Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited by project ......Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited...

Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited by project managers in

successful projects

Sello Masongwa 29 July 2016

Project Management SA –Western Cape

Presentation Agenda

• Preliminaries: Objectives • Topics considered • Literature review : principles • Literature Review: insights • Hypothesis statements : build-up • Hypotheses • Methods • Instrument: Reliability & Validity • Variables • Results and analysis • Conclusion • Reflection (Q & A)

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Preliminaries: Thank you

• Invitation to be a speaker

• For attendance

• Recognition

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Preliminaries: Objectives

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I have two objectives for today …

I seek to deliver a presentation that

is…

Engaging Reflective Stimulating

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Network

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Presentation Agenda


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Comparative study: The use different forms of contract ( FIDIC , NEC, JBCC) among project management professionals in South Africa

@ Trends, popularity

@ Ease of use: Language, Jargon, Legalities & Cross referencing

@ Approach to Payments, Compensation events, Dispute resolution & Ethics

@ Are PMs decision makers regarding choice of contract to be used? 8

Do project management professionals take up entrepreneurship?

• Is there a trend of project managers taking up entrepreneurship?

• Is it a logical progression? Similarities between skills,

competencies, personalities?

• Reasons for the trend (Barriers, Opportunities)

• Are project professionals good business people

• Are good business people good project managers

• Propose Interventions? Framework? 9

Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited by project managers in

successful projects

Conscientiousness …

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Presentation Agenda


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Comprehensive

Conversational

Decisions Justified

Critical

Features of a good literature review

Breath

Depth

Focused

Sequential

Educational

Theoretical

Universe Research Focus

Accepted / Rejected

Detailed vs superficial

Evaluate claims (S/W)

Methodology (NB issues)

Assumptions (Prove)

OUTCOMES

Scholarly credibility Empowering / Cautious Methodological innovation Ethical 1 2 3 4

Literature Review: principles

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Presentation Agenda


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Literature Review Insights: Project Manager

• thrive in a practice fraught with uncertainty and chaos

• highly sought after by organisations to implement projects with

ever increasing complexity

• perform many roles in varying capacities at different stages of the

project

• ultra-competitive environments of today require strategically-

orientated project managers to implement business strategy

• required to multi-task and to implement multiple projects at the

same time 15

Literature Review Insights: Project Manager

• “… the project manager should be the trouble-shooter and expeditor, consolidator of project achievements, flexible orchestrator, networker, ambassador, entrepreneur, and knowledge manager according to the different types of uncertainty (e.g. variation, foreseen uncertainty, unforeseen uncertainty, and chaos)

• the above illustrates that project managers are not the same as managers

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Literature Review: What drives their success?

• innate personality traits, skills and competencies

• Conscientiousness!

• Behavioural attributes: e.g. effective communication

• Influence:

– not conferred with much of the coercive powers

– matrix structures

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• Project success can be reliably assessed by the

four dimensions

Meeting planning goals (project efficiency)

Customer benefits (success from the customer’s point

of view)

Benefits to the parent organization

Benefit to the community and national infrastructure

Literature Review Insights: Project Success

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Literature Review Insights: What’s the problem?

• Projects still fail in large numbers

• Project Management Profession’s

understanding of factors that drive success

remains largely incomplete

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Literature Review Insights: Where to look?

• Personality…

• Entrepreneurship ?

• Argument for inter discipline knowledge sharing

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Literature Review Insights: Entrepreneur

• is a potent trait

• individuals with entrepreneurial skills are highly sought after

• managers are prepared to pay a premium to retain an

entrepreneurial employee

• agile and resourceful in a “field characterised by dynamism,

ambiguity, discontinuity, uniqueness and innovation”

• harness risk perceived by others

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• the operational responsibilities of a project manager – planning and control – are in stark contrast to the characteristics of an entrepreneur, which are to be creative and innovative to come up with new solutions

• literature propels entrepreneurship as the highly sought after capability, but not featured as one of the important and significant disciplines allied to project management

Literature Review Insights: Paradoxes

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• behavioural, temperamental, emotional and mental attributes

• include trait theories, psychodynamic theories, behaviourist theories, humanistic theories and cognitive and social-cognitive theories

• trait theory is the most popular

• trait is focus for this study

Literature Review Insights: Personality

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• born with personal characteristics

• prime and determine behaviour

• can be assessed for compatibility to a role e.g.

entrepreneurship

Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator( MBTI)

Five Factor Model (Big Five)

Type A & Type B personality traits etc.

Literature Review Insights: Trait Theory

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• Personality can be explained by the five broad taxonomy of traits which categorise more specific traits

• Strong empirical support • Factors:

• Conscientiousness • Extraversion • Open to Experience • Agreeableness • Neuroticism

Literature Review Insights: Big Five

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• successful project managers score higher on Conscientiousness and Open to experience

• new studies focus on matching personality to project type

Literature Review: Trait Theory in PM

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• Scholars have reconciled the “traditional” entrepreneurial traits to the Big-five:

- Need for Achievement » Conscientiousness

- Tolerance for Risk » Openness to Experience

- Locus of Control » Neuroticism

• Choice Dilemma Questionnaire (CDQ) – Risk

Literature Review: Trait Theory in Entrepreneurship

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Presentation Agenda


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Hypothesis Statements: Build-up

• A project is no ordinary management task:

it is a once-off, unique endeavour limited time and other resources Heterogeneous stakeholder interests

• For successful execution:

specialised skills and competencies tools and techniques

• Project manager is at the heart of the project

• Project success largely depends on their direction

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• Trait theory: specific traits predict performance

• Entrepreneurial mind-set is an important attribute for

project managers

• Three characteristics in particular are deemed to be

the hallmarks of entrepreneur’s persona: risk-taking

need for achievement

locus of control

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Hypothesis Statements: Build-up

Project Success is significantly correlated with entrepreneurial traits of risk-taking, need for achievement and locus of control

Null hypothesis: Project success is not significantly correlated with entrepreneurial traits of risk-taking, need for achievement and locus of control

Hypothesis

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Presentation Agenda


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Methodology

• Study of research methods

• Paradigms:

– Positivism

– Postpositivism

– Critical Theory (Interpretivist and Constructivism)

• Research design

• Scientific method: based on empirical data

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Presentation Agenda


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Data collection: Instruments

• Instrument reliability – Repeatability : Test retest

– Internal consistency (α)

• Instrument validity – Construct validity : Expert interviews

• Instruments used in this study are recommended in literature

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Presentation Agenda


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Dependent Variable: Project Success

Success dimension Measures (α)

1. Project efficiency Meeting time goals 0.811

Meeting budget goals

2. Impact on the customer Meeting operational specifications

0.671

Meeting technical specifications

Fulfilling Customer needs

Solving major operational problem

Actually used by the customer

Solving a customer's problem

Customer satisfaction

3. Business success Level of commercial success 0.572

Generated a large market share

4. Future potential Opened new market 0.745

Opened new line of products

Developing a new technology 37

Independent Variable: Risk Taking

Item Risk-taking: Coaching Skills Scale (Accept Ambiguity) (α =73)

1 I view differences in opinion as constructive

2 I encourage team members to take risks when deciding on project matters

3 When I seeks solutions to problems I tend to try new solutions

4 I find disagreements in the workplace exhilarating

5 I willingly accepts projects with a high likelihood of having problems

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Item Risk-Taking: Organisational Risk-taking Instrument (α =61)

1 I put my reputation at risk to help the project

2 I report when I made a mistake that I could easily hide

3 I value taking a chance on ideas new products, services, or procedures

Independent Variable: CDQ

You are being offered a position at a newly established company

with a challenge and better rewards than your current stable

employer. The offer is attractive, but it involves risk, because it does

not guarantee job security. In which case will you accept the offer?

If the probability of success is:

Accept 30 % 50 % 70 % Do not Accept

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Independent Variable: LoC

1 A job is what you make of it 9 Promotions are usually a matter of good fortune

2 On most jobs, people can pretty much

accomplish whatever they set out to

accomplish.

10 When it comes to landing a really good job,

WHO you know is more important than WHAT

you know

3 If you know what you want out of a job, you

can find a job that gives it to you 11

Promotions are given to employees who

perform well on the job.

4 If employees are unhappy with a decision

made by their boss, they should do

something about it

12 To make a lot of money you have to know the

right people

5 Getting the job you want is mostly a matter

of luck 13

It takes a lot of luck to be an outstanding

employee on most jobs.

6 Making money is primarily a matter of good

fortune 14

People who perform their jobs well generally

get rewarded for it.

7 Most people are capable of doing their jobs

well if they make the effort 15

Most employees have more influence on their

supervisors than they think they do

8 In order to get a really good job you need to

have family members or friends in high

places

16 The main difference between people who make

a lot of money and people who make a little

money is luck

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Presentation Agenda


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Data analysis: Statistical Tests

• Test for normality – Kolmogorov-Smirnov & Shapiro-Wilk significance test

• Scale reliability – Cronbach's coefficient alpha (0.7)

• Principal Component Analysis – First principles grouping of items

• Factor analysis (item reduction) – Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy and

Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity

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Project Success vs Risk Taking

• Risk taking data failed on preliminaries…

– Cronbach Coefficient Alpha (0.44 vs 0.7)

– Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy and

Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (0.5 vs 0.6)

• Not further assessment possible

• No correlation can be established

• Hypothesis is not proved

• Null hypothesis accepted 43

Spearman Rank Order Correlations. Marked correlations are significant at (p < 0.05)

I try to

perform my

best at work

I am a hard

worker

It is important to

me to do the best

job possible

I push myself to be

"all that I can be"

I try hard to improve

on my past

performance at work

Project efficiency met schedule (time) 0.211431 0.301730 0.013946 0.167717 0.126904

met Budget (cost) 0.129490 0.329196 0.115895 0.074423 0.206046

Impact on the customer

met functional

performance 0.374195 0.438830 0.305674 0.285182 0.233051

met technical

specifications 0.329043 0.467138 0.264466 0.342674 0.233557

met customer needs 0.242604 0.312624 0.222762 0.288287 0.137254

solved customer's

problem 0.234291 0.286008 0.193403 0.225512 0.169679

the customer is using the

product 0.294353 0.350517 0.383877 0.308513 0.115362

Customer is satisfied 0.268614 0.328277 0.293678 0.225748 0.081356

Business success

is a commercial success 0.272903 0.325402 0.197403 0.203759 0.101915

created a larger market

share 0.186339 0.110661 0.173814 0.113087 -0.014230

Preparing for the future

created a new market -0.030681 0.030888 -0.013304 -0.067657 0.088730

created a new product

line 0.025611 -0.014456 -0.026998 -0.055424 -0.024124

developed new

technology 0.073828 -0.050191 0.028445 0.026940 -0.051166

Overall met my overall success

criteria 0.286731 0.403843 0.257017 0.308045 0.139330

Project Success vs Need for Achievement

• Significant correlation established

• Hypothesis is accepted

• Null hypothesis rejected

Project Success vs Need for Achievement

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Spearman Rank Order Correlations. Marked correlations are significant at (p <0.05)

PS1 PS2 PS3 PS4 PS5 PS6 PS7 PS8 PS9 PS10 PS11 PS12 PS13 PS14

LoC 1 0.038 -0.139 -0.063 -0.047 0.091 -0.002 0.020 0.079 -0.097 -0.118 -0.028 -0.032 -0.062 -0.006

LoC 2 0.127 0.038 -0.163 -0.123 -0.223 -0.149 -0.029 -0.108 0.032 -0.163 -0.079 -0.090 -0.170 -0.054

LoC 3 -0.075 0.030 0.150 -0.034 0.023 0.054 0.185 0.019 0.028 -0.010 0.035 -0.002 -0.067 0.030

LoC 4 -0.017 -0.183 0.032 -0.037 0.032 -0.032 0.123 0.046 -0.057 -0.014 -0.054 -0.163 -0.061 0.006

LoC 5 0.120 0.096 -0.061 -0.048 -0.026 -0.002 -0.144 -0.081 -0.133 -0.078 0.001 0.022 -0.020 0.078

LoC 6 0.160 0.149 -0.037 -0.065 0.028 -0.034 0.030 -0.030 0.145 0.016 0.000 0.030 -0.055 0.051

LoC 7 -0.107 -0.123 0.000 -0.136 -0.106 -0.041 0.126 0.034 0.086 -0.076 -0.044 0.139 0.081 0.009

LoC 8 0.034 -0.071 -0.029 -0.027 0.037 -0.049 0.024 -0.084 -0.032 0.029 0.072 0.120 -0.071 -0.059

LoC 9 -0.040 0.068 -0.072 -0.076 -0.050 -0.082 -0.005 -0.141 0.031 0.025 0.027 -0.094 -0.060 -0.017

LoC 10 0.067 0.013 -0.048 0.002 0.047 -0.028 0.137 -0.084 -0.141 0.057 0.027 0.081 -0.052 -0.019

LoC 11 -0.007 0.015 -0.050 -0.187 -0.150 -0.183 -0.033 -0.096 -0.054 -0.173 -0.008 0.066 -0.002 -0.065

LoC 12 0.010 0.110 -0.138 -0.051 -0.111 -0.172 -0.045 -0.117 -0.006 0.095 0.097 0.190 -0.105 -0.013

LoC 13 -0.011 -0.009 -0.169 -0.134 -0.116 -0.077 -0.156 -0.208 -0.127 -0.036 0.048 -0.081 -0.083 -0.100

LoC 14 -0.138 -0.159 -0.193 -0.312 -0.284 -0.162 -0.182 -0.257 -0.295 -0.240 -0.043 -0.035 0.032 -0.140

LoC 15 0.048 0.185 0.090 0.042 0.035 0.064 0.002 0.083 0.014 0.048 0.019 -0.110 -0.082 0.193

LoC 16 0.006 0.039 0.050 0.027 0.077 -0.007 -0.078 -0.094 -0.055 -0.054 0.080 -0.044 -0.102 0.093

Legend: PS = Project Success Variable; LoC = Locus of Control Variable

Project Success vs Locus of Control

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• No significant correlation

• Hypothesis is rejected

• Null hypothesis accepted

Project Success vs LoC

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Conclusion

• Project success correlated significantly with need for achievement construct

• No significant correlation: Risk taking and Locus of control

• Project success is not significantly correlated to the entrepreneurial suite of traits: risk taking, need for achievement and Locus of control

• Need for Achievement / Conscientiousness drive success

Include in project manager selection criteria

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Reflect

Q & A

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Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited by project ......Entrepreneurial characteristics exhibited...

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