Literature Review: Project management skills for interdisciplinary teams

ABSTRACT

“Wicked” problems are public, complex, ill-structured and difficult to pin down, which cannot be solved in traditional ways or by simple solutions (Blok et al., 2016). Sustainable development due to its different levels of complexity and extensive network of stakeholders, makes it apt to be designated as a “wicked” problem (Pryshlakivsky J. & Searcy C, 2013). Although greater collaboration between disciplines - interdisciplinary collaboration - may be crucial to solve â€œwicked” problems, bringing people together from across disciplines can be challenging, as different professional and technical languages share disparate paradigmatic world views and possess dissimilarity skill sets (Boyko, MacKenzie, & Leung, 2015). The aim of this literature review is to explore what are the skills and variables project managers need to have and take into consideration when working with interdisciplinary teams.

Keywords: Project Management, Sustainability, Interdisciplinary teams, project manager skills

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and problems

1.2 Purpose

1.3 Theoretical foundation

2. Methodology

2.1 Research approach

2.2 Sample design and criteria

3. Empirical material and analysis

3.1 Literature overview

3.2 Empirical Analysis

4. Conclusion

5. List of references

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and problems

‘Green’ or ‘sustainable’ project management is being considered one of the most important global project management trends today (Gilbert Silvus, 2019). Thus, project managers need to develop their managerial (contextual) and behavioral skills and knowledge to meet the new professional demands (Obradovicl, Todorovic, & Bushuyev, 2018). 

As argued by (Lanier et al., 2018), multi-faced, dynamic problems demand an interdisciplinary lens, because they often lack a definitely ‘correct’ solution, hence sometimes referred to as “wicked” problems. Sustainable development due to its different levels of complexity and extensive network of stakeholders, makes it apt to be designated as a “wicked” problem (Pryshlakivsky J. & Searcy C, 2013). Furthermore, as mentioned by (Boyko, MacKenzie, & Leung, 2015), in order to find answers to truly complex issues, more than a single discipline or profession is required. Thus, one can infer that for sustainable projects which consist of a collection of wicked problems, interdisciplinary teams should be formed to maximize the possibility of success.

When working in interdisciplinary teams, many challenges such as: terminology, cultural differences and mismatched expectations may arise (Boyko, MacKenzie, & Leung, 2015). Moreover, interdisciplinary projects such as research, requires considerable planning, project management and time for integration, inclusive of stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, a key to supporting an informed and capable interdisciplinary team is ensuring that the goals and objectives are developed collaboratively, while ensuring that the approach and the process is transparent and iterative to foster team adaptability. (Lanier et al., 2018). Finally, incorporating interdisciplinarity into time management and promoting interdisciplinary training was found to be crucial to overcome interdisciplinary challenges (Boyko, MacKenzie, & Leung, 2015). Thus it is important for project managers to learn the necessary skills needed to lead and manage interdisciplinary teams, as well as having knowledge on the variables that are associated with managing them. 

Research from the skills needed for project managers working on interdisciplinary teams is very limited, which could be considered a limiting factor for this literature review. However, research on the lessons learned from interdisciplinary research teams is more widely available, alongside research from successful project managers and key skills they possess. 

1.2 Purpose

As discussed in the background, sustainability is a ‘wicked’ problem which requires an interdisciplinary approach. Furthermore, little research has been done on the skills that project managers need to lead interdisciplinary sustainable teams. Thus, this study aims to explore what the research says are the challenges, variables and recommendations associated with working in interdisciplinary teams, and how they translate to the skills project managers need to be successful when leading such teams. 

1.3 Theoretical Foundation

1.3.1 Interprofessional/interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary collaboration

As mentioned by (Hall, Ashley & Torrisi, Savina, 2013), interdisciplinary, collaborative, and collaboration are used loosely to describe an academic environment and projects including individuals with diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds. Furthermore, the main difference between interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaborations is that interdisciplinary research and projects employ the tools and perspectives of more than one discipline, where multidisciplinary does not attempt to interconnect and integrate methods from different disciplines (Pischke et al., 2017). Moreover, interprofessional collaboration is described as "when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, carers (caregivers), and communities to deliver the highest quality of care." (World Health Organization, 2010). Finally, it is important to note that there is another type of collaboration named transdisciplinary, which is unique in that researchers work with the community and people where the research takes place (Pischke et al., 2017).

 For the rest of the paper, the term interdisciplinary collaboration will be used to describe collaborations where individuals from diverse cultures, professions, disciplines and backgrounds work together, regardless of the field of work the project is a part of. Furthermore, the term will be used, no matter whether the individuals choose to integrate and interconnect methods from different disciplines or not and whether they work together with the community where a research or project takes place. Meaning, that when we reference the word interdisciplinary collaboration, we will be referring to any type of interprofessional, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary or “interdisciplinary” collaboration as described above. 

2. Methodology

2.1 Research approach

To gain a better understanding on what the literature says are the skills needed for project managers to work in interdisciplinary teams, alongside the challenges and variables associated with working in such teams, a literature review was conducted. Furthermore, this literature review consists of both exploratory and descriptive research approaches, which allows to lay the groundwork of the topic at hand in the former, to then explain while providing additional information about the topic in the latter (GradesFixer, 2019). The literature for this study was found through the usage of the following high reliable and credible databases: Malmo University Library, Research gate and Google Scholar.

2.2 Sample design and literature criteria

As mentioned in the problem section and background, research on the skills project managers need to have to lead and work in interdisciplinary teams is very limited. Therefore, to draw conclusions on what skills would be needed, it is necessary to explore the environment, challenges and variables associated with interdisciplinary teams, alongside with an overview of the general skills successful project managers possess. This in turn, allows one to connect skills needed for project managers to have in order to be prepared for the variables and challenges that come associated with working in interdisciplinary teams.

The keywords used for searching journals were: Sustainable project management or project management, combined with interdisciplinary teams and/or skills or variables or challenges. Only english peer-reviewed articles from 2011-2019 were used. Furthermore, for an article to be selected it had to meet at least 1 one of the following criteria:

1. The literature mentions challenges, barriers or variables associated when working in interdisciplinary teams, alongside with solutions on how to overcome them.
2. The literature mentions technical and non-technical skills of project managers, and/or challenges project managers face.
3. The research sample is related to projects with multiple stakeholders

3. Empirical material and analysis

3.1 Literature overview

This section contains the main findings gained from the literature review conducted, which forms the basis for the analysis and discussion

Note: In the following tables, the term interdisciplinary will be abbreviated as IDP and project management as PM 

Table 1: Overview of the themes found in the literature review

As seen from the table above, the majority of studies in this literature review mainly consist of the challenges and variables associated with working in interdisciplinary teams. Furthermore, only 2 studies combine both interdisciplinary aspects and sustainability, 1 study consists of a literature review of the skills of project managers, and no study integrates project management skills in relation with interdisciplinary teams and sustainability. Although this is the case, the literature provided with enough empirical data to analyse the connections between challenges and variables associated with working in interdisciplinary teams and the skills project managers need to possess to overcome them. 

3.2 Empirical analysis

This section will go into detail into the interdisciplinary challenges, variables and lessons found in the literature and how they connect to the skills of project managers. To do this, 3 tables will be used. The first one will highlight the interdisciplinary challenges, variables and lessons found in the literature, the second will describe the technical and people skills of project managers, and the third will connect the main challenges and variables found in interdisciplinary teams to the skills of project managers.

3.2.1 Interdisciplinary variables, challenges and lessons

Table 2: Interdisciplinary variables, challenges and lessons found from the literature

3.2.2 Project management skills

Table 3: People/Non-Technical skills, Technical skills and success factors of project managers

3.2.3 Connecting project management skills with interdisciplinary variables and challenges 

From table 2, the interdisciplinary variables where divided into the following categories: 

• Team and relational variables, such as: Team composition, team resources, team commitment, mutual trust, etc...
• Organizational and Project variables, such as: Organizational structure and setting, project expectations and criteria, mediums of communication, knowledge integration, knowledge sharing,etc….
• Differential and individual variables, such as: Cultural differences, language and terminology, individual experience, professional values, etc...

The following table aims to connect these variables to common interdisciplinary challenges and project management skills and recommendations to overcome them. 

Table 4: Interdisciplinarity and project management

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, sustainability is a “wicked” problem that will require interdisciplinary project teams to create solutions from projects aimed towards sustainable development. Furthermore, working with people from different disciplines comes with challenges and variables that project managers need to prepare and learn how to face. Such challenges include: miscommunication, mismatched expectations, cultural differences, different disciplinary norms and terminology, etc… Thus, to thrive in such teams project managers will need to possess technical and non-technical skills to be able to lead, coordinate and manage people from across disciplines, such skills include: conflict resolution, flexibility, technical expertise, team building, and much more.

 It is important to note that every team and project is unique. Thus, project managers need to develop their contextual and behavioral perspectives in order to adapt and be flexible to solve the problems that arise. Furthermore, although a strong skill set and experience is necessary for project managers to succeed, the willingness to learn and lead people towards the project goal is of crucial importance for their success. 

Finally, one should argue that more research behind interdisciplinary teams and project management skills should be conducted, to help the development of training programs and processes project managers can utilize when working in interdisciplinary teams. 

5. List of references

Pischke, E. C., Knowlton, J. L., Phifer, C. C., Gutierrez Lopez, J., Propato, T. S., 

Eastmond,A., … Halvorsen, K. E. (2017). Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large 

International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects. Environmental Management, 60(6), 

1011–1021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0939-8

Lanier, A. L., Drabik, J. R., Heikkila, T., Bolson, J., Sukop, M. C., Watkins, D. W., … Letson, 

D. (2018). Facilitating Integration in Interdisciplinary Research: Lessons from a South 

Florida Water, Sustainability, and Climate Project. Environmental Management, 62(6), 

1025–1037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-018-1099-1

Boyko, C. T., MacKenzie, A. R., & Leung, H. (2015). In spite of our own best interests: 

Lessons from an interdisciplinary project on urban sustainability. Journal of Geography in 

Higher Education, 39(2), 206–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2014.956296

Hall, Ashley and Torrisi, Savina. (2013). Missing Miscommunication in Interdisciplinary 

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Obradovicl, V., Todorovic, M., & Bushuyev, S. (2018). Sustainability and Agility in Project

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World Health Organization. Framework for action on interprofessional education & collaborative 

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