Many organizations may soon find themselves understaffed with project managers, putting them at great disadvantage as the economy continues to recover.
That is the finding of the recent study ESI 2013 Project Manager Salary and Development Survey by project management training company ESI International. The firm surveyed 1,800 project managers in 12 different industries in the U.S.
“Budget constraints, an aging base of professionals and a looming talent war all contribute to a talent crisis that should be addressed from the highest levels of the organization,” Mark Bashrum, vice president of corporate marketing and open enrollment at ESI was quoted by CIO as saying. “The growing needs of businesses demand a more strategic view of the staffing, development and promotion of their project managers since project execution impacts an organization’s bottom line and its ability to satisfy its customers.”
The ESI study finds that IT projects continue to increase in size and complexity. That is fueling a greater need for IT pros who have the skills and experience to manage them.
According to the study, there are three primary factors for the project manager shortage:
Many organizations are growing as the economy rebounds and either initiating new projects or acting on projects that had been put on hold.
Many project managers are reaching retirement age or otherwise leaving the workforce.
Many organizations stopped actively developing new project managers internally due to reduced training budgets.
The problem is especially severe for senior level project managers, either because companies haven’t hired enough in the job market, or haven’t developed enough among internal staff.
“Add to that the larger issues of shortsighted hiring practices, a lack of competency planning, and a reduced focus on training and development, and many company’s business objectives are at risk,” the article notes.
Read more:
- check out the CIO article