Soft Skills for IT Project Success: A Systematic Literature Review

Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing book series (AISC, volume 688)

Abstract

IT projects continue to fail at a high rate and this represents losses in both money and opportunity organizations. This leads us to continue studying success factors in projects. The aim of this paper is present a systematic literature review focused on soft skills for the IT project success. The literature search was conducted using the electronic databases and the primary articles from 2010 to 2017. The results show that a high number of studies are theoretical, conceptual or based on experience and there are no models that explain the causal relationship between soft skills and project success. All studies agree about the relevance of the project manager soft skills for projects success. The results show that the most influence soft skills for projects success are communication, leadership and conflict resolution skills.

Keywords

project success soft skills systematic review 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    Mkoba, E., & Marnewick, C.: IT Project Success: A Conceptual Framework for IT Project Auditing Assurance. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (2016).Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    Andersen, E. S., Birchall, D., Arne Jessen, S., & Money, A. H.: Exploring project success. Baltic Journal of Management, 1(2), 127–147 (2006)Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Bassellier, G., & Blaize Horner Reich, I. B.: Information technology competence of business managers: A definition and research model. Journal of Management Information Systems, 17(4), 159–182 (2001)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Bono, J. E., & Vey, M. A.: Toward understanding emotional management at work: A quantitative review of emotional labor research Härtel, Charmine E. (Ed); Zerbe, Wilfred J. (Ed); Ashkanasy, Neal M. (Ed). (2005)Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Gale, A.: How to know what: Setting the project management competency agenda. PM Days (1999)Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Hyväri, I.: Project management effectiveness in project-oriented business organizations. International Journal of Project Management, 24(3), 216–225 (2006)Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Pinto, J. K., & Slevin, D. P.: Project success: definitions and measurement techniques. Project Management Journal, 19(1), 67–72 (1988)Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Leybourne, S. A.: The changing bias of project management research. Project Management Journal, 38(1), 61–73 (2007)Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    André, M., Baldoquín, M. G., & Acuña, S. T.: Formal model for assigning human resources to teams in software projects. Information and Software Technology, 53(3), 259–275 (2011)Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Chipulu, M., Neoh, J. G., Ojiako, U. U., & Williams, T.: A multidimensional analysis of project manager competences. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 60(3), 506—517 (2013)Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Stevenson, D. H., & Starkweather, J. A.: PM critical competency index: IT execs prefer soft skills. International Journal of Project Management, 28(7), 663–671 (2010)Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Rose, K. H., A.: Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Fifth Edition. Project Management Journal, 44(3) (2013)Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    Baccarini, D.: The logical framework method for defining project success. Project Management Journal, 30(4), 25–32 (1999)Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Liebowitz, J., IT Project Failures: What Management Can Learn. IT Professional, 17(6), 8—9 (2015).Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    Lim, C., & Mohamed, M. Z.: Criteria of project success: an exploratory re-examination. International Journal of Project Management, 17(4), 243–248 (1999)Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    Diallo, A., & Thuillier, D.: The success dimensions of international development projects: the perceptions of African project coordinators. International Journal of Project Management, 22(1), 19—31 (2004)Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    Munns, A., & Bjeirmi, B. F.: The role of project management in achieving project success. International Journal of Project Management, 14(2), 81—87 (1966)Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Crawford, L., & Turner, J.: Developing the project management competence of individuals. Gower handbook of project management, 4, 678–694 (2007)Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Association, I. P. M., & Caupin, G.: IPMA competence baseline: ICB; Version 3.0: Internat. Project Management Association (2006)Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Committee, P. S.: Project manager competency development (PMCD) framework. Project Management Institute (PMI), Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (2002).Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Robles, M. M.: Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453–465 (2012).Google Scholar
  22. 22.
    Kitchenham, B., & Charters, S.: Guidelines for performing systematic literature reviews in software engineering Technical report, Ver. 2.3 EBSE Technical Report. (2007)Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    Tore, D., & Torgeir, D.: Empirical studies of agile software development: A systematic review. Information and Software Technology, 50(9-10), 833–859 (2008).Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Müller, R., Geraldi, J., & Turner, J. R.: Relationships between leadership and success in different types of project complexities. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 59(1), 77–90 (2012).Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    Skulmoski, G. J., & Hartman, F. T.: Information systems project manager soft competencies: A project‐phase investigation. Project Management Journal, 41(1), 61–80 (2010)Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    Creasy, T., & Anantatmula, V. S.: From every direction—How personality traits and dimensions of project managers can conceptually affect project success. Project Management Journal, 44(6), 36–51 (2013).Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Keil, M., Lee, H. K., & Deng, T.: Understanding the most critical skills for managing IT projects: A Delphi study of IT project managers. Information & Management, 50(7), 398–414 (2013).Google Scholar
  28. 28.
    Colomo-Palacios, R., González-Carrasco, I., López-Cuadrado, J. L., Trigo, A., & Varajao, J. E.: I-Competere: Using applied intelligence in search of competency gaps in software project managers. Information Systems Frontiers, 16(4), 607–625 (2014).Google Scholar
  29. 29.
    Frese, R., & Sauter, V.: Improving your odds for software project success. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 42(4), 125–131 (2014).Google Scholar
  30. 30.
    Alias, Z., Zawawi, E., Yusof, K., & Aris, N.: Determining critical success factors of project management practice: A conceptual framework. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 153, 61–69 (2014).Google Scholar
  31. 31.
    McCroskey, J. C.: Oral communication apprehension: A summary of recent theory and research. Human communication research, 4(1), 78-96 (1977)Google Scholar
  32. 32.
    Goleman, D. Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, New York, NY, 1995Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Unidad de Posgrado de la Facultad de Ingenieria de SistemasUniversidad Nacional Mayor de San MarcosLimaPeru

Personalised recommendations