March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai

Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

managing versus leading ?

How do the ideas of managing and leading apply to project management?
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.
(Ken Blanchard)

Managing versus Leading

Many researchers have argued for the need of distinguishing between management and
leadership. Management is often seen as being task related whilst leadership is seen as the
influence exercised over others through personality and actions, channelling everybody
towards the Goal.
Based on the reading materials & class discussion, we can compare a Manager with a Leader
majorly with respect to their Personality Styles, Attitude towards Goals, Conception of Work,
relationship with others and Self Identity.
Managers and leaders have very different attitudes toward goals.
o Managers - adopt impersonal, almost passive, attitudes toward goals; decide upon
goals based on necessity instead of desire and are therefore deeply tied to their
organization's culture; tend to be reactive since they focus on current information.
o Leaders - tend to be active since they envision and promote their ideas instead of
reacting to current situations; shape ideas instead of responding to them; have a
personal orientation toward goals; provide a vision that alters the way people think
about what is desirable, possible, and necessary.
Managers and leaders' conceptions of work.
o Managers - view work as an enabling process; establish strategies and makes
decisions by combining people and ideas; continually coordinate and balance
opposing views; are good at reaching compromises and mediating conflicts between
opposing values and perspectives; act to limit choice; tolerate practical, mundane
work because of strong survival instinct which makes them risk-averse.
o Leaders - develop new approaches to long-standing problems and open issues to
new options; first, use their vision to excite people and only then develop choices,
which give those images substance; focus people on shared ideals and raise their
expectations; work from high-risk positions because of strong dislike of mundane
work.

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

Managers and leaders have very different relations with others.

o Managers - prefer working with others; report that solitary activity makes them
anxious; are collaborative; maintain a low level of emotional involvement in
relationships; attempt to reconcile differences, seek compromises, and establish a
balance of power; relate to people according to the role they play in a sequence of
events or in a decision-making process; focus on how things get done; maintain
controlled, rational, and equitable structures ; may be viewed by others as
inscrutable, detached, and manipulative.
o Leaders - maintain inner perceptiveness that they can use in their relationships with
others; relate to people in intuitive, empathetic way; focus on what events and
decisions mean to participants; attract strong feelings of identity and difference or of
love and hate; create systems where human relations may be turbulent, intense, and
at times even disorganized.
The Self-Identity of managers versus leaders is strongly influenced by their past.
o Managers - report that their adjustments to life have been straightforward and that
their lives have been more or less peaceful since birth; have a sense of self as a guide
to conduct and attitude which is derived from a feeling of being at home and in
harmony with their environment; see themselves as conservators and regulators of
an existing order of affairs with which they personally identify and from which they
gain rewards; report that their role harmonizes with their ideals of responsibility and
duty; perpetuate and strengthen existing institutions; display a life development
process which focuses on socialization...this socialization process prepares them to
guide institutions and to maintain the existing balance of social relations.
o Leaders - reportedly have not had an easy time of it; lives are marked by a continual
struggle to find some sense of order; do not take things for granted and are not
satisfied with the status quo; report that their "sense of self" is derived from a
feeling of profound separateness; may work in organizations, but they never belong
to them; report that their sense of self is independent of work roles, memberships,
or other social indicators of social identity; seek opportunities for change (i.e.
technological, political, or ideological); support change; find their purpose is to
profoundly alter human, economic, and political relationships; display a life
development process which focuses on personal mastery...this process impels them
to struggle for psychological and social change.
Application of Managing & Leading in Project Management
Project Manager has to acquire, develop, & manage vendors, consultants and the Project Team
to manage any project throughout the Project Life Cycle. In a matrix organisation, he has to
influence the internal cross-functional teams to accomplish back end requirements for the
project. Therefore, being task oriented, his people management skills are most essential in
successful completion of the project.

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

As a leader Project Manager has to

x
x
x
x

Set direction and vision to the Project Team

Inspire teamwork
Align employees
Influence, Motivate and support

As a manager Project Manager has to

x
x
x
x

Develop Project Management Plan

Organize work groups
Staff the project
Forecast & Control the project time, Cost, quality, Scope and Risk

A leadership SWOT analysis will assist the project manager in identifying where additional training,
support, or mentorship is required. A similar approach can be taken for the project team. The key is
to exploit strengths, resolve and strengthen weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and remove
or minimize threats. The action items developed to address these areas, when properly executed,
will result in higher levels of performance and efficiency at the team level and with the project
manager.

Strengths
What skills does the Project Manager
possess that helps him accomplishing the
goals?
Examples:

Opportunities
What opportunities exist at the project level and
at the personal level?
Examples:
x

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Communication
Presentation
Planning
Organizing
Listening
Facilitating
Problem Solving
Innovation and Entrepreneurship

x
x
x
x
x

Additional revenue and sales at project

completion
New and more challenging project
assignment
Sharing of knowledge with others in the
organization
Promotion of team members
Promotion to higher level position
Increased customer satisfaction

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership
Weaknesses

Threats
What threats exist that should be removed?

What weaknesses have been noticed or

defined through various feedbacks?

Examples:

Examples:
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Failure to follow through on promises

Technical knowledge is limited
Slow response to team requests
Lack of visibility
Failure to provide feedback on a
timely basis
Lack of availability to the team
Micromanaging the team
Failure to set clear expectations

x
x
x
x
x

Project failure due to poor leadership

Loss of job assignment
Loss of key project team members
Project cancellation
Loss of personal credibility and integrity

The concept of Situational Leadership and its applications to the role of the Project Manager.
Do you agree that effective leadership requires flexibility to vary leadership styles according to
the situation faced ?
the concept of Situational Leadership
The situational model of leadership assumes that there is no one best style of leadership or way to
influence people. The style to be adopted depends on the readiness level of the people the leader
is attempting to influence (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988).
The supportive behaviours of this style aid followers in feeling comfortable about
themselves their fellows and the situation.
The directive behaviour assists followers in goal accomplishment through directions aimed
at establishing goals and how they should be evaluated, creating time lines, explaining roles
and showing how goals are to be achieved.
Situational factors are factors that are unique to a situation and that leaders have to take into
account and adapt themselves to. The underlying question is if managers are capable of altering
their leadership behaviour to match the surrounding and shifting environment ????
Many theorists argue that it is possible to change style to match the situation by assuming that a
leader can adopt an appropriate style in order to fit the specific circumstances, namely adopt a
situational leadership perspective.

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

The Situational Leadership Model

The Situational Leadership Model advocates that effective leaders provide members with varying
amounts of task- and relationship behaviour, depending on the members readiness level, to help
them successfully complete assigned tasks (Hersey, 1988).
Task behaviour is defined as the degree to which a leader clearly states the members duties and
responsibilities. It is characterised by one-way communication and the leader directs and closely
supervises the members in their work.
Relationship behaviour is concerned with the degree of support provided by the leader. In this
behaviour, the leader engages in two-way communication with the members and exhibit
characteristics of being a listener and a facilitator.
An effective leader then has to predict the amount of task and relationship behaviour to adopt,
which is based on the readiness level of the different members. Readiness is referred to as the
ability and willingness of a member to take responsibility for directing their own behaviour in
relation to the specific task . Ability is made up of the knowledge, experience, and skills that
members are equipped with when confronting a new task. Willingness incorporates the amount of
confidence, commitment, and motivation that members posses.

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

Leaders behaviour
The model is hence based on interplay between the amount of task/relationship behaviour
a leader provides and the readiness level of the members.
The leaders behaviour can take four different forms in the Situational Leadership Model and are
displayed in four different leadership behavioural quadrants that are labelled High Task/Low
Relationship, High Task/High Relationship, High Relationship/Low Task and Low Relationship
/Low Task. These different combinations of task behaviour and relationship behaviour make up
four different leadership behaviours.
Situational Leadership Model (Hersey, 1988)

Telling (S1) :Leaders define the roles and those performing them are closely supervised.
The leader tells the members what to do, how to do, and when to do it. Predetermined
decisions are announced, resulting in a one-way communication.
Selling (S2): Identifying roles and tasks is still in the hand of the leader, but ideas and
suggestions from the members are taken into consideration. Decisions remain the
leaders prerogative. Two-way communication.

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs

March 31, 2012

SP Jain Inst- Mumbai
Bipin Barma
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.

Project Leadership

Participating (S3): Leaders provide support in order to bolster the members confidence
and motivation, although less direction is given due to their skills.
Delegating (S4): Members are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little
supervision or support. Control is with the members and they decide when and how the
leader will be involved.
The appropriate leadership behaviour to be used will be determined by where the members
are situated on the different readiness levels. The readiness dimension is made up four different
elements that range from R1 to R4. Members that are said to be located in R1 are characterized as
being unable and unwilling. A person that is unable and unwilling has a low level of knowledge,
skills, and experience for the task as well as low levels of task commitment, motivation, and
confidence. In R2, the member still lacks the necessary ability for the task but is, as opposed to the
first readiness level, motivated and making an effort. The member is confident as long as the leader
is there to provide guidance. The members that are seen as belonging to R3 are those that have
the ability to perform the task but are unwilling to do so. The final readiness level, R4, belongs to
members that both have the ability and willingness to perform the task (Hersey et al., 2001).

References : Class Materials ,Google, Wiki & Blogs