Abstract
Recent studies on the success rates of modern day projects have shown that the project management fraternity needs to go beyond merely achieving the current levels of excellence and become more relevant to the needs of the modern business environment. These modern, dynamic environments are characterised by high levels of pressure to perform, as well as rapid changes caused by advances in technology such as the internet. Factors such as globalisation and recessions are also playing a role in the increasingly intense cost-cutting contemporary organisation. Hence, the current project manager effectiveness factors previously researched like methodology, people-skills and leadership have brought project practice only so far and will not be all-encompassing in future. These refer to how the project manager relates externally during project practise, in terms of how the project manager relates to the project itself, the resources and stakeholders; but what of the project manager's own, internal self-assessment of his or her abilities in particular projects? How does the project manager handle him or herself, intrinsically and does this have an impact on the project manager's effectiveness in high-pressure contemporary business environments? If so, the awareness of this can create an improved project manager better equipped to handle him or herself in the new era. By means of meta-ethnography and qualitative research, it was found that a concept called self-efficacy is extremely relevant to project management in this regard, and enhances several personal attributes required for the project manager to thrive in these modern environments. The term 'self-efficacy' is defined as a person's own judgment of his or her capabilities to organise and execute the courses of action required to attain predetermined goals - hence the relevance to project managers. It is not concerned with the skills one has, but rather with the estimation of what one can attain with the skills one possesses. The researcher found that project managers who can manage their self-assessment with regards to their projects will be more effective in these turbulent times. The researcher's work also showed self-efficacy having a significant improvement in 5 specific personal competencies sorely needed in contemporary organisations - Adaptability/flexibility, Ability to handle ambiguity, Persistence/perseverance, Emotional Intelligence and Resilience. Ultimately, the paper shows these 5 competencies being important in contemporary environments and that self-efficacy significantly improves or enhances these for project managers in modern companies. In so doing, the researcher gives a clear indication of the effect of self-efficacy improvement on the effectiveness of project managers in contemporary organisations.
Highlights
Neuhauser (2007) alluded to the increased significance of project managers in the modern era by stating that they are more than ever, being relied upon as the people who are implementing corporate strategies and objectives rather than merely reporting status on a disaster. Muller (2009) stated that up to 30% of the world’s economy is based on projects, and projects are the building blocks to the sustainable growth of businesses
According to Campbell, Pound, Morgan, Daker-White, Britten, Pill, Yardley, Pope and Donovan (2011), the goal of synthesis is to go beyond a normal, narrative literature review, and should involve some degree of conceptual innovation. This is relevant for this current study, as the researcher needed to take results or concepts from different fields that were not previously studied together, like project management, self-efficacy and contemporary organisation effectiveness factors, and synthesise them to show if self-efficacy could make project managers more effective in contemporary companies
The researcher used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool to filter articles, to ensure the quality of the studies “fed” into the meta-ethnography process. This filtering process led the researcher to the reading of titles and abstracts of altogether 75 articles in academia on the topics of self-efficacy effects, project manager effectiveness competencies and competencies required of contemporary leaders and employees
Summary
Neuhauser (2007) alluded to the increased significance of project managers in the modern era by stating that they are more than ever, being relied upon as the people who are implementing corporate strategies and objectives rather than merely reporting status on a disaster. Muller (2009) stated that up to 30% of the world’s economy is based on projects, and projects are the building blocks to the sustainable growth of businesses. Arain and Tipu (2009:149) stated that “there is a need that business schools strive to improve the course offerings that incorporate the issues of complex, dynamic environments” This re-iterates that mere methodology or technical industry focus will not suffice. The following literature review examines the evolution of project manager competencies through the years It is a step through time leading to where the project manager skills focus areas are currently. It concludes with a suggestion on a new competency for the project fraternity to consider, called self-efficacy, to equip project managers for this dynamic and turbulent business environment. The literature review presents an explanation of self-efficacy, how to improve and maintain it, and the possible benefits to project managers
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