Leading Complex Projects

CHAPTER 2METHODOLOGY AND DATA

The study that forms the basis of this book was IPA's¹ second quantitative analysis of the role of personality in project management. The earlier study, completed in 2016, developed some of the key methods used in the current study and demonstrated the efficacy of the remainder.² As a matter of essential background, IPA has collected detailed project information on over 20,000 capital projects executed by the petroleum, chemicals, minerals, pharmaceuticals, and electric power and infrastructure industries over the past 30 years. The data have been collected in conjunction with IPA's evaluation and benchmarking of those projects for over 400 firms and government agencies in all parts of the world. The project data have been collected using formal data collection instruments plus extensive face-to-face interviews with the owner teams, contractors, and other project participants. A project is typically evaluated and the concomitant data collected three times: twice prior to authorization and once after the start of beneficial operation. A fourth data collection captures the functionality of the project 12 to 18 months after startup.

One of the principal aims of this and other studies in our Competency Evaluation Series is to understand in a systematic and quantitative fashion the relationships between the characteristics of key project personnel and project outcomes.³ The goal is to understand the personality characteristics, cognitive style, and ...