Essential Leadership Chraracteristics for Project Managers and Team Leaders

There has been an understanding of the role that leaders play in organizations that are constantly seeking to improve performance and remain competitive in the marketplace. To limit the scope of the study, nine leadership characteristics were selected for inclusion in the study. Inclusion criteria were twofold. First, the leadership characteristics ought to affect the team members’ performance. Second, the leadership characteristics should be reflected in the leadership styles of project managers and the teams’ perception of the project managers’ leadership styles. Many leadership and management researchers have found the nine leadership characteristics selected to most likely result in high performance and commitment to organizational goals (Cicmil & Marshall, 2005; Kouzes & Posner, 2002; Salacuse, 2006). The characteristics are charisma, shared responsibility, continuous development, common vision, mutual influence relationships, group interests, risk-taking, collaboration, and empowerment.

1. Charisma
A charismatic leadership is directly related to how the leader can influence the emotional response of the followers concerning the task effort (Northouse, 2004). Researches on influence of leader’s charisma on team performance indicated that to add positive meaning to the identities of project members, a charismatic leader behaves in admirable ways that cause every member of the team to work together in improving organizational goals.

2. Sharing Responsibility
Leaders build followers by sharing power and assigning critical tasks to the followers. “Leadership is not a matter of position but of relationships, and one-on-one, personal encounters are vital in building those relationships” (Salacuse, 2006, p. 4). Leadership is everyone’s business. Such is the case in the construction industry. When power is shared, leaders will be successful in increasing the competency of followers.

3. Continuous Development
A study estimated 40% of new managers fail in the first 18 months of functioning in the role (Zenger, Ulrich, and Smallwood, 2000, p. 25). The finding reinforces the position that the continuous development of employees has to be the priority of organizations since most leadership development occurs on the job. For an organization to grow and adapt to rapidly changing business environment the leader ought to be responsible for developing other leaders.

4. Common Vision
There are three qualities that allow a visionary leader to be effective: (a) an ability to explain the vision to others, (b) an ability to express the vision not just verbally but through behavior, and (c) an ability to apply the vision to different leadership contexts (Kouzes & Posner, 2002). The project manager is responsible for painting a clear image of the vision to the team, and the common vision should tie into the goals of the project and organization.

5. Mutual Influence Relationship
Mutually influencing relationships can be enhanced if a project manager creates an environment that allows team members to provide meaningful feedback to the project manager and the team without negative consequences. Individuals who make valuable contributions to the team make everyone on the team and in the organization better, and diversity of opinions and people is essential to team cooperation and team building.

6. Group Interests
An effective team’s success depends on effective communications, cohesion, shared vision, and knowledge sharing among members (Yukl, 2002). The relational aspect of project management involves having the skills necessary to provide the motivating environment that may induce project team members to work as a team to accomplish the objectives (Stacey, 2003). A project manager in the construction industry working with individuals on a team may focus on the welfare of the project and on the team members.

7. Risk Taking
The act of taking risks to achieve desired results is one of the benefits a project manager in the construction industry brings to the team. A leader willingly accepts the risk of failure in order to achieve a chance for success (Salacuse, 2006). Project teams in the construction industry may consider that following a course of action proposed by a project manager whom the project team trust is less risky and therefore more acceptable than following the same recommended course of action by a project manager whom the teams do not trust.

8. Collaboration
A team leader tends to exert effects that are positive or negative on group effort, collaboration, cohesion, goal selection, performance norms, and goal attainment (Cicmil & Marshall, 2005). Managing teams of professionals with diverse backgrounds requires collaboration among team leader and team members. Positive relationships are important because positive relationships stimulate trust, and trust in a leader is vital in securing the desired results from the team (Salacuse, 2006).

9. Empowerment
Organizations that allow employee input on a regular basis are likely to have team members who are familiar with departmental processes and more likely to effectively implement processes in teams. A leader who trusts in people, who gives leeway to make decisions, charge the team with the responsibility for work preparation, support, and who creates an environment for gaining recognition may produce employees who are productive.

Implications

There are four implications to the study:

1. The identification of the inter-relationships between the nine leadership characteristics. An outcome of the study is the discovery that even though the leadership styles of project managers and team performance were not strongly correlated among the teams surveyed, the data indicated the independent variables were strongly correlated with each other. The result of the correlations indicated a change in one variable might effect or cause a change in the other.

2. The finding that leadership characteristics of project managers affected project team performance. The result is accentuated through the coefficients of correlation presented in Tables 7 and 8. The effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable is not strongly influenced by the remaining variables in the project manager’s survey. The findings supported the notion that the combined leadership characteristics of project manager affected team performance.

3. The finding that leadership characteristics of project managers affected project managers’ effectiveness. An important outcome of the study is the discovery that some of the project managers perceived themselves as doing a better job when compared to the responses from the respective teams. In the analysis of all teams, 9 of 17 project managers had a mean score higher than the project team. Interestingly, 2 of 9, which represents 22.22% of the project managers with a higher mean score, also scored lower in the performance report.

4. The uncovering of leadership characteristics that appeared to have the greatest effect on team performance and project manager effectiveness. The examination of the project manager survey and the team survey results indicates in the high-performing teams the leadership characteristics of shared responsibility, risk taking, and empowerment received similar scores in both the project manager and the team surveys.

Recommendations

Organizational Structure

One recommendation is based on the influence of the organizational structure on team performance. The structure of the organization is important to ensuring high performance by project managers and project teams. As the business structure changes, the need to prepare new leadership to embrace new ideas also changes. For project managers to manage projects effectively, the project managers should employ a combination of leadership styles that suit the team the project manager leads. An organization that expresses high concern for both people and production; builds on the insights of the team; focuses the team through clarifying visions and goals; and promotes a culture of freedom, collaboration, and accountability will be effective in obtaining better results from the project managers and project teams.

Training Programs and Strategic Planning Initiatives

Another recommendation is the provision of adequate and effective management and leadership training and strategic planning initiatives across the organization. These initiatives should target every individual within the organization and structured to align with the goals, mission, and vision of the organization. Training programs and strategic planning initiatives may address:

1. How project manager who model charismatic leadership behavior affect team focus and actions.

2. How project managers of functional teams can generate and maintain clear vision for the team.

3. How team members might focus in meeting the needs of the team versus meeting individual needs.

4. The effect of promoting the leadership characteristic of group interests above individual interests on teams.

5. The effect of promoting the nine leadership characteristics amongst functional and cross-functional teams in the organization.

Cicmil, S. and Marshall, D. (2005). Insight into collaboration at project level: Complexity, social interaction and procurement mechanisms. Building Research and Information, 33, pp. 523-535. Kouzes, J. M. and Posner, B. Z. (2002). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Salacuse, J. W. (2006). Leading leaders: How to manage the top talent in your organization. Ivey Business Journal (Reprint No. 9B06TC08), pp. 1-5.

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