Abstract:
Project management literature frequently refers to the role of project executive
sponsor but does not address in any great depth the factors contributing to
effective project sponsorship, a role increasingly associated with project
success. Most research about key project roles addresses either structural or
behavioural factors with a definite emphasis on the former. This research
attempts to bridge an emerging structural-behavioural schism applying the
theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu. Project managers' assessments of
the effectiveness of the role of the executive sponsor are analysed using two
different approaches. The internal infrastructure projects projects under
scrutiny have been described by project owners as both complex and of
medium to high risk. Analysis of 30 interviews identifies nine key attributes of
successful project sponsorship. Significantly project managers appear to be
exercising a complex range of behaviour patterns; adaptive habitus? These
behaviours may serve to mask inadequate sponsor performance.
