The hybrid IT project manager: One foot each in the IT and business domains

As firms rely on advancing technologies to meet the demands of complex business processes, there is an increasing need for IT project managers (PMs) to resolve paradoxical tensions that accompany uncertainties. Paradoxical tensions exist because IT project knowledge has assumed a clear separation and borderline between business and IT. There is an increased pressure on PMs to resolve paradoxical tensions arising from short-term efficiency/goals versus longer-term flexibility/success. A field survey of 108 IT projects suggests that a shift in the required knowledge set of PMs is needed as their role expands to include greater responsibility and knowledge base – a hybrid PM with one foot in the IT domain and the other foot in the business domain – to deal with a diversity of paradoxes and contradictory demands associated with business and technical uncertainties. Shifting the focus of business knowledge towards PMs is likely to increase the chance of project success.