Free Essay. Leadership Styles of Effective Project Managers

DuBois, M., Koch, J., Hanlon, J., Nyatuga, B., & Kerr, N. (2015). Leadership Styles of Effective Project Managers: Techniques and Traits to Lead High-Performance Teams. Journal of Economic Development, Management, IT, Finance & Marketing, 7(1). http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/101746680/leadership-styles-effective-project-managers-techniques-traits-lead-high-performance-teams

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This literature review defines successful leadership in a project as the ability to satisfy the needs of different stakeholders, including investors, clients, and partners. Effective leadership entails establishing a working relationship with the team as well as the stakeholders. To accomplish this, it is not enough to possess crucial leadership traits. It is also essential to understand the complex demands of the project and formulate a clear strategy to achieve success. The leadership styles discussed in the literature review include team building, clarity in objectives, communication, and organizing skills. Analyzing the essential qualities needed for the project and understanding the leadership responsibilities empowers a manager to implement the project strategies. The choice in leadership style is dependent on the nature of the project, the dynamics of the team, and the acceptable norms. DuBois, M., Koch, J., Hanlon, J., Nyatuga, B., & Kerr, N. (2015) explores different leadership theories such as trait, behavioral approaches, and contingency theories. Leadership theories are essential in understanding how leadership factors relate to the project environment. Generic environmental factors often present a challenge to project managers. The biggest problem is the complicated relationship with different stakeholders. The styles determine impact how the project manager can balance the interests of the stakeholders and direct them to the organizational goals. Organizational culture acts as an immovable object beyond the control of a project leader. A project executor must embrace the corporate culture and find mechanisms for working within it rather than attempting an overhaul.

The limitation of this research is that it does not entail a scientific method for measuring the physical aspects of leadership and their contribution to the success of the project. Without any reliable scientific measurement, it is impossible to draw a relationship between leadership styles and overall project success.

Jowah, L. E. (2014). The impact of leadership styles on effective project execution. Sky Journal of Business Administration and Management, 4(3), 10-17. http://skyjournals.org/sjbam/Pdf/2016/Jun/Jowah%20pdf.pdf

This literature review is based on the assumption that leadership styles correspond to the follower's style, and are thus closely linked in a project. If the cultural setting of a project entails a particular set of beliefs, values and practices, the leadership characteristics are expected to adhere to these acceptable norms. There exist several arguments, contradictory in nature, regarding the significance of leadership style on the success or failure of a project. Turner and Muller (2005) posit that there is no notable impact on project performance due to leadership competencies or style (p. 41). This argument sharply contradicts the mainstream perspective that leaders are vital to directing individual efforts in an organization towards the desired goal. Leadership style dictates the set of leadership competencies which a leader utilizes to influence the subordinates. Most researchers maintain that leadership style is an essential contributor to the successful completion of a project. Despite this consensus, it is not yet clear how the mechanism through which effective leadership benefits project success. It is also agreed that a successful leader will maintain a highly motivated team, that is organized and adequately energized to work towards organizational goals. Leadership competencies are defined as a set of abilities, skills and values that characterize the strengths of a leader. These strengths enable a leader to galvanize the followers in the task of achieving the success of an organization. A good leader must pose this set of personal skills to be more productive. Turner and Muller (2005) assert that for leadership competencies to work, they must meet the contextual requirements depending on their position in the project (p. 33). This argument implies that both leaders and followers have to work in unison for a leader to be effective. In other words, followership is integral in shaping up leadership. The current gap in this literature review is that it ignores the situational aspect of leadership within the project. Different situations demand deferent sets of leadership competencies that are unique. Without including the situational aspect, the article inadvertently treats leadership skills as a one-fits-all-situations which can be misleading.

Larsson, J., Eriksson, P. E., Olofsson, T., & Simonsson, P. (2015). Leadership in civil engineering: Effects of project managers' leadership styles on project performance. Journal of management in engineering, 31(6), 04015011. https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000367

Completing a construction project is a complex undertaking that brings together numerous teams of workers participating in different roles. The project manager is charged with the task of coordinating the workforce in such a manner that improves coherence, workflow and a collective team effort. Sometimes working within strict deadlines and under testing conditions, effective leadership is a fundamental prerequisite in fostering diligence and cooperation. The literature review explores the extent to which different leadership styles impact the project outcome. In construction projects, an autocratic style is the most widely used. The form often requires sub-ordinate to complete stipulated tasks passed down vertically, with minimal participation in decision making. The literature review seeks to determine the efficacy of this style as compared with alternative forms of leadership such as transformational, democratic, and transactional leadership. The findings of the study indicate that leadership performance, in terms of quality, cost and time, is dependent on leadership style. Besides, Larsson, J., Eriksson, P. E., Olofsson, T., & Simonsson, P. (2015) argue that different leadership styles are ideal for different situations in construction projects. As such, the managers must understand the context of the situation before determining which leadership style is most appropriate. The limitation of this review is that it fails to relate different project situations and the most appropriate leadership styles of intervention. The most common project situations include; conflict resolution, rewards and punishments, and delegating and evaluating work. Future research should investigate further into all aspects of situational leadership in the construction sector.

Lategan, Tammy & Fore, Stanley. (2015). The impact of leadership styles on project success: Case of a telecommunications company. Journal of Governance and Regulation. 4. 10.22495/jgr_v4_i3_p4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311499494_The_impact_of_leadership_styles_on_project_success_Case_of_a_telecommunications_company

The research summarizes some of the existing literature on corporate leadership to shed light on the critical factors of leadership in customer service project environments. Different perceptions of leadership styles exist within the corporate world. Each style is fundamentally different in its approach to successful performance and is thus suitable for different project environments. The literature review explores the critical success factors to customer relations in the telecommunication sector. Besides, it defines corporate leadership and its several related facets in a critical manner. Equally important, the literature review establishes a connection between different leadership skills and the corresponding project types where they are best suited.

Understanding the reasons for project failure is essential to effective project management. Lategan, Tammy & Fore, Stanley (2015) argues that managers must take into consideration three key factors: time, cost, and quality (p. 45). Project management entails balancing the three factors optimally to ensure the organizational objectives are met. In reality, it is challenging for managers to achieve this balance. Hence, projects failure occurs when one of the critical factors is not sufficiently met. Lategan, Tammy & Fore, Stanley (2015) also differentiates between leaders and managers in terms of mindset and personality (p. 32). Management skills without proper leadership skills contribute to poor organization performance and failure. Leadership is thus pivotal in a performance-driven approach to project management. "Leadership is a skill that is different from other skills, which is more necessary in some different situations that others" (Yudolewitz et al., 2002, p127)). There are certain leadership styles are characteristics that are regarded to be crucial to project success. Heldemen et al. (2005) add that project managers should possess these vital leadership skills such as communication, conflict resolution skills, motivation skills, budgeting skills, and negotiation skills (p. 14).

The literature review provides extensive information regarding the research topic. It highlights different leadership skills with their project types. These project types include concrete, occasional, and open. Besides, the literature review provides fifteen leadership competencies which can be categorized under three leadership styles.

Problem Statement

The review has to a certain extent altered my problem statement by bringing to the surface new information on the topic. The mere presence of the leadership in a project has been underestimated, it provides a figurehead behind whom the rest of the staff can rely for guidance, expertise, and motivation. The different studies reveal that the relationship between leadership styles and project success is implicit rather than concrete. Before conducting this study, I was seeking to find a solid correlation with statistical backup, which has not been the case. From my deductions, leadership style manifests through greater contextual and situational awareness to the needs of the project and its shareholders.

There is a problem relating to the relationship between leadership styles and the success or failure of a project. It is generally agreed that effective leadership has a significant impact on the overall success of the project. Most companies are keen on high-project managers with a particular set of leadership skills depending on the nature of the project. For instance, demanding projects which require an authoritarian approach to leadership tend to be assigned to managers with strict personalities. Organizations believe that certain traits of leadership are instrumental to the success of a project. Despite the widely-accepted perspective, there is a counterargument regarding the importance of leadership style as a critical success factor. This school of thought argues that employees do not need extra motivation to perform tasks that they are being paid to do. Rather than the style itself, the proponents of this argument argue that the mere presence of leadership is a determining factor for project success. Another challenge with the conventional approach is the lack of experimental evidence for the relationship between leadership styles and performance.