Abstract
In the digital age, many jobs are susceptible to reduction or elimination. This study examines how project managers can improve their skill set to avoid elimination and lead successful projects to help build a sustainable future. This study addresses three research questions using open data to assess project management essential skills, trending job titles, and skills for a sustainable future. The results of the study indicate project managers should retain their traditional project management skills and develop their digital technical, quantitative, and marketing skills. Digital, agile, data, quantitative, cybersecurity, cloud, and technical project managers are a few of the new job title trends. Finally, in the digital age, it is vital for project managers to stay abreast of societal needs, trends, and technological advances that can promote a sustainable future.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chipulu, M., Neoh, J., Ojiako, U., Williams, T.: A multidimensional analysis of project manager competencies. IEEE Trans. Eng. Manage. 60(3), 506–517 (2012)
Silva de Araújo, C., Pedron, C.: IT project manager competencies and IT project success: a qualitative study. Organ. Proj. Manage. 2(1), 53–75 (2015)
APM Homepage. https://www.apm.org.uk. Accessed 5 Sept 2019
Engel, S., Reeve, L.: What do they need to know? Core skills for postgraduate development studies students. Asia Pac. Viewpoint 59(2), 212–225 (2018)
Henderson, L.: Catch (& keep) a rising star. Appl. Clin. Trials 27(3), 12–14 (2018)
Bredillet, C., Tywoniak, S., Dwivedula, R.: What is a good project manager? An aristotelian perspective. Int. J. Project Manage. 33(2), 254–266 (2015)
Alias, Z., Zawawi, E., Yusof, K., Aris, N.: Determining critical success factors of project management practice: a conceptual framework. Proc.-Soc. Behav. Sci. 153, 61–69 (2014)
Chang, J., Torkzadeh, G.: Perceived required skills and abilities in information systems project management. Int. J. Inform. Technol. Proj. Manage. 4(1), 1–121 (2013)
Liikamaa, K.: Developing a project manager’s competencies: a collective view of the most important competencies. Proc. Manuf. 3, 681–687 (2015)
Keil, M., Lee, H., Deng, T.: Understanding the most critical skills for managing IT projects: a Delphi study of IT project managers. Inf. Manage. 50(7), 398–414 (2013)
Kerzner, H.: Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 11th edn. Wiley, Hoboken (2013)
PMBOK Guide: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Sixth Edition Project Management Institute, Inc. (2017)
Gartner Press Room webpage. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-03-20-gartner-says-80-percent-of-today-s-project-management. Accessed 07 Sept 2019
Hatmoko, J., Khasania, R.: Comparing performance of government and private clients in construction projects: contractors’ perspective. Civ. Eng. Dimension 18(2), 85–92 (2016)
Brown, R., Albright, K.: The Google online marketing challenge and distributed learning. J. Educ. Libr. Inform. Sci. 22–36 (2013)
Hegazy, T., Abdel-Monem, M., Saad, D., Rashedi, R.: Hands-on exercise for enhancing students’ construction management skills. J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 139(9), 1135–1143 (2013)
Wikle, T., Fagin, T.: Hard and soft skills in preparing GIS professionals: comparing perceptions of employers and educators. Trans. GIS 19(5), 641–652 (2015)
Watson, K.: The changing landscape of careers in the chemical industry. Nat. Chem. 3(9), 685 (2011)
Burns, J.: Role of the information professional in the development and promotion of digital humanities content for research, teaching, and learning in the modern academic library: an Irish case study. New Rev. Acad. Libr. 22(2–3), 238–248 (2016)
Currier, B., Mirza, R., Downing, J.: They think all of this is new: leveraging librarians’ project management skills for the digital humanities. Coll. Undergr. Libr. 24(2–4), 270–289 (2017)
Walther, J.: Developing personal course plans (PCPs) as an example of self-directed learning in library management and project management education. J. Libr. Adm. 58(1), 91–100 (2018)
Dubikovsky, S., Kestin, J.: Project management as an active component of the aeronautical Engineering technology program. J. Aviat. Technol. Eng. 1(2), 3 (2012)
Snider, C., Gopsill, J., Jones, S., Emanuel, L., Hicks, B.: Engineering project health management: a computational approach for project management support through analytics of digital engineering activity. IEEE Trans. Eng. Manage. 66(3), 325–336 (2018)
Wilson, G., Bryan, J., Cranston, K., Kitzes, J., Nederbragt, L., Teal, T.: Good enough practices in scientific computing. PLoS Comput. Biol. 13(6), 1–20 (2017)
Gallagher, K., Kaiser, K., Simon, J., Beath, C., Goles, T.: The requisite variety of skills for IT professionals. Commun. ACM 53(6), 144–148 (2010)
Parviainen, P., Tihinen, M., Kääriäinen, J., Teppola, S.: Tackling the digitalization challenge: how to benefit from digitalization in practice. Int. J. Inform. Syst. Proj. Manage. 5(1), 63–77 (2017)
Jones, G.: Organizational Theory, Design, and Change. Pearson, Upper Saddle River (2013)
Association for Project Management: APM body of Knowledge. 6th edn. Association for Project Management, Buckinghamshire (2012)
O*NET Homepage webpage. https://www.onetcenter.org. Accessed 07 Sept 2019
LinkedIn Project Manager webpage. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/browse/program-and-project-management. Accessed 07 Sept 2019
Indeed website. https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Project%20manager&l=Anywhere. Accessed 10 Sept 2019
Dice project management jobs page. https://www.dice.com/jobs?q=Project+management. Accessed 10 Sept 2019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Atolagbe, A., Floyd, S. (2020). Diversifying the Next Generation of Project Managers: Skills Project Managers Must Have in the Digital Age. In: Sundqvist, A., Berget, G., Nolin, J., Skjerdingstad, K. (eds) Sustainable Digital Communities. iConference 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12051. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_56
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43687-2_56
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-43686-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-43687-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)