| The purpose of the study was to identify which project management competencies are most important when designing job descriptions, hiring, and promoting project managers. Professional project managers who attended the Project Management Institute® (PMI) 2001 Annual Seminars & Symposium during November 1–5, 2001, were surveyed as to their perceptions regarding the importance of selected project management competencies in relation to designing job descriptions, hiring, and promoting project managers. Additionally, a comparison was done between the importance of hard skill competencies and soft skill competencies in regard to the three areas contained in the study. The researcher developed a survey based on a literature review, expert advice, and feedback from two pilot surveys. Respondents (n = 193) completed the survey at PMI's 2001 Annual Seminars & Symposium. Descriptive analysis consisting of response frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, and ranges of response scales were used to analyze the survey data. Cross-tabulation analysis was used to compare different categories of demographic data. An ANOVA analysis was used to determine significant variance between the ranking of the competencies in the survey and the categories of application in the study.; The most significant findings of the study are as follows. The five most important competencies for inclusion in project management job descriptions are (a) determine project goals, (b) project leadership, (c) determine project deliverables, and (d) develop project plan, while setting and managing expectations and team building tied for the fifth most important competency. The five most important competencies to consider when hiring project managers are (a) trustworthiness, (b) project leadership, (c) determine project goals, (d) determine project deliverables, (e) communication style. The five most important competencies to consider when promoting project managers are (a) trustworthiness, (b) project leadership, (c) determine project goals, (d) team building, (e) communication style. This study strongly indicates that soft skill competencies are more important than hard skill competencies for inclusion in job descriptions, hiring, and promoting project managers. |
