The project manager as chameleon? Changing project manager roles with technological uncertainty

This paper proposes an integration of the fragmented views of project manager (PM) roles from an organizational perspective: technical, management, leader, innovator, and champion. We explore how PM roles appear to be discriminately activated depending on context through an empirical study of 26 case studies of dam projects with varying technological uncertainty profiles. Our study extends the organizational project management theory beyond the leadership perspective by integrating a dynamic conception of PM roles. This leads to a conception of the PM as needing to adapt mobilization of roles according to context, much like a chameleon changes its hue.