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Project Manager to Project Leader? and the Rocky Road Between...

Vijay K. Verma1, R. Max Wideman•
Simon Fraser University1
01 Jan 2002-
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the old image of a powerful project personality with a burning vision of the future state rounding up thetroops and charging off to Nirvana, is hardly consistent with modern management thinking.
Abstract: In recent years there has been a spate of publications on "Leadership" and “Team Building” bynumerous authors such as Bennis, Drucker, Covey, Depree, Byham, McLean and Weitzel,Dilenschneider, Fisher, Batten and others. Much of this has been directed to the "Captains of NorthAmerican Industry". However, in our opinion, leadership, management and team building, while allclosely allied, are sufficiently different in the project environment that they require special study.The old image of a powerful project personality with a burning vision of the future state rounding up thetroops and charging off to Nirvana, is hardly consistent with modern management thinking.Consequently, some of the current concepts of leadership and attributes required of the leader of anenterprise need to be carefully rethought when applied in the project context. That is, if a project is tosucceed and be viewed as successful. So the question is: What sort of leadership or management is themost relevant to project management in the decade of the 1990s and beyond?Considering the extent of management literature published in recent years, it might be thought that thisis no longer an issue. However, few writers actually define leadership and the context is generally not inthe project environment. To understand the difference, it is necessary to examine both the requirementsof a project team and the changes that occur through the project life cycle.

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Citations
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Proceedings Article•DOI•
Balancing research vision and research management to achieve success in the 21st century

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Philip L. Gardner1, Vijay Verma1, Brendan Payne1•
TRIUMF1
08 Jul 2006
TL;DR: Research management is the administrative ability that focuses primarily on planning, organizing, and developing processes and methodologies to ensure that the research team effort is effective, efficient and successful.
Abstract: Research leadership is characterized as visionary while research management is sometimes viewed as being process oriented and administrative. Many studies have proposed that the twenty-first century will be the age of the knowledge-based economy, but how can the wide spectrum of today's economies all structure their knowledge generating sector to prosper? In general terms, research leadership is the ability to foresee the emerging scientific road and drive the research sector with respect, confidence, loyalty, willing cooperation and commitment to follow that path. It involves focusing the efforts of a group of people toward a common goal and inspiring them to work as a real team. In comparison, research management is the administrative ability that focuses primarily on planning, organizing, and developing processes and methodologies to ensure that the research team effort is effective, efficient and successful. In a research environment, all research managers are not necessarily leaders, but the most effective managers over the long-term may prove to be good leaders as well. Both leadership and management are important because leadership emphasizes communicating the vision and then motivating and inspiring project participants to deliver higher performance, while management focuses on getting things done. The discussion will explore the difference between research leadership and research management and the importance of balancing both to achieve overall economic and social success in the twenty-first century. Statistical comparisons will be made between North America and Europe in the developed world, the emerging economies of India and China, and the stark contrast that exists in the developing economies of Africa

6 citations

Cites background from "Project Manager to Project Leader? ..."

  • ...Its success depends on the two-step process: first "plan" and then "produce" which is the genesis of every successful project life cycle [2]....

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  • ...Table 1 shows the differences in the styles of leaders and managers [2]....

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  • ...In comparison to leading, managing is much broader in scope [2]....

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The Role of Vision as a Critical Success Element in Project Management

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Dale Christenson
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the team working in harmony towards the shared vision can result in churn, anxiety, and worse, unnecessary delays and rework/redirection when teams were not in alignment.
Abstract:  Ensure Shared Vision. A vision tells us what the final results will look like and assists us in knowing when a project is finished. Without the team working in harmony towards the vision, we have seen churn, anxiety, and worse, unnecessary delays and rework/redirection when teams were not in alignment. If you suspect vision isn’t shared, address it in the manner appropriate for your project and team.

4 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Significant Leadership Qualities for Saudi Arabia Construction Leaders

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Ismail Abdul Rahman1, Nashwan Al-Emad1•
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia1
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a study to uncover leadership qualities which should be possessed by construction leaders to ensure the success of the construction project, which was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire distributed amongst selected construction experts in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract: Construction industry involves diverse individuals and organizations which are all targeted to achieve a specific task within a specific time. It really needs strong leadership quality of construction leaders in managing construction projects successfully. Hence, this paper presents a study to uncover leadership qualities which should be possessed by construction leaders to ensure the success of the construction project. A survey was designed based on literature review and also the outcomes of qualitative exploratory study. It was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire distributed amongst selected construction experts in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The selected experts should have more than 10 years’ working experience in Saudi Arabia construction industry. The survey managed to collect 31 valid responses. The collected data was analysed using Average Index (AI) method to rank the qualities based on the significant level of each of the leadership quality. It was found that 10 most significant leadership qualities required by construction leaders are self-confident, problem solving skills, willingness to take responsibility, honest and trustworthy, respectful with subordinates, sufficient experience, integrity, effective management skills, continuous quality improvement and reliable with subordinates. These identified significant leadership qualities should be considered by construction stakeholders in hiring new employees or retraining their existing workers for Saudi Arabia construction industry.

3 citations

Cites background or methods from "Project Manager to Project Leader? ..."

  • ...Qualities Sources/References Visionary [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] Effective Planning and Goal Setting [8,9,11, 22,17,23,24,25] Critical Analysis skills [14,15,18,20,21] Problem Solver [6,8,14,17,20, 22,24,26,27,28] Technical ability [12,16,17,19,29] Initiative of doing things [8,15,16,18,18,26] Create strategies [14,15,20,21] Team building skills [5,8,9,13,23,24,30] Decision making skills [5,6,16,17,19,22,24,25,27,28,30] Sense of responsibility [8,11,16,19,23,24,28,29] Empowerment [6,9,12,13,14,15,18,20,21,23,25,30] Monitor results [5,6,8,14,20,23] Integrity [10,12,16] Honesty and trustworthy [6,12,16,19,23,25,29] Equity [11,13,16,19] Effective communication [5,6,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17,18,20,21,22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30] Time management skills [5,6,8,13,24,25] Effective resource management [12,14,15,18,20,21] Resolving conflict [5,8,13,22,24] Networking skills [11,17,18,29] Ethical behaviour [8,12,19,30] Influencing skills [8,9,12,14,15,18,2022,29] Self-confidence [17,26,29] Negotiator [11,17,23,26,27] Good Motivator [6,11,12,14,15,18,20,23,27] Delegator [5,6,12,28] The qualities in table 1 together with 28 qualities attained from qualitative exploratory study were used in questionnaire design to uncover the important leadership qualities for Makkah’s construction industry....

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  • ...Qualities Sources/References Visionary [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] Effective Planning and Goal Setting [8,9,11, 22,17,23,24,25] Critical Analysis skills [14,15,18,20,21] Problem Solver [6,8,14,17,20, 22,24,26,27,28] Technical ability [12,16,17,19,29] Initiative of doing things [8,15,16,18,18,26] Create strategies [14,15,20,21] Team building skills [5,8,9,13,23,24,30] Decision making skills [5,6,16,17,19,22,24,25,27,28,30] Sense of responsibility [8,11,16,19,23,24,28,29] Empowerment [6,9,12,13,14,15,18,20,21,23,25,30] Monitor results [5,6,8,14,20,23] Integrity [10,12,16] Honesty and trustworthy [6,12,16,19,23,25,29] Equity [11,13,16,19] Effective communication [5,6,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17,18,20,21,22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30] Time management skills [5,6,8,13,24,25] Effective resource management [12,14,15,18,20,21] Resolving conflict [5,8,13,22,24] Networking skills [11,17,18,29] Ethical behaviour [8,12,19,30] Influencing skills [8,9,12,14,15,18,2022,29] Self-confidence [17,26,29] Negotiator [11,17,23,26,27] Good Motivator [6,11,12,14,15,18,20,23,27] Delegator [5,6,12,28]...

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  • ...Qualities Sources/References Visionary [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] Effective Planning and Goal Setting [8,9,11, 22,17,23,24,25] Critical Analysis skills [14,15,18,20,21] Problem Solver [6,8,14,17,20, 22,24,26,27,28] Technical ability [12,16,17,19,29] Initiative of doing things [8,15,16,18,18,26] Create strategies [14,15,20,21] Team building skills [5,8,9,13,23,24,30] Decision making skills [5,6,16,17,19,22,24,25,27,28,30] Sense of responsibility [8,11,16,19,23,24,28,29] Empowerment [6,9,12,13,14,15,18,20,21,23,25,30] Monitor results [5,6,8,14,20,23] Integrity [10,12,16] Honesty and trustworthy [6,12,16,19,23,25,29] Equity [11,13,16,19] Effective communication [5,6,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17,18,20,21,22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30] Time management skills [5,6,8,13,24,25] Effective resource management [12,14,15,18,20,21] Resolving conflict [5,8,13,22,24] Networking skills [11,17,18,29] Ethical behaviour [8,12,19,30] Influencing skills [8,9,12,14,15,18,2022,29] Self-confidence [17,26,29] Negotiator [11,17,23,26,27] Good Motivator [6,11,12,14,15,18,20,23,27] Delegator [5,6,12,28] The qualities in table 1 together with 28 qualities attained from qualitative exploratory study were used in questionnaire design to uncover the important leadership qualities for Makkah’s construction industry....

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TARDIS: A JOURNEY THROUGH AN ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE SPACE An Australian case study in applied knowledge management

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Graham Durant-Law, Tony Eccleston
01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: This dissertation is a lebenswelt study of a knowledge management project in action that details the ‘lived experience’ of the project warts and all from the perspective of the author.
Abstract: This dissertation is a lebenswelt study of a knowledge management project in action: that is it details the ‘lived experience’ of the project warts and all from the perspective of the author. The project is called the ‘The ADF Requirements Development Information System’, and is otherwise known as TARDIS. TARDIS is progressively being implemented within Capability Systems Division of the Australian Defence Force, with full implementation expected to take place by December 2005. TARDIS will link Government guidance to specific unapproved projects and highlight their impact across all fundamental inputs to capability. The outcome will be the ability to record and report relationships between higher level and lower level capability requirements, the solutions that satisfy them over time, and the projects that change them. TARDIS will also assist performance measurement in the capability development and acquisition processes. TARDIS is first and foremost a soft system of integrated components comprising people solutions through TARDIS Working Groups, process through TARDIS Process, and technology through the various applications like DOORS and Microsoft Office. It employs the Project and Capability Knowledge Model as the basis for integrating Hard KM components. The technology components are integrated through the inherent software interoperability within the products, and some process solutions to overcome an imposed no coding constraint. The other components are integrated primarily through process, or more accurately discipline. TARDIS is an incredibly simple system, which takes an information and knowledge manufacturing approach rather than the search and locate approach of ‘conventional’ knowledge management systems. It provides search and locate functionality by structuring data in TARDIS Electronic Files into a known ontology and taxonomy, and employing file naming discipline. This combined with the search and locate functionality inherent in DOORS and Microsoft Windows Explorer means that information is easily located. Furthermore the open architecture means that a document is only held in one location. Ultimately however, the whole system works on the discipline of people to follow the set process – military people are inherently good at this.

1 citations

Dissertation•
Ambidextrous leadership in innovation management processes : exploring the dynamics of opening and closing leadership behaviors at different levels of the Stage-Gate model

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Tim Voigt
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how ambidextrous leadership can be achieved by flexibly switching between two different kinds of opposing yet complementary sets of leadership behaviors over the course of an innovation process.
Abstract: The following study builds upon a recently proposed theory of ambidextrous leadership for innovation which argues that effective innovation leadership can be achieved by flexibly switching between two different kinds of opposing yet complementary sets of leadership behaviors. The purpose of this study is to extent the existing theory of ambidextrous leadership from Rosing and colleagues by providing a more differentiated view with regard to its most central assumption about how innovation leadership can be described. The research goal was to explore how both types of leadership behaviors alternate over the course of the innovation process. On the basis of the Stage-Gate process model opening and closing leadership behaviors were explored during the innovation process. Results reveal that opening and closing leadership behaviors are both constantly present but occur in different intensity over the course of the innovation process. Thereby findings generally underline the importance of ambidextrous leadership within innovation processes. In addition, the applied model of ambidextrous leadership is further extended by defining and refining existing and new items of ambidextrous leadership behaviors

1 citations

Cites background from "Project Manager to Project Leader? ..."

  • ...However, some authors have formerly attributed different leadership styles to different stages of the innovation process which will be considered during the discussion of the study 1 Introduction 5 (Frame, 1987; Turner, 1999; Verma & Wideman, 1994)....

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References
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Book•
Management of organizational behavior

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Paul Hersey1, Kenneth H. Blanchard1•
Ohio University1
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: A review of the book "Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources, by Paul Hersey and Kenneth H. Blanchard" is given in this article.
Abstract: The article presents a review of the book “Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources,” by Paul Hersey and Kenneth H. Blanchard.

4,190 citations

Book•
On Becoming a Leader

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Warren G. Bennis
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this paper, Bennis distinguishes leadership by focusing on 28 individuals, including Apple's John Sculley, Johnson & Johnson's James Burke, and others, in a new book.
Abstract: "In a penetrating, insightful new book, Bennis distinguishes leadership by focusing on 28 individuals, including Apple's John Sculley, Johnson & Johnson's James Burke", (Sloan Management Review), and others. "A solid work that illuminates its subject and engages (the reader).. . . Its ideas are wise enough to stand reexamination".--USA Today.

1,723 citations

Book•
Principle-Centered Leadership

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Stephen R. Covey
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this paper, a half-dozen or so people concerning their view of their organization's mission, vision, principles and values and fail to receive consistent, compatible, and unified answers, they should question to what extent the sharing actually exists.
Abstract: If you ask a half–dozen or so people concerning their view of your organization’s mission, vision, principles and values and fail to receive consistent, compatible, and unified answers, then you should question to what extent the sharing actually exists...

1,208 citations

Book•
Tough-minded leadership

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Joe D. Batten, Amacom
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: Batten offers new insights, focus, and lmotivation for all those committed to greater personal effectiveness as leaders and provides fuel for decisiveness in an age of uncertainty.
Abstract: Batten offers new insights, focus, and lmotivation for all those committed to greater personal effectiveness as leaders. In an age of uncertainty, it provides fuel for decisiveness. If you are committed to the success of your organization--and of the person in the mirror--this in your book for the 90s.

45 citations

Book•
Leadership -- Magic, Myth, or Method?

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J. W. McLean, William Weitzel
12 Apr 1992
TL;DR: McLean and Weitzel as discussed by the authors present the requirements for leaders today and provide a platform to help you develop your own "leadership paradigm." You will learn how to build rapport, enhance credibility, and be persuasive.
Abstract: "The need for leaders in nearly every walk of life has indeed become critical, " state the authors of Leadership--Magic, Myth, or Method? "The relative scarcity of leadership nearly everywhere is cause for concern on the part of political, business, and other organized groups around the world." You probably agree with this statement. But are you willing to make decisions that affect other people? To be a leader? It is a huge responsibility. And even if you do have the inclination to lead others, you probably weren't born with any of the charismatic characteristics that all great leaders seem to have. So why bother? According to authors J. W. McLean and William Weitzel, the answer is simple. Your contribution is needed. And you can obtain the specific knowledge and skills you need--and that all leaders share. Leadership--Magic, Myth, or Method? lays out the requirements for leaders today and provides a platform to help you develop your own "leadership paradigm." You'll learn how to build rapport, enhance credibility, and be persuasive. You'll also come away with a new personal definition of leadership based on reality, not myth. The authors challenge the twelve most basic assumptions about leading others and the most common reasons for playing it safe as a follower, such as: leadership is just too complicated for me; leaders must know everyone else's job, as well as their own; leading is more stressful than following; leadership means being consistent. The book also provides a selective overview of pacesetting leadership studies, from the wisdom of Socrates and Plato to the contemporary models that form the base of successful leadership training today. You'll cover the principles ofleadership (self-knowledge, management, motivation, planning, and building relationships) and learn how to apply them in your relationships with others. You'll also learn the six key skills that every leader must possess, from communicating to problem solving. Leadership--Magic, Myth,

19 citations

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