Leadership Style and Management - Coursework Example

Questions and Answers

The Impact of Leadership Style and Experience in the Project Management

Section 1: Background Information

In your own words, how much you define the project management?

Respondent 1

Briefly, project management refers to the process of ensuring that a project is successful by meeting its goals. Although the roots of project management emanates from business practices, in recent decades it has emerged as a vital component of every serious business operation. At the same time project management has been one of the key aspects to succeed in global environments where firms are constantly seeking an edge over competition. Notably, it is critical to note that project mangers play a critical role in ensuring that any projects is successful and that all objectives are met. Further, project managers are not limited to overseeing only one aspect of an operation, nor constrained to deal with human related issues of management. However, project managers are mandated to carry out complex assignments of overseeing all aspects related to the project within the timeframe and budget agreed upon.

Respondent 2

My understanding of project management is that it is the process of seeing that the planned tasks and goals in a specific project are accomplished efficiently. The most important person in ensuring that all plans go as expected dis the project manager. In order to succeed in his job, project managers should be adept at different tasks since any serious project consists of different and sometimes complex duties. In these connections, some of the most important requirements of a project manager are that he needs to possess analytical mind as well as the, ability of related with people in a friendly manner.

Notably, it would be prudent to mention some of the key processes that every project must take. The first process is the initiating stage, which is followed by planning, executing, monitoring, and closing stages.

Respondent 3

Project management is bringing different components of the project in order to accomplish a given goal. Based on the size of project, there are different stages that that must be followed before the goals set at initial stages are met. In this way, any project will follow five major steps, which include definition, planning, execution, control, and closure. At the definition stage, project goals and objectives are identified. In the planning stage, stakeholders design and plan how the project is going to be accomplished. The execution staged is the implementation stage where people get to action. Further, control measures are put in place to ensure that the project sticks to the plan. Finally, after meeting the goals, the project are closed where the project manager presents the report of the completed work to the senior manager or the client.

To what extent do you think the practice in the project management is important and why?

Respondent 1

• The importance of project management and its practice cannot be underestimated. As an art of managing the project and ensuring that its deliverables are met, project management helps in the production of finished products and services. In light of the aforementioned aspects of project management, project managers are able to identify requirement , establish clear as well as achievable objectives, balance the competing needs and demands from different stakeholders , as well as ensure that commonality of purpose is achieved through efficient management of projects.

Respondent 2

At an organizational level, project management plays an important role of ensuring that companies and firms are able to achieve their goals and meet their customers’ demands including those of the entire society. However, it must be emphasized that the completion of projects’ goals cannot bed met without instituting proper structured and having scientific approach to the practice of management. Notably if organizations fail to recognize this reality, they would find themselves adrift in the organization development thus being unable to meet the objectives. Therefore, the critical role that project management plays to organizations is important for different reasons. Firstly, it ensures that stakeholders are dc omitted to the structural framework that has already been established. At the same time, organizations are able to seek control in the implementation of the project in order to ensure that all deliverables are properly managed. The quality of the work being carried out in a given project is also ensured through the practice of project management.

Respondent 3

In the modern businesses, project management is important because of varied reasons. Firstly, project management is human-focused which is a great aspect that is critical in modern organizational management. Project based organizations mostly focus on the objectives and outcome in given projects rather than working according to the clock. For skilled people, this makes a lot of sense and provides stimulating and logical structured for competent professionals in an organization.

Further, project management combines two needs of an organization, which include adaptability to the prevailing environment and the structural, predictable and organized firm. Notably, good project managers ensure that all stakeholders especially employees know their responsibility in the project and their services are needed. Structures are also established to ensure that the projects and the implementers are able to adapt to the environment.

Lastly, efficiency is more ensured when a project is led by a project manager than when it is conducted by a stable of workers. In this way, cohesiveness and clear objectives with timelines are meeting if the team is wholly dedicated.

In your own words, please identify the factors that you think are highly significant in determining the success of a project and the reasons you think each factor is important.

Respondent 1

Respondent 2

Respondent 3

Section 2: Leadership

In your own words, is the leadership style in the project management important factor to success the project and why?

Respondent one

Leadership style is undoubtedly important factor in the success of a project. Leadership is the ability to influence others in achieving specific goals. The objective of a project is to ensure that the planned goals or goals are achieved within the planned timeframe. Therefore, a good leader ensures that he leads his followers in a given direction. In this way, a project manager should be able to efficiently lead the project team in meeting the expected outcome of the project. In this way, it would be challenging to complete any project without a manager who offers the leadership role. However, the manager needs to exercise good style of leadership in order to efficiently deliver the expected outcome.

Respondent 2

Leadership style refers to the ways in which leaders lead their followers in the achievement of a given goal or objective. In project management, it is prudent to practice the most suitable style of leadership in order to provide uniformity in the achievement of goals. For example, democratic style of leadership is one of the most important styles of leadership. A democratic leader allows the followers or stakeholders to bring their opinions and ideas during decision-making process. The objective of inviting others in making decision is to come up with decisions that are agreeable from all the members. The opinions brought forth are analysed and the most suitable option is chosen to solve a specific problem.

Respondent 3

Project managers are leaders in the implementation of a project. Therefore, in project implementation process, managers are expected to ensure that they apply the best style of leadership that will lead to the achievement of project objective. For example if a manger uses dictatorial style of leadership, there is possibility that most of the workers would not feel comfortable working with such a manager. On the other hand, if manager uses bureaucratic style of leadership, the process of completing a specific task would take a lot of time thus delaying some stage of the project. In this way, it is advisable that a project manager uses the most suitable style of leadership based on the prevailing situation or circumstances.

Leaders have different styles of leadership that include transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant leadership styles. In your opinion, which of these three styles do you think is important in achieving project success and what are the reasons for your choice?

Respondent 1

Based on the three types of leadership styles, the most suitable is the transformational leadership. The main objective of a transformational leader is to develop the followers and ensure that good values are instilled in a group. A leader is expected to interact with another and develop a solid relationship that leads to trust. This ensures that there is creation of morale and motivation in a group. The element behind transformational leadership is that leaders change the character of those that they are leading through inspiring them and exercising charismatic qualities. In transformational leadership, the regulations and rules are flexible and they are guided by the group’s norms. A considerable level of understanding is crucial for this to be effective, which is critical in a project.

Respondent 2

The most appropriate style of leadership is the transformational leadership. Notably, in any project, therefore are different people with varying talents, skills and knowledge. For a good leader in a project, the main aim should be not only to achieve the objective of the project also to develop others and making them better. Understandably, any project acts as a learning experience for the participants including the manager. Transformational leadership is the most applicable styled of leadership for a manger who want to transform his followers and making them more skilled and experienced. A same time, developing others during project implementation helps in sharing of duties since they can apply the skills in the same project.

Respondent 3

Evidently, among the three styles of leadership, transactional is the most suitable in achieving project’s success. Transactional leadership emphasizes on the need to have a give and take kind of relationship between a leader and the followers. For example, for one to be paid in a project, he must have completed the assigned work. As a leader, a manger is expected to ensure that the project plan is implemented to the letter. In doing so, target and objectives are set for individual and group level. In this way, it should be noted that the manger is also answerable to the senior manager or the client. One of the core requirements is timing, where the manager is expected to ensure that all individual and group targets are met. In order to achieve this requirement, transactional style of leadership is the most applicable among the three.

What are some of the challenges that you have faced in the management of your projects?

Respondent 1

As a manager, I have faced many challenges in the implementation of projects. Firstly, being given unrealistic deadlines by clients is one of the common challenges that usually face. The fixed timing by a senior manager or a client sometimes makes a project manager try to find an alternative way of completing the project. The problem is mostly worse for the new mangers that lack enough experience to convince their bosses on the unrealistic aspect of the timeframe of the project. Secondly, communication deficit is also a common challenge that I usually face in my projects. Although this is not the same to all situations, communication is a big challenge for those people who do not have proper skills of passing messages such as timing and accuracy, which is critical in project management.

Respondent 2

The change of scope of a project forms part of my main challenges. Scope change refers to the extent to which I am supposed to cover in the project. The changes can be influenced by different individuals and circumstances. for example the client can change the project plan in the middle after realizing that he does not have enough resources or after getting more of the resources. The challenge for the manager is to find a way of coping with the challenging scope and still satisfy the client. At the same time, I have been in situations where I am unable to manage some risks. For example, weather is one of the issues that human beings cannot control, which affected one of my projects in 2014.

Respondent 3

In some specific projects, I have difficulty when selecting skilled personnel to work with. Notably, some projects require the manager to select or prescribe the kind of people that are required to complete the project. In this way, it is challenging to find people with the required skills and knowledge for complex projects. At the same time, lack of accountability among team members has also affected my previous projects. The project participants and related players are not held accountable for their results - or lack of achieving all of them.

How to address the challenges that you have in the project as a leader?

Respondent 1

Unrealistic deadlines mostly occur if the project planners are not involving all the stakeholders when designing or budgeting for the project. If a client or a senior manager or project board sets a given time for the completion of part or the entire project without considering the inputs of the project anger, it becomes difficult to follow the same timeframe. In most of the previous situations that I have encountered, I have engaged the clients and the organization to review the deadlines for specific deliverables in order to guarantee quality work that meets all the standards. At the same time, with communication of reality to the project participants, creative planning, and application of alternatives analysis have been instrumental in solving the problem. Finally, I been able to determine what deadlines are tied to higher-level objectives, or have critical links into schedules of other projects in the organization's portfolio. On the other hand, communication deficit has been handled by ensuring that there dared structures on bow information is passed from one person to the next before, during and after the completion of the project.

Respondent 2

Initially, I was having difficulty in talking to my bosses on the need to stick to the scoped of the project. However, with time I came to take as my principle of operating, where the agreement has to be signed between the client and the manager. In this way, the organization concerned or the client has to avoid changing the scope of the project. In most cases, I communicate what is being requested, the challenges related to the changes, as well as the alternate plans, if any, to the project participants who include the team, stakeholders, management, and others. In dealing with unavoidable risks, I have been devising new ways of coping with such occurrences such as floods.

Respondent 3

In dealing with the challenge of having skilled personnel, I have been communicating with human resource department when advertising vacancies to the public. Training has also been conducted in some instances to fill the gap. On the other hand, establishment of rules or policies at an organizational level has been instrumental in dealing with accountability problems in problems.

Section 3: experience

How many projects approximately have you managed? Please mention some good examples to support your answer?

Respondent 1

At a personal level, it might be difficult to give an exact number of projects that have been able to manage under my leadership. However, I have successfully completed more than one hundred projects in the field of information technology. For example, in 2014 I was tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the installation of internet connectivity at the Orymix Ltd, which is a human resource outsourcing company located in Sydney. Secondly, in the same institution, the company needed to start to develop its own website, which I was privileged to be the manager in the same year. In July 2015, I helped to update a software app for Rydimit International Company in Melbourne in order to be able to accommodate the increased number of its staff as well as adding more features for easy information retrieval.

Respondent 2

As a psychologist, I have been involved in more than fifty projects that have come from clients from individual as well as organizational levels. One of the main projects is the establishment of mentoring program in one of the local consultancy firms here in Australia. At the same time, in 2012, I was tasked with opening up a counselling section at the Hillnest Ltd in Sydney where I worked for one year in order to allow and train new employees in the section. In 2015, I was among those involved in opening up the disaster management unit at the same institution- Hillnest Ltd.

Respondent 3

A motivational speaker on matters to do with, I have been carrying out both small-scale and large-scale projects around the country and internationally, which could be approximately more than two hundred projects. One of such projects is the establishment of leadership club called Golde Leaders, which I am the CEO since 2013. Secondly, in my locality, I was tasked by the seven principals in 2015 to start motivational classes in their schools in order to motivate learners as they prepare to become future leaders.

Experience of the leader has always been described as critical in determining the success of a project. What do you think is the rationale behind this and what impact does experience have on the success of the project?

Respondent 1

The rationale in this statement is that experienced leaders have encountered different scenario and circumstances, which are almost the same as those found in many projects. As I said earlier, for any project to be successfully accomplished, there must be teamwork where all stakeholders must work together in order to ensure the expected results are accomplished in the schedule time. In this way, different people have different behaviours. Therefore, an experienced leader will be able to know the kind of style of leadership to apply in a given circumstances.

Respondent 2

Leadership is about dealing with different that show varying traits. Notably, the key components in the project implementation are the kind of people that a manager will be working with and who will have to follow his directions. In this way, having good relationship with all stakeholders especially those who are directly involved in the implementation aspects of the project is critical in delivering quality services to an organization or a client.

Respondent 3

Undoubtedly, good leadership is crucial for the success of any project. As a leader, the manager is expected to be in situations where he is required to make decisions or solve a specific problem based on the previous experience. Accordingly, if one is not an experienced leader, complex and difficult situations could be challenging. Consequently, the accomplishment of project’s goal would be compromised. In this way, an experienced leader is instrumental in ensuring the success of a project.

How experiences play the essential role to success the project?

Respondent 1

An experienced project manager plays an essential role to the success of a project. Notably, an experienced manager helps in the project’s success in many ways. For example, competence is one of the key components of an experienced project manager. Evidently, for one to enlist in another person’s cause, he must believe that the individual knows what he is doing. Managers’ competence or experience may not however necessarily refer to the project leader's technical abilities in the core technology of the business but the way to go about issues at the place of work. At the same time, it is not for one to have competencies without having been tested before, which is pivotal for the success of a project. The ability to enable, challenge, inspire, model and encourage others must be demonstrated if managers are to be seen as capable and competent.

Respondent 2

For any person to hire a project manager, one of the specific considerations is the experience of an individual, which explains why it is important for any project’s success. Although there are many attributes that are associated with an experienced manager, ability to coordinate activities is what makes one an all-round project manager. In this connection, it is important to note that for one to be able to coordinate operations in the implementation of a project, trust is an essential element since it helps in creating good relationship between a leader and his followers. An experienced manager is able to delegate duties based on people’s skills and abilities while at the same time taking into account the aspect of time and quality delivery.

Respondent 3

Experience comes after many or several practical tests in a given field. The importance of experience in a project cannot be underestimated. Through an experienced manager, team members are able to share a common vision. It calls for an experienced leader and manager to instil the same values and understanding of what the team want to achieve. For example, an experience manager will know how to motivate workers by communicating to them or giving incentives. Such actions are instrumental in achieving the project’s goal.