managers’ Personality and Project Success: Moderating Role of External Environmental Factors

Successful project completion is a challenging phenomenon for project managers. Various factors play an indispensable role in the success of a project. The objective of this study is to examine the role of project managers’ personalities in project success with the moderating role of external environmental factors i.e., political, economic, social. The study includes 145 project managers from 36 large-scale construction projects, from both the public and private sectors. The big five personality model was used to evaluate the personality traits of project managers and triple constraint criteria (cost, time, and quality) was used to gauge project success. Data has been collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The analysis of data indicated that personality traits like extraversion and openness are positive predictors of project success, whereas conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism did not have any direct relationship with project success. Importantly, the findings of this study concluded that external environmental factors—like political, economic, and social—moderately influence the link of specific project managers’ personality traits to project success. The role of external environmental factors as moderators has been discussed. The findings indicate the essential personality traits, as well as the role of external factors for achieving project success. The research contributions have relevance to both theory and practice and provide a deeper insight that is useful for individuals, organizations, researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers.

An actor–network theory perspective for “Lean” interventions in manufacturing firms

Purpose

This paper tracks the network of actors participating in the initial implementation of a “Lean management” system, in order to identify associations between human and non-human participants conducive to successful adoption of the system.

Design/methodology/approach

The perspective of actor–network theory (ANT) helps reveal the complex dynamics at play in a “Lean” intervention at a manufacturing firm. It allows to identify key actors (human and non-human), as well as the possible associations between them, and helps produce network diagrams to track the changes in actors' roles and in network coherence over time.

Findings

Through a network analysis, the study charts the complexity of the process of Lean intervention, by accounting for the distinct possibility that actors' roles may shift over time, as they engage and disengage with the proposed intervention, until they fully cohere into a new system. Based on this, it derives a conceptual model to describe relevant factors for successful implementation of Lean improvement projects.

Originality/value

The ANT perspective affords new insights into Lean Management systems implementation, by highlighting associations between human and non–human actors. This novel focus suggests corresponding management guidelines and reflective practices for successful intervention.

The Impact of Project Managers’ Personality on Project Success in NGOs: The Mediating Role of Transformational Leadership

This study examined the extent to which project managers’ personality determines project success through the mediating mechanism of transformational leadership. The context of the study was nongovernmental projects that focused on education and health. Data were collected from 170 project managers who were engaged in 10 different programs in various areas of Pakistan. Based on the post-positivism approach and a specific deductive design, the results of the study indicated that Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience were direct positive predictors of project success, whereas transformational leadership acted as a mediator of these relations. One of the personality dimensions (i.e., Conscientiousness) had only an indirect effect on project success through transformational leadership. No relation was found between Neuroticism and project success. The theoretical and practical implications for project management are also discussed.

Lessons for IT Project Manager Efficacy: A Review of the Literature Associated with Project Success

In the maturing IT project management space, there are still many debates about the skills needed to achieve success. This article presents a review and synthesis of project management literature that highlights the potential conflict in goals and the measurement of “success” from three perspectives: project outcomes, project management processes, and the project manager's influence. Our review indicates that each perspective of success, defined by various stakeholders at various points in time, shifts the focus onto different skills and knowledge. Drawing upon this tri-focal lens, we propose a shift in focus on success to the intersection, or “sweet spot of project manager efficacy.”

Upper Echelons and Executive Profiles in the Construction Value Chain: Evidence from Italy

Which executive profiles currently govern the construction value chain? Addressing this lively research question is the key point of our article and it appears central to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers interested in project management in general, and construction and real estate in particular. For this reason, we draw from Upper Echelons Theory in studying the executive profiles of 109 important firms currently active in Italy. Our statistical analysis shows that, although homogeneity substantially regards the executive's gender, age, and level of education, heterogeneity is associated more with his or her functional background. We thus prospect some conceptual and methodological avenues for further analyses in this challenging area of research.

Does Project Management Affect Business Productivity? Evidence from Australian Small to Medium Enterprises

A fundamental assumption of project management practice and research is that using project management to achieve organizational objectives improves organizational performance. However, there is little published research that directly questions this assumption. This paper tests the hypothesis that using project management increases the productivity of small to medium enterprises, using data from two longitudinal surveys of Australian businesses with less than 200 staff members. These data were used to create models of the relationship between productivity and business skills using binary logistic regression. The models demonstrate that project management has a significant impact on small to medium enterprise productivity.