NEED FOR LEADERSHIP
DETERMINING THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP OF
LEAN SIX-SIGMA PROJECT MEMBERS
Master thesis, MScBA, specialization Change Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
FINAL THESIS Februari 6, 2009 ALBERT PRUIS Studentnumber: 1221027 Verlengde Oosterweg 45 9725 BB Groningen tel.: +31 (0)6 30 672 887 e-mail: a.pruis@gmail.com Supervisors/university:
drs. A.J.E. Schilder & dr. B.J.M. Emans
Supervisor/field of study:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT_____________________________________________________________________________ 1 1 INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________________________________ 2
1.1 INSIGHTS FROM THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP THEORY ____________________________________ 2 1.2 RESEARCH FOCUS________________________________________________________________ 3 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT____________________________________________________________ 4 1.4 PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH_______________________________________________________ 5
2 THEORY AND HYPOTHESES _______________________________________________________ 5
2.1 NEED FOR LEADERSHIP WITHIN A PROJECT MANAGEMENT CONTEXT ________________________ 5 2.2 PROJECT RELATED & DEMOGRAPHIC SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS_______________________ 6 2.3 SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS DERIVED FROM THE SUBSTITUTES FOR LEADERSHIP THEORY____ 7
3 RESEARCH METHOD ______________________________________________________________ 8
3.1 FIELD OF STUDY_________________________________________________________________ 8 3.2 SAMPLE _______________________________________________________________________ 8 3.3 QUESTIONNAIRE_________________________________________________________________ 8 3.4 RELIABILITY____________________________________________________________________ 9 3.5 NEED FOR LEADERSHIP AND A COMPARISON BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTS_____________________ 10 3.6 CORRELATIONS_________________________________________________________________ 10 3.7 DICHOTOMIZATION OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC AND PROJECT RELATED VARIABLES_______________ 10
4 RESULTS_________________________________________________________________________ 11
4.1 NEED FOR LEADERSHIP OUTCOMES_________________________________________________ 11 4.2 DEMOGRAPHIC AND PROJECT RELATED SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS____________________ 12 4.3 SITUATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS DERIVED FROM THE SUBSTITUTES FOR LEADERSHIP__________ 14
5 DISCUSSION______________________________________________________________________ 16
5.1 GREEN BELT BACKGROUND INFORMATION___________________________________________ 16 5.2 THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP; A COMPARISON BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTS_____________________ 16 5.3 ONE-DIMENSIONAL NEED FOR LEADERSHIP___________________________________________ 17 5.4 MULTIDIMENSIONAL NEED FOR LEADERSHIP__________________________________________ 17
5.4.1 Provide information __________________________________________________________ 18
5.4.2 Arrange things with higher-level management ______________________________________ 18
5.4.3 Gear all activities of the team to one another _______________________________________ 18
5.4.4 Give work-related feedback_____________________________________________________ 19
5.4.5 Transfer knowledge ___________________________________________________________ 19
5.4.6 Set goals ___________________________________________________________________ 19
5.4.7 Provide support ______________________________________________________________ 19
5.4.9 Decide what work should be done________________________________________________ 19
5.4.10 Correct mistakes _____________________________________________________________ 20
5.4.11 Maintain external contacts _____________________________________________________ 20
5.4.12 Help solve problems __________________________________________________________ 20
5.4.13 Coordinate, plan and organize __________________________________________________ 20
5.4.14 Handle conflicts _____________________________________________________________ 20
5.4.15 Create a good team spirit ______________________________________________________ 20
5.4.16 Inspire _____________________________________________________________________ 21
5.4.17 Motivate ___________________________________________________________________ 21
5.5 HYPOTHESES 2, 3 AND 4 __________________________________________________________ 22 5.6 CONCLUSION __________________________________________________________________ 22 5.7 REFLECTION___________________________________________________________________ 22 5.8 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH______________________________________________ 23
REFERENCES _________________________________________________________________________ 24 APPENDIX A – SCORES ON THE “SUBSTITUTES FOR LEADERSHIP” _FOUT! BLADWIJZER NIET
GEDEFINIEERD.
NEED FOR LEADERSHIP
DETERMINING THE NEED FOR LEADERSHIP OF
LEAN SIX-SIGMA PROJECT MEMBERS
ABSTRACT
This thesis is based on the need for leadership research of De Vries et al. (2004). The main difference being that this research was undertaken within a lean six-sigma project
environment, which was never done before. The research question focused on determining which need for leadership aspects of project members within a lean six-sigma project
environment required special attention from project managers. This, with the goal to provide insight for lean six-sigma project managers – in the field of study – in when they need to adapt their instinctive leadership style as needs require, providing a lever to improve leadership effectiveness as well as project member commitment and satisfaction. The expectation was that the defined situational variables, stemming from the substitutes for leadership theory and project management literature, predict the need for leadership and that there is a higher need for leadership within a lean six-sigma project environment than in a normal environment. A sample of lean six sigma project members was taken from a Dutch company. Based on a statistical analysis measuring the level of the needs and the relation between the needs and the predictor variables, it seemed that on the average, project members had the highest need for a project manager that provides information, arranges things with higher-level management, and gears all activities to one another. Not all predictor variables seemed to predict the need for leadership. The need for leadership within the lean six-sigma project environment did appear to be higher than in a normal environment.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, organizations are facing market pressures to lower prices and shorten fulfilment time, coupled with an ever-increasing demand for quality and service. In an attempt to keep up with those demands, more and more organizations are seeking their salvage in the process optimizing methodology of lean six-sigma. The focus within this methodology lies on
applying optimizing and logical project management techniques to reduce variation and waste within organizational processes. However, project leadership requires more than just technical competence (Kloppenberg & Petrick, 1999). Soft skills are needed to effectively lead a project team. The lack of focus on soft skills might be the reason why it is a challenge for most project managers to learn how to become effective (Robbins & Coulter, 2002). According to Robbins & Coulter (2002: 108), it comes down to “knowing when to leave your team alone and when to get involved”.
In an attempt to contribute to this knowledge, this thesis focuses on the leadership needs of project members within a lean six-sigma project management environment. It uses the need for leadership theory (De Vries, Roe, Taillieu & Nelissen, 2004) to determine the leadership needs of project members, which gives project managers insight in when they need to
intervene and on what their focus must lie. With this, it is a timely contribution to the current project management literature and practice. Not only has research into project management thus far studiously ignored the behavioural or interpersonal factors (Müller & Turner, 2007), the need for leadership theory (De Vries et al., 2004) has never been applied to a project management environment before. To fully understand this concept, it is necessary to give an introduction into the need for leadership theory. After that, I will elaborate on the conceptual model, the research questions and purpose of this research.
1.1 Insights from the Need for Leadership Theory
The need for leadership theory (De Vries et al., 1999) adopted the path–goal theory perspective (House, 1971; House and Mitchell, 1974). It assumes that subordinate needs moderate the relationship between leadership behaviour and outcomes (figure 1). An effective leader should therefore adapt its instinctive leadership style as needs require. De Vries, Roe & Taillieu (1999: 113) defined the need for leadership as “the extent to which an employee wishes the leader to facilitate the paths towards individual, group, and/or
organizational goals”. He or she should provide leadership and remove performance obstacles to clarify the path and goals for the employee (House, 1971; House and Mitchell, 1974). This should effectively lead to achieving organizational goals.
The need for leadership is a construct consisting of 17 aspects “describing a series of specific work goals for which the subordinate would need a contribution from his/her leader” (De Vries, Roe & Taillieu, 2002: 125). These aspects are: motivate, set goals, inspire, decide what work should be done, transfer knowledge, coordinate-plan-organize, maintain external
De Vries and his colleagues (1999) presume that the need for leadership is an acquired ‘social-contextual’ need. It is not necessarily inborn, but arouses because situational and personal circumstances make it beneficial for a person to achieve goals through the executive (De Vries et al., 2004: 207). It thus varies per individual and situation. When circumstances cause the need for leadership to be low, the effect of leadership on the individual and organizational outcomes will be reduced (De Vries et al., 2002, 2004). Those interventions will possibly be neglected by the subordinates, be seen as imposing unnecessary close control and might lead to decreased satisfaction (De Vries et al., 2002; 2004; House, 1971). They are redundant, thus inefficient, since time spend on unneeded interventions could have been spend on needed interventions. When circumstances cause the need for leadership to be high, interventions by the supervisor will positively influence the subordinates performance and satisfaction (De Vries et al., 2002; 2004; House, 1971).
The research model used by De Vries et al. (2002; 2004) is shown in figure 1. They (De Vries et al., 2002: 122) classify the need for leadership as a “catch-all variable, which mediates the effects of other situational variables (figure 1, arrow 1) on the relationships between
leadership and personal and work outcomes”. It is easier to study how these factors relate to and predict the need for leadership than investigating the predicting effects of all these factors and their interaction separately (De Vries et al., 2004). Especially since De Vries and his colleagues found out that the need for leadership more often and more consistently moderates the relation between leadership and outcomes than other situational factors. The ‘situational’ characteristics in the model were derived from the substitutes for leadership instrument by Kerr and Jermier (1978). The substitutes for leadership theory of Kerr and Jermier (1978), theorizes that several individual, task, and organizational characteristics can substitute for or neutralize the leader's influence.
FIGURE 1
The Need for Leadership Model Used in De Vries et al. (2004: 207)
‘Situational’ characteristics: Individual Characteristics Task Characteristics
Organisational Characteristics Need for Leadership
Leadership Characteristics Ind. & Org. Outcomes
1 2
5 3
4
6
According to De Vries et al. (2004), there are two ways that the need for leadership can have an impact. It can have a direct influence on leadership behaviour (figure 1, arrow 2) and it can have an indirect influence on the effectiveness of leadership behaviour (figure 1, arrow 3). Arrow 4 in figure 1, states that leadership characteristics can influence the need for leadership of subordinates. De Vries et al. (2004) found that for example adequate leadership could cause the need for leadership to increase. The personality and the quality of the relation between a supervisor and its subordinates are also of influence. This relation is not
comprehensively examined yet. Arrow 5 and 6 are quite self-explanatory. Individual and organizational outcomes are dependent on situational characteristics as well as leadership characteristics.
1.2 Research Focus
This research fits in the field of research of De Vries and his colleagues. The main
‘normal’ organizational environment and that it has a greater focus on the
multidimensionality of the need for leadership concept. Furthermore, the scope of this research, is restricted to the correlation between the personal, task, and organizational characteristics and the need for leadership. The relationships illustrated by arrow 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in figure 1, are outside the scope of this paper. I assume that the need for leadership theory can be applied to a project environment. For further insight in these relations I would like to refer to previous research done (De Vries, 1997; 2000; De Vries et al. 1998; 1999; 2002; 2004).
1.3 Problem Statement
If the level of the need for leadership on the aspects can be determined, as well as which situational characteristics cause these needs to arouse, project managers can gain insight in which situations they need to provide leadership and on what their focus must lie. This gives them a lever to improve their leadership effectiveness. This leads to the following research question:
With regards to need for leadership of project members within a lean six-sigma project environment and the situational factors determining these needs, which needs require special attention of project managers?
The degree to which these need for leadership aspects need to receive special attention is, besides situational characteristics, dependent on the degree to which these leadership aspects are needed. This leads to the first sub-question:
What is the need for leadership of project members within a lean six-sigma project environment?
FIGURE 2
The Conceptual Model Used in this Thesis
Need for Leadership
Motivate Set goals Inspire
Decide what work should be done Transfer knowledge Coordinate-plan-organize Maintain external contacts
Provide information Gear activities to one another
Create a good team spirit Provide support
Arrange things with higher level management Handle conflicts
Give work related feedback Correct mistakes Help solve problems Recognize and reward contributions
Situational Characteristics
Demographic Characteristics Project Related Characteristics Individual Characteristics
Task Characteristics Organisational Characteristics
to adapt their instinctive leadership style as needs require. This leads to the second sub-quest
What is the correlation between the need for leadership and the situational
ory by Kerr
ated haracteristics) have been added. Additionally, four demographic characteristics have been
mprehensive answer to the research question.
ent
nce is established by expanding the eed for leadership to a project environment and by contributing to research in behavioural nd interpersonal factors within project management.
onal
ed
re used as a means for organizations to operationalize, implement, and realize companywide
ombine ion:
characteristics?
In this thesis, thirteen situational characteristics (comprising individual, task and organisational characteristics) were derived from the substitutes for leadership the and Jermier (1978). Since these characteristics are not specifically designed for project environments, which is necessary to give answers on the research questions, five characteristics related to a lean six-sigma project management context (project rel c
added to be able to give a more co
1.4 Purpose of This Research
The practical relevance of this thesis is to provide insight in the needs for leadership of project members regarding their project manager within a lean six-sigma project environm and the situational factors determining these needs. This in order to map a part of project leadership complexity and give insight for project managers what they can contribute to adequate leadership. It gives a lever to improve commitment and satisfaction of project members and leadership effectiveness and with that, the project outcomes (De Vries et al., 2004; Robbins & Coulter, 2002). The theoretical releva
n a
2 THEORY AND HYPOTHESES
2.1 Need for Leadership within a Project Management Context
In the introduction section, I stated that the research context of this thesis differs from a ‘normal’ organizational context. However, how do projects differ from other organizati processes? The answers to that question can be found in the project definition of Turner (1999) and Pinto (2007). Turner’s (1999: 3) definition of projects, which is based on a
comparison of definitions of several authors, is: “an endeavour in which human, material, and financial resources are organized in a novel way, to undertake a unique scope of work, of given specification, within constrains of cost time, so as to achieve beneficial change defin by quantitative and qualitative objectives.” The words temporary and unique clarify that projects differ from other organizational processes. Pinto (2007: 3) makes a more evident distinction: “a process refers to the ongoing, day-to-day activities,” while projects “take place outside the normal, process oriented world of the firm”. He additionally states that projects a
strategies and changes (Pinto, 2007). This also the case with lean six-sigma projects. The lean six-sigma approach is a variant of project management. It is implemented in the form of cross-functional projects. Within these projects, black belts are the fulltime lean six-sigma project managers. Green belts are the project team members. Most often, they c their lean six-sigma project work with their normal work, working part-time on the projects. Their normal work can be (and most often is) a part of the process that is going to be
execution of these projects, project teams use a methodology called DMAIC which stands fo Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. This methodology “focuses on controls fo the improvements to the process, not the control of the project management process. It does not address the management of the project itself” (Zucker, 2008: 1). Hence, lean six-si projects are subjected to the same project management basics as any other project. They too are “accomplished through the appli
r r gma cation and integration of the project management rocesses of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing” (Project Management
o n ct d se of that. In line with that, I expect the need for leadership of project members to be higher in project environments than in normal organizational enviro
(one-dimensional as well as multidimensional) within a lean six-sigma project environment tends to be at least as high as within a
ce,
ed it me pplies reasoning applies to the demographic characteristics. A short description of each
ight which is in line with the shared leadership theory roposed by Pearce and Conger (2003). Consequently, the need for leadership might be
nto nce ermier (1978), p
Institute, PMBOK guide, 2004: 8).
With the need for leadership theory, this thesis presents a leadership approach that is more follower focused. It shows resemblance with Peter Block’s (1993) idea of leadership as a partnership in which honesty, mutual trust, open communication, willingness to risk, and a personal atmosphere play a large role. According to Pinto (2007), a partnership is critical t success in project management because it stipulates that leaders always are dependent upo their project teams to achieve project goals. This does not hollow out the role of a proje manager. Project management is one of the most leader intensive undertakings that occur within organizations (Pinto & Kharbanda, 1997). The fact that projects are unique an temporary might be the cau
nments. Therefore:
Hypothesis 1: the need for leadership normal organizational environment.
2.2 Project Related & Demographic Situational Characteristics
Pinto (2007) states that leadership styles depend on and should be adapted to several characteristics, including the project team makeup, and the amount of motivation, experien and skills within the project team to get the best performance out of every project team member. These characteristics might be of influence on the need for leadership of project team members as well. I have come up with, as noted in the introductory section, five project related characteristics and four demographic situational characteristics. I have called them project related characteristics, to distinguish them from the situational characteristics deriv from the substitutes for leadership theory. Even though all of these characteristics might f within one of the individual, task, and organizational characteristics categories. The sa a
characteristic and the reason why this characteristic is included will be given below. The first project related characteristic is project team size. Similar to Pinto (2007), research showed that project team size is of influence on team performance, leadership style and internal team communication (Lee-Kelly, 2002; Keller, 2006). An explanation for this m be that teams with more members are better able to share, for example, knowledge and information and stimulate each other,
p
influenced by the team size as well.
experience should lead to a lower need for leadership. I will assess what the nature of the
t , the amount of experience of project members with the lean six-gma approach might be of influence on the need for leadership. For that reason, this
) . In their research, they found evidence that every roject phase asks for different leadership. Correspondingly, project phases might be of
of eadership. When there orkload increases, one can assume that project members place a greater reliance on the
ased on the above assertions, I expect that all five project related characteristics cause the need
ct related characteristics determine the need for leadership (one-dimensional as well as multidimensional) within a lean six-sigma
Vries of
I expect the demographic characteristics to e of influence on the arousal of the need for leadership of project members within a lean six-sigma
graphic characteristics determine the need for leadership (one-dimensional as well as multidimensional) within a lean six-sigma
ory
. They
g and relation is of project management experience on the need for leadership.
The third project related characteristic is lean six-sigma experience. In line with projec management experience
si
characteristic is added.
The fourth project related characteristic is project phase. Weinkauf and Hoegl (2002: 180 found that project “leadership activities are performed if and when needed, rather than consistently over the life of a project”
p
influence on the need for leadership.
The fifth and last project related characteristic is project workload. The project workload lean six-sigma project members might be of influence the need for l
w
coordination and planning of their project manager (Logan, 2008). B
for leadership of project members to arouse. This leads to the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: I expect that all proje project management environment.
With regards to the need for leadership within a normal organisational environment, De et al. (2004) found that all demographic characteristics (gender, age, education, and years service) were influencing the need for leadership of employees. York (2004) noted that demographic characteristics of project members could also be of influence on leadership processes within project teams. In line with this,
b
project management environment. Thus:
Hypothesis 3: I expect that all demo project management environment.
2.3 Situational Characteristics Derived from the Substitutes for Leadership The
The substitutes for leadership theory of Kerr and Jermier (1978) states that in order to improve leadership effectiveness the leaders must first identify the most “important situational or contextual variables that can either substitute for, neutralize, or enhance the effects of a leader's behaviour” (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Bommer, 1996: 260-261)
identified four individual characteristics, three task characteristics, and six organizational characteristics as potential substitutes for leadership, totalling thirteen situational
organisational inflexibility, advisory and staff support, closely knit, cohesive, interdependent project teams, organizational rewards not within the project manager’s control, and spatial distance between project member and project manager. According to Kerr and Jermier (1978: 378) “the substitutes construct probably has much wider applicability … to ...leadership in general.". In this thesis, I will use the situational characteristics from this theory to determine what their effect is on the need for leadership of project team members. According to the
eory, all of these situational characteristics should lower the need for leadership and reduce the va
Hypothesis 4: I expect that all the situational characteristics derived from the
substitutes for leadersh rship.
3 RESEARCH METHOD
ts businesses and arted a companywide change program called World Class Performance 2010 (WCP). Stork
ct-based lean six-sigma approach as their tool for change.
id P rojects. Twenty-one (87.5%) usable questionnaires were returned of which one was only
ocational education (MBO), 47.6% completed higher professional education (HBO), and ersity education. The average years of service was 3 (sd = 2).
ere ts. The
easurement strument were scored on 1–5 Likert-like scales. The complete questionnaire can be found in appendix B. The data was analysed by using the statistical software SPSS.
th
lue added of a leader (De Vries et al. 2004: 208). This leads to:
ip theory decrease the need for leade
3.1 Field of Study
This research was undertaken within the Industry Services division of Stork B.V. (SISe).Two years ago Stork established a direction for change to cope with the changing business
environment. The organization wanted to remain a solid competitor in all i st
chose the proje
3.2 Sample
The data for determining the need for leadership and the situational variables were gathered in a cross-functional sample of 21 active green belts. It was drawn in the following way. First, the WCP training coordinator was contacted in order to get information about which employees followed a green belt course. Second, all green belts (33) were contacted by telephone in order to find out if they were or are active in a WCP project and if they were willing to participate in this study. Seven green belts were not active and two green belts d not want to participate. Third, an online questionnaire was sent to 24 active green belts who orally agreed to take part in this study. These 24 green belts were spread across six WC p
partly usable (the substitutes for leadership part was skipped) and twenty fully usable. Of the respondents, 19 (90.5%) were male and 2 (9.5%) were female. The average age was 32.8 years (sd = 7.2). As for the educational level, 4.8% completed senior secondary v
47.6% completed univ
3.3 Questionnaire
The instrument used in this research, to find an answer to the research questions and hypotheses, consisted of a three-part questionnaire. All of the measurement instruments w used in the Dutch language to enhance understanding of the question for the responden Dutch translation by De Vries (1997) of the need for leadership (De Vries, 1997) and the substitutes for leadership (De Vries, 1997; Kerr & Jermier, 1978; Podsakoff, Niehoff, MacKenzie & Williams, 1993) measurement instrument were used during this research. The variables within the need for leadership and the substitutes for leadership m
The first part of the questionnaire measured the four demographic and the five project r situational characteristics (see paragraph 2.2). Team size was measured as the average number of project team members during the project, project workload as the hours spend on the project per week, project phase as the phase the project was in at the time of the survey project management and lean six-sigma experience as the amount of years of experience, tenure as
elated
, the years of service, age in years, and education as the highest finished educational egree.
the
ed for 2002), using items that measure the effects of hanges in supervision (Martin, 1983).
by “my replaced “members of my
orkgroup”, and “project leader” replaced “supervisor”.
e of
61 ts. It e >0.9 Cronbach’s lpha reported in previous studies (De Vries, 1997; De Vries et al., 2002).
d
The second part of the questionnaire measured the need for leadership. This instrument was based on De Vries’ (1997) need for leadership measurement instrument and consisted of aspects mentioned in the introduction section. The answering categories of the need for leadership measurement instrument ranged from not at all (1) to a lot (5). In this study, the word “leader” was replaced by “project leader” to prevent confusion of the respondents with the supervisor of their normal work. The convergent and discriminant validity of the ne leadership was tested by De Vries et al. (
c
The third part of the questionnaire was based on the substitutes for leadership instrument of Kerr and Jermier (1978). The answering categories of these situational characteristics, ranged from completely disagree (1) to completely agree (5). The instrument was slightly adjusted to fit with the research context of this thesis. The words “my department” were replaced
WCP project” or “project team”, “project team members” w
3.4 Reliability
The reliability of every scale was verified using Cronbach’s alpha confidence coefficient (se table 1). This coefficient analyses the internal consistency of the scales. The reliabilities the situational characteristics derived from substitutes for leadership (referred to as the substitutes for leadership scale) varied between 0.43 (advisory and staff support) to 0.95 (closely-knit, cohesive, interdependent work groups) Cronbach’s alpha. In the research done by Podsakoff (1993) and De Vries et al. (2004), the scales varied in reliabilities between 0. to 0.83 Cronbach’s alpha. The individual need for leadership aspects are not construc was therefore not possible to measure their reliability. The reliability of the need for leadership scale was 0.84 Cronbach’s alpha, which is slightly lower than th
TABLE 1
Reliabilities of the Substitutes for Leadership Scale and the Need for Leadership Scale and the Amount of Items per Scale
Scale Cronbach’s alpha Items
Need for Leadership scale 0.84 α 17
Substitutes for Leadership scale:
Ability, experience, training and knowledge 0.57 α 7
Professionalism 0.68 α 9
Need for independence 0.82 α 4
Indifference towards organizational rewards 0.83 α 6
Task-provided feedback concerning accomplishment 0.89 α 6
Unambiguous, routine, methodologically, invariant tasks 0.89 α 5
Intrinsically satisfying tasks 0.83 α 5
Organizational formalization 0.87 α 6
Organizational inflexibility 0.89 α 6
Closely knit, cohesive, interdependent project teams 0.97 α 6
Advisory and staff support 0.43 α 6
Organizational rewards not within the project manager's control 0.79 α 6 Spatial distance between project manager and project member 0.79 α 4 3.5 Need for Leadership and a Comparison between Environments
The average needs for leadership of project members, and standard deviations, were derived from the data resulting from the need for leadership questionnaire. This data was normally distributed. Based on this I was able to formulate an answer on the first research sub question. It gives insight in the predominant needs for leadership within a lean six-sigma environment. In order to test hypothesis 1, a two-sample t-test for equal means was used to determine if the needs within the lean six-sigma project environment differ from the needs within normal organizational environments assessed by De Vries et. al (2004). This was done using the means, standard deviations and sample size of the 17 need for leadership aspects of both environments.
3.6 Correlations
To test hypothesis 4, contributing to formulating an answer on the second sub research question, the correlation was measured between the situational characteristics derived from the substitutes for leadership and the need for leadership. Since this data did not meet the assumption of linearity and considering the amount of respondents within this study, I chose to use Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. The correlation between the demographic and project related situational variables was assessed in the same way to provide some
background information on the respondents.
3.7 Dichotomization of the Demographic and Project Related Variables
TABLE 2
Description of the Dichotomized Variables and the Amount of Respondents per Group (n) (n=21)
Dichotomized variables Group 1 N Group 2 N
Gender Men 19 Women 2
Age ≤31 years 11 >31 years 10
Education ≤Hbo 11 >Hbo 10
Tenure ≤2 years 11 >2 years 10
Lean six-sigma experience <1 years 7 ≥1 years 14
Project management experience ≤2 years 11 >2 years 10 Project workload ≤4 hours per week 9 >4 hours per week 12 Amount of project members ≤5 project members 12 >5 project members 9
Project phase ≤2nd phase 11 >2nd phase 10
4 RESULTS
In this section, the results of the statistical analysis are shown.4.1 Need for Leadership Outcomes
Table 3 shows the mean on the need for leadership (one- and multidimensional) of WCP project members. It also shows how high the subordinates in De Vries et al.’s (2004: 215)
TABLE 3
The Mean and Standard Deviations of the 17 Need for Leadership Aspects within the lean six-sigma WCP Projects of SISe (n=21), Compared to De Vries et al. (2004) (n=2902), the T-Values Representing
Dissimilarity
Need for Leadership aspects m (sd)
WCP projects De Vries et al. 2004 m (sd) t-value
Provide information 3.90 (0.77) 3.28 (1.13) 2.51**
Arrange things with higher-level management 3.71 (1.15) 3.59 (1.18) 0.46 Gear all activities of the team to one another 3.43 (0.93) 2.79 (1.20) 2.44**
Give work-related feedback 3.38 (1.02) 2.68 (1.10) 2.91***
Transfer knowledge 3.38 (1.28) 2.38 (1.10) 4.15***
Set goals 3.29 (1.15) 2.57 (1.09) 3.01***
Provide support 3.14 (1.01) 2.89 (1.13) 1.01
Recognize and reward contributions 3.05 (1.12) 3.23 (1.13) - 0.73 Decide what work should be done 3.00 (1.10) 2.18 (1.01) 3.70***
Correct mistakes 2.95 (1.02) 2.45 (1.08) 2.11**
Maintain external contacts 2.95(0.97) 2.79 (1.23) 0.59
Help solve problems 2.90 (1.09) 2.96 (1.08) - 0.25
Coordinate, plan and organize 2.90 (0.94) 2.44 (1.14) 1.84*
Handle conflicts 2.86 (1.06) 2.87 (1.15) - 0.04
Create a good team spirit 2.52 (1.12) 2.89 (1.27) - 1.33
Inspire 2.38 (1.07) 2.78 (1.26) - 1.45
Motivate 2.29 (1.35) 2.51 (1.21) - 0.83
* ** *** p < .10 p < .05 p < .01
research scored on the need for leadership within a normal organizational environment. The t-value represents the dissimilarity between the two groups concerning the need for leadership. It provides the information needed for hypothesis 1 and research sub question 1.
4.2 Demographic and Project Related Situational Characteristics
Table 4, provides background information on the interrelation of demographic and project related variables of project members.
TABLE 4
Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients of the Relation between the Demographic and Project Variables (n=21)
Demographic and Project Variables
Demographic and Project Variables
Gender Age Education T
enur e Experience with l ean six-sigma in ye ars E xper
ience with project m
anagem
ent
in year
s
Project workload Average project t
eam size
Age .09
Education .33 .17
Tenure .29 .53** -.10
Experience with lean six-sigma in years -.16 .55*** .27 .24
Experience with project management in years .00 .66*** -.04 .57*** .27
Project workload -.27 -.34 .08 -.52** .19 -.65***
Average project team size -.28 -.24 -.36 -.17 -.02 -.32 .02 Project phase -.38* -.15 .05 -.01 .26 -.26 .56*** .01 * ** *** p < .10 p < .05 p < .01
TABLE 5
U-values Representing the Dissimilarity between the Dichotomized Demographic and Project Variables with Regards to the Need for Leadership Aspects (n=21)
Dichotomized Demographic and Project Variables
Need for Leadership Aspects
Gender Age Education T
enur e Experience with l ean six-sigma in ye ars E xper
ience with project m
anagem
ent
in year
s
Project workload Average project t
eam size
Pr
oject phase
Set goals 6* 44 40 44 46 36.5 50 49.5 49.5
Decide what work should be done 19 42 54 40.5 45.5 38 53 37 39 Transfer knowledge 8 35.5 54.5 43 29 48 53.5 19.5* 54.5
Motivate 9 44 35 50.5 46 43 50 49 38.5
Coordinate, plan and organize 18 32* 51 50 45 38 53 43 45
Maintain external contacts 18.5 27.5** 40.5 47 35 44 49.5 52 28*
Provide information 3** 39 41 48 44 54 33 54 55
Gear all activities of the team to one another 12 48 40.5 52 47.5 51.5 42 50.5 31.5*
Create a good team spirit 14 44.5 49 36 45 53.5 45 41 40.5
Provide support 8 48.5 46 46 41 50 32 39.5 43
Arrange things with higher-level management 11 42 51 45.5 40 49 43.5 35 51 Handle conflicts 6* 52.5 49.5 29.5* 38.5 46 35 45 47.5
Give work-related feedback 5.5* 52.5 30.5* 51 37.5 39.5 49 47.5 43
Correct mistakes 16 49.5 54.5 44.5 47 47 47 38 26**
Help solve problems 1.5** 44 53.5 38 44 51.5 44.5 28.5* 47
Recognize and reward contributions 13.5 24.5** 53.5 47.5 47.5 20.5** 37 46.5 55
Inspire 12.5 53 30* 54 38 29* 40.5 51 19.5***
TABLE 6
Need for Leadership Means of the Dichotomized Demographic and Project Variables (n=21)
Dichotomized Demographic and Project Variables Gender Age Education T
enur e Experience with l ean six-sigma in ye ars E xper
ience with project m
anagem
ent
in year
s
Project workload Average project t
eam size
Pr
oject phase
Need for Leadership Aspects Men Wom en ≤ 31 year s >31 year s ≤
Hbo >Hbo ≤2 year
s
>2 years <1 years ≥1 year
s ≤ 2 year s >2 years ≤4 hour s per week >4 hour s per week ≤ 5 pr oject mem bers >5 pr oject mem bers ≤ 2 nd phase >2 nd phase Set goals 3.16 4.50 3.45 3.10 3.00 3.60 3.09 3.50 3.29 3.29 3.64 2.90 3.33 3.25 3.33 3.22 3.18 3.40 Decide what work should
be done 3.00 3.00 3.18 2.80 3.00 3.00 2.73 3.30 2.86 3.07 3.27 2.70 3.00 3.00 2.75 3.33 2.73 3.30 Transfer knowledge 3.26 4.50 3.73 3.00 3.45 3.30 3.55 3.20 4.00 3.07 3.45 3.30 3.44 3.33 4.00 2.56 3.36 3.40 Motivate 2.16 3.50 2.64 1.90 2.00 2.60 2.18 2.40 2.57 2.14 2.55 2.00 2.44 2.17 2.42 2.11 2.00 2.60 Coordinate, plan and
organize 2.89 3.00 3.27 2.50 2.82 3.00 2.82 3.00 3.00 2.86 3.18 2.60 2.89 2.92 2.75 3.11 2.73 3.10 Maintain external contacts 2.95 3.00 3.36 2.50 3.18 2.70 2.82 3.10 3.29 2.79 3.09 2.80 2.89 3.00 3.00 2.89 3.36 2.50 Provide information 3.79 5.00 4.09 3.70 3.73 4.10 3.82 4.00 4.00 3.86 3.91 3.90 4.22 3.67 3.92 3.89 3.91 3.90 Gear all activities of the
team to one another 3.47 3.00 3.55 3.30 3.64 3.20 3.36 3.50 3.43 3.43 3.36 3.50 3.67 3.25 3.42 3.44 3.09 3.80 Create a good team spirit 2.47 3.00 2.73 2.30 2.64 2.40 2.18 2.90 2.71 2.43 2.45 2.60 2.78 2.33 2.75 2.22 2.36 2.70 Provide support 3.05 4.00 3.27 3.00 3.00 3.30 3.00 3.30 3.29 3.07 3.09 3.20 3.56 2.83 3.33 2.89 2.91 3.40 Arrange things with
higher-level management 3.63 4.50 4.00 3.40 3.64 3.80 3.91 3.50 4.00 3.57 3.91 3.50 3.89 3.58 4.00 3.33 3.64 3.80 Handle conflicts 2.74 4.00 2.91 2.80 2.91 2.80 2.45 3.30 2.57 3.00 2.73 3.00 3.22 2.58 3.00 2.67 2.73 3.00 Give work-related feedback 3.26 4.50 3.45 3.30 3.09 3.70 3.36 3.40 3.14 3.50 3.64 3.10 3.22 3.50 3.25 3.56 3.18 3.60 Correct mistakes 2.89 3.50 3.00 2.90 2.91 3.00 2.73 3.20 2.86 3.00 2.82 3.10 3.11 2.83 3.17 2.67 2.55 3.40 Help solve problems 2.74 4.50 3.00 2.80 2.91 2.90 2.64 3.20 3.00 2.86 2.91 2.90 3.11 2.75 3.25 2.44 2.82 3.00 Recognize and reward
contributions 3.00 3.50 3.55 2.50 3.09 3.00 3.18 2.90 3.00 3.07 3.64 2.40 2.67 3.33 2.92 3.22 3.09 3.00 Inspire 2.32 3.00 2.45 2.30 2.00 2.80 2.36 2.40 2.14 2.50 2.82 1.90 2.11 2.58 2.42 2.33 1.82 3.00 Need for leadership
(one-dimensional) 2.99 3.76 3.27 2.83 3.00 3.13 2.95 3.18 3.13 3.03 3.20 2.91 3.15 3.00 3.16 2.93 2.91 3.23 4.3 Situational Characteristics Derived from the Substitutes for Leadership
TABLE 7
Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients of the Relation between the Need for Leadership Aspects with the Situational Characteristics derived from the Substitutes for Leadership theory (19 ≥ n ≤ 20)
Situational Characteristics derived from the Substitutes for Leadership theory
Need for Leadership Aspects
Abilit y, ex pe ri en ce, trai ni ng a nd kn owle dg e Pro fe ssi on ali sm Ne ed fo r in de pe nd en ce Ind iff er en ce t ow ard s org aniz ati on al r ew ard s Ta sk -p ro vi de d fe edb ac k co nc er ni ng a cco mp lis hmen t U nam bi gu ou s, ro uti ne, m eth odol og ic all y, inv ari an t ta sk s Int rin sic all y s ati sfy ing t ask s O rga niz ati on al f orm ali zat io n Orga niz ati on al i nfl ex ib ilit y C lose ly k nit, c oh es ive, in ter de pen de nt w ork g ro up s A dvis or y a nd st af f s up por t Orga niz ati on al r ewa rds n ot wit hin th e le ad er' s c ont rol Sp ati al di st an ce b etw een s up eri or an d s ub ord in ate Set goals -.21 .15 -.20 -.06 -.22 .14 .14 .30 -.10 -.18 .12 .08 -.02 Decide what work should be done -.06 .19 .06 -.05 -.07 .39* -.08 .27 .09 -.05 .13 -.42* -.20
Transfer knowledge -.05 -.02 -.07 .09 -.04 -.07 .23 .10 .14 -.12 .07 -.07 .05 Motivate -.27 .46** -.07 -.56** -.11 .34 -.18 .41* .10 -.53** .44* .16 .15
Coordinate, plan and organize -.09 .09 -.05 .17 .05 .26 .16 .26 .23 -.14 .24 -.04 -.04 Maintain external contacts -.23 -.21 .21 .07 -.08 -.05 .09 -.15 -.25 .22 -.17 -.08 -.08 Provide information -.07 .48** -.07 -.15 -.07 -.22 -.12 -.04 .26 -.53** .33 .42* .57***
Gear all activities of the team to one another .39* .05 .24 .05 .23 .24 .14 .22 .48** .15 -.24 -.22 .03
Create a good team spirit -.16 .34 .18 -.82*** -.01 .39* -.41* .27 -.11 -.42* .07 -.11 .15
Provide support -.15 .18 .25 -.14 -.12 .19 -.23 .32 -.02 -.04 .28 -.11 .40*
Arrange things with higher-level management -.05 .03 .09 .11 -.10 -.09 -.02 .09 -.02 .19 .08 -.18 .06 Handle conflicts .11 .43* -.04 -.53** .02 .08 -.24 .10 -.07 -.20 -.22 .12 .22
Give work-related feedback -.15 .69*** .15 -.22 .42* .12 .02 .51** .10 -.31 .59*** .20 .37
Correct mistakes -.05 .26 -.15 -.08 .13 .37 -.13 .47** -.02 -.22 .15 -.17 .37
Help solve problems -.27 .24 -.06 -.07 -.11 -.02 .09 .25 -.26 .14 .01 -.20 .36 Recognize and reward contributions -.11 .35 .23 -.05 .25 -.09 .37 .13 .52** -.05 .06 .14 .03
Inspire -.03 .45** .07 -.19 .05 .53** .06 .72*** .29 -.31 .31 -.06 .10
5 DISCUSSION
Based on the analysis, answers on the sub research questions and with that, the main question of this research can be formulated. Furthermore, it can be assessed if the hypotheses in the thesis hold. This chapter has the following structure. First, I will give insight in the
interrelation of demographic and project related variables to provide some background information on the respondents. Secondly, the need for leadership within a lean six-sigma project environment and a comparison of these needs with normal environment environments will be dealt with. Subsequently, the one-dimensional need for leadership and its predictors will be explained. After that, I will deal with the multidimensional need for leadership and its predictors. This is followed by an elaboration on hypotheses two, three, and four, the
conclusion, reflection and the suggestions for further research.
5.1 Green Belt Background Information
Several significant correlations were found between the demographic and project variables of green belts within WCP SISe. Age has a positive relation with tenure, and experience with lean six-sigma and project management. It seems that the older project members are, the longer their tenure within SISe, and the bigger the chance that they gained experience in lean six-sigma and project management. The positive relation between tenure and project
management experience is in line with expectations. SISe can be considered a project
organization, so the longer project members have worked for SISe, the more experience they might have gained with project management. Subsequently, there is a negative relation between tenure and project workload. Project members that are working longer for the
company are assigned less time to WCP projects. Project management experience and project workload were also negatively correlated. It seems that green belts that have more experience with project management are assigned less time to the projects. A reason behind this and the previous correlation might be that because of their experience and tenure, they might have hierarchical higher and/or more time-consuming “official” jobs. The last relation involves a positive relationship between project phase and project workload. It appears that with every successive project phase the project workload increases for project members.
5.2 The Need for Leadership; a Comparison between Environments
The first sub research question pertained to the need for leadership of project members within a lean six-sigma project environment. The surveys that have been carried out within WCP SISe, revealed that although there are individual differences in the degree to which specific aspects of leadership are needed, there are a lot of similarities between project members concerning their need for leadership on all 17 leadership aspects. This is in line with the outcomes of De Vries et al. (2004). On the average green belts seem to have a mediocre total need for leadership (m = 3.06; sd = 0,58) compared to the midpoint (3). This is significantly more (see table 3) than De Vries et al.’s (2004) need for leadership of 2.78 (sd = 0.73) within a normal organizational context. Although eleven of the seventeen leadership aspects had a higher need, eight aspects of them were significantly needed more than in a normal
organizational environment. Consequently, it is reasonable to accept hypothesis 1.
The eight leadership aspects with a significant higher need than in a normal environment are: provide information, gear all activities of the team to one another, give work-related
theorists made a distinction between a task-oriented and relationship oriented leadership style. They assume that one of these styles (Fiedler, 1967), or a slight combination of the styles (Blake & Mouton, 1985) are favourable depending on the specific situation. It seems that, based on the needs, within the lean six-sigma project environment of WCP, project members favour a more task-oriented leadership style. This does not mean that they do not need a relationship oriented leadership style, but it seems that they need it less than task-oriented leadership style. An explanation might be found within the processes that take place between team members, earlier referred to as shared leadership (paragraph 2.2). Manheim (2008) noted that team members embrace relationship-oriented leadership from peers while they are resistant against task-oriented leadership from their fellow team members. This resistance arises because task-oriented leadership implies a hierarchical difference, which does not exist between team members (Manheim, 2008). This might be the reason why the more relationship-oriented leadership needs are needed less from a project manager than a task-oriented leadership within a lean six-sigma project environment of WCP SISe.
5.3 One-Dimensional Need for Leadership This section
This paragraph describes the influence of the situational characteristics on the need for leadership construct, providing initial testing results for hypotheses 2, 3 and 4. This section contributes to answer on the second sub research questions.
It appears that the effects of the situational characteristics on the one-dimensional need for leadership are small. Of the demographic characteristics, only gender and age were
moderately positively correlated with the need for leadership construct. However, the distribution of men and women in the sample of this research cause the outcomes pertaining to gender differences to be not very reliable. This has to be taken into consideration with regards to all gender statements made in the discussion of this research. The analyses shows that that female project members have a higher need for leadership than men do and that older project members appear to have a higher need for leadership. There is not a clear-cut explanation for these effects. One would expect experience, skills, and knowledge to increase when age increases, which might lead to a decreased need for leadership. However, this relationship was not significant either. None of the project related characteristics had a significantly correlation with the need for leadership construct. Based on these outcomes, it seems that hypothesis 2 and 3 do not hold for the one-dimensional need for leadership. The only situational characteristics derived from the substitute for leadership that were
significantly positively correlated with the need for leadership construct were organizational formalization and professionalism. There are no explicit explanations for these effects either. They both appear to act as enhancers rather than substitutes for the need for leadership construct. This is in contrast to the substitutes for leadership theory of Kerr and Jermier (1978) and hypothesis 4. It thus seems that this hypothesis does not hold either for the one-dimensional need for leadership.
5.4 Multidimensional Need for Leadership
As stated in the beginning of this chapter, this section explains which situational characteristics cause these needs on the leadership aspects to arouse, further testing
5.4.1 Provide information
Green belts have the highest need for their project managers to provide information. A feasible explanation for this is that the lean six-sigma methodology requires a lot of information to assess what can be improved. In the case of SISe, many data is mined and interpreted from the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. Information about the throughput time, lead-time, work in progress, work breakdown structure, and dependencies between activities are examples of information needed for the majority of WCP projects. Four situational characteristics derived from the substitutes for leadership theory were correlated with this need. Professionalism, the degree to which project members keep themselves up-to-date by reading and attending profession related literature and meetings, seems to enhance the need for information. Project members that score high on
professionalism might have a high impetus to understand things and gain knowledge. In turn, this might lead to a higher need for information. The more organizational rewards are within the control of the project leader, the higher the need for their project manager to provide information. Project members might be tempted to approach a project task more seriously when they know that project managers have influence over their organizational rewards. This might consequently lead to a higher need for information. The spatial distance between project members and their project manager appears to enhance the need for information. A reduced amount of direct contact might lead to fewer possibilities for a project manager to provide information, consequently leading to a higher need of project members to receive information. Closely knit, cohesive, interdependent work groups were negatively correlated with this need. Therefore, the more closely knit, cohesive and interdependent project teams are, the less project members have a need for their project manager to provide information. A plausible explanation for this might be that closely-knit, cohesive, and interdependent project teams share more information with each other than less cohesive project teams. This
corresponds to the earlier mentioned shared leadership theory. Women seem to have a higher need than men do for their project manager to provide information. The comments regarding the reliability of gender differences have to be taken into consideration.
5.4.2 Arrange things with higher-level management
Project members are likely to encounter passive and active resistance from higher-level management. Line managers might already be busy enough with their daily management and do not always have the time nor concern to focus on another “groundbreaking” initiative initiated from the top executed through a WCP project team. Because green belts lack the formal power to push things through, they might need their project manager to mobilize the higher-level management.
5.4.3 Gear all activities of the team to one another
The higher the ability, experience, training and knowledge of project members the higher they perceive the need to gear all activities of the team to one another. There is not a clear-cut explanation for this effect. Organizational inflexibility is positively correlated to this need. This means that the more project members have to adhere to procedures and rules, the higher the need to gear all activities of the team to one another. An explanation for this effect might be that all these rules cause uncertainty for project members regarding overstepping
5.4.4 Give work-related feedback
Women seem to have a higher need for a project manager to give work related feedback than men do. Additionally, professionalism, supported by the positive relation between education and this need, increases the need of project members for their project manager to give work related feedback An explanation might be that higher educated and more professional project members place a greater importance on knowing if they perform well than less professional an educated project members. The better project members can assess for themselves if they perform well, the more they need their project manager to give them work related feedback. This seems to be an illogical effect. It seems that they want confirmation from their project manager on their own judgement. The analysis show that the more formalized the tasks within the project are, the stronger the need to gain feedback. A reason for this effect might be that clear-cut tasks are easier to receive feedback on, consequently leading to a higher need for feedback. Support from staff members also increases this need. Project members might perceive a higher need to perform well when they get support from staff members, resulting in a higher need for feedback to sustain a good performance.
5.4.5 Transfer knowledge
Project team size predicts the level of this need. Members in project teams with an average amount of project members equal or less than five members have a higher need than their colleagues in larger project teams. In larger project teams, more knowledge might be shared between members than in smaller project teams. This is in line with the earlier mentioned shared leadership theory.
5.4.6 Set goals
Women have a higher need for this leadership aspect than men do. This was the only predictor resulting from the analysis for this need.
5.4.7 Provide support
This need is determined by the spatial distance between project members and their project manager. Project members within project environments in which the spatial distance is high perceive a higher need to gain support from their project manager than their counterparts in environments with less spatial distance.
5.4.8 Recognize and reward contributions
Project team members that are younger than thirty-one have a higher need than their older colleagues do for their project managers to recognize and reward their contributions. Older people gained more knowledge and experience and might therefore grow more confident in what they do than younger people (Lee-Kelly, 2002), consequently leading to a decreased need to be recognized. Project members with equal or less than two years of project management experience have a significant higher need than their colleagues with more project management experience do for their project managers to recognize and reward contributions. Experience feeds confidence, and might decrease the need to be recognized in work. Organizational inflexibility appears to lead to a higher perceived need to recognize and reward contributions. In this case, recognition might act as an acknowledgement for project members that they comply to the existing standards and rules.
5.4.9 Decide what work should be done
It seems that more unambiguous and invariant the tasks of project members lead to a
is quite a self-explanatory relationship. The need decreases when project managers gain larger control over the organizational rewards of project members.
5.4.10 Correct mistakes
Project team members in projects that are in the first or second project phase have a lower need for their project managers to correct their mistakes than project members in latter phases. The need is higher in more organizational formalized environments.
5.4.11 Maintain external contacts
Project team members that are younger than thirty-one have a higher need than their older colleagues do for their project managers to maintain external contacts. Older project members might want to maintain the external contacts themselves. Additionally, project team members in projects that are in the first or second project phase score higher on this need than their colleagues that are in latter project phases. A possible explanation for this effect might be that in the beginning of the project lifecycle the input of external stakeholders has to be managed more than in latter phases (Lee-Kelly, 2002).
5.4.12 Help solve problems
Members in project teams with an average amount of project members equal or less than five members have a significant higher need than their colleagues in larger project teams for their project managers to help solve problems. It seems that larger project teams have a bigger problem solving ability created by the project members. This is in line with the shared leadership approach. Women seemed to have a higher perceived need for this leadership aspect than men did.
5.4.13 Coordinate, plan and organize
Project team members that are younger than thirty-one have a higher need than their older colleagues do for their project managers to coordinate, plan and organize. Because older members have more project- and lean six-sigma experience, they might feel more confident to self-organize, plan and coordinate their tasks than their younger counterparts. Members in project teams with an average amount of project members equal or less than five members have a significant higher need than their colleagues in larger project teams for their project managers to coordinate, plan and organize. An explanation for this might be that bigger teams need more coordination and organization of project members than smaller teams (Lee-Kelly, 2002).
5.4.14 Handle conflicts
Women seem to have a higher need for this leadership aspect than men do. In addition, project team members with tenure of more than two years within SISe have a higher need than their colleagues with a shorter tenure for their project managers to handle conflicts. Project members with a longer tenure might have built up close relations with other team members and might be dependent on them regarding their “official” job. For that reason, they might hesitate to handle conflicts themselves and prefer the neutral project manager to
adequate deal with them. The need decreases when the indifference towards organizational rewards increases. Project members with a relative higher level of professionalism exhibit a higher perceived need for their project manager to handle conflicts.
5.4.15 Create a good team spirit
weak negative correlation with intrinsically satisfying tasks. These tasks are therefore perceived as less motivating. This might explain the effect on the need to create a good team spirit. Consequently, tasks that are intrinsically satisfying cause this perceived need to be lower. The need for a project manager to create a good team spirit is low when project members are indifferent towards organizational rewards. Closely knit, cohesive,
interdependent work groups cause this perceived need to be lower. An explanation might be that cohesive project teams exhibit a better team spirit created by the team members
themselves.
5.4.16 Inspire
Project team members with a university (wo) diploma or higher perceive a higher need to be inspired than their colleagues with a lower educational degree. Additionally, project members with equal or less than two years of project management experience perceive a significant higher need to be inspired than their colleagues with more project management experience for their project managers to inspire. It is also perceived higher when tasks are more unambiguous and invariant, when tasks are formalized and when project members score higher on professionalism. Project team members in projects that are in the first or second project phase perceive a significant lower need for their project managers to inspire them than project members that are in latter phases.
5.4.17 Motivate
Project members that score high on professionalism, get support from staff, and have
formalized tasks perceive this need to be higher. Project members that are indifferent towards organizational rewards and are in closely knit, cohesive project teams perceive this need to be lower.
It is remarkable that motivate, create a good team spirit and inspire are the least needed leadership aspects encountered in this research. Especially since leadership theories focussing on change, propagate inspiring leaders that are examples to others (Stoker, 2005). The results in this thesis are surprisingly different and contradicting to this idea. There may be several explanations underlying these findings. First, respondents find their tasks to be quite intrinsically satisfying (see appendix A; table A1). Secondly, team project members might have a low need to be motivated and inspired, because they might have a personal stake in the project outcomes concerning their official job. The motivation and inspiration might therefore have been aroused before the team was created, since in most cases the green belts
effects of shared leadership were found in the following needs: provide information, transfer knowledge, help solve problems, inspire, motivate, and create a good team spirit.
5.5 Hypotheses 2, 3 and 4
As can be derived from the above findings, all but three situational factors did predict the need for leadership. These three are need for independence, project workload and the experience with lean six-sigma. Three out of the five project related characteristics did determine the need for leadership. Therefore, I must reject hypothesis 2. However, this might be due to the probability of a type II error, which will be further explained in paragraph 5.7. Although two demographic characteristics determined the need for leadership construct, all four were predicting one or more need for leadership aspects. Therefore, I must accept hypothesis 3. Although all except one of the situational characteristics derived from the substitutes for leadership theory significantly predicted the need for leadership aspects, the majority of these correlations were positive. Only indifference towards organizational
rewards, intrinsically satisfying tasks and closely-knit, cohesive, interdependent work groups decreased the need for leadership. Hypothesis 4 is therefore rejected.
5.6 Conclusion
The above elaboration gave insight in which situations project managers need to provide leadership and on what their focus must lie. With that, it gave an answer to the main research question: With regards to need for leadership of project members within a lean six-sigma
project environment and the situational factors determining these needs, which needs require special attention of project managers? On the average green belts seem to have the highest
need for a project manager that provides information, arranges things with higher level management, gears all activities to one another, and gives work-related feedback. This does not imply that those less needed leadership aspects should be neglected. All of them should be paid attention to, to provide adequate leadership, since none of the needs was perceived to be very low. The situational factors causing the needs to arouse are (see paragraph 5.3 and 5.4), logically, should be taken into consideration when determining the most appropriate leadership style. However, in this research several situational characteristics did not seem to have a significant relation with the need for leadership.
Concluding, valuable insights about the need for leadership aspects and several feasible mechanisms behind the arousal of these needs have been uncovered. With this, it fulfils the purpose of this thesis. It maps a part of project leadership complexity and gives feasible insight for project managers in what they can contribute to adequate leadership within the lean six-sigma environment of WCP SISe. It provides a potential lever to improve leadership effectiveness.
5.7 Reflection
is “amongst those factors that have been found to decrease the power to detect interactions” (Villa, Howell, Dorfman & Daniel, 2003: 5), which is known as a type II error. The
probability of this error has consequences for the whole study. The sample size also excluded the possibility to test for multicollinearities. Last but not least, some assumptions underlying the theory used in this paper are prone to critique. The theory assumes that project manager should continuously determine which leadership style is most fitting based on the needs and situational characteristics influencing the needs. However, it is practically impossible to assess the need for leadership for every situation, since there are many situational characteristics into play. As a result, the situational characteristics used in this thesis are inexhaustive, although encompassing the most common ones. Furthermore, the complexity, urgency, and unpredictability of situations might lead to perceptions and interpretations not in line with the reality (Van Breukelen & Van der Vlist, 2005). It is questionable if a project manager is able to accurately and objectively assess the characteristics of a situation and the resulting needs at any moment. A partnership approach as proposed in paragraph 2.1 might be beneficial and improve the accuracy and objectivity. The assumption that project
managers are always able to apply, the most fitting leadership approach is also prone to comment on (Van Breukelen & Van der Vlist, 2005). Lee-Kelly (2002: 473) notes that training could help increase a project manager’s awareness and sensitivity to project members’ feelings.
5.8 Suggestions for further research
Since the results of this thesis apply to the lean six-sigma WCP projects within SISe, it would be interesting to assess if the found effects are generalizable to other lean six-sigma and/or project management environments. Further research is therefore needed. The research could be broadened by testing the whole need for leadership model (figure 1) in project
management environments and assess all relations. By applying this approach, further insight can be gained in the need for leadership within these environments. This would be a valuable contribution to the relatively unexplored research field of the behavioural or interpersonal factors within project management.
Additionally, the demographic characteristics seem to be of influence on the need for leadership as well in a project environment. It might be interesting to further explore this relation. The relational demography theory states that demographically similar people perceive a greater attraction to one another that can lead to an increased performance (York, 2004). Demographic similarity within a project team might therefore also be of influence on the need for leadership. Further research is needed to assess the consequences of the project team makeup.
