Communicative Competence in project management: A case study in an agile environment

Abstract

Aim of the study: The study focused on identifying the key communicative competences of a project manager in an agile project environment. The underlying assumption in the study was the idea that by viewing the communicative project environment and exploring the aspects of project managers’ daily work it is possible to recognise communicative competences of a project manager.

Methodology and the Theoretical Framework: The study was conducted as a multi-method qualitative case study that collected the empirical data through a focus group interview and six semi-structured personal interviews. The analysis of the data based on the theoretical framework that included three types of communicative competences. The framework consisted of literature on communication in a contemporary project environment, and on communicative and management competences. The identified communicative competences were functional competence, social competence, and strategic competence. The competences were examined from a communicative perspective, and thus they were specific to a particular communicative project context.

Findings and Conclusions: The findings suggest that three components of the communicative environment; multileveled stakeholders, uncertainties and time pressure in a project, embellish the role of communicative competences. According to the present study (i) functional competence includes business knowhow and functional communicative ability, (ii) social competence refers to internal and external networking, and leading people, and (iii) strategic competence consists of adapting to situations, strategic problem solving and holistic decision making.