Crafting Project Managers’ Careers: Integrating the Fields of Careers and Project Management

Abstract

Project managers experience unique careers that are not yet sufficiently understood, and more people than ever before are pursuing such careers. The research on project management and careers is therefore urgently needed in order to better understand the processes and systems shaping the careers of project managers. We address this gap by reviewing several key career theories and constructs and examining how these are mobilized to understand project managers’ careers in existing research. Our main conclusion is that boundaryless career theory has been the dominant career perspective in project management research, whereas other career theories—specifically protean career theory, social cognitive career theory, career construction theory, and sustainable career theory—are far less often mobilized as a basis for studies. We also find that some of the most popular constructs in careers research, such as career success and employability, have been used in recent project management research. However, their use in these studies is often implicit and does not necessarily leverage existing work from the careers field. We argue that there is strong potential for further and more systematic integration between project management and careers research in order to enrich both fields, and we offer a research agenda as a starting point.

Priming the Project Talent Pipeline: Examining Work Readiness in Undergraduate Project Management Degree Programs

“…There has been limited research on project management careers (Bredin & Söderlund, 2013; Keegan et al, 2018), but interest is growing (Chipulu et al, 2017), with recent calls by scholars (Akkermans et al, 2020) for more extensive research in this area. Project management has traditionally been viewed as an ‘accidental profession’ (Darrell et al, 2010; Pinto & Kharbanda, 1995; Richardson et al, 2015) with individuals finding themselves “rolling into the profession” (Havermans et al, 2019, p. 346), with the role of project manager often “thrust upon [them] rather than being sought” (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1995, p. 216).…”

“…Recent calls to examine career entry routes into the project management profession (Chipulu et al, 2017; Klein & Aubry, 2017), and how project managers’ careers evolve (Akkermans et al, 2020), highlight that investigation of this new undergraduate degree pathway is timely. A ‘chosen’ career in project management accessed through the higher education route comes with a unique challenge (not found in the traditional accidental career entry route) in terms of work readiness; in other words, the extent to which graduates with undergraduate project management degrees are prepared for work.…”

“…In line with this, the main objective of this research is to explore how Australian higher education institutions are preparing their undergraduates for work in the project management profession by analyzing the work-readiness attributes they embed in their degree programs. Moreover, in accordance with recent recommendations that there is much to be gained from the integration of project management and careers research (Akkermans et al, 2020), we draw upon the careers, higher education, and project management streams of literature to frame our study.…”

Is the Project Manager’s Road to Success Paved Only with Clear Career Paths?

“…At the same time, project managers still depend on their employers for career opportunities and competence development although, according to some authors (Bredin & Söderlund, 2011), employers often struggle to offer clear career paths and developmental opportunities. Despite this increasing importance and peculiarity within occupational groups, project management is an under-researched occupational domain into the careers literature and more research is needed to understand how project managers develop, construct, conceptualize, or experience their careers (Akkermans et al, 2019).…”

“…More in detail, as for recent studies, boundaryless careers were found to be associated with higher career autonomy and lower career insecurity (Colakoglu, 2011), higher objective career success (Sammarra et al, 2013; Volmer & Spurk, 2011), higher active coping, and external support seeking (Briscoe et al, 2012). Nevertheless, it must be noticed that this does not seem to be the case for project management, where boundaryless careers have received considerably greater coverage (Akkermans et al, 2019).…”