Abstract

Project managers are an occupational group who is exposed to high levels of stress caused by various aspects such as resources and communication or working relationships. One particularly challenging area is the interaction with stakeholders, who are often perceived to ‘be difficult’. With this study, we investigate how project managers cope with challenging situations involving stakeholders in projects. We do this through a qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups to explore the lived experiences of the project managers in specific situations. Our findings suggest that a project manager perspective on stakeholder management is particularly valuable to account for contextual factors such as sources of challenging situations. We propose a project coping model which transfers Lazarus and Folkman’s stress and coping model into the project context and adds the layer of project coping to emphasise the project managers’ perception of accountability and commitment to the project.

摘要

项目经理是一个职业群体，他们面临着由资源和沟通或工作关系等各个方面引起的高度压力。一个特别具有挑战性的领域是与利益相关者的互动，他们通常被认为是“困难的”。通过这项研究，我们调查了项目经理如何应对涉及项目利益相关者的挑战性情况。我们通过一项涉及访谈和焦点小组的定性研究来探索项目经理在特定情况下的生活经验。我们的研究结果表明，项目经理对利益相关者管理的看法对于解释环境因素（例如具有挑战性的情况的来源）特别有价值。