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Career aspirations in project management
Limitation of traits in leadership
Limitation of traits in leadership
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Recommended: Career aspirations in project management
Leadership is one important trait that characterizes a project manager. As a leader, he must possess the proper knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) needed to lead a project team toward project success. This is where his leadership competency is being measured. In this regard, organizations base their selection process on the project manager’s competencies not only on leadership but also on his behavior and other characteristics. In the United States, recruiters value more on experience and education (p.38).
Based on the Project Manager Competency Development (PMCD) framework; knowledge, performance and personal competencies can be applied to deliver project success. The knowledge on the processes, tools and techniques for project activities are necessary for achieving success in the project. The project manager’s performance competency is demonstrated by properly assessing the project and applying his knowledge on the project. His personal competency is shown on how he behaves in handling the project. His attitude and behavior characterizes his personality. A comparative dimension on PMCD and KSA show significant similarities and correlation as shown below: One activity that an organization use in the recruitment process is by
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A lot of security risk were experienced during the navigation and during wintering. The critical situation was mooring the vessel in the Bay of Whales. During the preparation phase, the plan had been to winter at the Bay of Whales. Specialists in this area were called upon (exploitation mode). According to plan, the ship was moored at the Bay of Whales (rationalization mode). But they encountered a storm and the moorings were broken. The expedition leader decided to move the ship from the bay (adaptation mode). Although, he is not familiar with the area (exploration mode), he was able to move the ship to safety
Though the project manager may not have the authority as functional managers, his or her leadership skills should be sharp. Part of a project manager’s responsibility includes project governance which includes decision-making (PMBOK, 2014, p.34). In his article, “Everything goes through me-The Project Manager’s Words to Live By”, author Bill Dow shared how the “everything goes through me” confidence displayed by the pharmacist at a local pharmacy could be beneficial for project managers (2013). Dow believed if project managers “possessed that same kind of confidence and showed those same leadership skills, the project management industry as a whole could be much more efficient…” (2014). Moreover, Dow identified similar characteristics as shared in Beach’s article. Jumping to the wrong conclusion or making impulsive decisions can have a negative impact on the project team as well as project success. In jumping to conclusions, we interpret reality and facts, based upon our beliefs or existing assumptions without obtaining sufficient information to draw conclusions. We then take actions which seem right because they are based upon our beliefs. This is also referred to as delusional reasoning (Manktelow et al.,
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
There is an article in particular titled “Applying Traits Theory Of Leadership To Project Management,” where the author Dean Gehring conducted thorough research that investigated the legitimacy of the traits theory of leadership applied to project management and determines how it correlates to core project management competencies (Gehring, 2007). The results of the literature research and the returned questionnaires clearly indicate that certain MBTI types have preferences that support project leadership, specifically, ISTJ, INFJ, INTJ, ENTP, ESTJ, ENFJ, and ENTJ, with INTJ, ESTJ, and ENTJ being the types containing the most traits that supported project leadership competencies (Gehring,
Leadership skills are essential for those who wish to lead change in an organisation. According to Kouzes and Posner leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow (2007). How this relationship works can be a determining factor in the success of a project or indeed an organisation. Not everyone is a born leader, but leadership skills can be developed and many theorists have come up with strategies and processes that can be followed to achieve this goal. Kouzes and Posner outlined a very successful 5 step model called the leadership challenge. Their theory is based on many decades of research that discovered that organisations, communities and individuals can and will
...he solution. Instead the solution is to develop richer and more complex processes of accomplishing the leadership tasks. Project Managers facing a complex challenge should focus on how to set direction for the team, create alignment between them, and generate their commitment and ignore how many people are, or are not, leaders. Making the accomplishment of the leadership tasks at the core of leadership raises new questions: What are the barriers or obstacles project managers should clears in order to set a clear direction, create an effective alignment, and generate a solid commitment? What resources exist in the organization that project managers could tap in for creating direction, alignment, and commitment as a complex challenge is being tackled? Answering these kind of questions can assist organizations avoid the traditional problems of distributed leadership
The skills a project manager should have are defined by Richman as people skills, project management skills and technical skills. In the case of such a large project such as the building of the TGD the project manager also needs to have integration skills and great knowledge of the organisation.
There are many similarities and differences between domestic and global project management. A project manager must realize that what might work in their country may not work in a foreign environment. Project managers might find themselves using practices that have worked for them in the past, without even thinking of the new environment, and issues may arise. Project managers need to understand the differences in a different country's environment to avoid and reduce any obstacles that there may be. Some considerations global project managers must consider are the legal, political, security, geographical, economic infrastructure, and culture implications of working with different countries (Gray, 2006).
Crawford (2000) suggests that project leadership is the highest ranking category among project management competence factors. Project management leadership style affects overall project performance. Recent research supports the idea that successful projects are led by individuals who possess not only a blend of technical and management knowledge, but also leadership skills that are internally compatible with the motivation of the project team (Slevin and Pinto, 1988; Turner et al., 1998). Zimmerer and Yasin (1998) found that positive leadership contributed almost 76% to the success of projects. Negative or poor leadership contributed 67% to the failure of projects. Project leaders need both, relationships and task oriented leadership styles, to cope with the challenges within different phases of project (Slevin and Pinto, 1991). In projects, project leaders must lead their teams towards completing defined goals with in a fixed time scale. Verma (1997) states “Achieving the goal or final aim is the ultimate test of leadership”. Goals and tasks are achieved through people thus making people an important resource for
Discovering what motivates this leader to lead is the belief that this she was sent to this earth to help others become autonomous and self-reliant; to help groups overcome their fears, to prepare the way for followers to embark upon their own progressive journey to help lead teams to authentic happiness. Therefore the proposed vision for this project oriented organization will be: “to strive to lead, the best way, every day (Crawford, 2013)!” Brilliant leaders comprehend their personal and professional strengths and seek prospects where their unique profici...
Since first taking the quiz “How Good Are Your Project Management Skills?” until now, can you identify areas of growth or knowledge regarding project management specifically, or leadership in general? Do you find yourself giving more consideration to particular areas, principles, or practices (e.g. scheduling, scope management, communication styles, etc.)?
A project manager should be aware of the key challenges and threats an organization would face as well as he/she should have the skills to tackle the crises effectively and efficiently. In addition to that, a project manager should also be able to convey the thoughts and ideas in a convenient manner who is responsible to make a framework for an effective communication to ensure clear communication between the team members even though the style of communication would be different based on the situation.
In the globalized economy, Successful project managers are in much demand across many industries. Organizations strongly need experienced project managers to lead their staff to accomplish their business goals and deliver successful projects. In an increasingly complex environment, project managers need to turn into many roles and have all kinds of responsibilities at each level of management within an organization. Good project managers are not born. They need to be trained. They develop their skills through study, practise and experience. They become better project managers after they finish a successful project each time. They learn new techniques and apply them on their projects. They learn their lessons from failed projects and then improve to be better project managers in the future.
Viitala(2005) concluded another theory about management competencies that contains six categories which are relevant to technical , knowledge , knowledge, leadership and supervisory competencies, social and intrapersonal. Technical competencies allow managers to handle the content of processes that they are responsible for by using tools, procedures and techniques. Business competencies are related to any business, it makes managers to think, to lead in the managing system. Knowledge management competencies include a lot of professional management knowledge such as concept formation and problem solving. Leadership and supervisory competencies are meant to lead people, support people and participate people. Social competencies include the ability of manager to establish the relationship with stakeholders. Intrapersonal competencies trend to provide the ability of self-control for managers.
Over the course of my professional life, I have become increasingly involved in project management roles. Doing so has made me aware of the many varied challenges that can face projects and the project managers who are charged with bringing them through to completion. The success or failure of projects, in whatever economic, political or social field, rests not just on the quality of the project’s goals, but also on the abilities of those involved in the project – and above all those who are managing it – to bring it to successful completion. To do this, project managers need to be equipped with a very wide range of skills, many of which are unrelated to the type of project itself. So, for example, a project manager of an engineering project must not only have engineering
When planning a new project, how the project will be managed is one of the most important factors. The importance of a managers will determine the success of the project. The success of the project will be determined by how well it is managed. Project management is referred to as the discipline that entails the processes of carefully planning, organizing, controlling, and motivating the organization resources so as to foster and facilitate the achievement of specific established and desired goals and meet the specific criteria of success required in the organization (Larson, 2014). Over the course of this paper I will be discussing and analyzing the importance of project management.