The impact of the project manager’s
leadership style in adoption of project ethics: the moderating role of project
structure and level of team development
Considering the difference between
projects and other organisations, this paper will aim at contextualising the
role of the project manager in promoting project ethics. Factors such as the
influence of the sponsoring organisation, the powers vested in the project
manager, and the level of team development within the project shall be
evaluated. The significance of this study lies in the fact that projects are
temporary organisations requiring that ethos and operating procedures be laid
out and adopted swiftly to facilitate effective execution of the project.
Besides, projects vary significantly in terms of composition where team members
may be drawn from diverse backgrounds with varying levels of influence being
exerted by the project sponsors. This research will aim at explaining the
influence of these factors (project structure and team development) on the
effectiveness of project managers getting certain ethical principles adopted
within the projects. The paper will add to the existing body of knowledge hence
to be of immense value to prospective project managers; and also act as a
ground for further research in related academic disciplines.
The aim of this research will be to
determine how the project manager’s role in promoting project ethics is
impacted by the project structure and the level of project team development. The
specific objectives will be as follows:
1.
To establish common ethics issues in
projects warranting the project manager’s intervention
2.
To determine how the project manager’s
approach to leadership impacts the resolution of project ethics issues
3.
To examine how the project structure
impacts the resolution of project ethics issues
4.
To examine how the level of project team
development impacts the resolution of project ethics issues
The search strategy used to identify the
core articles to be used in this study was based on the following phrases: project
leadership and ethics, project management and ethics, project structure and
ethics, project team development. These search phrases corresponded to the main
dimensions of the study. Emphasis was on selecting peer-reviewed journal
articles that are fairly recent. The articles selected as the core articles
addressed the respective aspects of the study in detail. They include:
‘E-ethical
leadership for virtual project teams’ by Margaret R. Lee
This article discusses the role of the
project manager as a leader and how the project leader can influence the values
adopted by project team members. This was selected because it contains
important highlights on project ethics. It is relevant to this study because it
discusses the leadership by the project manager and values, which include
ethics within the project.
‘Ethics
and Project Management: A Journal Publication Analysis’ by Allen S.L
This article discusses ethics in project
management. It provides an overview of projects and their composition, as well
as factors that can promote or inhibit the implementation of good ethical
standards. Particularly, it addresses the role of strong leadership within
projects as a peculiar condition for adoption of high ethical standards in
projects.
‘Organizational
structuring and project team structuring in integrated product development
project’ by Rauniar and Rawski
This article discusses the project structure
and the related power structures. It discusses how limitations on the authority
of the project manager can inhibit the manager’s ability to not only enforce
discipline but also influence the project values. Of particular interest is the
challenge faced by projects where project team members are still answerable to
their superiors in the parent companies. The article’s relevance is that it
demonstrates how project structure can inhibit the project manager’s role in
running the project; including enforcing project ethics.
‘Project
success and project team management: Evidence from capital projects in the
process industries’ by Scott-Young and Samson
The significance of this article to the
research is that it demonstrates how project team development influences
adoption of common values and principles. These values would include project
ethics; hence highly developed project teams would be easier to influence in
terms of adoption of project ethics.
Ethics in projects have been described
by Allen (2011) as being part and parcel of every project. The ethical
responsibility is to every stakeholder including the project sponsors, the society,
and even to the project team members. However, the interpretation of these
responsibilities can differ between project team members. This difference of
opinions is what makes it necessary for the project manager to show leadership
and drive for the adoption of certain values that would be deemed necessary for
upholding project ethics (Allen, 2011). The significance of this role is very
high because it is important for all project team members to have a similar
point of view for the approach to operations and execution of project goals to
be similar across board. This is a view reiterated by Lee (2009) who holds that
the project manager should be able to inspire all team members to have a common
approach towards delivery on project goals; especially on how to resolve
ethical issues that may arise from time to time.
Lee (2009) time describes the project
manager’s leadership qualities as being essential to the project success. While
holding that any approach to leadership can be effective depending on the
conditions and expectations of project team members, Lee (2009) takes the view
that the project manager must identify the appropriate leadership approach
needed and quickly implement it. The need for this is elaborated by Allen
(2011) who distinguishes projects from the normal organisations which are a
going concern. In projects, the existence of the organisation is very temporary
with most projects provided with strict deadlines within which they are
expected to have delivered on their mandates and wound up. This means that
unlike organisations which can afford the luxury of letting ethical standards
to evolve over time, project management would entail strong leadership to
hasten the process of assimilation of certain ethical standards. This means
that the project manager must be a good leader. This requirement is of lacking
in many projects with many of the managers appointed to spearhead projects
being picked on their basis of their technical and not interpersonal competencies
(Allen, 2011). In addition to lack of leadership skills, there are also a
number of factors that can inhibit the project manager’s ability to enforce
ethical standards within the organisation.
Rauniar and Rawski (2012) describe the
project structure as one of the factors that can inhibit the ability of the
manager to direct project activities; including inspiring them to conform to
certain values and ethics. The project structure can in this case be described
as the power structures that exist within the project. They include the powers
at the disposal of the project manager including the power to hire fire and
discipline project team members. While this may be presumed to be the case in
many projects, Rauniar and Rawski (2012) find that the converse is true with
the sponsoring organisations having a significant role to play in the hiring of
project team members. The team members forwarded by the organisations
sponsoring the projects are often viewed as ambassadors of their organisations
or supervisors to hold brief for the parent organisations.
With little authority over such members,
project managers may find it difficult to enforce certain rules or promote
certain values (Rauniar and Rawski, 2012). The problem would often be worse if
the project is sponsored by more than one organisation with each seconding
members to the project team. What ensues is a struggle for dominance on which
value systems are to be embraced and this can be a challenge in the enforcement
of ethical standards within the projects. In an empirical studies on projects
linked to the sponsoring organisation, Rauniar and Rawski (2012) established
that the functional managers tend to have a higher influence over project team
members than the project managers. This implies that where there are conflicts
on values and operating schedules, the project manager’s instructions would
often be ignored in favour of the functional managers’. This threatens the
authority of the project manager and inhibits their ability to exercise strong
leadership to facilitate adoption of the desired project ethics.
The project structure as discussed by Rauniar
and Rawski (2012) also impacts the process of the project team development. Scott-Young and Samson (2008)describes a developed
project team as one in which members communicate freely, trust each other, and
are determined to see the project to success. Developed project teams are
characterised by a common viewpoint on values and how to resolve any conflicts
that may arise from time to time (Scott-Young and Samson, 2008). This means that in highly
developed project teams, it is easy for values to be discussed openly and a
common position adopted. For the project manager, having a highly developed
project team would mean that the team members’ commitment to the team and the
project goals can be exploited to have them adopt common values. On the
converse, poorly developed project teams would inhibit the ability of the
project manager to influence the adoption of ethical standards. This means that
the project team development process is very important for managers wishing to
entrench strong ethical standards in their projects.
From the views presented above, it is
clear that the project manager’s leadership role is essential for the
enforcement of ethical standards in any project. Their influence, however, can
be impacted significantly by the project structure and the level of project
team development.
The literature review above separately
addresses the elements that are of significance to this study. It addresses the
influence of the project manager in driving adoption of ethical standards in
the project. It also outlines the importance of strong leadership in the
project with emphasis on the need to deliver on the project goals within the
time limit allocated. Also discussed in the literature review are factors such
as the project structure and project team development and how they influence
the project manager’s ability to influence the adoption of ethical standards in
a project.
However, these are based on studies that
separately address the issues; hence no contextualised study to identify how
project managers use leadership to influence project ethics or how project
structure and team development influence the managers’ actions. This study will
seal this literature gap by designing a study that comprehensively addresses
these aspects of project management based on actual projects within Beijing. To answer the research questions
outlined above, this study shall conduct an empirical study on 5-10 projects
within Beijing. A total of 100 respondents shall be involved and data
collection shall be done through structured. The preferred approach for
distribution and collection will be through email. However, this will be
reviewed in favour of physical distribution if found to be possible.
The target respondents will be project
team members who will be required to answer questions touching on their project
team manager’s leadership approaches, their project structure, and the level of
project team development. The association between the answers provided shall be
analysed quantitatively using regression and correlation functions in SPSS to
determine the influence of these factors on effective establishment of project
ethics.
Allen, S.L. (2011) Ethics and Project Management: A
Journal Publication Analysis, Journal of
Management & Engineering Integration, 07/2011, 11-19
Lee, M.R. (2009) E-ethical leadership for virtual
project teams, International journal of
project management, 27(5), 456–463
Rauniar, R. and Rawski, G. (2012). Organizational
structuring and project team structuring in integrated product development
project, International Journal of
Production Economics, 135(2), 939 – 952
Scott-Young, C. and Samson, D. (2008). Project
success and project team management: Evidence from capital projects in the
process industries, Journal of Operations
Management, 26(6), 749–766
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