Development and verification of a conceptual framework for project manager-to-project (PM2P) allocations in multi-project environments

This research is a follow-up from an empirical study that demonstrated that the current process of allocating project managers to projects (PM2P) in Botswana´s multi-project environments is ineffective. The purpose of the current study is to develop a conceptual framework for the PM2P allocation process that can be used as a theoretical lens to study this process in more depth. A critical appraisal of the limited literature on the specific topic of project manager allocation models, including cognate fields of broader theories associated with this specific topic was conducted and encapsulated into the construction of a generic conceptual framework in terms of all the relevant inputs, as part of verification from the source of evidence in the literature that supports each input. The second source of evidence for verifying the developed conceptual framework, which is out of scope for this study, will come from application of the model in practice to ascertain that the emerging data from its application does not result in significant structural modifications of the developed framework. Literature searching and management strategies such as cited reference searching, were used during critical appraisal of literature. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and publication alerts for relevant articles were set-up and reviewed, followed by content and thematic analysis of the secondary data that were used to construct the conceptual framework. The resulting conceptual framework, which incorporates broader theories supporting each input, is considered a contribution in terms of extending the understanding of existing but limited literature associated with this topic.