TOSSA COLLEGE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PRACTICES OF PROJECT MANAGER SELETION IN ETHIO

TELECOM: IN CASE OF DESSIE CITY ADMINISTRATION

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO TOSSA COLLEGE OF ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION
BY:
JEMAL HASSEN
ID No
TCGR/067/11
ADVISOR:
ADDISU MOLLA (PhD)

MAY, 2023
DESSIE, ETHIOPIA
 PRACTICES OF PROJECT MANAGER SELETION IN ETHIO
TELECOM: THE CASE OF DESSIE CITY ADMINISTRATION

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO TOSSA COLLEGE OF ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION
BY:
JEMAL HASSEN
ID No
TCGR/067/11
ADVISOR:
ADDISU MOLLA (PhD)

MAY, 2023
DESSIE, ETHIOPIA
 CERTIFICATION
This is to certify that Jemal Hassen has carried out his research work on the topic entitled: The
practice of project manager selection in Ethiotelecom in case of Dessie City Administration.
The work is original in nature and is suitable for submission for the award of Master Degree from
Business Administration.

i
 APPROVED BY
Advisor ________________________________ Signature ____________ Date ___________

Internal Examiner ________________________ Signature ____________ Date _________

External Examiner________________________ Signature ____________ Date _________

Head, department ________________________ Signature _____________ Date _________

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 DECLARATION
I, the under signed, declare that the research paper is contains my own work. In compliance with
internationally accepted practices, I actually acknowledged and referenced all materials used in
the work. I understand that non-adherence to the principles of academic honesty.

Jemal Hassen Signature ____________ Date ___________

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, I would like to thanks the almighty Allah who gives me a great pleasure to
come to this final point to express my deepest gratitude to all individuals and institutions who
contributed in any and the realizing of this thesis. I would like to give special gratitude to my
advisor Addisu Molla (PhD). I am very grateful for his guidance, encouragement and useful
comments for each part of the paper.

Furthermore, I would like to thank the participants in my study, who have willingly shared their
precious time during the process of filling questionnaire and interviewing. I would like to thank
my loved ones; she has supported me throughout entire process, both by keeping me motivated
and helping me putting pieces together.

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Table of Contents
CERTIFICATION.............................................................................................................................i

APPROVED BY..............................................................................................................................ii

DECLARATION............................................................................................................................iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.................................................................................................................iv

LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................viii

LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................................ix

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................x

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................xi

CHPAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................1

1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................1

1.1 Background of the Study............................................................................................................1

1.3. Statement of the Problem..........................................................................................................3

1.4. Research questions....................................................................................................................5

1.5. Objective of the Research..........................................................................................................5

1.6. Significance of the Study..........................................................................................................6

1.7. Scope of the study.....................................................................................................................6

1.9. Definition of Terms...................................................................................................................6

1.10. Limitations of the study...........................................................................................................8

1.10. Organization of the Research Report......................................................................................8

CHAPTER TWO..............................................................................................................................9

2. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................9

2.1. Definition of Project..................................................................................................................9

2.2. Project Management................................................................................................................10

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2.3. Project Manager......................................................................................................................15

2.4. Selecting Project Manager.......................................................................................................18

2.5. Project Manager Selection Criteria.........................................................................................21

2.6. Core competencies of project managers..................................................................................21

2.7. Critical success factors for projects (CSFS)............................................................................27

2.8. Brief historical review of telecom sector in Ethiopia..............................................................31

2.9. Establishment of Ethio Telecom.............................................................................................33

CHAPTER THREE........................................................................................................................34

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................34

3.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................34

3.2 Description of the Study area and Target population...............................................................34

3.2.1. Location................................................................................................................................34

4.3 Research approach.......................................................................................................35

3.4. Research Design......................................................................................................................36

3.5. Study population, Sample Size and Sampling Techniques.....................................................36

3.5.1. Study population...................................................................................................................36

3.5.1 Sample size of the study...........................................................................................38

3.6 Methods of Data Collection and Research Tools.....................................................................39

3.6.1 Primary Data..........................................................................................................................39

3.6.2 Secondary data......................................................................................................................40

3.7 Study variables.........................................................................................................................41

3.8 Methods of Data Analysis........................................................................................................41

3.8.1 Multiple Regression Analysis...............................................................................................42

3.8.2 Pearson correlation Analysis.................................................................................................42

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3.9 Instrument Validity and Reliability..........................................................................................43

3.10. Ethical consideration.............................................................................................................43

CHAPTER FOUR.........................................................................................................................45

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION..............................................................................................45

4.1 Demographic, Social and Economic Characteristics of Respondents......................................45

4.2 Descriptive analysis for Criteria’s in the Selection of Project Managers.................................47

4.3 Inferential Analysis for practice of project manager selection.................................................53

4. 3.1 Pearson Correlation Coefficient Analysis............................................................................53

4.3.2 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis Assumptions..............................................................55

4.3.3 Multiple Linear Regressions Analysis..................................................................................60

CHAPTER FIVE............................................................................................................................63

5 Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations...............................................................63

5.1 Summary..................................................................................................................................63

5.2. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................65

5.3 Recommendations....................................................................................................................66

References......................................................................................................................................68

Appendix-A....................................................................................................................................73

Appendix-B....................................................................................................................................77

LIST OF TABLES

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Table 1: Characteristics of respondent by marital status................................................................46
Table 2: Characteristics of respondents by age, work experience and income level.....................47
Table 3: Characteristics of respondent by educational level..........................................................47
Table 4: Five-Scaled Likert’s Criterion..........................................................................................48
Table 5: Descriptive Analysis of the major criteria in the selection of project managers.............49
Table 6: Descriptive statistics result of the factors that mostly considered in the selection of
project managers............................................................................................................................50
Table 7: Descriptive statistics result of project management knowledge and its application in the
selection process of project managers............................................................................................51
Table 8: The correlation coefficient between all variables of the model (N=91)..........................55
Table 9: The multicollinearity test result.......................................................................................58
Table 10: Autocorrelation test to model summary.........................................................................59
Table 11: Model summary for practice of project manager selection on the selected variables. . .60
Table 12: Analysis of variance (ANOVA).....................................................................................60
Table 13: Regression coefficients Analysis...................................................................................62

LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 1: Geographic Coordinate of Dessie town: 1102.6' to 11017.2' N and 390 33.6' to 39043.3'
E.....................................................................................................................................................35
Figure 2: Characteristics of Respondents by gender......................................................................46
Figure 3: Histogram of Standardized Residuals.............................................................................56
Figure 4: Normal P-P Plots of Residual.........................................................................................57
Figure 5: Scatter plot of Residuals.................................................................................................59

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ET: Ethio Telecom

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FGD Focus Group Discussion
KIIs Key Informant Interviews
PMBOK: Project Management Body of Knowledge
PMI: Project Management Institution
PMO: Project Management Office
PM: Project management/ manager
SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
TEP: Telecom Expansion Program

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 Abstract
The main objective of the study is to examine the practice of project manager selection in
Ethiotelecom in Dessie City. The scope of the study is delimited in the area of project manager
selection practice in telecom expansion program (TEP). The study employed explanatory and
descriptive research designs. The research approaches were both quantitative and qualitative.
The researcher employed one with purposive sampling and simple random sampling technique to
select representative samples. A total of 91 informants were participated in the study. Data is
collected using both closed ended & open-ended questionnaire and semi structured interview as
a primary source. The respondents of the study are project directors, project managers and
project team members and personnel management. Both descriptive and inferential statistics
were used as data analysis method. The main findings revealed that the selection criteria of the
manager were found to be satisfactory, and mostly an individual experience in similar projects
as well as conceptual and organizational skills were found to be the criteria considered in the
selection processes of project managers. The average mean values of project management
knowledge and its application is below average [2.60, 3.40), therefore we can conclude that
project management knowledge and its application is not exercised in the selection process of
project managers in Ethio telecom. From the inferential statistical analysis Pearson’s
correlation coefficient indicates that, at 5% level of significance there is a strong positive
relationship was found between factors that mostly considered in the selection of project
managers with practice of an individuals in selection of project manager. The assumptions of
linear regression were checked and not violated. Goodness fit of the model depicts 69.1% of the
total variability of practice of project manager selection is explained by all considered factors.
From the fitted multiple linear regression model one can depicts that all of the predictor
variables have statistically significant influence/prediction in predicting the dependent variable,
an individual selection practice of project manager. Hence it is recommended to have project
manager’s selection criterion which is specific to cover decision maker’s requirements, to
further extend skill requirements of individuals and to exercise knowledge areas of project
management in the selection process of project managers.

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Key words: Project manager; project manager selection; project manager selection criteria;
performance etc.

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 CHPAPTER ONE

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study

The history of human achievement is marked by projects as unique, one-time, time limited, goal-
oriented creative processes, from the creation of the Bible, the construction of the Egyptian
pyramids and the Great Wall of China, space conquest projects, new energy sources, new
materials, biotechnology projects and new institutions. Other less exposed projects that have
guided and are directing the development of humanity (Tainter, 2007). Likewise, today’s time is
marked with projects. Moreover, the trend of increasing the number of projects is evident in the
scientific, economic, social and political environment (Barnes, 1988). However, most of these
projects fail, the project results are mostly devastating (El-Saaba, 2001; Faniran et al., 2000). It is
alarming that, according to data from the relevant literature: 52.7% of projects fail to close on
time and it turns out that only 30% of projects are carried out so that they meet all projected goals
(Nahod, 2014, Uhlir, 2011). The aforementioned well determines Cobb’s Paradox: „We know
why projects fail. We know how to prevent their failure. So why do they still fail? “(Cobb, 1995).
According to Morris and Hough (1987), Clancy (2008), Boetcher (2008), Greer (1999) the
critical project success factors are: clearly defined project goals, project sponsor strategy, project
coverage, technological complexity, simultaneity, contracting strategy, project environment, top
management support, geophysical conditions and human resources competence. Among them,
the competence of the project manager should certainly be emphasized as a critical factor of
project success (Morris & Pinto, 2007; Meredith & Mantel, 2003; Muller & Turner, 2007; Wang
et al., 2005; Varajão & Cruz-Cunha, 2013).
Recruiting the right project manager is an important challenge for organizations. The project
manager is the person responsible for accomplishing project objectives. The project manager
manages the project through identifying project requirements; establishing clear and achievable
objectives; balancing the competing demands for quality, scope, time and cost; adapting plans
and approaches to the different concerns and expectations of the various stakeholders; and
managing projects in response to uncertainty. It is widely acknowledged that the final outcome of
the project depends mainly on the project manager; therefore, the selection of the project

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manager is one of the two or three most important decisions concerning the project (Ahsan, Ho,
& Khan, 2013).
The project manager is accountable for the project success (Afshari et al., 2018), and according to
global predictions, the most important job of the 21st century will be the project manager
(Stewart, 1999). Therefore, his choice is the prime decision in project management (Varajão &
Cruz-Cunha, 2013; Rashid et al., 2018) and the topic worth exploring (Smith, 2013a). From the
aspects of the project manager selection, it should be emphasized (Sadatrasool et al., 2016): The
project manager has special responsibility for fulfilling all defined project goals inside the
prescribed deadlines and the set budget. He manages the project every day. Project managers
contributors, with responsibilities for the project certain parts, can significantly support it without
compromising its credibility and responsibility. The project manager should demonstrate
competencies, which include tacit and explicit knowledge, skills and proportionally experience
with the scope, complexity and project risks.
For the project manager to achieve authority and/or reputation the towards project team and
stakeholders, essential is to pass the project manager selection process. It is an internal or public
selection and selection process. Credibility should be professional or administrative (Omazić &
Baljkas, 2005). Professional credibility means that the project manager does not have to be an
expert, nor does he have to know more in all areas of activity than any team member does; he
only has to understand the technological process of the project. Administrative credibility refers
to the fact that the project manager should be achieved that the project proceeds according to the
schedule, Inside the budget and within the deadline frame in which it is provided, and should
provide key resources for project development.
Project management is not easy and is demanding and stressful for the project manager because it
implies the need for more comparative competencies. Selecting the best project manager is a
complicated process because there are many topics to consider. The process of weighting the
criteria relative to the project manager selection is particularly sensitive. It is necessary to ensure
that the selected project manager has a balanced relationship of knowledge, experience and
personality traits (Varajão & Cruz-Cunha, 2013). This has stimulated interest in developing the
body of knowledge and certification procedures that can be used to assess, recognize, and as a
guide to developing project management competencies (Crawford, 2000).

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However, when it comes to the results of relevant researches, there is a certain imbalance here:
on the one hand, searching databases such as Scopus&Web of Science, EconLit, etc. Numerous
researches addressing desirable project manager attributes can be found (Meredith & Mantel,
2003), including their moderation impact on project success (Papke-Shields et al., 2010; Tesch et
al., 2003). On the other side, there are only a few types of research about the selection of a
project manager (Smith, 2013a; Smith, 2013b). Besides, recent research on this topic comes
mainly from the field of information technology, sometimes engineering and very rarely from the
field of economics, although the consequences of poor selection of project managers are first
seen in the economic dimensions of project success. The process of selecting project managers is
insufficiently researched and it has consequences on the state of knowledge for this topic and at
practice, especially in Ethiopia.
The aims of this research work are to assess the practice of project manager selection in Ethio-
telecom
1.3. Statement of the Problem
Project managers are responsible for the leadership role in projects (Müller & Turner, 2010).
Therefore, selecting a competent project manager which has the necessary skills for project
leadership can be led to improve the excellence level of project. Here, an important question is
that what criteria or skills are needed for project managers to perform projects successfully
(Sadeghi, Mousakhani, Yazdani, & Delavari, 2014). In the last two decades, many researchers
have been exploring the general skills that a project manager should possess, as well as those
needed to succeed, and the criteria for the selection of project managers.
In the 1990s, several researchers detailed skills of project managers and proposed several
frameworks. Thamhain (1991) presented three categories of project managers’ skills, which are
leadership, technical, and administrative, while Pettersen (1991) proposed five categories:
problem solving, administration, supervision and team management, interpersonal relations, and
some other personal qualities of project managers. Technical skills, conceptual skills and human
skills are considered by Goodwin (1993), as the main four skills project managers cannot do
without. According to Goodwin (1993), conceptual, technical, negotiation, and human resource
skills are the four main skills that a project manager should possess.
Meredith et al. (2011) classified the skills required by a project manager into six distinct groups:
communication, organizational, teambuilding, leadership, coping, and technological.

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Ogunlana et al. (2002) believed that conceptual, human resource, negotiation, and technical skills
are the most essential skills for a project manager. Sunindijo et al. (2007) studied emotional
intelligence (EI) in the context of project manager selection. The results of these studies revealed
that EI is beneficial to both the individual and the organization. Pheng and Chuan (2006)
identified the factors that effectively influence the performance of a project manager in the
private and public sectors. Dolfi and Andrews (2007) studied the personality characteristics of
project manager and formulated a conclusive understanding of the motivations of project
managers, especially concerning their work environment.
The recent studies have attempted to centralize the competency concept and focused more on
classifying the competencies according to the different natures of projects. Crawford (2005)
provided further insight towards enabling a more in-depth understanding of the potential
dimensions of the term competency by proposing three interesting classifications, namely input
competencies, personal competencies, and output competencies. Input competencies as defined
by Crawford refer to the knowledge and skills that a person brings to a job. Personal
competencies are the core attributes underlying a person’s capability to execute a job. Output
competencies relate to the demonstrable performance that a person exhibits at the job place.
Suikki et al. (2006) emphasized the administrative, leadership, and business skills of project
managers.
Ahadzie et al. (2008) studied the telecommunication projects and developed competency-based
measures for evaluating the project managers in mass house building projects. Patanakul and
Milosevic (2008) studied the multi-project environments and proposed a list of competencies that
multiple-project managers should possess. Liu et al. (2010) examined the relationship between
competency and success in the information systems project environment. They modeled the link
between general task completion competency and performance of development teams with two
crucial antecedents built by other stakeholders, the contribution of users and controls established
by management.
Having thus studies, possible dependency between the criteria in the project manager selection
model is being neglected in most of the existing studies. Project manager selection model should
not assume that each criterion is independent of other criteria, because in the real world, there is a
relationship between criteria for project manager selection. Group decision making (GDM) is a
very important factor for a comprehensive solving of the problem. But it was not considered the

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group environment in the majority of the reviewed studies. The approach that considers one
single decision maker does not have completeness while multi criteria decision making
techniques are used. One of the critical tasks for an organization is project manager selection;
therefore, more rational decisions are made by a group of people rather than by a single person.
Like other organizations, Ethio telecom undertaking different projects but their success was not
as expected this is because of problem from project managers that initiate the researcher to
undertake a research project on that area.
To address above gaps, this study therefore, aims to assess the practice of project manager
selection in Ethio telecom through a comprehensive review of literature and empirical study
available on the area.

1.4. Research questions

1. What are the factors that affect the project manager selection practice in the study area?
2. What are criteria’s and methods in the selection of project managers?
3. What is the relationship between project management knowledge, project managers’
selection criteria and project manager selection practice?
1.5. Objective of the Research
1.5.1. General objective
The general objective of the study was to examine the practice of project manager selection in
Ethio telecom in case of Dessie City Administration.
1.5.2. Specific objective
1. To determine the factors that affect the project manager selection practice in the study area.
2. To identify the criteria’s and methods in the selection of project managers.
3. To explore the association between project management knowledge, project managers’
selection criteria and project manager selection practice.
4. To suggest the possible recommendations that help to solve the prevailing problems.

1.6. Significance of the Study

This research project will be helping the organization in identifying the gaps related to project
managers’ selection and also it may equally important for future researchers as input if they are

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interested to do researches in this subject. Finally, the study is significant as the partial
fulfillment of the requirement of Master of Business Administrative /MBA/.

1.7. Scope of the study

The scope of the research study explains how the study will be focused on one specific area.
 This research study was limited to access the practice of project manager selection in Ethio
telecom.
 The study does not include the impact of bad selection of project managers on project success
of the company which is another scope of the study.
 This study was also incorporate only selected staffs of the company which is another scope of
the study.
 The findings, conclusions and recommendations are only limited to Ethio telecom.
1.9. Definition of Terms
Skill: -Ability to use knowledge, a developed aptitude, and/or a capability to effectively and
readily execute or perform an activity.

Risk identification: -The process of determining which risks might affect the project and
documenting their characteristics.

Communication Management Plan: -The document that describes: the communications need
and expectations for the project; how and in what format information will be communicated;
when and where each communication will be made; and who is responsible for providing each
type of communication. A communication management plan can be 8 formal or informal, highly
detailed or broadly framed, based on the requirements of the project stakeholders. The
communication management plan is contained in, or is a subsidiary plan of the project
management plan.

Project Charter [Output/Input]: -A document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that
formally authorizes the existence of a project, and provides the project manager with the
authority to apply organizational resources to project activities.
Project Cost Management [Knowledge Area]:-A subset of project management that includes
the processes required to ensure that the project is completed within the approved budget. It
consists of resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control.

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Project Human Resource Management [Knowledge Area]:-A subset of project management
that includes the processes required to make the most effective use of the people involved with
the project. It consists of organizational planning, staff acquisition, and team development.

Project Integration Management [Knowledge Area]:-A subset of project management that

includes the processes required to ensure that the various elements of the project are properly
coordinated. It consists of project plan development, project plan execution, and integrated
change control.

Project Management (PM):-The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to

project activities to meet the project requirements.

Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®):-An inclusive term that describes the
sum of knowledge within the profession of project management. As with other professions, such
as law, medicine, and accounting, the body of knowledge rests with the practitioners and
academics that apply and advance it. The complete project management body of knowledge
includes proven traditional practices that are widely applied and innovative practices that are
emerging in the profession. The body of knowledge includes both published and unpublished
material. The PMBOK is constantly evolving.

Project Quality Management [Knowledge Area]: A subset of project management that

includes the processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was
undertaken. It consists of quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

Project Risk Management [Knowledge Area]:-Risk Management is the systematic process of

identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It includes maximizing the probability and
consequences of positive events and minimizing the probability and consequences of events
adverse to project objectives. It includes the processes of risk management planning, risk
identification, qualitative risk analysis, quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning, and risk
monitoring and control.
Project Time Management [Knowledge Area]:-A subset of project management that includes
the processes required toensure timely completion of the project. It consists of activity definition,
activity sequencing, activity duration estimating, schedule development, and schedule control.

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Project Team Members: The persons who report either directly or indirectly to the project
manager, and who are responsible for performing project work as a regular part of their assigned
duties.

Scope: -The sum of the products, services, and results to be provided as a project. See also
project scope and product scope
Stakeholder: -Those with a particularly significant interest in the project’s outcome, including
those providing funding or right of way for the project and property owners who are affected by
the project. Stakeholders are unique for each project.

1.10. Limitations of the study

The sources of difficulties encountered in the study has to do with the project managers and co-
works of the Ethiotelecom unwillingness to cooperate to give the necessary information on the
required time due to they had been said that they were tired during the time of survey. Thus, extra
time consumption for the enumerators to collect the questionnaire was mandatory task. It also
encountered problem during data collection that respondents miss some information that they did
not sure to give correct data. Hence, extra appointment time for next day was challenging for
extra expense required from enumerators. In addition to this, money were the key constraints on
the study. The monetary overhead was particularly limiting because the researcher had to finance
all research related expenses out of own pocket.
1.10. Organization of the Research Report
This paper comprises five chapters in which the first part illustrates the study backgrounds,
statements of the problem, basic research questions, objectives, significance, scope and limitation
of the study and the second chapter concerned with review of related literature and the third
chapter describes research design and methodology of the study and the analysis used. Results
and discussion would be discussed in the fourth chapter. Finally, the last chapter deal with the
research conclusion and recommendations.

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 CHAPTER TWO
2. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Definition of Project
According to Kerzner (2009), a project can be considered to be any series of activities and tasks
that have a specific objective to be completed within certain specifications, have define start and
end dates, have funding limits (if applicable), consume human and non-human resources (i.e.
money, people, equipment), are multifunctional (i.e. cut across several functional lines).

According to PMI (2013), a project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique

product, service, or result. According to Tayntor (2010), a project is a unique, finite set of
multiple activities intended to accomplish a specific goal. On the other hand, Wysocki (2014), a
project is a sequence of unique, complex, and connected activities that have one goal or purpose
and that must be completed by a specific time, within budget, and according to specifications.

All of the above definitions have basic similarities, i.e. a project is temporary and unique activity
and has clear goal or objective and specifications. To elaborate each point more, a temporary
activity does not mean something accomplished within short period of time rather it means every
project has a starting and ending period. To support this, PMI (2013) states that the temporary
nature of projects indicates that a project has a defined beginning and end. Temporary does not
necessarily mean the duration of the project is short. It refers to the project’s engagement and its
longevity. Similarly, Tayntor (2010), states that a project by definition has a beginning and a
scheduled end.

The next point is about project uniqueness. According to PMI (2013), although repetitive
elements may be present in some project deliverables and activities, this repetition does not
change the fundamental, unique characteristics of the project work. Similarly, although there may
have been other similar efforts, a true project is unique in at least one aspect (Tayntor,
2010). It may be unique in its planning or implementation or outcome or, etc… A project is
generally a one-off activity that is never prepared exactly (Roberts and Wallace, 2004).
The other point is having specific goal. According to Tayntor (2010), to make it truly a project,
the purpose of the activities to be undertaken must be defined. A project is also expected to be

9
accomplished within its expectations. In this context specification means project’s time, cost and
quality. There is no point in completing on time and on cost if the quality of the finished product
is lower than specified by the client. For each of the variables of time, cost and quality, there
should be a minimum acceptable condition. Therefore, project management is concerned with
meeting these minimum criteria (Roberts and Wallace, 2004).

There may be number of reasons for designing projects. According to Haynes (2002), projects
may be designed to solve a specific problem or to use available opportunities. When a decision is
made to do something about the problem or to use available opportunities, a project is born-at
this point someone is typically given the responsibility of carrying it out. That person becomes
the project manager. In addition Wysocki (2014) clearly states that, projects grow out of
problems or opportunities. Projects arise out of unmet needs. These needs might be to find a
solution to a critical business problem that has evaded any prior attempts at finding a solution.
According to PMI (2013), a project can create a product that can be either a component of
another item, an enhancement of an item, an end item in itself; a service or a capability to
perform a service; an improvement in the existing product or service lines; or a result ; effecting
a change in the structure, processes, staffing, or style of an organization; developing or acquiring
a new or modified information system (hardware or software); conducting a research effort
whose outcome will be aptly recorded; constructing a building, industrial plant, or infrastructure;
or implementing, improving, or enhancing existing business processes and procedures are some
examples of project (PMI 2013).

2.2. Project Management

2.2.1. Definition of project management
Since the middle of the last century, many organizations are using project management approach
to bring about the change needed to meet organizational goals and objectives. Around the world,
it is difficult to find two project management situations that are the same. This is partly because
every project, be it internal or external, offshore or onshore, carried out by an organization is
unique, with its own unique set of challenges. Organizations initiate projects with the best of
intentions to succeed. But due to complex nature of project activities, and the challenges
associated with managing a project restriction or constraints of budget, quality and time are also

10
unique and ever changing. The management of project constraints explains, if not fully, why
many projects fail. Like any other organizational endeavours, projects are part of a wider super-
system of an organization and are also influenced by both internal and external forces in a super
system. Some external forces like government regulations, environmental forces, society,
pressure groups, financial markets, labour markets, technology, customer influence, shareholder
etc. are very dynamic and much erratic. Internal forces also like changes in operating processes,
management style, resources allocation, skills, internal conflicts etc. are becoming more adaptive
to the external environment. Hence, managing projects in this mix of dynamic factors requires a
lot from project managers and also show how easy it is for a project to fail.

Project management can be defined from management concept, resource utilization point and as a
system. According to Kerzner (2009), project management is the planning, organizing, directing,
and controlling of company resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been
established to complete specific goals and objectives. Furthermore, project management utilizes
the systems approach to management by having functional personnel (the vertical hierarchy)
assigned to a specific project (the horizontal hierarchy) (Kerzner, 2009).

Robert K. Wysocki explained project management from the point of client involvement, sponsors
and delivering business value. Project management is an organized common-sense approach that
utilizes the appropriate client involvement in order to meet sponsor needs and deliver expected
incremental business value (Wysocki, 2014).

According to Ibbs and Reginato (2002), project management is about people and the systems,
processes, tools, and methodologies they use. In order to manage any kind of project there should
be some kind of system with group of people who can run the established system. There are also
different tools and methodologies that help to manage a project.

The project management Institute defines project management as a set of processes that are
applied to a project to deliver a product or service. Project management is designed to provide
sustained, intensified and integrated management of complex venture and to pull together a
combination of human and non-human resources in to a temporary organization to achieve a
specified objective. Whitty and Maylor added that project management is recognized to be a key
enabler of business change and a vital contributor to future business success.

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Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project
activities to meet the project requirements (PMI, 2013).

Project management is about converting vision into reality. We have a vision of some future state
we would like to achieve. It may be a new computer system, a new production process, a new
product, a new organization structure, or system-based selection process of project managers. We
foresee that the operation of that new state will help us improve performance of our business, by
solving a problem or exploiting an opportunity, and so provide us with benefit that will repay the
cost of achieving it (Turner, 2009).

Project management is concerned with several objectives at once. The objectives typically fail
under the headings of time, cost and quality (Roberts and Wallace, 2004). There are constraints
when managing a project. These constraints are time, cost and quality.

The benefits of project management are identifications of functional responsibilities to ensure

that all activities are accounted for, regardless of personnel turnover, minimize the need for
continuous reporting, identifications of time limits for scheduling, identification of a
methodology for trade-off analysis, measurement of accomplishment against plans, early
identification of problems so that corrective action may follow, improved estimating capability
for future planning, knowing when objectives cannot be met or will be exceeded (Kerzner, 2009).

2.2.2. Project Management Process Groups

According to PMI (2013), these processes ensure the effective flow of the project throughout its
lifecycle. There are five process groups in the life cycle of any project. These are:

1. The initiating process group:-Those processes performed to define a new project or a new
phase of an existing project by obtaining authorization to start the project or phase.
2. The planning process group:-Those processes required to establish the scope of the project,
refine the objectives, and define the course of action required to attain the objectives that the
project was undertaken to achieve.
3. The executing process group:-Those processes performed to complete the work defined in
the project management plan to satisfy the project specifications.

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4. The monitoring and controlling process group:-Those processes required to track, review,
and regulate the progress and performance of the project; identify any areas in which changes
to the plan are required; and initiate the corresponding changes.
5. The closing process group: -Those processes performed to finalize all activities across

2.2.3. Empirical Evidences on project management and project success

There has been a great deal written over the years about project success, project management
success and performance management to deliver success. A number of papers relating to critical
success factors emerged during the late 1980’s. For example, (Pinto and Slevin, 1987) and de Wit
(1988) who viewed success as being judged by the degree to which project objectives have been
met. These views centers on success of project management delivery processes and also
acknowledged that project success is also a matter of the project stakeholders’ perceptions of the
value (in their terms) of what was delivered.

Longman. Mullins. J (2004) presented their findings about essentials of project management on
Journal of business strategy. According to the authors, by working with organizations large and
small, in the public and private sectors, in the USA and overseas, in manufacturing sites and
corporate headquarters, in strategic and operational project situations, they have found seven
essential conditions for project success which are applied to all projects, whether related to top
level strategic business or operational ones. As of them perform poorly against even one of these
conditions and you risk crippling your strategy implementation, however brilliantly formulated it
may be.
The seven essentials for project success
1. Make a compelling business case for project management
All too often project teams are asked to carry out their work in a vacuum. They are told what
must be done but not why? Not knowing how their efforts will help to achieve the organization’s
strategic goals or what impact they will have on the bottom line typically breeds
“this too shall pass “syndrome. Not surprisingly, may teams lack the motivation to stick with it,
losing oomph long before the project is completed.

To convert intent into the will to win, project leaders and their managers need to communicate
clearly for each team member, at the beginning of every new project, the value the project is

13
expected to add to the organization. Once the team understands the value of the project, team
members must be sold on the value of the project management process.

2. Make project management practical, relevant and beneficial from day one

Project management is often associated with technical tools and software, but effective project
management tools are not a replacement for sound judgement by project managers. A key role of
a project manager is guiding the use of concepts so they help rather than hinder the team’s
progress. Before getting down working, each member of the project team needs to agree that the
process they will be following is realistic and practical. In particular, they need to know the intent
of the concepts tools well enough to know how much of each apply.

3. Build bridges to on-the- job applications

It is recommended that after any training when learners returned to work, providing them with
venues for applying their newly acquired skills, just as importantly, supporting them with expert
coaching, feedback delivered in real time and the movement of application truth. This
combination will help internalize the learning and drive continued use.

4. Make systems and procedures user friendly

Communicating the rationale behind project definition, planning and implementation is

fundamental to successful project management. Explain the “why” behind each step, along with
the rationale for supporting systems and procedures, and then testing understanding, is the key to
project management success.

5. Management a win for team members and managers

People tend to follow the path of least resistance. For a graduate of project management training
to actually apply what she or he learned, using the concepts must not add more work or consume
more time than the person’s previous approach, unless the process is perceived as an
improvement over previous work methods, people soon revert to their old , comfortable ways.

People also need positive reinforcement. The organization needs to offer rewards and recognition
for the use of project management concepts. People should be rewarded both for the contribution

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to project outcomes and for how contributed. Those to whom project managers report need be
rewarded for the coaching, support and oversight that they provide; they need to be accountable
and rewarded for the success of their project managers.

6. Make project management an ongoing learning experience

Projects are incubators for the development of future leaders, especially when these projects have
strategic implications. Experience on a project team often tests a variety of skills and behaviours,
from hygiene factors such as the ability to work gracefully under pressure and manage conflict to
the ability to deliver results on time and budget. Projects also allow an organization to gradually
up the performance against projects of increasing complexity and risk.
In general, every project should be a platform for learning and growth.
7. Trumpet success

Continued success requires going back often to the reasons the organization felt a need to
improve its project management practice.

From the above seven essentials for project success, the role of project managers is paramount.
Therefore critically selecting an excellence project managers’ from pull of candidates should be
the main task of the organization to sustain in this dynamic business environment.

2.3. Project Manager

2.3.1. Definition of Project Manager
The project manager is the person assigned by the performing organization to lead the team that
is responsible for achieving the project objectives (PMI, 2013). From project management
definition there is a point about system, methodology and people. So one of the ingredients in
managing a project is having all the required human resource and the project manager is the most
important one. According to Roberts and Wallace (2004), the project manager owns the project
and has sole responsibility for its outcome. Therefore, the project manager is responsible to
organize, motivate and lead the project team to achieve the objective of a project. According to
Tayntor (2010), they lead the rest of the time; they make key decisions; they are involved in the
day-to-day activities; they set the tone for the whole project. In other words, they are the
linchpins of the project.

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A project manager is similar to a chief executive or managing director. Indeed, it has become
relatively common for large organizations to use project management assignments as a means of
developing future general managers (Roberts and Wallace, 2004). Sometimes a single project
manager is assigned for more than one project and this is common in small and medium sized
projects. Where small to medium-sized projects are concerned, the project manager is often
responsible for managing several projects concurrently (Roberts and Wallace, 2004).

According to Roberts and Wallace (2004), the project manager is usually responsible to a project
sponsor. In the case of very large projects, or those that will have a significance influence on the
future of the organization, the sponsor will normally be a board member. In some cases there will
be several sponsors who will operate as a team.

According to Tayntor (2010), projects do not happen without people, and if the project is to be
successful it is essential that the right people be involved. Thus there are characteristics of
successful project manager. These are project management experience, ability to gain consensus,
ability to conduct meetings, verbal and written communication skill, and respect from the
organization. In addition, Kerzner explained key points to be effective project manager.

An individual must have management as well as technical skills. Because engineers often
consider their careers limited in the functional disciplines, they look toward project management
and project engineering as career path opportunities. But becoming a manager entails learning
about psychology, human behaviour, organizational behaviour, interpersonal relations, and
communications (Kerzner, 2009).

2.3.2. Roles and Responsibilities of Project Manager

As project management is a critical strategic discipline, the project manager becomes the link
between the strategy and the team (PMI, 2013). Therefore, the project manager’s job is not an
easy one (Kerzner, 2009).

According to PMI (2013), the role of a project manager is distinct from a functional manager or
operations manager. Typically, the functional manager is focused on providing management
oversight for a functional or a business unit, and operations managers are responsible for
ensuring that business operations are efficient. Similarly, Roberts and Wallace (2004) explained

16
that, functional managers usually remain responsible for individual work tasks and personnel
within the project, while the project manager is responsible for integrating and overseeing the
start and completion of activities. Project manager roles and responsibilities are explained and
discussed by different scholars in different fashion.

Levine (2002), states that project manager has a very special role, which requires very special
talents. The project manager acts as an integrator, channels conflict and aggressiveness, pays
practices to minimize possible failure, makes sure that risks have been evaluated and that risk
mitigation plans have been prepared.

Project managers have the responsibility to satisfy the needs: task needs, team needs, and
individual needs (PMI, 2013). According to Levine (2002), project managers have several tasks
and responsibilities, such as: get all players on the project team, manage task interfaces, assure
clear identification of task completion, assure communication of task completion, manage
responsibility interfaces, question blurry responsibilities, clarify delegation levels, balance the
needs of project, client, organization, identify stakeholders and their definition of project success,
balance project objectives with other objectives, act as a catalyst, and when necessary, a devil’s
advocate, promote effective communication and wide participation in decision making, manage
conflicts.

According to Roberts and Wallace (2004), the project manager heads the project organization and
operates independently of the normal chain of command, is the single focal point for bringing
together all efforts in pursuit of the project objectives, is responsible for integrating people from
different functional disciplines who are working on the project and negotiates directly with
functional managers for support. The PMI (2013) states that, if the project manager is responsible
for more than one project, he/she works closely with the program or portfolio manager to achieve
the project objective and to ensure the project the project management plan aligns with the
overarching program plan. The project manager also works closely and in collaboration with
other roles, such as a business analyst, quality assurance manager, and subject matter experts.

In general, project manager is responsible to minimize risk and the possibility of failure,
collaborates with functional managers to use resources, for conflict resolution, to manage the
project team and so forth.

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2.3.3. The Position of Project Manager
According to Kerzner (2009), the success of project management could easily depend on location
of the project manager within the organization. But the position of the project manager is a very
difficult one because of a project’s position within an organization. In traditional organizations,
influence and authority tends to flow vertically down from the top to the bottom of the
organization. However, any complex project will usually require the support of many levels of
management within organizations and of many departments/functions across the organization
(Roberts and Wallace, 2004).

Project manager salary and to whom he/she report are determinants for the location of project
manager position. But the ultimate reporting location of the project manager (and perhaps his
salary) is heavily dependent on whether the organization is project-or non-project driven, and
whether the project manager is responsible for profit or loss (Kerzner, 2009). According to PMI
(2013), depending on the organizational structure, a project manager may report to a functional
manager. In other cases, a project manager may be one several project managers who report to a
program or portfolio manager who is ultimately responsible for enterprise-wide projects.

The project life cycle is the other factor for project managers reporting position, i.e. during the
planning phase of the project, the project manager may report high, whereas during
implementation, he may report low. All in all, PMI (2013) states some dependent factors for
positioning project manager. These are, risk involved, the size of the project and the customers.

But it should be noted that even if the project manager reports low, he should still have the right
to interface with top executives during project planning although there may be two or more
reporting levels between the project manager and executives. At the opposite end of the
spectrum, the project manager should have the right to go directly in to the depths of the
organization instead of having to follow the chain of command downward, especially during
planning (PMI, 2013).

2.4. Selecting Project Manager

Project management involves five process groups. These are project initiation, planning,
executing, monitoring and controlling and finally project closure. Of this process, selection of

18
project manager is stated under the first process, which is the project initiation. As cited by
Kerzner, PMBOK Guide (2013) stated, project initiation involves selection of the best project
given resource limits, recognizing the benefits of the project, preparation of the documents to
sanction the project and assigning of the project manager. Many project failures can be traced to
bad choices of this area (Roberts and Wallace, 2004) and Kerzner (2009) mentioned that, one of
the causes for the failure of project management is selection of the wrong person as project
manager.

There are factors to consider during the selection process. According to Kerzner (2009), there are
two important determinants. These are deliverables and stakeholders. Projects exist to produce
deliverables and Roberts and Wallace (2004) states that projects are either undertaken to deliver
hardware software projects. The person ultimately assigned as the project manager may very well
be assigned up on the size, nature, and scope of the deliverables. Another factor influencing the
selection of the project manager would be the stakeholders (Kerzner, 2009).

Harold Kerzner explained the above factors in detail. According to Kerznr (2009), deliverables
are outputs, or the end result of either the completion of the project or the end of a life-cycle
phase of the project. Deliverables are measurable, tangible outputs and can take such form as:

1. Hardware Deliverables: These hardware items, such as a table, a prototype, or a pice of

equipment. In addition to Kerzner, Roberts and Wallace (2004), explained hardware projects
as those where there is a tangible physical result, such as a new building.
2. Software Deliverables: These items are similar to hardware deliverables but are usually paper
products, such as reports, studies, handouts, or documentation (Kerzner, 2009). Similarly,
software projects are those where the end result is a system or process, rather than a physical
item. An example is a new operational or administrative system for an office (Roberts and
Wallace, 2004).
3. Interim Deliverables: These items can be either hardware or software deliverables and
progressively evolve as the project proceeds. An example might be a series of intrim reports
leading up to the final report (Kerzner, 2009).

The other point is about stakeholder. A stakeholder can be defined as anybody who has an
interest in the project, its work, outputs, outcomes, or ultimate goals (Turner, 2009). Stakeholders

19
are individuals or organizations that can be favourably or unfavourably impacted by the project.
As such, project managers must interface with these stakeholders, and many of the stakeholders
are referred to as “active’’ or ‘’key’’ stakeholders that can possess decisionmaking authority
during the execution of the project. Each stakeholder can have his or her own set of objectives,
and this could place the project manager in a position of having to balance a variety of
stakeholder interests without creating a conflict-of-interest situation for the project manager.

Project managers are sometimes qualified and experienced project management specialists who
are employed on a permanent basis by an organization. Sometimes they are external consultants
who are contracted to manage the project for its duration only. In the case of internal projects,
they are mostly selected from the existing workforce. In all cases they are charged with
organizing and managing a project team that will work together in order to meet the project
objectives (Roberts and Wallace, 2004).

Years ago, virtually all project managers were engineers with advanced degrees. These people
had a command of technology rather than merely an understanding of technology (Kerzner,
2009). However, PMI (2013) stated that understanding and applying the knowledge, tools, and
techniques that are recognized as good practice are not sufficient for effective project
management. In addition to any area-specific skill and general management proficiencies
required for the project, effective project management requires that the project manager possess
the following competencies.

Knowledge: -Refers to what the project manager knows about project management.
Performance: -Refers to what the project manager is able to do or accomplish while applying his
or her project management knowledge.
Personal: -Refers to how the project manager behaves when performing the project or related
activity. Personal effectiveness encompasses attitudes, core personality characteristics, and
leadership, which provides the ability to guide the project team while achieving project
objectives and balancing the project constraints.

Project managers accomplish work through the project team and other stakeholders. Effective
project managers require a balance of ethical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills that help them
analyze situations and interact appropriately (PMI, 2013). Based on the PMI (2013), the

20
important sets of interpersonal skills of project managers include leadership, team building,
motivation, communication, influencing, decision making, political and cultural awareness,
Negotiation, trust building, conflict management, and Coaching.

2.5. Project Manager Selection Criteria

“It’s really challenging to select a project manager. According to a research conducted by
Abdulla Naqi (ND) regarding to project managers as leaders of innovation in the
telecommunications industry of Dubai; there are several factors that are important for the
selection of a project manager which are:
 Excellent history in the organization, past experience in handling telecom projects and how

big the projects were.

 Project Manager should have several skills such as interpersonal skills, presentation skills,
language skills, reporting skills, communication skills, negotiation skills, etc…Also, Project
manager should have good technical knowledge about the project / projects he is handling.

 Ability to overcome obstacles and excellent communication skills with major stakeholders.

 Leadership skills and commitment to achieve organizations targets.

 Personnel reasons: where the boss feels comfortable to work with certain manager more than

other one.
 Knowledge management: Project manager should have Fair Knowledge about everything in
the company. Also, the project manager (PM) must be capable to manage
 the information flow between departments. Moreover, PM requires to manage proper system

to present the information.

 PM should have influence tactics and power of authority in order to manage conflict between

the teams, and be respected from stakeholders and participants.

 Able to establish relationship with clients and partners in order to convince them and create

more opportunities and deals for the organization.

 Able to convince higher management about his abilities and capabilities and provide them

update periodically.

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 Seniority of the project manager: this include years of experience and people management

skills.

2.6. Core competencies of project managers

According to Prray (1998) sited by PMI (2002), competency is a cluster of related knowledge,
attitudes, skills, and other personal characteristics that can affects a major part of one’s job (i.e.,
one or more key roles or responsibilities), Correlates with performance on the job, can be
measured against well-accepted standards, can be improved via training and development and
can be broken down into dimensions of competence.

Crawford (1999) sited by Miranda and Ghimire (2008), as project managers take on a more
important role in the business world the interest in which competences are necessary to
successfully manage projects grows. This growth in interest has sparked the creation of standards
and certification programs that describe the discipline’s practices, offer definitions of the main
terms and process, explain the main techniques and serves as the basis for assessing Project
managers competences.
Based on the research conducted by Miranda and Ghimire 2008), on their intensive analysis of 50
online job advertisement in USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia posted for project
managers positions they found the following sets of hard and soft competencies.
According to the authors the desired sets of soft competencies include; communication,
leadership, problem solving, team building and working with others, organizing, flexibility and
alertness, creativity and innovation, human resource management , negotiation and conflict
management and positive work attitude whereas the desired hard competencies for project
managers position involves project integration management, project scope management, project
time management, project cost management, project quality management, project risk
management, project procurement management and project management software competences.
The authors also clearly stated the criteria used for both soft and hard competencies with detailed
explanations of what was considered under each competence on the advertisement as follows

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2.6.1 Soft competences
(1) Communication:-Sentences that clearly stated communication as well as things such as
building or managing relationships, third parties or stakeholders, dealing with information,
presentations, reporting, documentation, and language skills, for example, were all coded under
communication. The reason to have relationship related ideas under this category is because it is
believed that a good relationship is only achieved through good communication between the
parties.
A communication skill comprises sets of ability to communicate effectively across all levels of
organization, including executive management; excellent Speaking and writing skills; ability to
write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals; fluent with multiple languages
particularly helpful; maintain a good professional relationship with the client, acting as first point
of contact for any issue or query and keeping senior stakeholders in the picture with presentations
on how the projects are tracking.
(2) Leadership:-The sentences that were dealt under leadership included sentences that
clearly mentioned the word leadership as well as the ones that included things such as
mobilization, influencing people, acting strategically, direction (roadmaps), coaching and
mentoring. Acting strategically was included under leadership because leaders are able to see the
complete picture and establish a vision and direction; therefore, they need to have a strategic
mind frame. Some leadership competences comprise of phrases like establish roadmaps;
demonstrated the ability to lead and manage project teams; demonstrated tactical and strategic
focus is preferred;
“driver” mentality; champion and enforce best practice to the entire team and ability to influence.
(3) Problem solving:-Sentences that clearly mentioned both parts of this competence
problem identification and decision making were dealt in this category. Analytical skills were
also included under problem solving. Problem solving comprises phrases like make decisions on
problem resolutions; possess excellent analytical skills; must be able to solve practical problems
and deal with variables in situations where only limited standardization exists; selecting and
implementing application solutions; trouble-shooting mentality and proactively identify potential
problems.

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(4) Team working:-For team working a distinction was made between being part of a team
and managing a team. When the advertisement mentioned managing a team it was classified as
human resource management competence, but when it talked about working in and being part of
a team it was dealt under this category.
Other words that fell under this category include gaining allies, involving people, managing or
running team meetings and being part of team. Team working can be described by phrases like
conduct project team meetings; proven cross-functional team success; you will be part of an
international project team; team working skills; team environment and team player.
(5) Organizing:-This category was limited to sentences or words that mentioned the
competence of being organized or organizing. Organizing competence includes phrases like be
responsible for organizing; must possess excellent organizational skills; organized; organization
ability; strong organizational skills and project managers who are organized.
(6) Flexibility & alertness:-For this category sentences that mentioned a fast paced and
dynamic environment were included under flexibility. As it was assumed that to work in such
environments requires the project manager to be flexible and alert. Also things that referred to:
multi-tasking, multiple-work and being detailed or paying attention to detail were included under
this category.
Competences which can be coded under flexibility & alertness includes fast-paced environment;
experience in a multiple project environment preferred; manage multiple project plans
concurrently and prioritize tasks appropriately under changing conditions; very flexible and able
to work under pressure; your core task and responsibility is to manage different projects and an
eye for detail.
(7) Creativity & innovation:-This category included both the competence to act creatively
and innovatively as the competence to foster such behavior within the participants of the project.
It included sentences that either mentioned the word creativity and innovation or called for
forward thinking and the ability to identify opportunities. Competences that can be dealt under
creativity & innovations includes create an atmosphere of innovation; promote forward thinking
and guide reengineering discussions toward process and technology improvements aimed at
increasing efficiency and productivity in business operations; support areas with structural
problems by using existing or new processes; allows the teams to concentrate on developing
creative content; creative decisions and ability to identify project opportunities.

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(8) Human resource management (HRM):-For this competence all the sentences that
referred to the more formal human resource management procedures were included such as
selecting, training and motivating staff. Also the general competence of managing people or
teams was included under this heading. The heading also dealt with internal management
accountabilities including staff management; determination of manpower requirements;
experience in managing (medium to large) multi-person, multidisciplinary teams; provide
training where necessary on techniques or existing processes; talent for creating a motivating
working environment; good people management skills.
(9) Negotiation and conflict management:-All the sentences like manage issue resolution;
Conflict resolution; good negotiation skills; act as the catalyst for any resolution; issues
management; a born negotiator are mentioned under this heading.
(10) Positive work attitude:-This category included all the sentences that referred to general
competences related to positive working attitude. Words such as result oriented, performance
oriented, self-starter, positive and proactive and sentences that mentioned an overall willingness
to respond to additional duties as they appeared were classified under this competence. Some
Positive work attitude is a professional conduct that can be characterized by a self-starting,
results oriented, positive and proactive; ability to work autonomously; result-driven and handson
working style; undertake ad-hoc activities within the scope of these responsibilities, which are
requested by management from time to time and hardworking, Reliable

2.6.2 Hard Competences

(1) Project integration management:-This category is a broad category by nature. It
includes general sentences about PM and words such as PM methods, processes and vague terms
about PM. Also sentences that mention dependencies, the whole life-cycle of the project,
monitoring and controlling progress and the adherence to deliverables and objectives were
classified under this heading. The reason for that is because it was assumed that, for example, if
the candidate is comfortable running projects, has a track record of successful projects or is able
ensure project delivery according to specifications he possess all the PM competences and is able
integrate them all to achieve the results. Project integration management characterized by
Comfortable running the project; track record of successful projects; solid project methods;

25
project management skills; monitoring project progress and other performance indicators;
coordination of project interfaces and ensuring the delivery of projects.
(2) Project scope management:-The category of scope management included all the
sentences that specifically mentioned scope management, required planning competence, talked
about defining or understanding requirements and the ones that mentioned changes. The reason
for including changes into scope management was because a project manager needs to control the
changes in order to manage the scope of the project. It is project scope management competence
that allows the project manager to control what is and what isn’t part of the project, which is also
why requirement definition was included under this heading. Project scope management can
comprise phrases like the Project Manager will plan; project scope definitions; tracking changes;
definition of the project; identification of ongoing changes within existing projects and works
with internal and external stakeholders to develop a clear understanding of the requirements.
(3) Project time management:-Sentences that mentioned time, tracking milestones,
prioritize and creating as well as monitoring schedule all were coded under this classification.
The phrases dealt as project time management incorporates key work packages to be delivered on
time; prepare project schedule; monitor the project's progress in terms of planned versus actual
schedule; outstanding time management skills; Monitoring of project milestones and delivers the
project within agreed time;
(4) Project cost management:-All sentences that mentioned words such as budget, finance,
tracking expenditure were included under project cost management. Depending on the way the
sentence was formulated mentions of resource management was also included into cost
management. If it was understood that they were talking about resources other than people they
were classified as cost management. The reason for that is because the way resources are
managed will influence the costs of the project. The heading of project cost management includes
ensures adherence to budget; tracking project costs; earned Value; estimates; proven track record
delivering projects within budget and able to effectively manage, allocate and cocoordinate
resources.
(5) Project quality management:-This category included all mentions of words such as
quality, improvements, compliance with quality procedures or regarding the quality of the end
result and its usefulness to the client. Phrases that dealt as project quality management includes
high-quality results; commitment to continuous improvement; quality plan; be fully aware of the

26
Company Quality Policy and comply with the Quality Procedures and instructions; be able to
effectively manage to a high standard of quality; your task is to ensure the solution works for end
users.
(6) Project risk management:-The sentences classified under this competence include all
sentences that mention things like risk, risk identification, risk mitigation, minimizing risk,
creating contingency plan and so on.
(7) Project procurement management:-This category included all words that related to
obtaining quotes, bids or offers from suppliers, developing resource requirements and managing
contracts from suppliers. Everything that was related to what would be procured and when fell
under this category. Project procurement management includes phrases like develop project
resource requirements; obtaining quotes from suppliers; develop and manage vendor contracts /
agreements; including Procurement, RFP and Contract Management; responsible for advising on
the validity of the quotation document information and evaluate, test, specify and procure novel
process technologies.
(8) PM software competence:-The last hard competence that was analyzed dealt with PM
related software. General software such windows or Microsoft office were disregarded. The same
with industry specific software competence such as specific applications related to programming,
in the case of IT advertisements, or graphic designing for marketing positions. Only PM related
software was considered. Some examples of PM related software that appeared in the
advertisements include MS Project, Visio and Suretrack.

2.7. Critical success factors for projects (CSFS)

The definition of project success is ambiguous, Salleh (2009). PMBOK4 thed. (2008) stated that a
project is successful if it achieves the triple objective outcome of within time, scope, and quality.
This is the traditional view of project management as used by Munns and Bjeirmi (1996). It
implies the successful achievement of time, cost and quality objectives, as well as the quality of
the project process, Erling (2006). Turner (2004) identifies on time, within budget and to
specification especially for information technology projects as the standard for judging success.
Erling (2006) stated that overall project success deals with the wider and longer term impact of
the project, which means both project management success and project product success. They
noted that project management can be determined at the end of the project, which means in many

27
cases, success criteria will be determine months or years after finishing the project, especially
public projects. Hence, determining if a project is successful is difficult if viewed from the above

two success criteria, Erling (2006).

According to Pinto and Slevin (1987), as a project comprise a defined time frame to completion,
a limited budget, and a specified set of performance characteristics, a project is generally
considered to be successfully implemented if it comes in on-schedule (time criterion); comes in
on-budget (monetary criterion); achieves basically all the goals originally set for it (effectiveness
criterion) and is accepted and used by the clients for whom the project is intended (client
satisfaction criterion). The authors also identified 10 project success factors which are defined
below.
 Project Mission:-Initial clearly defined goals and general directions.
 Top management Support:-Willingness of top management to provide the necessary
resources and authority power for project success.
 Project Schedule/Plan:-A detailed specification of the individual actions steps for project
implementation.
 Client Consultation:-Communication, consultation, and active listening to all impacted
parties.
 Personnel:-Recruitment, selection, and training of the necessary personnel for the project
team.
 Technical Tasks:-Availability of the required technology and expertise to accomplish the
specific technical action steps.
 Client Acceptance:-The act of "selling" the final project to its ultimate intended users.
 Monitoring and Feedback:-Timely provision of comprehensive control information at each
stage in the implementation process.
 Communication:-The provision of an appropriate network and necessary data to all key
actors in the project implementation.
 Troubleshooting:-Ability to handle unexpected crises and deviations from plan. According
to the research conducted by Antencio (2013) the success of the project is determined by four

28
 critical factors; project managers’ competency dimensions, project team factors, project
factors and organizational factors.
 Also Muller and Turner (2010) sited by Antencio (2013) summarized fifteen project
managers’ competency dimensions as follows.
A. Intellectual Leadership Competence:-
 Critical analysis and judgment:-the leader gathers relevant information from a wide range
of sources, probing the facts, identifying advantages and disadvantages. Sound judgments and
decisions making, awareness of the impact of any assumptions made.
 Vision and imagination:-the leader is imaginative and innovative. He or she has a clear
vision of the future and foresees the impact of changes on implementation issues and business
realities.
 Strategic perspective:-the leader is aware of the wider issues and broader implications. He
or she balances short and long-term considerations and identifies opportunities and threats.
B. Managerial Leadership Competence
 Resource management:-The leader organizes resources and co-ordinates them efficiently and
effectively. He or she establishes clear objectives and converts long term goals into action plans.
 Engaging communication:-The leader engages others and wins their support through
communication tailored for each audience. He or she is approachable and accessible.
 Empowering:-the leader gives direct reports autonomy and encourages them to take on
challenges, to solve problems and develop their own accountability.
 Developing:-the leader encourages others to take on ever more-demanding tasks, roles and
accountabilities. He or she develops others’ competencies and invests time and effort in coaching
them.
 Achieving:-the leader shows an unwavering determination to achieve objectives and implement
decisions.
C. Emotional Leadership Competence
 Self-awareness:-the leader is aware of his or her own feelings and is able to recognize and
control them.

29
 Emotional resilience:-the leader is able to maintain consistent performance in a range of
situations. He or she retains focus on a course of action or the need to obtain certain results in the
face of personal challenge or criticism.
 Intuitiveness:-the leader arrives at clear decisions and is able to drive their implementation in the
face of incomplete or ambiguous information by using both rational and ‘emotional’ perceptions.
 Interpersonal sensitivity:-the leader is aware of and takes account of, the needs and perceptions
of others in arriving at decisions and proposing solutions to problems and challenges.
 Influence:-the leader can persuade others to change a viewpoint based on the understanding of
their position and the recognition of the need to listen to this perspective and provide a rationale
for change.
 Motivation:-the leader has the drive and energy to achieve clear results and make an impact.
 Conscientiousness: the leader displays clear commitment to a course of action in the face of
challenge and matches ‘words and deeds’ in encouraging others to support the chosen direction.
 According to Antencio (2013), below are the factors other than project managers’ competency
dimension and their definitions that have been identified as critical success factors needed in
order for a project manager to deliver project success.
A. Project Team Factors
 Technical background:-The team member has the necessary skills and technical expertise
needed to help contribute to the successful completion of the project.
 Communication Skills:-The team member has the aptitude ability to effectively communicate
and provide the necessary exchange of information and data with the project manager, client, and
organization concerning all key project tasks, issues, and status.
 Trouble shooting:-The team member has the aptitude to take an active part in the monitoring
and troubleshooting of the project throughout the lifecycle in order to increase the quality the
project activities and deliverables.
 Commitment:-The team member has the sufficient commitment towards the project goals,
objectives, project team, and established success criteria in order to help increase the projects
likelihood of success.

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 A. Project Factors
 Complexity:-In general it is when a project consists of many varied interrelated constructs that
make it unpredictable and dynamic. In general, it is an accepted set of dimensions that it
represents project complexity such as schedule, cost, team size, urgency, risk, and external
constraints and dependencies.
 Size &Value:-Involves determining the relative size of a project effort and the benefits (value) it
offers. Below are the approaches to help determine project size and value: Sizing can be
determined by factors such as total financial resources available; number of team members
involved; number and size of deliverables to be produced; complexity of deliverables to be
produced; timeframes involved in delivery and how the project will help meet the customer’s
needs whereas Value can be determined by factors such as operational savings; improved
customer satisfaction; increased revenue and market share and improved employee satisfaction.
 Interdependencies between activities:-The relationship in which each project task or activity is
mutually dependent on others.
 Uniqueness of project activities:-Represents activities that are not considered standard activities
a project has, which makes is more difficult for project managers to plan, schedule, and monitor
their projects.
 Urgency:-The project is of pressing importance and must be implemented within as soon as
possible time frame, or a pre-defined schedule that is aggressive due to its condition of being
urgent.
 Strategic Importance:-Highly important to an intended organizational or client objective, or
essential in relation to the organizations plan of action.
A. Organizational Factors
o Top Management Support:-Provides the project manager with authority, direction, support, and
access to resources.
o Project Organization Structure:-The organizational structure that the project manager delivers
projects in. The organizational structure is normally classified as weak/functional matrix,
balanced/functional matrix, or strong/project matrix.
o Project Champion:-An individual helps the project manager and project team understand and
achieve the project objectives, which are specified by the client and/or top management. They

31
 help legitimizes the project’s goals and objectives, keeps abreast of key project activities, and
who could also be the ultimate decision-maker for the project.
o Functional Managers: -A manager who has management authority over an organizational
department or business unit

2.8. Brief historical review of telecom sector in Ethiopia

1894-1942
Ethio telecom is a sole telecom operator in Ethiopia established as a public enterprise on 29 thday
of November 2010 as per the council of Ministers Regulation No 197/2010. The company aims
to provide next generation network services based on a world class standard information
technology services and to build a competent next generation network-based workforce with
appropriate knowledge, skill, attitude, and work culture.

Since its establishment as Ethio telecom, the company has registered several accomplishments
required to transform the company to a level expected from a competent and modern telecom
service provider. So far it has availed full range of coherent telecom products and services for all
markets and segments undertaken high level capacity building programs within very short period
of time tried to curb recurrent quality of service problems launched the first professional Call
Centre in Ethiopia.

Telecommunications service was introduced in Ethiopia by emperor Menelik II in 1894 when the
construction of the telephone line from Harar to the capital city Addis Ababa, was commenced.
Then the interurban network was continued to expand satisfactorily in all other directions from
the capital. Many important centers in the Empire were interconnected by lines, thus facilitating
long distance communication with the assistants or operators at intermediate stations frequently
acting as verbal human operators between the distant calling parties.

1894-1942

In this particular period, the telecom has been renamed and restructured through different stages.

➢ First the management of the service was under the imperial court of menelik ii in the
Name of the “central administration of telephone and telegram system of ethiopia” from 1890 up
to 1907.mr stevenin, a french citizen was appointed as the general manager of the service.

32
➢ The service was renamed as “the central office of post, telegraph and telephone (ptt) system of
ethiopia” since 1907-1909 it was administered by
Emperior menilik ii’s advisor, mr al fred iig,a swiss man.
➢ Then the service was renamed as ministry of post, telegraph and telephone (pt and t) in
1910.first, it was administered by mr.leo shafno,a french citizen and then replaced by the first
ethiopian administrators lij gizaw bezabih, lji beyene yemer and their successors consecutively.

1942-1952 (Post War Restoration)

After the independence from the Italian occupation, the re-established Ministry of ET and T took
over the running of Telephone, Telegraph and Radio communications. It therefore rehabilitated
the network of the whole country.

Under the Imperial Regime

➢ The Imperial board of Telecommunications of Ethiopia (IBTE) was established by the
proclamation No.131 on December 15, 1952.
➢ The main purpose of the board, as stated in its establishment charter of article 5 was to
rehabilitate, extend, repair and maintain the telecommunication facilities of Ethiopia and to
engage in the business of telecommunication for profit
➢ In 1960 IBTE looked after the operational matters of central Ethiopia, a regional office was
created at Addis Ababa. And at the same time, Radio Division was created separated from the
receding Technical Division bringing the number of Division Offices to seven during the same
period.

Under the Dergue Regime (1974-1991)

Under the dergue regime, the Ethiopian telecommunication was renamed as follows,

➢ In October 1975, the organization was renamed as the “PROVISIONAL MILITARY

GEVERNMENT OF SOCIALIST ETHIOPIA TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES”
➢ It was renamed again as ETHIOPIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY
(ETA) on January1981.it retained its name as ETA up to November 1996.

At this period, the telecommunication services had a major change of technology ranging from
Automatic to Digital technology.

33
Under the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
The telecommunication sector was restructured and two separate independent entities mainly the
Ethiopian Telecommunication Authority (ETA) and the Ethiopian Telecommunications
Corporation (ETC) were established by proclamation No.49/1996. On November 1996.

2.9. Establishment of Ethio Telecom

As the continuation the 2005/06-1909/10 five-year plan and after concentrating its efforts on
education, health and agriculture, the Ethiopian government has decided to focus on the
improvement of telecommunication services, considering them as a key lever in the development
of Ethiopia, Ethio telecom is born, on Monday 29 th November 2010, from this ambition of
supporting the steady growth of our country, within the Growth Transformation Plan (GTP), with
ambitious objectives for 2015.

CHAPTER THREE

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
The methodological part of the study was focus on; selection of study area, research design,
sampling size, techniques, source of data and data analysis methods. Thus, this chapter reveals an
overall scheme, plan or structure conceived to the researcher in testing the research hypothesis.
In this stage most, decisions about how research was executed and how respondents were
approached, as well as when, where and how the research was completed is discussed. Therefore,
in general this part of the study describes the research design and methodology that was used to
guide under the following sub-heading: the research design, target population, sample technique
and sampling size, data collection instrument, variables and measures, data analysis technique
and ethical considerations. The study was carried out to examine the practices of project manager
selection in Ethiotelecom in case of Dessie District.

34
3.2 Description of the Study area and Target population

3.2.1. Location
Dessie is a city located in the north from Addis Ababa in distance of 401 km, in the east from
Bahir Dar in the distance 480KMs and also the seat of south wollo zone that pointed at longitude
of 390 33.6' to 39043.3' E and latitude of 1102.6' to 11017.2' N and also received 1100 milli-meters
average annual rainfall.
Dessie has been established in 1893 by King Michael. The city serves as social, economic and
political center for the south wollo zone and their administration. The city has 5 sub cities and 26
kebeles.
Dessie is known to be a part of the Wollo culture, thus having a style of cultural clothing, as well
as significant dances. Men's traditional clothing is similar to the Oromia region of Ethiopia,
having pants and a loose shirt, and wearing a scarf around the head. Women's traditional clothing
includes a habeshakemis, which is the name of the dress, as well as a matching scarf, sometimes
two, one tied around the waist and the other over the hair.

35
Figure 1: Geographic Coordinate of Dessie town: 1102.6' to 11017.2' N and 390 33.6' to
39043.3' E

4.3 Research approach

Research can be approached as qualitative and quantitative or mixed when approach to research
has been well-thought-out as the criterion of classification. In this study both numerical
information and text information was gathered simultaneously. So, the quantitative and
qualitative approaches was implemented during the study. Qualitative research is more subjective
in nature than quantitative research and involves examining and reflecting on the less tangible
aspects of a research subject, e.g. values, attitudes, perceptions. The study employed a qualitative
research approach. Qualitative research essentially used to approach the world out there and to
understand, describe and sometimes explain social phenomena from the inside by using
descriptive, explanatory and interpretive techniques (Banks 2007). It is stated that not all human
events or actions can be defined resorting to description and narration and notes that the

36
relevance of casual explanations and critical assessment in a research to provide many-layered
descriptions in order to capture the beliefs and actions of people.
Whereas, the emphasis of quantitative research is on collecting and analyzing numerical data; it
concentrates on measuring the scale, range, frequency etc. of phenomena. Furthermore, mixed
method integrates quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis in a single study or a
program of enquiry (Creswell, 2009). Overall, the study used both methods and it can be said that
it is a mixed research approach.

3.4. Research Design

According to Sekaran (2003) Research designs are defined as a detailed blueprint that is used to
collect data and analyze that data in order to conduct the study towards its objectives. An
appropriate research design is one that ensure that the information that is gathered is consistent
with the objectives of the study. Saunders et al., (2009) explained that a research design as the
understanding of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine
significance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.
Kumar (2005) mentioned that a better research design is one that allow for valid, accurate,
objective and economic data to be gathered. Selecting the most appropriate research design is
helpful in that it eliminates mistakes and avoids the wastage of time on the part of the researcher.
Additionally, a good research design should produce enough information within the constraints
that are set by the researcher, for example, time and budget constraints (Ghauri and Gronhaug,
2005 P.56).
This study was adopted both descriptive and exploratory type of research design. Both
quantitative and qualitative approaches simultaneously used. The study is aimed to examine the
practice of project manager selection in Ethio telecom in case of Dessie City Administration. In
order to meet this objective, descriptive research was employed. Thus, this study is expressed as
a descriptive study with both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches.
3.5. Study population, Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
3.5.1. Study population
Every research that involves primary data collection needs to have a set of elements from which
this data was collected. Any group of individuals places or objects that share common
characteristics that are relevant for the research purposes are known as the population (John and

37
Creswell, 2009). The study population is the specified group of people from which questions was
asked in order to develop the required data structures and information needed in the research
(Cress well and John, 2003).
Due to the fact that it is sometimes impossible to include the entire population in a study, it is
necessary to limit the research to a section of the population (Creswell and John, 2003). This may
due to the fact that it is physically impossible to include all members of a population in a study if
the numbers are higher than 1000 (Kumar, 2005). The part of the study population from which
the information is then collected is called a sample. A sample is defined as the subset of elements
from the study population (Kumar, 2005). It may also be defined as “any subset of the elements
of the population that is obtained for the purpose of being studied” (Creswell and John, 2009).
Sampling is therefore the process by which elements are drawn for the purposes of the research.
In social science research, there are two types of sampling methods which are, probability
sampling and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling methods are those that give every
member of the population a known, equal chance of being selected as a participant (Sekran,
2003). Conversely, in non-probability methods, the elements of the population do not have an
equal; known chance of being selected (Sekran, 2003) This is usually because it may be
impossible to come up with a list of elements from which they can be selected. The primary
disadvantage of this method is that it makes it difficult to determine how well the sample
represents the population.

The study population for this study was included (7) project directors of Ethio telecom, six (6) of
project managers who manage the overall project activities in the telecom expansion program
(TEP) centrally (Program Managers), 8 core project team members involved in the
implementation of the program (TEP), and 89 Ethio-telecom office employee’s or personnel
management workers found in Dessie city.
3.5. Sampling Techniques and sample size
To select the respondents, in this study the researcher used both probability and non-probability
sampling technique. Because according to Saunders (2009), non-probability sampling provides a
range of alternative techniques to select samples based on your subjective judgment. From non-
probability sampling techniques, the researcher used purposive sampling technique. Purposive or

38
judgmental sampling enables to use judgment to select cases that would best enable the
researcher to answer research question(s) and to meet the research objectives (Saunders, 2009).

3.5.1 Sample size of the study

Determination of the sample size is the key step on the overall statistical process. There are
several approaches to determining the sample size. Initially, the researcher selects the study area
Ethio-telecom purposively.
But, to select informants of Ethio-telecom office employee’s or personnel management, the
researcher prefers to determine the sample size with understanding the nature of the population
and then using formulas Yamane (1967) provided a simplified formula to calculate sample sizes.
This formula is widely used and applied to calculate sample size.
N 86
n= 2 = 2 =70
1+ 86( e ) 1+ 86(0.05 )
Where n=70 respondents are representative the sample size of employees, N is the population
size (total population of employee’s) “e” is the level of precision (0.05) with confidence level
95% and the estimated proportion of an attribute present in the population is 0.5
As already mentioned above under study population, from N-total study population, the
researcher took n- respondents that were calculated based on the Yamane (1967) formula used
above.
Generally, the researcher takes (7) project directors, six (6) of project managers who manage the
overall project activities in the telecom expansion program (TEP) centrally (Program Managers),
8 core project team members involved in the implementation of the program (TEP) purposively
using non-probability sampling techniques. Whereas the researcher selects a representative sample
of 70 Ethio-telecom office employee’s or personnel management workers out of (N=86) using
simple random sampling of Yemane formula and totally from (n=89) informants, the necessary
information was gathered using different methods of data collection.

Having this, totally 91 of participants were included for this study and the researcher select them
by using purposely and using simple random sampling to select representative samples to meet
the overall objectives of the study.

39
3.6 Methods of Data Collection and Research Tools
Generally, there are two broad types of data; these are primary data and secondary data. Hence,
for this particular study, both primary and secondary data will be collected using the method
describe below.
3.6.1 Primary Data
Primary sources are directly related to the study purpose. Primary data consists of all the data
were collected throughout the study that directly can be related to the study purpose; both
personally gathered as well as data from a third party that has been collected with equivalent
purpose.
The primary data for this study has been collected via different instruments such as questionnaire
(open and closed), interviews, non-participant observations, and focus group discussions (FGD).
Questionnaires: Quantitative research involves some numerical data or data that have been
quantified in answering the research questions and goal of the research (Saunders, et ai, 2007).
Questionnaire was one suitable data collecting tool deployed in this particular study for gaining
access to as many respondents as possible. The researcher has chosen the questionnaire as
supplementary data collection technique for interview, observation, and FGD; because according
to Saunders et al. (2007) it is usually better to link it with other multiple-methods. Accordingly,
to assess the viewpoints of project directors, Program Managers, project team members involved
in the implementation of the program (TEP). The statement alternatives (variables) were scaled
as follow.
A five-point scale ranging from 'strongly disagree', 'disagree', ' undecided', 'strongly agree', and
'agree' was used. The first measurement of the scale that is the "disagreement side" which
combined "strongly agree" and "agree," the second measurement of the scale is neutral which is
"undecided" and the third measurement scale which represented the "approval side" "combined
"disagree" and "strongly disagree".
Interviews: The objective of an interview is to confirm the validity of the information that was
retrieved from questionnaires, secondary data and other sources employed in the study (Yin, 200
0). Much of the data were obtained by exploring and discussing various topics with informants.
Structured Interview: The researcher ha carried out formal interviews using structured interview
for project directors, Program Managers, project team members involved in the implementation

40
of the program (TEP). In such a way formal interview was also a key method of gathering
information for this study.
Unstructured Interview: Interview where there is liberty to formulate questions as when it comes
to mind around the research topic was deployed. It is similar with conversations. The interviewee
is given fairly free range to talk about any aspect related to the broad interests of the researcher
(Bailey, 2007). The first question asked of one interviewee might differ totally from the question
asked of the next interviewee. There are several types of unstructured interviewing; for instance:
in-depth interviewing, focus group interviewing, narratives, and oral histories Saunders et al
(2007). Unstructured interviews such as in-depth interviewing, focus group interviewing, and
oral histories were deployed.
In both type of interviews, the researcher was asking the question in face to face manner and tried
to shape the questions in such a way as to induce the respondents to answer questions
instinctively and without any restraints. As a result, the researcher was able to investigate further
issues emerging from the interview that considered appropriate to the respective interviewees. At
the end of each interview the respondents were asked if they had further comments or views they
want to share with the researcher.
Focus Group Discussion (FGD): Typically, FGD brings together five or more people who share
similar experience or knoweldge to talk about a specific issue (Liamputtong and Ezzy, 2005).
FGD are usually conducted with the help of moderator in environment or setting that permits
participants to engage in a relaxed manner in lively discussion for one or two hours. In this study,
the researcher organized FGDs at Dessie Ethio-telecom personal management office. Participants
were one informants of project directors, two Program Managers, two informants from project
team members and four from personal management office. The discussion was started with the
researcher making a brief speech detailing the nature and objective of the study and by promising
that the information generated could be kept confidentially. In addition, all discussion was made
with local vernacular language i.e. Amharic and English language when necessary tape recorder
was also employed.
3.6.2 Secondary data
As was mentioned earlier, this study was relied on both primary and secondary data. Thus, the
researcher has also used secondary data. Most of secondary data were obtained from
documentary sources. According to Yin (2003) the significance of documentary data with regard

41
to descriptive studies is to validate assumptions by supplementing documentary data with the
study under discussion. Accordingly, the researcher has collected data from various documents
and archival researches such as books, researches, proclamations, regulations, journals,
magazines, articles and proceeding. For this study the total recorded workers were considered as
example of secondary data.

3.7 Study variables

 Independent Variables are dimensions of advertising that are Media type, Message Content,
Frequency of Advertisement, Timing of Advertisement, and including attitude towards
advertisement.
 Independent Variables: Personal skill of an individual, an individual experience in similar
projects, an individual’s project management skills & knowledge, criteria in the selection of
project managers (educational background of an individual, performer of the team,
recommendation letter given by immediate supervisor, relevant work experience, being
permanent employee).
3.8 Methods of Data Analysis
Cooper and Schindlier (2006) described data analysis as the process of editing and reducing
accumulated data to a manageable size, developing summaries, seeking for patterns and using
statistical methods. The questionnaires were coded before entering the data in to Statically
Package for social sciences SPSS.
Data processing consists of a number of closely related operations: the first one was editing for
checking the data collected to detect and/or correct errors or omissions. In addition, the collected
questionnaires are verified carefully for the completeness of the responses. Finally, the data
summarized and arranged in a packed together form for further analysis. The data analysis was
done after collecting all the data from the respondents. Thus, the analysis of the study was
consistent or coherent with the objective of the research. Statistical analysis was used in order to
provide descriptive and inferential statistics information on the data.
Descriptive analysis was used for the demographic, socio-economic factors such as gender, age,
education, occupation, monthly income and others. In addition, descriptive statistical (mean and
standard deviation) analysis also was used to present the data with regard to Likert scale question
related to project manager selection criteria. Next, inferential statistical analysis was used such as

42
correlation, regression to show the relationship between effects of independent variables on
practice of project manager selection. Correlation analysis was used to measure the strength of
the association between independent variables and practice of project manager selection. Pearson
correlation test also was used to determine the nature, direction and significance of the
association between project management and application and project manager’s selection criteria.

Multiple linear regression analysis was used to know by how much the independent variable
affects the dependent variable which is practice of project manager selection (continuous).
Accordingly, the summary data were interpreted through theoretical frame work of the study to
be arriving at meaningful conclusion. Finally, the data were interpreted and concluded to forward
effective recommendations.
3.8.1 Multiple Regression Analysis
Regression analysis is a statistic technique was used to investigate the influence between
dependent variable and one or more independent variables (Kotharie, 2004). Simple linear and
multiple linear regressions are the most common regression models applied in social sciences
(Kumar, 2005). Multiple linear regression was used in this study to investigate the relationship
between practice of project manager selection and independent variables.
The researcher was used the following multiple regression model to analyze the data obtained
from the respondent.
p
Y i=β 0 + ∑ β i X i +ε … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ( 3.1 )
i=1

Where; Y i is the practice of project manager selection measured by Likert scale questions.
β 0 Is the constant term or intercept of the model and β i are the coefficient or slope of the model
with corresponding independent or explanatory variables of X i , and last ε is the random error
term.
To calculate the value of the factors ( xi ): each factor was computed into a single variable as an
average availability of the factors by using reverse Likert scale values.
3.8.2 Pearson correlation Analysis
A correlation coefficient is a very useful means to summarize the relationship between two
variables with a single number that falls between -1 and +1 (Kotharie,2004). A correlation
analysis with Pearson´s correlation coefficient (r) was conducted on all variables in this study to
explore the relationships between variables. To interpret the strengths of relationships between

43
variables, the guidelines suggested by (Gujarati, 2009) were followed, mainly for their
simplicity. His classification of the correlation efficient (r) is as follows: 1 is perfect correlation;
0.60-0.99 is strong; 0.3 – 0.59 is moderate; 0.1 – 0.29 is weak. Correlation coefficients say
nothing about which variable causes the other to change. Although it cannot make direct
conclusion about causality, we can take the correlation coefficient a step further by squaring it
(Gujarati, 2009). The correlation coefficient squared (known as the coefficients of determination,
R2) is a measure of the amount of variability in one variable that is explained by the other.
3.9 Instrument Validity and Reliability
The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was checked using different mechanisms. Firstly,
content validity was deliberated to make the instruments as fair and exhaustive as possible in
relation to the context of a study. Secondly, the questionnaire was reviewed by colleagues; their
feedbacks were gathered and utilized. Thirdly, the questionnaire was translated into Amharic by
a language expert and backward translations were also made. To check reliability (internal
consistency), the questionnaire was pilot tested in the non-sample Ethiotelecom involving 20
participants and the Cronbach alpha was computed as 0.87. The trustworthiness, authenticity, and
credibility of the qualitative instruments were also attained through various validity strategies.
The transcripts from the interviewees and focus groups were checked and inter-coder agreement
was used to cross-check the accuracy of the codes. Data integration was made during analysis for
confirmation, corroboration or cross-validation within a single study. Finally, accuracy of the
findings was corroborated through member-checking and findings were conveyed through the
use of thick descriptions.

3.10. Ethical consideration

In this research paper, all privacy, right, and confidentiality are considered. Also, all participants
have been assured of safety from both physical and psychological harm. In addition, the
researcher properly acknowledges the idea taken from other resources. The analyzed data is only
based on the respondents‟ interview; there is no any involvement of the researcher opinion. The
study was ethically clear from college of Economics development department of Business
administration. The researcher also was obtained permission from Ethio-telecom office. To keep
the privacy of the information provided by the respondents, the respondents were instructed not
to write their names on the questionnaire and assure of that the responses were used only for

44
academic purpose and kept confidential. Brief description of the central objectives or purpose of
the research and the potential benefit of the research outcome to respondents and Ethio-telecom
office was clearly given in the opening part of the questionnaire so as to motivate them and
participate in the research.

45
 CHAPTER FOUR

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter the collected data were presented and analyzed in the way to achieve objectives
through answering of the basic research questions. As mentioned in chapter one, the main
aim of this study is to examine the practice of project manager selection in Ethio telecom in case
of Dessie City Administration and to propose the possible solutions that could improve project
manager selection criteria and methods. Therefore, the data discussed were made around four
basic research questions.
To achieve the objective of the research, totally 21 respondents were selected from project
directors, project managers who manage the overall project activities in the telecom expansion
program (TEP) centrally (Program Managers), core project team members involved in the
implementation of the program (TEP) purposively and 70 sample of Ethiotelecom office
employee’s or personnel management workers using Yemane (1994) sample size determination.
A total of 91 question were distributed to the potential respondents and all questionnaire were
completed properly and were used for data interpretation. The response rate was (99.8 percent).
This section starts with description of sample respondents and descriptive analysis on the practice
of project manager selection in Ethio telecom; Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation
Coefficient were computed. With the aid of these statistical techniques, conclusions are drawn
and decisions are made with respect to the research questions.
4.1 Demographic, Social and Economic Characteristics of Respondents
Gender: As we can see from the Figure 2 below, the sex composition of the respondents,
55(60.4%) of them were males and 36(39.6%) of them were females. The number of males is
slightly greater than number of females. However, the difference in number does not affect the
reliability of the data.

46
 36(39.6)

55(60.4)

Male Female

Figure 2: Characteristics of Respondents by gender

Marital status: As it shown in the Table 1in below regarding marital status of respondents, the
majority of informants, 54(59.3%) were married, followed by 34 (37.4%) were single and 3
(3.3%) divorced. There is no one respondent whose marital status is widowed. We can conclude
that, married marital status of the respondents is slightly greater than the rest.
Table 1: Characteristics of respondent by marital status

Variable Categories Frequency Percent

Marital status of Single 34 37.4
respondents Married 54 59.3
Divorced 3 3.3
Widowed 0 0
Total 91 100.0
Source: Survey report, 2023.

Age Categories: The age of respondents in years is presented in Table 2 below. Accordingly, of
91(100%) respondents, on average the age of respondents found to be 36 years. The minimum
and the maximum age of respondents were 24 and 52 respectively. This might indicate the
organization has significant maturity level in terms of age amongst its employees and this could
help in implementing outlined objectives.
Work experience: Regarding to work experience of respondents, on average the work
experience of respondents found to be 6.14 years. The minimum and the maximum work
experience of respondents were 2 and 23 years respectively. From this we can conclude that, at
average the respondents are well experienced in working with Ethio telecom for number of years

47
which help them to understand the whole questions concerning practice of project manager
selection and so, provide relevant answers to the questionnaires.
Income level: Regarding the Income level of the respondents, on average the income levels of
respondents found to be 7582. The minimum and the maximum income level of respondents
were 3176 and 22355 ETB respectively. This indicates that income per month of the respondent
were low and their daily expense not matched now a day. Generally, thus most of the respondents
found to have medium to low income per month.

Table 2: Characteristics of respondents by age, work experience and income level

Variable Type Min Max Mean Std. Deviation
Age of respondents Continuous 24 52 35.63 5.9
Work experience per year Continuous 2 23 6.14 3.42
Income level in ETB Continuous 3176 22355 7582.42 2431.9
Source: Survey report, 2023.

As we depict from the Table 3 below, the majority 58 (63.7%) of the respondents were first
degree holders, followed by 18(19.8%) of them were diploma or certificate and 15(16.5%) of
informants were master degree holders. Therefore, the finding verifies that the respondents are
qualified to understand the questions concerning practices of project manager’s selection.
Generally, the finding regarding the characteristics of respondents by educational level confirms
that the respondents are qualified. So, the researcher belief that the response obtained from them
is reliable and trust full that enables the researcher to move towards intended research finding.

Table 3: Characteristics of respondent by educational level

Variable Categories Frequency Percent

Work experience Diploma or certificate 18 19.8
of respondents Bachelor degree 58 63.7
Master degree 15 16.5
Total 91 100.0
Source: Survey report, 2023.

4.2 Descriptive analysis for Criteria’s in the Selection of Project Managers

This part of the analysis is made based on survey schedule gathered from 91 informants using 5-
point Likert’s scale.

48
Table 4: Five-Scaled Likert’s Criterion

No. Mean range Response options

1 [1.00, 1.80) Strongly disagree
2 [1.80, 2.60) Disagree
3 [2.60, 3.40) Neutral
4 [3.40, 4.20) Agree
5 [4.20, 5.00] Strongly agree
Source: Al-Sayaad et al. (2006).

As indicated in the Table 5 below regarding to the major criteria in the selection of project
managers, the majority 54(59.3) of respondents were agree with the statement of educational
background of an individual considered as a major criterion in the selection of a project manager.
Similarly, 45(49.5) of respondents were agreed with statement of being best performer of the
team of an individual will be mostly considered as a criterion in the selection processes of project
managers. In addition to this 70(77%) of respondents was agreed and strongly agreed that
recommendation letter given by immediate supervisor of an individual were considered as a
criterion in the selection process of a project manager. The majority, 59(64.9%) of respondents
were agreed and strongly agreed that relevant work experience of an individual was considered
as a criterion in the selection process of a project manager.

Generally, as indicated in the Table 5 below, the mean values of educational background of an
individual, being best performer of the team, recommendation letter given by immediate
supervisor and being permanent employee are above the average value [2.60, 3.40), this means
the selection criteria of project managers with the mentioned variable is satisfactory. When we
look at the mean value of having relevant work experience is 3.70 which is higher than the rest.
Therefore, we can conclude that from the criteria of project managers selection, the company
gives priority for those individuals having relevant work experience to assign as a project
manager.

49
Table 5: Descriptive Analysis of the major criteria in the selection of project managers

Items(cases) Count (%)

Uncertain

Deviation
Strongly

Strongly
disagree

disagree

Agree

Agree

Mean

Sd.
Educational 4(4.4) 10(11.0) 7(7.7) 54(59.3) 16(17.6) 3.46 0.45310
background of an
individual
Being best 6(6.6) 17(18.7) 3(3.3) 45(49.5) 20(22.0) 3.33 0.65233
Major criteria in the selection of project managers

performer of the
team
Recommendation 3(3.3) 14(15.4) 4(4.4) 41(45.1) 29(31.9) 3.54 0.62801
letter given by
immediate
supervisor
Having relevant 3(3.3) 8(8.8) 21(23.1) 38(41.8) 21(23.1) 3.70 0.50225
work experience
Being permanent 8(8.8) 14(15.4) 13(14.3) 36(39.6) 20(22.0) 3.45 0.51752
employee
Grand mean 3.496
Source: Own Survey, 2023.

As indicated in the Table 6 below, the majority 46(50.5%) of respondents were disagree with the
statement of personal skill of an individual considered in the selection of a project manager.
However, the majority 41(45.1%) of respondents were agreed with statement of an individual
experiences in similar projects considered as a factor in the selection of a project manager.
Similarly, 54(59.3%) of respondents were agreed with an individual conceptual and
organizational skills as a factor that will be mostly considered in the selection processes of
project managers. Whereas 44 (48.4%) of respondents were agreed that an individual project
management skills & knowledge of an individual were considered as a major factor in the

50
selection process of a project manager. Generally, we can conclude that an individual experience
in similar projects as well as conceptual and organizational skills were found to be the criteria
considered in the selection processes of project managers.

Table 6: Descriptive statistics result of the factors that mostly considered in the selection of
project managers.

Items(cases) Count (%)

ct
F
a

3= Uncertain
2= disagree
1=Strongly

5=Strongly
4= Agree
disagree

Agree
Personal skill of an individual 24(26.4) 46(50.5) 4(4.4) 11(12.1) 6(6.6)
An individual experience in 4(4.4) 14(15.4) 11(12.1) 41 (45.1) 21(23.1)
similar projects
An individual’s conceptual 2(2.2) 13(14.3) 3(3.3) 54(59.3) 19(20.9)
and organizational skills
An individual’s project 2(2.2) 23(25.3) 2(2.2) 44(48.4) 20(22.0)
management skills &
knowledge
Source: Own Survey, 2023.
As the Table 7 below depicted related with project management knowledge scale item questions:
knowledge of project integration management which has the mean value 2.53. The mean value
falls under the response scale of disagree [1.80, 2.60], this implies the selection process of project
managers with knowledge of project integration management is not satisfactory. In addition to
this the respondents have neutral idea and agreed that the selection practice of project manager in
the study area depends on knowledge on project scope management, project time management,
project quality management, and project human resource management which has the mean value
3.50, 3.33, 3.13 and 3.51 respectively. The mean value falls under the response scale of neutral to
agree [2.60, 4.20), this implies the selection process of project managers with stated variables
were found to be satisfactory. The other project management knowledge scale item questions
were knowledge of project risk management with mean value (3.05), project procurement
management, project stakeholder management, and project cost management which has the mean

51
value 2.42, 2.44 and 2.07 respectively. The mean value falls under the response scale of disagree
[1.80, 2.60), this implies the selection process of project managers with stated variables were
found to be not satisfactory.
Generally, when we look at the average mean values of project management knowledge and its
application is below average [2.60, 3.40), therefore we can conclude that project management
knowledge and its application is not exercised in the selection process of project managers in
Ethio telecom.

Table 7: Descriptive statistics result of project management knowledge and its application in the
selection process of project managers

Items N Mean Std.dev.

Knowledge of project integration management 91 2.53 0.45310
Project management Knowledge areas

Knowledge of project scope management 91 3.50 0.65233

Knowledge of project time management. 91 3.33 0.62801
Knowledge of project quality management 91 3.13 0.50225
Knowledge of project human resource management 91 3.51 0.51752
Knowledge of project communications management 91 2.21 0.41752
Knowledge of project risk management 91 3.05 0.35310
Knowledge of project procurement management 91 2.42 0.7100
Knowledge of project stakeholder management. 91 2.44 0.5812
Knowledge of project cost management 91 2.07 0.4981
Grand mean 2.83
Source: Own Survey, 2023.
As the interviewee and focus group discussion depicts, all the interviewee (project directors and
project managers) revealed that the responsible person who assigns an individual as a project
manager is a chief officer. Following this the researcher asked another interview question which
is the general processes in the selection of project managers. As all the interviewee revealed that,
there is no vacant announcement posted for any project manager’s position due to the temporary
nature of projects rather each division’s chief officer has their own criteria to select project
managers.

52
In doing so, there are criteria’s which are common for each division’s chief officer to assign
individuals as a project manager. Those criteria include; educational background, relevant year of
experience and being best performer. The interviewee revealed that, an individual’s experience is
given priority to be assigned as a project manager than the rest (best performer and qualification)
whereas two of them said that being best performer is given priority.

Another interview question asked to the interviewee is related with the selection method which is
scientific to minimize individual judgment. Accordingly, all the interviewee revealed that there is
no scientific method used by those responsible person i.e. chief officers to minimize individual
judgement. What they will do here is simply looking an individual’s educational background;
experience and best performer in doing so give weights for them like for experience is given
highest value which is followed by educational level and being best performer of the team, which
is highly individual judgement. Another question asked for them is related with the challenges
that happen at the time of selection of project managers. Inhere almost all the interviewee have
the same understanding which is the first and the most challenge in the selection process is
unable to get those individuals well experienced enough to meet the request of the project
requirement. At that time chief officers are forced to look educational background of individuals
give highest weight and then following the same procedure to assign individual as a project
manager. Additionally, time is another challenge meaning that project manager officer requested
to get project managers for projects which is urgently to be implemented than the rest at that time
chief officers faces difficulty to select the requested project managers within short period of time.

The interviewee further explained the challenges as after an individual assigned based on
education level even though he could not fulfill the experience criterion which is highly the result
of failure of the project. The fifth question is related with the time in which an individual is
considered as a project manager in the life cycle of the project. As all the interviewee said that an
individual is considered as a project manager at the initiation phase of a project this is mainly
because of project managers’ act as a facilitator like resource request (human and non-human
resource). The sixth interview question is related with types of skills individuals may have, which
one is the most important to be considered in the selection process of project managers? And
why?

53
Accordingly, three of the interviewees revealed that an individual’s technical skill is one of the
most important skills for an individual to be a project manager. They further explained the reason
behind almost telecom projects are technical by themselves so that they required individuals who
have technical skills like engineers, IT, IS and any natural science background. Surprisingly,
three of the interviewees believed that an individual’s only having technical skill is the result of
success of the project. Apart from this the rest two of the interviewee revealed that both technical
and personal skill of an individual is equally considered in the selection process of project
managers this is mainly because having only technical skill does not guarantee for the success of
the project rather than thinking about the human aspects like communication skill with
stakeholders, human skill etc.

The seventh interview question is related with the major criteria in the selection of project
managers that differentiate from operational managers. Accordingly, all the interviewee revealed
that the major criteria to select project managers is three i.e. educational background, work
experience and best performer without any vacant announcement position is posted for project
managers position unlike that of operational managers. The interviewee further explained as time
required for the position of project manager is differing from operational manger do to the
urgency of the project position. And also do to the temporary nature of projects after once the
project is finalized project managers go back to the host organization unlike that of operational
manager.

4.3 Inferential Analysis for practice of project manager selection

Under this section, results of inferential statistics are reported. For the sake of assessing the
objectives of the study, Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient and regard to the multiple linear
regression analyses were employed. With the aid of this analysis, conclusions are drawn for the
results.
4. 3.1 Pearson Correlation Coefficient Analysis
Correlation analysis estimates the extent of the relationship between any pair of variables. The
correlation coefficient is a measure of this relationship and depends on the variability of each of
the two variables. Because of covariance, correlation coefficient can take a number with + or –
sign. One of the widely used methods to calculate a correlation coefficient is the Pearson product
moment correlation. This method results in a number between −1 and +1 that expresses how

54
closely the two variables are related, ±1 shows a perfect 1:1 relationship (positive or negative)
and 0 indicates that no systematic relationship exists between the two variables (Kothari, 2004).
One can say there is “strong” correlations (if values between 0.5 to 1.0 or -0.5 to -1.0), “medium”
correlations (if values between 0.3 to 0.5 or -0.3 to -0.5) and “weak” correlations (if values
between 0.1 to 0.3 or -0.1 to -0.3) (Kothari, 2004).

Having thus, as a result showed in the Table 8 below, under this study Pearson’s correlation
coefficient was computed to determine whether there is significant relationship between factors
that mostly considered in the selection of project managers with practice of an individuals in
selection of project manager in the study area.

It is clearly indicated in the Table 8 below, at 5% level of significance there is a strong positive
relationship existed. The result show that the correlation coefficient between an individual
experience in similar projects and an individual selection practice of project manager is (r=0.861)
the value is close to 1, which indicates there is “strong” correlations between them at 5% level of
significance. The correlation coefficient between an individual experience in similar projects, an
individual’s conceptual and organizational skills, an individual’s project management skills &
knowledge with practice of project managers selection found to be (r=0.814, r=0.668 and
r=0.746)
respectively, which indicates there is “strong” correlations between them at 5% level of
significance. Here the value is close to 1, which indicates there is “strong” positive correlations
between hose independent variables and the response variable at 5% level of significance.
Generally, this implies that at a 5% level of significance those factors have a substantial positive
relationship.

55
 Table 8: The correlation coefficient between all variables of the model (N=91)
factors that mostly considered in the Personal skill Work conceptual and project Practice of
selection of project managers of an experience in organizational management project
individual similar skills skills & manager
projects knowledge selection
Personal skill of an Correlation 1 0.210 0.172 0.152 0.861**
individual
An individual Correlation 1 0.071 0.016 0.814**
experience in similar
projects
An individual’s Correlation 1 0.183 0.668**
conceptual and
organizational skills
An individual’s Correlation 1 0.746**
project management
skills & knowledge
Practice of project 1
manager selection

**Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Source: Own Survey, 2023.
4.3.2 Multiple Linear Regression Analysis Assumptions
As one of the main objectives of the study is to examine the factors that mostly considered in the
selection of project managers and its influence on practice of project manager selection in case of
Ethiotelecom. Therefore, the researcher identified the factors from prior studies and literature.
So, the researcher needs to evaluate the predicting capacity of the predictors (independent
variables) on the dependent variable. Therefore, a multiple linear regression analysis was
employed to determine the predictors’ effect on the dependent variable. However, there are some

56
assumptions that need to be checked out before conducting the regression. These assumptions
are; normality, linearity, autocorrelation, homoscedasticity, and no-multicollinearity model fits.

Normality of Residuals test: Normality is used to describe symmetrical, bell-shaped curve,

which has the greatest frequency of scores in the middle with smaller frequencies towards the
extremes (Gravetter, (2000). Normality refers to the residuals that should be normally distributed
about the predicted (Practice of project manager selection) scores and can be checked by
histogram. If the residuals are normally distributed about its mean of zero, the shape of the
histogram should be bell-shaped and the regression standardized residual plotted between -3 and
+3. As can be seen from the below figure 3 (histogram) no highly skewed or kurtotic variables
were observed implying no violations of the assumption of normality. Normality can be seen on
the data distribution when the curve does not pass through either the left or the right (Handriani,
2021). Furthermore, the histogram is bell-shaped which lead to conclude that the residuals are
approximately normally dispersed. Thus, no violations of the assumption normally distributed
error term were occurred.

Figure 3: Histogram of Standardized Residuals

57
Linearity Test: The linearity assumption suggests that the residuals should have a straight-line
relationship with predicted outcome variable scores. According to (Lim, (2008); the goodness of
fit statistics is used to test how well the sample regression function fits the data. This assumption
can be checked from the residuals by the scatter P-P plot between the dependent and the
independent variable. Linearity refers to the degree to which the change in the dependent variable
is related to the change in the independent variables.

The figure 4 below, describes that the residuals have more of less have a straight-line
distribution, which implies factors that mostly considered in the selection of project managers
have a linear relationship with practice of an individuals in selection of project manager in the
study area. Thus, the linearity assumption was accepted and fulfilled.

Figure 4: Normal P-P Plots of Residual

Multicollinearity Test Between Independent Variables: Multicollinearity test is used to
determine the existence of high intercorrelations between independent variables in the model and
Multicollinearity refers to the existence of high (perfect) linear relationship among regressors.
There should be no high intercorrelations among independent variables in a multiple regression
model. In addition to mmulticollinearity testing by Pearson correlation testing with in

58
explanatory variables, we can check it by looking Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) and tolerance
value.

According to Keith (2013) tolerance is a statistic used to indicate the variability of the specified
independent variable not explained by the other independent variables in the model. there is high
multicollinearity and the standard error of the regression coefficients was magnified.
Multicollinearity is a problem because it weakens the significance of the model by reducing
either the individual t-statistics or F. It does not depend on any theoretical or actual linear
relationship among any of the regressors, but it depends on the existence of an approximate linear
relationship in the data set at hand. Several diagnostic measures are available (like correlation
matrix, tolerance, condition matrix, eigen value and variance inflation factor) and each of them is
based on a particular approach. It is difficult to say that which of the diagnostic is best or
ultimate. But, one of the popular and important diagnostics is: Variance Inflation Factor (VIF), if
VIF j <5 there is no multicollinearity, if 5 < VIF j < 10 there is possibly some moderate
multicollinearity and if VIF j ≥ 10, then there is a strong indication of a multicollinearity problem.
So, as the result from the Table 9 revealed, VIF<5 for all independent variables and found to be
small, and there is an indication of no multicollinearity problem between specific independent
variables and no variables need to be removed or merged from the analysis. Generally, as the
values of VIF for all variables are less than 5 there is no multicollinearity among the predictors.
Table 9: The multicollinearity test result

Model Collinearity Statistics

Tolerance Variance Inflation Factor (VIF)
(Constant) - -
Personal skill of an individual 0.775 1.290
An individual experience in similar
0.252 3.972
projects
An individual’s conceptual and
0.242 4.128
organizational skills
An individual’s project management
0.799 1.251
skills & knowledge

59
Autocorrelation Test: The residual should be independent. Autocorrelation occurs when the
residuals are not independent from each other. Autocorrelations can be tested by Durbin-Watson
test as stated in the table 10 below. The value of Durbin Watson assumes to be between 0 and 4;
values closed 2 indicate no autocorrelation problem. From this test, the value of Durbin Watson
is about 2.67. Thus, it lies between 0<2.67<4 (see Table 10 below). The value of Durbin Watson
is close to 3 indicates there is no violation of autocorrelation, which implies each residual found
to be independent each other.

Table 10: Autocorrelation test to model summary

R R-squared Adjusted Std. Error of the Durbin-Watson

R-squared Estimate
0.813a 0.691 0.683 0.397 2.671

Source: own survey, 2023.

Homoscedasticity Test: The variance of the residual or error terms should be constant. The
assumption of having fairly equal variance of errors across all levels of the independent variables
(Osborne, (2002). The researcher visually examined homoscedasticity test and as it shows in the
figure 5 below that it can be assured that the points are randomly and evenly distributed
throughout the scattered diagram around zero and constant (no systematic pattern observed), and
revealed that there is no problem of heteroscedasticity. Therefore, the assumption of
homoscedasticity is satisfied. Ideally, the residual values are scattered around the horizontal line
along zero, providing evenly distribution.

60
Figure 5: Scatter plot of Residuals
Generally, thus from an explanation of the information presented in the above entire tests one can
conclude that there are no significant data problems that would lead to say the assumptions of
multiple regressions have been seriously violated.

4.3.3 Multiple Linear Regressions Analysis

Under this, the study includes information about model summery, goodness fit of the model, and
the quantity of variance that is explained by independent variable. The results of such analysis
are narrated under. Table 11 below displays the estimated model summary, statistic, R-square, is
the multiple correlation coefficients between all of the independent variables and dependent
variables. In this model, the value is R=0.691. This is frequently used to describe the goodness-
of-fit or the amount of variance on the dependent variables explained by a given set of predictor
variables. It implies that 69.1% of the total variability of practice of project manager selection is
explained by all considered factors: personal skill of an individual, experience in similar projects,

61
conceptual and organizational skills, and project management skills & knowledge used in the
model at 5% level of significance.
Table 11: Model summary for practice of project manager selection on the selected variables

R R-squared Adjusted Std. Error of the Sig.

R-squared Estimate
0.813a 0.691 0.683 0.397 0.001

ANOVA tells us whether the model, overall, is acceptable from a statistical perspective i.e.
whether the independent variables are in a significantly good degree of prediction of the outcome
variable. As can be seen from the Table 12 below, the independent variables significantly predict
the dependent variable with F=58.6, p=0.000< 0.05 which implies, the regression model is good
fit of the data

Table 12: Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

Model Sum of Df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Regression 87.930 6 14.655 58.6 0.000
Residual 21.197 84 0.25
Total 109.127 90

In the Table 13 below displays the researcher fit multiple linear regression model and interpret
the result. In order to assess the influence of predictor variables on an individual practice of
project manager selection, multiple linear regression analysis was computed. The table shows
that, all of the predictor variables (i.e. personal skill of an individual, experience in similar
projects, conceptual and organizational skills, and project management skills & knowledge have
statistically significant influence/prediction in predicting the dependent variable, an individual
selection practice of project manager.

In order to evaluate the contribution or influence of each independent variable to the dependent
variable, we can see the unstandardized beta value.
Y i=β 0 + β 1 PS+ β2 WE+ β 3 EOS+ β 4PMK+ and this table gave the βi coefficients or regression
coefficients which show the contribution of each variable in prediction.

62
 Thus, the model become
Y i=3.413+ 0.451 PS+ 0.608 WE+0.233 EOS +1.02 PMK
personal skill of an individual, experience in similar projects, conceptual and organizational
skills, and project management skills & knowledge
Interpretation: The results indicate that if the personal skill of an individual is increased by one
unit, then an individual selection practice of project manager will be increased by 0.451 times
while other variables remain constant. For a unit increase change of an individual work
experience in similar projects, then practice of project manager selection also increased by 0.608
times, other variables remain constant. For an individual conceptual and organizational skills, if
all other variable is constant, the increment of one unit an individual conceptual and
organizational skills, then an individual selection practice of project manager also increased by
0.233 times. In addition to this, on average for one-unit increment of project management skills
& knowledge, an individual selection practice of project manager also increased by 1.02 times
while other variables remain constant.
Generally, for all factors considered in the study were significant at 5% level of significance the
(P-value < 0.05) has been noticed for all variables which indicate that their effect is statistically
significant.

Table 13: Regression coefficients Analysis

Model Unstandardized Standardized t- Sig.

Coefficients Coefficients value
Variables Beta Std. Error Beta coefficients
(Constant) 3.413 0.214 4.607 0.000
Personal skill of an individual (PS) 0.451 0.140 0.522 3.214 0.032*
An individual experience in similar 0.608 0.022 0.741 3.285 0.043*
projects (WE)
An individual’s conceptual and 0.233 0.028 0.442 3.452 0.039*
organizational skills (EOS)

63
An individual’s project management 1.02 0.044 2.036 5.337 0.000*
skills & knowledge (PMK)
** Regression is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

CHAPTER FIVE
5 Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
This This final part of the thesis deals with the summary of the findings of the study, the
conclusions reached at and the recommendations forwarded on the basis of findings.

5.1 Summary
The main purpose of this study was to examine the practice of project manager’s selection in
Ethio telecom and to forward recommendations for the drawbacks identified.
To achieve this purpose, the study was conducted descriptive and explanatory research design;
and employed both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Having this, the majority
76.9% were personnel management workers employees of Ethiotelecom. Regarding to
demographic variable gender, 55(60.4%) of them were males and 36(39.6%) of them were

64
females. According to the age of respondents in years, on average the age of respondents found
to be 36 years. The minimum and the maximum age of respondents were 24 and 52 respectively.
Most of respondents were found to be married. Regarding to work experience of respondents, on
average the work experience of respondents found to be 6.14 years. The minimum and the
maximum work experience of respondents were 2 and 23 years respectively. On average the
income levels of respondents found to be 7582. The minimum and the maximum income level of
respondents were 3176 and 22355 ETB respectively. This indicates that income per month of the
respondent were low and their daily expense not matched now a day. Regarding to the
characteristics of respondents by educational level confirms that the respondents are qualified.
So, the researcher belief that the response obtained from them is reliable and trust full that
enables the researcher to move towards intended research finding.

Regarding to the selection criteria of project manager, the mean values of educational
background of an individual, being best performer of the team, recommendation letter given by
immediate supervisor and being permanent employee are above the average value [2.60, 3.40),
this means the selection criteria of project managers with the mentioned variable is satisfactory.
When we look at the mean value of having relevant work experience is 3.70 which is higher than
the rest. Therefore, we can summarize that from the criteria of project managers selection, the
company gives priority for those individuals having relevant work experience to assign as a
project manager.

Regarding to factors that mostly considered in the selection of project managers, the majority
46(50.5%) of respondents were disagree with the statement of personal skill of an individual
considered in the selection of a project manager. However, the majority 41(45.1%) of
respondents were agreed with statement of experiences in similar projects considered as a factor
in the selection of a project manager.
Regarding to project management knowledge areas: the mean value Likert scale values related to
knowledge of project integration management was 2.53. The mean value falls under the response
scale of disagree [1.80, 2.60], this implies the selection process of project managers with
knowledge of project integration management is not satisfactory. In addition to this the
respondents have neutral idea and agreed that the selection practice of project manager in the
study area depends on knowledge on project scope management, project time management,

65
project quality management, and project human resource management which has the mean value
3.50, 3.33, 3.13 and 3.51 respectively. The mean value falls under the response scale of neutral to
agree [2.60, 4.20), this implies the selection process of project managers with stated variables
were found to be satisfactory.

From the inferential statistical analysis Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicates that, at 5%
level of significance there is a strong positive relationship was found between factors that mostly
considered in the selection of project managers with practice of an individuals in selection of
project manager at a 5% level of significance. The assumptions of linear regression were
checked; linearity (residuals by the scatter P-P plot) revealed that the relationship between
response variable and specified independent variables found to be linear, normality (histogram of
residual) revealed that residuals that the residuals are normally distributed about the predicted
(dependent variable) scores, autocorrelation (Durbin Watson test), revealed that the values closed
3 indicate no autocorrelation problem, homoscedasticity (constant variance of the error term),
revealed that the points are randomly and evenly distributed throughout the scattered diagram
around zero, implies no problem of heteroscedasticity, and no-multicollinearity (using VIF), and
the values of VIF for all variables are less than 5, indicates there is no multicollinearity among
the predictors.

The linear regression model summery, goodness fit of the model and the quantity of variance
were identified. In this model, the value of R square is 0.691, which indicates that 69.1% of the
total variability of practice of project manager selection is explained by all considered factors:
personal skill of an individual, experience in similar projects, conceptual and organizational
skills, and project management skills & knowledge, the remaining 30.9% were un explained.
ANOVA tells us whether the model, overall, is acceptable from a statistical perspective, here the
all independent variables significantly predict the dependent variable with large F=58.6,
p=0.000< 0.05 which implies, the regression model is good fit of the data

From the fitted multiple linear regression model one can depicts that all of the predictor variables
(i.e. personal skill of an individual, experience in similar projects, conceptual and organizational
skills, and project management skills & knowledge have statistically significant
influence/prediction in predicting the dependent variable, an individual selection practice of

66
project manager. As the interviewee and focus group discussion depicts, all the interviewee
(project directors and project managers) revealed that there are criteria’s which are common for
each division’s chief officer to assign individuals as a project manager. Those criteria include;
educational background, relevant year of experience and being best performer. The interviewee
revealed that, an individual’s experience is given priority to be assigned as a project manager
than the rest (best performer and qualification) whereas two of them said that being best
performer is given priority.

5.2. Conclusion
The purpose of the study is to examine the practice of project manager’s selection and based on
the findings of the research and the literature discussed, the following conclusions can be drawn:
From the selection criteria of project managers the company gives priority for those individuals
having relevant work experience and conclude that seniority of project manager as a selection
criterion but it’s not enough.

From the factors of project managers selection, we can conclude that an individual experience in
similar projects as well as conceptual and organizational skills were found to be the major factor
considered in the selection processes of project managers. From the project management
knowledge and its application, the company did not exercise those knowledge areas: project
integration management, project communications management, project procurement
management, project stakeholder management, and project cost management in the selection
practices of project managers. Results from the Pearson’s Moment Correlation Coefficient
revealed that, there is strong and statistically significant relationship between an individual
experience in similar projeall considered independent variables and an individual selection
practice of project manager at 55 level of significance. Conclusions drawn from interviewee and
FGDs reports, project manager selection is the most important task in project-based organization
and to do so the selection criteria should specifically be defined to cover the decision maker’s
requirements and corresponding to the specific job characteristics. But the study shows that, the
selection criteria is not specifically be defined to cover the decision maker’s requirements rather
it simply put as educational background, work experience and being best performer as a selection
criterion which is static for all positions of project manager. There is no scientific way of project
manager’s selection rather it is full of personal judgment.

67
From the linear regression model summery, goodness fit of the model and the quantity of
variance were identified. Here we can conclude that 69.1% of the total variability of practice of
project manager selection is explained by all considered factors: personal skill of an individual,
experience in similar projects, conceptual and organizational skills, and project management
skills & knowledge. ANOVA result revealed that all independent variables are significantly
predict the dependent variable or the regression model is good fit of the data

From the fitted multiple linear regression model one can depicts that all of the predictor variables
(i.e. personal skill of an individual, experience in similar projects, conceptual and organizational
skills, and project management skills & knowledge have statistically significant
influence/prediction in predicting the dependent variable, an individual selection practice of
project manager.

5.3 Recommendations
As per the discussions in the previous sections, the researcher strongly puts forward the
following recommendations:
 The company should have a scientific method to select project managers to minimize
individual judgement.
 The company should exercise knowledge areas of project management especially those
knowledge areas: project integration management, project communications management,
project procurement management, project stakeholder management, and project cost
management, while assigning individuals as a project manager through further learning
project management as a discipline rather than simply through experience.
 The company should have the selection criterion that’s specifically be defined to cover the
decision maker’s requirements and corresponding to the specific job characteristics.
 The company should further extend skill requirements of individual rather than simply
focusing on the technical skill like (learning about psychology, human behavior,
organizational behavior, interpersonal relations and communications).
 The company should announce project manager’s position through posting like any other
position to make clarity for the selection process of project manager.
 Since Ethiotelcom assign project manager for a specific project from the operation
managers, it should develop a set of self-assessment tools, such as surveys and

68
 questionnaires, for project managers to determine their own competency strengths and
weaknesses and do a continuous assessment to enable them based on the assessment result.

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 Appendix-A
TOSSA COLLEGE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Master of Art in Business Administration
Questionnaire to be filled by Respondents
TITLE OF THE THESIS “PRACTICE OF PROJECT MANAGER SELECTION IN

ETHIO TELECOM”

74
 My name is Jemal Hussen. I am a Master’s of Business Administration student at Tossa College
of Economic Development. The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect data in order to study
practices of project managers’ selection in Ethiotelecom.
Objectives of the study
The basic objectives of this study are to investigate the factors that mostly considered criteria’s in
the selection of project managers and to assess the association between project management
knowledge and performance, and project managers’ selection criteria and methods.
Dear Respondents
Genuine participations in providing information about this study will lead to successful
fulfillment of my MA thesis and addressing the problem under investigation. Hence, I kindly
request your earnest effort to complete each item of the questions. General instruction: For
multiple-choice items, circle the numbers and for short answer items, give your answer briefly
and clearly on the space provided. Please, do not write your name any sections of the paper to
maintain your confidence. Thank you in advance for the collaboration in giving valuable time to
respond this questionnaire!
NB.
 No need of writing your name
 Please, follow the general directions given under each part and reply to questions by putting ‘ ’
mark for your choices where appropriate and write brief response/s for open ended questions that
requires your reflection.
General Information
Data of survey: Day ______Month ________Year ________
Name of the organization ___________________
Part I. Background Information of Respondents
No. Items Option/dimension Put (√)
1 Gender: Male
Female
2 Age: 20-30 Years
31-40 Years
41-50 Years

75
 51 Years & Above
3 Marital Status: Single
Married
Separates
Divorced
Widowed
4 PhD
Educational Qualification: Masters (2nd Degree)
First Degree
Diploma
Below Diploma
5 Work Experience (Overall): 0-5 Years
6-10 Years
11-15 Years
Above 15 Years
PART I I: Factors which are relevant to project managers’ selection.
INSTRUCTION: To what extent the following possible factors will be considered during
selection of project managers in Ethio telecom? Please tick (√) in the box that best reflects your
answer where:

Strongly Not Strongly

Items disagree Disagree sure Agree agree
Personal skill of an individual.

An individual experience in similar projects.

An individual’s conceptual and organizational skills.

An individual’s project management skills & knowledge.

76
 PART III: Project management knowledge and its application in the selection process of
project managers.
INSTRUCTION: To what extent the following project management knowledge and its
application for an individual may have will be considered during selection of project managers?
Please tick (√) in the box that best reflects your answer where:

Strongly Not Strongly

Items Disagree Disagree sure Agree agree
An individual’s knowledge of project integration
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project scope
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project time management
and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project quality
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project human resource
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project communications
management and its application.

An individual’s knowledge of project risk management

and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project procurement
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project stakeholder
management and its application.
An individual’s knowledge of project cost management
and its application.
Part IV: Criteria’s in the selection of project managers.
Strongly Not Strongly
Item disagree Disagree sure Agree agree
Educational background of an individual

Being best performer of the team

Recommendation letter given by immediate
supervisor

77
Having relevant work experience in the
organization working with
Being permanent employee of the company
INSTRUCTION: To what extent the following criteria will be considered during selection of
project managers? Please tick (√) in the box that best reflects your answer where:

Part V. An individual’s practice of project manager selection

Below are statements that are designed to collect data on selection practice of project manager.
Please indicate the level of your agreement or disagreement on the statements by putting tick (√)
mark on the space below the options provided.
1= Strongly Disagree, 2= Disagree, 3= Neutral, 4= Agree, 5= Strongly Agree
No. Statement 1 2 3 4 5
1 I have participated in selection of project manager of Ethiotelecom
2 project management is useful
3 Individuals needs to know the criteria for selection of project manager?
4 The selection of project manager is based on organization skill
5 The practice of project manager selection useful
6 The employees of the company practiced of project manager
selection so far

Appendix-B
TOSSA COLLEGE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Master of Art in Business Administration
Questionnaire to be filled by Respondents
TITLE OF THE THESIS “PRACTICE OF PROJECT MANAGER SELECTION IN

ETHIO TELECOM”

78
 Interview Questions for Staff Representatives of Ethio Telecom (Project Directors and Project

Managers)

 Questions related with over all practices of project manager selection

1. Who is the responsible person to select project managers?

2. What was your general process for selecting an individual as a project manager?
3. Is there scientific way to select project managers to minimizing individual judgment?
4. What are the challenges you face in the selection of project managers?
5. At what time did you start considering specific individuals for managers in the life cycle of a
project?
6. From the types of skills individuals may have, which one is the most important to be considered
in the selection process of project managers? And why?
7. What are the major criteria in the selection of project managers that differentiate from operational
managers?
8. What are the best practices in project manager’s selection process that can be shared by other
organizations?

79