Abstract
Purpose – The objective of this article is to identify the influence of the type of leadership on the performance of the project team, according to the methods applied in the management of software development projects. Design/methodology/approach – We used a quantitative method, applying a survey to project practitioners in software development teams. The sample consisted of 245 valid answers, divided into traditional and non-traditional methods. The responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling using a confirmatory methodological approach. Findings – We identified that the three styles of leadership evaluated (transactional, transformational, and empowering) are positively related to team performance, as already identified in previous studies. However, the project management method does not influence the relationship between leadership and team performance. Originality/value – The theoretical and practical contribution of this article is the finding that the type of project management used in software development (agile or traditional method) is not relevant to the choice of team leader, emphasizing that the important thing is the investment in the development of this leadership, as a measure to increase team performance, allowing flexibility in the performance of managers.
Highlights
Despite the existence of guides to good practice and established methodologies, many projects still show a high degree of failure (Lalonde, Bourgault, & Findeli, 2012)
This work complements the study carried out by Pearce and Sims Jr (2002), who analyzed the relationship between team performance and various leadership styles, because we verified the influence on this relationship of the project management in its two models: traditional methods, based, for example, on PMBoK, PRINCE2, or IPMA, and non-traditional ones, based on agile frameworks such as Scrum
The main objective was to identify the influence of the type of leadership on the performance of the project team, according to the methods applied in the management of software development projects in various industries and sectors
Summary
Despite the existence of guides to good practice and established methodologies, many projects still show a high degree of failure (Lalonde, Bourgault, & Findeli, 2012). A few articles, such as Papadopoulos (2015) and Ben Mahmoud‐Jouini et al (2016), have evaluated organizations that adopt more than one methodology for the development of their products and services. These articles did not compare traditional and nontraditional methodologies to verify the differences and similarities in the results. The term is new, the concept and its adoption by organizations already existed (Horlach, Drews, & Schirmer, 2016) In this situation, organizations need to simultaneously handle two design environments, in which two important factors are the profile of people and leadership and the organizational structure. Due to team or leadership performance factors, and the need to adapt to management models, projects fail in certain criteria and succeed in others (Patah & Carvalho, 2012)
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