Leadership Styles and Competencies of Project Managers in Successful Projects

Leadership style and competency are relevant to the failure or success of a project. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the leadership styles and competencies that project managers possess to improve information technology (IT) project outcomes. The targeted population included 5 project managers from an organization headquartered in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States who have successfully managed U.S.-based IT projects and improved the project outcomes. The 3 traditional leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and participatory) were the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection included review of archival organizational documents and semistructured interviews with 5 qualified participants. Data were compiled, organized, dissembled, reassembled into a sequence of groups, and interpreted for meaning. The interview protocol, interview transcription, member checking, and methodological triangulation added to the trustworthiness of the findings. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: selecting leadership style, selecting leadership competency, and identifying project factors affecting project outcomes. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to increase job opportunities through improved organizational performance that may result from improved project outcomes