Practices, Roles, and Responsibilities of Middle Managers in Program and Portfolio Management

Abstract

Practices for program and portfolio management, together with the associated roles and responsibilities of middle managers, were investigated. The results of the multi-method study show that high-performing organizations apply dedicated portfolio management processes and tools, plus use the associated roles of middle managers, to address the requirements stemming from the complexity of the organization's environment and the types of projects executed. This is not the case in low-performing organizations. The study takes a transaction costs economics perspective and develops a contingency model for program/portfolio management roles of middle managers. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed. This paper summarizes the highlights of research findings that can be found in the full report published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) (Blomquist & Müller, 2006).