Role of Leadership Style in Project Management - Example

Role of Leadership Style in Project Management Name Institution Course Date Role of Leadership Style in Project Management Project management involves the activities and processes that the project managers take part in to make sure that the objectives of the projects are achieved (Goodpasture, 2010). The fundamental responsibilities of project managers are project leadership, team motivation as well as team building. Project managers use different leadership styles in order to enable project success. In addition, team building is very important in project management as it ensures that the team that works on a project is inspired and motivated to achieve the goals and objective of the project (Coleman and MacNicol, 2015). Team building is the process used by project managers to enhance social relations among team members. Project managers should therefore use effective leadership style in order to ensure team building and employee motivation. Effective leaders are very essential to the success of any project work. A leader aspires for productivity and change in employees towards a desired objectives and goals. The qualities of good leadership are the same (Coleman and MacNicol, 2015). Good leadership is founded on respectable personality and unselfish commitment to the employees and the organisation. This paper will detail out the role of leadership style as well as team building in project management. Leadership can be defined as the process of leading, directing and influencing people and motivating them to achieve desired organisational goals (Northhouse, 2010). Effective leadership styles play a fundamental role in bringing about project success. Project managers therefore can make use of different leadership styles such as transformative, autocratic, bureaucratic, and laissez-fare leadership etc. Autocratic leadership style has been widely used in project management and involves managers making decisions on their own without involving employees but the opinions of employees are taken into consideration (Northhouse, 2010). This style is valid in an event where quick decisions are required and where employees input does not affect project success. Another important leadership style used in project management is democratic. It involves managers involving the employees in decision making process (Northhouse, 2010). Democratic managers rely on employee creativity and engagement in the entire cycle of the project. Democratic leadership style enhances high productivity, performance and job satisfaction among the employees. The laissez-fare style highly focuses on ensuring that the employees have the freedom to use any technique in doing their work. This style ensures that employees achieve job satisfaction and enhances high retention rate (Robinson and Rose, 2004). Nevertheless, this style may not be effective and operational in project management since employee may lack time management skills or other skills and knowledge required in achieving project the goals. On the other hand, bureaucratic leadership style is the use of strict project rules. Although this style may be effective in project management, it does have a number of serious safety risks (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). In addition, it may not work well in project that require creativity, flexibility and innovation. Transformational leadership style is among the most effective styles in project management. It involves transforming, inspiring and motivating the employees to work towards achieving project objectives and goals (Northhouse, 2010). Transformational leaders have high emotional intelligence that gives them high ability to motivate the employees (Northhouse, 2010). It is therefore successful and operational in project management as leaders establish clear goals, ensures open communication and use actual conflict resolution skills which are paramount in enhancing high level of engagement. Even if, this leadership style is efficient in project management, project managers should make improvements on their leadership style in order to meet the needs of the project as well as the employees (Northhouse, 2010). The use of leadership styles depend on the type of projects and the characteristics of the team members. Therefore, leadership style differs from one project to another. Leadership plays a vital role in ensuring success of projects, through selection and creation of capable teams in ensuring that the project meets the predetermined goals (Northhouse, 2010). Leadership is able to enhance continuous empowerment of the employees involved in the execution of the project through training and motivating project team to work towards set objectives. In addition, leadership is important in project management as it creates a vision for the project, institutes a strategic plan and influence teams towards achieving project vision (Northhouse, 2010). Also, leadership establishes effective communication between the project managers and team members during project execution. One concept of leadership that is important in project management is team motivation. Team motivation is a determinant element of project success (Coleman and MacNicol, 2015). For project managers to be effective, they should have characteristics like passion for learning in order to remain relevant to the project objectives. They should also be committed to success by being accountable for their actions (Northhouse, 2010). Commitment is important in ensuring project success as it involves close monitoring of projects activities as to identify and eliminate any barriers that may deter project managers from succeeding. Furthermore, effective project leaders are good at delegating duties to competent people in consideration of academic qualification, commitment and experience. Successful project leaders also take calculated risks in order to avoid failure. For example, they tend to invest in technology that leads to project effectiveness (Ferraro, 2007). Project leaders ensure success of project by using leadership models mentioned earlier (Ferraro, 2007). Different leadership styles exhibit different leadership strengths. Nevertheless, transformative leadership style is the most effective style in project management as it focuses on motivating project teams towards attaining predetermined goals. Transformational leadership entails different aspects of other leadership styles. For example, transformative leaders are known to demonstrate democracy in their decision making process. They tend to involve the team members in the decision making process. The transformational leadership style offers an ethical aspect to project leadership (Ferraro, 2007). These leaders are able to inspire and motivate team members by taking care of their high-order needs. This inspires employees to work hard towards achieving project goals. Transformative leaders focus on leading by example, encourage growth, coach and empower team members and inspire them to go to new heights (Robinson and Rose, 2004). Transformative leaders are able to use all their energy to boost the spirit of project teams by enhancing effective communication of the project goals and objectives and the entire plan of project execution (Robinson and Rose, 2004). They also act as coaches in order to support team learning and empowerment. These leaders also boost creativity and innovation during project life-cycle. They tend to reward the creativity of the team members. Project management become effective when project managers utilize transformative leadership style in ensuring team building, intellectual stimulation and employee motivation (Robinson and Rose, 2004). Effective project leaders use motivation models to address the important needs of the employees which motivate them to continue with good work. The motivations models that are used by effective project leaders include Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor’s Theory and Herzberg’s Motivation Theory among others. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory argue that people have a hierarchy of needs that should be satisfied from bottom to top (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). From the bottom are the psychological needs that are satisfied first and at the top are the self-actualization needs that are satisfied after other needs. According to the theory, the lowest level of unsatisfied needs is the key motivator of behaviour. These are needs which humans require in order to survive such as shelter and clothing (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). This comes in terms of adequate wages as well as a stable income. Managers can attend to the psychological needs of their employees by offering a comfortable working environment. Once the employee’s basic needs have been adequately met, they will want their social needs met. Therefore, project managers can encourage cooperative teamwork and enhance motivation by giving employees an opportunity to tackle both mental and physical challenges together as a team (Fredrick, Bernard and Barbara, 2011). In addition, in order for project managers to motivate their employees effectively, they can offer both praise and recognition when they have done well. This can boost the employees’ self-esteem thus motivating them. Employees require self-actualization so as to reach their full potential (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). Therefore, project managers can effectively utilize this need by challenging their employees in their area of expertise. This can help the employees broaden their knowledge, improve their capability and contribute more in a teamwork project. Also, according to the theory, project managers ought to invite their employees to take part in decision making activities (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). They can do this by using transformative leadership style. This will give them a sense of leadership giving them morale in participating in decision making procedures in a teamwork project. Another theory that can be used by project managers in motivating employees is the Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory. The theory correlates the relationship between employee attitude and workplace motivation (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). This theory is established on the assumption that there exist two factors that impact motivation in a workplace; hygiene factor and motivator’s factor. Herzberg came up with hygiene factor to describe factors that result in dissatisfaction within a work environment. These factors are extrinsic and are associated with things such as job security, working conditions, relationships between supervisors, quality of leadership, organization politics and compensation to name a few (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). On the other hand, motivator’s factor is connected to employee motivation and develops from intrinsic condition of the job itself. The factors for satisfaction include recognition, advancement, and job satisfaction, opportunity for growth, responsibility and achievement to mention a few. Therefore, project managers can utilize this Herzberg two-factor theory by decreasing things that result to dissatisfaction and increasing those that cause satisfaction. In order for project managers to effectively motivate their employees using Herzberg theory, they ought to get rid of control management and in turn increase their levels of accountability as well as responsibility they have over their work (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). This would increase the employee independence and liability giving them more charge over their works. Furthermore, managers can constantly provide their employees with regular feedback with regard to both their productivity and job performances. This enables them to build an employer-employee relationship which encourages greater communication and teamwork in any work project (Schyns and Meindl, 2005). For a project to be successful, leaders should ensure that there is teamwork by promoting team building (Turner and Muller, 2010). Team building is the selection of relevant project personnel and development of the people towards achieving project objectives. For teambuilding to be effective, project leaders should maintain their effective leadership role. Team building is fundamental in achieving project goals as teams with right attitude are able to overcome the barriers of project implementation (Crawford, 2005). Team building is key to ensuring successful project management. Having a shared project vision enable the team members to work together towards achieving shared goals and eliminate potential conflicts that may come up during project execution and implementation. Team building also assist team members identify and understand their roles and other members’ roles (Michels, 2001). Awareness of roles is very essential in facilitating better teamwork practices. Each team member is able to carry out their role accordingly to ensure the success of the project (Michels, 2001). In addition, team building is very paramount in project management as it creates the longing to work as a team which is very essential in sharing project concerns and ideas that lead to successful project. There is strong friendship among team members when project managers promote teambuilding which makes it enjoyable when employees work together (Michels, 2001). Team building enhances conducive working environment as every member support each other which makes it easy to implement and execute project. In addition to leadership style as a driver of effective project management, communication also contributes to team development. Communication is important in offering project feedback which can improve the effectiveness of project activities and achievement of success (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Communication also contributes to the facilitation of conflict resolution. Through communication, project leaders are able to set directions for team members to follow during project implementation. Team members are able to understand what is required of them and also understand the goals and objectives of the project which guide them in achieving them (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). To ensure that the project end in a positive knot, project leaders need to advocate for open communication between the team members in order to create an environment that is conducive for working towards achieving project goals and objectives. Communication is a vital component that will determine if a project fails or succeeds. Many project managers are therefore looking for ways to improve on communication during project implementation (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Effective communication in project increases productivity, rate of retention and improves working environment. Effective communication is core prerequisite for the achievement of project goals. Typically, no project can succeed without effective communication (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Co-ordination of work within during project execution is impossible without communication and every act of communication has an effect on the project life-cycle in one way or another. Additionally, communication is very important especially to project managers and leaders (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Managers are often challenged to look for ways to motivate the employees and improves organisation’s bottom line. Effective leadership communication is thus vital more so during negotiation and conflict management. Huge projects are faced with cross-cultural issues and thus intercultural communication is needed in order to understand how different people from different culture act and communicate in order to enhance cross-cultural communication (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Thus communication in this context will determine how culturally diverse employees and managers work together in attaining the project goals. Although cultural diversity in project execution is able to stimulate innovation and creativity essentially leading to inclusive solutions to challenges, if not managed properly, it can result to serious conflict between employees (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). During project implementation, it is vital to facilitate communication by recognising differences, maintaining etiquette, avoiding judgement, acknowledge available discomfort to name a few. As mentioned earlier, communication and decision-making are vital to leaders and managers in managing projects. Communication and decision-making have a close interrelatedness in a project environment (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). Communication is questionably one of the most essential aspects of any project. The vision, goals and mission of a project may be enthralling, but in order to be effective, leaders and managers must communicate these to the team members. A barrier to effective communication revolves around the lack of it (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). When communication is accurate and clear, decisions become more informed, rational and effective. Communication impacts decision-making in various ways such as acceptance, cooperation, authority and openness of decision and the decision-making process (Crossman, Bordia and Mills, 2011). For project leaders to communicate effectively with the team members, they must establish the communication style to use and should also possess assertive communication skills. In conclusion, leadership, communication and team building are vital in project management as they lead to successful achievement of project goals and objectives. Project goals are achieved through effective contribution of team members. Nevertheless, teams only work effectively when there is competent leader. Project managers use different leadership styles in leading team members and achieving project goals. Some styles used include transformational, autocratic, bureaucratic, and laissez-fare leadership style. But the most effective style to be used in project management is transformational leadership style. Transformational leaders are able to inspire and motivate employees to achieve project goals. According to motivational theories, project managers should endeavour to satisfy the needs of the team members in order to motivate them. References Coleman, S., & MacNicol, D. (2015). Project Leadership. Farnham, Surrey, UK Burlington, VT: Gower. 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