A Comparison of Government and Industry Program Manager Competencies

Abstract

In 2010, the author presented a paper that examined Defense Department program manager (PM) competencies, as observed and reported in a survey by their industry PM counterparts. The current study mirrors that 2010 effort in examining how government PMs view their industry partners. Together, this paper compares and contrasts the findings from the two surveys. Since government and industry work closely together to manage large, complex Defense Department programs, the hope was to observe some complementary skills and abilities. The data gathered from this survey indeed shows this to be the case, but also reveals a number of key shortfalls in both technical and leadership/management skills. The results of this study may be useful in suggesting program management improvements as well as informing training and development strategies to improve program outcomes.