The Effect of Leadership in Project Management

Introduction All organisations design and implement projects of varying magnitudes. The need to execute projects within fixed timelines with limited resources has seen many organisations demand people who are experienced in the field of project management to take over the leadership of projects within the organisations.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on The Effect of Leadership in Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This has made project management evolve over the last five decades as an independent body of knowledge as opposed to being an additional skill required for organisational professionals. The growing emphasis of the importance of cute management of people in the effort to yield organisational success has also made organisations resort to developing their management approaches from the contexts of organisational leadership as opposed to organisational administration. The role of lead ership in enhancing organisational performance is highly studied in organisations, thus leading to the emergence of a large scholarly body of knowledge that discusses the effectiveness of various leadership styles. The aim of this paper is to draw knowledge from both disciplines of project management and leadership separately and then merge them to prescribe the roles of leadership within the field of project management. Leaders who operate as project managers deploy leadership characteristics, which are similar to leaders within functional and operational organisations. However, projects are constrained in terms of time and resources. This means that leaders in project-based organisations condense their leadership roles to assume temporary functions in the effort to guarantee the achievement of results for a project team. Some project management scholars emphasise that projects needs to be managed by managers rather than leaders. However, this paper argues that enhancing the succes s of projects using people working in a teamwork environment requires the people in charge of projects leadership to have various skills that enhance motivation, commitment to various project tasks, and/or foster knowledge sharing between work groups. Leadership is important in project management. In the effort to justify this hypothetical proposition, the paper attempts to provide a clear understanding of the concept of leadership in project management by proposing the most important leadership skills that project managers should have.Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It also demonstrates how to use leadership skills to deal with problems in a real project management practice. Finally, it offers suggestions on how to gain leadership skills. Leadership in Project Management Leadership is important in all areas involving the use of people to achieve certain results by f ollowing particular processes. According to Kedharnath (2011), leadership is important in every aspect of life including politics, business environments, religion, and social networks among other scenarios (p.8). A leader is a person who plans, controls, direct, and/or guides other people towards attaining a common mutual objective and goals. Leadership occurs through interaction of three main contexts. These are leaders, followers, and situations, which prompt the deployment of leadership skills (Atchison 2003, p.45; Higgs 2003 p.273). In the context of project management, the project itself provides the situation, which brings together leaders and followers for the achievement of a common mutual goal, which is the completion of the project within the stipulated timeframes and within the provided limited monetary resources. The goal of the leader in such a setting is to facilitate the realisation of the project’s concerns by enhancing integration of various project facets to ensure that tasks do not derail from the preset project execution plan. Scholarly findings on how various components of projects need to be controlled and planned provide evidence of the role of leadership in project management as the arm that plans and controls the project. For instance, clear plans and means of controlling projects are required during scope management (Kjorstad 2010, p.19). Scope management encompasses all processes and procedures that are required in ensuring that a project takes into incorporation the required set of tasks to complete it successfully and within the stipulated time constraints. It constitutes scope initiation, scope planning, scope definition, scope verification, and change control of the scope (Tolbert 2008).Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on The Effect of Leadership in Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Hence, scope planning helps in guiding the proce ss of allocating time and monetary values to the project. Scope definition refers to the subdivision of all major deliverables of the project into small manageable deliverables. All these aspects require the contribution of leadership. Leaders analyse the skill bases of the work team members. They also design and allocate various job fragments based on the skills identified to ensure that people are engaged in the tasks with which they are acquitted (Mumford, Campion Morgeson 2007 p.157). This helps in the minimisation of time wastage in learning new skills and procedures of work. Consequently, attaining the concerns of a project as enumerated in the project scope definition calls for consideration of people’s skills and abilities. Leaders have the capacity to provide this information. The link between leadership and project management is evident by consideration of the manner in which projects are executed in contemplation of various leadership schools of thought. Leadershi p is one of the most studied disciplines within an organisation (Pearce Conger 2003, p.8). Daft (2005) supports the importance of leadership in an organisation by claiming, â€Å"There have been several attempts to provide a description and analysis of the essential facets defining effective leadership† (p.56). Although themes of leadership are ingrained in the works of Plato and Confucius, scholarship in the discipline of leadership in the 20th century began with the introduction of the trait theory school of thought. Mumford, Campion, and Morgeson note that theoretical constructs in leadership studies initiated by researching certain inheritable attributes so that it becomes possible to differentiate people who can lead and those who cannot lead (2007, p.159). This marked the initiation of the trait theory in leadership approaches deployed by organisations. Trait leadership claims that certain personality that defines different people is indicative of one’s leadersh ip abilities. This implies that not all people can effectively lead projects to attain their goals, objectives, and aims in the discipline of project management.Advertising Looking for dissertation on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the process of evolution of the trait leadership theory, various skills and personality characteristics together with certain demographic characteristics that may describe and/or predict one’s capability to lead have been defined and developed (Mumford, Campion and Morgeson 2007, p.157). Such characteristics include extraversion and self-confidence. Trait theory raises the question of the possibility of determination of particular leadership traits, which can help to resolve common challenges, which are encountered in the field of project management. According to Benator and Thumann, project management encounters the challenges of inadequate resources, poor teamwork commitment, insufficient planning, breakdown in communication, and the need to respond to the changing goals and resources in the process of project execution (2006, p.13). The cognition of these problems has made project managers resort to seeking various mechanisms of providing a response to these challenges besides seeking mechanisms of obtaining skills and knowledge that are required to address them. Struggles with this scholarly question lead to the establishment of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which identifies nine major knowledge areas of concern in project management (Duncan 1996, p.23; Haughey 2012, p.5). They are â€Å"procurement management, scope management, cost management, risk management, integration management, time management, and communication management† (IEEE 2008, p.11). Applying traits leadership theory or any other theory of leadership in project management requires the definition of the appropriate traits that can enhance leaders’ capacity to address these nine knowledge areas proactively and effectively. The traits leadership theory may be deployed in project management to identify a set of characteristics, which may enhance the performance of project management roles. Ng, Ang, and Chan (2008) identify these traits as â€Å"prob lems solving skills, self-confidence, energy and initiative, perspective, communication, results orientations and negotiating abilities† (p.735). These are intrinsic personality traits, which respond to the main challenges encountered in the project management. Possession of the traits identified by Ng, Ang and Chan (2008) are also consistent with the main concerns of project management enumerated by the PMBOK. However, there emerge problems in the application of the leadership trait theory to describe the contribution of leadership in projects management. The theory suggests that leaders are born and not made in any way. Opposed to the above assertion, studies done by Kouzes (2007), Tayler (2006), and Lewis (2007) provide evidence that better capacity to lead a project can be enhanced by experience and sharing of knowledge developed through involvement in active roles in managing different projects in the past. This opposes the arguments developed by trait leadership theory t hat leaders are born, but not created. According to Ng, Ang, and Chan (2008), trait leadership theory suffers from reliability and validity challenges since not all people possessing qualities of effective leadership identified by the theory make great leaders. This criticism poses an interrogative on the evidence of the capacity of the trait leadership theory to provide a reliable explanation of leadership roles in project management. In fact, according to Ng, Ang, and Chan (2008), many people who possess personality traits described by trait leadership theories as constituting essential requirements for effective leaders do not necessarily depict the essential traits of great leaders. The challenges of the use of the trait leadership school of thought to explain organisational leadership led to the emergence of other leadership schools of thought such as situational and contingency leadership theories. Contingency leadership theories focus on particular factors defining an environ ment, which help in the determination of an effective leadership style. According to Peretomode (2012), examples of contingency theories of leadership include the theory of effective leadership advanced by Fielder, strategic contingency theory, and cognitive resource theory (p.106). For example, with regard to Fielder’s contingency theory, leadership style, which yields outstanding results in one environment, does not necessarily work in another. The theory considers various facets, which determine the capacity of a leader to take control of a given situation. Such facets encompass task control, the ability to enhance teamwork relations, and the capacity to possess positioning powers. Furthermore, according to the contingency theory, leaders can be classified based on whether they are task or relationship-oriented. Task-oriented leaders perform better in work environments that are characterised by well-structured surroundings and good relationships between members and leaders . The leader also works and realises results in settings where he or she has a strong or even weak power of positioning decisions (Peretomode 2012, p.51). A project has the problem of poor motivation of team members (Tayler 2006, p.14). Contingency leadership theory can help in influencing motivational skills of a leader by providing explanations on how leaders can analyse various situations, which result in low motivation and commitment. This can help a project manager to turn around the problems that constantly recur in the field of project management. Opposed to the contingency leadership theory, situational leadership theories argue that leaders determine the most appropriate mechanisms of conducting leadership roles subject to the variables comprising the current situation within an organisation. This means that situational leaders in project management can help in the resolution of the challenges of occurrence of any incidences of changing goals and processes in the due proces s of project execution. The contribution of situational leadership theory in explaining the roles of leadership in project management is also evident by appreciating that particular scenarios requiring making of decisions call for different forms of leadership styles (Dye 2010, p.109). For instance, when leaders possess a high experience and knowledge on the most effective ways of driving organisational success, authoritarian leadership style is the most preferred (Higgs 2003, p.275). Conversely, where employees or subjects possess high skill levels on their areas of specialisations, deployment of the democratic form of leadership is the most appropriate in the effort to drive the success of projects. Another theoretical paradigm for explaining leadership is the charismatic school of thought. According to Lussier and Achua, this school of thought â€Å"inherited situational leadership theory and distilled it into either transactional or transformational leadership styles† (20 04, p.91). The distinction between transformational and transactional leadership is based on the central concerns of each styles. These concerns are on operational leadership, the processes of situational leadership changes, and the relationship existing among leadership styles (Schaubroeck, Lam Cha 2007, p.1022). Projects mainly focus on bringing about changes. Hence, the focus of the charismatic school of thought in relation to project management dwells on transformational leadership. Goleman (1995) introduced the concept of emotional intelligence as developed by Goleman (1998). Schaubroeck, Lam, and Cha (2007) discuss the concept of emotional intelligence as a success factor for effective leadership in an organisation. These schools of thought describe four main theoretical constructs that constitute an emotional intelligent leader. These are â€Å"self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management† (Schaubroeck, Lam Cha 2007, p.1025). Research ers such as Kerr et al. (2006), Leban and Zulauf (2004), and Lowe and Kroeck (1996) found a positive correlation between these four traits and leaders’ emotional intelligence and with the success of organisation that the studied leaders were in charge of leading. The emotional intelligence school of thought suggests that various leaders who want to resolve various problems emerging in an organisation can learn, observe, and/or develop emotional intelligence skills (Cote et al. 2010, p.497; Dulewicz 2003, p.194). The competency school of thought developed through the competency model of leadership binds various theories of leadership. This way, the competency model provides a detailed and holistic approach of studying organisational leadership. Hoffman et al. (B 2011) state, â€Å"The competency school reflects the traits, behaviours, visionary, situational, and emotional intelligence facets of the other schools to present a robust description of a leader† (p.354). Proj ects are complex in nature. For instance, various components of project management approaches entail managing different project elements. For example, project procurement constitutes an integral part of the process of project management in which various services or products are bought through a myriad of external sources outside the employees’ base. These products and services are used to complete the stipulated tasks making up the project (Duncan 1996). Under the stipulations of PMBOK, project planning management also entails â€Å"a variety of tasks including the planning process where it is decided on what to acquire and how it will be done† (Duncan1996). In this complex process, different leadership skills and styles are required. Leadership Skills Possessed by Project Managers General managerial literature and leadership practices provide an important starting point of evaluating important leadership skills that are required by project managers. Positive relations hip between leadership and organisational success is well documented. While developing this relationship, Turner and Muller (2006) provide details of effects of project management in enhancing the success of projects (pp.23-39). Based on the literature review conducted by Turner and Muller (2005), leadership qualities possessed by project managers have a direct implication on the success of a project in achieving its goals and objectives (p. 221). Direct implications include enhancement of motivation and development of positive perceptions of the success of the project (Smith 2009, p.75). Indirect impacts of leadership skills possessed by project managers include leading of project work teams with the chief focus being on gaining success. In particular, Turner and Muller (2005) point out, â€Å"the project managers’ personal characteristics including leadership style and emotional intelligence make a contribution to project success† (p.49). Positive correlation between project leadership and the success of projects receives additional support from many other researchers. For instance, Pinto and Trailer (2005) reckon, â€Å"projects often fall short of achieving their anticipated results, not due to the lack of project management, but rather from the lack of project leadership† (p.15). However, despite this support of the contribution of leadership in enhancing projects’ success, Turner and Muller (2006), and Pinto and Trailer (2005) do not identify various leadership skills that are the most important to form project management knowledge repositories. Different projects have different needs. Leadership skills that are considered the most important for project managers vary from industry to industry. Mike (2005) identifies transactional and transformational leadership behaviours as the most important behaviours for project managers in the IT industry projects (p.37). Bass (1995) insists that one leader can display such qualities simu ltaneously. For effective project management, project leaders have to deploy appropriate mix of the two leadership skills to meet the projects’ needs depending on various situations. Conger (1999) confirms the importance of transactional and transformational leadership skills for project managers claiming, â€Å"Transformational leadership augments followers’ effort and performance over and beyond the performance produced by transactional leadership alone† (p.167). Thite (2000) also found such augmentation as crucial and significant for the success of projects (p.237). One of the major challenges of project management is how to enhance performance through fostering commitment of the work team members to the project’s goals and objectives coupled with enhancing their motivation. Possession of transactional leadership skills helps to resolve these challenges. â€Å"Transactional project leaders motivate followers by engaging in transactional or exchange re lationships in which they exchange rewards for performance† (Mike 2005, p.38). Transactional leaders deploy motivation approaches to increase task accomplishment anticipations by emphasising that specific performance in project tasks allocated to them would lead to the attainment of a specific level of output, which forms the basis of rewards. Transactional project management leaders are smart enough to deploy project leadership behaviours such as management by exemption and/or contingent rewards (Mike 2005, p.38). The contingent rewards encompass the attempts to motivate organisational followers through clear and well-defined tasks, which are then rewarded accordingly upon their successful completion to meet quality standards. This implies that projects’ work team members work hard while paying attention to projects’ quality standards in the quest to gain the monetary rewards. This ensures that projects are completed within the slotted period. Transformational l eadership skills enable project managers to frame various issues associated with project tasks in a manner that stimulates followers in the effort to motivate them. This helps the followers to articulate the work of the project with their personal values. To achieve this goal, project managers exhibit behaviours such as â€Å"idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualised considerations† (Bass et al. 1993, p.39). Idealised influence capacitates project leaders to act as role models for portrayal of capabilities that are exceptional with reference to enhancing convictions of followers to a particular vision together with the behaviours that the project leaders want the followers to portray. Inspiration is essential in enabling followers to develop compelling visions together with helping them to handle the challenges encountered in the work place through the provision of a clear meaning and the desired goals of the specific tasks al located to them. This strategy is critical in enabling work members to identify themselves with their groups’ collective commitments to the achievement of tasks expectations by gaining self-confidence. This move is incredibly important in helping project leaders to stimulate â€Å"followers to be innovative and creative by encouraging them to approach familiar situations in new ways† (Mike 2005, p.39). Such an effort is important in leading a project from the paradigm of building knowledge-based projects. The capacity to foster knowledge sharing is yet another important skill of effective project leaders. Petty groups the leadership skill for top performers leaders in project management into â€Å"strategic awareness, executive presence, leadership maturity, and executive orientation† (2009, p.9). Leadership maturity refers to the understanding of project managers on their roles as leaders coupled with the behaviours that they are supposed to display to influenc e other people performing various tasks constituting the project. Leadership maturity is an essential set of skills possessed by project managers. Project managers need to have the ability to lead by formal directions or authority. They should have the capacity to communicate effectively with various stakeholders to enhance team development (Palmer et al. 2001, p.7). Petty (2009) argues that some organisations fail to educate their project managers to become strategic decision makers (p.11). Within some organisations, projects are internal components. Hence, strategic awareness is an important skill that enables project managers to link the project under their control and monitoring to the general needs of customers. Leadership entails working in a teamwork environment to influence other people in the effort to have things done in the right way. Petty (2009) insists that project managers need to have the â€Å"ability to work outside the project team with broader organisations and functional leaders to get things done† (p.10). This ability defines the skills of execution orientation. As sources of effective knowledge repository, leaders should encourage the sharing of this knowledge between various work groups to ensure coherence of various tasks comprising the entire project once they are finally linked up together. The capacity to lead a project as a knowledge-based temporary organisation has attracted the attention of many scholars in the field of project management. For instance, in the 21st century, which is a century characterised by sophisticated information tools, a major argument is that organisations that would succeed in realising constant productivity are the ones, which have innovative leadership abilities. Consistent with this proposition, Zahidul et al. (2011) argues, â€Å"Sharing of knowledge between employees and departments in the organisation is necessary to transfer individual and group knowledge into organisational knowledge, whic h leads to effective management of knowledge† (p.1900). However, in project-based organisations, a challenge is established in the attempt to manage and integrate individual knowledge facets into one body of knowledge leading to optimal utilisation of the available limited resources to achieve project requirements. In this context, Alekseev (2010) argues, â€Å"the problem, which might be not so important for a singular project becomes a significant issue for organisations that use projects on a regular basis for delivering their strategic objectives† (p.4). This problem is articulated to memory losses in a project. Leading information systems in a project implies that the knowledge developed during the project execution process cease from being relevant in a new project development when the project is completed. Such developments would entail coming up with completely new knowledge bases coupled with methodologies to enhance the success of the project at hand so that i t meets the technological requirements at the particular time of the project implementation. Consequently, the existing information on the experiences of an organisation in implementation of previous projects would appear largely not influential in evaluating the new projects. The main concern here is that individual projects would increase the probability of replication of similar mistakes. Zahidul et al. (2011) support this criticism by further adding, â€Å"When individuals share organisationally relevant experiences and information with one another, it significantly increases the resources of an organisation and decreases the time wasted in trial-and error† (p.1900). Although sharing of knowledge as an essential skill for project managers plays the role of making project implementers competitive and innovative, projects have peculiar challenges, which often create friction to the realisation of the advantages of development of a knowledge base. One of such challenges aris es from the characteristics of a project particularly its trait of being a time-bound endeavour. In any project, various specialists join hands to perform various innovative and complicated tasks within some stipulated amount of time. When they are through with the tasks, disbandment of the work teams takes place. If such a similar project be demanded in the future, chances are that the previous members of work teams would not come together to execute the future project. Even though this may help in limiting the impacts of the previous experiences on influencing or limiting the levels of innovation in the future projects, chances also exist that similar mistakes made in the previous project would be repeated. Additionally, since there is the tendency of creating a likelihood for project teams to be made of different persons every time a need to execute a similar project comes up, â€Å"managing knowledge in the context of project work encounters specific cultural and organising cha llenges such as forming work groups† (Alekseev 2010, p.5). This means that sharing and dissemination of knowledge also becomes challenged. However, the fact that projects exhibit opportunities for different people to interact in the execution of time-bound tasks, opportunities also exist for fostering multiculturalism within an organisation. The capacity to deal with people from different cultures and other diversities is an important skill for project management leaders. Another essential leadership skill for project managers is the call for putting in place leadership styles that focus on the manner in which people can improve their performance in projects. Followers want leaders who can help them grow professionally to become independent actors within an organisation (Atchison, 2003). This move is a major milestone in the adoption of participatory leadership, which is crucial for motivation of employees. In this regard, Pearce and Conger (2003) argue that an effective leade r designs his or her leadership styles around the perspectives of followership theories. He or she needs to discuss with followers about â€Å"the importance of quality work, the need for renewed commitment to high standards, and a reiteration of personal and group accountability† (p.123). In this context, it sounds imperative to infer that followers welcome openness to any new idea that may enhance their performance together with confidence in the manner in which a work group can create positive changes that would benefit them. This aspect is vital in the development of effective leadership skills in project leadership. Using Leadership Skills to deal with Problems in Real Project Management Practices Any project is often constrained by time, resources, and the need to lead processes to meet the desires goals and objectives. Another major challenge in the project execution processes is the challenge of orienting people to the desired outcomes. Projects involve bringing about change. In their natural state, people are normally reluctant to embrace change. Various leadership skills are required to deal with these problems and many others that are encountered in the daily routines of a project manager. To deal with the problems encountered in projects, Petty (2009) emphasises that project managers should utilise their strategic awareness skills. These skills are applied in practice by developing awareness with the project strategic environment. Focusing on strategic awareness to resolve the challenges encountered during project execution process implies that projects are subject to market dynamics. Such dynamics include time compressions, complexities in project execution strategies, and the rising need for employing people having high knowledge levels to help in meeting the increasing calls for projects to deliver high quality outcomes. This means that successful project managers are those who execute their roles through strategic priorities. People exec ute tasks that form a project when clarity is provided on the mission and objective of the tasks allocated to them in the context of the realisation of the objectives of the entire project. Strategic awareness offers a complete tool kit that may lack in a project (Petty 2009, p.14). For instance, a project manager may recognise poor motivation as the main contributor to the failure of the work group members to meet deadlines for completion of their work. Through strategic awareness skills, the project managers or the leader would focus on the strategy of seeking ways of enhancing motivation through the deployment of other skills such as transactional and transformational leadership skills (Mike 2005). Resolving a problem that may derail the capacity to complete a project within the required times lines requires a project leader to deploy skills that aid in the creation of high performance work teams. This calls for the evaluation of situations in the project to determine the requisi te leadership skills to recall from the set of leadership skills possessed by a project manager. Hence, situational and contingency leadership skills are crucial in resolution of the problems experienced in projects. Evidence on the applicability of situational leadership skills in the resolution of the problems encountered in projects rests on the platforms of the changing leadership styles to suit the changing projects’ needs. Addressing the issue of situational dynamics, Pearce and Conger argue that there exists no single style of leadership, which would fit all situations since leadership is essentially grounded on the relevance of tasks requiring leadership (2003, p.105). Hence, successful project leaders are those who adapt their leadership styles and grow them to maturity depending on the situation under which they execute their project management functions. Apart from the consideration of the tasks in the formulation of the necessary leadership style, situational lead ership skills help project managers to consider the characteristics of people being led in the determination of an appropriate leadership style in an attempt to build high performance work teams. Leadership skills can help project manager to handle the challenge of creating high performance work teams in various ways. For instance, emotional intelligence skills enable them to create contexts that are fertile for the development of the work group members. In support of this assertion, Petty (2009) maintains, â€Å"high performance project managers work to ensure that their team members can connect the project and their contributions and organisational goals† (p.30). Success of such an effort requires the deployment of motivational leadership skills. Projects’ stakeholders work homogenously when they have a collective understanding of the relevance of the project. The applicability of leadership skills in helping to resolve the challenges encountered in projects akin to motivational problems are endorsed by the theories of workforce motivation, which maintain that people are productive in an organisation when they consider themselves useful, meaningful, and important to an organisation. Suggestions on how to gain Leadership Skills Upon consideration of the leadership needs that are critical in fostering successful completion of projects within the usual constraints of time and financial resource challenges, the traits leadership theory’s claims that leaders are not created, but are born. In fact, scholarly studies in leadership studies contend that certain skills, which make project managers successful in their work, can be learned. For instance, according to Pinto and Trailer (2005), winning the confidence of the people implementing a project can be achieved by an effort to cultivate credibility (p.23). Petty (2009) stated that project managers with exemplary leadership skills recognise that people follow directions if such directions emana te from the people they perceive to be credible and reliable. This means that leadership skills can be developed if project managers have the zeal and internal drive to develop leadership credibility through strategies such as treating people with optimal fairness, ensuring that they communicate openly, and focusing on resolving problems affecting people. Developing the skills of emotional intelligence requires leaders to curtail from engaging in any situations, which may truncate into questioning the integrity and the motivations of a given leader by followers. Interpersonal and intrapersonal communication skills are key success skills for project managers. After identification of various situations, which may impair the capacity of the work members to toil effectively, communication of the mechanisms of countering such situations is vital. Upon identification of requisite motivational strategies, communication is also important in aligning employees to the strategies. This claim s uggests that communication is an important skill that binds various leadership skills that enhance performance of employees in projects. The leadership skills of effective communication may be developed in a myriad of ways. Petty (2009) argues that communication skills can be developed by allowing people to know and understand that the project managers’ role is to enable them succeed (p.23). He further considers this role best realised when communication is done through actions and in words. In search of directions to meet the goals of the project, people would resort to meeting the leader for clarifications, guidance, and help. In this process, it becomes possible to articulate various issues that project managers consider necessary for alteration to facilitate the achievement of project’s goals and objectives. Application of different leadership skills, which suit different situations, requires leaders to analyse situations to determine when to communicate with asser tiveness and/or when to avoid over communication. When rapid changes are required in the project execution process, over communication is dangerous (Mike 2005, p.21). This means that determination of the appropriate leadership skills to apply in a given situation is determined by the projects’ strategy. Expertise is developed through learning and practice to gain experience. To gain leadership skills, coaching is necessary. Consequently, it is important for project managers seeking to gain leadership skills that are effective in project management to get aid and mentorship from persons having the skills that one wants to develop. The decision on the requisite skills to develop has to be based on the observation and analysis of the project environment needs such as the problems that derail the project from accomplishing its objectives. For instance, project tasks may be falling out of time due to lack of commitment of people in charge of implementing them. Consequently, the pr oject manager needs to develop leadership skills for workforce motivation. Such skills can be developed through the study of the existing benchmarks. Conclusion Projects are executed with the help of people who are mandated to carry out various tasks that constitute a project. While management skills are required by the project managers to ensure compliance with the set project execution procedures within fixed timelines and under limited resources, the involvement of people in the implementation of projects requires project managers to have good leadership skills. The evaluation of the necessary leadership skills in project management was considered in the paper from the theoretical paradigms of the trait leadership theories, contingency, situational, competency, and emotional intelligence theories. Each of these theories has its contribution in the generation of effective leadership skills for successful execution of projects. Thus, an integrated approach to the study of leadershi p skills that are necessary for development by project managers is important. Project managers need to be influencers, transformational, and transactional leaders who possess a high degree of emotional intelligence to aid them in determining various situations that require different leadership skills. References Alekseev, A 2010, Knowledge Management In Project-Based Organisations: The Success Criteria And Best Practice, Master Thesis, Chalmers University Of Technology, Northumbria. 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Mingus essays

Mingus essays Two Portraits of Charles MingusOne in the Lived Medium of Film and Another Music is a lived, performative medium that cannot be fully encompassed in description. Even when an individual piece of music is rendered into print in an effective and moving fashion, it still changes the nature of the music itself into something differentnamely, into a piece of prose that is a crafted example of the written art, rather than a work of music that is a moving and vibrant work of sound. One of the greatest jazz musicians of recent date is that of Charles Mingus. His work and his life cry out for a biography of his contribution to the musical medium and of his life as a performer. How to render the genius of the man in such a way that his personality and his contribution to musical history can be understood' Perhaps the best, albeit imperfect way, turn to print only as a way of fleshing out the concrete details of Mingus' contribution to jazz after spending one's live loving his music. In the absence of this, seeing the man on film through a documentary such as "Charles Mingus: The Triumph of the Underdog," offers another opportunity for a music historian to see the man and listen to the tunes But how to contextually render that life in history' The text of Central Avenue Sounds offers perhaps the best literary compromiseit is a work of prose, but one that offers an oral history of jazz. Through weaving in the voices of different musicians, and different perspectives of the musicians of the Los Angels music scene' the book hopes to offer a fully-fleshed internal as well as external history of these artists. Charles Mingus was a critical influence upon many of these artists, as well as was influenced by those who preceded him. But the book is not only a triumph, to borrow the documentary's title, of prose. It is also ...

- Research Methods - Discuss the following statement. Unstructured Essay

- Research Methods - Discuss the following statement. Unstructured interviews should only be used as a precursor for a more structured approach to data collection - Essay Example Semi-structured interviews are flexible and they include both open and closed-ended questions but the interviewer adjusts the series of the questions based on the context of responses from the participants. Unstructured interview is a method that elicits the social realities of people; thus it has become widely employed by sociologists and anthropologists in research field process. Unstructured interviews should be only used as a precursor for a more structured approach in data collection in research process. This is because unstructured interviews are best applied for exploration when there is a limited understanding of the domain, or as a precursor to more focused and detailed structured interviews (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p. 111). Unstructured interviews do not follow a prearranged schedule or list of questions unlike structured interview which employs a prearranged set of questions. Therefore, they can be used as the precursor of structured interview since this method is similar to survey research methods of data collection and they are administered orally instead of writing. The most significant and widely used unstructured interview originates from the ethnographic practice of anthropologists (Honey and Mumford, 1997, p. 36). Many anthropologists and sociologists employed unstructured interview for gathering information through participant o bservations and record field notes taking as they observe the sidelines and also joins the activities of the participants. Unstructured interviews are effectual because researchers identifies one or more key informants to interview on a continuing basis or take short notes while observing and at the same time questioning participants. This is vital because it provides first hand information and the method attempt to solve difficulties in question interpretations. Bandura in his book of social learning theory argues that people learn

Comparison between EDF group (lectricit de France) and E.ON S E from Assignment

Comparison between EDF group (lectricit de France) and E.ON S E from an investor's perspective point of view - Assignment Example It is assumed that the reader has basic knowledge of these tools of analysis. Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) According to Rai University: â€Å"The CAPM was developed to explain how risky securities are priced†¦CAPM aims at a more practical approach to stock valuation.† The assumptions of CAPM include: 1. Investors hold diversified portfolios 2. Single-period transaction horizon 3. Investors can borrow and lend at the risk-free rate 4. Perfect capital market (Rai University, 2013) Capm reflects that investors need to be compensated in two ways Time Value Of Money Risk (Investopedia, n.d.) The risk-free (rf) rate in the formula represents the time value of money invested at a minimum rate while the other half of the formula represents market risk applicable to the company. CAPM is in the view that the expected return of a stock is equal to the rate on a risk-free stock plus a risk premium. If the expected return does not match or meet the required return then any such investment is termed to be not feasible and is not to be carried out. The betas calculated in the attached working represent the risk of the specific company in relation to the market. When coupled with the market equity risk premium and the risk free rate, we can establish a minimum rate of return that would be required by the shareholders in relation to risk and returns in the market The calculated ROE of both companies is in the 5%-7% range showing that the companies’ shareholders require a minimum return of 5% as compared to the risk and return level they face in their investment in the company’s stock. CAPM is not an absolute model as it faces many limitations. It assumes markets are information efficient and all investors preferences are the same. These assumptions may not hold true in the actual market place and so, there are other models to calculate required return on equity, such as the gorden growth model or the earnings multiplier model. The major assumptio n in CAPM relates to perfect capital market and the assumption of all perfect information being available to investors. This introduces the concept of efficient market hypothesis. Efficient Market Hypothesis - EMH Many different theories state that it is simply impossible to beat the market. This is mainly due to the fact that market efficiency leads share prices to reflect all relevant information at any given time. The Efficient Market Hypothesis believes that all the stock traded always hold their fair value hence it is impossible for the buyer to purchase undervalued stocks or for the seller to sell at an overvalued price as stated by Malkiel, 2003. Due to this the only way that any investor may get a higher return is by getting hold of high risk stocks or a balanced portfolio (Pesaran 2010) On the other hand people against the hypothesis highlight the example of Warren Buffet beating the market consistently over fairly long periods (CBS, 2012). â€Å"Beating the market† is considered impossible under the efficient market hypothesis. Another aspect highlighted by those against the theory is events of 1987 during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than one fifth in a day. This gives proof that the prices of stock may show a deviation from their fair values. Efficient Marke

Mongols Conquest Essay Example for Free

Mongols Conquest Essay The Mongols conquest in the regions of China and the Middle East had significant similarities and differences in their political and economic aspects. In china the Mongols rule was called Yuan Dynasty and in the Middle East it was called the Ilkhanate of Persia. There are many similarities and differences between China and the Middle East under the ruling of the Mongols, Politically and economically. Politically some differences are how the Mongols inhabited each of the areas as well as how they went about with religious rights. Economically some similarities are that they encouraged long distance trade, they improved roads, as well as they spread the disease throughout all these regions. Politically the differences are how they inhabited each area. One of the main differences is that the Mongols would normally invade those in areas in which were left under native rule except for China. In the 13th century around 1211-1214 the Mongols invaded China. They put restrictions on their rules but tried to keep the culture as traditional going as much as possible. But they did make a clear path from Europe to China known as the Silk Road. In The Middle east there ruler of the realm of Persia went to war with the Caliphs 1255, by 1258 the capture Baghdad and Iraq and killed everyone there instead of building up there empire among the people like in china the totally took out a most of the population. Along with the regulations they put on china came the difference of religion in China they convert to Islam, Oman Catholicism, but many other religions were tolerated in china and also Buddhism was one religion that survived all through the Mongol rule. But in the Middle East unlike China they were ruled under Ilkhanate of Persia and ran under the religion of Hulegu. Economically, there were many similarities between the Middle East and China. Both area encouraged long distance trade. This boosted the economy, since the Mongols were Nomadic they cannot increase money very well so they imperialized to increase their wealth. In China raw goods, technology, ideas, and of course gun powder were all key trade items for the Mongols. Gunpowder is what put the Mongols more on top. Another Similarity is that they fixing irrigation and plumbing as well as improving roads the irrigation and plumbing were for cleanliness but improving roads as well as for major communications throughout the world. Another Major thing is that the Mongols spread the plague and other diseases throughout both regions because the trade routes were filthy the disease spread through rat bites they came in with the flees as well but wiping out the Mongols was the lead poising which wiped them all out. There are many similarities and differences between China and the Middle East under Mongol rulings, politically and economically. Politically some differences are how the Mongols inhabited these areas as well as how they dealt with religious rights. Economically, some similarities are that they encouraged, long distance trade, they improved roads, as well as spreading disease throughout both these areas. This shows that different people living under the same ruler are always ruled a little differently but disease wiped everyone out in the end.

Justice at the Scaffold in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Ess

Justice at the Scaffold in The Scarlet Letter      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Richard Harter Fogle acknowledges the aspect of the superhuman as "the sphere of absolute insight, justice, and mercy: few of Hawthorne's tales and romances can be adequately considered without taking it into account" ("Realms of Being and Dramatic Irony" 309). This superhuman aspect surfaces through Divine Justice in The Scarlet Letter. On the other hand, the merely human application of justice emerges through the Puritan laws, or Earthly Justice. The struggle for supremacy in the novel between Earthly and Divine Justice becomes a central theme, reflected in multiple aspects of the plot. However, the focal point in this struggle manifests itself at the scaffold in Boston, where Divine Justice materializes and ultimately triumphs over Earthly Justice.    The thematic struggle at the battleground of the scaffold unfolds and develops through Hawthorne's three scaffold scenes. Earthly Justice dominates the first scene, where the Puritans force the stoic Hester Prynne, bearing the scarlet "A" on her bosom, to stand on the scaffold in front of the cackling, condemning Puritan crowd. Hawthorne explains that "shame...was the essence of this punishment" (41). Moreover, Ernest Sandeen verifies that a sinner "feels shame before his fellowman and fear before his God" ("The Scarlet Letter as a Love Story" 360), meaning that Earthly Justice induces shame as Divine Justice creates fear. Therefore, since Hester's punishment reduced her to shame on the scaffold, Earthly Justice dispensed its punishment, asserting its authority, in this first scaffold scene.    Also, Dimmesdale's reluctance in this scene to admit his guilt diminishes the hope for Divine Justice, which is fo... ...werful yet merciful Divine Justice that unfailingly watched over them.       Works Cited    Abel, Darrel. "Hawthorne's Hester." The Scarlet Letter. 3rd ed. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richard Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1988. 300-308. Feidelson, Charles, Jr. "The People of Boston." The Scarlet Letter. 3rd ed. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richard Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1988. 371-375. Fogle, Richard Harter. "Realms of Being and Dramatic Irony." The Scarlet Letter. 3rd ed. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richard Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1988. 308-315. Sandeen, Ernest. "The Scarlet Letter as a Love Story." The Scarlet Letter. 3rd ed. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richard Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: Norton, 1988. 350-361.

P&G in Japan

Why was SK-II so successful in Japan? Statement: By based on research of Japanese market, P&G made clear targeting and positioning, and developed new products which fulfilled customers’ needs, built the effective distribution. As a result, P&G could establish differentiation advantages for the following. †¢ Product: â€Å"Foaming massage cloth† , Elegant dispensing box â€Å"Foaming massage cloth† increase skin circulation through a massage while boosting skin clarity due to the microfibers’ ability to clean pores and trap dirt. Price: Premium price †¢ Place: Luxury and nice counter at department store †¢ Promotion: Counseling by Beauty counselor, TV advertising, Beauty magazines Description Targeting Positioning Affluent women aged over 30s Prestige skin care Premium price R&D team: Market research > catches up demanding Japanese women, Develop Technology > excels Japanese competitors Sales: Training > beauty counselors, Promotion > Counter design Capability Q1. contd. What was the business model behind the success? Statement: SK-II ’s success is not only prestige skin care product or advanced technology but also its marketing approach to build the New brand.P&G succeeded to connect between the core technology or product concept and local market. Through Japanese market among the world’s toughest competitors, P&G developed potential source of innovations. In addition, SKII ’s marketing strategy built a new approach, Market research, Concept, Packaging, Positioning, Communications strategy. It was a big challenge that P&G shifted from Mass marketing, such as Olay brand, to Class marketing. SK-II ’s marketing strategy Description Market Research Concept Packaging Positioning Communication strategy Find the customer needs, habits Japanese women’s needs: sensitive with skin condition abits: five or six step cleaning Classify customers, Specify attractive market Affluent women aged over 3 0s Define the customer value Prestige skin care Product design Build the differentiation Premium price Advertising feature the targeting customers Design counter and installation Resource R&D Marketing R&D Marketing Technology Marketing Brand Sales force Channel Advertising Q2. How transferable is the model? †¢ The SK-II’s business model based on through production, advanced technology, marketing research and customer behavior.From this point if P&G Japan want to enter foreign market using this model they should exploit by exporting or by direct investment. Either case business model is transferable. But main concern is the model could be successful as in Japan? SK-II’s success had been achieved in a culture where the customers, distribution channels, and competitors were different from in China and Europe. For example: Japanese customers more educated, average Japanese women spent 4. 5 minutes on her face cleansing regime, and most sophisticated users of beauty p roducts in the world.Other hand in China customers due to Olay’s education recently moved from a one-step skin care process to a three-step cleansing and moisturizing process. But unlike China, Europe had a large and sophisticated group of beauty-conscious customers who is already practiced a multistep regimen. As we see it is model is transferable but they have to modify some of models characteristic depending on customers behavior, competitors and market factor. P&G Japans competitive advantage is firm-specific but SK-II’s advantage is country-specific. How to transfer SK-II:China Advantage The company had led with beauty products when entered this huge market Many woman took their fashion cues from Tokyo Wealthy China concentrated in Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou Prestige beauty-counselor, TV advertisement Europe European customers are educated and already using multistep regimen. Also fine-fragrance business was beginning to do well Mass- market Cost of televisi on or print ads in Europe prohibitive. But sales force staff selling directly to department stores. †¢ †¢ Target Promotion Q3. What should P&G ‘s expansion strategy be in rolling out SK-II? We recommand P&G to directly invest in this market by focusing only on Marketing and Distribution to roll out SK-II (a special product) in a foreign market. It should not be an advantage for P&G to acquire subsidiaries, or to license or to franchise because resources and capabilities of SK-II are located in Japan. It would be difficult to find same raw materiels to produce SK-II in another country. Exporting SK-II in a foreign market will be better, for that they should emphasize on: †¢ Differentiation advantage, †¢ Changing customer behavior, †¢ Product positionning, †¢ Pricing policy, †¢ Advertisement, †¢ Counseler team†¦Q3. Contd. Which country should be the priority? Porter national diamond analysis Supporting Industries Superior in-store inf rastructure Counseling counters Cosmetic R&D centre MDO, Max factor Strategy, Structure and Rivalry High number of domestic competitors with high innovation. Tough competition Presence of prestigious foreign brand Intense, established, well respected , high experience and famous competitors Limited competitors in high-cosmetic market which can lead to low innovation and learning improvement as well as an opportunity to easily reach a huge market for P&G Country Factor ConditionDemand Conditions Japan High R&D technology and innovative. Skin care Educated labor force Home-grown resources comparative advantage Sophisticated and wealth customers Slow market growth trend High potential in other skin care solution Sensitive to the quality of the product Sophisticated customers New kind of advertisement Educate costumers: to help them know what is SK-II, and how to use it 30-40% cosmetic industry growth China’s P&G skin care sale showed 28% growth rate High return on investment Goo d positioning and targeting to reach wealth costumers Differentiation advantage Home grown skin care technicians.High labor cost Europe High retailer network MDO China Beauty assistance for premiumcounter cosmetic New product that will involve changes in costumers behavior (innovative product) High growth in retailing such as increasing number of department stores. More counters and and beauty counselors MDO CHINA should be P&G’s priority. A biggest market near to P&G Japan and opportunity to expand P&G extensive technological ressources Beijing and shanghai are best location to reach an elite consumer but counterfeit is a huge problem Rigidity of the system is a characteristic of Chinese governement, high import duties 35 to 40 %China China MDO covered by GBU A Target to acces to prestigious customers and a new research field concerning SK-II (unmet need) , a second security base in Asia regarding the instability of Japanese market Differentiation advantage , SK-II is consid ered as a premium product Sales may be $ 10 to $15 million over first 3 years against $1 to $1. 5 million of losses over 3 years Q4. What is your assessment of Jager’s strategic initiative? Why did he emphasize worldwide innovation? How does the initiative address barriers to worldwide innovation and learning?The strategic initiative denominated Organization 2005 aimed to expand P&G worldwide presence. By separating the organization in business units, service functions and market segments (MDOs) the company achieved ability to focus on exploring market potentials. Innovation was a major point of the initiative and helped P&G to obtain a rapid development of new products globally. With this initiative, P&G could develop competitive advantage by identifying emerging needs in different places while responding to them through internal capabilities and diffusing the outcome to the rest of the business.Several management changes in the company supported the initiative: †¢ Cult ure Changes: (cultural revolution within P&G): Company culture was slow, conformist and risk adverse, making P&G vulnerable to competition. By changing norms and practices, Jager created a culture which encourages risk taking, faster decisions and innovation. This change was fundamental to achieve a fast worldwide innovation mechanism within P&G. Processes Changes: Employees compensation became focused on performance, reinforcing risk taking culture.Also, by extending the reach of the stock option plan to all employees, a positive sense of ownership was created among P&G workers. Organization Structure Changes: Global Business Units (GBUs) assumed responsibility for profit, product development and marketing of their respective categories worldwide. Through this modification, P&G was able to delegate responsibilities for developing and rolling out new products. Standardization in manufacturing was achieved, bureaucracy was eliminated and accountability increased. Nevertheless, the ch ange created a complex organization structure were relationships were not clear.Managers had to adjust to this change. †¢ †¢ In general, the initiative allowed P&G to adapt core technologies or product concept to local markets, facilitating easier market penetration. Q4. Contd. What is your assessment of Jager’s strategic initiative? Why did he emphasize worldwide innovation? How does the initiative address barriers to worldwide innovation and learning? The emphasis in worldwide innovation was held because Jager identified that without a major- in country product development capability, P&G could not respond to the Japanese customers demands and competitors.Product development was needed, not only in Asia’s markets but even worldwide, to avoid the Japanese experience in new markets. He wanted to address: †¢ newer consumer trends †¢ new technologies that may be developed in various parts of the world. Worldwide innovation and learning barriers were a ddressed with integrated business planning process, organization structural change to improve communication, and learning sharing through GBUs and MDOs.Identifying and recognizing different customer’s needs and addressing them through new product development processes has become an objective of P&G after restructuration, addressing innovation through learning. Q5. As Paolo DeCesare, what would you recommend to the Global Leadership Team in your SK-II presentation? What is the set of factors you would consider in developing your recommendation? We would like to recommend P&G GLT to expand in China for SKII product line.Factors influencing the recommendation: Potential Market Size: Determine the market size, growth potential in future Product Fit: How the product fits into the market, define our unique selling point Product Competitiveness: know the competitors, Bargaining power of customers, suppliers, threat of any product substitute Entry Strategy: find barriers to entry, kn ow Country rules and regulations, Access to distribution channels Timing of entry: product climate for beauty related products Cultural differences: Different consumer behaviors / workplace practices Administrative constraints: Local content, preferences for domestic competitors in the form of subsidies and favoritism in regulation and government procurement Economic differences: Consumer incomes, cost and quality of natural resources, cost and quality of human resources Q5. contd. What would be your supporting reasoning for the recommendation?Potential Market Size: Japan Market Growth is becoming saturated, so globalizing SK-II in a growing market is advantageous China: 1. 2 billion population, the largest available market, Annual growth rate: high 30 – 40% Product Fit: SK-II is able to supersede Olay as the premium skin care choice in China, and counter the entry of non-mainland retailers carrying Olay as a discount product Product competitiveness: SK-II will be in a less c ompetitive market in China than it faces in Japan, or might encounter in Europe Entry strategy: The China entry strategy of test counters in Shanghai is promising Timing: Good timing as China economy is growing and more awareness among affluent society for beauty related products