MITS5001: Transformational Leadership in IT Project Management Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of an IT project, focusing on the influence of transformational leadership on project success. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the significance of team building and the role of Information Systems in IT projects. It then delves into th...Read More

Running head: TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
Transformational leadership and project success
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Intention and content of the article.........................................................................................3
3. Management of an IT project.................................................................................................3
4. Methodology used in the article.............................................................................................4
5. Positives of the article............................................................................................................4
6. Lessons learnt.........................................................................................................................5
7. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................5
8. Reference................................................................................................................................6
Student Name Student ID 1

2TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
1. Introduction
The notable objective of this report is to focus on an industry project which is related
with IT project management. The paper which is selected in this assignment has focussed on
the effect of transformational leadership on the success of the project. The impact of this
leadership on team building will be evaluated in this project [10]. Team building ability is
very much significant in most of the IT projects as there are different categories of
assumptions and limitations associated with the IT projects in terms of the selection of
software and hardware for the project, meeting the deadlines for each of the activities of this
project and management of the available resources required in the organization [2]. Critical
Success Factors is one of the most significant aspects regarding the incorporation of the
Information System across IT organizations.
Information Systems play a huge role regarding the success criteria of IT projects as it
helps to reduce huge amount of overhead costs which is a major concern for the primary
stakeholders of the IT organizations. Decision making procedure of the IT projects can be
enhanced in the first place after the incorporation of the Information System. Thus, it can be
said that success and failure of the IT projects is heavily depended on the deployment of the
Information systems [1]. However, there are few limitations which are associated with the
deployment of Information System across commercial organizations such as the flexibility
issues of the systems as compared with the expertise of the stakeholders who are associated
with this Information System, separate investment for the training sessions which are
required for the stakeholders who have negligible knowledge associated with Information
System, and monitoring capturing of the wrong information processed from the Information
System. Leadership role of the organizational leaders of the IT organizations are very much
significant in order to deal with this issue [3]. This report shall be evaluating the significance
of the transformational leadership skills which can be very much useful to address the above
discussed challenges which are associated with the IS.
This article shall be focusing on the impact of the transformational leaders which are
very much significant in the IT projects as it helps in building a better team who can work
with Information Systems and address each of the challenges associated with it. The article
has provided in-depth discussion regarding the impact of transformational leadership using
four hypothesis [6]. The dependent as well as the independent variable which are presented in
this article shall be critically evaluated in this report
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3TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
2. Intention and content of the article
The main objective of this article is to evaluate the impact of the transformational
leadership which plats a huge role in building a good team who can deal with the challenges
of Information Systems as these Information System is one of the most significant reason
behind the success and failure of the projects in IT organizations. The content of this articles
was very much significant to understand that critical success criteria has to be identified in
the first place in the IT projects. Management of the hierarchical structures are very much
significant in most of the IT projects which was discussed in this article in a detailed manner
[11]. The article also helped in understanding that most of the IT projects which are
associated with the Information Systems must be having a good work culture which can be
maintained using the decision making ability of the transformational leaders [4]. The
variables which was stated in this article in terms of the gender of the employees, level of
education of the employees, project team size and project duration has to be examined and
managed by the IT project managers as these factors are very much useful in order to enhance
the success rate of the IT projects.
3. Management of an IT project
There are different categories challenges which are associated IT projects in terms of
the communication issue between each of the stakeholders of the project, selection of the
delivery models, connectivity issues of the Information System, lack of project management
practices. Each of these issues can be resolved in the first place using the transformational
leaders [5]. Each phase of the IT projects in terms of the planning phase, design phase, testing
phase and development phase required the involvement of the Information System as it
optimizes the functionality of the employers in each of these phases.
These IT projects are generally managed by the Information Systems and the impact
of having transformational leaders provides as competitive advantage in order to address the
challenges. The hypothesis provided in this article is very much useful to understand that
team building is one of the most significant criteria of having success in the IT projects. Goal
setting and clarification of the goals, interpersonal communication as well as the problem
solving techniques are the prime factors which are generally enhanced after the introduction
of the Information Systems. The success of the IT projects depends hugely on these issues
which are addressed by numerous categories of Information Systems [7]. The IT projects are
managed in the first place using the transformational leaders as it helps in addressing the
Student Name Student ID 3

4TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
issues of the IT projects in terms of the identification of the scope and deliverable of the
projects, creation of a timeline for each of the activities and adjusting with the plans.
On the other hand as discussed by Tepper et al. (2018), democratic leadership skills
are very much significant in order to manage the decision making procedures of the IT
organizations. This author also suggested that Management Information System (MIS) can be
very much useful to deal with the complications of the IT projects.
However, as illustrated by Turnnidge, and Côté (2018), autocratic leadership style in
required to be followed in the IT projects as this leadership style is very much significant
factors the project managers. The limitations of the transformational leadership styles was
also discussed in this paper in terms of its inability to identify the critical success factors.
4. Methodology used in the article
Two different categories of data collection procedure was considered in this article in
terms of the primary as well as secondary data collection procedures. Primary data of this
paper is collected by project managers using questionnaires and secondary data of this
articles was selected from reliable secondary sources [8]. This article is very much reliable in
nature as it considers both the two different categories of data collection techniques. The
sampling method which was chosen in this article is multistage random sampling technique.
Regression analysis is the data analysis technique which was considered in this article which
helped to examine the primary data which was collected from questionnaires.
On the contrary it can also be said that non probabilities sampling method can be one
the other sampling method which might have enhanced the reliability of the paper.
According to Willis, Clarke, and O'Connor (2017), data collected from primary data sources
like interview can also be very much useful to get more detailed knowledge about the
effectiveness of the leadership styles. The paper was very much useful to understand that
selection of the project success depends hugely on the selection of the organizational leaders.
5. Positives of the article
The most significant contribution of this project which was highlighted in this article
is the usability of the transformational leadership which helps in building useful and
professional teams in the IT organizations. The complexities which are associated with the IT
projects can be successfully managed if each of the resources of an IT organization are
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5TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND PROJECT SUCCESS
allocated in projects according to the experience and expertise [9]. The other positive of this
article is that it provides detailed explanation of each of the hypothesis which was chosen in
this project.
6. Lessons learnt
The project which was highlighted in this article have not critically evaluated the
different types of leadership styles. This article lacked a case study which could have
supported the arguments which were discussed in this article. The impact on the
transformation leadership on the commitment level of the employees were not discussed in
this project as well. The other significant lesson which was learnt from this project is that
there are different categories of ambiguities which are associated with the IT projects [10].
The concept of ambiguity management is very much significant in most of the IT projects
which are associated with Information Systems.
However, this project provided in-depth discussion about the usability and the
effectiveness of incorporating transformation leaders which might play a significant role in
managing the ambiguities of the project.
7. Conclusion
This report was very much significant to understand the impact of deploying
transformational leaders in the IT projects which deal with Information Systems. Decision
making procedure is one of the most significant aspects of the IT projects and it can be
enhanced in the first place due to the transformational leadership skills. The different
categories of interpretations which are associated with IT projects can also be addressed in
the first place using the transformational leaders. This report helped in the identification of
the techniques which are adopted in the IT projects in order to deal with the complexities of
the Information Systems which are used on those projects.
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8. Reference
[1] D.A. Aga, N. Noorderhaven, and B. Vallejo. Transformational leadership and project
success: The mediating role of team-building. International Journal of Project Management,
34(5), pp.806-818, 2016.
[2] J. Antonakis and D.V. Day. The nature of leadership. Sage publications, 2017
[3] G.C. Banks, K.D. McCauley, W.L. Gardner, and C.E. Guler. A meta-analytic review of
authentic and transformational leadership: A test for redundancy. The Leadership Quarterly,
27(4), pp.634-652, 2016
[4] K. Dartey-Baah. Resilient leadership: A transformational-transactional leadership mix.
Journal of Global Responsibility, 6(1), pp.99-112, 2015
[5] S.A. Fischer. Transformational leadership in nursing: a concept analysis. Journal of
Advanced Nursing, 72(11), pp.2644-2653, 2016
[6] B.J. Galli. A shared leadership approach to transformational leadership theory: Analysis
of research methods and philosophies. In Scholarly Ethics and Publishing: Breakthroughs in
Research and Practice (pp. 751-790). IGI Global, 2019
[7] M.S. Ghasabeh, C. Soosay, and C. Reaiche. The emerging role of transformational
leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467, 2015
[8] J. Hetland, H. Hetland, A.B. Bakker, and E. Demerouti. Daily transformational leadership
and employee job crafting: The role of promotion focus. European Management Journal,
36(6), pp.746-756, 2018
[9] J.E. Hoch, W.H. Bommer, J.H. Dulebohn, and D. Wu. Do ethical, authentic, and servant
leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis.
Journal of Management, 44(2), pp.501-529, 2018
[10] B.J Tepper, N. Dimotakis, L.S. Lambert, J. Koopman, F.K. Matta, H. Man Park and W.
Goo. Examining follower responses to transformational leadership from a dynamic, person–
environment fit perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 61(4), pp.1343-1368, 2018
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[11] J. Turnnidge, and J. Côté. Applying transformational leadership theory to coaching
research in youth sport: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Sport and
Exercise Psychology, 16(3), pp.327-342, 2018
[12] S. Willis, S. Clarke, and E. O'Connor. Contextualizing leadership: Transformational
leadership and Management‐By‐Exception‐Active in safety‐critical contexts. Journal of
Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 90(3), pp.281-305, 2017.
Student Name Student ID 7