Abstract:

Project failures of all kinds are attributed within a binary spectrum of soft and hard skills, which neglects significant discussions about the management of values, human behavior, decision-making processes, assumptions of authority and leadership, technical and moral limits, risk and organism homeostasis. In order to fill in this gap, and contribute to the academic literature as well as the corporations, the objective of this research is to unveil the relevance of behavioral skills in project deliverables when mediated by the “power” variable.

Based upon the literature, we have developed and validated a questionnaire, which was issued to 300 project managers from medium and large companies in Brazil. The response rate was 21%. The field revealed that project is a complex social construction, in which the human side of project management per se is often neglected due to exclusion from the context of the way in which decisions are made or influenced by the political or power organization chart in organizations.

Keywords:

Project, skills, structure.