Chapter 10. Leadership and the Future of Project Management

ONE MESSAGE THAT we have worked to convey throughout this book is the comprehensive nature of project leadership. There is no one face of leadership; rather, leader behavior consists of a huge variety of decisions, attitudes, and actions. This book has shown how leadership behavior can be modeled, and how it allows leaders to formulate and implement visions for the future, build effective and cohesive teams, develop strong ethical decision-making skills, and formulate overall project strategies. Clearly, the idea of a central role of leadership in project management is misleading; the reality is that leadership encompasses numerous roles and activities if those leaders are to have the impact that they should.

The other conclusion that all readers should reach has to do with the central importance of project leadership in successful project management. Project management, as much as any activity in our organizations, is a leader-intensive undertaking. That is, effective leadership by itself can go far toward ensuring that a project will be a success. Conversely, inadequate or ineffectual leader behavior can often torpedo a viable project even when all other project management activities are performing appropriately. The best scheduling techniques, risk management, scope development, project control, and resource provisions will not ensure project success in the face of poor project leadership. This point was recently borne out quite clearly in a book by Pinto and Kharbanda suggesting that too many organizations spend far too much time in promoting their projects, while at the same time inadequately training and maintaining a cadre of project leaders (1995). The results are counterproductive and wasteful.