MONTHLY COLUMN:

ADVANCES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Oriented Leadership

By Dr Ralf Müller
and
Prof Rodney Turner

Editor’s note: The series on Advances in Project Management was launched with a Guest Editorial by Professor Darren Dalcher and first article in the December 2009 edition of PM World Today. Please read that introductory editorial here, where Professor Dalcher explains and sets the stage for articles in this exciting series by leading authors in the field of project management. Please read previous articles in the series by visiting the archives, beginning with the December 2009 edition. Each month’s article is introduced by Professor Darren Dalcher, special editor of the Series on Advances in Project Management. Darren is also the editor of the Advances in Project Management series of books for Gower Publishing in the UK – our series includes articles by authors of the Gower books. To read Professor Dalcher’s introduction this month, visit www.pmworldtoday.net.

Leadership in projects provides guidance in direction, gives purpose and meaning to the work in the project. Management in projects makes sure that plans are developed, implementation is controlled and goals are accomplished. Both leadership and management are needed for long-term success. Leadership lights-up the flame of motivation, whereas management provides the oxygen for the flame to stay alive.

A lot has been written about project management, but relatively little can be found on leadership in projects. However, all organizations, including projects, need leaders who give vision, identity, keep the stakeholders and the project team on board and make difficult decisions. Leadership by the project manager is the often overseen success factor on projects

When viewed as a competence, then leadership can be learned, practiced and continuously improved. Competence is hereby understood as the knowledge, skills, personal characteristics, traits, and behaviours that deliver superior results. What is required for leadership competence in project management are intellectual (IQ), emotional, (EQ) and managerial (MQ) competences. These are made up of fifteen underlying measurement dimensions, as shown in Table 1 (after Dulewicz & Higgs, 2003).

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About the Author Dr. Ralf Muller Author Dr Ralf Müller is Associate Professor at Umeå University, Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian School of Management BI and at SKEMA Business School in France. He lectures and researches in project management, leadership, governance of project-based organizations, as well as research design and methodology. Prior to his academic career he spent 30 years in consulting large enterprises in project management and governance, e.g. as worldwide Director of Project Management at NCR Teradata.

About the Author Prof Rodney Turner Co - Author Rodney Turner, MA, MSc, DPhil (Oxon), BE (Auck),CEng, FIMechE, FAPM, MInstD is Professor of Project Management at the SKEMA Business School, in Lille France. He is Visiting Professor at Henley Business School and the Kemmy Business School, Limerick, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. Rodney is the author or editor of sixteen books, including The Handbook of Project-based Management, the best selling book published by McGraw-Hill, and the Gower Handbook of Project Management. He is editor of The International Journal of Project Management. He lectures on project management world wide. Rodney is Vice President, Honorary Fellow and former chairman of the UK’s Association for Project Management, and former President and Chairman of the International Project Management Association. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.