Project management artefacts and the emotions they evoke

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the variety of affective emotions that are evoked in extant project management (PM) practitioners by various PM artefacts. Design/methodology/approach – A phenomenological methodology is used for eliciting, through self‐reporting and observation of gesture, the affective responses and consequential emotions experienced by PM practitioners as they interact or recount previous interactions with various artefacts of PM. Findings – This paper suggests that PM is prevalent in the Western corporate environment because project managers obtain an emotional affect from aspects of the PM experience, and project managers utilise various PM artefacts to emotionally manipulate their environment to their own advantage. Practical implications – The paper argues for a PM environment which is founded on evidence‐based practices. It suggests that future research should explore the links between PM, social architecture and flow theory. Originality/value – This paper advances the evolutionary framework for PM research.