Exploring the effect of the project leader ‘s role on team members in Project Based Organizations

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University of Amsterdam

Master Thesis:

‘Exploring the effect of the project leader ‘s role

on team members in Project Based Organizations’

Supervisor:

Prof. Dr. D.N. Den Hartog

Co-reader:

Dr. A.E Keegan

Student name:

A. Schenk

Student number:

5653886

Master:

Business Studies

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University of Amsterdam – Faculty of Economics and Business

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Foreword

This research has been conducted for the Master ‘Business Studies’ at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). I have chosen to specialise in Leadership in the final phase of my master. To be more specific, I studied the expected effect different project leader roles has on the project team environment.

Conducting the interviews at four totally dissimilar companies was very interesting to do.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank some people that have helped me through this final stage of my ´student life´. I was able to finish this research project , only with the help and support of some people around me was. First of all I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. D. Den Hartog for her great involvement, inspiration and understanding. She was always flexible and ready to give feedback and support. I also would like to thank my co-reader Drs. A. Keegan. My friends and family deserve a special thanks for their sympathy and encouragement. I would also like to thank the participants at the companies for their time and guidance. And last but not least I would like to thank all the people who participated in my research. The research largely depended on the cooperation and willingness of those people who volunteered in my research, thanks for sharing all your opinions with me. Finally, I would like to thank Dominique du Toit for her useful comments and counselling.

Annelies Schenk

Amsterdam, February 2008

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Abstract

A lot has been written about leadership in general and project based organizations in specific. Den Hartog and Keegan (2004) propose that the statistical relationship between transformational leadership and outcomes such as stress and commitment tends to be less strong for employees reporting to project leaders. This suggests that project workers might not seek their social support from their project leaders. The literature of this thesis shows that team diversity, trust and authority gap are proposed factors creating this weak relationship. This is an explorative study to investigate the reasons for this potentially weaker impact of project leaders on their team members’ attitude level. In-depth interviews with project team members of four dissimilar project based companies have been undertaken to examine the role and effect of project leaders on their team members in project- based organizations (PBO). Analysis of the results revealed that project leaders mainly affect the commitment and inspiration attitudes of project members and the negative feelings they experience towards working in a PBO. From this study it came forward that freedom, responsibility and content knowledge are the most influential factors in affecting the attitude of the project members towards their project leader . The role of the project leader can be perceived as a mediating process manager. Based on the findings of this research, more quantitative and structured analyses can be conducted. The implications on future research on project leadership in project-based organizations will also be explored in this thesis.

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SECTION I: INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT ... 6

Chapter 1 Introduction and Relevance ... 6

§

1.1 M

OTIVATION TO DO THE

R

ESEARCH

... 8

§

1.2 D

ESIGN OF THE

T

HESIS

... 8

Chapter 2 Problem Statement ... 10

§

2.1 P

URPOSE OF THE STUDY

... 10

§

2.2 T

HE

R

ESEARCH

Q

UESTIONS

... 10

§

2.3 S

UB

-Q

UESTIONS

... 11

SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 12

Chapter 3 Literature review ... 12

§

3.1 P

ROJECT BASED ORGANIZATION

... 12

§ 3.1.1 Description project based organization ... 12

§ 3.1.2 Projects ... 13

§ 3.1.3 The skills of a project leader ... 15

§

3.2 A

TTITUDES TOWARDS MANAGEMENT STYLE

... 17

§ 3.2.1 Organizational Structure PBO ... 17

§ 3.2.2 Management style: Transformational leadership dimensions ... 18

§ 3.2.3 Organizational culture ... 19

§ 3.2.4 People management process ... 20

§ 3.2.5 Team experience... 21

§

3.3 A

TTITUDE AND

F

ACTORS

... 23

SECTION III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 24

Chapter 4 Methodology ... 24

§

4.1 R

ESEARCH DESIGN

... 24

§

4.2 S

AMPLE

,

SETTING AND PROCEDURE

... 25

Chapter 5 Description of companies. ... 27

§

5.1 F

IELD

:

C

OMMUNICATION

... 27

§

5.2 F

IELD

:

M

EDIA

... 27

§

5.3 F

IELD

:

KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY FIRM

... 28

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SECTION IV: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ... 31

Chapter 6 Methodology of Analysis ... 31

§

6.1 C

ATEGORIES

... 31

§ 6.1.1 Other data analysis techniques ... 32

Chapter 7 Results and interpretations ... 33

§7.1 T

HE

C

ROSS

-C

ATEGORY

M

ATRICES

... 34

§ 7.1.1 Cross-Category Matrix: structure ... 34

§ 7.1.2 Cross Category Matrix: attitude ... 35

§

7.2 T

HE

D

ATA

-I

LLUSTRATION

M

ATRICES AND

I

NTERPRETATIONS

... 37

§ 7.2.1 Commitment ... 37

§ 7.2.2 Inspiration ... 41

§ 7.2.3 Belongingness / Connectedness ... 43

§ 7.2.4 Fairness attention on result ... 45

§

7.3 S

KILLS OF A PROJECT LEADER

... 48

SECTION V: DISCUSSION ... 52

Chapter 8 Discussion ... 52

§

8.1 L

IMITATIONS AND

F

UTURE RESEARCH

... 52

§

8.2 C

ONCLUSION

&

R

ECOMMENDATIONS

... 53

Chapter 9 References ... 56

Appendices ... 61

A

PPENDIX

1:

I

NTERVIEW GUIDELINE

... 61

A

PPENDIX

2:

T

HICK DESCRIPTIONS

... 63

A

PPENDIX

3A F

ACTORING

:

T

EAM ADVANTAGES

... 69

A

PPENDIX

3B

F

ACTORING

:

T

EAM DISADVANTAGES

... 69

A

PPENDIX

4 F

ACTORING

&

F

REQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLES

... 70

A.1 Quality project leader ... 70

A.2 Frequency/Distribution table quality PL ... 71

B.1 Factoring role project leader ... 72

B.2 Frequency table: role PL ... 73

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SECTION I: INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

Chapter 1 Introduction and Relevance

This research concerns the subject of Leadership, and the specialism project leaders (PL) in project based organizations. Since companies choose more flexible and boundaryless organizational forms, the main function of leaders within those organizations become more integrative and complex (Shamir, 1999).

Nowadays organizations are undergoing a paradigm shift. Several trends, such as the globalisation, outsourcing and the increasing importance of team concepts in the field of management, means that traditional industrial boundaries fail to make sense (Shamir, 1999). The underlying idea is that corporate knowledge and capabilities can be used to compete successfully in several industries. Projects represent operational devices that fit well in knowledge intensive operations in a networked business

environment. Therefore, it is understandable that organizations increasingly conduct their work and tasks in a project/team form (Artto, 2001).

These so called project based organizations- hereafter PBO- are more organic than traditional companies (Burns & Stalker, 1961). People work in multiple teams, temporarily and each with a specific project responsibility and duration for the life of the project (Tosi, Mero and Rizzo, 2000). This means that work in this environment is becoming more intellectual, flexible and adaptive, but also more ambiguous (Den Hartog, Keegan and Verburg, 2007). Furthermore the people within a team are

becoming more diverse: members have different career and intellectual backgrounds and at times also a different cultural background. This can generate benefits for the company. However, according to Northcraft, Polzer, Neal and Kramer (1996), full performance potential has not been realized yet, because these unique characteristics also lead to difficulty in realizing efficiency over individuals. It has become more difficult to manage people in project teams. Project leaders might need different

leadership skills in order to achieve effective results in project teams.

During the last decades, studies about leadership and management stress the importance of transformational leadership. It focuses on the identification and examination of those leadership behaviours that influence team members´ sense of value and aspiration, activate their higher needs and encourages them to rise above their own interest for the sake of the organization (Bass, 1985). Research on the transformational leadership paradigm has proven to be rather promising. Several studies showed a positive relationship of transformational leadership with employee satisfaction, commitment, effort and job performance (Brymann 1992; Avolio & Bass, 1988; Rowden, 2000). It is expected that using transformational leadership skills in a project based organization would be beneficial.

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For that reason, research has been done to investigate if project leaders use transformational skills. Shamir (1999) examined possible scenarios ,to the changing organizational forms, in which ´strong´ transformational leadership becomes rejected. However, further analysis leads him to an opposite scenario, namely the transformational form is indispensable for this post bureaucratic organizational form. Also, the findings of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004), suggest that project leaders and line managers do not differ significantly in terms of their transformational leadership styles. However, the outcomes of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) demonstrate that project leaders with the same leadership styles as line mangers did not have as strong an effect on their team members in comparison to traditional line managers. Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) also suggest that employees reporting to project leaders may not seek their social support from their project leaders. For example, their study found no significant link between transformational leadership and commitment in the project teams. In contrast, the positive relationship with transformational leadership are found for the employees of line organizations. We do know that there is positive relationship between commitment and desirable work outcomes (Rowden, 2000). So, if the commitment decreases through features of working in a project-based context, this can have undesirable consequences for the firms. But what might explain this decreased effect of project leaders on team members and is it really harming the efficiency and happiness of workers and the organization as a whole?

According to Keegan and Den Hartog (2004), the effect of transformational leaders might be weakened by features inherent to project-based working, such as multiple projects reporting and different project leaders. But further elaboration on the work of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) is needed. Most studies have been carried out under project leaders, instead of focusing on the project members’ perspective towards the company and the role of the project leader. Therefore, this study looks at the perception of team members on the role of a project leader and the relationship team leader – team member within a project based context. It will also explore their feelings towards working in project teams and whether or not those feelings affect the relationship with their project leader. It is very relevant to explore this further, since work challenges will continue to increase, so diverse and functional teams are likely to become more common (Griffin and Hauser, 1996). Consequently, it is important for project based organizations to understand how teams can be managed successfully and where they find their social support. This thesis explores the effects of the project leader’s roles within a project based organization. This thesis aimed to create a deeper and broader understanding of team member perceptions of working in a project based organization. Research was done on how they perceive the role of the team leader. The study is performed in four dissimilar project based organizations all using different project management methodologies. Therefore the main research question is formulated as:

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§ 1.1 Motivation to do the Research

My interest in the topic Leadership was created during a master course on “Leadership”, which I followed during the period of February 2007 to June 2007. Throughout this course, we had to read a lot of articles, though the articles of Den Hartog captured my attention most. Her lectures were very interesting, and she inspired me as a person. When I had to come up with a research idea, I decided to approach Mrs. Den Hartog for ideas. She was very understanding and stimulating, also she suggested that I elaborate on research she and Mrs. Keegan did by doing an explorative research. I was very enthusiastic about their research and agreed with this idea.

After my interest had been awakened, I started to consider what kind of organization would offer me the possibilities and extensive data needed. Soon I came to the conclusion that interviews in several project-based organisations in different fields would give me the most broad and general information about the topic. With my own network and that of some family members I decided to approach four project-based organisations in dissimilar branches of industry.-All companies were willing to cooperate and soon after that the interviews could start. During these interviews, I developed an understanding of the context and enhanced my awareness and knowledge of managing project-based organisations. The interviews also demonstrated even more clearly that every company should be perceived as unique. What I learned about organizational structures will be a very important factor in choosing my future employer.

§ 1.2 Design of the Thesis

In order to investigate the defined problem statement, several aspects of it will need to be dealt with throughout this thesis.

In the following chapter more insight is given in the problem statement of this research. The purpose of the research is discussed and also the research questions that came along with the problem statement are discussed.

In Section II, more insight is given into the existing literature concerning the different concepts regarding projects. The first paragraph gives a general insight in project-based organizations. The next paragraph gives predictions on possible factors and attitudes influenced by working in project teams, all based on previous research. The final paragraph of this section provides a wrap up of the investigated theory.

Section III contains the research methodology of this study as described. Chapter 4 explains why a qualitative research was chosen; what the researcher’s role was; how the study was bounded; what the

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ethical considerations were; and, what data collection strategies were used. All this gives a better insight in how the research was structured. Chapter 5 presents a brief description of the companies where the interviews were conducted.

In Section IV, the data is analysed and interpreted. In chapter 6, the methodology of analysis is discussed, and in chapter 7 the results and interpretations are shown in the form of cross-category-matrixes and data-illustration-cross-category-matrixes. In addition, the factoring technique and a frequency / distribution table have been applied to make more definite interpretations.

Finally, there is Section V, covering the discussion part. Final conclusions are given and

recommendations for the companies are discussed. At the end, the potential limitations of the study are considered and recommendations for further research are given.

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Chapter 2 Problem Statement

In this chapter the purposes and the problem statements are described. Together, these form the central question.

§ 2.1 Purpose of the study

With this research, the perception of the team members towards their project leader is explored in an in-depth qualitative study in order to give general insight and understanding on this topic. So the main purpose of this research is the following:

“To create a better insight into how the role of the project leader affects their team members in a project based context”

§ 2.2 The Research Questions

The research question is the central, briefly worded question to be answered in the research. Therefore, the domain to be studied must be defined. Since it is likely that there are possible causes or influencing factors, it should be a tentative formulation of the relationship between the phenomena and the

explanation of them (van der Velde, Jansen and Anderson, 2004). In this research, the contribution of the perception of project members’ thoughts towards the effect of the project leaders role is given by means of focussing on project team members’ feelings towards the management style of the project leader, the people management process of the company, their team experiences and the job assignment process. The context chosen for this study are four Dutch project based organizations dissimilar in field, structure and size. This approach should provide a rich variety of information. These specific

empirically observed correlations, should lead to general principles for a tentative, as yet untested, theory about the perceived role and effect of leaders in PBOs. So for this research the following central question is formulated:

“What effect does the project leader have on project team members in a project based organization?”

In order to answer the central question, it is necessary to formulate some sub-questions. These support the central question and are important in order to structure the research into separate elements. The sub questions are formulated in the next section.

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§ 2.3 Sub-Questions

Literature study:

1. What is a project based organization and how can it be defined?

2. What skills should a project leader have, and how much authority does the PL have? 3. Which attitudes are considered to affect the relationship between project leaders and team

members in a project based context?

4. What factors influence the authority of project leaders towards their team members? 5. What are the feelings towards working in project teams?

Case study:

6. Which factors mainly affect the attitude of team members towards project leaders?

7. What influence does a project leader have on how project members feel about working in a project team?

8. Which people management processes work against project leaders in their leadership role? 9. Which skills do project members expect from their project leader?

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SECTION II: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 3 Literature review

First of all, when examining the role of project leader ( further PL), which is part of the research question, it is important to know what project management entails. Therefore, a theoretical overview will be given of the characteristics of project-based firms, the definition of a project, and how to manage a project successfully and the competences of a project leader. Below, we start with reviewing literature on possible explanations and expectations regarding the attitude of project members towards their project leader.

§ 3.1 Project based organization

§ 3.1.1 Description project based organization

Radical changes in the society and organizations are rapidly coming up (Tosi et al., 2000). Corporate knowledge and (technical ) capabilities, not merely tangible resources, can be used to compete

successfully in several industries. Projects represent operational devices that fit well to this knowledge intensive operations. Therefore, it is understandable that organizations increasingly conduct their work and tasks in a project form (Artto, 2001). Prioritisation, flexibility and rapid adjustment is needed in such organizations, which will be defined as a project based organisation ( further PBO). An important characteristic of this new form of organizations is the destruction of boundaries within the organization and between the organization and the elements in its external environment (Shamir, 1999). PBO´s are portrayed as very dynamic, temporary and complex systems. The organization performs a number of different projects simultaneously. The number and size of these projects are constantly changing (Gareis, 2000). As a result, people and technologies are brought together to work in temporary teams each with a specific project responsibility and duration for the life of the project. Furthermore, many project members are virtually connected to the organization. As a result, internal and external relationships change. (Tosi et al. 2000; Shamir, 1999). In addition, varying strategic alliances are established and relationships to the different social environments of the different projects and programmes are managed. To cope with this increasing complexity, new management skills are required (Gareis, 2000).

Keegan and Turner (2001) describe project based firms as engaged in unique, novel and transient work, delivering customized outputs to clients by working in both capital and new product development projects. All project based firms use teams, usually multi-disciplinary, to achieve their goals. Because no two projects are the same, project based firms deal with change as a matter of their daily commercial reality. Further, because they produce once-off offerings rather than commodities, customer orientation is always an important strategic concern.

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All aforementioned theories demonstrate the complexity and continue chances of tasks within a PBO. Therefore, working with a specialised team on projects is necessary within a project-based organisation. For this reason, it is useful to be acquainted with the characteristics of a project. It will also facilitate in defining a project-based organization. The next section outlines what a project in a PBO entails.

§ 3.1.2 Projects Project definition

Most classical definitions of projects emphasize the role of a project as a production function and start by saying that a project is an ´endeavour´ (Turner & Muller, 2003). This corresponds with the PMBOK guide (2000), who defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. However, Turner and Muller (2003), found that those definitions where incomplete and proposed a revised definition. According to them a project is a temporary organization to which resources are assigned to undertake a unique, novel and transient endeavour managing the inherent uncertainty and need for integration in order to deliver beneficial objectives of change. Within the business environment, the PRINCE2 methodology has combined several descriptions and eventually defines a project as ´a management environment created with the specific goal to deliver one ore more business products in accordance to a specified business case´ (Onna & Koning, 2002). The description of a project can be summed up as:

The project result entails new elements; a project has an ending life span, unique maximum supply of outcome. A project delivers a defined product with the help of a temporary collection of people and technology that generate the activities and process orientation.

Managing a project

Of course projects are developed to obtain overall organizational success. Supporting the performance of the single projects as well as to ensure the compliance of the objectives of the different projects with the overall company strategy is difficult to accomplish. A lot of factors can influence the failure of a project: lack of clarity from the client; lack of project leader authority; low availability of (human) resources due to higher relative priority of other projects, and, improper change management. The effectiveness of the project results is mainly influenced by the changing demands of the client and the project environment. Therefore, project management can be considered as ´environmental management´ (Onna & Koning, 2002). Consequently, it is important to use professional project management methods. Specific integrative functions have to be performed, to make sure all project activities will be completed to specification, on time and within budget.

According to Gareis (2000), applying ‘management by projects’ helps to pursue organizational objectives of a PBO such as: organizational differentiation; decentralization of management

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responsibility; and, quality assurance by project teamwork. Also, goal orientation, personnel

development, and organizational learning by projects are perceived beneficial aspects of managing the project (Gareis, 2000). Beside these advantages of working in project teams, the literature also

demonstrates pitfalls working in projects. Alvesson (1995) described the disintegrative tendencies of project based work derived from frequent changes of project assignment and shifting. The study of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) suggests that the overall development of employees in projects is harder to accomplish in comparison with employees of traditional functional hierarchies. Another less desirable side of project working is the feeling of disconnection and low level of social integration and belongingness (Keegan and Turner, 2000). According to Jurison (1999), managing projects is very difficult and management-related failures occur mainly because of: poorly defined goals and specifications; lack of project plan; and, unrealistic deadlines and budgets. Which can lead to stress and uncertainty among project members.

Technical performance

That raises the question, when is a project a success and who is mainly responsible for it?

Baker, Murphy, David and Fisher (1988) poses that a project will be most likely to be perceived to be an overall success if: ´the project meets the technical performance specifications and/or mission to be performed, and if there is a high level of satisfaction concerning the project outcome among key people on the project team, and key users or clientele of the project effort’ (pg. 902). Although schedule and budget performance are still important components of the overall construct, the focus has shifted towards the technical aspects.

According to Crawford (2000), quality appears intertwined with issues of technical performance, specifications, and achievement of functional objectives, since these are subject to variation in perception by multiple project stakeholders. Thite (1999) also addresses the importance of technical leadership behaviours. Technical leadership consist of items which emphasise the role of a manager as a ´organisational catalyst´ in empowering the subordinates with autonomy, facilitating their career

progression by providing challenging assignments, aligning individual and organisational goals and preventing organisational bureaucracy from hindering the work of the subordinates. Team members of more successful technical projects rated their project leaders the highest on catalyst behaviour (part of technical behaviour). Combining the technical behaviour with transformational leadership behaviours would be ideal, since using only technical skills or only leadership skills is not suitable for situations within a technical leadership environment. Although the research of Thite (1999) is conducted in an IT environment, it can be expected that this catalyst behaviour is also important in a different project context, because Thite (1999) identifies personality and professional profiles of IT members that could also suit other project members. Examples of this are: a craftsman’s approach to work; intenseness;

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outsourcing of work and virtual communication. In addition, project members mainly work in teams with a matrix organisational structure involving multiple lines of reporting.

The theory of Thite (1999) demonstrates that the behaviour of the project leader influences the success of a project. Also, a review of literature concerning project success factors done by Crawford (2000) is in agreement that the skills, competences and attributes of the project leader, are critical to project success. On the one hand, the skills of the project leader is in itself a factor in successful delivery of projects and the project leader needs be competent in those areas that have the most impact on successful outcomes. Technical leadership behaviour partly answers the second sub question: “What skills should a project leader have, and how much authority does he have?” The next paragraph will answer this question more extensively.

§ 3.1.3 The skills of a project leader

According to Turner and Muller (2003), the view of the project as a temporary organization highlights the role of the project leader as chief executive and as agent of the principal. In this executive role, the project leader has cathectic as well as cognitive roles. The cathectic roles refer to the motivational and emotional aspects of goal setting. The cognitive roles emphasize the rational ways in which the executive delegates his subordinates. The chief executive is also appointed as an agent to manage the work of the temporary organization. Conversely, the role as agent points to the need of the principal to put more control above the project to monitor, since the project leader knows more about the project than the owner. Professionalism reduces the agency cost, because it is an indicator that increases their trustworthiness for both the owner and the team members. Therefore professionalism is very important to project leaders (Turner & Muller, 2003). We can ascertain that the role of the project leader is not mainly one of management, administration and supervision. Instead the project leaders must formulate objectives and a strategy for the project and linking it to the parent organization (p. 5) (Thomas, Delisle, Jugdev and Buckle, 2001. In: Turner & Muller, 2003).

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Crawford (2000) suggests the importance of a project leader to be competent in those areas that have the most impact on successful outcomes. Examples of essential factors contributing to successful projects are organizational support, organization structure and team selection. A competent project leader could be expected to understand that support of the organization is required to enhance the likelihood of project success and use interpersonal and other skills to achieve it. Similarly, the skilled project leader can exert influence over the way in which the project team is

structured and how it relates to the structure of the parent organization and others. Team selection draws together factors relating to capability and experience of the project leader and team for the project and is therefore directly concerned with project management competence.

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The team selection responsibility is included in the PRINCE 2 methodology. According to this

procedure, the composition of the team will be done after deliberation of the executive and the project leader. PRINCE2 methodology addresses the importance of involving the team members in the task assignment process. During the project process, the project leader is responsible for the completion of the products, within the arranged time, quality and budget. The PL guarantees that the products will deliver the benefits that the client expects. In addition, the project leader manages the daily processes within a project agreed upon with the direction board (Onna & Koning, 2002).

In the research of Crawford (2000), communication and technical performance are consistent strong factors in project management competences, however planning is considered the strongest factor, as it appears consistently in the first ranking for both ´project success factors´ and ´project leader competence factors´.

There is increased concern about control and monitoring as monitoring and controlling tasks at various locations at different times become more difficult (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001). Cleland and Ireland (2002) also indicate the lack of authority of project leaders, because they are considered to lead a diverse set of talented people in an environment of collaborative bureaucracy. According to Keegan and Den Hartog (2004), the emphasis has shifted from control and compliance to identification, loyalty and commitment. Therefore they would expect that the transformational leadership style would fit a project context well. This is connecting with the ideas of Turner and Muller (2003) earlier in this section. They suggested that emotional and motivational aspects should be included in the role of a project leader, since this contributes in developing trust and commitment among their subordinates in their role as chief executive.

To summarize, the second sub-question can be answered as follows: The role of a project leader is more extensive than only administrative and supervisory. A Project leader is assigned after project objectives have been globally defined, He or she is responsible for details of objectives. To sum up, the literature suggests the some important issues addressing the role of a project leader. First, being involved in the team selection process (often not the case). By selecting the right team it is easier to achieve the objectives that are in line with the overall project goals. Following, project leaders could make use of emotional and motivational aspects of interpersonal skills to develop mutual trust and commitment with their subordinates. In addition, it is suggested that being a professional and using catalyst leadership behaviours in combination with transformational leadership skills would fit a project leader. Planning is considered as an important technical skill required as a project leader.

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§ 3.2 Attitudes towards management style

The first theoretical chapter highlighted the main responsibilities project mangers should fulfil. The responsibilities and restrictions of a project leader can influence the attitudes of team members, and thereby the relationship between project leaders and team members. The management style and behaviour exercised by a project leader, and the organizational structure of the PBO affects the perception of the team member. For example, the transformational leadership style. However is this style appreciated by team members or do they consider other qualities of the project leader as equally important? Much quantitative research has been done about the perceived role of project leaders. Unfortunately, little qualitative research is being conducted about what team members’ perception is towards the project leader and the organisation as a whole. Therefore, this research will focus on the perception op the project members.

The next section will highlight the literature on expected factors influencing the attitudes of project members towards their project leader. This will answer sub question three and four: “Which attitudes are considered to affect the relationship between project leaders and team members in a project based context?” and “What factors influence the authority of project leaders towards their team members?” The aim is to see which factors mainly affect the attitude of team members towards project leaders.

§ 3.2.1 Organizational Structure PBO

According to Shamir (1999), project based organizations can be seen as boundaryless organizations, function more as a ‘weak situation’ (Weick, 1996). By this he means that weak situations are not uniformly encoded, do not generate uniform expectations concerning the desired behaviour, and do not offer clear incentives based on performance (Shamir, 1999). The organization becomes more

intellectual, flexible and adaptive, consequently more role ambiguity occurs and relationships shift (Shamir, 1999) (Den Hartoget al, 2007). This setting affects the feelings of project members towards their supervisor and the entire company. The overall structure of a project based organization is that people work in multiple, diverse teams, temporarily and each with a specific project responsibility and duration for the life of the project activity (Tosi et al, 2000). The team members have to report to multiple leaders and it is no longer clear who will evaluate their performance. Most of the time, the line manager is responsible for the evaluation and career decisions and the project leaders decide about the content of the work. All this raises feelings of insecurity and stress among employees (Den Hartog et al, 2007). Burns and Stalker (1961) also suggest that this organic form of management in a project

organization leads to stress and uncertainty.

The PBO structure requires deeper understanding of the job design. Because the work is changing so rapidly, more flexibility is needed in the job description and task assignment. Project leaders are the

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most influential in assigning job descriptions to team members. The majority of project teams have its roots in motivational approach to job design (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2003). With this approach the project leader needs to create a critical psychological state in the mind of the job incumbents in order to have positive work outcomes, such as motivation and commitment (Liden Wayne and Sparrowe, 2003). The project leader must point out why the project team member is

important and does meaningful work relative to the total project. Campion and Thayer (1985) contradict this by stating that the motivational job design approach leads to negative outcomes such as overload and stress. For this reason managers need to balance the job design approaches to make sure their team members perform the most appropriate outcome. This is easier said than done, since the leader often has not personally selected the people in the team (Den Hartog et al, 2007).

§ 3.2.2 Management style: Transformational leadership dimensions

The organization structure is influencing the choices a project leader makes in order to fulfil his role. The daily work of project leaders within PBO´s enquires particular management skills. Certain

transformational leadership skills are expected to arise among project leaders. The study of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) shows that project leaders are not perceived as less transformational compared to line managers. However, the study demonstrates that certain transformational leadership behaviors used by line managers can have a different effect than when used by project leaders. For example, the study of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) demonstrates that line managers’ individualized consideration appears to provide a buffer to employees in terms of stress. On the other hand, project leaders’ leadership styles are less related to stress outcomes for their team members. Although the study of Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) did not perceived project leaders as less considerate, it could be expected that project leaders lack individual consideration. Therefore, it seems relevant to declare the most important features of a transformational leadership. This in order to see what transformational leadership skills might be missing and/or influencing the effect of a project leader’s role on his project members.

Individual consideration is one of the four dimensions of transformational leadership (Bass, 1985). It implies treating each individual as valuable, and aiming to aid his or her personal development (Keegan & Den Hartog 2004). A transformational leader is at the same time a consultant, coach (knows how to motivate and increases subordinates confidence), teacher (shares knowledge) and parental figure. The PL listens to subordinates, is not afraid to share decision power and sets clear and high performance goals. The other three dimensions are inspiration (capacity to act as a model for subordinates, the communication of a vision and the use of symbols to focus efforts), charisma (providing a vision and a sense of mission and raising team members self –expectations) and intellectual stimulation (helping employees emphasise rational solutions and challenge old assumptions) (Bass, 1985;Den Hartog and Koopman, 2001). An intellectually stimulating leader provides team members with challenging new

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ideas. Other features of transformational leaders are friendliness and making subordinates enthusiastic. The use of attractive words and images to constantly remind their subordinates of the mission is very important as well. A transformational leader serves as a role model and has a developmental orientation towards subordinates (Bass, 1985).

§ 3.2.3 Organizational culture

PBO´s are not only weak in their organizational structure, often also in their organizational culture due to the frequently changing composition of organizational and inter-organizational arrangements (Shamir, 1999). In this way, they can not share common values and norms. Companies with a weak organizational structure should therefore emphasize framing (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). This refers to leaders’ influence on the meanings given to events by other people. It is through such influence on meanings that leaders motivate their subordinates. Knowing this, it could be expected that project leaders put a lot of effort in motivating their employees. However, the research done by Den Hartog and Keegan (2004)suggests a lack of motivational and commitment feelings towards the project leader. This is precarious situation, since the nature of employee-organization linkages (commitment) is important to the individual, organization, and society as a whole. Strong commitment can result in enhanced feelings of belongingness, efficacy, greater career advancement and intrinsic reward for the individual.

Consequently, it can mean limited turnover, greater job satisfaction and acceptance of demands and the meeting of organizational goals for the organization (Rowden, 2000).The need for commitment on the part of organizational members increases in PBO’s. House (1995) explains this by saying that work becomes more intellectual and harder to monitor, therefore less supervision can be provided. Consequently, individual initiative, commitment, motivation, and willingness to take personal responsibility for tasks will determine the quality of the work.

Trust and identification

Through the use of cultural diversity, that has been mentioned earlier, certain abilities and opportunities can be created. Nevertheless, it enquires a high demand of social competences of the project leaders in order to create positive outcomes out of diversity (Gassman, 2001). In addition, different cultural values, different functional diversity etc., results in lower trust and connectedness within a team (Webber, 2001). According to Den Hartog et al. (2007) building trust and identification plays a crucial role in motivation, well-being and performance of employees. A lack of identification in temporary multiple groups decrease the sense of belongingness to the group and thereby reduce commitment to the group. (Den Hartog et al., 2007). In the study of Podsakoff et al (1990) it also comes forward that trust is very important. According to Yukl (1994), one of the key reasons why team members are motivated by transformational leaders to perform beyond expectations is that team members trust and respect them. Also, the study of Kouzes and Posner (1987) indicates that the leader characteristics most valued by team members are honesty, integrity, and truthfulness.

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The role of the leader seems to be distant and limited in project-based organizations. Managers give emphasis to cognitive elements instead of social, human and emotional elements (Shamir, 1999). This makes it harder for subordinates to develop trust and identify with their leader. According to a scenario by Shamir (1999), due to the quick shiftment of the leadership function in a new phase of the project, people are expected to have multiple roles. It is possible that employees are a leader in one group and a team member in another group at the same time. This can lead to confusion among team members and might affect their social bond and trust with the project leader. Consequently, this can lead to feelings of low commitment towards their project leader. Therefore, a lack of trust will probably be one of the main issues addressed by the team members during the interviews.

§ 3.2.4 People management process

This paragraph covers the difference in functional hierarchy between traditional leader-subordinates in comparison with project leaders and their team members. According to previous studies, it is likely that dissimilar hierarchical responsibilities between the line manager and the project leader plays a

significant role in the attitude perception of the employee towards their leader.

Authority gap

One major problem has been cited consistently and for a long time in studies focussing on project organizations: while line mangers have direct authority over their subordinates, the project leader must work through the respective functional manager, who supplies the team personnel (Hodgetts, 1968). The project leaders have an authority gap, because they do not posses the authority to reward and promote their personnel (in Hodgetts: Cleland 1964). According to Keegan & Den Hartog, (2004), at times a project leader has more insight into the performance of a project member and the type of training needed for further development, but he or she has often no formal authority to influence these issues. The study of Hodgetts (1968) suggests that it is of greater importance to project leaders of small projects to be reckoned with the ‘authority gap’ and use leadership skills to overcome it. Project leaders of large projects perceive to have no time to concern themselves about the concept of ‘authority gap’. Those project leaders find a human relational approach too unwieldy and time consuming. They operate the project on an autonomous basis. Such project leaders do not depend on dynamic personality and negotiating abilities to perform their most important job, namely obtain the schedule, cost and technical performance goals of the project. Team members can experience this as intimidating and respond to this by being less committed towards and motivated by the project leader (Hodgetts, 1968).

Project member development

Most of the time, the line manager is mainly responsible for evaluation and career decisions. The team members have to report to multiple project leaders, as a consequence team members are not certain anymore who will evaluate his or her performance (Den Hartog et al, 2007). The role and influence of

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the project leader in the career development of the project member is mainly unclear or negligible. This has consequences for the project members and the organization as a whole. The line manager often conducts the performance appraisal, but in order to offer a fair evaluation, the project leader must provide information. However, communication about the performance of the project workers does not always take place because projects are often disbanded before evaluation and people are allocated to new projects. This means that significant learning opportunities for both the project member and the organization gets lost (Keegan & Turner, 2001). This is not really stimulating the members to do more than required for the company and to show initiative to the project leader. Helping subordinates develop to their fullest potential is a part of transformational leadership. But studies have demonstrated that it is very hard to for fill this function as a project leader. For that reason Jones and Defillippi (1996) state that project members must be proactive in managing their owncareers and take control of it.

To summarize, stress and uncertainty are expected to evolve among members of PBO’s, because they have to deal with multiple supervisors in temporary settings. Working as a project member requires a high level of commitment. However, commitment towards the project leader seems hard to accomplish due to several factors such as: multiple role project leader; lack of trust; lack of identification; large authority gap; project leader’s lack of social elements; and, low involvement in the job assignment. Control and monitoring both the team and the project is difficult to attain in a PBO, therefore team members probably feel more responsibility working in teams.

§ 3.2.5 Team experience

The aforementioned paragraphs illustrated that team composition and experience can be interrelated with the attitudes/feelings of a project member. This chapter focuses on the team experience of project members. It will reveal the expected advantages and disadvantages experienced by project members towards working in teams, all based on previous studies.

A team can be defined as a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually

accountable (Katzenbach & Smith, 2002) When people do real work together towards a common objective, trust and commitment follows. Acoording to Webber (2001), teams in project-based organizations can be characterized with diversity, time heterogeneity and multiple reporting

relationships. We know that trust is very important for teams to be effective. However this is not always easy to accomplish in a PBO. Team performance depends greatly upon stability of membership.

Unfortunately this is rare in a PBO. There is less time for members to acquaint themselves with each other, stabilize roles within the group, and develop trust and a shared perception of team potency (Avolio et al., 1996). In addition, not sharing the same cultural values, different functional diversity etc., results in lower trust and connectedness within a team (Webber, 2001). Since identification is related to

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trust, team potency and motivation, the likelihood that strong identification with a team naturally occurs is low (Shamir, 1999). A lack of identification in temporary multiple groups decrease the sense of belongingness to the group and thereby reduces commitment to the group. (Den Hartog, De Hoogh & Keegan, 2007). Also, low level of belongingness, feelings of disconnection and low level of social integration has been reported by respondents working in projects (Keegan and Turner, 2001), caused by a continuous movement and unstable collegial and managerial relations. Thus, people in teams must build trust and interdependence to move from individual accountability to mutual accountability. with respect to the purpose and performance. But for most of us trust comes not easily (Katzenbach & Smith, 2002).

Team leadership

Ultimately, research suggests that successful teams have to engage in processes such as communication, cooperation and coordination (Webber 2001). In the research of Erez, Lepine and Elms (2002), a specific team leadership design has been assume to positively influence team cooperation. In the aforementioned theory it is obvious that the design of team leadership can influence the team effectiveness (i.e., members’ trust and level of job satisfaction). To be more specific, the research of Erez et al. (2002) discusses ‘rotated leadership responsibilities’ and ‘leader emergence’ among members of a team. They suggest that the design of rotated leadership in teams will be positively associated with team performance and member satisfaction which both are part of team effectiveness. Reasons that Erez et al. (2002) apply it to project teams are: first, members in teams with rotated leadership should be empathetic with other members because they have the shared experience of the difficulties associated with the leadership role; secondly, members have a better sense of behaviour to enact, this leads to fewer misunderstandings and it helps to create a smoother system of interpersonal interaction (Tuckman, 1965). Another example of team leadership design is ‘leader emergence’. Self-managed project teams often rely on this type of project leadership. It can be appropriate because a leader who emerges from a natural selection process will be the most qualified to lead and carry out the leadership function. However the downside is that the other members feel less responsibility which translates into a reduction of effort of team outcomes (Erez et al. 2002).

To summarize, features of project based working such as team diversity, team leadership design, continuous movement and unstable relationships cause a low level of belongingness and cohesion among team members and their project leaders. Therefore it is expected that project members

experience lower level of connectedness working in a project-based organization compared to working in a more traditional environment. In addition, project members probably experience disadvantages working within teams, which might influence their attitude towards their leader.

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§ 3.3 Attitude and Factors

In the preceding paragraphs many aspects have been evaluated and discussed with regard to leader-team member relationships in a project based context especially in terms of changing attitudes due to features inherent to project based working. What is happening in practice? Because of the gap in the literature about the perceived role of project leaders by their team members, this thesis explores this role and effect of project leaders perceived by their team members in Dutch project based companies. It

evaluates if the suspected feelings are actually experienced by the project members and if the causes for their feelings and attitudes are the factors that have been suggested in the literature. This will be done through the use of project member and project leader interviews. The following table summarises the factors and attitudes/feelings that may play a role in a weak relationship between leaders and team members of project based organizations. These results stem from the literature and are presented in random order.

Attitude/feelings

Low trust and identification towards project leader Low team belongingness

Commitment and motivation issues Stress and uncertainty

High personal responsibility Unfair evaluation and development

Table 1: categories from theory

Factors

(Difficult to monitor and control) Authority gap (PMP*)

Lack of emotional and social involvement Multiple leaders

Lack of Transformational dimensions Team assignment

Table 2: categories from theory *People management process

The categories stated above are used to structure the interviews and to decide on which themes to focus. With the use of the interviews, the perceived role and effect of a project leaders will be analysed and evaluated. This is explored in the following chapters.

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SECTION III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Chapter 4 Methodology

§ 4.1 Research design

As stated before, a qualitative research method was chosen. The goal of a qualitative study is to develop a certain topic, by means of data the researcher has collected through open-ended questions, emerging approaches, and/or texts or images (Creswell, 2003). Also qualitative researchers believe that it can provide a deeper understanding of social phenomena than it would be obtained from purely quantitative data (Silverman, 2005).

The research consists of in-depth interviews because “in-depth interviews are used to discover shared understandings of a particular group” (DiCicci- Bloom & Crabtree, 2006). The aim is to find out what the employees of project based organization perceive to be the role of a project leader and how they experience this. Not much is known about this particular perceived role in a project based context in The Netherlands and therefore this whole research is exploratory which makes qualitative research necessary (Creswell, 2003). The preferable format of this in-depth interview is the semi-structured one, because in advance a couple of questions can be written down that should be asked at every respondent (it should not be a fully unstructured interview), but there are other questions that can emerge during the interview (it should not be a fully structured interview) (DiCicci- Bloom & Crabtree, 2006). Semi-unstructured interview is used because little information was present beforehand and the research is about theory building.

Mrs Keegan and Mrs Den Hartog provided an interview proposal which was adapted, to make it more suitable for this particular study. The initial five interviews were quite structured and less in depth. Later on, focus shifted more to certain aspects and more specific questions were asked, because the original interview proposal was too long to cover all answers in this study. The interviews are used to detect general effects and role features of leaders within PBO’s. Individual quotes are directly translated in the analysis to illustrate certain feelings of employees within PBO’s. These opinions and feelings are used as argumentation for the recommendations made in the conclusion. The information from the interviews is analysed and discussed in a descriptive manner in the results and analysis section. Two distinct interviews were developed. One interview contains questions for employees working in a project. The second interview is developed for project leaders to ask their judgment about the attitude of their team members. The interview questions can be found in the appendix.

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§ 4.2 Sample, setting and procedure

Project management is an organizational structure capable of being used virtually and in industry. For several reasons, a heterogenic, inter-industry approach is undertaken: firstly to obtain as comprehensive a list of reasons possible; secondly, to ascertain the existence of any overlap in the answers given; and, finally, to make sure the sample is representative for the majority. The four firms chosen are located in the following respective fields: Communication (Eden design and communication), Mainport (Schiphol group), ICT consultancy (Quint Wellington Redwood) and Media (Eyeworks). A description of the companies is provided in the next section.

For this research, a well considered sample would supply the broadest information. To acquire a good sample, managers of each company were asked to select or approach suitable respondents, since they could make a better assessment. The selected respondents came from different projects with varying job functions and positions within a team. In addition, the length of time employees are working for the company fluctuated. Some interviewees just started working at their company and others are almost retired. This composition may help to make this research more representative due to the presence of opinions from employees with varying functions, job descriptions and level of attendance within the company. In total, 16 interviews were conducted divided over 4 companies across different departments and teams. In Table 3 an overview is provided provides of the relevant characteristics of the respondent, such as job occupation, gender, how long they work for the project based company.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS Occupation Title Male /

Female

Company experience

Organisation

Respondent 1 Senior graphic designer Female +10 Eden Respondent 2 Junior information designer Female Less than 1 Eden

Respondent 3 Copywriter Male 2-4 Eden

Respondent 4 Senior designer Male +10 Eden

Respondent 5 Project leader Female 2-4 Eden

Respondent 6 Production Manager Female 5 Eyeworks

Respondent 7 Producer Male 2-4 Eyeworks

Respondent 8 Director /producer (freelance) Male 5 Eyeworks Respondent 9 Production assistant (internship) Female Less than 1 Eyeworks Respondent 10 Region manager Europe (project

leader)

Male 6-9 Quint

Respondent 11 Consultant Male 6-9 Quint

Respondent 12 Consultant Male 6-9 Quint

Respondent 13 Search management consultant Male 6-9 Quint Respondent 14 Commercial developer at department

consumers

Female 5 Schiphol

Respondent 15 Senior Project leader Male +25 Schiphol Respondent 16 Head supervisor at department project

management

Male +30 Schiphol

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The data was gathered at the different office locations, all established in Amsterdam. The interviews were held from the 11th of September 2007 until the 19th of October 2007. The same researcher collected the data. Each interview was expected to last about 30-40 minutes. A recording device was used during interviews to ensure that no valuable information was lost. All employees did agree to the use of a recording device and all the information is handled confidentially. In every interview, the same interview proposal was used. The general strategy for the interviews is to start off with an introduction and some general questions about project management. After the ‘warming up’ questions the real in-depth interview started. The questionnaire has been divided into five themes, namely:.T1: Leader profile.T2: Management style. T3: People management processes T4: Project team member experiences and T5: Project assignment. (See Appendix 1 for the English version of the interview questions)

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Chapter 5 Description of companies.

In this chapter a description of the project-based organizations where the interviews were conducted will be given. This in order to understand the way certain quotes are analysed and used to draw conclusions. A more extensive description of the project process can be found in the Thick descriptions (see

Appendix 2).

§ 5.1 Field: Communication

Company: Eden design and communication

Eden Design & Communication is a strategic design and communications agency based in Amsterdam. Eden creates brand identities and campaigns. The strategic approach is tailored to the clients' market positioning needs and requirements. Eden put together a core team of experts for each client, consisting of designers, copywriters and brand strategists. A Project leader, responsible for the overall process, budget and planning, supports each team. The four approached project members were working in several teams. They have around 7 projects in their package, but work on around 3 actively. Large projects start of with a kick off, with partners and project leaders, in which the steps will be discussed and the responsibilities are allocated to each team member. Smaller projects are assigned and explained by email. The large projects last around one or two years, the smaller projects take a view months. There has been one interview conducted with a project leader. He or she is working on 20 to 25 projects at the same time, however one account (client) consist of several projects. So ultimately, a project leader deals with around 10 clients. The teams are overseen by one of the Eden partners (there are eight

partners in total), specialists in their respective expertise areas. These partners are ultimately responsible for the end product. Eden has carried out projects for central and local authorities and government bodies, non-profit organizations, the business sector and service providers. The company employs 76 people. Eden has been a member of the European Designers Network since 1991, and works in close consultation with King & Miranda (Milan), Eleven Danes (Copenhagen), Summa (Barcelona) and Plex (Berlijn). (Source: www.eden.nl)

§ 5.2 Field: Media

Company: Production Company

Eyeworks is the second largest independent television production company in The Netherlands. The company is a young and all-round producer producing programs in scripted and non scripted television and feature films. The company in The Netherlands consist of three units: Entertainment, sports and Dutch drama Films and Television. The headquarters of the company are based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with affiliates in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, New Zealand and the United States. The own formats and third party formats are distributed out of the office inLondon. The organization consists of a management board including a CEO, Managing director, COO and a CFO.

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The unit where the interviews were conducted is Entertainment. A program director, business director and creative director lead this department. Following the Executive Producer and Delegated Producer. They are responsible for assigning programs to a production manager. There are approximate 7 productions running during a season, the project leaders are responsible for two of them at the same time. Conversely, the project member is only working for one project full time. Every production (project) takes around three till six months. For example, one or two months preparation, two months filming and one month editing. The production manager is responsible for assembling a group of professionals (camera man, director, production assistant etc.) for a specific project. Two professionals were interviewed, who had experience with several productions and several producers and production managers. Also, one trainee has been approached, since every production of Eyeworks consist of at least one or two trainees. The trainee experienced only one supervisor, namely the production manager that has been interviewed as well. During a production, the production manager was in charge of the budget. However, he or she ultimate accounts to the executive or delegated producer who is the project leader. (Source: www.eyeworks.nl)

§ 5.3 Field: knowledge intensive management consultancy firm

Company: Quint Wellington Redwood.

Quint Wellington Redwood is a global, independent management consulting firm specializing in IT-related organizational challenges. Professionals who left large IT service providers, to become the Mckinsey of their niche, founded it in 1992. The strategy was only acquiring more partners and having loose, mutual control. They refused to hire ‘professional internal management’ because they argued that they could do that themselves. This policy was changed after a few years and they transformed from a amorphous to a matrix structure with a very strong hierarchy (Bom, 1998). The can be seen as a team organization. The current size of quint is around 45 employees. Besides traditional departments such as Management, HRM and finance, Quint is organised around groups, each having his own managing consultant. Next to this it has counselling and coaching instrument in place. According to Bom (1998), quint is a mix of masters, craftsman, journeyman and apprentices. Nowadays Quint has a global network and a presence in more than 14 countries. Quint operates in three industries: finance, government and service sector.

Quint sees itself as a “thought leaders” and “practice leaders” at the same time. Quint provides

independent guidance through education, consulting and benchmarking. All these services are offered to cover ‘orchestrate business excellence’. Quint works with an international team of highly trained, experienced and professional people from diverse backgrounds such as economics, engineering and psychological. They have multiple academic degrees, with the majority of them holding Master of Business Administrations (MBAs). In ensuring that that the people are constantly up to mark, Quint organizes boot-camps all around the world for new and existing employees.

Exploring the effect of the project leader ‘s role on team members in Project Based Organizations

University of Amsterdam

Master Thesis: