Profile of Effective Project Managers

Albert A. Einsiedel, Jr., Ph.D., University of Alberta

Project Management Journal 18, no. 5 (December 1987)

WHY ARE SOME individuals more consistently successful as project managers than others? Do they perform more effectively because they possess certain traits and competencies—the “right stuff” for managing projects—and, if so, what are these qualities and abilities?

The success or failure of most managers depends on a wide variety of factors, some of which have little or nothing to do with the manager's personal ability or motivation. For example, it is conceivable that particular individuals may have been assigned to “manage” a project over which they have very little real influence. Such a project ...

Get Leadership Skills for Project Managers now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.