JPMA-01243; No of Pages 8

International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx – xxx

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Designing and implementing a career path for project managers

Katharina Hölzle1
Technische Universität Berlin, Technology and Innovation Management, Strasse des 17, Juni 135, H71, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Received 8 April 2010; accepted 25 May 2010

Abstract

Many project managers do not feel adequately respected and compensated for their work. They often see their role as a temporary one and
focus more on their advancement in traditional leadership career paths. Although a lot has been done with respect to qualification and certification
programs for project managers, the special role of motivation and retention of project managers has not extensively been researched in the past.
Moreover, human resource management has neglected career possibilities and career design for project managers so far. Consequently, our
research builds on different streams of research from human resource management, project management, and motivational theory to identify the
key ingredients for a project managers' career path. A qualitative study with 20 companies that have already implemented a project managers'
career path has been conducted. The findings of this research are used to derive key success factors for the design and implementation of a project
managers' career path.
© 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Project manager; Career; Incentives

1. Introduction project-based organization, leading to an increasing demand

Although the importance of project management is nowa-
days widely acknowledged and the evolution and importance of
project-based organizations has received quite some attention in
theory and practice (Sydow et al., 2004; Turner and Keegan,
1999, 2001), the role and the motivation of the individual
project manager is still under-researched. An increasing number
of organizations develop dynamic work environments through
the use of temporary work forms such as projects and programs.
Yet the implications for employees working in these transient
surroundings have only recently brought to the attention of
research and practice (Aitken and Crawford, 2007; Gällstedt,
2003; Turner et al., 2008). “Two interdependent manifestations
of the new economy are the rise of project-based careers and the
creation of temporary organizations for project-based work.”
(DeFillippi and Arthur, 1998), p. 125. Tasks are being
transferred from the traditional line organization into the
E-mail address: katharina.hoelzle@tim.tu-berlin.de.
1
An assistant professor at the Technische Universität Berlin. Her main focus
lies on project managers' career paths, organizational models for innovation
management, open innovation, and barriers of innovation.
0263-7863/$ - see front matter © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.05.004
for qualified and motivated project managers (Turner et al.,
2008). For the qualification of project managers, the PMBOK®
Guide has been created and published. In addition, most
organizations rely on the PMI® qualification and certification
processes for project managers or have even developed their
own certificates (Remington and Leigh, 2008). However,
concerning the motivation of employees on becoming and
staying in the role of a project manager, the quote of Pinto et al.
is still valid: “Few individuals grow up with the dream of one
day becoming a project manager. It is neither a well-defined nor
a well-understood career path within most modern organiza-
tions. Generally, the role is thrust upon people rather than being
sought.” (Pinto and Kharbanda, 1997), more often than not
p. 216. The role of the project manager is rather often defined
by an accumulative description of tasks (Huemann, 2000), an
assigned responsibility for the successful completion of the
project (Sotiriou and Wittmer, 2001), leadership for the project
team (Kloppenborg and Petrick, 1999), and the successful
transfer of the project's results into the organization (Parker and
Skitmore, 2005). At the same time, accompanying organization-
wide human resource and project management processes for the
support of the project manager are missing (Huemann et al.,
2 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx
2007). Only a few examples exist where the unique requirements
and challenges of human resource practices in the project-based
organization are documented (Turner, 2003). Consequently, we
call for an in-depth study of the role and motivation of project
managers (Söderlund, 2004) and the development of a project-
oriented human resource management in the organization
(Huemann et al., 2004). If the project, the project team and the
project manager are only regarded as temporary organizational
form which will be resolved at the end of the project, the project
members have to cope with a permanent uncertainty with regard
to their future role in the organization. Often, project managers
see their position only as a stepping stone for a (often man-
agerial) higher-ranked position in the organization (Parker and
Skitmore, 2005; Pinto and Kharbanda, 1997). Herewith, a lot of
experience and knowledge is lost while the project manager's
position is not very attractive per se. The management of a
project needs to become an integral part of organizational human
resource policies where the employees feel that open
and respected guidelines and principles for the nomination and
appointment of project managers exist. Only in this case em-
ployees will actively and intensively shape and live project
management in the organization, contributing to the success of
an innovative organization (Gupta and Singhal, 1993). In order
to keep and motivate project managers, the organization needs to
develop a holistic yet integrated incentive system and career path
for its project managers, preventing the loss of valuable project
management know-how and expertise. While a lot has been
written on the motivational structure of managers, researchers,
and experts, quite less is known with respect to the unique
motivational structure of project managers (Allen and Katz,
1995; Dolfi and Andrews, 2007).
This paper builds on different streams of research from
human resource management, project management, and moti-
vational theory to develop a model for a project managers'
career path. In a second step, we use these findings to design an
empirical derived best practice model for a project managers'
career path building on the experience of companies which have
already implemented such a career path. Their experience and
the findings from literature will result in the identification of
critical success factors for a project managers' career path.
Our results extend the understanding of the role and moti-
vation of the project manager. Researchers get first insights on
motivation and requirements of project managers for their
career. Managers can use this knowledge for developing de-
signated career paths for project managers or creating a holistic
career system in the organization.
2. Incentive systems for project managers
The main purpose of an organizational incentive system is the
guidance of the employees' behavior (Gomez-Mejia and Balkin,
1989). It defines the relationship between the organization and the
individual by detailing the terms of exchange. It is an unequivocal
statement of the organization's values and beliefs (Kerr and
Slocum, 1987). The organization aims at reaching certain goals
with the design and use of an incentive system. In order to reach
these goals, benefits and costs for the organization as well as the
individual arise on the way. The analysis of this interdependency
has been done by multiple agency-theoretical studies (Prender-
ergast, 1999; Turner and Müller, 2003). In the context of project
management, the dyadic principal–agent relationship is extended
by multiple principals who represent sometimes conflicting
positions. Furthermore, the project managers themselves as agents
may also have different ideas about what is right for the project, or
may even have objectives which are not aligned with the principal
(Turner and Müller, 2003). Furthermore, the project manager will
only fulfill his or her roles as long as the incentives are as big as or
bigger (from a personal point of view and the alternatives at hand)
than the contributions provided (March and Simon, 1958). These
points show that the individual employee, i.e. the project manager
considers all offered incentives in one subjective benefit
measurement. He or she will only be satisfied if the overall sum
of the rewards is bigger than the costs involved to fulfill his or her
task. If the satisfaction goes below a specific point, the project
manager will leave the situation, i.e. change into another role
(March and Simon, 1958). Consequently, the organization needs
to design an incentive system for project managers considering the
maximum benefit for the project managers and stimulating their
motivation to stay in the project management role.
Looking at the multitude of studies which deal with incentive
and reward systems (for an overview see e.g. (Gomez-Mejia and
Balkin, 1989; Wiersma, 1992) we derive four main conclusions:
First, most authors focus on tangible and/or variable rewards.
These are easy to measure but do not reflect the complete picture
of individual motivation. Especially with respect to project
management, we can assume a strong intrinsic motivation based
on the tasks and challenges associated with working in projects
(Gällstedt, 2003). Second, only a very few studies deal explicitly
with the specific requirements of project team members or project
managers (Turner et al., 2008). We can, however, derive some
overall rules for the design of a project managers' incentive
system as project managers are managers and also often come
from Research and Development where quite some studies
concerning the motivation of engineers have been conducted
(Allen and Katz, 1995; Badawy, 1997; Béret et al., 2003; Gomez-
Mejia et al., 1990). Third, many studies are conceptual in nature
where quite some requirements and models are derived but only a
few are tested empirically. We consequently call for an empirical-
based research where the methods and instruments implemented
in practice are surveyed. Fourth, research has shown that only the
combination of incentives into an incentive system leads to
overall motivation. It seems therefore feasible to design an
incentive system for project managers. As mentioned before,
incentives can either be tangible or intangible, short- or long-term,
variable or fixed. We do not focus on these differentiations further
as we see the incentive system as an overall frame for the
interaction of the organization with their members (Kerr and
Slocum, 1987) which leads to long-term satisfaction and success
of all parties (Kochanski and Ledford, 2001).
3. A project managers' career path
With respect to incentivizing the individual project manager,
it is not enough to look only at providing rewards in return for
 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx
good organizational behavior. Only if the individual needs of
the project managers are respected and integrated in an overall
organizational incentive system, a successful and sustainable
project management can be implemented. We extend the
organizational perspective of a project management incentive
system by integrating the project managers' individual
perspectives on their career. As career is the factor most
directly related to turnover intentions, career opportunities
provide employees with the motivation to achieve and the
reason to stay (Demers, 2001). In the following paragraphs, we
are looking at both aspects of the career, the individual and
organizational side before integrating them into one career path
for the project manager.
3.1. The individual project manager's career
The study of Jones and DeFillippi (Jones and DeFillipi,
1996) has highlighted the transitory nature of projects and
necessity for project team members to be proactive in managing
their own careers and developing their own vision of career
development as opposed to relying on other parties. Conse-
quently, the individual project manager needs to be clear about
career expectations and which competencies and know-how to
acquire or not (El-Sabaa, 2001). The personality of the project
manager strongly influences the decision which career path to
choose or not (Holland, 1973; Myers and McCaulley, 1990;
Tremblay et al., 2002) and how to succeed in a project man-
agement work environment (Dolfi and Andrews, 2007). Apart
from individual preferences, the decision for a career path is
moderated by the individual career script (Duberley et al., 2006)
or career orientation (Brousseau et al., 1996). The spiral stair-
case career is commonly regarded as THE career orientation for
the project-based organization (Turner et al., 2000). It is shaped
by the need for individual training and development. The
organization needs to respond to individual career preferences
in a flexible and dynamic way, adapting to the requirements
and needs of the project manager (Brousseau et al., 1996; Chen
et al., 2004).
3.2. The organizational career
Traditionally, the organizational career describes the hierar-
chical, upward-oriented promotion of an individual in the
organization. Until the early eighties this promotion took place
in the organizational hierarchy, starting with entry positions and
then moving through middle and upper management until top
management (Peiperl and Baruch, 1997; Schein, 1978) hereby
often following the Peter principle where in a hierarchy every
employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence (Peter and
Hull, 1969). With the starting economic downturn and the
generation of the “baby boomers”, this organizational career
was not sufficient to satisfy all employees. Many organizations
started to introduce the dual ladder, an expert career path next to
the leadership career (Allen and Katz, 1986; Katz and Tushman,
1990; Spear and Souder, 1986). The organizational frame for
the creation of career opportunities is called career path model
or career path (Baruch, 2004). Every step in the career path is
3
accompanied by individual incentives, qualification and
personnel development measures. Only with a goal-oriented
and balanced career path planning, organizational interests with
respect to needed resources and individual interests with respect
to further development can be aligned. A decreasing need for
pure managers and a simultaneous increasing need for highly
qualified specialists call for a balanced portfolio of different
organizational career paths such as leadership, expert and
project managers' career path. This also allows for flexible
change (i.e., hybrid career) between these career paths
depending on the individual situation or actual career
preferences (Bailyn, 1991).
3.3. Project manager's competencies
Based on Turner's (2006) definition of a project as a
temporary organization with dedicated resources, the project
becomes an instrument of organizational change, resource and
risk management (Turner, 2006). It develops own patterns of
actions, communication paths and rules which are reasonably
different from the organizational surrounding. Consequently,
projects can be defined as distinctive social systems (Huemann
et al., 2007) and the role of the project manager evolves from
being the administrator of the project towards a much more
managerial position. Hence, the project manager needs a
complete different set of capabilities and competencies.
The generally described project manager's competencies
such as project-specific expertise, problem-solving competence,
leadership and social competence (Hauschildt et al., 2000;
Huemann, 2000) have to be complemented with entrepreneurial
and project management competence. Depending on the type
and scope of the project, the competencies vary in their depth
and breadth. A short-term, specialized and low budget project
calls for different competencies as a long-term, strategic and
large-scale project. The project manager can acquire these
competencies through qualification programs but has to have
periods of exercising and applying them in order to transform
competencies into expertise. Additionally, the project manager
usually needs to exhibit more engagement and commitment
than regular employees in order to finish the project
successfully. Consequently, the organization needs to offer
intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to foster an according
behavior.
3.4. The project organization
It is, however, not sufficient to only demand these
competencies from the project manager; the organization also
needs to create an environment where the project manager can
act according to the project requirements. As project-based
working is often described as stressful and frequently associated
with the removal of artefacts that serve to create stability in the
sense of having a ‘home’ such as one's own desk, post-box,
computer facilities or simply somewhere to hang one's hat
(Keegan and Turner, 2003), the organization needs to create a
‘home’ for the project manager. The project manager will only
be successful if the organization provides an adequate
4 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx

Table 1
Interview overview.
Co Organization Employees Fulltime project Position of the respondent
no mgr.
1 French telecommunication equipment provider 75,000 1700 Head of corporate university
2 Automotive and electronics corporation 280,000 6200 HR department; corporate project management; leadership
development
3 Transportation systems provider 30,000 2000 VP Group Project Management
4 Railway corporation 245,000 4000 Strategic Personnel development
5 Financial Services corporation 7000 500 Director, Business Process Management
6 Telecommunication provider 160,000 3200 Competence Center HR management
7 Engineering Services company 280 150 CEO
8 German branch of global IT systems provider 21,000 1000 Executive Project Manager
9 IT systems provider 3500 300 Manager Project Management Development
10 German branch of international telco provider 3500 250 VP Corporate Quality
11 Diagnostics division of global pharmaceutical 20,000 750 International Project Manager, Global Human Resources
company
12 Steel manufacturer 25,000 700 Manager strategic HR
13 IT systems provider 10,000 2000 Project Management Office
14 Plant engineering and construction 5000 1000 Head of corporate project management initiative
15 Automotive company 53,000 1200 Head of project management and processes
16 Steel manufacturer 4000 230 Head of leadership development
17 IT systems provider 40,000 3500 Strategic Project Management
18 Engineering corporation, service unit 5000 1250 Head of HR
19 Large-scale paper machinery corporation 40,000 300 Head of corporate project management training
20 Farm machines' corporation 1900 25 Corporate project management

organizational structure, processes and methods. These “sur-
rounding” factors are consequently also part of a project
managers' career path.
4. Methodology
Based on the novelty and high complexity of the research
object, qualitative research methods are best suited for
exploring the use of project managers' career path models in
organizations. Using a qualitative, case-based research method
allows us to describe complex phenomenon (Yin, 1994). As
the development of a project managers' career path is a truly
novel, complex and yet flexible process which allows multiple
solution possibilities, we used open research questions in order
to allow for a maximum of flexibility while providing an
underlying structure based on the theoretical considerations
made before.
The starting point for identifying organizations who had
already implemented a project managers' career path was a
conference organized by the German association for project
management on project managers' careers. After this confer-
ence, six companies that had already implemented a project
managers' career path or a dedicated project management
incentive system agreed to participate in the survey. Addition-
ally, professional associations in the automotive, electronics,
information technology and engineering sector announced the
survey through their communication channels. Another key-
identifying factor was the existence of a project managers'
career path. Here, we had to exclude more than 10 companies
that wanted to participate in the survey but had not implemented
a project managers' career path yet. The total sample size
consists out of 25 interviews from 20 companies. This is in line
with recommendations for selecting a manageable sample size
in exploratory research (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Addi-
tionally, we collected a great deal of supporting documents (an
average of 39 pages per interviewed company) which provided
us with information about the design, structure, and implemen-
tation of the career path. Respondents held middle to top
management positions in the project management, human
resource management, or engineering departments. Further-
more, we collected voices from the field by talking to several
project managers in the respective companies. All interviews
were conducted, coded and analyzed by a team of four
researchers. The results have been presented in two workshops
where all respondents could participate and validate the
findings. Table 1 gives some information about the participating
companies, their size, the number of fulltime project managers,
and the position of the persons interviewed.
The results of the qualitative research are presented in an
aggregated form, i.e. an accumulation of the answers from the
respondents, the written documentation provided and the results
from the two workshops.
5. Factors of a project managers' career path
The most important reason for implementing a project
managers' career path is the motivation of the project managers.
The importance of project management and the need for
qualified and motivated project managers has been significantly
rising in all surveyed organizations. One respondent said:
“Project management has become THE core competence of our
organization”. Most of them feel, however, that the project
management profession has in the past not been very attractive
for their employees. Organization-wide concepts providing
 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx 5

orientation, organizational belonging and security to the project • Special focus is put on knowledge transfer between
management professionals were missing, leading to frustration departments.
and abundance of the project managers' role. These factors lead
to the design of a project managers' career path. In the 5.2. The role of the project manager
following, we will describe those factors which the respondents
described as key for the successful implementation and In 80% of all surveyed companies, the project manager has
acceptance of this career path. full expert authority for the project. In 40% of all cases, he or
she has also budget authority for the project. And only in 20%
of all cases, the project manager has some disciplinary
5.1. Project managers' department
authority. The given authorities depend not only on the
organizational setup of the project but also on the importance
The organizational arrangement for project managers is quite
of the project manager in the organization. Our research shows
different in the organizations observed. Especially in more
that organizations see their project managers quite differently.
conservative industries like machine engineering, most project
Wherein one organization the project manager is considered a
managers are usually part of the regular line organization. Their
true manager with disciplinary and budget authority, others see
boss is their line manager and they are only temporarily
their project managers more as administrative staff, responsible
assigned to a project. With the end of the project, they return to
for the execution of the project management guidelines.
their previous line position. Although this process gives a sense
Depending on this point of view we find a broad spectrum of
of belonging and security to the project manager, important
requested project managers' competencies. Experience with
project management expertise is lost. Moreover, the project
project management and expertise are highly significant for
managers often encounter resource conflicts and conflicts with
90% of all companies (multiple answers were possible). 80% of
the line organization.
all companies see the social competence of the project manager
In order to prevent these resource conflicts and to provide a
as the most important competence, directly followed by
‘home’ for project managers, 30% of the companies have
leadership competence (as requested by 50% of all companies).
already implemented a project managers' department where all
Almost all respondents said that the relevance of expertise
project managers are consolidated. This leads to an adequate
decreases with increasing project importance while leadership
positioning of the project managers in order to have enough
and entrepreneurial competence become more important. The
resources for the project available and to strengthen their power
project manager as “local entrepreneur” is on the rise especially
base. Especially companies in industries like plant engineering
for project-oriented companies. Although most companies use
and construction and service-oriented organizations are already
these generic competencies' names, each organization defines
using such a designated project managers' department in order
them quite differently in detail. In many organizations, the
to increase know-how transfer and resource utilization. These
detailed skills below each competence vary according to the
departments can usually be found just below top management
scope of the project. An exemplary description of expertise and
level to reflect the importance of projects and project managers
social competence can be found in Table 2.
for the organization. At the same time, authority and external
reputation of the project manager are fortified.
5.3. The project managers' career path
This organizational setup has sparked intensive discussions
among the study's participants. Many companies feel that
As seen before, many organizations match the needed project
project managers lose their organizational belonging if they are
manager's skill with a project classification (Crawford et al.,
separated in such a department. However, companies using it
2006; Dvir et al., 1998; Shenhar, 1992). At the same time, this
are very much in favor of the advantages and have received very
classification also determines which kind of project manager
positive feedback from their project managers. Consequently,
leads the project, i.e. small projects are usually lead by project
based on the results from the interviews and the discussions in
managers, medium-sized projects require more experienced, i.e.
the workshops we have developed the following recommenda-
senior project managers and those projects which either require
tions for setting up a project managers' department:
many resources or are of high strategic importance call for the
most senior project managers, i.e. project directors. The definition
• Project managers from similar business units are consolidat- of each project manager level is quite different in all researched
ed in one department serving as a home, harbor, and support. organizations. We found in total ten different descriptions of
• The project managers' department reports to the overall or project managers' career path levels. Starting from just two levels
business unit management. at one organization, one organization had seven different levels
• The project managers' department is already part of the (entry, basic, experienced, advanced, senior, executive, and senior
selling process for the project. executive). The average number of levels is three, usually called
• Profit/loss responsibility stays in the business unit. The project manager, senior project manager, and project director. As
project managers' department rents the project manager to mentioned before, the required skills vary depending on the career
the business unit and receives detailed feedback on the path level, and the hard skills like expertise, project management
performance of the project manager after completion of the competence decrease with a raising level while the soft skills like
project. leadership, social, and entrepreneurial skills increase with a
6 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx

Table 2
Example for a project manager's competence profile. (• =basic skills; •• = medium skills; ••• = advanced skills).
Small Medium Large
project project project
Expertise
Breadth of Project management Knows project management methods and how to use them • •• •••
experience methods and expertise
(allrounder) Interdisciplinary thinking Thinks interdisciplinary and judges situations from a broader perspective □ • •••
Depth Expertise Well-known expert ••• ••
(specialist) Creative problem-solving Analyzes complicated problems fast, efficient and goal-oriented ••• ••
skills

Social competence
Cooperation Cooperation and team Starts and supports interdisciplinary cooperation in the team • ••• •••
skills
Assertiveness and Wins others for an idea, method or process; realizes own ideas against barriers (in the • •• •••
negotiation skills hierarchy); shows negotiation skills even in controversial situations
Communication Communication skills Persuasive in personal contact, confident in dealing with people on different level and • •• •••
represents the company convincingly internally and externally
Intercultural competence Deals confidently with other cultures • •••

raising level. Moreover, the following recommendations can be
derived from our study:
• The career path levels describe different skill levels
• With raising career path levels social and leadership
competencies increase accompanied with courses, work-
shops, on-the-job-training; less expertise and expert know-
how is needed in the higher ranks
• Integration of a mentoring model: mandatory support of
project managers by higher-ranked project managers
• Movement through the career path levels by proving
competence and experience
• Central capturing and provision of project managers' careers
for project and personal planning
• Alignment of all organizational career paths (i.e., expert,
leadership and project managers) to allow for a fair and
transparent promotion policy in the organization (see Fig. 1).
6. Comparison of different project managers' career paths
In summary, the project managers' career path is despite
organizational barriers and obstacles in all companies observed
very successful. There is, however, not one solution-fits-it-all
for such a career path. Some organizations have developed very
sophisticated concepts where each and every detail is specified.
Others see their project managers as managers, treat them
similar to the other managers in the organization or provide
them with even more freedom. Using this differentiation, we
looked at all interviews with the perspective of how elaborated
the concept of the project managers' career path is and how the
project managers are treated in the respective organizations.
This leads to a portfolio (see Fig. 2) where all organizations are
ranked accordingly. The discussion and validation with all
company representatives showed a great congruence with their
own impressions. Moreover, the model helps them to show their

Fig. 1. Matching of leadership and project managers' career path.

 K. Hölzle / International Journal of Project Management xx (2010) xxx–xxx
Fig. 2. Comparison of different organizational setups.
management what they have accomplished so far and where
there might be some room for improvement.
In the upper right corner you can find companies U10, U12,
and U15 where a true project managers' career according to the
requirements of our analysis is implemented. Companies U5,
U14, and U19 in the lower right corner have a very
sophisticated concept but the implementation is constrained
by organizational obstacles, we call these organizations
“scientists”. In the lower left corner we see companies U7,
U11, U16, and U22 which claimed to have a true project
managers' career. Our research shows, however, that their
concept and implementation lack some important points. They
mostly do project management in the traditional, more operative
way. Companies U13, U 21, and U24 in the upper left corner
have a very project-oriented business and an organization where
project managers are thrown into the field, often as expatriates.
These project managers do “not want to do anything else”
(quote from company U12) and sometimes act as heroes, acting
very independently. Most of these companies do not differen-
tiate between the leadership career path and the project
managers' career path.
7. Conclusion
Building on all the ingredients for a project managers' career
path which have been described before, we see the following
key success factors for the design and implementation of a
successful project managers' career path. The qualification of
the project manager has to be aligned with according career path
levels. The organization needs to engage and provide continuity
to their project managers by for example, organizational
recognition and equivalence of the project managers' career
path in relation to other career paths. The project managers need
to trust that project management is a true career booster. This is
reflected in an according salary, promotion policy, additional
benefits, and the permeability of line and project organization.
Supporting human resource processes for internal and external
applicants are needed. Projects need to be classified and this
classification has to be integrated into the career path. Besides a
career path, project managers need a supporting project
organization with e.g., a project management office, a
designated project managers' department and project-specific
methods and tools.
7
No model without limitations. These findings can only
represent a starting point for the definition of a project
managers' career path model. As mentioned before, we
consciously excluded some industry sectors and although we
talked to national and international companies, all of them were
based in Germany and Switzerland. Furthermore, as this has
been a qualitative, case-driven research with a small sample
size, we need more information on how other companies are
designing their project managers' career path and what their
experiences are. We did not talk with the project managers in
this study. Here, we need much more knowledge on what truly
motivates them and how they value the presented factors. We
expect to have differences in project managers' motivation and
attitude depending on their age, experience, and field of
expertise.
We were able to integrate different streams of research from
human resource management, project management, and moti-
vational theory in order to learn more about the different facets
of a project managers' career path. We experienced very open-
minded respondents which showed a tremendous interest in the
topic, hereby reflecting the importance of such a career path for
the organization. Taking the proposed key success factors,
managers can design career paths for project managers and/or
integrating this path in the existing career path system.
Researchers get first insights on the organizational requirements
for designing such a career path while understanding how
individual and organizational factors collude.
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