The Importance of Interpersonal Skills For Project Manager: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Abstract. Project management skills can significantly impact the outcomes of many business initiatives, particularly in project-oriented industries. While technical expertise is crucial, project managers also rely heavily on interpersonal skills to effectively lead teams and communicate with stakeholders. This study examines how project managers' interpersonal skills contribute to project success. Employing the Systematic Literature Review methodology, our focus was on identifying pertinent articles from Scopus. Our initial search using the 'Publish or Perish' software returned 42 articles. We then carefully evaluated each one, focusing on how well they contributed to our understanding of interpersonal skills in project management. This thorough review process allowed us to select the most relevant and insightful articles for our study. Keyword analysis revealed robust associations between ‘interpersonal skills’ and ‘project managers’, extending to key terms such as ‘project management’, ‘emotional intelligence’, ‘project success’, ‘leadership’, ‘information technology’, ‘construction’, ‘implementation’, ‘evaluation’, and ‘qualitative’. Building on these keyword relationships, our findings underscore the need for balanced skill development in practice and highlight opportunities for future research on measuring and developing interpersonal skills across diverse project contexts, emerging methodologies, and virtual team dynamics, aiming to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application in project management. Keywords: Interpersonal skill, project, project manager, project management, systematic literature review