Project Manager Leadership Behaviors and Frequency of Use by Female Project Managers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the most important leadership and managerial behaviors for project managers as perceived by female project managers and to ascertain the frequency with which these behaviors are practiced by female project managers.A survey instrument of leadership behaviors was submitted to female project managers, representing a variety of industries, team types, and sizes. The respondents were asked to rate each behavior as to its importance for an effective project manager to exhibit and to indicate the frequency of use by female project managers.Even though much of the literature on effective leaders indicates the importance of transformational behaviors, the results of this study show that the respondents do not attach as much importance to transformational leadership behaviors as they do managerial skills and transactional leadership behaviors. They also use transactional leadership behaviors and managerial skills more frequently than transformational leadership behaviors.