Balanced Leadership Case Studies

This chapter addresses the coordination between the project manager and project team members during balanced leadership. This coordination takes place through a socio-cognitive space (SCS), consisting of the joint understanding between the project manager and project team about (a) the shared mental model for project execution (i.e., skill needs, ways to collaborate, and the understanding of the context of the project); (b) the currently empowered leader; and (c) the level of efficacy of the empowered leader. Then the content of the three SCS dimensions in projects with different project management methodologies is reviewed. These differences uncover the ontological differences underlying balanced leadership in different types of projects. The chapter finishes with a quantitative assessment of horizontal leadership’s relative impact on project success and its mediation by the SCS, showing the relative importance of the three concepts for project performance.

Shared mental models (SMMs) can exert a positive influence on team sports performance because team members with SMMs share similar tasks and team-related knowledge. There is currently insufficient sports research on SMMs because the underlying theory has not been adapted adequately to the sports context, and different SMMs measurement instruments have been used in past studies. In the present study we aimed to externally validate and determine the construct validity of the “Shared Mental Models in Team Sports Questionnaire” (SMMTSQ). Moreover, we critically examined the theoretical foundation for this instrument. Participants were 476 active team athletes from various sports. While confirmatory factor analysis did not support the SMMTSQ’s hierarchical model, its 13 subfactors showed a good model fit in an explorative correlative approach, and the model showed good internal consistency and item–total correlations. Thus, the instrument’s subfactors can be applied individually, even while there are remaining questions as to whether other questionnaires of this kind are an appropriate means of measuring SMMs in sport.

This paper reveals the project management reality in Polish organizations . Two groups of factors referring to the project manager are presented . The first one contains direct factors, i .e . these that can be influenced by the project manager himself: experience in project management (in years), level of certificate, sector of the economy . The second one comprises the indirect factors, which cannot be controlled by the project manager: number of projects carried out in the organization yearly, number of concurrent projects carried out in the organization, average project budget in the organization, average number of project team members . Conclusions are based on the research carried out in 2011 in cooperation with the International Project Management Association . Moreover, two hypotheses are verified, both refer to the Polish project management conditions .

The aim of our paper is to focus on the way a project manager chooses the appropriate members of his team in order to develop hi - technological project for a laboratory research in different sectors (business, hi-technological, financial, societal, political). Our aim is to focus on the differences and the challenges that hi - technological project team members have in laboratory research.

Abstract Intellectual and emotional intelligences are two important competences of project managers for the success or failure of a construction project. This study aims to investigate how often project managers utilize these two intelligences in running their project. It will also take a look the intelligence that construction personnel expect more from their project manager. The research was conducted by distributing questionnaires to construction personnel that were working on ongoing projects. The results show that the project managers use both intellectual and emotional intelligences, with mean values of 4.20 and 4.12 respectively. Meanwhile, results from analytical hierarchy process analyses portray that the project team members expect the project managers to exhibit emotional intelligence more than intellectual intelligence with weight of 66.40% and 33.60% respectively. The study also conducts several analyses by using respondents’ and project managers’ general information.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by indirectly using lateral influence strategies to secure the appropriate resources. This study is part of a wider study investigating the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects in which nomination (or assignment) was identified as a key event contributing to balancing the leadership. It focuses specifically on the nomination or assignment event at the start of a project. Design/methodology/approach Based on the philosophy of critical realism, case studies were used to collect data through 70 semi-structured interviews in Australia, Scandinavia and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, project managers and project team members. Two project team members who worked with the same project manager were interviewed to gather diverse views. The data were analyzed individually by researchers from each location using a coding method proposed by Miles et al. (2014). The researchers then jointly analyzed the findings to arrive at five common themes from that explained how team members were assigned in practice. Findings Despite the recognized need for project managers to form their own teams, this study found that project team members were often assigned by others. This was because project managers lacked authority to secure their resources. Therefore, they used lateral influence strategies to help with assigning project team members. The study identified five lateral influencing strategies adopted by project managers to assign team members: creating an image of competence; creating coalitions; taking a gamble; waiting for the right moment; and reasoning with facts. Two of these lateral influencing strategies were not identified in the previous literature on influencing strategies used in organizations. Research limitations/implications The findings should not be viewed as representative of the respective continents where the cases were studied. However, this study contributes to the literature on project management, illuminating how project teams are assigned and by whom and, specifically, the role that influence plays during this event of the balanced leadership theory. It also identifies the types of lateral influence strategies used by project managers when assigning team members to their projects. It provides a pathway to explore the use of lateral influencing strategies by project managers beyond the assignment process. Practical implications This study will help project managers to become aware of influencing strategies that they can use in practice while assigning team members to their projects. It will also highlight the importance of assigning the right resources to projects with a view to achieving balanced leadership. Originality/value This research is of value to organizations using projects to successfully deliver their strategies by assigning suitable resources to their projects.

This chapter focuses on recognizing the important resource aspects that can cause disruptions in a project and how to deal with and manage them more effectively to reach desired outcomes. You cannot be successful only by following a project methodology. You will need to be aware of your surroundings and know how to use your resources. In past experiences, diverse resources have been shown to dramatically impact cost management as well as the overall timeline. As a project manager, you will need to be prepared to put challenges on permanent lockdown. The overall approach was to create awareness and guide each project manager in overcoming these challenges. When looking back on previously unsuccessful projects, it was not the methodology that was deficient or the project plan but the way that the group came together as a team. There are many complications that come into play when managing difficult project team members. Therefore, get to know your audience as well as your team; it will make a world of difference.

This book describes balanced leadership in projects. Based on an award winning global program of research studies on leadership reality in projects, this book shows that leadership changes constantly and is not as static as existing literature may suggests. Instead, leadership in projects is dynamically shifted between project managers, individual team members, and subteams, all balanced in situational contingency. Their leadership may be exercised through a vertical, horizontal, shared, or distributed leadership approach. However, it is balanced leadership that ensures the best suitable leadership approach is used in any given situation. For that, the book presents a project-specific leadership approach called horizontal leadership, a theory of balanced leadership, and the five building blocks that enable balanced leadership. These are nomination of team members, identification of potential leaders, selection and empowerment of leaders, empowered leadership and its governance, as well as leadership transition. Emphasis is also given to the coordination of these building blocks through the socio-cognitive space, shared by project manager and team. The book finishes with three real-life case studies that exemplify how balanced leadership unfolds in projects.