5. Understand the principles of leadership and teamwork. Flashcards
Explain two reasons for applying a situational leadership approach when managing
a project
The project manager may change leadership styles if the team are diverse and vary in terms of skills and experience. The project manager may act more as a coach to someone in the team who is new to the organisation or lacks the skill of someone who has been doing the same job for a long time and has a ‘senior’ status. Equally the project manager may not feel the need to micro-manage or be as closely monitoring someone who does have that knowledge and experience. Accommodating the various skillsets and experiences within the team can demonstrate that the project manager has confidence in his team and is committed to ensuring they are able to deliver their tasks or objectives.
If a project is not progressing as expected, maybe they are behind schedule for example, the project manager may decide to change to a more authoritative leadership style and become more direct in his expectations from the team producing the work. Doing this may boost team motivation as they become more aware that they should look to support the PM in his goal to meeting the project go-live date. This may cause conflict in the team, especially if the project manager has not controlled the risks surrounding the project and that is why the project team are behind schedule. If there is time in the schedule to recover then a more democratic approach may get better results.
Using a recognised model, explain three distinct stages of team development
Forming, the first stage in the team development model is where the team is first brought together. In this stage they are unsure of their place in the team, they are trying to work out the goal for the project & how they can help deliver it and also they are working on trying to understand the other members of the team & their skills. This important so as to start the team with the right grounding as the manager. Through this
stage the team members will start to work on the project and its deliverable.
Norming, this is there the team first start to understand the project, its objectives & deliverable’s, but also understand their place within the project/team. The team however are still not working as a team but still as a group. They will start at this stage to have a higher level of team dynamic and
performance but still quite individual in nature. The project manager at this stage will still be more transactional in nature rather than later on in the team development model where the PM will be more transformation in their approach.
Performing, this is the fourth stage in the model where the team have started to perform, they are working as a coherent unit where they deliver in excess of the sum of their individual parts. They are able to work cohesively as a team and deliver their best work. It is this stage that the team leader/PM is trying to get the team to perform as quickly as possible. Importantly in this stage the team have a singular goal which they all are focused on. They become a team rather than a group of individuals.
Question part (a) Describe two characteristics of an effective team.
Marks 20 marks (10 marks each)
Question part (b) Explain three reasons why it might be necessary to change leadership styles to ensure effective management during a project.
Marks 30 marks (10 marks each)
Question part (a)
1) An effective team needs to have a variety of people with a good blend of skills. This can be achieved through the use of the Belbin roles for example having a team including a selection from the 9 roles: implementer, plant, completer-finisher, specialist, monitor-evaluator, coordinator, shaper, resource-investigator, team worker. The project manager would need to assess the characteristics of each member in the team to ensure there is a well-rounded skillset and personality balance for the team to be effective in achieving project goals.
2) An effective team needs to have the ability to work together which would include the active and positive participation from everyone in the team. This ensures that there are multiple viewpoints and performance abilities within the team to achieve the work assigned. This usually takes place in the norming and performing stages of the team set up cycle and encourages all team members to feel supported by each other.
Question part (b)
Many project managers have a natural leadership style; however, it is important for them to be able to apply situation leadership as the circumstances change within a project, examples of this are:
1) Maturity of followers: The project manager may find that they will need to adapt their leadership style due to the maturity of their followers. At the start of a project the team may be new to each other and the project work (the forming stage) and therefore the project manager may need to use a more directive/telling approach to ensure that the team are clear on what they need to do. This approach will change as the team start to form strong foundations and become more competent (from m1 to m3-m4) so the project manager may find that they will change to a more delegative approach to ensure effective management.
2) Importance of task – if a task has a high level of importance or a strict time constraint then the project manager may want to exhibit ‘autocratic/telling leadership style to enforce the tasks that need to be done in the most effective way possible to meet the deadlines. Once the important/timebound task has been completed, the project manager may begin to go into a more supportive leadership style for other tasks.
3) Focus on development of team – during the performing stage may be when there is time to focus on the personal/professional development and growth of the team. The project manager may wish to lean towards a mentoring/coaching style of leadership. This will ensure effective management of the team as it empowers the team to become autonomous and gives individuals the courage and motivation to complete their work to a high standard.
