The Relevance of Sharing Values in Project Leadership

Abstract

Project leadership is an important aspect for non-profit organizations (NPOs) that run projects to address societal challenges. While communication and goal orientation as determining factors in project leadership have extensively been researched little has been researched on the relevance of sharing values as a determining factor in leadership, in particular leader-leader exchange (LLX). The purpose of this research is to close this gap by confirming the relevance of sharing values in project leadership. If this relevance is been confirmed, the research model which was developed and includes sharing values as a determining factor will be used to address another research question that forms part of a wider leadership topic. A way of testing the relevance of sharing values in the model which was used to assess determining factors on project performance in auditing and consulting projects is the focus group discussion. The results of the focus group discussion as a qualitative research method should, it will be evident how relevant sharing values in leadership is. The questions addressed in the focus group discussion to eight participants from both the for-profit and non-profit organizations should give further answers to leadership components such as communication. The qualitative research indicates that the dimension of sharing values dealing with projects is not only important but, it acts as a catalyst for the organization’s values as a whole. Findings also found justifications that sharing values is also considered a precondition for project leadership as a factor for improving the performance in projects. In the end, the research will confirm the criticality of sharing values and also give examples that help to address leadership as determining factor to achieve project performance.