An evaluation of personal and interpersonal competencies of project managers

Abstract

Project success factors consist of a variety of soft skills and competencies in addition to technical skills. These skills and competencies can be broadly categorized into business, personal, interpersonal and management competencies. This paper reports the results of a survey conducted to highlight strengths and weaknesses of personal and interpersonal competencies of software project managers. Four attributes of personal and seven attributes of interpersonal skills have been analyzed. Top and bottom seven skills have been reported. The competencies related to people and communications management have emerged as weak areas and recommendations have been made to improve upon the weaknesses. Other important aspects discussed are overcoming shortcomings in soft skills by further training and incorporation of formal courses in project management education.