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Leadership in Context – Leadership Theories
Extensive studies of contemporary leadership theories have facilitated a valuable paradigmatic analysis off prior perceptions on charismatic leadership, trait theories and subsequently shifted the paradigms and understanding of the classical leadership theories.
According to Rickards and Clark (2006) the sociological paradigm (platform of understanding) should be treated as the current understanding of present views off leadership.
Subsequently, I have learned that the old-styled charismatic leadership has a dark side with numerous flaws. In the current leadership era the new leadership theories tend to associate the new transformational leadership with follower empowerment.
The sociological paradigms accepted seem to have hidden conceptual dangers due to the paradoxes. Hence, my personal leadership journey focused on my platform of understanding and how I integrated the theory with my personal context and personal experiences.
Contextual Details
Pinto J. K. et al (1998) suggested that in the project management context, leadership is a truly multifaceted concept and that project leadership is a complex process that is crucial to successful project management.
Within my leadership context, as a professional project management consultant, it is essential to challenge the surface assumptions and beliefs and develop contextual maps that will efficiently manage the fundamental project team leadership dilemmas. The contextual material allows me to reflect on my prior knowledge and critically think on how to link the new theory with the practice within a particular context.
In the project management fraternity the contextual circumstances vary immensely and the characteristics of projects, characteristics of the teams and cultural differences require different leadership styles to match a particular situation in order to ensure high performing project teams.
According to the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) the most important factor in the practice of leadership is self knowledge. As described by Rickards and Clark (2006) the intentional change theory model focuses on perceptions of actual and ideal self-images to progress towards achieving the individual leadership goals.
Understanding the gaps, learned from positive & negative experiences, will allow a project leader to build on the strengths and reduced the weaknesses through self-directed intentional changes.
Creative Leadership
Creative leadership involves establishing a creative capacity, comfortable, supportive environment that emphasise cooperation and trust which is an essential ingredient for effective leadership.
According to the Sternberg R. J. (2003) WICS model [wisdom, intelligence, creativity synthesised] creativity is important for leadership and concerns the skill in generating quality ideas that are relatively novel and appropriate to the task.
Rickhards and Clark (2006) suggested that creative leadership can be defined as the process that changes team behaviours to outstanding levels of performance by introducing benign structures for leadership creativity that generates opportunities to be more creative and effective.
Sternberg R. J. et al (2004) proposed that there are eight different ways in which to exert creative leadership and metaphorically propel followers.
1) Replication; show that the organisation (project) is in the right place at the right time.
2) Redefinition; show that the organisation (project) is in the right place, but not for the reasons that others (i.e. previous leaders) think it is.
3) Forward incrementation; lead organisation (project) forward in the direction it is already going and progress through continuity.
4) Advance forward incrementation; move the organisation (project) forward in the direction it is already going but by moving beyond where others are ready for it to go. Forward motion that is accelerated beyond the expected rate of forward progression.
5) Redirection; attempt to redirect the organisation (project) from where is headed toward a different direction.
6) Reconstruction; attempt to move the organisation (project) back to where it once was so that it may move onward from that point, but in a direction different from the one it took from that point onward.
7) Re-initiators; attempt to move the organisation (project) to a different, as yet unreached, starting point and then move from that point.
Propulsion is thus from new starting point in a direction that is different from that was previously pursued.
8) Synthesis; the leader (creator) integrates the ideas that were previously seen as unrelated or even as opposed. Ideas previously viewed as distinct are now viewed as related and capable of being united.
Rickards and Moger (2000) suggested that creative leadership seems to impact on seven team factors and creative leadership contributions are strongly associated with the team performance factors.
1) Platform of Understanding (POU); explains that a team benefits from shared knowledge, beliefs and assumptions.
2) Shared Vision; POU is reviewed by team to suggest perspectives and the most dominant perspective becomes shared vision.
3) Climate; emphasize the importance of positive climate.
4) Resilience; emphasize the principle of seeking alternative perspectives when dealing with dashed expectations.
5) Idea Owners; Efforts are made to build commitment to new ideas. Team leader encourages deliberations to align the ideas.
6) Network Activators; capturing and importing knowledge through external network.
7) Learning from Experience; creative leadership interventions have been explained as a means of achieving experimental learning.
The Sternberg R. J. (2003) WICS model further disclosed that wisdom is regarded as the most important quality a leader can have as this relates to the ability to make wise judgements utilising creativity, intelligence and experience.
My experiences revealed that as a project leader I should not only manage the creative design process but should also facilitate creativity to ensure that the project environment is conducive to innovative design solutions. I also noticed that highly qualified professionals need adequate recognition and rewards for continued motivation. Hence, it is imperative to implement benign structures to manage the performance, ensure efficiency, rewarding extra effort, productivity and achievements.
Effective Leadership
Stark P. B. et al (1999) argued that effective leaders creates and articulates a clear vision that is compelling to ensure ample motivation, overcome adversity and align team members to behave in a coordinated manner. Pinto J. K. et al (1998) considered the essential project leader qualities are credibility, creative problem-solver, tolerance for ambiguity and a flexible leadership style. Cadwell C. M. (2004) suggested that effective leaders possesses a wide variety of skills but to ensure performance the five critical leadership attributes such as (a) providing direction, (b) leading by example, (c) enabling others, (d) sharing power and (e) seeking continuous improvement is essential. Pinto J. K. et al (1998) said that leaders will be most effective when they show high level of concern for both the task and the project teams.
The Strider W. (2002) powerful project leadership theory suggested that the essential concept of leading yourself is considering your own needs and also the needs of others involved to ensure that actions seem appropriate within the context.
Effective leadership styles based on the task and relationship behaviours can be selected according to the maturity levels of the project teams relative to the complexity of the project. To be an effective leader the decision-making styles must be based on how important project team acceptance will be and should also seek team involvement by aligning individuals to their roles. Aligning team members by articulated communicating of the vision and by demonstrating how each individual fit into the vision would create a motivating environment. Allowing team members the opportunity to realise their own vision and also involving them in decisions that affect them would increase effectiveness.
In a project leader role trusting myself is an important part in learning to trust others as trust is mutually influencing complex social relationships. The project leader plays a crucial part in the development of mutual trust, mutual understanding and the containment of uncertainties.
Adopting a participative leadership approach to provide guidance will ensure that project teams have high morale and are motivated to the extent that their individual behaviour helps the entire team’s commitment to achieve the project goals.
Empowerment and Intrinsic Motivation
Stark P. B. et al (1999) suggested that empowerment means to give others the authority and power to act and have the ability to get things done themselves. The goal is to gain confidence and increase responsibility. Menon S. T. (2001) mentioned that the empowered individual can be defined as being in the psychological empowered state of mind which is a cognitive state characterised by a sense of perceived control, competence and goal internalisation. A study by Zhang X. et al (2010) demonstrated the important mediating role that both psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation play in the creative engagement process. Rickhards and Clark (2006) argues that distributed leadership allows project teams to become more sophisticated and better equipped to confront more complex challenges.
Distributed leadership could overcome the unempowered team member problems. Empowerment would overcome the lack of direction-giving leadership where the leadership is collectively distributed among the project team.
I have learned that the importance of empowerment is to instil the team with a sense of power which makes them feel more self-determined. Within context the empowered team members will perceive themselves as being psychologically enabled, belief in the autonomy in the scheduling and performing work, having the authority and decision making liberty. This perceived competence denotes self-efficiency, confidence in demanding roles and appreciation for the project goals.
As a project leader, I have experienced that individuals differ considerably in their ability to understand and utilise emotional stimuli. Hence, within the emotional intelligence domain, perceiving emotions is particularly important for ensuring positive morale and team performance. I have also learned that empowerment as a human capital developer and enabling others is immensely successful in motivating teams in achieving objectives. By sharing power with team members gives them the sense of ownership and they consequently accept more responsibility.
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Human Side of Project Leadership
In-depth leadership studies provide explanations for the myth about “strong leadership” which have several limitations. Abrasive leadership styles are common but the characteristics such as being uncaring, bulling, punishing and developing a dependency is inappropriate for transformational leadership. In order to manage people effectively, a project leader needs a range of qualities such as intelligence, energy, confidence, responsibility, candour and sensitivity.
Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Leadership (2001) suggested that soft leadership skills make managers more human and more credible but does not mean weak leadership. Rubin R. S. et al (2005) argued that leader-follower relationships are critical to successful leadership and therefore the ability to recognise emotion is important for transformational leaders to build stronger relationships through understanding emotions. Rickards and Clark (2006) concluded that the essentials of the map for project management contain rational decision-making, rational problem solving and task-focused (functionalist approach) transactional leadership.
A tentative approach to critical decisions in unfamiliar circumstances is a sign of common-sense not indecision. Being vulnerable in intellectual or emotional disagreement will increase the project leader’s credibility. Thus, it is imperative to accurately recognise and evaluate emotion which is critical for the project leader’s capacity to inspire the team members and build effective relationships. Emotional intelligence is particularly important for the performance of transformational leadership behaviour such as showing empathy, sensitivity to individual needs and the ability to positively link the social competence and interaction.
By adopting distributed leadership approaches and deliberately invite criticism from skilled project team members the project leader will subsequently utilise their wisdom, experience and different perspectives.
My experience, as a project leader, also revealed that tough leadership could be perceived as arrogance or fear, autocratic and thick-skinned which are ineffective in most circumstances. To continue developing project leadership skills involves developing sensitivity to what works and what does not work.
Transformational Behaviour
Rickards and Clark (2006) argue that similar to charismatic leadership the transactional leadership illustrates the old style leadership approaches and ideas. According to Rubin R. S. et al (2005) the transformational leadership behaviour represents the most effective form of leadership in which leaders are closely engaged and motivates performance beyond transactional agreements. Wang H. et al (2005) disclosed that transformational leadership nourishes high-quality leader-member exchange, is associated positively with task performance and enhances member receptivity for role expanding. Conversely, Judge and Piccolo (2004) suggested that transformational leadership must be built on the foundation of transactional leadership and without this transactional basis the transformational effects may not be possible. Another argument by Bass and co-workers suggested that a mix of both styles will increase the effectiveness when transformational leaders also apply transactional behaviours.
Working with ambitious highly-skilled professionals necessitates creative, innovative, intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation which are the most successful in motivating project teams for high-performance and for inspiring a creative-solution attitude. Skilled people are proud and respond well to individualised consideration that are based on mutual respect and mutual trust relationships. According to Biddle I. (2005) an effective leadership style is one that works to ensure good relationships with satisfied, motivated, loyal, highly productive and efficient team members.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (descending order)
• Self-Actualisation Needs
• Esteem Needs
• Social Needs
• Safety Needs
• Physiological Needs
Self-actualisation is the need to achieve one’s full potential and people’s aspirations differ and also are continuously evolving throughout a person’s lifetime. People with higher aspirations can easily be frustrated and de-motivated if these needs have not been substantially satisfied.
Project Team Leadership Dilemmas
Pinto J. K. et al (1998) concluded that project situations such as the trend to adhocracies, extraordinary organisational structures and decision-making environment are particularly challenging for a project leader. Rickards and Clark (2006) suggested that the typical dilemmas with project teams are the explicitly defined constraints, roles, performance criteria, goals, critical success factors and team structures.
The Bruce Tuckman model describing that team development goes through stages such as; (a) Forming, (b) Storming, (c) Norming, (d) Performing and (e) Termination is to a certain extend evident in nearly all new project team development events. For a project leader, the ultimate result would be for a team to be highly effective and perform at a high level immediately after forming. Based on my experience the participative leadership style in particular is the best suited to facilitate the project team forming process because it is effective in reducing barriers, encouraging openness, encouraging teams to challenge individual mental maps and discovering innovative opportunities. Creative team problem-solving efforts are also a strong mechanism for developing team integration, cooperation and fully functioning project teams.
The project leadership challenge involves the coordination of tasks, alignment of the project team members according to their diverse skills, cultures, professions and expert knowledge. The challenges related to dilemmas arising from the defined boundaries for the project team responsibilities will require complex communication protocols and efficient leadership skills.
Project Team Leadership for Team Success
Turner R. J. et al (2006) concluded that the working environment within the project team has a significant impact on the project success. Therefore, the project leader has a considerable leadership role in fusing the team and developing team characteristics into a collective set of virtues such as ethics, respect, trust, prudence, courage and responsibility. Pinto J. K. et al (1998) mentioned that leadership is the single most important factor in establishing and maintaining effective teamwork.
Effective teams display the following characteristics:
1) Appropriate Leadership; The single most important factor.
2) Suitable Team Membership; Synergy that is created.
3) Team Commitment.
4) Team Climate; Informal rules, values & attitudes.
5) Team Achievement; Clarity of goals, team purpose, sets high standards of achievement.
6) Clear Roles within Corporation/Agency.
7) Effective Work Methods and Procedures; This is critical.
8) Team Organization; Role definition, clarity of communication, operational plan, & agreement on purpose.
9) Critiquing without Rancor; Direct feedback is vital for course correction and agility.
10) Individual Development; Harness the strengths of individuals and align all with the team mission.
11) Creative Capacity; Creative abilities nurtured by open communication.
12) Inter-Group Relationships; Ability of each member to communicate and support each other.
The behaviour of a successful team involves social problem-solving with the emphasis on interdependencies of individuals and in particular during team problem solving activities. The internal team leadership responsibility in this context is to ensure the coordination of individual perceptions, collective information processing, shared mental models and allocation of responsibilities across boundaries.
Rickards and Clark (2000) suggested that the benign structures principle will facilitate individual and team creativity which enhances performance, particularly creative problem-solving. They further mentioned that by observing the rational behaviours, rational problem-solving and by managing the cognitive conflict will most likely lead to successful results.
The challenges for a project leader is to find the appropriate behavioural leadership principles and right functionalist approach balance that emphasise the best project management practices. In order to achieve high performance and highly committed teams, a wide range of innovative leadership approaches will be required.
Situational Leadership
According to Pinto J. K. et al (1998) the situational leadership in the project environment is critical due to the set of complex circumstances facing the project leader that creates a unique leadership role. Hence, the project leader must possess a range of leadership skills that are essential for successful project management.
Hersey P. et al (1993) mentioned that the effectiveness of a leader depends on how the leadership style interrelates with the particular situation. Thus, situational leaders must have the skills to identify environment clues, intelligently analyse, and appreciate the differences in people and then have the flexibility to adapt the most appropriate leadership behaviour. Pinto J. K. et al (1998) further suggested that a project leader may act differently under different conditions depending on the different pressures on leadership style such as the project problem attributes pressures, leader personality pressures and the project constraint pressures. The Kreitner R. et al (1998) situational theories concluded that the effectiveness of particular leadership behaviour depends on a situation that changes and different styles become more appropriate.
Pinto J. K. et al (1998) disclosed that the situational analysis model developed by Yukl provide a framework by which to determine the 19 leadership needs listed below. The model identifies a variety of leader behaviours and specifies conditions under which these behaviours would maximise leadership effectiveness. A further step in the situational development model is to evaluate how well the project leader is performing on the 19 dimensions identified. This is then followed by combining the situational needs and leadership behaviour assessment to identify the areas in greatest need for leadership improvement.
1) Performance Emphasis
2) Consideration
3) Inspiration
4) Praise-Recognition
5) Structuring Reward Contingencies
6) Decision Participation
7) Autonomy-Delegation
8) Role Clarification
9) Goal Setting
10) Training-Coaching
11) Work Facilitation
12) Problem Solving
13) Planning
14) Coordination
15) Information Dissemination
16) Representation
17) Interaction Facilitation
18) Conflict Management
19) Criticism-Discipline
I have learned that the project leader’s leadership style is a key success factor that inevitably will have an impact on the success of a project and different styles will be better for different types of projects and for different situations. That is why the Intellectual Competence (IQ), Managerial Competence (MQ) and Emotional Competence (EQ) dimensions will help to determine how well the project leader performs and consequently how the project team members will behave. [See description in table below]
Particular leadership styles should relate to the relevant variables such as productivity, motivation, commitment, initiative, morale and job satisfaction. Inflexibility and applying the same “strong leadership” style in all situations leads to unsuccessful results. It is essential that a project leader should have cultural awareness, social awareness, situational awareness and then should also be able to do situational analysis for a better understanding and to consciously choose the appropriate leadership behaviour.
The challenge for a project leader is to select different project leadership styles that are appropriate at each stage of the project life cycle and appropriate for multicultural projects. The objective in a project leadership role should be to create an effective working environment for the project team by combining task-orientated and people-orientated leadership styles.
Conclusion
The cognitive process in analysing the individual project team member’s character in order to predict their behavioural patterns is very important in addition to adapting to specific situational contingencies. In order to be more effective a project leader should aspire to adopt leadership approaches that promote coherent commitment and pursue a persuasive vision collectively with high performance standards leading to satisfactory rewards.
Project Leader Competency Dimensions
A study by Turner R. J. et al (2006) concluded that there are fifteen (15) leadership competency dimensions that should be considered for choosing the appropriate project manager to match the demands of a particular project. The study revealed that the types of leadership competence can be grouped together into three groups and also disclosed the competency profiles of the following three different leadership styles.
| Leadership Competencies | Leadership Styles | ||||
| Group | # | Competency | Goal | Involving | Engaging |
| Intellectual | 1 | Critical analysis & judgement | High | Medium | Medium |
| Competence | 2 | Vision & imagination | High | High | Medium |
| [IQ] | 3 | Strategic perspective | High | Medium | Medium |
| Managerial | 4 | Engaging communication | Medium | Medium | High |
| Competence | 5 | Managing resources | High | Medium | Low |
| [MQ] | 6 | Empowering | Low | Medium | High |
| 7 | Developing | Medium | Medium | High | |
| 8 | Achieving | High | Medium | Medium | |
| Emotional | 9 | Self-awareness | Medium | High | High |
| Competence | 10 | Emotional resilience | High | High | High |
| [EQ] | 11 | Motivation | High | High | High |
| 12 | Sensitivity | Medium | Medium | High | |
| 13 | Influence | Medium | High | High | |
| 14 | Intuitiveness | Medium | Medium | High | |
| 15 | Conscientiousness | High | High | High | |
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CAPRIVI CONSULTANCY 
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