J. Rodney Turner

The project manager's leadership style as a success factor on projects: a literature review

The Project Management Institute has commissioned the authors to conduct research into whether the project managers leadership style is a success factor on projects, and whether its impact is different on different types of projects. In this paper, we review the literature on the topic. Surprisingly, the literature on project success factors does not typically mention the project manager and his or her leadership style or competence as a success factor on projects. This is in direct contrast to the general management literature, which views effective leadership as a critical success factor in the management of organizations, and has shown that an appropriate leadership style can lead to better performance. Since, unlike most literature on project success factors, project management literature does consider the role of the project manager, we also review what it says about his or her leadership style and competence.

Aligning capability with strategy: Categorizing projects to do the right projects and to do them right

Organizations that undertake many projects need to identify the types undertaken, and use labels to name them. These labels are attributes that form the basis of a project categorization system. There are two reasons why organizations need to categorize projects. The first is to develop and assign appropriate competencies to undertake projects successfully (do them right). The second is to prioritize projects within an investment portfolio to maximize return on investment (do the right projects). Prior research into project classification, the methodology adopted, and the model developed is described. Two major components of a project classification system, the purposes for classifying projects and the attributes used to classify them, are identified; as well as that attributes can be grouped into larger classes. There are also more complex, multidimensional systems for categorizing projects. Finally, how an organization can implement a categorization system is described. This research of project categorization was funded by the Project Management Institute.

Project management in small to medium‐sized enterprises: A comparison between firms by size and industry

Purpose – Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy, in terms of employment and their contribution to national wealth. A significant proportion of that contribution comes from innovation. SMEs are also the engine for future growth in the economy. Project management has a role to play in managing that innovation and growth. The purpose of this paper is to find the extent to which SMEs use projects, project management and the tools of project management, and to determine what differences there are by size of company and industry.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was developed to examine the extent to which small firms carry out projects, the resources they employ, the way they measure project success and the tools and techniques that they use. The questionnaire was answered by 280 companies from a range of industries and sizes.Findings – It is found that companies of all sizes spend roughly the same proportion of turnover on projects, but the smaller the company, t...

Comparing the leadership styles of functional and project managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences between leadership competences of project managers and those of functional managers.Design/methodology/approach – Leadership styles ...

Beyond the line: exploring the HRM responsibilities of line managers, project managers and the HRM department in four project-oriented companies in the Netherlands, Austria, the UK and the USA

The topic of what human resource management (HRM) responsibilities are devolved from the HRM department to line managers has attracted much interest in recent years. We report findings from a study on the devolution of HRM practices in four project-oriented companies (POCs) and argue that although HRM practices are carried out beyond the HRM department, they are also carried out beyond the line. While the literature on devolving HRM responsibilities to line management is burgeoning, the HRM responsibilities of managers beyond the line organization are neglected. We make two contributions to the literature. Firstly, our study reveals that some HRM practices are the domain of the project manager rather than either the line manager or the HRM department. The complex interplay of the roles of the HRM department, line management and project management creates challenges and pitfalls where people are managed across the boundaries of the permanent and temporary organization. We identify a potentially powerful role for the HRM department in both monitoring and guiding the different players from the line and the project organizations, and in protecting the well-being of employees whose work traverses these organizational boundaries. Our second contribution is that we map the diversity of practices in different POCs for managing the interplay between the three main parties delivering HRM practices and offer project orientation as a contextual indicator that contributes to diversity in HRM practices.

Attitudes and leadership competences for project success

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative importance of project managers attitudes towards their project and their leadership competences for achieving project success. Leadership competences were assessed as emotional, managerial, and intellectual competences (EQ, MQ, IQ, respectively) using the leadership dimensions questionnaire. Attitudes were assessed through the importance project managers assign to the project success criteria.Design/methodology/approach – Building on the competency school of leadership theories, this study used 400 responses to a global web‐based questionnaire to identify the variances in attitudes and leadership competences of project managers and its relation to project success. ANOVA and regression analyses were used to identify how attitudes and leadership competences related to project results.Findings – The paper identifies two types of results variances, these are, variances in project results and variances in business results. The former is caused...

Measuring program success

Growth in the use of programs has led to a requirement of understanding what constitutes program success. A measurement construct for program success, which comprises four dimensions—delivery capability, organizational capability, marketing capability, and innovative capability—was developed based on 172 responses to a web-based questionnaire to program managers. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and canonical correlation analysis were applied to test for the relationship between program success and program context. Results showed that the measurement construct for program success was stable over different types of program contexts. It provides a tool for further investigation into program success assessment.

Project management: future developments for the short and medium term

Abstract With this February 1994 issue of the International Journal of Project Management , I enter my first full calendar year as editor. I take this opportunity to look back over some developments in project management during the 11-year life of the journal, and consider possible future developments over the next decade. I consider current developments seen from my vantage point as consultant, trainer and editor of the journal, and try to predict what the next ten years may hold.

Corporate development: balancing changes to people, systems and organization

Abstract Performance and productivity need to be improved in industry. The UK and Norwegian practices of Coopers and Lybrand have developed an approach to project management which encourages the project manager to manage the achievement of goals.

The organization design perspective on the project-based organization: a structured review

Purpose n n n n nThe purpose of this paper is to use an organizational design perspective to determine the scope of the state-of-the art of research into project-based organizations. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThe paper follows a structured framework-based literature review approach. It uses an analytical framework from the organization design literature to assess 177 papers relevant to the design of the project-based organization that were published in four leading PM journals between 2008 and 2015. The authors determine which elements of organization design are covered in each paper and identify specific research themes for each of the element emerging from the literature. Finally, the authors examine the degree to which interdependencies among separate elements are addressed in the literature and discuss the most holistic papers in more details. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThe results show that the literature on project-based organizations downplays broader organizational issues (such as organizational strategy, incentive schemes and performance management systems) while emphasizing research agenda inherited from research on single project management. In addition, the study highlights limited attention in the literature to the interdependence between separate design choices. Finally, it develops a research framework to map current themes in the literature and their relative importance and discusses a prospective research agenda. n n n n nResearch limitations/implications n n n n nAcademic implications stem from looking at the project management literature from a fresh theoretical perspective and putting project-based organization as a whole in the focus. There is a great research potential in studying organization-wide aspects and interdependencies between various organization design choices in project-based organizations. n n n n nPractical implications n n n n nReflective practitioners could benefit from a wider view on the project-based organization and its design. They could also use the developed framework in management discussions. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThe paper offers a novel way of conceptualizing research on project-based organizations by linking it to an established stream within the field of organization theory and design.