The real role of the project manager: A research proposal
Anonymous
Please cite as: Anon (2011) The real role of the project manager, Online Journal of Project Management, Reviews, No. 1, 1st Quarter 2011
Research proposal
This research proposes to investigate and compare the theoretical role of the project manager, practitioner’s understanding of their roles, employer’s expectations, and the roles that project managers perform in practice.
Confusion and failure caused by misalignment between theory, practice and expectations point to the need for this research. Aside from methodological differences, organisations also implement project management in different ways, projects require different roles, and project managers come from different schools and cultures. Practical experience indicates this role confusion can lead to workplace conflict, ineffective and inefficient project management. Project managers have reported experiencing issues that include:
· Low personal motivation.
· No perceived control over outcomes.
· No sense of achievement, of not making a difference.
· A sense of being lost.
· Feeling irrelevant, of not making a meaningful contribution.
· Feeling that one’s education has been wasted.
· Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
· Frustration at hearing responses like ‘we don’t do it here like that’, and ‘that way is too academic/theoretical/impractical’.
Discussion with practitioners suggests that personal introspection may not completely alleviate the symptoms, and that the careers of otherwise technically proficient and experienced project managers were being impeded.
This research proposes to develop a theoretical model describing the variety of roles a project manager may encounter. The model will then be developed further using a reflective review of the author’s own experience, and tested by applying a survey instrument to a sample of project managers.
A comprehensive practical model that describes possible roles for a project manager may then be derived from the theory. Employers may use this model to recruit project managers with suitable soft skills or role experience, and project managers employ the model to choose more compatible projects and establish what is expected of them.