Leadship vs Management Qualities

To achieve success in a project, it is important to have a qualified project manager. The way in which a project is either being led or managed can have a big impact on the outcome of the project. To assess which management techniques work best for a given project, it can be advantageous to understand the difference between managing and leading. Understanding the key differences between management and leadership can help with deciding on what is best suitable for the desired outcome of the project, as well as what fits the interests and personality of the project manager. Besides reflecting on the success of the project, the chosen management style will also reflect on how the team experiences the work process.

The article will be based on the view that a manager is goal-oriented, aiming to achieve goals set by an organization, in contrast to a leader who is people-oriented, as they aim to gather a team around a vision.

The purpose of the article is to dive into the differences and similarities between manager and leadership qualities. The two roles will be assessed on their strengths and weaknesses and discuss what benefits can come from using either or. In addition, it will be discussed how to utilize and combine the best qualities from both of the management styles, to perform and deliver the best possible outcome of a project.

Leadership

Qualities of Leadership

Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing others towards achieving a goal. In other words, leadership means using communication to persuade others, in this case, one’s team, to follow a vision. The vision is set by the leader and can be used as a predefined target, that can be reached by the team, through motivation from the leader. Răducan et. al further emphasize that the most important qualities of a leader are to create balance within the team.(1) Leadership differs from management in the aspect that is more human-oriented rather than goal-oriented. This is reflected in the way a leader achieves their goals, which happens through motivating and engaging with the teams to achieve these goals. Therefore, an important trait for a project leader is communication. To be a good leader, it is important to have qualities such as having a vision, being curious, being able to communicate, emotional intelligence, and accountability. Creating a vision is a powerful way of communicating, as it helps in creating an understanding. This understanding can ease the process of getting one’s team to strive towards the same goals. Emotional intelligence is also an important factor, as research has shown that there is a significant relationship between the ability to be in control of one’s feelings and the outcome of the project. (2: Do projects) A good quality in a leader is empathy, as leadership is about understanding what can drive a team and what can inspire them to continue to strive towards an achievement. The leadership of a project can be assessed based on the following three measurable factors (3).

• Effectiveness
• Satisfaction
• Extra effort

It is possible to measure efficiency by looking at what momentum and growth have been created through teamwork. Quality leadership is reflected in how well the team achieves the predefined goals. Furthermore, it is possible to measure the quality of the leadership by looking at satisfaction within the team, including the satisfaction with the leader and the management of the labor. Finally, progress in the team’s desire to put in an extra effort in creating a valuable and successful project. This equates to employees making an extra effort to achieve their goals in comparison to what is normally measured.

Downfalls of Leadership

There are a lot of benefits to using a leadership approach to manage a project, but not performing it properly can have consequences that can have a negative effect on the success of the outcome of the project. When talking about poor leadership, most studies indicate that this is due to personality traits that conflict with the desired qualities of a leader. Toor and Ogulana argue that the negative personal attributes of the leader are what contribute to the ineffectiveness in leadership. Characteristics of an ineffective leader consist of personality traits, such as “self-centered behaviors, wrongful use of power, manipulation, intimidation, coercion, and one-way communication”(4). These may be personality traits already present in a person before entering a leadership role. But it is also seen that the power can go to the head of a leader, where these traits will develop as the power rises. In addition to the consequences poor management can have on the outcome of a project and its success, arguments can be made for more serious consequences. These consequences include, but are not limited to, have shown to have an impact on the mental health of the followers. This manifests itself in the form of lack of interest, low job performance, as well as low self-confidence, in people who are subject to this type of management. This means that it can be directly measurable whether the leadership is effective as it can affect the organization through declining productivity. To avoid leading your team inefficiently, it is therefore important to keep an eye on one’s own motivation and drive. Furthermore, it is possible to keep track of one’s own leadership abilities by being aware of the measurable changes within the team. If it is discovered that team members are losing interest or have a low performance, it can potentially be the management style that is the culprit.

Management

Management Qualities

A manager’s main role is to optimize to meet the set goals. Unlike leadership, the main focus of management is goal-oriented. This means that the role of the manager consists of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the project and the team. Ogunlana et. al. argues that the role of a project manager requires the performance of three key tasks (ref):

• Implementation of an effective plan
• Maintaining communication within and outside of the project
• Handling of external and internal conflicts

Ensuring a successful project includes being able to stay within schedule and budget, hence why an effective plan is necessary. Planning out a strategy is also beneficial as it can help plan the delegation of human resources to reach these set targets. Communication, like in leadership, is an essential part of project management. The majority of the project manager’s time is spent communicating with people internally and externally from the project (ref). Internal communication includes, among other tasks, distributing roles, information, and responsibility within the group. To mitigate miscommunication, it is necessary for the project manager to assign these roles as they can help create structure in the project team. Conflict resolution is necessary to avoid threatening the aforementioned schedule or budget, as this can have a negative influence on the success of the project. Management can therefore best be described as being a function that aims to achieve and ensure the best climate to perform and thereby deliver the best possible results within the specifications of the project. A good manager can therefore be described as an organizer who structures complex problems, by creating a plan, predicting possible risk, and deciding on an approach to achieve the set targets.

Downfalls of management

Management can be useful under the right conditions. As was the case with leadership, it is important for a manager to be able to talk to people, as the main part of the function consists of delegating and structuring tasks within the team. Incompetence in management can be seen by the following characteristics, according to Lombardo et. al (ref):

• Over- or undermanaging
• Not being able to build a team
• Inability to adapt

Overmanaging references to the project manager having excessive control over the project. Overmanaging can have consequences on the spirit of the team, create frustration, a lack of independence, or create low self-esteem in relation to feeling able to solve the problems without the project manager’s influence. Undermanaging, on the other hand, means an increased risk of unnecessary problems arising Not identifying problems in time or solving them in the best possible way, can threaten the success of the project. By not being able to build a well-functioning team, the risk of problems and internal conflicts is increased. It is considered that building a team can contribute to an overall collaboration and teamwork that can increase the motivation to deliver a successful project. Finally, if a project manager is not able to adapt to a changing environment the likelihood of success is small. Organizations are as in the word, organic, meaning that they are ever-changing. It is therefore important for a manager to be able o adapt both to organizational changes, but also the possibility of change made by the client.

Application

Not yet written, but I would like to address in this section how each have different qualities, and that it can be beneficial to approach project management with both in mind. Furthermore, I would like to address how to successfully do so and how to find which manage style is best suited for an individual.

Bibliography

• Doing Projects A Nordic Flavour to Managing Project (Joana Geraldi, Christian Thuesen, Josef Oehmen, & Verena Stingl, 2017)
• Leadership and Management (Radu Răducana , Ramona Răducan 2014)
• Are Leadership and Management Different? A Review Dr. Ali Algahtani 2014
• Ineffective leadership Investigating the negative attributes of leaders and organizational neutralizers (Shamas-ur-Rehman and Stephen Ogunlana, 2009)
• Performance and leadership outcome correlates of leadership styles and subordinate commitment (Kedsuda Limsila and Stephen O. Ogunlana, 2007)