The Role of Leadership in Project Management
Leadership is an important aspect of project management. Project team leaders appointed to run a project have the power to determine whether an exercise becomes successful or not. It is, therefore, imperative for project managers to clearly establish their leadership roles in project management. In addition, the managers need to know the necessary skills that will help them successfully carry out their leadership roles.
Nature of leadership and management
Scholars have established that there is a link between the performances of an organization to the approach which the organization takes in regards to the management of its essential resources. This is an aspect referred to as management controls, and it determines the level to which an organization can meet its strategic goals. The concept of management control, when applied to project management, looks at how leaders manage the human resources in the said project (Marion, Richardson, & Earnhardt, 2014). The ideology behind the concept of management control is ensuring that all the resources availed for the project are put into the intended use. The concept, therefore, means that project managers need to ensure that all stakeholders with a role to play in the project perform their role and produce the expected results.
There are two approaches to management controls. The first approach to control is referred to as formal controls, which are the traditionally established codes of conduct and metrics of performance. Formal controls are put in place with specific outcomes in mind. They highlight what needs to be done and what to do in case of a problem (Marion, Richardson, & Earnhardt, 2014). Informal controls, on the other hand, are less structured and refer to the customary laws that are embedded into an organization’s culture. The informal controls are put in place to offer support for the formal controls. A project manager, therefore, can exercise his/her roles through the two perspectives of formal and informal management controls.
The role of project managers
The role of leaders in project management can be summarized as conducting a formative evaluation to ensure that every stakeholder is playing their role towards the achievement of organizational goals. To this end, the leaders have the critical role of rallying the stakeholders together to yield collaborative effort. With such collaboration in place, the leaders then motivate the stakeholders to play individual roles towards the realization of the project goal (Laufer et al., 2015). A review of the literature on management reveals that most scholars group the role of managers into six groups. These are leading, controlling, planning, organizing, staffing and directing (Hudson, Srinivasan, & Moussa, 2005). The main point, however, is that managers are responsible for ensuring that an organization’s scarce resources are well spread out to meet the pre-determined goals.
Project management is a broad concept that seeks to bring different stakeholders together in a bid to make them collaborate towards the achievement of set goals. With this kind of understanding, the roles of a project manager or a leader in project management can be grouped into three; the interpersonal roles, the informational roles, and the decision-making roles. Within these grouping are other detailed roles that need to be carried out on a daily basis. The level of success in achieving these tasks determines the overall success of the project. The interpersonal functions of leadership entail the activities that require the project manager to be the representative of the project to the outside world. To this end, the project leader symbolizes the whole project, with anything directed to the project equally directed to the head. The interpersonal functions also require the leader to be the source of direction for the project (Marion, Richardson, & Earnhardt, 2014). Here, different stakeholders rely on the leadership to show them what to do, with the leader expected to offer clarification to any unclear aspect. Also, the interpersonal function gives the head the motivational role of ensuring that stakeholders are constantly motivated to meet project goals.
Another aspect of the interpersonal roles of leaders is being the liaison to the outside world. Teams accorded to accomplish certain projects cannot work exclusively. They need external input to realize the project goals. To ensure consistency, a project leader is given the responsibility of dealing with outsiders, and acts as the representative of the whole project team (Hudson, Srinivasan, & Moussa, 2005). In carrying out the liaison responsibility, project managers need to ensure that the interactions with outsiders yield the best possible outcomes for the team.
Information and communication are essential aspects of any successful projects. It is important for a project team to have clear communication lines since misinformation and faulty communication lines have the potential of derailing entire project activities (Hudson, Srinivasan, & Moussa, 2005). This is the basis of the second group of roles of project team leaders; the informational roles. The leader, in this case, has the responsibility of monitoring any information touching on the project team. Besides, the leader has the responsibility of obtaining information from external sources that may be helpful in making project management more efficient.
The project leader has the role of verifying every form, of communication that passes within and from the project team or organization. To this end, every piece of communication needs to be first approved by the project team leader before dissemination. To this end, the manager acts as the mouthpiece of the project team to avoid situations where incorrect information is offered to the outside world.
The next category of roles that a project team leader has to play touches decision making. Decision making is an aspect that any organization needs to be successful in, since it determines the actions taken by the organization (Laufer et al., 2015). Project management can be seen as a continuous process of decision making. The implication is that the project team leaders need to ensure that the decision-making process during project management is effective. An important aspect of the decision-making role is constantly looking for new approaches to doing this. A leader needs to provide alternative ways to reach certain goals. This is because the plans laid down initially may not prove to be as successful as thought. To this end, the team leader needs to breed an entrepreneurial spirit, where he/she is involved in research that points at areas where the project management team and the organization as a whole have the potential of developing.
Decision making also touches on the issue of conflict. When people are brought together to work in pursuit of a common goal, the occurrence of conflicts is unavoidable. To this end, the project team leader has the responsibility of dealing with such conflicts to avoid the adverse effects such conflicts may have on the project in the long run. Conflicts between project stakeholders are a common occurrence. To this end, a project manager has the responsibility of settling these disputes to avoid the disruption of the whole team. Besides, the decision-making role requires the leader to be actively involved in resource allocation. Given the fact that resources are scarce, leaders have to decide on the resource quantities that go to specified activities or sections of the project (Hudson, Srinivasan, & Moussa, 2005).
Skills for leaders in project management
For the leaders involved in project management to effectively carry out their roles and expectations, there are some skills that they need to possess. These are often referred to as managerial skills. These skills can be obtained through a variety of ways. Some leaders may gain the leadership skills through formal learning while others get them naturally. Most leaders, however, acquire the skills through a combination of the two means (Marion, Richardson, & Earnhardt, 2014). These skills are essential in determining whether leaders guide their teams towards the realization of organizational and project goals.
A review of the literature on approaches to leadership reveals a myriad of skills that a leader should have. These skills, however, fit into three broad groups: technical skills, conceptual skills, and interpersonal skills (Laufer et al., 2015). Technical skills refer to the formal knowledge that a leader should possess. This offers leaders the knowhow of dealing with various issues in project management. Interpersonal skills relate to the ability of leaders to work well with the human resource and consistently motivate different stakeholders towards the achievement of common goals. Lastly, the conceptual skills refer to the level to which a manager is creative in running the project. To this end, the project manager needs to be a quick thinker with the ability to make alteration and improvements to the project management processes.
Project management is a collaborative effort that brings together various actors working towards the achievement of a common agenda. The leaders given the role to lead project management have certain roles identified in this paper, with different skills making them able to accomplish these roles.
References
Hudson, G., Srinivasan, T., & Moussa, N. (2005). Conflict Management, Negotiation, and Effective Communication: Essential Skills for Project Managers. . Australian Project Manager, 25.4, 25-27.
Laufer, A., Hoffman, E., Russell, J., & Cameron, W. (2015). "What successful project managers do.". MIT Sloan Management Review 56.3, 43-57.
Marion, J., Richardson, T., & Earnhardt, M. (2014). "Project manager insights: An analysis of career progression.". Organisational Project Management 1.1, 53-73.
