Leadership in projects

What is leadership?

Vad är ledarskap?

Leading the way by going ahead Leadership may be considered as the process

(act) of influencing the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement

(Stogdill 1950)

Influence Group Goals

Ledarskap – management

Difference?

Traits perspective

Until WW2 Bodily appearance, abilities and traits You are born as a leader Selecting the right ones

Behavioural perspective

Until the 1960’s You behave as a leader or not You can be trained into the right behavious Relationship and task orientation Trade-off or maximisation?

Contingency theory

Until the 1980’s The situation determines what behaviour that is

appropriate or not You are leader in some situations, not in others Fiedler: Trade off relationship-task orientation

dependent on situational contingencies

New leadership approaches From the 80’s onwards Leadership as ’management of meaning’:

’leaders engage in sensemaking on behalf of others and develop a social consensus around the resulting meaning’ (Bryman, 1996)

Leadership is realized in the process whereby one or more individuals succeeds in attempting to frame and define the reality of others. Indeed, leadership situations may be conceived as those in which there exists an obligation or a perceived right on the part of certain individuals to define the reality of others. (Smircich & Morgan, 1982)

Transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, visionary leadership

Studies of top executives

Transformational leadership

Transactional leadership Transformational leadership

Critique

Leadership is a subject that has long excited interest among people. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations. The exploits of brave and clever leaders are the essence of many legends and myths. Much of our description of history is the story of military, political, religious, and social leaders who are credited or blamed for important historical events, even though we do not understand very well how the events were caused and how much influence the leader really had. (Yukl)

Critique

No clear success recipes in research Focus on top executives Ideals vs daily reality Context still not considered enough Underlying assumptions

– Individualism– Unitary command– Leadership is good– Tough masculinity

What do managers do?

Carlson (’50)/Mintzberg (’70)?

• Never alone• Many short tasks (8 min between disturbances)• Much talk, less analysis

Vad gör chefer?

Tengblad (2002)– 18 min between disturbances– Sensemaking in conversations with co-workers– Geographical fragmentation (20% travel time)– Differences individual-collective orientation– Many meetings with investors and analysts, less

with customers and authorities– Information handling 50%, decision making 7%– Mostly engaged in finance and control matters

Professional organisations

Professional norms more important than what the boss says:

• Facilitating leadership• Non-disturbing leadership• Disturbing leadership• Leadership as service

Leaders as heroes?

’ There are […] some business magazines so mesmerized with leadership that nothing else matters. In four years Gestner has added more than $40 billion to IBM’s share value, this magazine wrote on April 14, 1997. Every penny of it! Nothing from the hundreds of thousands of other IBM employees. No role for the complex web of skills and relationships these people form. No contributions from luck. No help from growing economy. Just Gestner. (Mintzberg, 1999)

‘Then consider this proposition: maybe really good management is boring. Maybe the press is the problem, alongside the so-called gurus, since they are the ones who personalize success and deify leaders (before they defile them). After all, corporations are large and complicated; it takes a lot of effort to find out what has really been going on. It is so much easier to assume that the great one did it all. Makes for better stories too.’ (Mintzberg, 1999)

Postheroic leadership

Crevani et al. 2007 – International Journal of Leadership Studies

Discussion task for 4th May

Each group shall make short summaries of the literature and be prepared to present this summary in class (about 4 pages)

What are the 5 main qualities a project manager needs to have?

What are the 5 main differences between being a project manager and an ”ordinary departmental manager”

What project leadership tasks could be performed by team members instead? Give 5 examples.

All summaries and answers/reflections to questions shall be handed over to Johann in paper format at the beginning of the seminar. Use the standardised cover form!!!