Project Management Leadership Ethics

This article discusses the importance of ethics in project management leadership and its impact on project success. It explores the ethical considerations and virtues required for effective project management.

Project Management Leadership Ethics
Project management is often identified as an important field of study as it has a large socio-
economic impact on the life of a professional and the society as a whole. The activities of a project
are led and managed by project managers. They are responsible for making decisions on the basis of
the industry practices, compliance with the regulations, management of the conflicts and deliverance
of project objectives with “best possible” results (Bredillet, 2014). Project managers that are
competent enough are considered to be the leaders of successful organizations and the projects that
they are assigned to. The apprehension revolves around the deliberation that project managers often
have to face. These include ‘what is required to be done’ and ‘what is morally correct or ethical’. The
main goal of project managers is to ensure that they create a balance between the interests of their
stakeholders and the deliverance of the right outcomes based on the ethical code of conduct in
project management (Velasquez, et. al., 1988).
According to Helgadottir (2010), traditionally the project management literature primarily
establishes the primary goals of a manager to be the completion of a project within the timeline and
the budget allocated. However, the modern researchers have laid more focus on the management of
the team members, deliverance of quality, stress on customer satisfaction and consideration of the
ethical issues that are associated with a project. Project managers are given extensive training to
consider the ethical issues that are tied to the public, projects allocated, customers and the team as a
whole.
Although there is a significant amount of absence of situations that dictate the conduct of
project managers; however, new models such as IPMA Competence Baseline have been formulated
to take into account some of the most important aspects of the project management ethical
considerations. The model includes three primary aspects such as contextual ethics, technical ethics
and behavioral ethics. There are several other models that discuss the need for following certain

ethical practices in the project management field. The project management leadership ethics offer
personal integrity and benefits to the society as well (Ljungblom and Lennerfors, 2018).
To conclude the research, it was identified that the project life cycle demands its managers
and the team members to display certain virtues which may or may not be restricted to intellectual
capabilities, social intelligence, emotional and moral factors and even political understanding. Every
stage requires a great deal of planning, organization, controlling and evaluation of the system. It is
for the project manager to ensure that the stages are ethically completed and documented to deliver
quality projects at the end. The ethical regulations also entail the consideration of potential risks to
the users, negative feedback receipt and other risks that might hamper the completion of the project
and its development in the later course of proceedings. Project managers have often stressed on the
assurance of ethical practices to be adopted in system designs and implementation to deliver high
quality results and make the world a better place for professionals to work in (Bredillet, 2014).

References
Bredillet, C. (2014). Ethics in Project Management: Some Aristotelian Insights. International Journal
of Managing Projects in Business, 7(4), 548-565.
Helgadottir, H. (2010). The Ethical Dimension of Project Management. International Journal of
Project Management, 26, 743-748.
Ljungblom, M. & Lennerfors, T. T. (2018). Virtues and Vices in Project Management Ethics: An
Empirical Investigation of Project Managers and Project Management Students. Project Management
Journal, 49(3), 5–16.
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T. S. J. & Meyer, M. J. (1988). Ethics and Virtue. Markkula
Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.