Mathcing the Project Manager's Leadership Styles to Project Type
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
International Journal of Project Management 25 (2007) 21–32 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type
Ralf Muller ¨ b a,1
, J. Rodney Turner
b,*
a ˚ ˚ Umea School of Business, Umea University, Sweden Groupe ESC Lille, Avenue WillyBrandt, F59777 Euralille, France
Received 21 March 2006; accepted 21 April 2006
Abstract We look into the interaction of the project manager’s leadership style with project type, and their combined impact on project success. We aim to show that different leadership styles are more likely to lead to a successful outcome on different types of project. A recently developed integrated model of intellectual, emotional and managerial competence (IQ, EQ, MQ, respectively) is used to identify project managers leadership styles. A web-based questionnaire was used to determine the leadership style of project managers and relate that to the success of their most recent projects. These are related to project types, using a recently developed categorization system for projects. These quantitative results are validated against qualitative results obtained using semi-structured interviews of managers responsible for assigning project manager to projects. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Leadership; Emotional intelligence; Project type; Project success
1. Introduction Building on the behavioural, contingency and visionary schools of leadership, the emotional intelligence school [19] and the competency school (see for instance: [28,41,24,16] have shown in a general management context that the manager’s leadership style influences the performance of their organization, and that different leadership styles are appropriate in different contexts. On the other hand, the project management literature has almost studiously ignored the contribution of the project manager, and his or her competence to the success
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
International Journal of Project Management 25 (2007) 21–32 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type
Ralf Muller ¨ b a,1
, J. Rodney Turner
b,*
a ˚ ˚ Umea School of Business, Umea University, Sweden Groupe ESC Lille, Avenue WillyBrandt, F59777 Euralille, France
Received 21 March 2006; accepted 21 April 2006
Abstract We look into the interaction of the project manager’s leadership style with project type, and their combined impact on project success. We aim to show that different leadership styles are more likely to lead to a successful outcome on different types of project. A recently developed integrated model of intellectual, emotional and managerial competence (IQ, EQ, MQ, respectively) is used to identify project managers leadership styles. A web-based questionnaire was used to determine the leadership style of project managers and relate that to the success of their most recent projects. These are related to project types, using a recently developed categorization system for projects. These quantitative results are validated against qualitative results obtained using semi-structured interviews of managers responsible for assigning project manager to projects. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Leadership; Emotional intelligence; Project type; Project success
1. Introduction Building on the behavioural, contingency and visionary schools of leadership, the emotional intelligence school [19] and the competency school (see for instance: [28,41,24,16] have shown in a general management context that the manager’s leadership style influences the performance of their organization, and that different leadership styles are appropriate in different contexts. On the other hand, the project management literature has almost studiously ignored the contribution of the project manager, and his or her competence to the success