An Investigation Into Paradigm Shifts in the Role of Project Managers: Impact on Success

Projects in the present and the future are becoming less linear in nature and more dimensional in terms of complexity, speed, and ambiguity. Project managers are crucial to a project's success, despite the fact that there are many other elements at play. This study discusses how the project manager's position has changed in regard to project results and stakeholders’ perceptions of success. The “iron triangle” of comparing a project’s success to its limitations of cost, schedule, and quality is the widely accepted practice, but research is increasingly emphasizing the need for project managers to concentrate on intangible elements like motivation, influence, and collaboration, particularly in a delivery environment of distributed teams and innovative or transformational projects where a fixed path to delivery may not apply. It is proposed that a project manager should take on more of the role of a project leader and be responsible for driving success through their capacity to persuade top managers, select the best methodology, consider the organizational context and delivery environment, and define the most appropriate success criteria. Value may have greater weight in the success of agile initiatives than schedule does in waterfall projects. Similar to traditional projects, hybrid projects may include a combination of value and schedule as success criterion. The paradigm change is that successful project navigation in the new era of project delivery will more than ever need for a leadership style.