MAN6304 - Project Leadership: Personal Learning Portfolio - ECU

This document represents a student's personal learning portfolio focused on project leadership, reflecting on leadership skills, styles, and experiences. It includes self-assessment as a project leader, highlighting strengths and weaknesses such as micromanaging and conflict avoidance. The portfolio explores the balance between responsibility and authority in project management, emphasizing the importance of communication, decision-making, and technical expertise. It delves into the coaching leadership style, guiding team members and fostering collaboration. The document also includes reflections on various projects undertaken, demonstrating the application of leadership principles and continuous improvement. Desklib provides access to this and many similar solved assignments for students.

Running head: PORTFOLIO
PORTFOLIO
Name of Student
Name of University
Author’s Note

1PORTFOLIO
Table of Contents
Portfolio 1..............................................................................................................................................2
Portfolio 2..............................................................................................................................................5
Portfolio 3..............................................................................................................................................7
Portfolio 4............................................................................................................................................10
Portfolio 5............................................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................................16

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Portfolio 1
Myself as a project leader
Being a project leader I am usually responsible for providing guidance to a group of
people as they aim in completing a particular project. I am also responsible for developing as
well as implementing a particular timeline that would be used by the team members in order
to reach their goal (Muller, 2017). Some of the ways using which I ensure that the employees
reach their goals includes delegating various tasks to the members depending on their
interests. I also have the responsibility of providing direction, instructions as well as guidance
to a specific group of individuals who can be called as a team, for a particular purpose of
achieving a certain objective (Lindsjørn, Sjøberg & Dingsøyr, 2016). I consider myself as an
effective project leader because I know the strengths, motivation and weaknesses of my
project members. I have various roles that I need to fulfil within my project, and in my
organization. My job is to get various tasks done with the use of numerous resources that are
available to me, including other project members or team leaders (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017).
I have pointed out some qualities or responsibilities that I follow for the purpose of carrying
out a certain project in a successful manner. The roles are mentioned below
 Developing a particular strategy that would be used by the project team for
the purpose of completing that project and receive some profits out of it
weather it is in the aspects of finance or knowledge (Ramazani & Jergeas,
2015). There has been times, when I, along with my team had executed a
particular project with specific strategy, planning and executing process and
still the project failed. In this attempt we did not receive any financial profit
but we received knowledge regarding that particular field and we also
obtained knowledge regarding how a project is not supposed to be carried out
(Serrador & Pinto, 2015).

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 I provide training to my project team members that they require. Before
starting off with any project, I choose my team members wisely, after I choose
my team members, I ensure that they are provided with the activities that they
are interested in and considering their strength points (Lock, 2017). In case a
particular member does not have enough skills, I ensure that he is provided
with enough training so that he is able to carry out his tasks in an effective
manner which would also contribute in success of the project.
 I keep a clear channel of communication among the project members and with
me as well. The communication channel is a vital part that needs to be kept
clear during execution of a project (Kosmala, Wiggins & Swanson, 2016). I
always provide clear communication to my team. Whenever a project has to
be executed, I carry out regular meetings with my team members in order
convey to them their responsibilities. I also help the team members to maintain
a clear communication among themselves. I allow them to discuss regarding
their tasks and work in cooperation (Harrison & Lock, 2017). I had learnt his
lesson from a practical experience. During a particular project, I had told a
team member to inform another member to get hold of some resources that
would be required, I had provided a particular deadline for collecting the
resources, there was a miscommunication between the members and the one
who was responsible for collecting resources thought that I had been angry on
him and this discouraged him to work in an appropriate manner (Cleden,
2017). When I noticed changes in his behaviour towards the team and the
project, I had held a meeting with him and clarified the overall matter with
him. After that I try to keep clear communication with my team members.

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From another person’s perspective
I would like to share my team member’s point of view in order to describe what
people about me as a project leader. Usually after competing every project, I provide a
feedback for to my team member so that they can provide a detailed feedback on how I am as
a project leader and what are the faults that they think I have and how it can be resolved
(Chih & Zwikael, 2015). Some points that they have highlighted are as follows
 Micromanaging experienced people: my team members had pointed out that I
usually micromanage experienced people, they said that new employees or
inexperienced employees who want to learn something new must be provided
more chances and they must not be provided with tasks that are very easy to
perform (Brière, Proulx & Flores, 2015). Some members who were new in a
certain project had been provided with easy tasks in order to check their
ability, I usually do this in order to know their ability to work in easy
situations, based on their ability, and I provide them with standardized tasks
(Berssaneti & Carvalho, 2015). I do this because if I provide them with tough
task in the very beginning of the project, they might not be able to work
efficiently and they might get frustrated.
 Avoiding conflict: this is one of the qualities that had been highlighted by my
project members, thy said this is a good as well as a bad quality. In most of the
cases, I try to avoid collisions in any situation, if two of the project members
are in the state of creating a collision, I separate them and try to avoid any sort
of collision (Larsen, Shen & Lindhard, 2015). I must try to solve collisions
instead of avoiding them because it would have high chances to create issues
in future.

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Portfolio 2
“While project management is an activity undertaken with others, the projects themselves
involve these other people doing—or not doing—just what is needed. This happens in an
environment where the project manager has far less authority than responsibility, and it is this
limitation of authority that characterises the project manager's role and propels the most
successful project managers to demonstrate leadership.”
Being a project manager, I have the responsibility for successful planning, initiation,
execution as well as closure of a particular project. I need to have a combination of various
skills including the ability to ask various penetrating questions, detect various assumptions
that are unstated and then resolve conflicts along with various management skills (Kerzner,
2019). The vital among my duties include the recognition that various risks impact the
success’s likelihood and that this particular risk might be formally as well as informally
measured all throughout the life of the project (Lewandowski & Specht, 2015). I had been the
project manager of a particular project within my organization, in this particular role, I had
various responsibilities, the responsibilities that I had to fulfil various roles which include
planning as well as defining scope, activity planning as well as sequencing, planning of
resources, preparing schedules, estimating time, estimating cost, developing a particular
budget of the project, documentation of the project, creating schedules and charts, analysis of
various risks, managing issues and risks, monitoring as well as reporting progress, building
up team leadership, strategic influencing, business partnering, working with various vendors,
scalability, probability analysis and interoperability, controlling the quality of the project and
realization of project (Turner, 2016). After these steps are undertaken, I had to take
permission from my senior project manager, he reviews my performance on every field and
then I am allowed to proceed. After these there are more fields that I need to look after, these
aspects include maintaining effective communication skills, this is usually considered as one

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of the good qualities of a goof project manager because this skill helps members to connect
with each other (Zjadewicz, White & Bouchal, 2016). I need to clearly explain the goals of
the project to the members. I also explain everyone’s task, expectations, and responsibilities
along with feedback. One more skill that I am required to have includes strong skills of
leadership. This skill had helped me in motivating my team as well as drive them to the
maximum performance so that they can achieve the team goals. A good decision maker is one
more skill that I am expected to have for being a good project leader (Loufrani-Fedida &
Missonier, 2015). This skill has always helped me in taking various decisions that had crucial
solutions and situations where tough decisions were to be made. Technical expertise is an
additional skill that I have and which has helped me in understanding the issues that are
related to technical aspects (Nicholas & Steyn, 2017). The knowledge on theory and technical
aspect has helped me in taking various strategic initiatives whenever it is required.
I think I have been encountering a classic case of having the responsibility for the
purpose of bringing about success within a particular project, without much authority, I am
supposed to carry out things (Milosevic & Martinelli, 2016). I belong to the role of project
manager within my organization. Though I have the formal title of a project manager, I do
not have the authority to do something by myself. The actual scenario is that if I want to do
something, I would have to talk to the manager or any of the client sponsors (de Carvalho,
Patah & de Souza Bido, 2015). The responsibilities that I have include process
responsibilities as well as people responsibilities. Process responsibilities include planning as
well as defining the project and then manage various risks within the project, issues,
communication, scope and similar factors are also analysed (Heldman, 2018). Besides
process sills, I also have skills of people management. These qualities include providing
effective, motivation, leadership, listening, communicating and providing performance

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feedback. These people management skills do not include the right to hire or firing people.
This authority is not provided to me.
I would like to present a real scenario of my experience, I had been the project
manager of a particular project that we were supposed to execute. In this particular project, I
was provided the authority to plan and execute the project but all the activities within the
project were to be performed by the members, I had to provide them instructions on their
activities and responsibilities but I was not provided with the authority of performing any
task, in this particular case, I had less number member and I still had some activities left to be
divided, I was able to perform these activities but I did not have the authority to do so, in
order to perform them I had to take the permission of my senior project manager (Hazır,
2015). I had asked the permission to perform certain activities due to lack of members, but I
was suggested to take more members in my team and if skilled staffs are not available, I must
provide training to other members so that they are able to perform those activities. In this
particular case, even after requesting a lot I was not provided the authority to perform any
task for completion of the project.
Portfolio 3
The leadership style that suits me the best is coaching leadership style. This style has
recently been added in the list of various leadership style and I find the definition of this
leadership style similar to the steps followed by me for the purpose of managing a particular
project (Zwikael & Smyrk, 2015). This style is a guiding leadership style, I usually guide my
project members before they start working on that particular project. Instead of making
various decisions as well as delegating tasks myself, similar to the autocratic leadership style,
I take lead in order to get best out of the team as well as employees (Verzuh, 2015). I do have
coaching skills, if a particular member is unable to carry out a particular task, I guide him in

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doing so. I help my team members to see how the work that are doing fits in the big picture. I
take personal interest in helping the team members because it helps them in performing
effectively and hence contribute to the success of the project (Hornstein, 2015). I feel that I
am successful only when my team is successful. I require a lot of feedback, these feedbacks
are positive as well as negative for my individual performance. I feel this leadership style
helps me in producing a very positive workplace environment, this is because I am able to
create a positive, stable working environment (Martens & Carvalho, 2017). This is because
my goal is to help others so that they are able to improve their personal performance.
The leadership style fits with my favoured team roles in numerous ways. I follow the
coaching leadership style and this collaborated with the roles of my team. The team roles that
I favour the most include implementer, this role describes the situation where people in a
particular team get things done together with cooperation (Schwalbe, 2015). This leadership
style helps the members to be more practical, well organized and efficient. This leadership
style helps the implementers to turn the ideas of a team into plans that are aimed to be
executed. The coaching leadership style helps a member to be in conservative nature slowly
and steadily accept a particular change within the team (Samset & Volden, 2016). One more
team role that is favoured by me includes coordination. The coordinators tend to possess the
traditional roles of team. They help people in getting mature as well as confident in nature
and hence helps in possessing good listening skills.
The parts that I am not good at, I would bolster them. Few parts that I am not very
good at includes flexibility, self-centred, unable to empathize and some more. These qualities
would be bolstered by me, the steps that would be undertaken by me in order to improve my
qualities are as follows

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 Attend conferences of leadership: various conferences on the topic of leadership
would help me in providing excellent chances for getting ideas as well as inspiration
from true and tough leaders in my industry (Rumane, 2017). Along with this, I would
be able to mingle with many amore professionals and hence expand my network.
 Leverage technology: there are various applications that are available for the purpose
of team communication as well as scheduling like Crew, these sort of applications
would be helpful for me to remove barriers that are formed in the process of effective
communication within various diverse teams and hence help me in being a better
leader (Kerzner, 2018). With the help of Crew I would be able to endure the fact that
everyone within the project team is working with cooperation towards the success of
the project. The application would help me in chatting with team members, mange
various tasks, see the schedules, read various company announcements, trade shifts
and many more.
The way by which I would delegate the parts that I love doing includes various steps.
Delegating my good skills would act to be the most important as well as effective skill of
management (Todorović, Petrović & Mihić, 2015). If I do not have the ability to delegate in
an effective manner, it would be impossible for me to advance in the process of managing a
project to high positions of responsibility. I would be delegating my skills of leadership using
various ways these are as follows
1. Picking the appropriate person: I would initiate in picking the right person for a vital
task, this is would act as a major reason for success of a particular project.
2. Matching the requirements of a project to abilities of a person: I would ensure that a
person to who I delegate a task is able to perform the task.
3. Delegate effectively to appropriate person: this step would free me from doing more
things that are of higher value (Layton & Ostermiller, 2017). More of my essential

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tasks that I am able to delegate teach others would help me in proving more time to
perform things that only I can perform.
4. Delegate small tasks to new staffs: this would help me to maintain a balance within
the team. Providing easy tasks to new staffs would help me in judging their ability to
do tough tasks in complicated situations (Aga, Noorderhaven & Vallejo, 2016).
Providing easy tasks to new employees would help them to trust me more and rely on
me if they cannot do the tasks, and hence I can decide if they can be provided with
tough tasks.
The way I would ensure that the parts that I favour least still get enough attention that
they require for good project leadership are by teaching my tasks to some of the senior staffs
(Binder, 2016). Senior staffs usually have the ability to do complicated tasks in complex
situations, they also have better decision making quality, and hence I can teach them my
tasks, in this way I would not need to concentrate on some part of my tasks but they would be
paid sufficient concentration while they are carried out (Young, 2016). Besides teaching and
allocating my tasks to senior employees I would also monitor their performances so that I am
able to understand the staff who is performing the best and who could be provided with more
complicated tasks compared to others.
Portfolio 4
Dear Self,
The three incidents I have been involved in and that pose ethical dilemma are as
follows
Once I had been a part of a project and my team members had performed their
activities with utmost interest. After few months, two of the staffs had a fight among
themselves, they fought in such a way that they denied to work with each other (Joslin &

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Müller, 2015). One employee wanted to implement am idea that was completely unethical in
nature but it would have been better for the entire group. The idea would have allowed the
project to be completed within deadline and it success of the project was guaranteed
(Heldman, 2018). The other employee did not agree in implementing the plan, he wanted to
work honestly and achieve success for the project. I had no idea regarding the fight that was
going on between them because they did not inform me anything regarding it (Heravi, Coffey
& Trigunarsyah, 2015). I came to after a staff informed me about the fight. I held a meeting
with both the staffs and discussed with them regarding the matter. They explained to me the
entire fight and requested me to take a decision. The staffs were fighting because the project
that we were working on, had already been done by another team, one staff wanted us to get
their project outcome and take some help so that we can solve in an effective manner (Kliem
& Ludin, 2019). Another employee denied in doing so because he wanted to work honestly
so that the team is able to gain knowledge regarding the project. I was in a dilemma on what
to do, I decided that we would be taking help from the project of another team but I ensured
the entire project was carried out with utmost honesty and the solution of their project was
accessed only by me (Rezvani, Chang & Wiewiora, 2016). This way I had faced an ethical
dilemma and was able to take a wise decision without harming any principle of ethics within
the workplace.
One more incident that I had been a part of includes a project where were supposed to
develop a software for mobile devices like, laptops, mobile phones, tablets and many more.
We had completed the entire project within the deadline except the testing phase (Oliveira,
Conte & Cristo, 2016). We had a conflict within our team where few members had suggested
that we can launch the software without the testing phase because they were confident
regarding their performance, and few of them denied in doing do, the wanted the software to
go through a proper and detailed testing phase (Serrador & Turner, 2015). The main issues in