Balanced Leadership

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Nathalie Drouin ◽  
Shankar Sankaran
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Leadership Transition ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Balanced Leadership ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Leadership Changes

This book describes balanced leadership in projects. Based on an award winning global program of research studies on leadership reality in projects, this book shows that leadership changes constantly and is not as static as existing literature may suggests. Instead, leadership in projects is dynamically shifted between project managers, individual team members, and subteams, all balanced in situational contingency. Their leadership may be exercised through a vertical, horizontal, shared, or distributed leadership approach. However, it is balanced leadership that ensures the best suitable leadership approach is used in any given situation. For that, the book presents a project-specific leadership approach called horizontal leadership, a theory of balanced leadership, and the five building blocks that enable balanced leadership. These are nomination of team members, identification of potential leaders, selection and empowerment of leaders, empowered leadership and its governance, as well as leadership transition. Emphasis is also given to the coordination of these building blocks through the socio-cognitive space, shared by project manager and team. The book finishes with three real-life case studies that exemplify how balanced leadership unfolds in projects.

FACTORS CAUSING PROBLEMS IN MANAGING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN A COUNTRY UNDER MILITARY OCCUPATION: Contractors’ Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 05 (07) ◽  
pp. 01-07
Author(s):  
Akram Subhe Suleiman ◽  
Jafar Subhi Hardan Abahre
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Impact

An exhaustive literature search revealed that not much research has been done on factors causing problems in managing a construction project in a country under military occupation like Palestine. So, it is the main goal of this research is to identify these factors which could be used by the decision makers to select the appropriate project manager who bosses the suitable skills and competencies to deal with these problems. The study is a step toward determining means to improve the effectiveness of projects through identifying project manager competencies. It is important for Palestinian construction industry to progress in terms of project success; the problems that face the project managers must be determined and identified, in order to achieve the best results with less risk. A clear understanding of such problems helps the Palestinian construction industry of finding the suitable solutions to overcome these problems. A questionnaire survey was carried out to achieve the main aim of this research. The respondents were engineers have more than 3 years in the position of project manager in the Palestinian construction industry. The survey was based on factors drawn from findings of another researches in different countries, together with special factors identified as potentially affecting Palestine. The results identified many factors created problems; they were clustered in eight groups. These groups were arranged according to respondents in descending order as follows: the political situation of Palestine, lack of consultants` technical competencies, lack of resources, insufficient planning, team members uncommitted, conflicts between departments, breakdowns in communications, and changes in goals. As a result of this study one could conclude that managing a project in Palestine is as difficult as the complication of the political situation of the country. The project manager should have a complicated mixture of skills and competencies from dealing with Israeli occupation to dealing with stakeholders to lack of resources and unclear goals. The study has recommended to the Palestinian government to improve the regulations and laws to meet the impact of closure and segmentation of the Palestine.

‘Smart' Project Management

2016 ◽  
pp. 179-192
Author(s):  
Céline M. Silvius ◽  
Gilbert Silvius
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Share Information

Mobile devices and applications are changing the way individuals gather, process and share information. A development which also applies to project management. This chapter reports an explorative study on the functionality of 50 project management apps. The apps were analyzed on the variables: type of functionality, project management processes supported, methodology/standard supported, topics covered, website support, languages supported, project roles supported, number of team members supported and number of projects supported. Our analysis showed that the functionality of project management apps today is mainly focused on two application areas: (A) Supporting the role of the project manager individually in the planning/organizing processes of the project and (B) Supporting team communication and team collaboration. Lacking in functionality seems to be the communication/collaboration with project sponsor and other stakeholders. Based on our study we recommend project managers to be selective when starting to use project management apps.

scholarly journals Intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence of project manager

2021 ◽  
Vol 907 (1) ◽  
pp. 012022
Author(s):  
G Reinaldo ◽  
A Andi ◽  
V Ong
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Analytical Hierarchy Process ◽  
Construction Project ◽  
General Information ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Hierarchy Process

Abstract Intellectual and emotional intelligences are two important competences of project managers for the success or failure of a construction project. This study aims to investigate how often project managers utilize these two intelligences in running their project. It will also take a look the intelligence that construction personnel expect more from their project manager. The research was conducted by distributing questionnaires to construction personnel that were working on ongoing projects. The results show that the project managers use both intellectual and emotional intelligences, with mean values of 4.20 and 4.12 respectively. Meanwhile, results from analytical hierarchy process analyses portray that the project team members expect the project managers to exhibit emotional intelligence more than intellectual intelligence with weight of 66.40% and 33.60% respectively. The study also conducts several analyses by using respondents’ and project managers’ general information.

scholarly journals Assignment of project team members to projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1381-1402
Author(s):  
Shankar Sankaran ◽  
Anne Live Vaagaasar ◽  
Michiel Christian Bekker
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Influence Strategies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Balanced Leadership ◽  
The Right

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by indirectly using lateral influence strategies to secure the appropriate resources. This study is part of a wider study investigating the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects in which nomination (or assignment) was identified as a key event contributing to balancing the leadership. It focuses specifically on the nomination or assignment event at the start of a project. Design/methodology/approach Based on the philosophy of critical realism, case studies were used to collect data through 70 semi-structured interviews in Australia, Scandinavia and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, project managers and project team members. Two project team members who worked with the same project manager were interviewed to gather diverse views. The data were analyzed individually by researchers from each location using a coding method proposed by Miles et al. (2014). The researchers then jointly analyzed the findings to arrive at five common themes from that explained how team members were assigned in practice. Findings Despite the recognized need for project managers to form their own teams, this study found that project team members were often assigned by others. This was because project managers lacked authority to secure their resources. Therefore, they used lateral influence strategies to help with assigning project team members. The study identified five lateral influencing strategies adopted by project managers to assign team members: creating an image of competence; creating coalitions; taking a gamble; waiting for the right moment; and reasoning with facts. Two of these lateral influencing strategies were not identified in the previous literature on influencing strategies used in organizations. Research limitations/implications The findings should not be viewed as representative of the respective continents where the cases were studied. However, this study contributes to the literature on project management, illuminating how project teams are assigned and by whom and, specifically, the role that influence plays during this event of the balanced leadership theory. It also identifies the types of lateral influence strategies used by project managers when assigning team members to their projects. It provides a pathway to explore the use of lateral influencing strategies by project managers beyond the assignment process. Practical implications This study will help project managers to become aware of influencing strategies that they can use in practice while assigning team members to their projects. It will also highlight the importance of assigning the right resources to projects with a view to achieving balanced leadership. Originality/value This research is of value to organizations using projects to successfully deliver their strategies by assigning suitable resources to their projects.

‘Smart' Project Management

2016 ◽  
pp. 579-593
Author(s):  
Céline M. Silvius ◽  
Gilbert Silvius
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Team Collaboration ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Share Information

Mobile devices and applications are changing the way individuals gather, process and share information. A development which also applies to project management. This chapter reports an explorative study on the functionality of 50 project management apps. The apps were analyzed on the variables: type of functionality, project management processes supported, methodology/standard supported, topics covered, website support, languages supported, project roles supported, number of team members supported and number of projects supported. Our analysis showed that the functionality of project management apps today is mainly focused on two application areas: (A) Supporting the role of the project manager individually in the planning/organizing processes of the project and (B) Supporting team communication and team collaboration. Lacking in functionality seems to be the communication/collaboration with project sponsor and other stakeholders. Based on our study we recommend project managers to be selective when starting to use project management apps.

scholarly journals Between a rock and a hard place: Management and implementation teams’ expectations of project managers in an agile information systems delivery environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Songezo Nkukwana ◽  
Nicky H.D. Terblanche
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Insurance Company ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Is Implementation ◽  
Implementation Team ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
And Control

Background: To address the low success rate in information system (IS) projects, organisations in South Africa are adopting agile implementation methodologies. Agile delivery environments advocate an iterative approach where autonomous, self-organising teams share project management (PM) activities. This encroaches on the traditional project manager role. Are project managers still relevant in agile delivery environments and how should they adapt?Objectives: This case study investigated how project managers could adapt to agile IS implementation environments to remain relevant. Specifically, the views of their key stakeholders (the management and implementation teams) were elicited to provide insights into what is expected from agile project managers.Method: A qualitative, inductive content analysis approach using purposive sampling was used to identify 13 participants (comprising management and implementation team members) within a large South African insurance company. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with all participants.Results: The management and implementation teams agreed that PM remains highly relevant in an agile environment for ensuring project governance including delivery, risk management, reporting and budgeting. There was, however, disagreement between the management and implementation teams on project management interaction with the implementation team. Management preferred a command and control type project manager, while the implementation team favoured a more inclusive, facilitative PM style.Conclusion: To remain viable in an agile IS project implementation environment within large corporates, project managers need to be aware of what various stakeholders expect of them. They need to retain some of the classic PM functions while adapting to the interpersonal and collaborative requirements of the agile way.

Horizontal Leadership and Its Scenarios

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-24
Author(s):  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Nathalie Drouin ◽  
Shankar Sankaran
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Balanced Leadership

This chapter addresses horizontal leadership and its scenarios. It starts by looking at what horizontal leadership is, and how horizontal leaders execute their leadership task in the context of balanced leadership. Then, it describes scenarios that occur when horizontal leaders are nominated, identified, selected, and empowered by the project manager, and when they are assigned to lead a project task. The chapter also highlights the specific aspects of leadership distribution between horizontal leaders and project managers to identify the project managers’ leadership style, and the nature of decisions made by both project managers and horizontal leaders to deliver the project. The chapter concludes with some scenarios to illustrate the types of decisions and tasks delegated to horizontal leaders.

E-Lancing

2005 ◽  
pp. 169-172
Author(s):  
Robert Jones ◽  
Rob Oyung ◽  
Lisa Shade Pace
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Team Members

Forming teams in a virtual environment is typically an ad hoc process. Usually, project managers draw from talent inside their organizations or from people that they or other team members know from previous interactions. You’re really limited by who you know or by the size of your extended social network. So how do you know that you have formed the strongest team possible with people who have the specific knowledge and experience that your project needs? Ideally, as a project manager, you could advertise the types of skills you are looking for, and people could apply to work on that project based on their availability, expertise, and interest.

scholarly journals Actual and expected transactional and transformational leadership behaviors of project managers

2021 ◽  
Vol 907 (1) ◽  
pp. 012025
Author(s):  
A Andi ◽  
K Sugianto ◽  
A F Khoesasih
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Transactional Leadership ◽  
Leadership Behaviors ◽  
Leadership Behavior ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Hierarchy Process ◽  
Transactional And Transformational Leadership

Abstract In order to ensure that construction team works toward the desired objective, it is important for a project manager to behave as an effective project team leader. This paper aims to investigate actual and expected leadership of project managers by comparing the transactional and transformational leadership behavior model. To accomplish the objective, the paper first briefly reviews the ways in which leadership, especially the two models, are approached. Data were collected through a survey to 63 construction team members in several ongoing projects in Indonesia. The results indicate that the project managers frequently use both transactional and transformational behaviors in leading their team, except the laissez-faire style. Results from analytical hierarchy process analyses interestingly show that the project team members expect the project managers to exhibit transformational leadership more than transactional leadership.

Coordination through the Socio-Cognitive Space

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-160
Author(s):  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Nathalie Drouin ◽  
Shankar Sankaran
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Mental Model ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Project Team ◽  
Relative Impact ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Balanced Leadership ◽  
Cognitive Space

This chapter addresses the coordination between the project manager and project team members during balanced leadership. This coordination takes place through a socio-cognitive space (SCS), consisting of the joint understanding between the project manager and project team about (a) the shared mental model for project execution (i.e., skill needs, ways to collaborate, and the understanding of the context of the project); (b) the currently empowered leader; and (c) the level of efficacy of the empowered leader. Then the content of the three SCS dimensions in projects with different project management methodologies is reviewed. These differences uncover the ontological differences underlying balanced leadership in different types of projects. The chapter finishes with a quantitative assessment of horizontal leadership’s relative impact on project success and its mediation by the SCS, showing the relative importance of the three concepts for project performance.

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