This research explores the nature and importance of leadership in technical projects. It contends that there is a need to develop a leadership model incorporating the unique personality and occupational characteristics of technical professionals and their project environment. Increasing attention is now being paid to the non-technical aspects, such as leadership, in the execution of technical projects; but there is a dearth of empirical research justifying their importance as critical success factors.
Using Bass and Avolio�s (1990) model and its measurement instrument, this study tested the suitability of transformational leadership, considered a cornerstone of post-industrial school of leadership, in the successful execution of information systems projects. In addition, a separate technical leadership scale, derived from the meta analysis of the technical leadership literature, was also tested, compared and contrasted with Bass and Avolio�s model.
The conceptual framework postulated that a combination of transformational and technical leadership styles augment transactional leadership leading to high project success with the additional support of other contingency factors, such as clarity of project mission, top management support and availability of technical resources.
The population for the research was information systems projects in Australian organisations. The participating organisations were part of the top 100 computer using organisations, top 50 software companies and members of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA). Of the 111 organisations which were invited and found suitable, 36 participated in the research, yielding a response rate of 32%.
Each participating organisation involved two project teams in the survey, one considered more successful and another less successful, on specified parameters. The sample consisted of the IT project managers (n = 70) and their subordinates (n = 228) who described the leadership behaviours of self/manager in terms of transformational, transactional, and technical leadership scales and their perceived effectiveness. In addition, senior IT managers (n = 18) were interviewed to obtain a three dimensional (superiors, self and subordinates) perspective of project leadership.
The results were consistent with the hypothesis that managers of more successful projects exhibit transformational and technical leadership behaviours to a greater extent than managers of less successful projects. They also exhibited more of transactional contingent reward behaviour, thus, supporting the augmentation effect. Management-by-exception passive behaviour showed a strong but negative correlation with leadership outcome. As hypothesised, transformational and technical leadership scales were more strongly correlated with leadership outcome scales in more successful projects than in less successful projects. These results were in line with the previous findings on Bass and Avolio�s model.
The more successful projects also exhibited stronger presence of the contingency factors considered in the study i.e., better clarity of project mission to team members, top management support and greater availability of technical resources. There was a broad agreement between the managers and their subordinates on leadership, outcome and contingency scales.
The factor analysis of leadership scales resulted in one transformational scale (combination of intellectual stimulation and idealised influence), one technical scale (organisational catalyst), and three transactional scales (contingent reward, management-by-exception active and passive). The modified leadership scales were used to propose a technical leadership model, laying the foundation for a technical leadership theory.
The results demonstrate the importance of leadership as a critical success factor in technical projects and provide valuable clues on a 'role model' for aspiring project managers which include the key elements of transformational and technical leadership. While there may be no one leadership style that is effective in all project situations, the study recommends an underlying yet flexible style characterised by organisational catalyst, intellectual stimulation, behavioural charisma and contingent reward behaviours for enhanced leadership effectiveness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216478 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Thite, Mohan, m.thite@griffith.edu.au |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Mohan Thite |
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