An investigation of project managers' influence on team composition project outcomes

This investigation evaluated the connection between project managers or leaders influence on project outcomes when leading multiple types of teams concurrently. Specially, traditional teams with members co-located and interface face-to-face, virtual teams geographically dispersed and members interface through technology, and hybrid teams defined as having team members that are both traditional and virtual. The foundation for this quantitative study leveraged from research that revealed 50 to 80 billion dollars wasted annually due to unsuccessful project management practices. Accumulative research also disclosed limited knowledge on the subject of project managers' performance when managing diverse team compositions that consist of virtual and traditional teams concurrently. The research study collected data from individuals that lead or managed projects and worked with teams. The statistical findings confirmed a relationship between project mangers' or leaders influence over teams' performance that ultimately affected project outcome as it relates to completion to schedule and within budget; explicitly when the project manager or leader worked with multiple teams concurrently. Additionally, the research results exposed two distinct elements, 1) project leaders do work with multiple types of teams concurrently, and 2) project leaders from this study reported working more with hybrid teams versus virtual teams. Project performance for this study supports the stance from previous research that the measurement for project success is multidimensional and bound to the essentials of the project, statement of work, project members, and stakeholders.