• Liaison: In this role, the manager communicates with the external environ- ment, and it includes exchanging information with IS/IT suppliers, customers, buyers, market analysts and the media. This is an active, external role.
• Monitor: This role emphasizes scanning of the external environment to keep up with relevant technical changes and competition. The manager identifies new ideas from sources outside his or her organization. To accomplish this task, the manager uses many resources, including vendor contacts, professional relationships and a network of personal contacts.
These six leadership roles are illustrated in Figure 6.6 (Karlsen & Gottschalk, 2002).
The personnel leader and resource allocator are roles internal to the project for the project manager. The spokesman and entrepreneur are roles directed toward the base organization, and the liaison and monitor roles are external to the base organization for the project manager.
systems. A dominant focus in such projects has been on internal activities within the project and the base organization. Very often, little or no attention is given to the project environment and other stakeholders. Most of the project-planning models currently available consider the project as though it was developed in a vacuum. The project manager is responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling tasks to ensure successful project completion. In order to do this, the project manager has to allocate human, financial and information resources to the project.
According to Mintzberg’s (1990) role typology, we expect the internal roles — per- sonnel leader and resource allocator — to be more emphasized in internal IT projects than in outsourcing projects, since outsourcing projects have an external emphasis (Lee et al., 2004; Willcocks et al., 2004). From the above discussion, we find it reasonable to propose the following hypotheses:
H1: Internal roles are more important in internal IT projects than in outsourcing projects.
H1a: The personnel leader role is more important in internal IT projects than in outsourcing projects.
H1b:.The resource allocator role is more important in internal IT projects than in outsourcing projects.
Project managers responsible for outsourcing projects in client organizations will have to focus on managing client characteristics, while project managers responsible for outsourcing projects from the vendor side will have to focus on both vendor-cli- ent relationships and the vendor’s value proposition (Levina & Ross, 2003). Hence, we argue that the job of the project managers in outsourcing projects is oriented towards external roles.
According to this line of reasoning, we should expect that the most external roles (monitor and liaison) are more emphasized and important among project managers in outsourcing projects than among project managers in internal IT projects. From the above discussion, we propose the following hypotheses:
H2:. External roles are more important in outsourcing projects than in internal IT projects.
H2a: The liaison role is more important in outsourcing projects than in internal IT projects.
H2b:.The monitor role is more important in outsourcing projects than in internal IT projects.
The last two management roles defined by Mintzberg (1990) — spokesman and entrepreneur — are somewhat difficult to classify in our research context, since they are external to the IT department/IT project and internal to the organization.
However, according to Grover et al. (1993) we should to some degree expect that the role of spokesman (with internal orientation to the organization and other de- partments) to be more emphasized by project managers in internal IT projects than project managers in outsourcing projects. The role of spokesman is a management role that incorporates activities that require the project manager to extend orga- nizational interactions outside the department to other areas of the organization and top executives as well. Frequently, the spokesman must communicate across traditional departmental boundaries and become involved in matters concerning production, distribution, marketing and finance. The spokesman role requires that the project manager acts as an information disseminator and politician (Inkpen &
Tsang, 2005), ensuring that IT projects are properly connected to the top level of the firm and to key decision-makers in other departments. Hence, we propose the following hypothesis:
H3:. The spokesman role is more important in internal IT projects than in outsourc- ing projects.
According to Frame (1995), the clients and users’ needs are the driving force behind projects. If articulating needs is done insufficiently, the project will be built on a poor foundation, and major problems will arise when implementing the changes. As an entrepreneur, it is the project manager’s role in outsourcing projects to identify the users’ needs and develop a fully acceptable solution. This project management role is further emphasized by Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer (2000), who state that the project manager is required to provide innovative solutions, as well as the business processes involved in the achievement of the project’s outcome.
Client consultation, communication, listening, feedback activity and client accep- tance are critical project success factors (Bahli & Rivard, 2005). We will therefore expect that the role of entrepreneur is more emphasized by project managers in outsourcing projects than project managers in internal IT projects. Hence, the fourth hypothesis is as follows:
H4: The entrepreneur role is more important in outsourcing projects than in internal IT projects.
Research.Method
The Grover et al. (1993) instrument, which operationalized the managerial roles identified by Mintzberg (1990) and adapted them to the IT context, was used as a basis to investigate the roles in internal IT projects and outsourcing projects. The rationale for choosing this instrument was based upon the high validity and reliability they and others have obtained within each of the managerial roles.
The present study consists of two surveys conducted in Norway in 2002/2004 to investigate the leadership roles. The survey instrument contains six five-point Likert scales, and the respondent is asked to rate the importance of each item as it relates to the management role.
The first questionnaire focused on internal IT project and was mailed to 673 com- panies selected from the listing of members of the Norwegian Computing Society.
It was assumed that these firms would tend to have internal IT projects and project managers with job attributes consistent with our management role classification.
Based on the availability of correct addresses, 591 questionnaires reached their destinations. Questionnaires with incomplete responses were deleted. After two mailings, a total sample of 80 was returned, representing a response rate of 14%.
The second questionnaire focused on outsourcing projects. It was distributed at an internal seminar for project managers in IT outsourcing projects. Eighty-four responses were received.
In both surveys the objective of the study was explained and respondents were as- sured of the confidentiality of their answers. We have no indications of nonresponse bias. There is little reason to suspect that nonresponding project managers perceived their firm or project differently than those project managers who did respond, since the respondents included all sectors within the industry and the public sector.
Statistical.Data.and.Results
Figures 6.7 to 6.15 present the results of statistical analysis (both descriptive statis- tics and ANOVA) of the comparisons between internal IT projects and outsourcing projects.
Figure 6.7 shows descriptive statistics regarding management roles in internal IT projects, where the response scale ranged from 1 to 5 (1 = not important and 5 = very important). Means and t-tests (to assess statistical significance of the differ- ence between two independent sample means) were used to examine the data from the survey.
As can be seen from Figure 6.7, project managers in internal IT projects emphasize the internal roles, personnel leader and resource allocator as the most important management roles. The management roles of monitor and liaison, which have a focus outside the project and base organization, are the least important roles. Using a t-test procedure, we found that there are thirteen significant differences between the management roles. Most interesting is the fact that the personnel leader role is significantly more important than all the other management roles. From Figure 6.7 we can observe that the internal management role of personnel leader is considered to be significantly more important than the two external roles, monitor (t = 9.12, p
= 0.00) and liaison (t = 8.22, p = 0.00). Statistical analysis also indicates that the resource allocator role is significantly more important than the monitor role (t = 6.33, p = 0.00) and the liaison role (t = 5.63, p = 0.00).
Figure 6.8 shows the descriptive statistics for project managers in IT outsourcing projects. As we can see from the table, project managers in outsourcing projects choose the spokesman role as a top priority role. A t-test between the six differ- ent leadership roles gives seven significant t-values. The results indicate that the spokesman role is significantly more important than the other roles. Surprisingly, the liaison and monitor roles, which focus on contacts and personal relationships with people outside the project and scanning of the external environment, are given lowest priority.
The statistical technique used for testing the research hypotheses was the univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA). The principal consideration in the use of the two- group ANOVA is the sample size in each of the groups. In this study, one group had 80 responses, while the other group had 84 responses. Testing of the assumptions for using ANOVA was conducted, and the criteria were met.
Leadership.role Mean t-values
2 3 4 5 6
1 Personnel leader 4.33 2.65* 2.56* 4.38** 8.22** 9.12**
2 Resource
allocator 4.04 0.30 2.20* 5.63** 6.33**
3 Spokesman 4.00 2.04* 4.88** 5.79**
4 Entrepreneur 3.70 2.30* 4.45**
5 Liaison 3.34 -1.54
6 Monitor 3.11
Note: The statistical significance of the t-values is ** for p<.01 and * for p<.05
Figure 6.7. Statistics for internal IT projects
Hypothesis 1 examines whether project managers in internal IT projects are more internally oriented than project managers in outsourcing projects. This hypothesis had two sub-hypotheses (H1a and H1b).
In Figure 6.9, statistical results of the test of hypothesis H1a are shown. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) gives sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that project managers in internal IT projects emphasize the leader role significantly more than project managers in outsourcing projects. The hypothesis is supported (F = 37.85, p = 0.00).
The statistical test of hypothesis H1b is shown in Figure 6.10. As we can see from the data, project managers in internal IT projects emphasize the resource allocator role significantly more than project managers in outsourcing projects. The hypothesis is significant at the 0.01 level of significance (F = 8.41, p = 0.00).
Leadership.role Mean t-values
2 3 4 5 6
1 Personnel leader 3.29 -1.76 -4.03** -2.23* 0.37 0.06
2 Resource
allocator 3.59 -2.41* -0.97 1.81 1.66
3 Spokesman 4.04 1.61 4.70** 4.59**
4 Entrepreneur 3.77 2.83** 3.03**
5 Liaison 3.28 0.35
6 Monitor 3.23
Note: The statistical significance of the t-values is ** for p<.01 and * for p<.05
Figure 6.8. Statistics for IT outsourcing projects
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 43.25 43.25 37.85** 0.00
Error 162 185.11 1.14
Total 163 228.36
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.9. Analysis of variance: Personnel leader role
The second main hypothesis (H2) proposed in this section was whether project managers in outsourcing projects are more externally oriented than project manag- ers in internal IT projects. The main hypothesis was de-composed into two sub- hypotheses (H2a and H2b).
The results of the ANOVA analysis of hypothesis H2a are presented in Figure 6.11.
The hypothesis is not supported (F = 0.42, p = 0.52).
The results of the testing of hypothesis H2b are shown in Figure 6.12. The results conclude that project managers in outsourcing projects do not emphasize the moni- tor role significantly more than project managers in internal IT projects. Thus, the hypothesis is not supported (F = 0.95, p = 0.33).
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 7.95 7.95 8.41** 0.00
Error 160 151.12 0.95
Total 161 159.07
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.10. Analysis of variance: Resource allocator role
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 0.54 0.54 0.42 0.52
Error 161 208.48 1.30
Total 162 209.02
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.11. Analysis of variance: Liaison role
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 1.20 1.20 0.95 0.33
Error 161 203.12 1.26
Total 162 204.32
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.12. Analysis of variance: Monitor role
Hypothesis 3 examines whether the spokesman role is more important in internal IT projects than in outsourcing projects. Figure 6.13 displays that this hypothesis did not find support (F = 0.19, p = 0.66).
Hypothesis 4 examines whether the entrepreneur role is more important in outsourc- ing projects than in internal IT projects. Figure 6.14 displays that this hypothesis did not find support (F = 0.05, p = 0.82).
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 0.25 0.25 0.19 0.66
Error 161 205.41 1.28
Total 162 205.66
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.13. Analysis of variance: Entrepreneur role
Source DF SS MS F P
Factor 1 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.82
Error 162 164.89 1.02
Total 163 164.94
Note: The statistical significance of the F-values is ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05
Figure 6.14. Analysis of variance: Spokesman role
COMPANY / BASE ORGANIZATION ENVIRONMENT
Spokesman
role Entrepreneur
role
Resource allocator role Leader role
Monitor role Liaison role
IT DEPARTMENT / IT PROJECT
.4 / . .4 / .2
.0 / . 4.00 / 4.04
4.** / .2 4.04** / .
Figure 6.15. Leadership roles (statistical results for internal vs. outsourcing proj- ects)
To summarize, we have illustrated the importance of each management role in Figure 6.15. The first number is the mean score of project managers in internal IT projects, and the second number is the mean score of project managers in outsourcing projects.
The response scale ranged from 1 to 5 (1 = not important and 5 = very important).
The statistical significant values are shown with ** for p<0.01 and * for p<0.05.