Project Leadership

MPM7002

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Week 3
 Leadership Theories and Styles

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Schedule
Sunday, 8.30
Introduction to Project Management to 12.30 –
Session 1 Chapters 1 & 2 November 05,
Leadership & Governance with Ethics
2023

Project Leadership and Leadership November 19,

Session 2 Chapters 3 & 5 2023
Behaviours and Skills
December 3,
Session 3 Leadership Theories and Styles Chapter 6 2023
December 10,
Session 4 Emotional Intelligence & Personality Traits Chapters 9 2023
December 17,
Session 5 Power to influence and Resistance to Change Chapter 7 & 8 2023

Chapters 12 & January 7 ,

Session 6 Project teams & teams Vs. Groups 2024
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Chapters 14 & January 14,
Session 7 Team Development Phases & Team Building 2024
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Chapters 22 & January 21,
Session 8 Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving 2024
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Session 9 Discussions on Assessments
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Leadership Theories
 Leadership theories help us to identify
and categorize different leadership styles
adopted by leaders in different situations.

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Leadership Theories
Leadership style is found to be reliant upon
a number of issues:
 The personality of the leader.
 The maturity of followers.
 The current situation.
 The wider needs of the environment..

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Leadership Theories
 Effective leaders are able to adapt their
style of leadership to suit the prevailing
circumstances.
 Also, these theories are important for
followers to recognize the approach taken
by their leaders. The following sections
provide some important current and
historical leadership theories.

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Leadership Theories - ‘Great Person’ Theory

 There is a range of theories that suggest

different approaches or leadership styles.
 This theory evolved from observations of
great leaders from history, whether this
be military, spiritual, intellectual or
political. In some cases, this theory
assumes that leaders are born, not made.

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Leadership Theories - Trait Theories

 Trait theories offer an extension to ‘great

man theories’, suggesting that there is a
set of traits or inner qualities that can
define a leader
 (More on Personality Traits next week)

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Leadership Theories - Behavioral
Theories
 Behavioral theories suggest that
leadership is embedded in the actions of
leaders.
 This develops the trait theories from
some inherent qualities of leadership into
considering what leaders do.

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Leadership Theories - Behavioral
Theories
 Fundamentally, our behaviors are driven
by our values and, in leadership terms,
there are some perspectives on value
categories that are represented by
simplified theories.
 For example, where is the focus of
decision making?.

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Leadership Theories - Behavioral
Theories
 If the leader makes the decisions, then
this is an Authoritative or Autocratic
leadership style.
 If the leader involves the project team in
decisions, then the leader is adopting a
Participative or Democratic leadership
style.
 When a leader has minimal involvement
and leaves decisions to the project team,
this is a Laissez Faire leadership style.
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Leadership Theories - Contingency
and Situational Theories

 These theories suggest that the specific

leadership style is determined by the
external environment or specific
situation.

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Leadership Theories - Transactional
Theories
 Transactional theories are applicable to a
managerial approach to leadership.
 They offer a simplistic style that is based
upon ‘transactions’ or instructions
between a manager and employee that
can be linked to reward for successful
completion of work, or, possibly,
punishment for perceived failure.

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Transactional Theories
 McGregor (1960) proposed two
fundamental approaches to managing
people, which he labeled Theory X and
Theory Y.
 McGregor’s Theory X – Authoritarian
Leadership Style: This leadership style
assumes that the average person will do
their best to avoid work and
responsibility so, therefore, they must be
directed and forced to work

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Transactional Theories
 McGregor’s Theory Y – Participative
Leadership Style: The participative
leadership style assumes that people
enjoy work and will take responsibility by
applying and directing themselves to
further the aims of their company

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Transactional Theories
 As a result of these observations
McGregor suggested that the essential
task of management is to create
opportunities, release human potential,
remove obstacles, encourage growth and
provide guidance.

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Transactional Theories
 He referred to this as management-by-
objectives (MBO).
 This transactional style is useful in
projects as it can be supported by
contracts (at team, personal, employment
and subcontractor levels) and, seemingly,
enforced through reward or punishment.

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Assessment 1 – Group Presentation
Task :
Explain the effects of shifting from Transactional
Leadership style to Transformational Leadership style by
a Project Manager to accomplish a project successfully
while focusing on the development of most related Soft
skills.
Both Transactional and Transformational leadership
theories have to be explained initially and then the team
needs to explain Transformational Leadership with an
example of a real Transformational Business Leader.
Both Soft and hard skills should be explained
independently and need to explain the most important
soft skills needed for an effective Project Manager using
literature.

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Transformational Leadership
(Northouse, 2019)
Contrast to transactional leadership
 Most managers are transactional

“transformational leaders and followers

raise one another to higher levels of
motivation and morality” (Burns 1978)
 Derived from Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs

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Hierarchy
of Needs

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Transformational Leadership

 Burns (1978) studied political leaders

Those responsible for significant social
advancement were transforming rather than
transactional

 Transformational leaders
Are not only concerned with what they get out
of a ‘transaction’
Aim to leave all participants better off as human
beings

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Transformational Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi
 Raised Indians’ expectations of the
possibility of political and economic
independence

 Challenged people
to “be the change
you want to see
in the world”

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Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders
 Seek to change the status quo
Articulate the problems in the current
system
Propose a compelling vision of what a
new society/organisation could be
Vision draws on followers’ values
 Reframe issues to align leader’s vision
with followers’ values
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Transformational Leadership
 Not simply about change, but change
through followers’ willing
participation
 Engaging followers’ values and
motivating them to achieve ideals
Justice, freedom, and equality
(the top of the needs pyramid)
 Not just using these words for an
emotionally charged appeal
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Transformational Leadership

Often called upon when the current

situation is undesirable
 Organisations in crisis through
Social impact
Environmental impact
Financial performance
 Adequate performance
Change is achieved by transforming the
organisational culture
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Transformational Leadership
Leaders encourage transformation by
helping people
 Look beyond self-interest at the
bigger picture
 Understand the need for change (people
often resist)
 Find self-fulfillment by highlighting the
personal benefits of achieving organisational
goals

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Transformational Leadership

Leaders encourage transformation by

 Raising people’s awareness of the challenges
and possibilities
What is undesirable or not working?
What else could we do instead?

 Challenging people to be their best

 Creating a sense of urgency

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Transformational Leadership
Bass (1998) identifies four qualities that enable
leaders to transform

 Influential (charismatic)
They are likeable and persuasive

Have the respect, confidence and loyalty of group

members

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Transformational Leadership
Bass (1998) identifies four qualities that enable
leaders to transform

 Inspirational
Appeal to peoples’ emotions to create a vision
greater than self-interest

Give people purpose and meaning

in their work

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Transformational Leadership
Bass (1998) identifies four qualities that enable
leaders to transform

 Intellectually Stimulating
Encourage independent thinking
and creativity

Make work more interesting and enjoyable rather

than boring and routine

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Transformational Leadership
Bass (1998) identifies four qualities that enable
leaders to transform

 Personally Attentive
Provide personal support by coaching, listening,
and empathizing

Motivate people intrinsically by challenging them

to achieve

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Transformational Leadership
Most popular leadership theory today

 Works better than transactional

leadership in almost all contexts
Private business
Public sector
Health, Education
Military, emergency services
Religious organisations

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 Examples - Steve Jobs
 Steve Jobs is known for being one of the
most iconic transformational leaders in the
world. He was constantly challenging
everyone to think beyond what they had
accomplished. Apple is well known for
innovation and that is largely due to the way
Jobs encouraged employees and used
transformational leadership to allow
everyone to use creativity.

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 Examples - Jeff Bezos
 Jeff Bezos is seen by many as a great
transformational leader. His leadership style
Involves always pushing employees and staff
to think about new products and
possibilities. Amazon has taken e-commerce
and delivery to an unprecedented level due
to his transformational and innovative style.
 (www.wgu.edu)

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Action Centered Leadership
 John Adair developed a leadership model
that focuses on leadership action. The
model suggests that the leader should
focus on three responsibilities: Task, Team
and Individual, acting according to the
demands of each.
 Considered as the first to suggest that
leadership can be an acquired skill that
can be learnt and developed

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Action Centered Leadership
 It is important to note that the leader
must attend to all three of the task, team
and individual responsibilities but can
focus on each one at different times in
order to deal with specific needs.

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Action Centered Leadership
 Achievement of the Task:
 Most frequently, the purpose of a
group/team is to complete some work, so
the leader needs to maintain focus on
achievement of objectives.

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Action Centered Leadership
 Maintenance of the Group:
 A leader must ensure that the group’s
collective needs are identified and group
cohesion is maintained.

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Action Centered Leadership
 Support for the Individual:
 Each member of the group or team will
have their own personal needs, and the
leader will need to support individuals to
maintain their personal effectiveness and
contribution to team success.

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Action Centered Leadership
 Adair’s view of leadership also implies
that motivation is not solely generated
internally within an individual.
 External factors, including an effective
leadership style, can spark motivation in
others.

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Situational Leadership
 This set of leadership styles suggests that
different styles are better in different
situations, and that effective leaders must
be flexible enough to adapt their style
depending upon the working maturity of
their followers.

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Situational Leadership
 Directing or ‘Telling’ Leadership style is
appropriate for followers who lack
competence but are enthusiastic and
committed to the work.
 They need direction and supervision to
get them started.

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Situational Leadership
 Coaching or ‘Selling’ Leadership style is
for followers who have some competence
but lack commitment to the task.
 Need direction and supervision because
they are relatively inexperienced.

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Situational Leadership
 Supporting Leadership style is for
followers who have competence but lack
confidence or motivation.
 These followers do not need much
direction because of their developed skills
but leader support is necessary to bolster
their confidence and motivation.

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Situational Leadership
 Delegating Leadership style is for
followers who have both competence and
commitment.
 These followers have the ability and drive
to work on a project by themselves with
little supervision or support from the
leader.

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4. Authority
 A similar model to Situational Leadership is
suggested by Tannenbaum and Schmidt
(1973).
 This model also has a strong dependency on
the development of the follower and the
component styles are also similar.
 There is close correlation of the styles with
the Situational Leadership model and
allocation of authority can be compared with
the result of the transition between directive
and supportive styles.
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Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Leadership Styles
 Daniel Goleman describes six leadership
styles that have some overlapping concepts
with the Situational Leadership model.
 • Visionary (or Authoritative).
 • Coaching.
 • Affiliative.
 • Democratic.
 • Commanding (or Coercive).
 • Pacesetting.

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Visionary Style
 This leadership style generally improves
every aspect of organizational climate and
works well in almost any project situation.
 A visionary project leader has vibrant
enthusiasm, clear vision and motivates
people, clearly identifying how their work
fits into the larger vision of the project

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Coaching Style
 The coaching style is a powerful tool that
generally has a positive impact on climate
in the project.
 The focus is on development and this
style improves commitment with
motivated followers who want to
improve performance. The leader
provides supportive feedback.
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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Affiliative Style
 The affiliative leader tries to create
harmony and build strong emotional
bonds, by creating a sense of belonging
and building relationships, which all have a
positive effect on trust and loyalty.
 This style works well in general, and is
particularly good when trying to build
team harmony, increase morale, improve
communication or repair broken trust.
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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Democratic Style
 The democratic leader spends time
getting buy-in, building trust, respect and
commitment.
 People have a say in decisions that affect
their goals and how they do their work
which keeps morale high.
 Such consultation has drawbacks due to
the time it takes to be effective and this
can adversely affect the project climate
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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Commanding Style
 This leadership style is least effective in
most situations, and has a negative impact
on the project climate.
 Decision making is autocratic, which kills
ideas from the team; their sense of
initiative and ownership disappears.

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) Leadership Styles

 Pacesetting Style
 The pacesetting leader sets high
expectations and is obsessive about doing
things faster and better, and expects the
same of everyone else.
 Poor performers get replaced and morale
drops as people feel overwhelmed by the
continued demands for excellence

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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Certain and Agreed:
 Here our project is similar to a ‘painting
by numbers’ style where we are all in
agreement and clear how to proceed.
 Decisions are simple and will not be
contentious, so a directive leadership
style would be suitable.

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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Certain and Not Agreed:
 When we are working with a project that
has clear goals and methods but there is
disagreement amongst the stakeholders, a
more flexible leadership style is
appropriate.
 Here, depending upon the maturity of the
project team, the Situational Leadership
model can be applied..
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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Not Certain and Agreed:
 In this type of project, stakeholders have
agreement about goals and methods but
there is a high potential for risk occurrence.
 The uncertain nature of the project might
require a change in leadership approaches to
fit the situation.
 When expertise available to address any
uncertainty, leadership should respond with
a commanding or visionary style.
 If there is no expertise available, then a
democratic style is likely to be effective.
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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Partially Certain and Partially Agreed:
 This condition fits in the center of the
figure and suggests there is some
agreement amongst stakeholders, but
there is also some disagreement.
 Many projects exist in this area and the
project manager can draw upon most of
the leadership styles to suit the situation.

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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Not Certain and Not Agreed:
 This is a difficult combination to provide
effective leadership.
 It represents a kind of ‘lost in the fog’
project where there may be difficulties with
stakeholders as well as having an unclear
task.
 Accomplished leaders might need to move
amongst all the positive EI leadership styles
depending upon their own vision, available
expertise and the influence of stakeholders.

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Linking Leadership Styles to Projects
 Selection of the right leadership style will
come with some experience and
development of various approaches,
particularly when combining different
leadership styles.
 The practitioner is recommended to start
simply, in a comfortable environment, and
develop each style step by step.

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Have a great week
 Next week Session 4
 Emotional Intelligence & Personality Traits
 Chapters 9

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