Project Managers careers
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
International Journal of Project Management 31 (2013) 889 – 902 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman Project managers and career models: An exploratory comparative study
Karin Bredin a , Jonas Söderlund b,⁎ a Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden b BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Abstract
Prior research has paid little attention to the careers and career models of project managers. This is troublesome for at least two reasons. First, project managers are becoming an increasingly important category of managers and today they constitute a major part of many organizations ' leadership capability.
Second, traditional literature on careers generally does not address project-based careers as a specific case in point, although this kind of career is unique in the sense that it is based on temporary assignments and lack of formal positions. The research presented in this paper identifies and explains patterns of similarities and differences among applied career models in ten large, mature project-intensive firms in Sweden. The paper identifies a number of factors that seem to be critical for the design of career models for project managers, including the number of levels, the complexity of assignments, and the degree of formal requirements. The paper also outlines two archetypes of career models applied by the firms under study: the competence strategy model and the talent management model.
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Career; Career model; Project manager
1. Introduction
1.1. Project-based work, project-based careers
Already in the mid 1990s, former CEO of world electrical giant
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Mr. Percy Barnevik addressed the importance of project managers to build successful project businesses. He argued that the company was in need of more than 350 global project managers who were able to run large-scale
projects.
International Journal of Project Management 31 (2013) 889 – 902 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman Project managers and career models: An exploratory comparative study
Karin Bredin a , Jonas Söderlund b,⁎ a Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden b BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Abstract
Prior research has paid little attention to the careers and career models of project managers. This is troublesome for at least two reasons. First, project managers are becoming an increasingly important category of managers and today they constitute a major part of many organizations ' leadership capability.
Second, traditional literature on careers generally does not address project-based careers as a specific case in point, although this kind of career is unique in the sense that it is based on temporary assignments and lack of formal positions. The research presented in this paper identifies and explains patterns of similarities and differences among applied career models in ten large, mature project-intensive firms in Sweden. The paper identifies a number of factors that seem to be critical for the design of career models for project managers, including the number of levels, the complexity of assignments, and the degree of formal requirements. The paper also outlines two archetypes of career models applied by the firms under study: the competence strategy model and the talent management model.
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. APM and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Career; Career model; Project manager
1. Introduction
1.1. Project-based work, project-based careers
Already in the mid 1990s, former CEO of world electrical giant
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Mr. Percy Barnevik addressed the importance of project managers to build successful project businesses. He argued that the company was in need of more than 350 global project managers who were able to run large-scale
projects.
References: Allen, T.J., Katz, R., 1995. The project-oriented engineer: a dilemma for human resource management Arthur, M.B., Hall, D.T., Lawrence, B.S., 1989. Generating new directions in career theory: the case for a transdisciplinary approach Baruch, Y., 2004. Transforming careers: from linear to multidirectional career parthe: organizational and individual perspectives Baruch, Y., Rosenstein, E., 1992. Human resource management in Israeli firms: planning and managing careers in high-technology organizations Berggren, C., 1996. Building a truly global organization? ABB and the problems of integrating a multi-domestic enterprise Boltanski, L., Chiapello, E., 1999. Le novel esprit du capitalisme. Gallimard, Paris. Bredin, K., Söderlund, J., 2006. HRM and project intensification in R&D-based companies: a study of Volvo Car Corporation and AstraZeneca Carbone, T.A., Gholston, S., 2004. Project manager skill development: a survey of programs and practitioners Castells, 1996. The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell, Oxford. De Meyer, A., Loch, C.H., Pich, M.T., 2002. Managing project uncertainty: from variation to chaos Eisenhardt, K.M., 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14 (4), 532–550. El-Sabaa, S., 2001. The skills and career path of an effective project manager. Gaddis, P.O., 1959. The project manager. Harvard Business Review 37 (3), 89–97. Gooderham, P.N., Nordhaug, O., Ringdal, K., 1999. Institutional and rational determinants of organizational practices: human resource management in Hall, D.T., 2002. Careers In and Out of Organizations. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks. Hedlund, G., 1994. A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation Heimer, C.A., 1984. Organizational and individual control of career development in engineering project work Hobday, M., 2000. The project-based organisation: an ideal form for managing complex products and systems? Research Policy 29 (7/8), 871–894. Hodgson, D., Muzio, D., 2011. Prospects for the professionalism in project management Hölzle, K., 2010. Designing and implementing a career path for project managers. Jones, C., DeFillippi, R.J., 1996. Back to the future in film: combining industry and self-knowledge to meet the career challenges of the 21st century Lawrence, P., Lorsch, J., 1967. Organization and Environment. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Lindgren, M., Packendorff, J., 2009. Project leadership revisited: towards distributed leadership perspectives in project research Midler, C., 1995. ‘Projectification’ of the firm: the Renault case. Scandinavian Journal of Management 11 (4), 363–375. Mintzberg, H., 1979. The Structuring of Organizations: A Synthesis of the Research Morris, P.W.G., Crawford, L., Hodgson, D., Shepherd, M.M., Thomas, J., 2006 Müller, R., Turner, R., 2010. Leadership competency profiles of successful project managers Parker, P., 2002. Working with the intelligent career model. Journal of Employment Counseling 39, 83–96. Penrose, E., 1959. The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. Blackwell, London. Ricciardi, M. 2001. Projektpsykologi: produktutveckling ur människans perspektiv. Rosenbaum, J., 1979. Tournament mobility: career patterns in a corporation. Rousseau, D., 1995. Psychological Contracts in Organizations. Sage, Thousand Oaks. Schein, E.H., 1996. Career anchors revisited: implications for career development in the 21st century Shenhar, A.J., Dvir, D., 2007. Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Approach to Successful Growth and Innovation Söderlund, J., 2005. Developing project competence: empirical regularities in competitive project operations Söderlund, J., 2011. Pluralism in project management: research at the crossroad of specialization and fragmentation Tremblay, M., Wils, T., Proulx, C., 2002. Determinants of career path preferences among Canadian engineers Walker, J.W., 1976. Let 's get realistic about career paths. Human Resource Management 15 (3), 1–7. Wang, X.S., Armstrong, A., 2004. An empirical study of PM 's professional commitment to their profession and employing organization Wheatley, M.J., Kellner-Rogers, M., 1996. A Simpler Way. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco. Whitley, R., 2006. Project-based firms: new organizational form or variations on a theme Wilemon, D.L., Cicero, J.P., 1970. The project manager—anomalies and