project management unit II 4 assessment questions and DQ Question

MBA 6961, Project Management 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Analyze the characteristics of effective project teams. 3.1 Identify traits that are strongly linked to effective project leadership. 3.2 Explain the stages in the development of groups.

7. Apply critical chain project management to resolve project resource conflicts.

7.1 Identify different styles of conflict resolution. 7.2 Distinguish between functional and dysfunctional conflict. 7.3 Explain methods to deal with behavioral problems.

Reading Assignment Chapter 4: Leadership and the Project Manager, pp. 115–136 Chapter 6: Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation, pp. 186–214

Unit Lesson Introduction What do Gandhi, Genghis Khan, Martin Luther King Jr., and Adolph Hitler all have in common? They are all leaders. Leadership characteristics define many prominent figures throughout history. The view of what good leadership is varies from place to place or even from person to person. Good leadership is often associated with positive role models such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi; however, good leadership is also visible in unscrupulous figures such as Genghis Khan, and Adolf Hitler. Churchill and Hitler shared certain characteristics; for one, they both developed into charismatic speakers who believed they could achieve greatness for their country and people. Additionally, both men displayed extreme self-confidence and dedication to their cause. Most people view Churchill as a positive leader while they view Hitler as a tyrant. Both leaders influenced their followers in a similar fashion, achieving quite different outcomes. To this day, many leaders use Churchill’s leadership approach as an example of excellent stewardship while avoiding any suggestions of Hitler’s ideas. Types of Leadership Leadership should take on pragmatic and situational characteristics. Four basic leadership models relevant to effective organizational leadership include visionary, participative, transactional, and transformational leadership (Manz, Bastien, & Hostager, 1991). Any leadership approach should attempt to combine these four perspectives as well as others to integrate and balance leadership in an enterprise. Further, the incorporation of these leadership perspectives into the executive and team dynamics improves and stimulates enterprise- wide performance and competitiveness. More leadership models are in use today beyond the four models discussed in this lesson. Below is an overview of these four different perspectives. Visionary leadership: In visionary and most styles of leadership, three components must include (1) the integrity of the leader, (2) the makeup and desires of the members, and (3) the vision and way a leader communicates a message to the ranks (Manz et al., 1991).

UNIT II STUDY GUIDE

Project Management Leadership and Team Building

MBA 6961, Project Management 2

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Participative leadership: Participative leadership entails sharing leadership functions with followers. This approach establishes the notion in which followers become their own source of influence and direction (Manz et al., 1991). The goal is that members will take responsibility and become a part of the project’s decision process. Member participation will foster a commitment to perform in the best interest of the team. Transactional leadership: Transactional leadership emphasizes the shared influence between leaders and followers. This gives insight to organizational leadership as it relates to the relationships that exist among members in a work environment. The relationship between leaders and followers is inevitably defined in terms of a cost/benefit perspective. The term transaction, which is embedded in the term transactional, infers that one does something for another in terms of influence or support. The process of these reciprocal influences defines transactional leadership during a project. As transactional leadership becomes the norm, people within organizations realize intellectual stimulation and a sense of group membership through participation are essential. Transformational leadership: Transformational leadership concerns itself with identifying leadership characteristics that inspire and motivate individuals to a higher moral level (Burns, 1978). Basically, transformational leadership inspires commitment to reach a vision of a preferred future and, henceforth, make it a very effective approach when a project needs creativity and initiative. A transformational leadership style creates vision and purpose and inspires individuals to go beyond set expectations, creating a future that does not yet exist. Management and Leadership A significant difference exists between management and leadership. The former is about organizing, planning, controlling, and leading organizations to efficiently achieve organizational goals. Leadership is about inspiring and energizing people to accomplish a mission or goal. According to the definition of management, a manager can lead, but a leader may not necessarily manage. Leadership is the art of compliance, the art of influencing, and the effect of interaction (Pinto, 2016). Effective leadership is a combination of leadership and management.

Is a project manager (PM) considered to be a manager or leader? The answer is that a PM must use both approaches to have a successful skill set. Most PMs manage projects; they do not lead them. As a definition, management encompasses planning, organizing, directing, and controlling projects. Furthermore, project management entails activities related to scope management, cost management, time management, and change management, among many other project management concepts. Managers tell people what to do. Leadership is quite different. Leadership is people-focused and based on interpersonal relationships, which is characterized by individual behaviors and traits. Leaders motivate team members at an individual level, inspiring them to work toward a common, shared goal. Leaders are visionary, inspirational, and not focused on skills; rather, leaders are focused on people. Effective PMs also operate from a base of emotional intelligence. When applied to leadership effectiveness, emotional intelligence expresses itself in self- awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and the social skill of developing and maintaining relationships. These characteristics enable a PM to foster positive and supportive relationships with project team members. Another comparison of management and leadership suggests that management is very predetermined and definite. Management makes sure people follow the right processes or procedures, and a manager holds chain of command authority. In contrast, leadership is more people oriented and fluid. Leaders listen and ask questions to empower people instead of telling individuals what to do. Project management is a discipline based on the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK Guide and standards. These guidelines and standards assist PMs with best

CORE CONCEPTS

 Leadership is about inspiring and energizing people to accomplish a mission or goal.

 Management is about organizing, planning, controlling, and executing.

MBA 6961, Project Management 3

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practices in managing tasks, events, and processes. Effective PMs need both management and leadership. Effective project management comes from managing tasks and leading people. However, managing needs a counterbalance, which is leading. The effectiveness of a PM comes from maintaining a people-centric disposition. A manager needs to balance this disposition when involved in team meetings and one-on-one discussions with team members, and a manager needs to keep the focus when estimating, planning, and reporting. The manager-leader overlap is activity-based. Table 1 illustrates which style is more predominant, depending on the activity.

Table 1. Sample activity manager-leader overlap

Most organizational projects are beyond the capabilities of a single person. Project requirements and time frames mean several people must work together to meet a project’s objectives. As a result, the PM must assemble a project team. Project teams are the norm in today’s organizational initiatives. PMs face the challenges of managing and leading successful, high-performing teams. A successful project requires team members with the proper skills, attitudes, and applicable social abilities for efficient team interaction. PMs need to introduce and establish a healthy sense of interaction among team members. They also need to build cohesiveness and trust to achieve members’ commitment to the goals to successfully reach the project’s objectives. Pinto (2016) notes that the absence of these team-building efforts is a potent contributor to team failure. Project teams experience unique dynamics as members assemble together for project activities. Pinto (2016) notes that most groups experience phases of team development. The phases of team development include forming, storming, norming, and performing. Each phase presents unique challenges to the PM and members of the team. High-performing teams can also experience conflict. Conflict might occur over resources, group norm inconsistencies, group disagreements, and different points of view. Teams often introduce conflict because of organizational sources such as politics and resource constraints. A PM needs training on conflict management tools such as conflict negotiation, control, mediation, and arbitration (Pinto, 2016). The ability to evaluate a situation and apply a suitable approach for mitigation is critical to maintain a sense of order and collaboration. Effective PMs sustain consistent team dynamics and ensure team conflict resolution to preserve the members’ value to their projects.

References Burns, J. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper and Row. Manz, C., Bastien, D., & Hostager, T. (1991). Executive leadership during organizational change: A bi-cycle

model. Human Resource Planning, 14(4), 275–287. Pinto, J. K. (2016). Project management: Achieving competitive advantage (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.