Study goals
Identify what are the essential competencies for project managers in public agencies by answering the research question: “Is there a set of specific competencies that are most relevant for project managers in public agencies?”.
Relevance / originality
The discussion about the competencies of project managers in public agencies is still quite lacking in studies.
Methodology / approach
Case study through the selection of 5 projects and their leaders in a single state autarchy of higher education and scientific research divided into 2 stages: obtaining data with semi-structured interviews; analysis of the results comparing them to the literature.
Main results
There are 5 competencies of project managers, in descending order of importance, that are most prevalent or essential in the conduct of projects in public agencies: organization; planning; technical competence; managerial support; conflict resolution.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
Academically, it contributes to broadening the discussion about the skills needed by public servants responsible for projects in their departments.
Social / management contributions
Contributes to public entities by suggesting skills that can be the target of training and internal development actions in order to improve the performance of civil servants responsible for projects, increasing the chances of success of their projects.