Project Manager Profile Characterization in the Construction Sector in Bogotá, Colombia

Application of Career Ecosystems Theory and the New Psychological Contract to the Field of Project Management: Toward a Conceptual Model

The purpose of this article is to explore how different actors can operate within a project management ecosystem to sustain a pool of project management personnel with the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the standards required to support successful project delivery into the future. A new conceptual model is presented offering a set of six propositions whereby professional associations mediate the relationship between project management personnel and employers. The article advances understanding of career ecosystems theory and the new psychological contract via application to a new domain of project management. Practical implications and future research opportunities are also discussed.

What Makes a Competent International Project Manager in Emerging and Developing Countries?

This study explores what makes a competent international project manager in emerging and developing countries by applying content analysis and multidimensional scaling method on the reports of project managers nominated by a Chinese nonprofit organization. The results indicate that international project manager competences can be understood from an efficiency-effectiveness−oriented perspective and an input-output−focused perspective. Four competence sets are identified, including fundamental knowledge and skills, goals-oriented competences, uncertainty and change management competences, and stakeholder management competences. The findings contribute to competence research in the international project context and provide insight for companies and individuals on career and competence development.

Critical Success Factors for Project Manufacturing Environments

The goal of this article is to identify and understand the relationship between the critical success factors (CSFs) of project manufacturing environments and project performance. This article explores those relationships through the logistic regression method, using a sample of 182 respondents and quantifying the influence of CSFs on success achievement in four dimensions (efficiency, impact on consumers, impact on the team, and preparation for the future). The results show that not all CSFs are significant in explaining project success. Thus, project managers must evaluate the influence of each one and consider it in their decisions.

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.

What Are the Characteristics that Software Development Project Team Members Associate with a Good Project Manager?

In this study we investigate what software development project team members consider to be a good project manager. Previous research has been carried out using project manager self-assessments, other project stakeholder views, or recruiters’ views. This qualitative study used the repertory grid technique to identify the characteristics that project team members associate with a good project manager. This technique has been adopted because of its strength in eliciting personal constructs. Among the 18 characteristics identified, the seven most relevant were classified and compared with previous findings, which reveals differences between the team members’ and project managers’ and other stakeholders’ perceptions. Those findings complement the existing skill set and could be considered when recruiting and training project managers and staffing projects.

Effort of EAI Projects: A Repertory Grid Investigation of Influencing Factors

Many companies struggle with effective and efficient accomplishment of enterprise application integration (EAI), resulting in significant time and budget overruns. Concerning project management, a major reason for failure is considered to be effort underestimation. This underestimation is an aftermath of applying estimation methods that do not account for all relevant factors influencing EAI project effort. Applying the Repertory Grid Technique, we explore factors affecting the effort of such projects by conducting 22 semi-structured expert interviews. We provide an extensive overview of 91 effort-influencing factors and their classification in nine categories, which can be used as a checklist in EAI projects.