Project Management and Leadership - Essay Sample

The project implementation phase is an intricate process that entails the transformation of ideas and plans into an actual project. Furthermore, it entails the proper implementation of good leadership skills by the project manager in order to ensure that all components of the project are executed effectively. This is a report of project Romulus that outlines the most effective leadership styles that should be employed in managing the project and the approaches that should be used in the leadership assessment phase.

Leadership Styles

Good leadership is imperative in project management. Astute managers require proper technical, business as well as leadership skills to enable them to manage a project effectively. Additionally, through effective leadership, the managers of a project can motivate their personnel in accomplishing various project objectives and deliverables essential for the attainment of the project goals. As such, in Project Romulus, effective leadership must be employed in order to attain positive results upon completion of the project. There are three forms of leadership styles that the projects management team should employ when implementing Project Romulus.

Transformational Leadership Style

This is a form of leadership that is highly dependent on the high levels of managers and personnels communication in order to meet a projects goals. In this case, as a leading project manager at the Project Romulus, I will employ the transformational leadership style to motivate all the teams involved in the project to enhance their productivity as well as efficiency. This is through the use of effective communication and enhanced visibility. Additionally, I will focus on the overall execution of the project. In this case, I will group the projects functions into small tasks.

Later, I will delegate such tasks to all the teams involved in the execution of the project. Subsequently, the ideal completion of such small tasks will complete the attainment of a positive outcome for the main project. Furthermore, as the lead manager at Project Romulus, I will ensure that all teams are well informed of the particulars of executing the project. In this case, the manager will offer essential guidelines for executing the project to the teams through effective communications. This is because communication is an effective component of transformational leadership styles.

Participative Leadership Style

As a lead manager in Project Romulus, I will also use participative leadership style during the management of the team members that will be involved in the project. This is a form of leadership is also referred to the democratic leadership style, and it values the input of all team members involved in the execution of a project. However, the responsibility of developing the last decision will solely rest with me as the participative leader. Additionally, this form of leadership will be essential for Project Romulus because it will enable the management team to boost the morale of the projects personnel.

This is because the employees will be offered a chance to make contributions that will be considered during the decision-making process. Additionally, by involving the personnel in the decision-making process, it will make them feel as if all their opinions are considered when making the projects final decision. Furthermore, this form of leadership style will be essential during the enactment of any changes during the implementation of the project. For instance, it will be important for the projects management team, when enacting short-term decisions pertaining the project. In such a case, the personnel will have also been involved in the decision formulation, and as such, they will be less resistant to the resultant change.

Democratic Leadership Style

Though not used entirely in the implementation process, the democratic style will also be essential for the project. Through this style, being the lead manager of the Project Romulus, I will be open to the contributions of others when making decisions. Additionally, this leadership style will be essential because it will aid in breeding new decisions and in motivating the team members. Consequently, this will enable me as the projects leader to build an environment of trust, respect as well as a commitment among the personnel. Subsequently, this will aid in the attainment of a highly motivated workforce, who will be beneficial in the execution of the project.

Additionally, by using this form of leadership style in Project Romulus, I will be able to boost the staff members job satisfaction rate. It will also encourage them to be innovative as well as creative in making decisions pertaining the project. Nevertheless, I will consider using this form of leadership style if the projects employees will be both competent and informed about the particulars required in the projects implementation. Also, this style will only be used if the personnel at the project have the theoretical knowledge of the workings of different systems of the project.

Methods of Assessing the Utility of the Leadership Styles

There is one primary assessment methodology that will be employed to measure the effectiveness of the leadership styles. The method will entail the use of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ or MLQ 5X) CITATION Avo99 \l 1033 (Avolio & Bass, 1999). This is a tool that features a set of questions that are focused on determining the range of leadership styles used by an organizations or project s manager as well as the effectiveness of such leadership. Additionally, this tool measures the effectiveness of the employed leadership style in the face of the leaders themselves as well as in through the perceptions of the leaders themselves.

Furthermore, when using the MLQ methodology for leadership assessment, the leadership styles effectiveness can be evaluated by undertaking the MLQ retesting program CITATION Bas95 \l 1033 (Bass & Avolio, 1995). Furthermore, the program provides a guideline for determining the strong and weak areas in a leader who uses a specified leadership style. Subsequently, the program also offers a foundation for executing a leadership training to enhance the performance of a leader. As such, the MLQ assessment technique will be effective if employed by the Project Romulus management team in determining and improving the leadership styles used during the project implementation period.

Definition of Likely Metrics for Inclusion

Effectiveness will be the first metric that will be employed in the determination of the performance of the leadership styles used in the organization. This will be achieved by determining how effectively various operations in the organization will be executed due to the essential leadership styles that are used. Additionally, the second metric that will be employed in the research will be the analysis of the project results. In this case, the results attained for performing the project will be evaluated. A positive result after such an evaluation will portray that the leadership styles used by the project manager are effective.

The Approach to Be Employed in the Leadership Assessment Phase

There are three primary approaches that I will use to demonstrate that Project Romulus has excelled through my leadership. Additionally, such techniques will also demonstrate how my leadership has empowered the companys personnel through promoting talent development within the organizations teams. These approaches will entail the use of statistical analysis of yields attained after the execution of the project, as well as the discussion of performance evaluation report. I will also use the comparison analysis method, to portray how the attained level of output compares with similar outputs before the implementation of the Project Romulus.

Statistical Analysis Approach

In this method, I will use the projects statistical records to explain the changes that have been attained by the corporation after the execution of Project Romulus. In this case, the statistical data evaluated will be focused on the costs incurred by the corporation such as the cost of marketing, raw materials, wages and salaries expenses, operational costs and other expenses. Additionally, I will use the expected difference in such cost to show that the Project Romulus has secured massive advantages for the shipping corporation since its enactment.

Furthermore, I will explain that this change in the overall performance of the project has been possible due to my improved leadership styles. Additionally, I will explain that the stated leadership styles have also facilitated the promotion of talent among the personnel teams working in the corporation and as a result, it leads to the overall improved performance of the organization. Ultimately, this approach will be effective for the project because it will entirely rely on the use of statistical data compiled during the benefits realization phase, to show that positive outcomes attained by the organization.

Performance Evaluation Report Approach

This will also be an effective approach that will portray how my leadership qualities have been beneficial for the successful execution of the project and in the attainment of positive yields. Additionally, through his methodology, I will compare the performance of the corporations teams before the Napoli incident and after the successful execution of Project Romulus. Furthermore, I will use the manifested of the recorded change after the performance evaluation has been performed to justify that my leadership styles have been beneficial to the corporation.

Furthermore, I will explain that the improved overall performance of the corporation due to my effective leadership skills have empowered the corporations personnel to be more productive in executing their varying functions in the corporation. Subsequently, such empowerment has made the personnel to be innovative in handling various organizational tasks. Additionally, this has also contributed to the talent development within the personnels teams that are functioning at the institution.

Output Comparison Analysis Approach

The output will be all products that are produced by the shipping corporation. In this case, the outputs considered will include the level of services and relevant products offered by the organization and the employees overall work performance. Additionally, the comparison of the output will be based on the output levels before the occurrence of the Napoli incident and output records attained after the implementation of the Project Romulus. In this case, the improved output levels attained by the organization after the successful implementation of the Project Romulus will be used to justify the effectiveness of my leadership styles.

Furthermore, it is evident that the change in output levels will be as a result of the improved productivity of the employee teams in the corporation. As such, I will argue that the leadership styles that I used in the organization have contributed to the employees empowerment and talent development. Furthermore, this approach will be essential in portraying the proportion, in terms of percentage, in which my involvement in the corporations work has promoted my attainment of positive results. Ultimately, a higher percentage increment in the level of output attained after the implementation of project Romulus will prove that I have been an effective leader for the corporation.

Sample Metrics to Be Included in the Project Evaluation Plan (PEP)

Three primary metrics will be used in the PEP exercise. The productivity metric will enable me as the lead project manager to assess the utilization of the organizations resou...