John Potter Plymouth Business School University of Plymouth Project Management

Three aspects of the project manager role Understanding the role of the project manager and leader Understanding the concept of organisational team working Understanding the project life cycle of definition, planning, resourcing, implementation and handover. Three aspects of the project manager role

Project leaders and managers are responsible for the achievement of project goals which are specific and which require visible and dynamic activity Project leaders and managers need to look: upwards outwards backwards forwards downwards inwards What projects managers actually do

The nature of the project team Brought together for a specific project Seldom full time Non hierarchical team members Cross functional Includes visible and invisible members Establishing a shared view of success criteria Agreeing basic team codes of conduct for working together Keeping in touch with team members when they are apart Enabling the contributions of each team member Leading the team by setting realistic targets Continuous reviewing of progress and performance Managing external relationships. The project leader’s new work – developing organisational teamworking

Project definition, understanding the big picture and getting stakeholder agreement Planning and resource issues Implementation Handing over and winding up of the project The project life cycle

Is leadership the same as management? Can the two concepts be separated? Is leadership in someway more important than management? What are the differences between an effective manager and an effective leader? The leadership-management debate

The Leader The Manager The Leader The Manager  Administers  Is a copy  Maintains  Focuses on systems  Relies on control  Short range view  Asks how and when.  Innovates  Is an original  Develops  Focuses on people  Inspires Trust  Long Range View  Asks what and why. Warren Bennis on Becoming a leader Arrow Books 1998

The Leader The Manager The Leader The Manager  Eye on the bottom line  Imitates  Accepts the status quo  Obeys orders without question  Does things right  Is trained.  Eye on the horizon  Originates  Challenges the status quo  Obeys and thinks  Does the right things  Learns. Warren Bennis on Becoming a leader Arrow Books 1998

Focus on project leadership and management processes  Management Planning Organising Controlling Predictability.  Leadership Direction Alignment Inspiring Change. John Kotter A Force for Change The Free Press 1990

Setting direction and focusing energy Setting a good example Communicating effectively Aligning people in emotional terms Developing people and bringing out the best in them Developing self awareness Encouraging appropriate change Delivering results in appropriate timescales Staying calm in times of crisis Creating structure out of chaos. Ten core leadership capabilities

The John Adair approach of task, team and individual The international approach of the mix of task and relationship behaviour Goleman’s six styles of vision based (authoritative), affiliative, coaching, inclusive, coercive and pace- setting styles The communication patterns of autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire styles. The practical impact of leadership style

The bottom line of effective project leadership is to create a success mindset on the part of the project team members An ancient rule of the Universe is that you manifest what you spend most of the time thinking about Five important aspects of successful project working are: take responsibility for your actions and don’t apportion blame to others, focus on the positive aspects of the work, set goals, persevere intelligently through the tough times and develop your human networks of contacts to assist with your work. Promoting a culture of success in the project team Patrick Jordan (2010) The Principles of Success

Briner, W, Geddes, M, Hastings,C (1990) Project Leadership. Gower: Aldershot, England. Adair, J. (1983) Effective Leadership. Gower Publishing: England Goleman, D. (2000) Leadership That Gets Results? Harvard Business Review Bennis, W. (1990). On becoming a leader. Addison-Wesley: New York. Kotter, J (1990). A Force for Change. The Free Press: New York. Jordan, P. (2010) The Principles of Success Patrick Jordan. Available from

This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license ( The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved Author John Potter InstituteUniversity of Plymouth TitleHandling projects involves both leadership and management Date Created 10/06/2011 Educational Level Level 5 Keywords Learning from WOeRK Work Based Learning WBL Continuous Professional Development CPD leadership and management UKOER LFWOER Text for audio commentary