THE NEXUS BETWEEN PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND

SUCCESS OF LARGE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

PUBLIC PROJECTS IN ETHIOPIA

(Research proposal)

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Contents
CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................................................................ 1
I. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background of the study............................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Statement of the problem...........................................................................................................................................2
1.3 Research Questions.....................................................................................................................................................5
1.4 Objectives of the Research.........................................................................................................................................6
1.4.1 General Objective..................................................................................................................................................6
1.4.2 Specific Objectives.................................................................................................................................................6
1.5 Scope of the Research.................................................................................................................................................6
1.6 Limitations and expected challenges of the study.....................................................................................................7
1.7 Significance of the Study............................................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER THREE....................................................................................................................................................................... 8
2 Literature review.................................................................................................................................................................. 8
2.1 Conceptualizing projects, project management and project leadership.................................................................8
2.1.1 Projects................................................................................................................................................................... 8
2.1.2 Project management..............................................................................................................................................9
2.1.3 Project success........................................................................................................................................................9
2.1.4 Project leadership................................................................................................................................................12
2.1.5 Principles of effective project Leadership..........................................................................................................14
2.1.6 Project Leadership competencies for project success........................................................................................18
2.1.7 Leadership Styles and project success................................................................................................................22
2.2 Public project management in Ethiopia..................................................................................................................22
2.3 Conceptual frame work............................................................................................................................................24
Chapter three............................................................................................................................................................................... 26
3 Research Methodology.......................................................................................................................................................26
3.1 Research design and methods..................................................................................................................................26
3.2 Target population.....................................................................................................................................................26
3.3 Sampling Method and Sample size..........................................................................................................................27
3.4 Data Collection Method and Instruments...............................................................................................................29
3.5 Validity and Reliability instruments........................................................................................................................30
3.5.1 Validity................................................................................................................................................................. 30
3.5.2 Reliability.............................................................................................................................................................. 30
3.6 Method of Data Analysis..........................................................................................................................................30
3.7 Ethical Consideration...............................................................................................................................................31
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................................................. 32

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 CHAPTER ONE
I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Projects are increasingly on the rise, in size, in complexity and variety across the developed and
developing world. According to, Flyvbjerg et al., (2003), ‘Now a days, wherever we go in the
world, we are confronted with a new political and physical animal: the multibillion-dollar mega
infrastructure project; and it seems as if every country, and pair of neighbouring countries, is in
the business of promoting this new animal, the megaproject, on its policy-making scene
(Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). Megaprojects are growing constantly larger, and also being built in ever
greater numbers at ever greater value. Flyvbjerg (2017), argues that size of several contemporary
megaprojects being built as exceeding the gross domestic product (GDP) of many nations.
Projects particularly Megaprojects transform landscapes rapidly, intentionally, and profoundly in
very visible ways, and require coordinated applications of capital and state power (Gellert and
Lynch, 2003). Some of these megaprojects become landmarks for a country and bring significant
prosperity, but some become unforgettable catastrophes (Youcef et al, 2013). Most of them take
many years to develop and build, involve multiple public and private stakeholders, are
transformational, and impact millions of people (Flyvbjerg, 2014).

The McKinsey Global Institute cited in Flyvbjerg, (2017) estimates global infrastructure
spending at $3.4 trillion per year for 2013 to 2030, or approximately 4 percent of total global
gross domestic product, mainly delivered as large‐scale projects. Thomas (2016), on the other
hand predicts that, megaprojects are expected to increase rapidly to 24% of the global GDP in
the coming ten years. There are several reasons for the recent years have seen a surge of public
investments on public projects. According to Mark and Shakira, (2016), interest in the ways that
governments select, implement and manage their public investments has arisen in response to,
first there has been a renewed focus in fiscal policy debates on the role of public capital
investment in supporting growth; and second, there is a recognition that past episodes of public
investment have resulted in large amounts of money being wasted all over the world. According
to Söderlund et al, (2017) acceleration in megaprojects can be gleaned from the projections of
infrastructure to meet the world’s ever-increasing needs for economic growth and improvements.
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According to World Bank report on Infrastructure (2020), globally 840 million people live more
than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 1 billion people lack electricity, and 4 billion people
lack Internet access.

Despite their rapid growth and importance, mega-projects have a reputation for disappointing
performance frequently suffering from schedule and cost overruns (Lundrigan, et al, 2014); The
capital and future maintenance costs are disproportional to the usefulness of the infrastructure
asset in use, and thus that megaprojects frequently create ‘white elephants’ (Flyvbjerg et al.
2003); A fewer number turn out to be destroyers of shareholder wealth; and a few are horrendous
with respect to anything and everything involved the investing companies, the local population
and the environment (Merrow, 2011).

Ethiopia envisions to reach lower-middle-income status by 2025. To that end Ethiopia has been
planned and implemented consequentive medium-term development plans, and the strategic
objectives of macroeconomic policies. These includes: the Sustainable Development and Poverty
Reduction Program (SDPRP) from 2002/03 to 2004/05, the Plan for Accelerated and Sustained
Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) from 2005/06 to 2009/10, the First Growth and
Transformation Plan (GTPI) from 2010/11 to 2014/15 and the second Growth, Transformation
Plan (GTPII) from 2015/16 to 2020/21 the ongoing new Ten-Year prosperity Plan from 2020/21-
2029/30. These national development plans has been implemented using large public investment
projects. Accordingly, during these development plan periods, the country has been
implementing different type of extraordinary major public investment projects. These include the
construction of several new universities, thousands of kilometers of road construction projects,
water supply projects, extensive housing development projects, large and medium hydropower
projects (including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam), rail network, irrigation, aviation, and
logistics health sector development projects, large industrial zones and others (MoFED, 2006;
MoFED 2010, NPC, 2016, PDC, 2020). These heavy investments projects have helped Ethiopia
to unleash the country’s potential both economically and as a major manufacturing hub in Africa
(Seid, 2019).

1.2 Statement of the problem

Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has invested heavily in public infrastructure projects in,
agriculture, education, health, disaster risk management and safety nets. These investments

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have led to significant progress in economic and social development including increased life
expectancy, reductions in income poverty and malnutrition, increased school enrolments and
expanded access to health services, fresh water and improved sanitation (WFP, 2020). Now a
days, with rapidly growing population (more than 112 million people 2019 estimate), Ethiopia is
one of the fastest growing economy in Africa. According to World Bank (2020), Ethiopia’s
economy experienced strong, broad-based growth averaging 9.8% a year from 2008/09 to
2018/19, and 9% in 2018/19; with a per capita income of $850. The report also reveals that, this
higher economic growth brought with it positive trends in poverty reduction in both urban and
rural areas; where the share of the population living below the national poverty line decreased
from 30% in 2011 to 24% in 2016.

Despite these considerable achievements, yet Ethiopia needs a significant increase in its public
infrastructure. To address its infrastructure deficit over the GTPI and GTPII periods Ethiopia
required a sustained annual expenditure of $5.1 billion, which represents 40 percent of the
country's GDP and requires a tripling of the $1.3 billion spending annually in the mid-2000s
(Vivien and Elvira 2013; Mario, 2015). In recent years Ethiopia is spending more than 15
percent of its GDP on the public Investment infrastructure projects annually (Seid, 2019).
Similarly as indicated by IMF (2019), Ethiopia saw a massive increase in public investment from
around 5% of GDP in the early 1990s to 11% in 2010 and 16% by 2016.

On the other hand public investment projects are in Ethiopia are criticized being too costly,
unsuccessful, and not benefiting the public; so that their relevance and sustainability is in
question (Asmamaw et al, 2012). A report on Ethiopia Public Investment Management
Diagnostic by Ethiopian Investment Advisory Facility (EIAF) (2017) indicates that, Public
projects in Ethiopia are regularly incurs cost and time over-runs. Between 2011/2012-
2015/2016, of the top 60 large projects funded by federal government, nearly 70% of large
projects spend above the originally allocated budget, with 30-50% of projects incurring a mid-
year budget increase and 20-30% of projects incurring over-budget spending. The report also
indicated that, in total, project budget over-runs for the top 60 federally funded projects alone
cost GoE 9 billion ETB (~$400M USD) in 2015/2016.

The diagnostic results of Ethiopian Investment Advisory Facility (EIAF) (2017 P: 15-20) also
confirmed by National Planning and Development Commission (PDC) (2018) revealed project

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management deficiencies at different stages of project management in Ethiopia. Accordingly at
1) Project selection suffers from: Non-rigorous selection for large and small projects, Lack of
standardized project appraisal or feasibility study requirements, Lack of Independent project
approval body, Low quality technical design and Insufficient cooperation between agencies. 2)
Project delivery suffers from: Wide variation in contract management skills between sectors,
Lack of experience in contractor bidding processes and Contracting requirements are unclear and
too stringent. 3) Making the most of existing infrastructure suffers from: Insufficient tariffs to re-
pay loans, Sub-optimal maintenance of existing infrastructure and Project monitoring is not
centralized or used to inform decisions. 4) Robust funding and finance framework suffers from:
Budget allocated on program level, misaligned with project needs, foreign currency shortage
contributing to funding limitations, insufficient project monitoring, Lack of smooth donor
preparation and communication process and Lack of legal framework and experience to support
private infrastructure investors. 5) Strong governance and capabilities suffers from: Shortage of
technical design capabilities, Shortage of skilled labor for project execution, Organization
structure misaligned to project management needs, Lack of performance culture and High
regulatory and process barriers to start-up of private infrastructure companies.

Tekalign (2014) cited in Alemu (2016), argues that, projects have been either delayed, have had
cost overruns, poor in quality, poor user satisfaction or did not meet the initial objectives.
Furthermore, in Ethiopia, public investment projects have led to widening current-account
deficits that is also rising heavy external debt levels (Jan-Pieter, 2018). Poor project execution is
one of the major headwinds of the growing macroeconomic imbalances of Ethiopian economy
(OPM, 2019).

Like any other developing country huge public projects are becoming important in Ethiopia;
however, their performance is poor. This is a practical gap that necessitates scientific research on
how public projects are managed, what constrains the performance of public project
management, and how to improve the public project management in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian
Investment Advisory Facility (EIAF) (2017), points that Ethiopia has the potential to save $1B
of public investment funds per year, equivalent to ~2% of annual GDP, by improving public
project management. Hence how to improve it is important questions that academic and think
tanks shall conduct extensive scientific investigations. According Söderlund et al, (2017) if we

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agree that megaprojects are important and that their performance is poor, then scholars and
practitioners have a joint responsibility for improving their performance. Given the under-
performance of public projects across the globe, and Lenfle & Loch, (2017) argues that more
empirical studies need to be conducted focusing and refocusing on tools and techniques to better
cope with the challenges of contemporary megaprojects management.

Globally, there is a growing body of literature on ‘public investment management’ in response to

the inadequate project management and aims to generate knowledge on how to improve
performance of project managements. However, these literatures focus on the specific
institutional capabilities that might be required to deliver efficient investments (Mark and
Shakira, 2016); and also most of the existing studies on megaprojects cover the characteristics of
mega projects (Youcef et al, 2013). Similarly, though both the private sector and the government
of Ethiopia are increasingly investing on mega-projects, adequate scientific research has not been
done so far on the practice and challenges of public mega-projects in Ethiopia. The existing few
scientific researches are either literature reviews (i.e. NPC, 2018); some are case studies of
public projects, particularly on construction industry (i.e Alemu, 2016; Ephrem et al, 2016;
Asmamaw et al, 2012; Tadesse et al, 2016; Tesfaye, 2016; Bahiru et al, 2017). On top of these
gaps these studies emphasizes on efficiency and effectiveness of federal public projects and
somehow with issues of public project management.

Nowadays project leadership is becoming more important to the field of project management
environment as projects generate change and characteristics can differ from one project to the
next (Krahn, & Hartment, 2006). Juli (2011), argues that without project leadership there is no
direction in project management; Leadership is the decisive factor for improving the chances for
projects to succeed. Consequently, effective project management needs to have a solid
foundation based in project leadership. Without leadership, chances are that project will be “just
another project.” Leadership is considered a critical success factor for projects and it is
argued that there is a greater need for leadership rather than management (Turner and Muller,
2005; Krahn, & Hartment, 2006; Prabhakar, 2005). Given its importance for project success
empirical researches are increasingly giving attention of researchers to discuss dealt with the
issue (Turner and Muller, 2005, Turner and Muller, 2010; Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008).
However, much of the research on project success is based in the private sector and has a western

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orientation (Khan et al., 2013). Moreover in the case of Ethiopia, empirical study has
emphasizing less on public project leadership and its relation with project success.

Thus, this study attempts to fill these gaps, by empirically assessing the competence of
leadership and leadership styles of public project leaders and their relationship with success of
public projects in Ethiopia; focusing on selected sectoral large public projects of the federal
government.

1.3 Research Questions

The main research questions of this study are as follows;-

I. What is the level of leadership competence of public project leaders in Ethiopia?

II. What is the relationship between project leadership competence and project
performance?
III. What is the relationship between project leadership styles and project performance?
IV. What are the major challenges of leading public projects in Ethiopia?

1.4 Objectives of the Research

1.4.1 General Objective

The general objective of the thesis is to investigate the practice and challenges of public project
leadership in Ethiopia.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

I. To describe the level of project leadership competence of public project leaders in
Ethiopia.
II. To examine the relationship between project leadership competence and project
success in Ethiopia.
III. To examine the relationship between project managers leadership style and
project success in Ethiopia.
IV. To identify major challenges of leading public projects in Ethiopia.

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 1.5 Scope of the Research

This study mainly focuses on the public project leadership and project success in Ethiopia.
Public Projects in this study refer to government and/or public private partnership interventions
through infrastructure, social services and productive sectors development and/or rehabilitation
and renovations of existing public projects. In this regard the study addresses federal executive
organizations (Ministries, Bureaus, Agencies, and Authorities) and State owned enterprises
projects financed from the Federal government’s annual budget; from treasury, external loan and
grant, or through Public Private Partnerships.

Though, public project in Ethiopia, be classified as: Large Projects (Projects with a total
investment cost of Birr 1 billion and above; Medium projects (Projects with a total investment
cost less than Birr 1 billion and above Birr 100 million birr); and Small projects (Projects with a
total investment cost below Birr 100 million). This study will be delimited to the analysis of
large projects of the federal government focusing on projects that are being implemented since
the GTPII period (post 2015).

1.6 Limitations and expected challenges of the study

The study might suffer from the following challenges

 The political dynamics surrounding infrastructure development in Ethiopia, fear failure

and subjectivity may influence participants’ responses to interviews and surveys. Hence
it will be reduced by clarifying the objective of the research and by assuring anonymity
of respondents.
 There is no objective criteria to measure leadership and project success, hence the survey
results may not accurately capture the reality on the ground. This challenge will be
reduced by using standardized measures/survey questionnaires whose reliability and
validity have been tested in prior researches.
 The study will be delimited to federal government large public projects hence the result
of the study lacks to generalize to the regional governments reality and to small and
medium projects both at federal and regional government levels.
 The study will be delimited to the leadership aspect of project success and lacks to
include other project success factors.

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 1.7 Significance of the Study

The study will be significant for:

 to the government of Ethiopia

 To the existing body of knowledge
 To practitioners projects.

CHAPTER THREE

2 Literature review
2.1 Conceptualizing projects, project management and project leadership
2.1.1 Projects

Project Management Institute (PMI) offers the following definition of a project:

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or

result. The temporary nature of projects indicates a definite beginning and end. The end
is reached when the project’s objectives have been achieved or when the project is
terminated because its objectives will not or cannot be met, or when the need for the
project no longer exists. (Project Management Institute, 2008, p: 5)

Project can also be defined as: a set of activities directed toward commonly agreed-upon
objectives to be accomplished in a certain time frame which is not endless. The direction of a
project is given by its objectives. According to Thomas (2011) what all common definitions of a

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project have in common are that a project is a unique endeavor, framed by a given time frame
defined by a set start and end date.

The environment within which the project manager works is impacted by the type of project
being managed, or the characteristics of the project as well as the business environment, team
characteristics, and other factors (Krahn, J. & Hartment, F. (2006).

According to Thomas (2011) projects are characterized by:

 Projects have Vision, goals, and objectives: They want to achieve something in a given
time frame.
 A project is usually run by a team of people who serve in different roles: they always
exist in a social environment which involves people (project team and people outside the
project may have an interest in and influence on the project), communication, and
collaboration.
 Projects always exist in a social and organizational environment that can be complex and
interdependent.

2.1.2 Project management

Project management is the activity that helps initiate, plan, conduct, monitor, control, and close a
project. It encompasses knowledge areas such as scope, time, cost, quality, risk, procurement
management, and basic management skills (Thomas, 2011).

Project management is the process by which projects are defined, planned, monitored, controlled
and delivered such that the agreed benefits are realized (Kernzer, 2009). It is also the application
of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements
(Caliste, 2012). The key activities of project management: project initiation, project planning,
project execution, project monitoring and controlling, and, last but not least, project closure
(Thomas, 2011).

2.1.3 Project success

It is argued that, without successful project identification, preparation and implementation,

development plans are no more than wishes and developing nations would remain stagnant or

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regress (Rondinelli, 1976). Efficiency and success of project management therefore relate to the
ability of the processes to deliver the project within the stated time, budget, and quality
requirements (Bjeirmi & Munns, 1996).

Project success is an important project management issue, it is one of the most frequently
discussed topics and there is a lack of agreement concerning the criteria by which success is
judged (Crawford, 2002). In this regard Baccarini (1999) distinguished between the two distinct
components of project success: Project management success and projects (Product) success. He
indicated that, Project management success focuses upon the project process and, in particular,
the successful accomplishment of cost, time, and quality objectives; it also considers the manner
in which the project management process was conducted. Whereas, Product/project success,
deals with the effects of the project's final product. According to Cooke-Davies (2002), project
success is measured against the overall objectives of the project while project management
success is measured mostly against cost, time and quality.

Traditionally, project success was measures by ‘iron triangle’ which includes time, cost and
quality. Over time this view has developed further to include soft factors such as the satisfying of
stakeholder interests and the strategic aspects of the client (Albert et al., 2017). Collins &
Baccarini (2004), argue that time, cost and quality are not merely project success criteria and that
there is an urgent need to educate project managers to consider criteria other than these three.
According to (Görög, 2003); appropriate project success criteria should evaluate the project
completion (efficiency) and the project result (effectiveness) containing the following criteria.
Blaskovics (2016), indicates that, due to the increased complexity of project and project
management, project success also became a complex phenomenon, which may be considered
both from input and output oriented perspective.

According to Judgev and Müller (2005), appropriate project success criteria, two important
factors should be considered. These are:

I. Holism: the evaluation model should contain every relevant criterion, against which, a
project success can be properly measured.
II. Realism: the model should not divert the actual outcome, i.e. a model should not classify
a successful project as unsuccessful and vice versa.

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Mu¨ller and Turner (2007) identified project Success criteria including:

 End-user satisfaction with the project’s product or service

 Suppliers’ satisfaction
 Project team’s satisfaction
 Other stakeholders’ satisfaction
 Meeting project’s overall performance (functionality, budget and timing)
 Meeting user requirements
 Meeting the project’s purpose
 Client satisfaction with the project results
 Reoccurring business with the client
 Meeting the respondent’s self-defined success factor

Given its debatable nature, PMI (2013) suggests that, project success criteria should be
established at the very beginning of the project or before starting a new phase of the project.
According to PMI, Doing so can improve deliverable acceptance, customer and stakeholder
satisfaction. In this regard Muller & Turner (2007), argues, defining and agreeing upon project
success criteria to make project success measurable is a way to overcome the subjective
interpretation of project success.

Recently Khan et al. (2013), who extensively analyzed recent literature on project success
criteria, developed model for measuring success. Their model measures 25 success criteria
variables organized in the five dimensions of project success. These includes:

 Project efficiency,( success criteria include: Finished on time, Finished within

budget, Minimum number of agreed scope changes, Activities carried out as
scheduled, Met planned quality standard, Complied with environmental regulations,
Met safety standards and Cost effectiveness of work)
 Organizational benefits (success criteria include: Learned from project, Adhered to
defined procedures, End product used as planned, The project satisfies the needs of
users and New understanding/Knowledge gained)

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  Project impact, (success criteria include: Project’s impacts on beneficiaries are
visible, Project achieved its purpose, End-user satisfaction and Project has good
reputation)
 Stakeholder satisfaction, (success criteria include: Enabling of other project work in
future, Motivated for future projects, Improvement in organizational capability and
Resources mobilized and used as planned)
 Future potential (success criteria include: Sponsor satisfaction, steering group
satisfaction, met client's requirement and met organizational objectives).

The National Planning Commission of Ethiopia, in its Instructions for Stages of Public Project
Development and Implementation: Guideline 6 (2018) instructs that assessment of Project
Performance consists: Strategic performance and Social welfare performance. Accordingly

1. Strategic Performance: measured in terms of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness,

impact and sustainability.
 Relevance: concerns the consistency of a project with national economic and
social development priorities and its alignment with the needs of key
stakeholders. It examine the extent to which the choice of the project lines up with
strategic priorities as expressed through approved national development strategies
and plans. It also look at how well the project meets the needs and priorities of the
owners, intended users and other affected parties.
 Efficiency: concerns the operational success of the project. It examine the extent
to which the achieved project outputs were derived from an efficient use of
financial, human and material resources during implementation. The planned
inputs should be compared to the realized use of inputs on project completion.
 Effectiveness: concerns the tactical success of the project. It looks at whether the
intended outcomes of the project were achieved?
 Impact: concerns the strategic success of the project. It involves assessing the
achievement of the developmental impact of the project. It assess the extent to
which the achieved project outcomes have contributed to the achievement of the
intended long-term, developmental impact of the project.

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  Sustainability: concerns the long-term strategic success of the project. It involves
looking at whether the positive effects derived from the project are likely to
continue over the intended project life. Among the dimensions of sustainability to
be examined are: financial sustainability (especially long-term financing of
operations and maintenance expenses); institutional sustainability (covering both
organizational capacities and the regulatory framework); social sustainability; and
environmental sustainability.
2. Social Welfare Performance: deals with the quantified measures of the project’s social
worth. The aim is to examine whether the forecast social profitability of the project has
been achieved in practice. It involves recalculating performance indicators from social
cost-benefit analysis - economic net present value, economic internal rate of return, etc -
using actual project costs and benefits as realized, and comparing the results to the
estimates which informed the appraisal decision

2.1.4 Project leadership

The combination of project management and leadership principles yields project leadership.
Cadwell (2004) argues that management skills provide a foundation for developing leadership
skills. Cadwell adds that, Effective leaders have the ability to apply the appropriate skill at the
appropriate time and in the appropriate place.

Thomas, (2011) distinguished the difference between management and leadership as

Leaders define a direction. They take the initiative and take responsibility. At the end of
the day they are accountable for the outcome of their projects. Managers, on the other
hand, take orders, they do their job to the best of their abilities, and they are assigned to
certain roles and responsibilities. Leaders act, managers react (P: 15)

Camper (2010) argues that ‘Whereas project managers can “manage” a project by making
decisions about organization and tasks, project leaders go beyond these tasks by incorporating an
overall vision and dedication to the team. He argues that, Project leaders are more innovative,
more passionate, and better able to overcome difficulties and challenges; and they leaders need

15
to understand where the project is headed and how the project fits within the organization’s
larger goals.

leadership motivate group member for ensuring to improve project outcomes through performing
at higher level which might not happen otherwise and one of the key principal of leadership is to
turn project managers into leader by making them responsible for project outcomes (Krahn, &
Hartment, 2006).

Project management refers to the planning and organizing of project activities, through decision-
making processes that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a project. Leadership,
conversely, is about guiding others towards the attainment of project objectives, “motivating and
guiding people to realize their potential and achieve tougher and challenging organizational
goals,” (Anantatmula, 2010). Kumar, (2009) argues that Managers usually focus on
implementing and following processes, attending to the daily routine of activities, ensuring that
the team can be productive with the tools they need to perform their tasks. Whereas Leaders are
innovators who are always looking to improve ways of doing things and challenging the
processes in order to improve the team's productivity level.

Kumar (2009), distinguished that:

1. Leaders Innovate; Managers Administer: Managers usually focus on implementing

and following processes, attending to the daily routine of activities, ensuring that the
team can be productive with the tools they need to perform their tasks. Leaders are
innovators who are always looking to improve ways of doing things and challenging the
processes in order to improve the team's productivity level.
2. Leaders Seek Challenges; Managers Seek to Maintain the Status Quo: Managers are
skilled in following processes. Hence, they tend to accept the status quo and continue to
do things the way they have been done. They tend to resist deviations from the current
process, and therefore, resist new ways of doing things. Leaders tend to look for
challenges. Challenges lead to new ideas and improvements in the current processes.
3. Leaders Think Long Term; Managers Think Short–to Mid-Term: Leaders create a
vision—the future state of the organization when its strategic goals are achieved. Leaders
think long term in achieving the vision. Project managers are focused on achieving the
short-term and mid-term deliverables to accomplish the project goals, as part of achieving

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 the long-term strategic goals. This makes both effective leadership and project
management essential in achieving short-term and long-term strategic goals for any
organization.
4. Leaders Motivate and Inspire; Managers Control: Leaders motivate and inspire their
people simply in the way they work with them: in setting goals, making meaningful
contributions, recognizing their efforts, always encouraging the team to deliver the best
work that they can. Managers, in their focus on implementing processes, control their
people and the working environment, including their work assignments, schedules,
deliverables, etc. Successful project managers continuously develop leadership skills in
motivating and inspiring teams. They practice effective human resource management
processes for team development.
5. Leaders Worry about Doing the Right Things; Managers Worry about Doing
Things Right: Leaders are focused on accomplishing the vision for the organization.
Implementing the organizational strategy through projects and programs depends on the
organizational leaders making the right decisions on what things, what initiatives, should
be implemented. Once the decisions (on what initiatives to start) have been made,
managers take care of project/program delivery, ensuring that things are done right
(utilizing project management to implement the project).
6. Leaders Have a Wide Circle of Influence; Managers Have Limited Influence:
Effective leaders impact the entire organization and also people outside the organization.
Their influence extends beyond the boundaries of the organization. Project managers'
impact dominates their own projects, but they have little influence outside of their project
stakeholders.

2.1.5 Principles of effective project Leadership

Although there is an expectation for project managers to be leaders, project management and
leadership are two different things. Being a successful project manager, delivering successful
projects consistently, does not mean that one is a successful leader. Successful project managers
develop project management skills through knowledge of the standard project management
framework and through experience in utilizing best practices in implementing project
management methodologies. Successful leaders are innovative and creative individuals who

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continuously develop new skills to integrate with their current capabilities. Effective leaders
integrate leadership skills with project management skills, developing new leadership skills to
complement their project management skills (Kumar, 2009). Effective leadership as the process
of moving a group of followers in some direction through mostly non-coercive means and
producing movement in the long-term best interests of the group (Cadwell, 2004).

According to Thomas, (2011) the five leadership principles for project success are as follows:

1 Build vision: Sharing a common vision and goals and having the same understanding
about tracking the progress toward this vision is one of the key factors in the success
of a project and team.
2 Nurture collaboration: A performing team yields synergy effects; the impossible
becomes possible. This is why active team collaboration is crucial.
3 Promote performance: Planning is good and important. At the end of the day you
and your team have to perform. As a leader it is your responsibility to create an
environment that promotes performance, on both the individual and team levels.
4 Cultivate learning: As humans we all make mistakes. Effective leaders encourage
their teams to explore new avenues and to make mistakes and learn from them. An
effective leader builds in sufficient time for the team to learn, create, and innovate.
5 Ensure results: Delivering results is both a prerequisite and an outcome of effective
project leadership. Project delivery is a team effort, not an individual effort. The
effective project leader builds and guides the team to deliver results by incorporating
the first four leadership principles.

Source: Thomas, (2011), p: 19

18
According to Juli (2011), the pyramid illustrates that building vision is the most important
principle of effective leadership, the bottom line most people see or want to see is results.

...vision is at the top and results at the foundation of the pyramid. Collaboration,
performance, and learning are necessary building blocks of the pyramid. They are
framed by vision and results. Visually speaking, when you approach a pyramid from a
far distance, you first see the top. In our case, vision is at the top of the pyramid. As you
get closer, you see more of the pyramid until at last you are standing in front of the first
row of the building blocks (results). Looking upward, you may feel overwhelmed by the
size of the pyramid. It may not even be possible to see the top of the pyramid (vision).
Alas, you know that it exists. It was the first thing that you could see and what caught
your attention. It guided you all the way to the base of the pyramid. If you now want to
understand the secrets of the pyramid, you have to go inside. You have to explore the
pyramid (Juli (2011 p :).

Camper (2010), identified Fundamentals Project Leadership, which includes: project leaders
need to develop critical leadership fundamentals: vision, passion, and the ability to work through
a team.

1. Vision: A vision is simply the recognition of the true end point of a project. A project
leader without a vision is likely to wander around aimlessly, becoming distracted by
irrelevant things and working with the wrong people on the wrong problems. A
project leader needs to be able to not only see the end result or goal, but also
understand why the project is important, and why the goal must be met. A project
leader should be able to tie his or her project back to the company’s corporate
strategies and describe that vision to the entire team. With a vision, the everyday
details of a project motivating the team, making sure the project is on time, and
moving each step in the right direction become activities that the project leader does
almost unconsciously to move the project forward to completion.
2. Passion: passion is an unfailing commitment to a vision. A good project leader is
often just as passionate about the processes, people, and purpose underlying a project
as he or she is about the project itself. They love learning about and testing new
methods. They take an interest not only in individuals and their abilities, but also in

19
 the success and development of those individuals, and they do their best to
understand, communicate, and truly live the vision.
3. Working through a Team: A leader is an individual who inspires, cajoles,
encourages, threatens, cheerleads, and serves a group of people to get a specific task,
or series of tasks, done so that at the end of the project, the group can say, “We did
this project ourselves!”

Camper (2010: P 70-85) further argues that Project leaders must be able to cultivate four main
leadership skills to succeed: Achieve commitment, Embrace accountability, communicate their
message, and Focus on results.

1. Achieving Commitment: One of the most challenging tasks a leader faces is developing
the team’s commitment to the project, the finish line, and the organization as a whole. To
cultivate commitment, a leader must be able to do the following:
 Demonstrate why the team should be committed to its goals.
 Exemplify commitment to the team on a personal level.
 Work constantly toward self-improvement.
 Inspire and maintain standards of excellence.
 Help their teams develop “ownership” of the project, task, and overarching
mission.
 Develop rapport amongst members of the team
2. Embracing Accountability: Achieving commitment is only the first step. Team leaders
must also hone a sense of personal accountability in their followers. Team members must
be accountable for their actions. They must also be willing to accept responsibility for the
consequences of their actions. Leaders can help their teams embrace accountability in a
number of ways:
 Setting expectations with the team
 Varying their level of involvement with team members based on the team
members’ abilities and needs.
 Understanding the difference between discipline and punishment, and doling out
appropriate disciplinary actions at the appropriate time. Timing is essential.

20
 3. Communicating a Message: Team leaders must have a vision and the passion to move
their teams toward that common goal. They also need the skills and tools to communicate
their vision to their teams—and to hear the messages that their team has to share. One of
the best ways a project leader can communicate his or her message is by sharing stories.
Stories are a powerful way to communicate a message, to reinforce a point, or to help a
team remember critical details. Stories can also be used to convey corporate principles,
encourage positive behavior, or highlight unacceptable results.
4. Focusing on results: The final leadership skill that project leaders must hone is the
ability to focus on results and begin with the end in mind. By focusing on results, project
leaders have the ability to track their progress and identify potential obstacles or
challenges. Focusing on results creates an opportunity to discuss boundaries and
requirements and identify what a successful outcome looks like.

2.1.6 Project Leadership competencies for project success

Competence can be defined as the ability or capability that the intent appears as a set of behavior.
It is a feature that is effective concerning the criterion referenced in a job or situation and
represents a relatively long-lasting behavior and mindset in various situations (Spencer and
Spencer, 1993). According to Higgs and Rowland (2001) there are six clusters of competencies that
produce outstanding performance. These includes: cognitive intelligence competence, emotional
intelligence, self-management, social intelligence, social awareness, and relationship management.

According to Riaz (2018), Leadership competencies involved in effective management of projects

can be classified at four different levels.

1. Managing self: Project managers act as a role model for the team members who establish
an environment of honesty and provide opportunity for continuous learning. Project
managers should possess good interpersonal skills and the need to focus on developing
skills of the people involved in the project. In project environment, a leader provides
flexible environment and encourage problem solving approach. Oral and written
communication of a leader in the project should be clear, concise and convincing.
competencies at level of managing self includes:
2. Managing people: For effective management of projects, a project leader must be
competent to manage the people and involved in recruitment and selection process of

21
 team members. The selected workforce must be on the basis of need those should be able
to achieve the mission and targets of the organization. The project leader should focus on
differences and values of people at workplace in addition to appreciating constructive
criticism and listening differences of opinions. Project manager ensures the public interest
and develop the abilities of their team members.
3. Managing projects: For successful implementation of projects, project managers focus
on team building and creating an environment of trust and motivation. Project managers
employ appropriate skills and knowledge to meet the expectations of both internal and
external project stakeholders. Project managers are responsible for achieving time, cost
and quality parameters in projects. In projects, project managers have to take right and
timely decisions with consensus of all key stakeholders.
4. Managing programs: Project leader ensures effective use of technology and keep up to
date on technological advancement for achieving high results and managing fnancial
constraints. To ensure effective management of programs and achieve common goals,
project leader encourages creativity and innovation, develop strategic partnerships, and
identify internal and external politics.

Dulewicz and Higgs (2003), argues that Effective leaders exhibit certain competencies, including
traits, behaviours and styles Emotions, process, intellect Different profiles of competence better
in different situations. They further argue that certain competency profiles are appropriate in
different situations, it can define the competency profile of transformational and transactional
leaders, and it suggests emotional intelligence as one of four groups of competencies.

The competence school encompasses a full range of the earlier schools and theories. Competence
can be defined as knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics that deliver superior results
(Minjeong and Sungyong, 2020; Shumet, 2019). Competence school encompasses fifteen
competencies, clustered under three dimensions, namely emotional competence (EQ),
managerial competence (MQ), and intellectual competence (IQ) (Dulewicz and Higgs 2005;
Turner and Müller 2005; Muller et al, 2012).

The fifteen leadership competencies categorized into three key project Leadership
competencies types has summarized as follow:

22
1. Intellectual competencies (IQ): The intellectual competencies refer to intelligence,
ability of understanding the work, performing problem solving and cognitive activities
such as connecting and applying relevant concepts, systematic thinking and recognizing
patterns.

Critical It relates to collection of appropriate information from an array of resources,

analysis and investigation of facts, determining merits and demerits, concrete assessment and
judgment decision making and understanding the effects of assumptions made.
Vision and This refers to innovation and imagination of a leader who has a clear vision of future
imagination course, prioritizes work accordingly and anticipates the implications of changes on
implementation of his or her vision.
Strategic It involves a broader view of issues and their implications in which a leader
perspective investigates a broader spectrum of relationships, strikes a balance between near-term
and long-term considerations, discovers opportunities and threats, pays attention to
requirements of stakeholders and realizes the effects of external factors.

 Managerial competencies: Managerial competencies of a project manager play a crucial

role in projects and these require a project leader to be able to provide consistent
motivation to his or her team, encouraging them to attain excellence and quality in their
performance, looking for ways to improve production and standards.

Resource This relates to planning ahead, organizing the resources and coordinating
management them efficiently and effectively. Moreover, it also involves establishing
clear objectives; converting long-term goals into action plans; monitoring
and evaluating staff’s work regularly and effectively; and giving honest
feedback.
Engaging It requires a leader to be a lively and enthusiastic communicator who
communication engages others and wins support. It also includes clear communication of
instructions and vision to staff. Further, these communications are tailored
to the audience’s interests and focus. In addition, leader’s communication
style inspires staff and audiences and conveys approachability and
accessibility.
Empowering Empowering means giving the staff autonomy and encouraging them to
take on personally challenging and demanding tasks. It encourages them to
solve problems; produce innovative ideas and proposals; and develop their
broader vision. Empowering also means encouraging a critical faculty and
a broad perspective, as well as encouraging the challenging of existing
practices, assumptions and policies.
Developing It requires a leader to believe that others have potential to take on ever
more-demanding tasks and roles, encourages them to do so. Therefore, a
leader develops their competencies; invests time and effort in coaching
them so they contribute effectively and develop themselves; and identifies
new tasks and roles to develop them. The leader believes that critical

23
 feedback and challenge are important and ensures direct reports have
adequate support.
Achieving A leader must involve significant risks as opportunity to get advantage and
make decision. The core business issues and their likely impact on success
of any project or organization are considered by the leader while making
futuristic decisions. The leaders prefer to choose such activities that
contribute toward the organization and its performance. Further, a leader
shows an unwavering determination to achieve objectives and implement
decisions.

 Emotional competencies: The person’s ability to perceive, identify and manage his or
her emotions as well as understanding and regulating those of others are the basis for the
emotional competencies. A certain level of emotional intelligence is compulsory to learn
these competencies.

Self-awareness Self-awareness is about the leader’s own capability and feelings which
helps to recognize and manage activities in a way that one experience that
one can manage. It includes awareness of one’s own feelings and the
capability to recognize and manage these in a way that one feels that one
can control. Therefore, leader requires a certain level of capability of self-
belief to control one’s emotion and manage their activities to efficiently
perform in working environment.
Emotional Emotional resilience requires a leader to perform consistently in a range
resilience of situations under pressure and adapts behavior appropriately. Moreover,
he or she balances the needs of the situation and task with the needs and
concerns of the individuals involved. Further, a leader focuses on strategy
to cope with personal challenges or criticism to achieve better results.
Intuitiveness Intuitiveness is a capability of leaders to develop their decision making
and effective implementation of decisions. The decisions made by
intuitiveness leaders should be clear even though presented with
ambiguous or incomplete information.
Interpersonal Leaders with interpersonal sensitivity should be aware of the perceptions
sensitivity of others to make decisions and propose solutions. This competency
demands that a leader should be aware of others achievements and
commitments to actions or decisions. The leaders should actively listen
for their constructive inputs and criticism.
Influence The leaders encourage views of others based on understanding of their
position and stature. The leaders appreciate to listen to the perspective of
others and provide rational for change in organization.
Motivation Motivation competency pertains to having drive and energy to achieve
clear results and make an impact. It requires a leader to balance short-
and long-term goals with a capability to pursue demanding goals in the

24
 face of rejection or questioning.
Conscientiousness Leaders having conscientiousness competencies exhibit personal
commitment, ethical consideration, and solution to business issues. The
leaders encourage others to support the chosen directions and display
commitment for providing course of action to manage challenges.

2.1.7 Leadership Styles and project success

Given leadership as a major success factor projects; the various leadership styles have different
impacts on the project performance. Understanding the influence of leadership styles on
implementation is also important because leadership styles are viewed by some researchers as
one of the key driving forces for improving a project performance (Shumet, 2019).

Different leadership styles are appropriate on different types of projects or project phases.
Dulewicz & Higgs (2005) identify three different leadership styles within their model (based on
their extensive literature review):

1. Engaging Leadership. A style based on a high level of empowerment and

involvement appropriate in a highly transformational context. Such a style is
focused on producing radical change with high levels of engagement and
commitment.
2. Involving Leadership. A style that is based on a transitional organization which
faces significant but not radical changes in its business model or “modus
operandi”.
3. Goal Leadership. A style that is focused on delivering results within a relatively
stable context. This is a leader-led style aligned to a stable organization delivering
clearly understood results.

2.2 Public project management in Ethiopia

There are few previous studies that focuses on public project management in Ethiopia. Some of
these studies focused on analyzing the state of public projects in Ethiopia, while other attempt to
relate project management competency with project performance.

25
On the other hand public investment projects are in Ethiopia are criticized being too costly,
unsuccessful, and not benefiting the public; so that their relevance and sustainability is in
question (Asmamaw et al, 2012). A report on Ethiopia Public Investment Management
Diagnostic by Ethiopian Investment Advisory Facility (EIAF) (2017) indicates that, Public
projects in Ethiopia are regularly incurs cost and time over-runs. Between 2011/2012-
2015/2016, of the top 60 large projects funded by federal government, nearly 70% of large
projects spend above the originally allocated budget, with 30-50% of projects incurring a mid-
year budget increase and 20-30% of projects incurring over-budget spending. The report also
indicated that, in total, project budget over-runs for the top 60 federally funded projects alone
cost GoE 9 billion ETB (~$400M USD) in 2015/2016.

The diagnostic results of Ethiopian Investment Advisory Facility (EIAF) (2017 P: 15-20) also
confirmed by National Planning and Development Commission (PDC) (2018) revealed project
management deficiencies at different stages of project management in Ethiopia. Accordingly at
1) Project selection suffers from: Non-rigorous selection for large and small projects, Lack of
standardized project appraisal or feasibility study requirements, Lack of Independent project
approval body, Low quality technical design and Insufficient cooperation between agencies. 2)
Project delivery suffers from: Wide variation in contract management skills between sectors,
Lack of experience in contractor bidding processes and Contracting requirements are unclear and
too stringent. 3) Making the most of existing infrastructure suffers from: Insufficient tariffs to re-
pay loans, Sub-optimal maintenance of existing infrastructure and Project monitoring is not
centralized or used to inform decisions. 4) Robust funding and finance framework suffers from:
Budget allocated on program level, misaligned with project needs, foreign currency shortage
contributing to funding limitations, insufficient project monitoring, Lack of smooth donor
preparation and communication process and Lack of legal framework and experience to support
private infrastructure investors. 5) Strong governance and capabilities suffers from: Shortage of
technical design capabilities, Shortage of skilled labor for project execution, Organization
structure misaligned to project management needs, Lack of performance culture and High
regulatory and process barriers to start-up of private infrastructure companies.

Tekalign (2014) cited in Alemu (2016), found that, projects have been either delayed, have had
cost overruns, poor in quality, poor user satisfaction or did not meet the initial objectives. Jan-

26
Pieter, (2018), found that, in Ethiopia, public investment projects have led to widening current-
account deficits that is also rising heavy external debt levels.

Abebaw (2016) in his case study on Addis Ababa Road construction, found that project
manager’s competencies demonstrate a positively significant relationship with certain project
success variables in the context of Ethiopian development projects. Project requirement and
objective, decision making in procurement and Information and communication among the
technical competencies; leadership and communication among behavioral competencies and
stakeholder analysis and management and power and authority among contextual competencies
appeared as significant predictor of success. Abebe (2017) in his case study on a construction
company, found that, among factors contributing to project success, one of the most important is
the effectiveness of the project manager.

2.3 Conceptual frame work

As indicated in the above literature review, project Leadership is considered a critical success
factor for projects, which implies a greater need for leadership rather than management. Firmly
standing on the idea that a projects success or failure is the result of the project leadership, the
study will mainly attempt to investigate the relationship between project success and project-
leadership competencies and leadership styles.

In this regard the following conceptual framework illustrates the central argument of the study
and the relationship between dependents and independent variables, mainly adapted from the
work of Adopted from Turner and Müller (2006).

27
 Dependent variables

project leader's
leadership styles

Project success

project leaders'
Project type
leadership
competency

Moderating variable

Adopted from Turner and Müller (2006)

The conceptual frame-work illustrates the relationship of dependent variable of the study which,
is project success with the independent variables of project leadership competence (intellectual,
emotional and managerial competence (IQ, EQ, and MQ) and project leadership styles. Project
type (which categorized as Engineering and construction, Information systems and Organization
and business (Crawford, 2001) is the moderating variable that mediates the dependents and
independent variable.

Based on the conceptual frame-work the study hypothesis the following hypothesizes:

 Hypothesis 1: The project leadership competency is positively and significantly related to

project success in Ethiopia.
 Hypothesis 2: Different leadership styles are correlated with success on different types of
project in Ethiopia.
 Hypothesis 3: The project leaders’ demographic profile is positively and significantly
related to project success in Ethiopia

28
  Hypothesis 4: The project leaders’ commitment is positively and significantly related to
project success in Ethiopia.

Chapter three
3 Research Methodology
3.1 Research design and methods

The answer the leading research questions properly, objective measures of variables, hypothesis
testing and the drawing of inferences is needed. Thus, this study opted for the positivist research
paradigm.

Descriptive and Explanatory research designs will be used in this study. Accordingly, to answer
the firs and the second Research questions descriptive research design will be used. Descriptive
studies allow fact-finding as well as information with important principles of knowledge and
solution as its major purpose is a description of the state of affairs as it exists at present (Kothari,
2004).

29
On the other hand, to properly answer the second and the third research questions, which quests
the relationship between public project success and project leadership competence and leadership
styles; the explanatory research design will be used.

3.2 Target population

In Ethiopia public projects are done both by the federal and regional governments. In this regard
large public projects are mandate of federal and regional governments. As this study is delimited
to large projects of the federal government, the target population of the study will be the public
project leaders (political leaders and public project managers) of large projects of the Federal
government of Ethiopia. These includes:

 Top level project leaders: - this consists political leaders who commands/ make the
ultimate decision over goals, policies and mission, vision and general directions of public
projects. It includes ministers and state ministers or managing directors and deputy
directors of the authority/agency.
 Middle level leaders: - who are responsible for day to day organizational and directional
functions of the selected projects. This includes directors of directorates and heads of
departments at head office/ main ministry.
 Lower-level leaders: – These are responsible for daily management of the project.
These includes project managers in different positions of the project departments, who
has a decision-making power.

3.3 Sampling Method and Sample size

To determine the appropriate representative sample size this study will employ multi-stage
sampling method. At the first stage, taking the fact that mandates large public projects at federal
government of Ethiopia, ten ministerial sectors will be purposely selected from each sampled
government units: the federal government, and regional governments. The rationale behind
selecting the ten main sectors is that, these sectors are main sectors whom most of the public
projects are mandated for. In this regard the ten sectorial bodies have been selected for the study
includes:

30
 1. Ministry of Public Enterprise (MOPE)
2. Ministry of urban Development and Construction (MoC)
3. Ministry of Science and higher education
4. Ministry of Transport (MoT)/ Ethiopian Road Authority (ERA)
5. Ministry of Agriculture / Sugar corporation
6. Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Electricity (MoWIE)
7. Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP)
8. Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC)
9. Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC)
10. Ministry of Health

At second stage three large public projects from which participants of the study drawn will be
selected purposely. Sample Projects will be selected for study considering taking their relative
success of projects that can be categorized as unsuccessful, partially successful and successful.
These categorizations will be done in consultation with responsible ministry or authority. The
categorization of these projects will only serve for selecting sample projects not analysis of the
study. Accordingly, 30 large public projects selected for this study.

At the third stage, study participants that constitute top level, middle level and lower-level
project leaders will be chosen using census sampling. The rationale behind the decision to use
census is that project leaders in each selected project is lower than 100 and is manageable to
collect data from each leader. Accordingly, an estimated 600 sampled respondents (20 leaders
from each projects) will be selected to take part in the study.

The following table illustrates the selected government organs and sectors and number of
participants of the study.

Table 1: sample frame and sample size

no Selected ministry Selected projects No of

participants
unsuccessfu Partly Successf
(avg.)
l successful ul

31
 1. Ministry of Public Enterprise Zzz zzzz zzzz 20*3*=60
(MOPE)
zzzz zzz 20*3*=60
2. Ministry urban Development zzzz
and Construction (MoC)
20*3*=60
3. Ministry of Transport (MoT)/ zzz zzzz zzzz
Ethiopian Road Authority
(ERA)
20*3*=60
4. Ministry of Agriculture / Sugar zzz zzzz zzzz
corporation
20*3*=60
5. Ministry of Health zzz zzzz zzzz
20*3*=60
6. Ministry of Science and higher zzz zzzz zzzz
education
20*3*=60
7. Ministry of Water, Irrigation, zzz zzzz zzzz
and Electricity (MoWIE)
20*3*=60
8. Ethiopian Railway zzz zzzz zzzz
Corporation (ERC)
20*3*=60
9. Ethiopian Railway zzz zzzz zzzz
Corporation (ERC)
20*3*=60
10. Industrial Park Development zzz zzzz zzzz
Corporation (IPDC)
10 10
Total 10 60*10=600

3.4 Data Collection Method and Instruments

3.4.1 Survey Questionnaires

32
This study attempts to examine the leadership competence of public project leaders; to examine
the relationship between public project success and project leadership competency and
leadership styles. To these ends or, the required primary data (the constructs of leadership and
project success) will be collected using the widely accepted standard questionnaires called
Leadership Development Questionnaire (LDQ) and five dimensions project success criteria
scales developed by Khan et al. (2013). Leadership Development Questionnaire (LDQ) is
assessment tool for the competency of project leadership is frequently used in recent studies on
leadership in project management (Mu¨ller and Turner, 2009). LDQ is developed by Dulewicz
and Higgs (2005) after an extensive review of existing theories and their assessment tools. LDQ
comprises 15 leadership competency dimensions, clustered under three competences of
intellectual (IQ), emotional (EQ) and managerial (MQ). In this study LDQ will be used to assess
the respondents’ leadership project leadership competence, leadership style. further, the LDQ has
the advantages of: Identifying the style of the respondent, Identifying the context in which the
leader works, Establishing the match between style and context, establishing current
performance and Establishing current follower commitment. LDQ helps us to relate profiles of
the scores across the following 15 dimensions to three different leadership styles and their
relevance to the degree of organizational volatility.

On the other hand, the project success dimensions developed by Khan et al. (2013), has five
dimensions (project efficiency, organizational benefits, project impact, stakeholder satisfaction,
and future potential) and covers short- and long-term implications of project success.
Furthermore, this five-dimension success criteria are suitable for measuring the public sector of a
developing country (Khan et al, 2013; Joslin and Müller, 2014).

3.5 Validity and Reliability instruments

3.5.1 Validity

The study will utilize standardized survey questionnaires which are already tested and applied in
prior researches. To assure if the questionnaires will capture the context of Ethiopia and to

33
examine the instrument for the content validity and ethicality, academic and project management
experts will give comments prior to the data collection.

3.5.2 Reliability

To determine the reliability of the questionnaires, pilot tests will be conducted on selected
project stuffs. Then the reliability of the instrument to be checked by using the coefficients of
Cranbach‘s alpha (1951). Cronbach's alpha is a coefficient that is used to measure reliability or
internal consistency of items. It measures how closely the items are related to each other, and
how free they are from bias. The value of Cronbach ‘s Alpha ranges from 0 to 1. If the alpha
value is 0.7 (70%) or higher it is highly preferred (Hair et al. 2006).

3.6 Method of Data Analysis

The process of data analysis involved several stages namely data clean up and explanation.
Completed questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. The data was then
coded and checked for any error and omission (Kothari, 2004). Both descriptive and inferential
statistics were used.

The study will employ the Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique to test the proposed
relationships between the independent leadership variables and the dependent project success
variables. According to Babin & Svensson, (2012) multivariate technique that considers and
estimates the linear and causal relationships between multiple exogenous (independent), and
endogenous (dependent) constructs through simultaneous, multiple equation processes. Given
the multivariate data analysis of Structural equation modeling (SEM) important statistical
analysis like: data is normally distributed, it adheres to homoscedasticity, linearity and
multicollinearity, will be taken into consideration during analysis. Prior to SEM estimation,
exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (to determine the structural relations among the set of
observed variables and to confirm if the data can be used for factor analysis); and confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) (to identify the correlations estimates and the loadings of variables onto
constructs) will be conducted. Moreover all appropriate Model Fit Analysis will be conducted using
appropriate statistical tool.

3.7 Ethical Consideration

The study will strictly follow ethical principles of scientific research processes. These includes:

34
  The objectives and the significance of the study will be explained to the participants;
 The data will be collected with the full consent of the participants;
 The Anonymity of respondents will be respected. The names of the respondents will not
be disclosed; hence confidentiality of data will be respected.
 the study will utilize proper citation,

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ሀሳብ

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