Project Management Leadership Research Articles

Do the Project Manager's soft skills foster knowledge sharing?

In the realm of project management, the significance of soft skills, including communication, leadership, and problem-solving, has been acknowledged as pivotal to project success. Furthermore, the role of knowledge management within projects has emerged as another critical determinant of performance enhancement. This entails disseminating best practices, lessons learned, and insights garnered throughout the project lifecycle. Thus, the Project Manager's role acts as a catalyst, cultivating an environment that promotes effective knowledge sharing.The primary objective of this study is to explore the relationship between project manager soft skills and knowledge sharing within project environments. Additionally, considering the acknowledged impact of organizational culture and environment on knowledge sharing practices, this research aims to examine the moderating effect of organizational culture in shaping the relationship between soft skills and knowledge sharing effectiveness within project contexts. A questionnaire involving project team members was conducted to find answers to these questions.Findings reveal the project manager leadership was positively associated with knowledge sharing among project management team members. This conclusion innovatively connects the importance of soft skills in fostering knowledge sharing within project teams. It places a significant emphasis on the project manager's leadership skills assigning them a key responsibility. Additionally, moderation analysis showed that knowledge creation and knowledge capture strengthened the relationship between project manager's problem-solving skills and knowledge management environment. This underscores the role of a robust organisational culture in supporting knowledge sharing, thereby enhancing the connection between problem-solving abilities and explicit knowledge sharing.

Leadership skill, professional competence and innovation ability of project managers in construction industries: Basis for project manager's leadership framework

Leadership skill, professional competence and innovation ability of project managers in construction industries: Basis for project manager's leadership framework

The role of project management and strategic leadership in enhancing the investment for local and international businesses

This study aimed to analyse the role of project management and strategic leadership in enhancing the investment for local and international businesses. To achieve this purpose, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with managers and professionals from different companies based in the UAE. The qualitative data was then evaluated using the thematic analysis so that a more focused and specific explanation of the study's findings could be made. According to the findings, businesses face increasingly severe competition for acquiring investments amidst rapid globalisation. One of the most essential variables in a company's ability to support development, innovation, and competitiveness is its ability to attract and maximise investment. This article indulges in a more in-depth investigation of how strategic leadership and project management interact to ensure long-term profitability for businesses, either in a local or international context and make the process of attracting investment easier. Businesses can be able to acquire enhanced investments provided that they recognise the need for strategic leadership and project management and develop effective plans so that their investments can result in long-term growth, new ideas, and a competitive advantage in the modern economy.

Project manager's leadership behavioural practices – A systematic literature review

The emergence of new technologies, artificial Intelligence, BANI environment and multidimensional complexity in projects requires project managers to have an innovative instinct to formulate efficient project management practices to achieve project success. Most articles in the extant literature have discussed leadership factors impacting project success; however, leadership behavioural practices encompassing characteristics/dimensions have not been considered and discussed in a unified manner. Therefore, a need arises with an objective for such a study to bridge the gap of a systematic literature review on leadership behavioural practice characteristics and provide a unified summarised effort to understand relationships with project success from relevant studies between 2000 and 2021. A sample of 72 out of 2805 articles was finally selected for rigorous analysis in a seven-step literature review process. This SLR has identified high to moderate levels of tangible managerial interpersonal and emotional behavioural practice characteristics compared to low-level task-oriented and intellectual practices on construction projects. Compelling evidence shows that relationship-building and people-oriented project leaders using effective communication and collaborative working are highly valued compared to task-oriented project leaders on successful construction projects. Effective leadership practices and findings from this SLR will provide a benchmark for future researchers to investigate further construction projects to generalize SLR outcomes on a broader scale. In addition, project organizations can use our identified cluster listings of behavioural practice characteristics during their recruitment process of project professionals. Low-valued soft skills in our analysis need more investigations in future research.

Teaming in Graduate Medical Education: Ward Rounds and Beyond.

Teamwork in graduate medical education (GME) is often hindered in clinical learning environments where discontinuity among residents, supervisors, and other health care professionals is typical. Teaming is a conceptual approach to teamwork in dynamic environments with constantly changing team members and goals. Teaming is built on principles of project management and team leadership, which together provide an attractive strategy for addressing teamwork challenges in GME. Indeed, teaming is now a requirement of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Clinical Learning Environment Review program. However, many clinician-educators and leaders may be unfamiliar with teaming and how to integrate it into their GME programs. In this article, the teaming framework is described with a specific example of how it can be applied to improve hospital ward rounds, a common setting of teamwork breakdown. The goal of this article is to educate and encourage GME leaders as they learn new ways to implement teaming to improve patient care and education in their programs.

Project Management Practices and Performance of Construction Projects: A Case of Kigali Golf club and Kigali Arena Stadium Projects under Supervision of Rwanda Housing Authority

This research examined project management practices and performance in Rwanda's construction industry, with a focus on the Kigali Golf Club and Kigali ARENA projects. It assessed the impact of monitoring and evaluation practices, project risk management, and project leadership skills on performance. The study employs a mixed-method approach, collecting data from 166 respondents across various departments using questionnaires and interviews. The findings emphasize the significance of project monitoring and evaluation (mean score of 4.63), project risk management (mean score of 4.415), and project leadership skills (mean score of 4.63) in contributing to construction project performance. Overall, effective project management practices, including monitoring, evaluation, risk management, and leadership skills, are crucial for success in Rwanda's construction industry. Keywords: Project management, Practices, Performance, Construction projects, Rwanda

Critical Success Factors for Public Sector Projects in Lagos

This study aims to identify critical success factors for public sector construction projects in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research strategy through semi-structured questionnaires to collect data from Lagos State Ministry of Works construction experts. A total of 66 usable questionnaires were retrieved and used for the analysis based on their information. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.745, and the Spearman-rank's coefficient was 0.802, indicating the high internal consistency of the questionnaire items. A quick analysis reveals that the most critical aspects of public construction projects are political considerations, the project manager's leadership qualities, an appropriately allocated budget, and efficient team management. Effective procurement process and stakeholder involvement were found to significantly impact the success of public sector building project delivery, while the leadership skills of the project managers, effective communication management, effective coordination of project activities, and efficient project delivery did not. This study sheds light on the most common reasons these projects fail and offer a wide-ranging set of recommendations for fixing them.

Relationship between abusive supervision and workers' well-being in construction projects: effects of guanxi closeness and trust in managers

PurposeThe high-pressure nature of the construction industry, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, triggered abusive supervision (i.e. workplace bullying and incivility behaviour) that has diminished workers' well-being. However, despite the growing prevalence in practice and increasing concern in academia, abusive supervision remains largely unexplored by construction management scholars. This study aims to fill the gap in the current literature by analysing the effects of abusive supervision on construction workers' well-being, the mediating role of guanxi closeness and the moderating role of trust in the manager.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey was completed by 258 Chinese construction workers. The data underwent mediation and moderation analyses using PROCESS macro 3.5 for SPSS.FindingsThe results revealed that managers' abusive supervision reduced construction workers' well-being at work and in life. Guanxi closeness between manager and workers mediated the relationship between managers' abusive supervision and construction workers' well-being. Additionally, trust in managers moderated the mediating effect of guanxi closeness. This study further revealed that the emotional connection between construction managers and workers, such as expressive guanxi closeness and affective-based trust, is important in handling the impact of abusive supervision on the workers.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide support for recent calls to address negative manager behaviours such as abusive supervision in construction management. They aid the development of a more comprehensive internal mechanism that considers the influence of guanxi closeness on the outcomes of abusive supervision by managers at construction sites. Additionally, interventions that develop trust in managers may be particularly effective in alleviating the tension of abusive supervision. More attention should be paid to managers' emotional connections in daily construction project management.Originality/valueRather than concentrate on positive leadership, this study shifts the focus to negative leadership in construction project management by identifying abusive supervision as a negative primary antecedent of workers' well-being. While prior research has highlighted how negative manager behaviours affect workers' well-being from the conservation of resources theory (COR) perspective, this study is the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to adopt a social exchange theory perspective by introducing guanxi closeness as a mediator. It contributes to a greater understanding of how trust in the manager alleviates the negative effect of the person's abusive supervision on construction workers.

Lord of the Flies in Project-Based Organizations: The Role of Passive Leadership on Creativity and Project Success

This study examines the role of passive project leadership in project success. The article deduces a theoretical model implying that passive project manager leadership behavior affects the success of information technology projects, directly and indirectly, via employees’ creativity. Self-regulation is proposed as a mitigating factor to minimize the destructive effects of passive leadership on creativity. The current study is based on a quantitative research design. A time lag design was used to collect data from 347 respondents working on information technology projects in Pakistan. SmartPLS was used for data analysis. The findings demonstrated that although passive leadership appears in flat organizations, it can have a negative impact on project success via creativity. Additionally, if the person is self-regulatory, it will not alter the results. The study added to the project management body of knowledge by confirming that a strong leadership role, instead of a passive one, is essential to boosting the creativity of project personnel. A passive leader remains inactive during situations where a strong leader is needed; however, self-regulation on the part of employees proved insufficient to propel a project toward success.

Micro-Management Presence Evaluation within Technology-Based Project Management

This research covers a micro-management presence study, taking into consideration the three main elements of this concept, where organizational culture, project management frameworks, and leadership are found; thus, a relationship between these areas is established and detailed so that a relationship between micro-management as concept and issue from enterprise management can also be identified within a project management context. This research has been made qualitative, exploratory with a transversal denomination, creating and applying an assessment instrument to know the perspective of a small population from the Technology, Information, and Communication industry in Costa Rica; thus, taking into account these results and analyzing it against the theory, so that enterprise elements within organizational culture, project management frameworks and leadership, where micro-management could accommodate can be identified, as results of this research, by placing several significant symptoms and scenarios where team's performance and motivation are affected negatively.

The conceptual role of leadership in project management

The critical role of leadership in project management is the focal point of this comprehensive literature review. The objective of this article is to delve into the depth and breadth of how leadership significantly influences the myriad stages of project management, ranging from initiation and planning to execution and monitoring. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical perspectives, the article begins by establishing the conceptual understanding of leadership within project management. Following this, we explore the varied competencies that underpin effective project leadership, with particular emphasis on technical skills, interpersonal prowess, strategic thinking, and decision-making abilities. The investigation extends into the impact of different leadership styles—transformational, transactional, and situational—on project outcomes. To substantiate these theoretical perspectives, a collection of case studies is explored, which highlights both successful project leadership strategies and instances where leadership shortcomings have led to project failures. A significant section of this review is devoted to the challenges project leaders often confront, and the best practices they can adopt for overcoming these hurdles. This section also underscores the importance of nurturing future project leaders and the role of training and development programs in enhancing leadership skills within a project management context. The article concludes with recommendations for integrating leadership development into project management practices and discusses the implications for organizations and project management professionals. This literature review seeks to illuminate the profound impact of leadership on project management and highlight the need for further research and practical emphasis on this critical intersection.

Project Managers soft skills influence in knowledge sharing

Technological evolution allowed a more significant focus on software development projects however, these always showed high failure rates [1] [2]. Project manager role has also gained increasing importance. In the last decade, several studies concluded a positive link between project managers' skills, such as communication, leadership and problem-solving skills, with project success. With the technological evolution and the increasing information availability and knowledge, the knowledge management role in a project environment has become indispensable. However, employees' lack of time or resistance is considered a barrier to knowledge sharing [3]. A survey was developed and delivered to development team members. The results obtained allowed us to conclude that the project manager's leadership positively influences team members' knowledge sharing in information systems. It was also concluded that the project manager's leadership positively influence knowledge sharing through socialization processes and face-to-face conversations, which refers to tacit knowledge sharing.

Situational leadership in project management: empirical research of project managers

Situational leadership in project management: empirical research of project managers

Project Management Leadership Assessment: A Review to Propose a Framework

Project stakeholders are always trying to make the project a success, so the factors that influence the project's success become a growing concern and should be appropriately managed. Although various factors influence the success of a project, the project manager, as a leader in organizing, directing, and managing all types of project activities, plays a significant role. This study aims to develop a framework for assessing project management leadership as a factor in project success. The method used in this research is an in-depth literature review. Indicators of leadership factors in the success of project management have been identified, consisting of four main categories: competence of behavioural, intellectual and technical, managerial, and quality of leadership style, with 24 subcategory variables complementing the four main variables. A framework for leadership success factors in project management has been proposed, including ways of assessing, gap analysis, and interpretation of results.

Effect of Project Management Leadership on Project Performance, a Case of Strengthening Child Protection and SRHR Project in Bugesera District, Rwanda

Effect of Project Management Leadership on Project Performance, a Case of Strengthening Child Protection and SRHR Project in Bugesera District, Rwanda

1215. Variation in Hand Hygiene Improvement After Implementation of an Electronic Hand Hygiene System During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract Background Electronic hand hygiene (HH) monitoring systems have many potential advantages but there are limited data on wide-scale implementation of these systems. TableHand Hygiene Observations, Improvement in Adherence Rates and SIR Trends by Hospital Methods We deployed an electronic HH monitoring system in over 2,100 acute and critical care rooms across 9 hospitals in an academic health system. Badges with a Bluetooth beacon were issued to over 7,000 healthcare workers. Deployment began in early 2020 and was interrupted by the pandemic. The rollout of interventions to improve HH adherence was managed at the hospital level. Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) were determined by the infection prevention team using standard CDC definitions. Hospital-level HH adherence rates were compared to a composite SIR including SIRs for CLABSI, CAUTI, hospital-onset MRSA bloodstream infections and hospital-onset Clostridiodes difficile infections. Results Between January 2020 and April 2022, there were over 36 million hand hygiene opportunities with an average of 19 observations per staffed room per day. Overall HH adherence improved from 46% to 60%, with significant variation by hospital (4 improving by >25% and 3 by < 5%). Hospitals whose implementation was most delayed showed the least improvement. Preliminary analysis found no relationship between hand hygiene improvement and the SIR composite aggregated by calendar year. Conclusion Despite the challenges of large-scale implementation of an electronic HH system during a pandemic, we demonstrated an overall improvement in HH adherence. The wide variation in improvement among hospitals was due to timing of implementation, variation in the dedicated hospital-specific project management resources and leadership engagement. In addition to technology, successful implementation of electronic HH systems requires dedicated resources and culture change. Pandemic-related staffing challenges, disruption of standard HAI prevention efforts and intensive device utilization confounded our ability to show a relationship between HH adherence and HAI rates. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

"Not just a checkbox": A qualitative study of the resident scholarly experience.

Scholarship is a requirement of residency training; however, the scholarly productivity of trainees is highly variable. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of residents who have been highly productive in scholarship. We performed a qualitative study using a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm and conducted semistructured interviews at seven Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited emergency medicine residency programs in the United States. We included sites of diverse locations and training formats (PGY-1 to -4 vs. PGY-1 to -3). Program leadership identified residents with high levels of scholarly productivity at their institutions. We used purposive sampling to seek out residents with diversity in gender and PGY level. Two researchers independently performed a thematic analysis of interview transcripts. Discrepancies were resolved through in-depth discussion and negotiated consensus. We invited 14 residents and all consented to be interviewed. Residents felt scholarship enhanced their knowledge and skills, grew collaborative networks, and provided personal fulfillment and external rewards. Scholarship positively impacted their careers by focusing their professional interests and informing career decisions. Participants identified individual and institutional facilitators of success including personal prior knowledge and skills, project management skills, mindset, protected time, mentorship, and leadership support. Challenges to conducting scholarship included lack of time, expertise, and resources. Participants acknowledged that participating in scholarly activities was hard work and recommended that residents seek out quality mentorship, work on projects that they are passionate, start early, and be persistent in their efforts. Participants' advice to faculty supporting resident scholarship included recommendations to allow resident autonomy of projects, provide scholarly opportunities, and be responsive to trainee needs. Participants in this study highlighted benefits of participating in scholarly activity as well as challenges and strategies for success. These results can inform residencies seeking to enhance the scholarly experience of trainees.

Sustainable Leadership in Project Management. The Need for a New Kind of Leadership

Adopting a long-term perspective has helped companies survive in difficult times and overcome economic crises, recessions, and pandemics such as the current COVID-19. At present, the project management approach is changing from more authoritarian management models to frameworks that are based on the management of people and society. This article researches the concept of sustainable leadership in the project management profession. It evaluates the level of sustainable leadership among project managers in Spain using the Avery and Bergsteiner’s (2011) model of bees and locusts as a reference framework (Bee and Locust Sustainable Leadership Model). A qualitative study was carried out based on the analysis of the responses given by sixty-eight project managers in Spain who answered a 52-point ques-tionnaire. The findings yielded interesting results. It was found that in projects considered as temporal organizations, companies tended to employ a mixture of bee and locust’s leadership elements. Respondents recognized the importance of employee training and development, and most considered that it was essential to consider the environment when determining the organization’s commercial objectives. However, based on this study’s findings, the project management profession still has a long way to go as regards the practical implementation of sustainable leadership.

Exploring Project Uncertainty and Leadership Strategies

Managing projects under conditions of uncertainty requires a fundamental shift in how project leaders plan and execute initiatives. They need to reimagine not just their vision and purpose but adopt new ways of thinking that will allow them to thrive at a time of extraordinary change and disruption. The project manager's leadership style needs to be tailored to mitigate various sources of uncertainty. This study identifies main domains and factors of project uncertainty and synthesizes leadership competencies to address such uncertainty. By constantly evaluating the characteristics of these domains, project managers are more likely to convert “unknown unknowns” to “known unknowns.” It is argued that certain leadership competencies are necessary to find new approaches and achieve an advantage in crisis. Adoption of critical leadership competencies by the project manager is key to move from crisis prone to crisis prepared.

Project Management Leadership and Successful Completion of Road Construction Projects in Kenya National Highways Authority

Road construction projects in Kenya are facing problems of delays in their life cycle of implementation therefore not successfully completed. From previous studies done, several road projects do not get completed within the stipulated budget and timings and usually fail to meet the desired standards such as quality due to factors like inefficient time within the stipulated schedules, inadequate funds and lack of implementation facilities and equipment. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between project management leadership and completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority. The specific objectives of the study; to determine the relationship between leadership skills and completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority, leadership experience and completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority, leadership control and completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority and leadership style. This study was anchored on the following theories: Trait theory of leadership, Behavioral theory, Human Capital theory, and the Control theory. This study employed a descriptive survey research approach. The target population in this study was KeNHA and KURA road construction projects which totals to 184. The study used stratified sampling technique to choose a sample of 126 from the study population. The researcher used questionnaire to collect primary data. The data obtained for this research was analyzed using the statistical package for social science. The study concludes that leadership skills has a significant effect on completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority. In addition, the study concludes that leadership experience has a significant effect on completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority. Further, the study concludes that leadership control has a significant effect on completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority. The study also concludes that leadership style has a significant effect on completion of road construction projects in Kenya National Highways Authority. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the management of KeNHA should ensure regular training of the project managers to equip them with the necessary skills to enhance successful project completion. In addition, the management of KeNHA should adopt effective leadership practices to ensure road projects are completed on time and within the set budget. Keywords: Project Management, Leadership Skills, Kenya National Highways Authority