Designing and implementing a career path for project managers

Many project managers do not feel adequately respected and compensated for their work. They often see their role as a temporary one and focus more on their advancement in traditional leadership career paths. Although a lot has been done with respect to qualification and certification programs for project managers, the special role of motivation and retention of project managers has not extensively been researched in the past. Moreover, human resource management has neglected career possibilities and career design for project managers so far. Consequently, our research builds on different streams of research from human resource management, project management, and motivational theory to identify the key ingredients for a project managers' career path. A qualitative study with 20 companies that have already implemented a project managers' career path has been conducted. The findings of this research are used to derive key success factors for the design and implementation of a project managers' career path.