Attributes and levels of programme management competence: an interpretive study

Growth in the use of programmes as a vehicle for implementing strategy has been accompanied by a need to understand the competence of effective programme managers. Corporate leaders know that promoting proven project managers into a programme manager role is unreliable, yet little rigorous research has been done into the distinctiveness of programme management competence. Using the interpretive approach known as phenomenography, we studied the management of 15 strategic programmes spread over seven industry sectors. We present our findings in the form of a framework of 17 key attributes of programme management work, each conceived at four levels in a hierarchy of competence.