Exploring project-related factors that influence leadership styles and their effect on project performance : a conceptual framework

Abstract

It is widely accepted that project leaders should adapt their behaviour to meet the unique leadership demands of a variety of situations. Recently, vertical, shared, and horizontal styles of leadership have gained prominence, especially in the project management literature. Several factors are believed to play a role in determining an appropriate balance between these leadership styles. This theoretical study explores the influence of project types, the stage in the project life cycle, organisational project management maturity, and the level of trust and collaboration between project team members on the appropriate balance of leadership styles in projects. This paper presents a conceptual framework of these factors, while empirical results will be reported on in the sequel to this paper.Dit word wyd aanvaar dat leiers hulle gedrag by spesifieke situasies moet aanpas sodat die unieke leierskapvereistes wat aan hulle gestel word nagekom kan word. Vertikale, gedeelde en horisontale leierskap style is deesdae op die voorgrond, veral in projekbestuur literatuur. Verskeie faktore speel ’n rol in die bepaling van ’n geskikte balans tussen hierdie leierskapstyle. Die faktore sluit in die tipe projek, die stadium in die projeklewensiklus, die projekbestuurvolwassenheid van die organisasie, en die vlak van vertroue en samewerking tussen mense binne die projek. Hierdie artikel stel ’n konseptuele raamwerk van hierdie faktore voor, terwyl empiriese uitslae in ’n opvolgartikel gerapporteer sal word.