Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Essay - The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

By

Li HongYu
IDBE 12

University of Cambridge
August 2006

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Table of Contents
1.0 2.0 Introduction Leadership 2.1 2.2 2.3 3.0 Definition of Leadership Leadership versus Management Qualities and Traits of a Leader

Leadership in Delivering A Project 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Leadership in Team Building Leadership in Project Process Impetus for Changes Cultivating Leadership A Perception in Todays Organisations - Architectural or Engineering Consulting Firms

4.0

Conclusion and Discussion

Bibliography

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

1.0

Introduction

It is common practice today that a project manager is assigned with the authority and responsibility to manage a project in a constraining and ferociously competitive environment. The project manager shall therefore undertake the functions of organisation, planning, staffing, directing and controlling the project to enable the management of the budget and work plan and all project management procedures including scope management, issues management, risk management, and so on, to achieve the objectives of the project within the requisite time frame and budget. A project manager is often by default regarded as a project leader, playing a significant role in not merely managing but also leading the project team to achieve the objectives of the project. Nevertheless, can a project manager naturally be a leader? Are there distinctions between leadership and management? Research studies on leadership and management indicate that they are essentially different entities although there are many overlaps between them. What should a manager do and what should a leader do in a project environment? How can a good harmony be attained to balance leadership and management in order to deliver the success of a project which is, in the end, peoples accomplishment? To answer these questions it is necessary to turn to fundamental principles underpinning the definition of leadership, character traits and innate capabilities of a leader, relationship of project leadership and management implemented in the life cycle of a project. This essay focuses on seeking out answers for the above questions and finding an insight and essence of project leadership as well as the relationship of a leader and his team, the followers, in the cycle of a project work, the indispensable elements leading to the success of a project.

2.0

Leadership

The old image of a dictating boss with a non-negotiable goal of a project whipping and rounding up his team and charging off to the destination is hardly consistent with modern management thinking. The concept of the management of an organization or enterprise has steadily evolved over the last few decades. The different decades, according to Dilenschneider [1], may be characterized as shown in Table 1.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

1950 - 60 Administrators - By tradition - Chain of command - Stable - Introspective - Apprenticeship

1970 - 80 Managers - By exception - Ad-hoc - Turbulent - Market driven - Mentoring

1990 Leaders - By vision - Instant - Sustaining - Customer driven - Teamwork

Table 1: The Evolution of Enterprise Leadership

It can be seen from the above table that there had been a progression from administrative command to team leadership, a change driven by an enlightened work force and a need to be ferociously competitive. Leaders create and need followers. Therefore they need to understand people, his or her followers. Douglas McGregor [2] has examined theories on behaviour of individuals at work based on social science research, and he has formulated two models which he calls Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X is the assumption that: Average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can. Most people must be coerced, controlled and threatened if the organization is to achieve its objectives. The average human avoids responsibility, prefers to be directed, lacks ambition and values security most of all. Theory Y is the assumption that The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as rest or play. People will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which they are committed. Given the right conditions, the average worker can learn to accept and to seek responsibility. The capacity for creativity in solving organizational problems is distributed widely in the population. The intellectual potential of the average person is only partially utilised.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement. It can be seen that these two theories are two separate attitudes. The central principle of Theory X is direction and control through a centralised system of organisation and the exercise of autocrat or authority, whilst Theory Y is about the integration of individual and organisational goals. In the modern business world leadership works better in Y theory. Although the above-stated theories are dated now, the assumptions of them, however, lie behind most organizational principles today. Application of team leadership in todays organisations will need leaders who understand the organizational principles and develop and exert the effective leadership to influence and change those principles and effectively motivate people to achieve the organizational objectives and coherently accomplish individuals goals.

2.1 Definition of Leadership

Interestingly there are many studies and publications about leadership in recent years, but there is no common definition of leadership yet. Many authors have attempted to describe leadership within the limits of their understanding and emphasis. The following definitions of leadership are found from literature which may be more representative for leadership: Leadership is Development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify, evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organization the most important of which is people (Batten, 1991) [3]. Leadership is the lifting of peoples vision to a higher sight, the raising of their performance to a higher standard, the building of their personality beyond its normal limitations (Drucker, 1985) [4]. The ability to lead, including inspiring others in a shared vision, Leaders have clear visions and they communicate these visions to their employees. They foster an environment within their companies that encourages risk taking, recognition and rewards, and empowerment allowing other leaders to emerge (strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/instco-levc.nsf/en/h_qw 00037e.html) [5]. Leaders are people who inpsire with clear vision of how things can be done better (Slater, 2001) [6]. The above definitions plausibly come to agree that vision and people are primary ingredients in leadership context. An undersatanding of the importance of people to the success of a project has developed through experience attained and hard lessons learned as this: People First, Strategy Second

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Getting the right people in the right jobs is a lot more important than developing a strategy. This truth applied to all kinds of businessesWe learned hard way that we could have the greatest strategies in the world. Without the right leaders developing and owning them, wed get good-looking presentations and so-so results (Welch, 2001) [7]. The key ingredients of effective project leadership leading to success have been portrayed graphically as shown in Figure 1 (Adapted from Hellregial, D. Slocum, J.W., Jr. & Woodman, R. W.) [8].
Visioning Listening and Questioning Empowering

Influencing

Effective Project Leadership

Success

Communicating

Strategizing

Team Building

Figure 1 With these attributes in mind, a simple yet comprehensive, distillation of leadership thought in the context of a project has been suggested as follows (www.maxwideman.com/papers/leader/ definition.htm) [9]: Project leadership is an ability to get things done well through others. It requires: A vision of the destination A compelling reason to get there A realistic timetable, and A capacity to attract a willing team

2.2 Leadership versus Management

What is management then? What does a project manager do? Some answers are found from a literature search as detailed below: "Management" (from Old French mnagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand") characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organization, often a business, through the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible) (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ management) [10]. Management is the organizational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial
By Li Hong Yu Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

assets needed to achieve objectives, (home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/) [11].

and

measuring

results

A project manager is responsible for the planning, coordination and controlling of a project from inception to completion, meeting the project's requirements and ensuring completion on time, within cost and to required quality standards (www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/engine/dconst/copecnst/ resource/) [12]. It can be seen that Project Management is the process of attaining project goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, controlling, and directing organizational resources. It has significant administrative components such as managing, planning, organising, controlling, and monitoring to deliver the project. Both leadership and management processes involve the attainment of organizational goals, but each involves different kinds of functions with different focuses: Managers do things right, while leaders do the right thing (Pascale, 1990) [13]. The respective positions of leaders and managers on a number of issues are outlined in Table 2 [14]. It is clear that project managership is important because this is about getting things done. It is also clear that leadership is equally important to the success of a project because leadership is essentially about motivating people.

Managers focus on

Leadership focuses on

Vision Goals & objectives Selling what and why Telling how and when Long range Shorter range People Organization and structure Democracy Autocracy Enabling Restraining Developing Maintaining Challenging Conforming Originating Imitating Innovating Administrating Motivating & Inspiring trust Directing & controlling Policy Procedures Flexibility Consistency Risk-opportunity Risk-avoidance Top line Bottom line Good managers do the things Good leadership does the right right thing Table 2: Differences in Style

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

2.3 Qualities and Traits of a Leader

Further examination of leadership gives a perception in the innate characteristics and qualities needed by a leader. Research has found the following important characteristics and traits are common in a good leader (www.amputee-coalition.org/communicator/) [15]: Passion A leader has a passion for a cause that is larger than they are, a dream for how the world can be better and the part they can play and rally others to join-in making their dream a reality. Vision Vision gives direction to, and is needed to breathe life into, a passionate dream. Influence - Leadership is influence. Success of leadership today is by influence, not by authority. Holders of Values Leaders have values that legitimise an organization and characterize the organizations culture values like respect for others, caring about people, and in the case of support groups, empathy for those who need support and encouragement. Creativity and Courage Leaders think outside the box. They have the strength, courage and confidence to do the thing they think they cannot do. They are not afraid to try solutions that are new or different. Intellectual Drive and Knowledge Leaders are perpetual students of their craft. They read, they learn, and they get ideas from others. Confidence and Humility Leaders have confidence that their vision is correct, yet they are humble enough to accept better ideas from other people. Communicator Leaders speak and write in ways that encourage others to follow. Interpersonal Skills Leaders have the ability to listen well, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and keep everyone moving along in the same direction. It comes to a point at one time that good is not wholly enough. Can a good company become a great company? If so, how? Jim Collins and his research team embarked on a five-year profound research effort seeking out the answers to the above-said questions and discovered that one of the key factors for companies that made the leap from good to great and sustained it for a successful long term (at least fifteen years) was a Level 5 leader who was at the helm of every good-to-great company during the transition era and displayed the fierce resolve to do whatever needed to do to make the company great. The term, Level 5, refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities as shown in the following diagram [16]:
By Li Hong Yu Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Of the five layers of the pyramid, a Level 5 leader ranks at the top and embodies all five layers and demonstrates the distinguishing traits of the goodto-great leaders. The key inherent qualities and traits Level 5 leaders possessed are concluded as below [16]: Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions. Level 5 leaders display a workmanlike diligence more plow horse than show horse. Level 5 leaders look out the window to attribute success to factors other than themselves. When things go poorly, however, they look in the mirror and blame themselves, taking full responsibility. The above well describes what qualities and traits a person should inherently possess as a leader.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

3.0 Leadership in Delivering A Project

Application of leadership and management in project environment is very much to do with the characteristics of a project today and the life cycle of a project. Many projects nowadays tend to be of large-scale, complex and international in scope and with high-end standards to achieve in a constricted time frame and the need to adhere to a strict budget. Such projects tend to involve a relatively sizeable project team of multi-disciplined professionals and multi-phased implementation. Todays typical project environment could be described as agile and ferociously competitive. To deliver the success of a project and more importantly to sustain business in the highly competitive environment will need an effective leadership to be built up in the project team and executed through the process of a project.

3.1 Leadership in Team Building

Leadership in the contemporary project environment will have more emphasis on global and multicultural issues Asia & the West, Classical & Modern. Teamwork, the main paradigm of how we work today, needs effective leadership in team building. Leadership is about motivating people with the shared vision. An effective project team leader should be a social architect who understands the interaction of organizational and behavioural variables, respects various cultures and comprehends the differences, can foster a climate of active participation and can minimize dysfunctional conflict. To be effective, the team leader must identify key issues associated with three dimensions as follows: Understand project tasks - identify goals and objectives and conduct planning and scope management; Find who get the right people for the project on board, build an efficient executive team, establish trust and respect, and clear out barriers to team development; Then what with the right team in place, empower, motivate, enable and support people to undertake and implement the project tasks throughout the project life cycle. The above conditions can be accomplished through effective intercommunication which is pivotal in the project management process. The more the team can be motivated and empowered through effective communication, the more productive and efficient they become and in turn the less direction and control is required. This will lead to a Self Directed Work Team (SDWT). According to Batter [17] there are five things that members of a successful team need from their leader:

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Expectation Tell me what you expect of me Opportunity Give me an opportunity to perform Feedback Let me know how I am doing Guidance Give me guidance when and where I need it Reward Reward me according to my contribution For the team to become an SDWT, both of the members of a project team, the followers, and their leaders are expected to interact proactively throughout the process of a project. The leader focuses successively on telling, selling, gelling and producing project activities along with a four-phase careful team development, which is characterized as forming, storming, norming and performing (maxwideman.com/papers/leader/)[18]. The leaders accompanying level of supportive versus directive leadership behaviour should be consistent with the followership development in each of the four phases: In the first, members of the team tend to be quiet, polite, guarded with less communication but business-like. The leader should encourage and take telling actions to get the team acquainted quickly and through telling for the team to be aware of their goals and objectives of conducting the project; In the second, there tends to be conflict over control, individuals may confront one another and, as a result, either become entrenched or opt out. Whilst the leader uses the selling skills to motivate and enable the team to move forward to realize his planning and directing strategies; In the third of gelling versus norming phase, a semblance of organization emerges with the establishment and acceptance of procedures, team skills and focus on issues. Objectives are envisioned and strategies are formed. The team structure is established and systems and procedures are formed to follow. It becomes a focus for the leadership to empower and energize the team to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of the project via striking a good balance of playing directive and supportive roles. In the final phase, the team settles down to open and productive effort with trust, flexibility, and a mature closeness which enables self-direction. The leader tends to be more supportive than directive in this phase. This is a team leadership and followership evolution process through careful coherent team and leadership developments. The leader should consciously modify his or her level of directive versus supportive behaviour in response to the progressive evolution of team followership.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

3.2 Leadership in Project Process

Leadership is essentially about motivating people whilst management is about getting things done. Project management is a structured but flexible process for producing the project end result. Its success depends on the application of a two-step sequence: first plan, then produce. This is the genesis of every successful project life cycle. In the planning phases of a project, the project leader leads the project team and other major stakeholders through a high degree of study and analysis of the project Brief, information and constraints to come up with organizational and operational strategies in order to achieve agreed goals and objectives of the project. It is a process requiring a number of iterations in order to flush out the clients needs. In this connection, visioning, intelligence gathering and developing a compelling reason and appropriate strategies are the all-important issues. These issues also form the essential basis for effective team development. Planning is about optimising the effectiveness of the project and its results, i.e. doing the right thing. On the other hand, task execution gets done in the producing phases. In these phases, the paramount requirement is an ability to conduct the project deliverables to the satisfaction of the client(s) to the required standards, within the constraints of programme and budget by directing, controlling and deploying the human, material and financial resources. Thus, producing, or management of production, is about optimising the project process, i.e. doing the things right. In this producing process, motivating, innovating, energizing and supporting the team to implement the right strategies and get the project work done to the set requirements are also essential. It is clear that both managers and leaders have to get business result. This is about business survival and is absolutely essential. For managers they will normally see the completion of project as an end in itself, success means the completion of project tasks via the teamwork. However there is always some thing beyond such an ending. It is, again, about Vision and People. In todays world we go to work not merely for financial rewards for a basic living, but also for something with intangible values: self-satisfaction, career ambition, egoistic accomplishments, i.e. personal growth. This is a truism for both leader and followers. A visionary leader will never stop at the point where the team merely achieve the basic business result or the mediocrity of their work, he will not accept the ordinary or mediocrity but painstakingly and persistently pursue greatness by envisioning a higher goal. He virtually views projects as the means to that higher end. He will make his people believe in him, share his vision and wilfully run extra miles to ultimately achieve individuals goals which inherently integrate with the shared project goals. It is felt that this extra run for a higher goal distinguishes a leader from a manager and addresses the essence how a manager can become a leader.
By Li Hong Yu Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

It can therefore be seen that it is not enough to be only an effective manager in order to deliver a successful project. One phrase to express it is that management and leadership are symbiotic. Management brings order and structure to leadership and leadership actualises yet elevates management by effectively rallying and empowering the entire team to run extra miles to reach the project objectives and personal development goals. Without both being coherently present, this symbiosis cannot occur.

3.3 Impetus for Changes

Implementation of a project is a dynamic process, very often involving unexpected and unpredictable changes. A good team leader should not only provide continuity and momentum but also be flexible in allowing changes of direction. Change is the root of all leadership challenges in any sense. A leader should be able to anticipate and manage changes all the time. Changes emanate from both external and internal sources. For external changes, the leader should possess the abilities to sensibly observe situations, fathom the facts and adversities which emerge in the course of a project, and foresee the coming changes and their potential impacts, and then adjust the strategies and directions where his/her team should steer to in order to best cope with the changes. In response to agile and competitive external environments and situations the leader should be able to create and initiate internal changes in strategy and direction from time to time. These changes will give rise to changes in resources planning and actions in order to better adapt to the changing environment and maintain high competitiveness and efficiency. During the course of implementing a change, team members, the followers, very often may not well adapt to the change or be resistant to change at the beginning. The leader should use the telling and selling skills to persistently drive the move for change, and invigorate and motivate the team throughout the course of change. The leadership versus followership development process as stated in the preceding section should apply. Changes certainly bring in challenges but also opportunities. Apart from leadership to drive the right strategies for the change, it also indispensably needs management to manipulate resources, control actions and move the team forward incrementally toward the destination they envisioned.

3.4

Cultivating Leadership

Leadership does not simply happen. It can be taught, learned and developedThere are many ways to leadUltimately, youll know what techniques and approaches work best those you hope to lead will tell you. Much of your ability to get people to do what they have to do is going to depend
By Li Hong Yu Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

on what they perceive when they look at you and listen to you. They need to see someone who is stronger than they are, but human, too (Giuliani, 2002) [19]. A leader should understand that man needs more than financial rewards at work, he also needs some deeper higher order motivation the opportunity to fulfill himself. Leadership can be cultivated and developed in the process of leading and managing followers in conducting a project. Leadership blossoms in the teamwork soils in the form of an unique style and culture belonging to the leader and his/her team under the specific project environment. The leader will learn and master how to strike a good balance of implementation of continuity and change, motivation and administration, inspiration and control during the course of a project, whilst the team will go through a dynamic development process of knowing, conflicting, believing and willingly following their leaders to deliver the success of the project and also achieve their personal development goals in their career life. Leadership is therefore a live learning process which requires a leader to continuously perceive, think and anticipate.

3.5 A perception in Todays Organisations - Architectural or Engineering Consulting Firms

If we perceive in todays organisations such as Architectural or Engineering Consulting firms, it wont be difficult to find there are still the old ways of management thick management and administration layers; over-complicated administrative procedures to strictly control and monitor peoples behaviours and activities in conducting the project services business, especially in large companies with long history,. The reasons for the use of such an old-fashioned management system in todays 21st century plausibly stem from: 1) Such a control system was established in the past in the companys history which has been rooted as the Companys style and therefore will be very difficult to change and reform; 2) Many of the features of a system have been driven by legislations, industry standards, risk adversity and so on such that the reasons for the system become buried; 3) Its top management, the leaders, still believe that management means strict control and monitoring via administrative procedures created for people to strictly follow, and with the control system and detailed procedures in place it will bring in organizational order and discipline automatically in peoples day-to-day work. Such a management mechanism in a company will explicitly apply great impact on a project team in conducting a project. It can be seen that such an organization operates more to the principles of McGregors Theory X as described in Section 2.0. People in such an
By Li Hong Yu Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

organisation actually feel being controlled too much, lack of flexibility to do things with their own initiatives which fit to the specific project environment and are bespoke to a customers (clients) requirements. The project leader assigned internally cannot behave out of the restrictions of the system as well. People in such an organisation who undertake a project work will undergo such typical syndromes as outlined below: Passive - Rather than proactive, the project team will perform passively internally to the control system like doing things within the box, externally wont offer what the client wants if what the client wants appears at conflict with their internal system, i.e. people tend not to take risk to go beyond the box and are afraid to speak out so as not to violate the system as a non-conformer. However the consequences to the project may down-perform themselves and at worst lose the business and the client. Low spirit and morale It can be imagined that under such a system people are not willing to take initiatives to work proactively. The project leader tends to follow procedures to manage, control or dictate people and activities. There will be no atmosphere of high-spiritual team working. The morale in the workplace will be undoubtedly low. This will have serious adverse effects on efficiency, quality and productivity. Lack of responsibility - Under the normal situation project managers/leaders will be very much hands-off on projects as they believe their system will enable auto-driving people to carry out the works. Once adverse situation takes place they will land in to deal with the particular issues or crisis, in order to fire-fight. They tend to urge and push or even point fingers to the followers, with no takeup on their own. This is so-called sloping shoulder type of managers. Consequently the followers will adhere to the irresponsibility from the top level with ways to protect themselves from blame and trouble. This kind of irresponsible style in a project environment actually reflects the malmanagement culture of an organisation. Lack of Communication Intercommunication is generally lacked within the organization as the system inherently discourages people to communicate. There is phenomenon that individuals within the company do not talk to each other; inter-team communication and activities rarely exert. There are invisible walls between people and between teams. The organization virtually behaves in a way more like each vertical individual functional column with few of lateral connections across. It wont be a surprise that people working in the same office of the same company do not know each other well in personal level nor understand what others are doing in their work. Effective intercommunications as well as knowledge and experience sharing in the same team and office become impossible and are blocked by the invisible walls, therefore will seriously impact on effective coordination and collaboration. Efficiency and productivity of teamwork and inter-teamwork will be discounted significantly under such circumstances.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Painstaking and boring People who work in such a firm tend to behave very carefully and cautiously to prevent trouble and blame on themselves. Frustration and boredom dominate the working atmosphere. Survival may be the only expectation from their work and their career. Vision and personal goals will appear very blurred and remote. It is of no doubt that such an organisation cannot sustain as a top performer in the marketplace in todays increasingly competitive world in spite of its current survival. It is clear from this Essay study that impetus for changes will be a must for such an organisation, a radical shake-up to reform the organisation in the three dimensions way as stated in the previous section 3.1. Effective Leadership needs to be sought and implemented, the cumbersome management procedures need to be abandoned to stop managing but start leading. An efficient and transparent system is to be set up to enable the top management to be accessible to the bottom of the organisation easily and directly in order to observe problems timely and hear the voices of people and find effective ways to resolve decisively through close and effective intercommunications and interactions between leaders and followers. In essence such a problematic organisation should face reality without hesitation. It should embrace change, get rid of bureaucracy, build up harmonic and trustworthy leadership and followership, in order to outperform in todays marketplace and sustain the success in delivering projects and in essence, their business in the increasingly competitive world.

4.0 Conclusion and Discussion

It is learned from this Essay study that Leadership is the process of exercizing the influence between a leader and his/her followers that is necessary to attain projects goals. It is more of influence to empower, envision, energize and inspire people in the process of the project to achieve its success. It is a truism that leadership focuses on doing the right things while managers focus on doing the things right. Todays project manager should blend management and leadership roles in himself in conducting a project and learn to master both leadership and management skills to achieve projects success via the supports and actions from his or her team. Project leadership and management should juxtapose symbiotically in the teamwork in the process of a project. Leadership is a process. It can be learned and developed through the on-job training and in personal life experience. A good leader should be passionate of his duty and work, set out the vision and objectives and share the vision with his or her team, the followers, he or she should also be consistent and persistent in achieving the prescribed vision and objectives, embrace changes in strategy and direction during the course of project implementation; he or she should strike a good balance in using directive and supportive behaviours in the

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

process of team development. More importantly a leader should take full responsibility when things do not go right, but behave in a self-effacing and understated manner and be prepared to attribute success to factors other than their own leadership. To look at the practical world today there are some big companies still stubbornly operating in a very bureaucratic and inefficient management sytem and cumbersome procedures. Such an organisation obviously needs to implement modern leadership in order to change the present and adapt the organisation to high competitiveness and business sustainability. The context of this Essay will give an insight into the feasible solutions.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge

Essay The Role of Leadership in Delivering A Successful Project

IDBE 12

Bibliography
1. Dilenschneider, Robert L., A Briefing for Leaders, Harper Business, 1991, p5. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. McGregor, Douglas, The Human Side of Enterprise, 1960. Batten, Joe D., Tough-Minded Leadership, AmACOM, 1991, P35 Drucker, 1985, wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/ strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/instco-levc.nsf/en/h_qw 00037e.html Slater, Robert, Jack Welch and the GE Way, 2001, p29 Jack Welch with John A. Byrne, JACK What Ive Learned Leading A Great Company and Great People, 2001, p 383, 384 8. Adapted from Hellregial, D. Slocum, J.W., Jr. & Woodman, R. W., Organizational Behaviour, Sixth Edition, West Publishing Company, 1992, p386 9. http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/leader/ definition.htm

10. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/management 11. home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/ 12. www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/engine/dconst/ copecnst/resource/ 13. Pascale, Richard, Managing on the Edge? Penguin Book, 1990, pp65 14. Adapted from Warren Bennis on Becoming a Leader, Addison Wesley, 1989; J.W. McLean & William Weitzel Leadership: Magic, Myth or Method?, AMACOM, 1991; Stephen R. Covey Principle-Centered Leadership, Summit Books, 1991. 15. http://www.amputee-coalition.org/communicator/ 16. Collins, Jim, Good to Great, Random House, 2001, p20, p39 17. Batten, Joe D., Tough-Minded Leadership, AmACOM, 1991, P134 18. www.maxwideman.com/papers/leader/ 19. Giuliani , Rudolph W., Leadership, Miramax Books, 2002. Preface pxiii, xiv.

By Li Hong Yu

Univ. of Cambridge