A study on the types of managerial behaviors, styles and practices that lead to project success

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 23-26).To expand on the understanding of effective leadership and management, this study provides new evidence on the relation between employee satisfaction, project success, and managerial characteristics for the optimization of both. During the twentieth century, many have tried to uncover what it really means to be a good leader and to determine if it is possible to identify or create such people. In the managerial context, researchers have looked at project success and employee satisfaction as potential measures of leadership effectiveness. This study evaluates a behavioral and a value-based leadership theory and provides evidence consistent with both. The findings do not point to a strong direct relation between employee satisfaction and project success. However, the results do offer two sets of unique leadership characteristics, one with a strong relation to employee satisfaction and one with a strong relation to project success.by Valerie Kuo.S.B