PROJECT MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP SKILLS AND THE

EXECUTION OF IT PROJECTS IN THE BUEA MUNICIPALITY

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Project management leadership is a process by which a project manager can direct, guide,

and influence the behavior and work of the project team towards accomplishing the project

objectives (Burke & Baron, 2014). So for every IT project to be successfully executed the

project manager has a key role to play as he has to guide and influence the team members.

The idea of effective IT project management has been discussed by academicians and

practitioners since 1978 (Alter & Ginzberg, 1978) as they say that considerable hopes in

improving the performance in software development have been placed in techniques and

guidelines that identify, analyze and tackle software risks by the project managers skills.

Software risks are incidents that endanger a successful development process leading to

wrong or inadequate software operation, software rework, implementation difficulty, delay

or uncertainty (Boehm, 1991).

For a project manager to successfully lead an IT project he needs a good combination of

hard and soft skills, he needs to have technical skills or competence in order to be able to

solve a problem that may be facing his team and that will also enable him to be able to solve

a problem that may be facing his team and that will also enable him to be able to delegate

task as he will know what functions in the project that various team members are most

capable of doing (Atkinson, 1999). Information technology project management is a topic

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that has greatly been contemplated on (Delone & McLean 1992: Jetu & Riedl 2012).

Regardless of the fact that there has been a lot of attention given to this theme, the failure of

Information technology projects continues to trouble executives and organizations (Sumner

et al. 2006). From 2003 to 2012, in large software projects 52% were over budget, late and

or had unsatisfactory implementation; 42% were either cancelled prior to completion or not

used after being implemented, and only 6% were implemented and deemed successful,

implemented on time, within budget and had satisfactory results (The Standish Group, 2014)

Project failure is a shockingly common outcome for Information technology projects as of

yet there has been no measurable improvements with regards to successful execution of IT

projects. A study carried out by the Standish Group (2013) comes out with the findings that

43% of IT projects that were carried out were failures and recommends that leaders ought to

be more competent or skillful to be able to improve on their projects execution, Leadership

plays a key role in regards to influencing project success, hence the project leaders ought to

lead their teams in incorporating various project management methodologies to in order that

they oversee successful project planning and implementation.

Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of Asia have carried out extensive studies on the issue of

contempt as to how aspects of leadership has had an effect on information technology

projects as Kiioh (2015) has established the influence of leadership on performance of

Information Technology projects at Fintech Kenya, and the study sought to find out what

significant relationship exist between project management leadership aspects and

performance of IT projects. And brought out a good number of leadership aspects that are

relevant for every leader to possess if they want to be successful in implementing IT

projects. Karuiki (2014) carried a study on the influence of leadership skills on the success

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of IT projects within the banking sector in Kenya. And he was able to establish on the fact

that the skills set that a leader possesses are very instrumental to the success rate of IT

projects for banking institutions as without those skills they cannot succeed with their

projects.

Lategan (2015) carried out a research to assess the impact of leadership styles on project

success in telecommunication companies in South Africa and from his study he established

that for projects to be successful the leader should be able to use a wide range of methods

whilst he draws on political and interpersonal skills, they ought to be innovative, have

respect for team members and make efforts beyond their ability in order for an organization

to be effective in executing their projects. Roque & Carvalho (2013) carried out a study to

investigate the impact of project risk assessment on the performance of IT projects in

Brazilian IT firms and from his research he was able to establish that risk assessment has a

significant impact on the success of their projects. This moreover did not indicate whether

portfolio project risk management influence the execution of projects on time and within the

given budget and due to the high failure rates of that are linked with projects, and a Chinese

researcher highlighted that, it is of necessity for organizations to improve on their ability to

manage the risks so that projects can be delivered successfully (Han & Huang, 2007).

To show that IT is big and influential in the city of Buea it has been captioned with the name

‘’Silicon Mountain’’ with IT professionals increasing by the days and carrying out complex

and demanding projects that are required of them. Recently BBC said that Buea is on the

way of being Africa’s next tech hub (Afro Vision Group, 2019, para 1). Further IT firms are

being created rampantly all to which they seek to carry out IT projects like the building of

websites, software developing, updating already installed software’s of enterprises. Afro

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Vision Group is a market leading IT outsourcing company in Buea offshoring world class IT

solutions and support services to small, medium and large scale enterprises worldwide and

they have grown despite all odds to an incredible height of excellence in engineering and

customer support (Afro Vision Group, 2020, para 3).

Putting into account the case of Makonjo Media one of the top IT medium enterprises in

Buea we did carry out a survey with them to know how instrumental the skill set of a project

manager is having an impact on the success of a project manager and they were able to give

us information about the issue of contempt that for any project to be successfully executed

the project manager has to be very skillful and not only possess leadership traits but also he

needs to have absolute knowledge and mastery in the domain of information technology

because most often IT projects fail due to the fact that the administrators are not very well

versed with the software developing knowledge and how to apply it as most often the project

team members are stocked when they are implementing a project and they need the

assistance of the leader to solve the problem, and often workers can be in disagreement as to

who is to carry out a task and if the leader is not good at task delegating he won’t know who

to appoint to carry out the task, and they further brought out that for a leader to be good in

software development he needs to have passion for the field and that makes him stand out.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In the field of information technology there are particular products and services that IT

companies or firms provide. Medium Enterprise project in the telecommunication industry

have grown significantly mostly depending on the successful delivery of Information

Systems (IS) services. And medium enterprises information systems project failures are

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common (Wenk, 2005) despite with the continuous advancement in technology in our world

of today. According to a survey (Bonnie, 2015) carried out in 2015 says only 64% of all

projects succeeded in meeting their original goals or business objective, and this as a result

of the fact that the leadership skills needed for the implementation of projects successfully

was lacking. After carrying out a pilot study with 10 IT firms we discovered that 3 out of 5

projects were successfully executed, 3 thereby stating that 40% of all projects carried out by

the medium enterprises failed the findings ties with what the survey postulates, despite them

increasing their investments in the enterprises so as to improve on their execution rate, so

this is in line with what we have seen in the field and that to us is a problem that Information

Technology project managers are facing.

The Standish Group International (2009) indicated that 44 percent of software projects for

medium enterprises were unable to be delivered on schedule, within budget, or with the

required functions, and that 24 percent of all software projects were cancelled hence 68

percent of the ICT medium enterprises projects have failed to achieve their target functions,

this can be largely attributed to the limited ability of the project leaders on how to

appropriate aspects of leadership which includes hard and soft skills. Still in line with the

pilot study the researcher confirms these findings to be true and are being faced by medium

enterprises in Buea.

This can be attributed to be a limitation by project leaders on how to properly appropriate

the hard and soft skills to influence the execution of their projects. With the advancement in

technology in this 21st century that has brought more sophisticated equipment’s one can see

it as a paradox with yet all these there still has not been an increase with the successful

execution of IT projects. The study seeks to find out what seems to be the challenges with

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the successful execution of projects by IT enterprises and how the project management

leadership skills has an influence on it.

1.3 Research Questions

i. To what extent does experience in IT influence the execution of Information

Technology Projects in the Buea Municipality?

ii. To what extent does task familiarity influence the execution of Information

Technology projects in the Buea?

iii. What is the influence of problem solving ability on the execution of Information

Technology projects in the Buea?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the study is to determine the influence of Project Management

Leadership skills on the execution of Information Technology projects in the Buea

municipality. Specific objectives include:

i. To determine the extent to which experience in IT influence the execution of

Information Technology projects in the Buea municipality

ii. To establish the influence of task familiarity on the execution of Information

Technology Projects in the Buea municipality

iii. To ascertain the influence of problem solving ability on the execution of Information

Technology projects in the Buea

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1.6 Hypothesis of the Study

H01: Experience in IT has no significant influence on the execution of IT projects in Buea

Municipality.

H02: Task familiarity has no significant influence on the execution of IT projects in Buea

Municipality.

H03: Problem solving ability has no significant influence on the execution of IT projects in

Buea Municipality.

1.7 Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will be of great importance to Information Technology project

managers that and those who are involved in IT as a whole, as they will have more profound

knowledge on how leadership skills will influence the successful execution of Information

Technology projects. As this research will be able to let them know what type of leadership

skills they are to have in order to be successful in implementing their projects and how they

will be able to improve on their ability to execute their projects.

It will also be of importance to the enterprises from which we shall collect data from as it

will help them to know what skills the leaders have to possess for their project to be

executed. As some of them might not know on what leadership skills they are to develop as

they might be focusing on their technical knowledge and ability not knowing that they also

need a perfect blend of skills that will be key for them to improve on their success.

Furthermore, they shall have access to analyzed data and from there they will be able to

know where they went wrong and what caused their projects to fail.

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This research will also provide a lot of educational knowledge to the society since every

member of society is involved in IT one way or the other. And it will be some sort of an

additional knowledge because they are the end users of the services that are being provided

by the IT sector and they don’t have a clear knowledge of what goes on as far as the

developing of these services or products are concerned, the challenges they face, the skills

that the IT personnel’s are supposed to have so that those aspiring to become IT project

leaders will begin to develop themselves for future leadership roles.

Future scholars and researchers that will carry out studies in this domain are going to gain

from this study because it will serve as a basis for prospective research’s that will be carried

out and provide literature material for future research. Any future researcher that will be

interested to carry out work in this domain of IT which the researcher have carried out will

find this work to be of relevance to him as it will enable him to know how to go about his

research and all the literature materials that are embodies in this work will help them to

carry out literature review.

It will add to the body of knowledge on the influence of leadership skills on the execution of

Information Technology projects as this will be an addition to other previously written

materials that relates to IT projects and Leadership the research will go in to add more flesh

or ideas to this concept as IT is a very wide field as a whole, so being able to write on how

project management leadership skills influence the execution of IT projects has significantly

contributed to the already concepts that relates to the field of study.

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1.8 Scope/Delimitations of the Study

This study focuses mainly on IT firms that are of a medium size scale with employees of 10

and above and that are formally registered entities, With Project management leaders and

team members that have been part of projects that have been carried out in by their

organization within the Buea area. The focus here is on how the leadership skills of project

managers have been instrumental in implementing an IT project. Execution will be

considered in the context of the project being completed on time, within the allocated budget

and meets to the goals and expectations of the stakeholders.

1.9 Organization of the Study

Chapter one provides background information, the problem statement, the purpose of the

study, research questions, and objectives of the study, hypotheses, significance of the study,

and scope and delimitations of the study. Chapter two provides on the conceptual

framework, empirical review, research gaps and theoretical review, Chapter three clearly

outlines the research methodology that the study will employ bringing out the area of study,

the research design, the target population, the sample size and technique, the instrument of

data collection, validity of instrument, reliability of instrument, administration of instrument,

data analysis plan and model specification.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATAURE REVIEW

2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.1.1 Project Management Skills

The best project managers are outstanding leaders. They motivate, bring people together,

and accomplish great things, they are the pillars of any organization. They are the ones that

succeed. Leadership competence is not an optional project management skill, but a key part

of being a successful and respected project manager (Retfavi, 2013). Given the importance

of thriving in a project-driven world, the people who lead projects, who turn visions into

tangible products and services stand out. But it has been proven that project managers alone

can’t carry the burden alone of creating mature organizations whose project management

capability produces a strategic advantage. In fact as the pace of change continues to increase

leaders at every level must be able to speak the language of project management (Verzuh,

2016). There are essential leadership skills which every project manager must possess, and

we shall be operationalizing them in the subsequent paragraphs.

Leadership skill is defined as an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic,

and sustained effort arising through talent, training or practice to smoothly and adaptively

carryout complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things

(technical skills), and/or people (human skills). (Zenger & Folkman, 2012). Skills can be

classified to be hard and soft, hard skills are considered to be abilities that are gotten from

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being taught and are easily quantified and nobody is born with them. Soft skills on the other

hand are subjective abilities that are more difficult to be quantified as it concerns mainly

with the way you relate and interact with people and it is more of who you are and they can

be learned. We shall be analyzing the components of these skills that are used in this study

in the subsequent paragraphs.

2.1.1.1 Experience in IT

It is important that every leader is well acquainted with the activities that are concerned with

an IT projects as due to the fact that he has been around the milieu of software projects for

quite a period of time it enables him to be able to achieve every single task with ease, and

also be able to step in to correct team members were they are wrong, and clients turn to be

more comfortable when they know that he knows what he is doing (Westerveld, 2003)

2.1.1.2 Task Familiarity

Is of the fact that his continuous doing of a process or activities should help the team to be

more efficient, as a more familiar leader should be able to identify the appropriate technical

tasks that must be completed, estimate how long the tasks will take to complete, determine

the sequence of the tasks and effectively monitor completion of the tasks. This skill is

necessary for every leader as he knows what tasks to hold importance to its completion for a

project to be done within the desired time. And what amount of time will it take for the task

to be done and place the tasks according to their precedencies and is able to monitor and

evaluate the performance of the team towards completing the tasks. (Banker et al., 1991)

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2.1.1.3 Problem Solving Ability

Is the project manager skilled at problem analysis and identification, in facilitating the

emergence of creative solutions, and in arriving at optimal solutions? When, under severe

time constraints, optimizing must give away to satisfying decision-making, can the project

manager just as effectively formulate, correct and acceptable decisions? Often the adhocracy

must quickly improvise a solution but cannot strictly ‘‘go by the book’’ and employ

established and standardized bureaucratic procedures. The willingness to take risk and

attempt innovative approaches can mean the difference between success and failure in

determining the best tradeoffs between quality, cost and time. The personal decisions you

make as a project manager have a direct impact on the success of a project and ultimately

the success of the business itself. At times, however, it is inevitable that mistakes will be

made. After all, it is impossible to make the best decisions all of the time. If and when the

wrong decision is made, an excellent leader will be able to put their hands up, be

accountable, and take responsibility rather than pointing a finger. (Einsiedel, 1983)

2.1.2 Project Execution

This is one of the processes that are involved in the project management process and it is the

dependent variable of this study. Traditionally, project execution is defined as meeting user

requirements within the budget and time specified (Atkinson 1999: Jha & Iyer 2007).

Although many authors have argued that these aspects do not represent reality. (Shenhar &

Dvir, 2007) emphasizes that project managers are supposed to pay a lot of attention to the

business environment. To them for a project to be deemed to be successfully executed: (1)

Increases efficiency (2) Brings positive impact to customers (3) Produces business success,

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(4) Prepare the organization for future endeavors and (5) Affects the project team positively

(Shenhar & Dvir 2007).

For a project to be deemed to be successfully executed there has to be a clear differentiation

between success criteria and success factors (Baccarini, 1999). Criteria are used to measure

success whilst factors facilitate the achievement of success. Project success criteria consist

of two components – product success and project management success:

Project Management Success – This focuses upon the project process and has three criteria:

Meeting time, cost and quality objectives, Quality of the project management process

Satisfy stakeholders during project management process (primarily sponsor and project

team).

For a project to be deemed as successfully executed it has to meet up with the above stated

criteria’s and all has to be met as the attaining of one or two of them does not seems to be a

genuine aspect through which we can measure the project’s success. As the project has to

meet up with the scheduled time of completion, at the same time not compromising cost and

the quality that is required of him to deliver. Product Success – This deals with the effect of

the project’s final product and has three criteria: Meeting the project owner’s strategic

organizational objectives (goal), Satisfy users’ needs (purpose), Satisfy stakeholders where

they relate to the product (primarily customer/user).

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 Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Project Management Skills

 Experience in IT
Execution of IT Projects
 Task familiarity

 Problem Solving Ability

Figure 3.1: Conceptual Framework

Source: Researcher (2021)

2.2 THEORETICAL REVIEW

2.2.1 Trait Theory of Leadership

This theory is the oldest leadership theory that states that leaders are born not made as was

instigated by Thomas Caryle in the early 1900s (he states that leadership is mainly innate,

rather than being developed through learning) Bateman & Zeithanel (1993) further

emphasized that the trait approach assumes the existence of leadership personality and that

leaders are born and not made, the theory assumes that leaders are born and due to this belief

those that possess the right qualities and traits are most suitable for leadership. And the traits

they have a solely responsible to indicate if the person will be successful as a leader or not.

The characteristics of the trait theory of leadership is based on the fact that various leaders

have their own abilities both successful and unsuccessful leaders and their skills is a

predictor of leadership effectiveness, the resulting lists of traits are then compared to those

of potential leaders to assess their likelihood of success or failures, the underlying idea

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behind the theory is that natural leaders can be nurtured to become great leaders. Some of

the common leadership traits are; Good cognitive skills and capable of using good judgment

and decisions, flexibility, creativity, charisma, emotional, intelligence, driven and motivated

to succeed, confidence, honesty and integrity. Achievement drive: high level of effort, high

levels of ambition, energy and initiative, Leadership motivation: an intense desire to lead

others to reach shared goals, Honesty and integrity: trustworthy, reliable and open,

Emotional maturity: well-adjusted does not suffer from psychological disorder.

This theory is relevant to this study in that it gives us constructive information about

leadership as from this theory we can have considerable knowledge on leadership, It can be

applied by project managers in IT enterprises, Project managers can make use of

information on this theory to assess how their relevance in their organization can be made

stronger, It can enable project managers to have an idea of their strength and weaknesses

then they can make amends on how they can improve on their leadership qualities, The

theory brings out a good number of skills that leaders need to have and the once which they

are void of they can work on developing it.

Here are some of the merits of the theory; It is a naturally pleasing theory, It is valid as a lot

of research has validated the foundation and basis of the theory, It serves as a yardstick

against which the leadership traits of an individual can be assessed, It gives a detailed

knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the leadership process. Without

withstanding it also has a good number of demerits; there is bound to be some subjective

judgment in determining who is regarded as a ‘good’ or successful leader, The list of

possible trends tends to be very long as more than 100 different traits of successful leaders

in various leadership positions have been identified. The descriptions are mere generalities,

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there is also disagreement over which traits are the most significant for an effective leader.

The model tries to relate physical traits such as; height and weight to effective leadership

whereas most of them are more of situational factors. For example, a minimum weight and

height might be necessary to perform the tasks in a military leadership position, but in

business organizations they are not necessary to be an effective leader.

There are also criticisms against this theory as it gives right to questions whether leaders are

born or made, and whether leadership is an art or science. Although they are not mutually

exclusive alternatives as leadership may be something of an art it still requires the

application of special skills and techniques. Even if there are certain inborn qualities that

make one a good leader these natural talents need encouragement and development. Another

criticism is that a person is not born with self-confidence it is developed, honesty and

integrity are a matter of personal choice, motivation to lead comes within the individual, and

the knowledge of business can be acquired, while cognitive ability has its origin partly in

genes, it still needs to be developed as none of the above stated ingredients can be acquired

overnight without hard work and dedication to develop them.

2.2.2 Goal Setting Theory

The goal-setting theory was developed by Edward Locke and Gary Latham in the year 1990.

The theory states that people who have more specific, difficult but attainable goals perform

better than those with less difficult and general goals (Locke, 1990). The Goal setting theory

states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to

higher and better task performance. Goals indicate and give direction to an employee about

what needs to be done and how much efforts are required to be put in. ‘‘ The theory states

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that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance’’. In the goal setting theory, goals

must be based on five principles in order to motivate they must have these.

The five principles are Clarity, Challenge, Commitment, Feedback, and Task complexity

which we are going to be analyzing beginning with Clarity; as it states that clear goals are

measurable and unambiguous. When a goal is clear and specific, with a definite time set for

its completion, there is less misunderstanding about what behaviors will be rewarded. So the

theory states that goals are supposed to be made clear enough so as to be easily understood

and they should avoid ambiguity when setting goals, as a goal is supposed to be direct to the

point and the time of completion ought to be given.

The next here will be the Challenge; one of the most important principle of goals is the level

of challenge. People are often motivated by achievement and they will judge a goal based on

the significance of the anticipated accomplishment. Rewards typically increase for more

difficult goals. As if you believe you will be well compensated or otherwise rewarded for

achieving a challenging goal that will boost your enthusiasm and your drive to get it done

due to the fact that there is a reward awaiting you.

Commitment: Goals must be understood and agreed upon if they are to be effective.

Employees are more likely to ‘‘buy into’’ a goal if they were part of creating that goal. The

notion of participative management rests on the idea of involving employees in setting goals

and making decisions.

Feedback: In addition to selecting the right type of goal, an effective program must also

include feedback. Feedback provides opportunities to clarify expectations, adjust goal

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difficulty, and gain recognition. It is important to provide benchmark opportunities or

targets, so individuals can determine for themselves how they are doing.

Task Complexity: The last principle in goal setting theory introduces two more requirements

for success of goals or assignments that are highly complex, take special care to ensure that

the work doesn’t become too overwhelming. Goal setting theory has certain eventualities

such as Self-Efficiency and Goal commitment. Self-Efficiency: is the individual’s self-

confidence and faith that he has potential in performing the task. The higher the level of self-

efficiency will lead to a greater effort put in by the individual when they face challenging

tasks. While the lower level of self-efficiency, lesser will be the efforts put in by the

individual or he might even quit while meeting challenges on the way.

The Goal setting theory assumes that; the individual is committed to the goal and will not

leave the goal. And the goal commitment is dependent on the following aspects:

Goals are made open, known and broadcasted, Goals should be set, Goals should be set by

individuals rather than designated individuals, Set goals should be consistent with the

organizational goals and vision

The Characteristics of the theory are:

The willingness to work towards the attainment of the goal is the main source of job

motivation. Clear, particular and difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy,

general and vague goals. Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better

performance. Unambiguous, measurable and clear goals accompanied by a deadline for

completion avoids misunderstanding. Goals should be realistic and challenging. The more

challenging the goal the greater is the reward generally and the more is the passion for

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achieving it. Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behavior and

contributes to higher performance than an absence of feedback.

Employee’s participation in goal is not always desirable. Participation in setting the goal,

however, makes the goal more acceptable and leads to more involvement. The researcher

choose to make use of this theory as it is applicable in the field of this study and it is found

to be of relevance within the study as every IT firm when they get into implementing a

project one of the major objectives is to meet up with the satisfaction of the beneficiary and

this is one of the dependent variable of this study; So in order to achieve the goal of the

stakeholders they can break it down to smaller goals and go progressively and track their

progress till they attain it.

IT projects is all about delegating tasks to team members, so with the use of this theory it

applies to the field of study, as it entails to give directions to team members on what needs

to be done, the efforts needed of them to put in so as to accomplish a task that has been

assigned to them, And one of the independent variable in this research is Task familiarity as

it entails that the leader is supposed to be well versed in every task within the

implementation of an IT project so the more familiar the leader is versed with the tasks the

more he can assign, give directions and step in to make corrections to an assignment that he

gave to a team member.

Due to how clear the goal is made it enables the workers not to go out of track, and they

know the limit were they are to end and it enables them to be time conscious, hence making

them to work using a time frame and that will enable them to be time conscious, hence

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making them to work using a time frame and that will enable the project to be executed

within the required time.

It also relates with the field of study as one of the soft skills that we will be making use of in

this study is Teamwork. As according to this theory, it states that employees are to ‘‘buy

into’’ a goal if they were part of creating that goal. So, IT leaders need to get their team

members involved during the planning phase of the project to also assist in shaping their

goals. So with these it makes the employees to know the goals better and understand what it

requires as they were part of creating the goal with that they become more effective and

leads to the end product meeting with the satisfaction of the end users.

With feedback it allows or creates an avenue for the desired expectations of the stakeholders

to be given to the leaders, also with the availability of information sharing it becomes

possible that complex and difficult goals can be re-adjusted. So IT leaders need to make use

of this aspect of the theory as after the execution of a project they should be ready to receive

information about the product if it is functioning according to the expectations of the

stakeholders as they can only determine if the product was a success after it has gotten to the

market, and while they are implementing the project there need to be a means of

communicating within them so as to be able to submit a complain regarding a goal and

thence they can take corrective measures.

Here are some of the advantages or benefits of the goal setting theory; it’s a technique used

to raise incentives for employees to complete work quickly and effectively. So this theory

when applied makes employees to work faster than their normal rate and at the same time

being effective.

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Goal setting leads to better performance by increasing motivation and efforts, but also

through increasing and improving the feedback quality. With the use of this theory it leads

to an increase with the performance through the motivation and efforts it places by the

proper use of a good feedback quality.

Without withstanding the theory also has some limitations as at times some of the

organizational goals conflict with the managerial goals, as goal conflicts has a detrimental

effect on the performance if it motivates incompatible action drift. At times goals do differ

within the level of the organization and the management and as a result of that it has a

negative result with the performance as both level levels are not in line with one another.

Another limitation here is that very difficult and complex goals stimulate riskier behavior, so

the more complex a goal leads to actions which can be risky to the organization.

Furthermore, if the employee lacks skills and competencies to perform actions essential for a

goal, then the goal setting can fail and lead to an undermining of performance.

And lastly, there is no evidence to prove that goal-setting improves job satisfaction, as you

cannot determine if the employees are satisfied with the job done by them achieving a goal

as they may be working under duress to meet up with the goal and not satisfying themselves

during the process.

2.2.3 Theory of Constraints

The author of the theory is Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1990) with the publication of the Goal. He

focused his theory with another book ‘’Critical Chain’’ which was published in

1997.Basically the theory of constraints states that a small number of constraints prevents

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any management system from achieving more of its goals. There is always at least one

constrain, and it is relevant in this work as during the process of implementing an IT project

it is of necessity for the project manager to be able to identify that constraint which can act

as a limiting factor and slow down or hamper the project from being carried out successfully

and the theory of constraints uses what is called a focusing process to identify the

constraints, with the focusing process which is all about identifying the constraints that can

affect the project, then he has to restructure it in order to address it.

The principles of the theory of constraints are, to produce dramatic improvements in

productivity, and that has to begin with identifying the constraint as only an improvement at

the constraint makes a difference so it has to be identified first before efforts can be made to

improve on it then they go further to optimize the constraint as before adding capacity they

need to first of all use the capacity which they have in hand for example if they need

machines with a higher capacity to develop a software they have to first use that which is

ready and available before adding others, so to optimize will mean they do everything

possible to use the constraint to its fullest capacity, and all the non-constraints are to

subordinate their decisions to the constraint’s needs in the sense that much attention is to be

paid the constraint and with that there is a higher performance of the IT systems that have

been put in place, and the other principle is to find that link between the project achieving its

goals and the constraints that can hinder it and then lessen its vulnerability. So when you

have identified the constraint you then make improvements at the constraint that is going to

reduce how vulnerable it will affect the project by adding capacity so that will enable the

project to achieve its goals as the chances of completing the project successfully will be

higher had it being the constraint had not been known only for it to affect the project during

22
implementation. The theory has key assumptions which is called Throughput, which is the

rate at which the system generates ‘’goal units’’ or revenue through sales. The aim of every

IT firm is to ensure that the developed software meets to the appeal of the clients and when

that is achieved then a lot of revenue will be gotten from it like ‘‘WhatsApp’’ which is a

popular software used all around the world today is generating millions of dollars annually

due to its high demand from its users all over the world. The other assumption is Operational

expense which is money spent when generating goal units and Investments, All money that

is invested in the system (inventory, machinery) as in order for any software to be developed

the organization must incur some costs when they procure computer hardware’s and other

equipment’s that are needed so they ought to ensure that they generate a lot of

‘‘Throughput’’ which is sales to cover their costs. This theory is applicable in my field of

study as every organization dealing with IT has set of goals to achieve and there will be

constraints that can stand against them not reaching their objective, which could be to

complete the developing of a software within the allocated budget, time and desired quality

therefore identifying and optimizing the constraint is an important aspect for every project

manager and his team to indulge in.

The theory of constraints has quite a good number of merits that can be of benefit of PM

leaders carrying out IT in Buea as it enables them to be able to identify constraints that will

hinder the execution of projects, Gives alternative measures to alleviate the constraints,

Cause project managers to be oriented towards achieving their goals and also to increase

their sales and generate more money to their organization. One of the demerits is that it

doesn’t put into consideration time that is being used to alleviate or optimize the constraints

which can be a factor that will increase the execution time of the project, It also gives as a

23
remedy to a constraint to increase resources and in this case it will lead to an increase in cost

which will be at the expense of the organization.

Figure 2: Theory of constraints

Source: www.projectmanager.com

2.3 Empirical Review

Lee et al (1995) their objective was to investigate changes of the skills and knowledge

requirements and to relate these requirements to the academic preparation of future IS

professionals, to provide as broad a perspective as possible. A survey instrument was then

designed for data collection on computing trends and changing knowledge and skills

requirements. They came up with the findings that IT professionals who are well versed with

the knowledge and skill needed in technology, well versed with management of the

24
organization along with the personnel’s that enables them to be effective in leading the

organizations engineering services. Recommended that the realignment of IS activities in

organizations will require corresponding re-structuring of IS curricula at universities.

Kirsch (2000) has highlighted that successful project management requires both hard and

soft skills. The objective of his research was to address the practical difficulties that plagued

most Information Technology projects that organizations were implementing at the time, To

provide a broad overview and assessment of past and current research on the implementation

of IT projects, and to provide suggestions for future research that will help in addressing

some of the challenges IT currently face. The research design he adopted was a descriptive

research and the method of data collection was by interviews. He came out with the findings

that for IT projects to be successfully implemented there is need for the combination of both

hard and soft skills by the project manager.

Thite (1999) His objective was to seek a three-dimensional (self, subordinate and superior)

perspective of successful leadership characteristics in IT project management, by testing the

validity of transformational theory supplemented by technical related items. He carried out a

survey on Australian organizations that had carried out projects that were either completed

or more than halfway through the deadline. The sample consisted of Project managers and

their subordinates who described the leadership behaviors of managers and their perceived

effectiveness. After carrying out the study the researcher was able to came out with the

findings that every leader of an IT project ought to have technical ability in order for them to

successfully execute a project and also they ought to adopt transformational leadership

rather than transactional which aims at getting compliance from subordinates by telling them

rewards and benefits they will get at the end and withhold it till they do what is required.

25
Karuiki (2014) did a study on the influence of leadership skills on the success of IT projects

within the banking sector. The objective of the study was to establish how leadership skills

influence the success of IT projects in Banks, Descriptive research design was used and the

sample size was 50 Banks. The study concluded that project manager leading characteristics

influence the success of the project positively, and it can be achieved through never ending

training and learning. And from his findings he made mention of the fact that there are seven

leadership skills that a good project manager possesses; communication skills, problem

solving and decision making skills, team building skills, conflict resolution skills, planning

and goal setting skills, sense of responsibility and time management skills. The researcher

recommends that every leader of an IT project needs to possess these seven skills mentioned

above and he needs to indulge in studying and developing these skills.

According to Wateridge (1996) within the IS domain there has been little research and

testing of project and the study seeks to investigate the key criteria on which the success is

judged, and the factor that are important in influencing the success or failure of IT projects.

The researcher had to carry out a survey on IT implementing organizations by interviewing

PMs and collecting data from their executed projects, then he goes to the users and conduct

an interview. So as to compare what both perceived to be success of the project. Evidence

from the study shows that PM focus on achieving time scales and budget limits, Success

criteria and his research pointed out that there is a vast difference between the perceptions of

users and those of project managers on the factors that contribute to success of IT projects,

The conclusion is that for IT projects to be successful in the future, the criteria for success

need to be defined clearly, agreed by all parties at the start of the project, and reviewed as

the project progresses. After his study he recommended that PM should be concentrating on

26
success criteria relating to users and sponsors, and consequently the factors to deliver the

success criteria

Kiioh (2015) examine the influence of leadership of Information Technology projects at

Fintech Kenya. The study was to add to the existing body of project management leadership

research by examining the influence of leadership aspects on performance of IT projects,

the study identified four aspects of leadership which included; skills, experience, control and

style and investigated their influence at Fintech Kenya. The study explored a descriptive

survey design and a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The targeted

population comprised of 100 full time employees at Fintech Kenya that included senior

managers, project managers, project team members and consultants. Data was collected by

the use of questionnaires. The study found that 68.11% of the respondents indicated that

leadership skills influenced performance of IT projects to a very great extent. 57.9% of the

respondents indicated that leadership experience influenced performance of IT projects.

Roque & Carvalho (2013) carried out a study on understanding the impact of project risk

management, assessment of risks on project performance in Brazilian Vendor companies.

The objective of the study was to comprehend the impact of risk assessment on IT project

performance and to investigate the degree of diffusion of project risk assessment in Brazilian

Vendor companies. The methodological approach involved a survey of 415 projects at

different companies in Brazil. The results demonstrate that adopting risk assessment and

planning has a significant positive impact on project success as project staff were able to

identify and take on measures to mitigate the occurrence of risks to greater extent. The study

came out with the findings that assessing uncertainties during the project, making use of the

risk management strategies and deeply understand the business environment are critical

27
success factors and they had a significant impact on project performance (P<0.05,

r=0.002,b=0.413). The results demonstrated that the impact of project risk assessment and

project success was positive.

Jun, Quizhen & Qingguo (2010) investigated the effect of project risk planning on IT

projects performance focusing on a case of China vendor firms. The study sought to test the

hypothesis, Project Risk planning and control makes a greater significant positive

contribution to project performance at low levels of inherent uncertainty than at high levels.

The study made use of questionnaire to collect data from 181 sample of software project

managers and other key informants from software houses in Hangzhou City, China, by mail

and email. The respondents were required to provide information with respect to one or

more recently completed outsourced IS development projects. From the finding the study

found that there existed a significant positive relationship between project risk planning and

project performance (P<0.05, r=0.015, b=0.813). The results indicated that project risk

planning and control improve project performance making project complete within time

schedule, at the budget and vender firm improved on profitability.

Addison & Vallabh, (2002) carried out a study on impact of project risk identification on the

performance of software projects in IT enterprises in China. The study adopted a survey

research design. Data collection was achieved through the use of a structured questionnaire,

which asked respondents questions aimed at achieving the study objective. A total of 70

project managers from IT enterprises were sampled the method of sample selection that was

used was known as ‘’snowball’’ sampling. Of the 70 questionnaires distributed, 36 were

returned. The study found that software project risks identification of unclear or

misunderstood scope/objectives, unrealistic schedules and budgets, inadequate

28
knowledge/skills and lack of effective project management methodology and

misunderstanding the requirements identified by many researcher s, subcontracting risk and

regularly occur in software projects influence management adopting appropriate risk

mitigation measures influencing software projects completion within time and increase

profitability. The study further found that as management involvement increases, the risk of

unclear or misunderstood scope/objectives appears to decrease and improve project

performance. The p-value showed a relationship between project risk identification and

project performance was significant at a 95% confidence level.

Julianne & Alexander (2013) carried out a study to determine how portfolio risk

management influences IT project portfolio success in IT enterprises in UK. The main

objective of the study was establish whether portfolio risk management influences IT project

performance. Data was collected by the use of questionnaires, a cross industry sampling was

adopted to derive a sample of 176 firms. The results showed that portfolio risk management

shows a significant positive relationship with project performance (b=0.16, p<0.05). The

study concluded that IT project portfolio risk management, portfolio risk identification, risk

prevention, risk monitoring, integration of risk information into the project portfolio

management, and formalization of portfolio risk management has a positive impact on IT

project perfforrmance.

Research Gap

Some of the studies reviewed identify and laid emphasis mostly on the knowledge and skills

needed in technology and the acquaintance of the leader with the personnel’s and failed to

mention other aspects like leadership skills and styles. Some studies focus mainly on the

29
hard and soft skills and ignored other aspects that can have an impact on the success of the

project. Some studies focus mainly on one variable leadership skills and did not encompass

on other aspects of leadership like communication and interpersonal skills are some of the

required skills in software development projects. So to that effect there is need to adopt and

implement leadership skills in medium enterprises software development projects. Although

researchers and professionals have written on leadership skills in IT projects, a very

insignificant amount of work have been done in the less developed and developing

economies to examine the influence of leadership skills. To that effect this study seeks to fill

the existing research gap by investigating how project management leadership skills and its

influence on the execution of information technology projects.

30
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Area of Study

Buea originally spelled ‘’Gbea’’ was founded by a hunter which came from the Bomboko

area. Coming from the Bomboko side of the mountain, they named the newfound land in

amazement as ‘’Ebe-eya’’ meaning literally a ‘’place of happenings’’. A prominent King of

the Bakweri (whose headquarter is Buea) was Chief Kuva Likenye. Buea was the colonial

capital of German Kamerun from 1901 to 1919, the capital of the Southern Cameroons from

1949 up till 1961 and the capital of the West Cameroon until 1972, it has an area size of 870

sq.km with 67 villages. The German administration in Buea was temporarily suspended

during the eruption of Mt. Cameroon from 28 April until June 1909. Originally, Buea’s

population consisted mainly of the Bakweri people. However, owing to its status as a

University town and the original capital, there are significant numbers of other ethnic

groups. Buea has a population of about 131,325 inhabitants according to the 2005 census,

with an elevation of 1000 meters (including the villages of Bokwango, Muea, Bomaka and

other surrounding villages. And with such a thriving increase of population which has

brought about the creation of many enterprises the people of Buea have turn to be in high

need of information technology which is one of the trademarks of the city and also due to its

richness in educational facilities who provide educational trainings in information

technology and the rampant creating of IT enterprises.

31
3.2 Research Design.

The research adopted a survey research design, as we intend to gather information not

available from other sources, it has an unbiased representation of interest, and the same

information is collected from every respondent, and we are going to use survey data to

complement existing data from secondary sources (Babbie, 1998). This research design was

considered to be appropriate to establish the influence of project management leadership

skills on the execution of IT projects in medium enterprises in the Buea municipality, By

making use of the design the researcher was able to find answers to questions by analyzing

specific variable related to project execution, By making sure that a multiple regression

model was applied to establish the influence of hard and soft skills on the execution of IT

projects in Buea.

It was a quantitative and a qualitative method in part to provide a degree of triangulation,

Quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire developed for the present study, with

each section of the questionnaire taken on one independent variable and how it influences

the dependent variable. Each section of the questionnaire is to be answered on a five point

Likert Scale from ‘’strongly disagree’’ to ‘’strongly agree’’, each leadership skill was

represented on a nominal value. The questionnaire will be administered to project team

members who have taken part in IT projects that have been carried out within the medium

enterprise. As this study did sought to provide explanations and personal insights from the

participants, open ended questions were preferred in order to allow them to express their

opinions about their knowledge which they have from past projects.

32
3.3 Population, Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The study had a population 32 IT enterprises in Buea according to the records of the

Chamber of Commerce Register (2021) and the respondents comprised of IT project

managers, who are directly involved in the projects of the IT enterprises within the areas of

study. This was because they are all responsible in the implementation and management of

projects in the enterprises and understand what leadership skills entails. This study made use

of all the population as the sample size for this study. Thus the sample size for this study

was 32 IT managers.

3.4 Sources and Method of Data Collection

This study made use of the primary source of data collection. Primary data was collected

using a questionnaire that was self-administered by the researcher. The questionnaires

featured structured questions that provided quantitative data for statistical analysis. The

questionnaire design followed the objectives of the research, with the first part capturing the

hard skills and its independent variables on how it influences IT project execution, part two

capture the project leadership skills. Part three on other aspects which were not mentioned

and they are allowed to chip in other facts. Owen (2002) did recommend the use of

questionnaires for its potential in reaching out to respondents within a short time by going to

the enterprises in person and handing them in person and after a certain period of time return

to collect the filled questionnaires; ability to accord respondents’ adequate time to respond

and offer a sense of privacy and confidentiality to the respondent.

33
3.5 Validiaty and Reliability of Instruments/Variables

3.5.1 Validity of Instrument

Validity is defined as the degree to which a test measures what it purports to measure

(Collins & Hussey, 2003). Each item in the instruments was reviewed by the supervisor who

noted how each of the specified study objectives and research questions were captured in the

instrument. The researcher made use of content validity in order to see how it covered the

area of knowledge that it was designed to measure and how it did enable us realize the

objective of the study, By determining whether the content that the instruments contained

was an adequate sample of the domain of the content they are supposed to represent. Also

we made use of construct validity so as to adequately measure the psychological traits of the

study by being able to adequately capture information on the variables in the research and its

applicability in real life situations. And lastly, the researcher will make use of face validity

as the outward appearance of the instrument at a glance through is to be appreciated by the

reader in relation to the grammar and diction, sequencing of the independent variables in

every section of the instrument

3.5.2 Reliability

Joppe (2000), defines reliability as the extent to which results are consistent over time and

an accurate representation of the total population under study, and if the results of a study

could be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument was

considered reliable. In order to strengthen the reliability of the instruments the mixed

quantitative and qualitative data gathering employed was helpful, and via a pre-testing of the

instruments with two experienced project managers and four experienced project team

34
members. Reliability was also enforced by correlating the scores of each questionnaire for

each variable. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) was used to test reliability

of the questionnaire. The correlation coefficient of the halves was correlated by the

Spearman Brown Prophesy formula. The questionnaire was considered reliable if the value

for R was closer to 1.0 getting consistent responses when the same question was posed to the

same respondent more than once. And for secondary data we had to correctly interpret the

content of the document.

3.6 Model Specification

The study also employed an empirical model which was formulated to establish the

influence of project management leadership skills on the execution of IT projects in the

Buea region in order to best explain the relationship in the study. The multiple linear

regression equation was given as:

The economic model is specified as seen below:

Project Execution = f (Project Leadership Skills)

Π= (X1, X2, X3) … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ……………. 3.1

Econometric model is stated as:

Π = a0 + a1 X1 + a2 X2 + a3 X 3 + U … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 3.2

Whereby Π = Project Execution

X1= Experience in IT

35
X2= Task familiarity

X3= Problem Solving Ability

While a1, a2 and a3 are coefficients of X1, X2 and X3 variables, and the aim here is to show

distinctively how each variable influences project execution, and U is the error term.

3.7 Method of Data Analysis

The study applied both quantitative and qualitative approaches for data analysis. The

collected data was well examined and evaluated by the researcher for completeness and

comprehensibility. For qualitative data, which was gathered mainly through by the use of

open-ended questions a qualitative data checklist was developed. The checklist was then

clustered along with main themes of the research to facilitate consolidation of information

and interpretation and it was then analyzed by content analysis. Content analysis is

explained as the process of analyzing verbal or written dialogues in a systematic way in

order to measure the variables qualitatively. The data was then summarized, coded, and

tabulated, Data presentation was done by the use of pie charts, bar charts and graphs,

percentages and frequency tables. The data was then analyzed using descriptive which

included frequency, percentages, means and standard deviations. The data analysis

technique used was the Ordinary least square because it measures how well the observed

data fits with the distribution that is expected if the variables are independent, It tests the

hypothesis that the variables are independent, The tests compares the observed data to a

model that distributes the data according to the expectation that the variables are

independent. Wherever the observed data doesn’t fit the model, the likelihood that the

variables are dependent becomes stronger, thus proving the null hypothesis to be incorrect.

36
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