The Best Leadership Style for a Project Manager
By Eric Holmes
Project
Managers (hereafter PMs) must define project goals, define resources such as cost,
quality and time, and manage the most effective use of resources to obtain
project goals. People are the most important resources at a PM’s disposal, and
how a PM manages his team is crucial. Leadership has been defined as the “process of
social influence”, (Chemers, 1997: p5). A distinction can be made between
a leader and a manager (Daft, 1999: p35). A manager derives power from his position
while a leader derives power from social influence which invariably demands effective
communication with stakeholders and employees. There are many situations where
a PM won’t have positional authority over his team members, for example in a matrix
organization. In the absence of direct authority, a PM will need to use
leadership skills to influence team members and accomplish project goals. This begs
the question: “What
leadership style is most effective for a PM?” This essay will discuss
different leadership theories from a project management perspective, and conclude
that a situation-based leadership style is
the most effective.
Many
researchers have described effective theories of leadership. Trait Based approaches were described by
Locke (1991) and Daft (1999) who listed essential characteristics of leadership
including self-confidence, honesty, and the will to succeed. Self-confidence
and a strong will are important for PMs because of the limited time that a PM
will have to build rapport with his team. If a PM lacks confidence in himself,
it may be difficult to convince other project stakeholders of a project’s
worth. A PM’s drive is a crucial tool to enable him to bind the loyalties of
his workers and move forward to complete key project tasks.
Another
category of leadership theory describes Behavioral
approaches. The idea here is that leadership behaviors can be learned and
practiced in opposed to traits which are inherent to an individual. Autocratic leadership behavior is
characterized by an extremely directive leader who dictates to subordinates,
allowing for very little autonomy or individual empowerment. This style may be
effective in the case of training new military recruits, who cannot be expected
to have the knowledge or willingness to engage in warfare, but for a PM,
team-members will often be experts in their fields, and using an autocratic
style would fail to utilize their expertise. Democratic leadership behavior is based on team consensus. For a PM,
this style may be ineffective because individual team contributors often lack a
sense of common purpose, and obtaining consensus can be time consuming and
inefficient. Additionally, there are many circumstances when a team-member must
act against his personal wishes to serve the project. Without the oversight of
a PM to enforce project commitment, individuals will often serve their own
interests or, in a matrix organization, the interests of their functional group
before those of the project.
A contingency
based leadership style has been adopted by many organizations, and asserts that
leadership styles should be varied depending on the situation. Situational
Leadership Theory, a leading contingency theory developed by Paul
Hersey in the late 1970s, is the most effective and easiest framework to apply
to Project Management.
Situational
Leadership Theory (hereafter SLT) considers two roles, that of a leader and follower
(Hersey, 1977). The theory asserts that the follower’s willingness and ability
must be fully understood by the leader before an appropriate leadership style
can be adopted. Hersey asserts that “Follower readiness”, is crucial to a leader’s
success, and defines four categories, labeled R1 to R4, which characterize this
follower attribute. The four follower readiness levels are shown in Appendix 1.1.
In the SLT framework, the leader must first identify what level of readiness
his follower has and adopt one of four corresponding leadership styles, known
as “Supportive
behaviors”, labeled S1 to S4. For example, the best approach for an
R4 employee (willing and able employee) would be to use a S4 delegating
leadership style in which the leader allows considerable autonomy to complete
the task. SLT is essentially an observation about communication between leaders
and followers. The communication framework that it establishes is useful for a
PM. Communication between a PM and his team is a reciprocal process, and the PM
must understand what level of willingness and skill each of his team members
possesses before choosing a certain leadership and communication strategy.
The SLT
framework must be adjusted somewhat to meet the needs of PMs. PMs employing a S4
delegating style should be aware that this style is not appropriate for
sub-contractors, whose interests may not coincide with project goals. Here an
S2 selling style is more effective because it provides some autonomy while
closely monitoring progress. For most project stakeholders, PM’s will use
either the S2 selling or S3 participating leadership styles because
these promote communication and the free sharing of information in both
directions. These styles can allow the PM to get a better understanding of
project risk. There is a limit to the degree of communication that a PM will
have time for. If a PM must choose between coaching a worker and delaying the
project, the project goals must be put first. A PM must effectively balance the
project needs and the needs of his team, particularly on long projects when
worker fatigue may endanger project safety or present other key risks. A PM may
employ the situational leadership framework outside of his team, “managing up”
to obtain crucial resources for his team, or “managing sideways” to interact
with stakeholders on equal footing. The PM must be an adequate seller to generate
and maintain interest among stakeholders. SLT makes assumptions about the value
of follower ability over willingness. Referring to Appendix 1.1, a follower is
considered R3, or moderately able to direct themselves, by being able but not
willing. In practice however, a PM may encounter highly skilled workers who are
encumbered by an overriding negative attitude about a project. This risk is not
considered within the SLT framework. In fact, SLT simplifies the situation to
be simply the state of readiness of a follower. In reality the situation
includes many other factors, some of them external to the project such as political
or economic climate. Despite the above limitations, SLT recognizes the
importance of communication with stakeholders. By creating an easy to apply
framework, the situational leadership model gives PMs a place to start when
planning their leadership strategy.
Leadership
styles have been discussed with an emphasis on applying SLT to the field of
project management. The SLT framework is the most useful leadership theory for
a PM. PMs are busy and must quickly derive a practical benefit from any
academic theory. Applying the SLT to their daily work can lead to more
effective communication, a reduction in misunderstandings, and therefore more
effective project leadership. Effective management of the PM’s most crucial
resource, namely people, will help the project’s goals to be realized.
