The Impact of Project Managers’ Communication Competencies: Validation and Extension of a Research Model for Virtuality, Satisfaction, and Productivity on Project Teams

Abstract

ICurrent research continues to establish the importance of communication in the management of projects. However, little is known about the behavioral aspects of project managers' communication competency especially as they relate to crucial outcomes in virtual environments. This article reports on a survey-based research study of 564 respondents from the Chief Project Officer Web site that validates and extends a research model of project managers' competencies in decoding and encoding communication, the satisfaction and productivity of their team members, and the degree of virtuality present in the project. The findings indicate that project managers' competencies in decoding and encoding communication significantly contribute to team member satisfaction and productivity. In addition, geographic dispersion plays an unexpected and significant role in how project managers' competency in decoding and encoding communication impacts team member satisfaction and productivity.in the extant literature of interpersonal and organizational communication. The model, based on research by Henderson (2004), shows that project managers' competency in decoding and encoding communication is significantly and positively associated with their team members' satisfaction and productivity. The extent to which Henderson's findings apply outside her original sample study is not known. Also not known is how project managers' communication competencies operate when project teams are virtualthat is, geographically dispersed and reliant upon technology-mediated communication. The following research question is addressed in this study: What are the relationships among project managers' competencies in decoding and encoding communication, the satisfaction and productivity of their team members, and the degree of virtuality present in the project?Using path analysis of 564 respondents, and a subsample of 422, to a survey administered through Chief Project Officer, three hypotheses were confirmed, which show overall that project managers' decoding and encoding competencies are significantly and positively associated with team member satisfaction and productivity (N ϭ 564). Two additional hypotheses that included negative relationships between geographic dispersion and technology-mediated communication, and project managers' communication competencies, were not confirmed. However, unexpected findings showed that geographic dispersion in a project team leads to paradoxical results regarding project managers' decoding and encoding competencies as well as team satisfaction and productivity (N ϭ 422). Implications for practicing project managers and researchers are discussed, which encourage future development by both.

When distance is good: A construal level perspective on perceptions of inclusive international language use

“…For example Henderson (2008) found a positive relationship between geographic dispersion and team members' perceptions of their manager's decoding competency. Because they apply a higher level construal, physically absent personnel will see that making mistakes and using the local language will in some situations not have too important functional implications for the general informing of organization members (Trope & Liberman, 2010).…”

“…Accordingly, we follow the notion that different individuals who are situated differently in relation to the organization (more or less away from the actual setting) may also perceive the role and functioning of management initiatives differently (Henderson, 2008). In doing so, we aim to add knowledge to the international business literature on global virtual teams where a void exists concerning factors affecting team members' identification with and evaluation of the organization Mukherjee & Hanlon, 2012).…”

“…The present study of virtual work's effect on perceptions on organizational language use is important for several reasons. First, studies on the potential positive aspects of virtual work are still scarce (Henderson, 2008). Hence, despite that conceptual articles have called for an understanding of how working virtually affects perceptions of organizations and their members, little has been done to empirically explore this field (Wilson et al, 2013;Wilson, O'Leary, Metiu, & Jett, 2008).…”

“…Although the bulk of literature has, thus, focused on the negative consequences of these central dimensions of virtual work, studies indicating positive aspects of virtuality have also emerged. Hence, virtual work has been connected to greater flexibility (Hill, Miller, Weiner, & Colihan, 1998), reduced stress (Raghuram & Wiesenfeld, 2004), improved individual creativity, and increased positive perceptions of managers competence, and team member satisfaction (Henderson, 2008;Jia, Hirt, & Karpen, 2009;Wilson, Crisp, & Mortensen, 2013).…”

“…Consequently, a stream of literature has been concerned with management issues related to technology mediated collaboration between geographically remote employees (Fiol & O'Conner, 2005;Henderson, 2008;Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1999). In particular, studies on global virtual teams have added important insights to our understanding of possibilities and pitfalls of international virtual work (Maynard, Mathieu, Rapp, & Gilson, 2012;Maznevski, Davison, & Jonsen, 2006;Oshri, van Fenema, & Kotlarsky, 2008).…”