Project management and employees’ individual potential

Purpose: Employees’ membership of project teams is seen as one of the ways, in which the individual potential is shaped. The objective of the article is to demonstrate the influence of the characteristics of project organizational culture on shaping the characteristics of employees’ individual potential. Design/methodology/approach: The review of the literature served as the basis for identifying the characteristics of project organizational culture. The research hypotheses describing the influence of the characteristics of project organizational culture on striving for perfection, curiosity, perceptiveness, commitment and determination were formulated. The research hypotheses were verified in the course of the empirical studies (questionnaire survey) carried out in December 2019 in 270 enterprises functioning in the USA. Findings: The positive relationship between the characteristics of project organizational culture with the characteristics of individual potential was indicated. This shows the possibility of making use of project teamwork for the needs of shaping the employee’s individual potential. Research limitations/implications: Both the assessment of the norms and values of the organizational culture and the assessment of the norms and values of the project team were carried out each time by the project manager. Also, the assessment of the potential of employees in the project team and outside it was performed by the same project manager. Practical implications: Employee participation in the project team can be considered a potential tool for staff development. The socialization of norms and values, that are typical for the project organizational culture, contributes to the growth of the individual potential of employees. Social implications: The growing importance of projects in the activities of an organization is currently referred to in the literature as projectification, which means institutionalization of projects at all levels of social structures. Once again, the importance of variable project teams (and not stable, e.g. hierarchical, structures) for shaping the employee's high potential is emphasized. Originality/value: A specific role of a project team for human resources development has been identified. Employee participation in the project team can be considered not only as a potential tool for staff development, but also as factor that shapes employees’ individual potential.