Project Management and Leadership Styles - Essay Example

Project Management Department Project management Leadership Styles Leadership is an aspect that determines the success of the project. In every project, there is someone entrusted to lead the team in the achieving the objectives and goals. Different managers or rather leaders will employ varied styles of leadership depending on who they are and the nature of their team (Thite 2000). The most practiced leadership styles are the authoritarian style, democratic style and Laissez- Faire Style. Other styles that are practiced in leadership include pacesetter, all for one and one for all, coercive and team leader style. Each of the leadership styles had its characteristics and varied working environments (Tyssen et al. 2014). Leadership styles differ by organisations and the task that is being carried out. This section of the essay will discuss these leadership styles and conclude on the most effective style that a leader should practice when dealing with his or her employees (O’Connor & Yballe 2007). The authoritarian leadership style entails a leader making all the decisions regarding the project and passing the directives to the employees. The employees are further expected to carry out the directives under close and strict supervision. The subordinates should not question the directives and should ensure that each instruction apply to the letter. In such leadership, innovation and creativity from the employees is not put into practice since the leader does not take into consideration the views of the employees (Mäkilouko 2004). There are all sorts of control measures from the management such as punishments, task orientation, rewards and arbitrary rules. The leadership assumes that the manager knows it all and is sure of what is best for the organisation (Curran & Niedergassel 2011). Democratic leadership style entails a structured and cooperative system that has space for employees to make decisions. Much focus is directed to group relations and the sensitivity of the employees in the organisation (Avolio et al. 2009). The leader who practices such type of style in his or her leadership requires professional competence. The employees take responsibility of their actions, and the leader must not be there to supervise like in the authoritarian leadership style. The subordinates share ideas with the manager and the entire team concerning activities that the project has. The leaders who use this type of leadership style are confident, warm and friendly and encourage the employees to participate and grow professionally (Makipere & Yip 2008). Democratic leadership applies in working environments where people have high levels of skills and knowledge. Laissez- Faire leadership is the opposite of what the practices in authoritarian leadership style. The leadership is absent, and every employee is free doing what he or she want. There is a high state of confusion among the employees since they tend to have no particular direction towards achieving the objectives and goals of the organisation (Keller 2006). The employees doubt their ability to perform activities that make the organisation productivity very slow and low. This type of leadership requires people who are mature, responsible and highly motivated. The employees have a lot of freedom with no particular deadlines. The employees experience high job satisfaction, but it can be challenging if they do not manage their time well (Nauman et al. 2010). The best leadership style for managing a dwelling project is the democratic leadership. The leader involves the employees in decision-making. Through that, he can come into terms with what the employees are doing and what needs to be changed. In addition, it would encourage creativity and suggestion of problem intervention within the project. Employees will always have different ways and suggestions on activities pertaining any project cycle. The leader should however ensure that they match with organisation’s goals and vision (Lee-Kelley & Loong 2003). Project risk Management Project Risk management entails practicing the best risk analysis methods when carrying out projects to ensure that the project closes in time and within the organisation’s budget. The management section uses various methods to identify and access the opportunities and risk factors that a particular project may have. The manager then comes up with an effective response plan to mitigate or avoid the risk from manifesting in the project. Risk management requires a manager to assemble a professional team that has diverse knowledge and skills to complete the project and also ensure that the specifications are met (Cervone , 2006) . The leader should have a higher level of leadership qualities, invest in communication to managing a team, and ensure that all plans are on set to manage risks that may present during project activities. Every project possesses diverse risks that the management has to consider right before carrying out implementation. Some of the risks associated with project management include financial risk, strategic risks, Operational- technical risk and operational safety risk. Other risks associated with project management involve scope, scheduling, resource and technology risks (Kwak & Stoddard 2004). The management has to ensure that the cost of running a project is listed and the funds available are sufficient to deliver the expectations. Scope risks are caused by scope creep; project growing complex because of more demands. Errors in estimations, natural factors and delayed acquisition of resources may pose a scheduling risk to the project. Most of the risks mentioned above, in one way or another, have to present in project management hence the requirement for prior planning on the necessary interventions (Carbone & Tippett 2004). Risks that may occur during the period may have a positive or negative nature, and the responses will differ depending on the organisation and the quality of leadership. The main response strategies that a manager can apply in project risk management for risks include acceptance, avoidance, mitigation and transference. Avoidance means eliminating a risk or a threat (Marcelino-Sádaba et al. 2014). Acceptance entails accepting the consequences and challenges that a risk brings on board. Transference involves the team opting to shift the consequences of the risk and responsibility to another party that is not within the organisation. It is commonly referred to as a third party. Mitigation involves the team deciding to reduce the impact of a risk by ensuring that its probability for occurring is minimal. The management establishes a risk response plan all the time at every stage of the project. First, the projects should be put into categories by considering the scope, cost and schedule. In addition, it should consider the internal and external risks that the project may attract. After categorization, the projects risks should be ranked using the quantitative and qualitative analysis, decision tree, sensitivity analysis and a risk matrix (Raz & Michael 2001). After ranking, the paths and options should be identified and kept ready in case of any emerging risk. Risk management is one of the sections where much skills and knowledge is needed since there will always be challenges within a project. When the management is assigning tasks and responsibilities, it should ensure that there is much emphasis on project risk management (PMI 2009). Processes of project quality management Quality management process ensures that there is quality assurance and control in all the processes and deliverables during the project. The process includes completing various review techniques and further implementing corrective actions to counter for the deficiencies within the project. The entire quality management process involves identifying the quality targets that the project is supposed to achieve and to list the types of quality measurement techniques that need to be taken. In addition, it involves measuring the process and deliverable quality through quality control and assurance and taking action. Lastly, the quality attained is supposed to reach the project management (Khan 2006). The quality targets will differ depending on the missions and strategies of the organisation. Quality targets must be measurable and meet the results requirements. It is necessary for the management to develop a set of tools to ensure that quality of the project is measurable. Some of the examples of metrics that are used to control the quality of the results of the project include error rates, key performance indicators and revenues. Quality assurance entails putting preventative steps to increase the probability of hitting the quality targets that were set (Jung & Wang 2006). Quality assurance activities involve project audits and process checklists, use of historical data to identify the areas where there is a likelihood of quality issues occurring. It also reiterate on the quality standards in order to meet the required quality and undertaking review to be sure on the path that the project is taking (Unger et al. 2012). In addition, it entails performing formal change control in order to reduce the count of quality issues. Quality managers of the project ensure that the deliverables are produced in line with what was targeted. The quality of a product or rather results depends on the projects scope and size. The manager should ensure that the targets regarding quality are defined and listed for each deliverable (Qureshi et al. 2009). Second, he or she should ensure that quality assurance techniques are in place to offer assurance to the management that the quality at the end of the project will be superb. In addition, quality control techniques are essential to ensure that the quality for the products or results after the project meet the expectations. The quality manager must identify quality deviations and actions regarding improvement for implementation. A lot of documentation needs to take place during the project to ensure that there are future references and evidences that the management can use. Some of the documents include quality review forms and project closure reports. The key importance of project quality management is to ensure that there is customer satisfaction, prevention through inspection and continuous improvement. Quality control entails various techniques such as inspection, use of control charts, Pareto diagrams, statistical sampling, flow charting and carrying out trend analysis (Greg Horine 2009). The outputs related to quality control of the project involve acceptance decisions, quality improvement, rework, checklists and process adjustment. The activities of the employees or rather the team may be in line with what was planned, but the quality of the final products or results may not reach the expected targets. Management should ensure that quality management is available and carry out regular and detailed assessment of the activities that take place all through the project. References Cervone , H. Frank , 2006. Project risk management. OCLC Systems & Services, 22, pp.256–262. Avolio, B.J., Walumbwa, F.O. & Weber, T.J., 2009. 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