Internal versus external recruitment the story of three consecutive project managers in an IT project

TL;DR

This paper examines the impact of internal versus external recruitment of IT project managers through a case study of three consecutive PMs with different backgrounds, highlighting the importance of expertise and personality in project success.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into how internal and external IT project managers' skills and personalities influence project outcomes, emphasizing the need for expertise.

Findings

IT project management expertise is crucial for success.

Internal PMs understand organizational culture but often lack technical skills.

Personality traits of PMs can significantly affect project outcomes.

Abstract

As project managers (PMs) play an important role in project success, assigning PMs with appropriate skills and personalities to projects is a crucial task. Empirical research on skill requirements for information technology (IT) PMs is limited and little information systems literature focuses on the role of internally recruited IT PMs. This paper presents a case study of a troubled IT project which was led by three consecutive PMs, all with different backgrounds, skill sets, and personalities. Lessons learned from the three PMs confirm the importance of some skills previously described in the literature, and the need for an additional focus on how an IT PMs personality encourages or inhibits IT project outcomes. Internally recruited PMs usually lack IT project management expertise and experience but were found to have advantages in understanding organisational culture and business processes. Nevertheless, IT project management expertise was found to be a necessity of project success.