Can project managers do it alone? : the role of total project leadership on project success

The primary objective of the study was to establish the role that is played by team member leadership and strategic leadership, in complementing project manager competencies, on project success. Ultimately, the study is meant to assist project organizations and project managers in crafting leadership development programmes and plans that entrench leadership as a complementary aspect among project participators. The study is modelled on the concept that there are essentially three levels of leadership in projects, namely: (a) executive, (b) management and (c) operational level (DuBrin, 2010). There is therefore a complementary leadership relationship between company executives, project managers and team members that contribute to project success. Most current project leadership practices emphasize the project manager’s competencies as the key driving force in project success. Howell and Shamir (2005) assert that many writers in leadership agree that leadership is an interdependent relationship between the leader and the follower, yet leadership theories are too “leader-centric”. Beyer (1999) and Yukl (1998) in Howell and Shamir (2005) also criticized charismatic leadership theories as promoting stereotypes of “heroic leadership” that single-handedly determine the fate of the groups and organizations and that followers are a submissive lot to the leader’s will and demands. The literature study revealed that there are different perspectives on project success. Project managers and team members mostly focus on operational objectives of cost, time and quality requirements to the detriment of the business results, yet top management focus on business results. Further the literature showed that certain leadership theories only recognise the project manager for leadership on projects while others accept that followers themselves are leaders and that formal leadership is becoming irrelevant. Leadership is meant to be distributed to various role players in the team since it is a complementary construct. The empirical study consisted of a structured questionnaire distributed to a population of company executives, project managers and project team members in various project organizations predominantly in the Eastern Cape. The structured questionnaire was aimed at gathering views on the aspects of project success and project leadership, especially the role played by the strategic leadership and team member leadership as active participants that complement the project manager in achieving project success. The results of the empirical study revealed that: - Project success straddled both the notion of meeting time, cost and quality requirements as well as achieving strategic business results. - Leadership is a relationship between the leader and the led and that it must be dispersed to various participators in the team. - Top management (executives) play a valuable role in linking projects to strategy and ensuring an aligned selection of projects. - Team members play an active role in leadership, empowering the project leader and influencing his or her behaviour and consequently determining the results of the leadership relationship. Recommendations are presented for increasing project success through total leadership. These recommendations include that: - Management in project organisations should expand the definition and understanding of project success at all levels. - Executive management in project organisations should always view projects as strategic weapons to compete in the market place. - The strategic imperatives of projects and project selection are not a once-off exercise but further taken to implementation at project level through strategy implementation and monitoring. - Team members should be recognised as active participators in project leadership relationship. It is an obsolete idea to assume that as a result of the project manager having good leadership qualities and competencies that the team members will automatically follow