PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP

ASSIGNMENT 1- PROJECT LEADERSHIP LITERATURE REVIEW

ANKUR VERMA
S3692087
1 INTRODUCTION
Enhancing project management competence is viewed as a vital strategic initiative by a growing
range of firms, governmental agencies, and global organizations. The quantity of certified project
managers has grown up by multiple within the past decade, and therefore the range of PMO’s
(Project Management Offices) in organizations has tripled over the same period (Schwalbe, 2005).
Despite this necessary increase in project management visibility and focus, project success rates still
stay depressed. In 1996, an oversized survey of project success disclosed that over 30th of comes
were thought-about unsuccessful (Standish group, 2001). A newer study in 2004 found that the
failure rate improved too but 25; however that a majority of homes continued to be considered
either unsuccessful or challenged (Jugdev & Muller 2005). There is a significant impact of
management approach over the project conclusion which includes planning, communication,
stakeholder commitment, trust and plan of a cooperative vision (Delisle, 2002).

The factor of success is not useful for analyzing the outcome of the project but also useful for the
extent to which the project was successful (DeWit, 1988). The primary factor that contributes to
project success is the time, cost and quality which are depicted in the Iron triangle (Baker, Murphy &
Fisher,1983; Westerveld,2003). According to Slevin & Pinto (1984), the project success majorly
depends on the following categories- Personnel, Technical task, client acceptance, monitoring &
feedback, communication & troubleshooting. The success of the project depends on the fixed issue
which is Organisation strategy, project structure and the concerned problem with the personnel like
the expertise of the manager and team members and communication. (Shenhar et al.,2002).

2 LEADERSHIP IN PROJECT
Leadership can be defined as the ability to achieve results from other people through influence
(Maylor, 2010). Tracy (2014) describes two more definitions, “the ability to elicit extraordinary
performance from ordinary people” and the ability to attract followers.
Leadership is a standout amongst the most critical and fundamental factors in good management
project. It can be viewed as the art of influencing others to accomplish the desired results. Leaders
manage practices by setting the vision, direction, and the fundamental processes; at the end of the
day, leadership has a significant influence on the whole project process, including the action of the
others. According to Briner, Hastings & Geddes (1996), a leader is primarily accountable for
achieving the project goals and should be a dynamic personality. In any case, leadership is people
related, and in projects, it has to deal with influencing or stimulating people to achieve their best
performance and work as a team towards reaching the project goals. Often, many get confused with
leadership and management. The management is defined as the discipline of applying authority and
administrating through the power granted by the organization’s structure.

According to Muller and Turner (2010), the project manager who does not demonstrate qualities in
two competencies will battle to maintain a high performing team and is entitled to fail in the long
term. While in an organization a line manager may lack some leadership skills and still obtain
success, the nature of undertaking requires from the project manager both the ability to manage
quality, time and resource and the ability to lead, motivate and develop the team.

Furthermore, leadership has been categorized as Trait-based, situational and behavioral approach.
All these are the traditional approach to understanding leadership. The earliest methodology was
qualities or traits approach, which recommended that leaders are ‘born and not made’
(Maylor,2010). The idea is that leaders have a specific attribute that cannot be taught or trained and
differentiate them from others. Critics of this theory argue that while some inherited traits may help
to become a good leader, training and development are required to improve them (Mullins, 2013).
The character traits associated with leadership are identified as follows –

a) Enterprising spirit
b) Loyalty
c) Leadership Motivation
d) Integrity
e) Self-confidence
f) Knowledge

The situational approach refers to no style of leadership appropriate for all the situations. It refers
that the situation should drive the choice of the leader, favoring the person who has striking
characteristics for that specific instance. In the work environment, it is not practical to let the
situation determine the leader’s quality, and that is the primary factor which should be taken in the
account. (Mullins, 2013).

The behavior theories of leadership style focus on the leader's capabilities of doing thing instead of
inborn traits and abilities. Behavior leadership is furthermore divided into three categories:

a) Task performance behavior

b) Group maintenance behavior
c) Participation in decision making

Every leadership approach has its advantage and disadvantage. It is a complex field of study and
depends on different variables such as cultural aspects, characteristics, and behavior of the leader
and the followers and the organization in question (Mullins,2013). There is no leadership style or set
of qualities considered useful in all situation and organization.

3 LEADERSHIP STYLE
Two universities, Ohio State Universit, and Michigan University contributed to the research on how
leaders behave with the new movement in leadership research. The interest in the characteristics of
leadership was not a priority. The focus was on the action of the leader to perform the duties of
administration (Vroom & Jago, 2007). The center was on measuring leadership behavior; however,
Vroom and Jago (2007) concluded that there was not enough, substantial, scientific evidence
provided by either approach construct.

All the leadership style has its strengths, weaknesses & criticisms, which we cannot discuss due to
scope limitations. Following are the leadership style:

1. Strategic leadership
This type of leadership focuses on how executive leaders impact the reliable performance
and addressing important leadership events.
2. Transformational leadership
Leader behavior that’s change and rouse followers to perform beyond expectation while
rising above personal circumstance for the benefit of the organization. (Avolio, Walumba
and Weber, 2016). It includes four aspects influence, inspiration, motivation, intellectual
motivation.
 3. Transactional leadership
It is a type of leadership in which there is a financial incentive between employees and
manager who exceeds their goals. It usually occurs between leaders and employees.
4. Servant leadership
This leadership style focuses on ensuring that their followers highest priority needs are being
served.
5. Charismatic leadership
In times of distress, uncertainty, or extreme enthusiasm, this type of leadership arises and
exists in a range of social relationships. It is driven by emotion and followers ' frantic
commitment. The charismatic leader may emerge from outside the formal hierarchy of the
organization and need not be an appointed leader. It is seen as a talent that is innate to an
individual.
6. Laissez-faire leadership
It is typically a kind of leadership which circumvents making decision, delegates
responsibility, and does not enforce authority.
Some researchers gave their opinion as it is shared leadership. They defined shared
leadership as a meta-theory of command, meaning all administration is divided. (Pearce and
Wassenaar,2010).

4 LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTIC
Kallis et al. (2008) explain the importance of the project manager’s competencies for the high
performance of an organization. The nature of a good leader are as follows;

• Face challenges and changes positively.

• Innovative spirit
• Inspire others toward a hopeful vision of the future
• Be fair to everyone in the team
• Develop and nurture effective working relationships
• Share expertise and knowledge to help others develop
• Remain positive attitudes during times of uncertainty and change
• Listen and attempt to understand others
• Transparently offer correspondence, through email, letters, reports, and discussions
• Help other people create approaches to conquer obstructions
• Oversee time and assets proficiently
• Envision and plan for issues and detours
• Oversee outstanding task at hand and accomplish results on schedule and within the budget
• Representative obligation and expert to augment the utilization of workers' abilities.

The above qualities mirror the respondent’s beliefs concerning the attributes of a great leader
should have. These qualities can likewise be utilized as the premise of leadership training which
means these abilities recognized by respondents as essential can be used to create and prepare
great leaders.
5 CONCLUSION
A project's success depends on both the project's successful leadership and successful project
management. Effective leadership is vital for leading the project team towards the expected goal as
well as motivating and improving the confidence of the group, authorizing activities in the project
and directing the purpose of the side towards the project goal. Project management is vital in terms
of the project's critical factors: time, cost and quality. The project can be completed within the
allocated schedule and within the budget with proper management of resources and staff and also
maintain the overall project quality by customer standards.

6 REFERENCES
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