How AI Helps — and Where it
Simply Cannot
FEATURED PAPER
By Richard Maltzman and Luigi Morsa
USA and Germany
ABSTRACT
In VUCA environments, traditional process‑based project management is no longer sufficient; instead, project leaders must understand and actively deal with interdependent behaviors of humans and now, of AI-based systems. Through two realistic examples—supplier negotiations and internal competition over scarce resources—the article illustrates how suboptimal Nash equilibria naturally emerge and how project leaders can “change the game” by reshaping incentives, reducing the cost of cooperation, or increasing the cost of conflict. The discussion then explores the growing role of AI‑assisted analysis, showing how modern systems can generate payoff matrices, identify equilibria, and visualize strategic structures using tools such as Game Theory Analyzer. However, the article emphasizes that AI cannot replace human leadership: negotiation, trust‑building, emotional intelligence, and alignment of interests remain uniquely human capabilities. Ultimately, effective project leadership requires integrating analytical tools, AI insights, and human relational skills to foster cooperation, prevent escalation, and deliver value in complex strategic environments.
Keywords: Project leadership, VUCA environment, Nash equilibrium, Stakeholder incentives, AI-assisted analysis, Negotiation dynamics, Strategic decision-making, Cooperation vs competition
- Introduction: Why Game Theory — and Why Now
Projects are not merely technical undertakings — they are strategic arenas where multiple players, each with their own incentives, constraints, and expectations, interact in ways that shape outcomes – and the delivery of value – far more than any plan or schedule. This is precisely why game theory, the mathematical study of strategic decision‑making, offers such a powerful lens for project managers. It helps explain why stakeholders behave the way they do, why cooperation often fails to emerge spontaneously (even though it would benefit all involved), and why delays or conflicts can arise even when everyone appears to be acting rationally.
The vast majority of project managers do not regularly use game theory in their daily practice. Yet, as the Authors emphasized in a previous article [1], today project managers operate in a highly complex work environment shaped by the well‑known (and accelerating) VUCA conditions (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity, [2]). In such contexts, success cannot come from relying solely on traditional project‑management process groups such as controlling, monitoring, and scheduling. These remain necessary, but they are no longer sufficient.
Thriving in VUCA environments requires something more: the ability to understand, interpret, and actively manage the strategic relationships among stakeholders. This is precisely where game theory becomes an invaluable tool. It helps reveal incentives, anticipate reactions, and understand how each actor’s choices influence the others. For this reason, it should be used — not as a mathematical curiosity, but as a practical instrument for leading complex projects – and we use the word leading quite intentionally
From this point forward, therefore, we will prefer the term project leader rather than project manager. The shift is purposeful: it highlights the importance of leadership in guiding people, reading the strategic landscape, and defining the direction the entire team must follow. From now on, even when we (out of habit) use the term project manager, please read it as project leader.
Adding even more VUCA to a VUCA-infused playing field, artificial intelligence (AI) has reached a level of maturity that allows it to support project leaders with this kind of strategic analysis. Modern AI systems can generate payoff matrices, identify equilibrium conditions, analyze incentives, and simulate how changes in resources or responsibilities might shift stakeholder behavior. In this sense, AI becomes an amplifier of insight: a tool that helps project managers reveal hidden structures, detect patterns, and to better understand the strategic landscape in which they operate.
Yet, as this article argues, AI cannot replace the human project leader. It can map incentives, but it cannot negotiate. It can analyze behavior, but it cannot build trust. It can highlight misalignments, but it cannot realign people. It lacks the direct human experience with specific players’ behavior and even the drivers behind these behaviors. The emotional, political, and relational dimensions of cooperation remain fundamentally human.
This article explores how game theory applies to project leadership, how AI can support this analysis, and where the limits of AI end and the irreplaceable role of the project manager begins. Through concrete examples — from supplier negotiations to internal resource conflicts — we show how incentives shape behavior, how equilibria emerge, and how a project manager can “change the game” by reshaping the payoff structure. Finally, we examine how AI‑assisted tools such as Game Theory Analyzer can help visualize these dynamics, while emphasizing that only human leadership can transform insight into cooperation.
More…
To read entire paper, click here
How to cite this paper: Maltzman R. and Morsa L., (2026). Game Theory for Project Managers: How AI Helps — and Where it Simply Cannot; PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pmwj168-Sep2026-Maltzman-Morsa-Game-Theory.pdf
About the Authors
Richard Maltzman
Boston, MA, USA
Richard Maltzman considers himself a ‘pracademic’ – currently (and for the past 10 years or so) Master Lecturer at Boston University, an author, and a consultant, providing clients with deep learning experiences and improved results. Richard “retired” from a 40-year career in telecom, mainly in engineering and project management. At the University level, and in consulting, his focus is always on converting weaknesses into strengths while teaching clients/students how to apply learned skills to everyday situations. In 2010, he co-founded EarthPM, LLC, a company devoted to integrating sustainability thinking into project management. His integration of a holistic, global view of project management has resulted in international consulting and worldwide speaking engagements (Costa Rica, South Africa, Malaysia, China, Mexico, Canada, India, Italy, The Netherlands) in which the focus is the long-term success of projects, with an eye towards ecological and social systems. His blog at PMI’s projectmanagement.com (People, Planet, Profits, and Projects) site has become very popular, and he has also started a podcast, “B’yond PM” on Spotify.
Rich is a co-author of seven books on project leadership, including the recent Great Meetings Build Great Teams, and the upcoming Green PMO, He is a former VP of Professional Development for PMI Mass Bay (the Boston area PMI Chapter), and was on the Review Committee for the 7th Edition PMBOK® Guide, helping to assure that sustainability thinking finally made it into the Standard and the Body of Knowledge. Rich has presented on Sustainability, Project Meetings, Change Management, and PM Competency in Italy, Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, Costa Rica, China, recently keynoting at the PMI Summit Bulgaria in Sofia. Published Works (co-authored): Green Project Management (2011 – Winner of PMI’s Cleland Award for Literature). Project Workflow Management: A Business Process Approach (2014), Driving Project, Program, and Portfolio Success: The Sustainability Wheel (2015), Bridging the PM Competency Gap (2017), How to Facilitate Productive Project Planning Meetings, with Jim Stewart (2018), Great Meetings Build Great Teams, with Jim Stewart (2023).
In 2025, Rich published two co-authored works, AI Powered Leadership, with Vijay Kanabar, Dave Silberman, and Loredana Abramo, and a Kindle workbook called Planning Your Project: A Hands-On Guide to AI Integration, with Vijay Kanabar and Keyur Hindocha. Richard can be contacted at exclaim@bu.edu, https://about.me/richmaltzman and LinkedIn_RM.
Luigi Morsa
Munich Area, Germany
Luigi Morsa is a Team Leader, Project Manager, and Aerospace Engineer who has been working in the aircraft industry in Germany since 2012. He holds a Ph.D. in Space Fluid Dynamics from the University of Naples and was a Visiting Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan (2011). Over the course of his career, he has gained substantial experience in leading teams within highly challenging and demanding environments. His passion for project management has led him to contribute chapters and case studies to several books by Dr. Harold Kerzner, the globally recognized pioneer in the field. These include Project Management Case Studies (Wiley, 2017, 2022), Innovation Project Management (Wiley, 2019, 2023), and Global Project Management (Wiley, 2026).
Together with Richard Maltzman, PMP and Master Lecturer at Boston University Metropolitan College, Luigi co-authored the chapter 10 Lessons Learnt from Irresponsibility in Project Management for the De Gruyter Handbook of Responsible Project Management (De Gruyter, 2023). In April and June 2023, Luigi delivered online lectures on the “Boeing 737-Max Case Study” for the courses Portfolio and Program Management and Project Value Strategies at Boston University. In 2018, Luigi was a speaker at the Project Management Institute EMEA Congress in Berlin, where he discussed the complexity of the aircraft industry market, with particular emphasis on aligning product development with customer needs. He also presented at the 18th Annual Project Management in Practice Conference in Boston (2024), showcasing the latest advancements in artificial intelligence software for project and innovation management.
In November 2024, he spoke alongside Richard Maltzman at the International Project Management Day hosted by International Institute for Learning (IIL), delivering a talk titled Human-AI Synergy in Practice: From Traditional to Innovation Project Management.
Since 2019, Luigi has been a regular contributor to the IIL Blog, publishing articles on topics such as employee engagement, innovation, team management, risk management, conflict resolution, Agile methodologies, and artificial intelligence. Luigi can be contacted at luigi.morsa@outlook.de and LinkedIn_LM.
