Leadership Analysis: Case Study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the leadership failures in the New Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH) project. It begins with an introduction to leadership and its importance in project success, followed by a brief overview of the nRAH case study. The discussion section critically analyzes the leadership dimensions, including expertise, problem-solving capability, and core beliefs, using two conceptual frameworks. It identifies the lack of experience, poor feedback, resistance to change, lack of self-leadership, and poor communication as key reasons for leadership failure. The report further suggests improvements, such as adopting new leadership styles and better communication strategies. It concludes with valuable leadership lessons derived from the case study, emphasizing the importance of experience, adaptability, communication, and self-awareness for effective project leadership. The report highlights the significance of a structured approach for successful project execution and achieving project objectives.

Running head: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATIONS
Project Leadership and Communications: New Royal Adelaide Hospital
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion....................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project................................2
2.2 Critical Analyses of the Leadership Dimension of the Case Study with 2 Conceptual
Frameworks of Leadership..........................................................................................................3
2.3 Identification of Possible Reasons for Failure of Leadership Aspects..................................7
2.4 Identification of Methods by which Leadership in the Case Study can be improved...........9
2.5 Identification of Leadership Lessons from the Case Study.................................................10
3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction
Leadership could be referred to as a research area and practical skill that encompasses the
core capability of any particular individual or company in leading or guiding all other
individuals, companies and teams. This leadership comprises of distinct traits, functions, values
and visions, intelligence, power and situational interaction and even many more (Conger 2015).
A successful leader is responsible for ensuring that a common task or project is being
accomplished under every circumstance. This particular trait is considered as a matter
intelligence, courage, discipline and trustworthiness that should be present within every
significant leader, after depending on the depth and importance of situation or issues to be
resolved. In a project, leadership is subsequently associated to different performances and
ensures that the respective project becomes a successful one without much complexity or issue.
As soon as a person within a leadership role is not fulfilling the profit potentials by the high
management or shareholders, they might be eventually terminated completely (Bolman and Deal
2017). This report will be outlining a brief description on failed leadership attribute for one of
the most distinct and noteworthy projects in the entire world, namely New Royal Adelaide
Hospital with appropriate details.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project
The Royal Adelaide Hospital or RAH is one of the most significant hospitals in entire
Australia that is being owned by the respective state government as the major part of the public
health care system of Australia. They provide tertiary services of health care for South Australia
and also provide clinical services secondary care to the inhabitants of the metropolitan area that
involves inner suburb. In the year of 2017, the hospital was being replaced by a new hospital

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called nRAH or New Royal Adelaide Hospital. This was being built at the Western end of the
North Terrace as well as at the time the most costly building with budget of 2.3 billion Australian
dollars in both equipment and construction. However, while making this particular project, there
was a major issue in leadership and they were unable to deal with the complexities for leadership
for gaining better effectiveness and efficiency in the work. As a result, there was several
conflicts amongst the team members and the project was getting delayed majorly. Moreover,
project was getting delayed for such discrepancies and it was affecting the overall budget
eventually.
2.2 Critical Analyses of the Leadership Dimension of the Case Study with 2 Conceptual
Frameworks of Leadership
The leadership dimensions are referred to those attributes, which provide the opportunity
to a leader to lead any organization or situation. Performances are well measured and the
communication process is improved to a high level. These dimensions could easily form the
major basis for a thoughtful self-assessment as well as organizational evaluations of the leaders
and these evaluations should be utilized with care (Grint et al. 2016). If any type of deficiency is
noted in such dimension, the respective organization or project would not get proper or accurate
outcomes and as a result, the project work would be delayed. The major dimensions of
leadership for this particular case study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital include lack of
expertise and experience in the project, lack of problem solving capability and lack of core
beliefs and values.
i) Expertise and Experience: The first and the foremost dimension of leadership in this
specific case study of nRAH is expertise and experience. This is one of the major and the most
dimension of a leader that is needed to be followed eventually for ensuring that the respective

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project would become a major and the most successful one (Western 2019). It majorly includes
expertise and education in respective industries and companies as well as maintain a track record
to efficiently lead the companies with several numbers of staff or managerial levels. The
managerial wisdom emerges as the decrement regarding the process of industries and companies
working regarding motivational attitude of the people and requirement of the customers for
understanding the effectiveness of high level of management work. Hence, maximum success is
obtained without much complexity or issue (Priest and Gass 2017). However, in this project of
nRAH, the respective leader was new and he did not have the ideology or experience to deal with
such large budget project eventually and hence the project suffered a lot.
ii) Problem Solving Capability: The second important and significant dimension of
leadership in this specific case study of New Royal Adelaide Hospital is problem solving
capability. It comprises of the significant level of intellectual horse power for efficiently
performing the highest level of task complexity and work assigned to a specific individual
(Rosenbach 2018). Few important aspects are considered for this purpose, which include the
number of variables operating within a situation, maintenance of ambiguity of the variables, the
rate of change over time and finally the extent to which they are interwoven, so that these could
be unraveled for checking as well as the core capability of an individual for identification and
controlling the salient variables and finally time horizon of the work. One of the major and the
most significant issues that was noted in the case study of nRAH was that there were several
conflicts amongst the team members and employees; as a result the project was getting delayed
eventually. Hence, they were unable to deal with the employee conflicts and issues were raised
majorly (Mendenhall et al. 2017). Moreover, the working conditions were also needed to be
improved and due to lack of problem solving ability, the leader was unable to do so.

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iii) Core Beliefs and Values: The next important and significant dimension of leadership
in this specific case study of nRAH is core beliefs and values. This particular leadership
dimension manifests itself as the major patterns of interaction and behavior, intrinsic motivators
and tacit assumptions for checking the working behavior of leaders in the business or project. A
collection of core values and beliefs for a specific leadership position is needed to be considered
on top priority and they help out a person to work properly and also reveal proper decision
making biases, pattern in the inappropriate behavior or predictable errors in judgment.
A specific conceptual framework of leadership is the structure that the respective team
members believe can best explain the natural progression of the respective phenomenon
(Robertson 2016). It is subsequently linked to the concept, empirical researches and vital theories
that are being utilized in promotion and systemization of the knowledge by the team member. A
suitable conceptual framework for understanding the leadership dimensions of the case study of
nRAH is provided below:

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Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Leadership Dimension of Core Belief, Value or Trust
(Source: Herman 2016)
Another suitable and effective conceptual framework for leadership dimension is
provided below:

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Figure 2: Conceptual Framework for Leadership Dimension of Social Categorization and
Expertise and Experience
(Source: Herman 2016)
The above mentioned two conceptual frameworks for leadership dimension clearly
demonstrate that a structured approach is needed to be followed in a project for better execution
of the project operations and processes as well as gaining project objectives successfully.
2.3 Identification of Possible Reasons for Failure of Leadership Aspects
Leadership is considered as one of the most significant and important requirements in a
project to ensure that the project results are quite effective and would decrease the chance of

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project failure. Moreover, it enhances the team effectiveness and reduces conflicts to a high
level. The leaders, who comprise of the major responsibilities include that being present for
supporting their team at every situation (Komives and Wagner 2016). The major reasons of
failed leadership in the case study of the project of nRAH are provided below:
i) Lack of Experience: The first important and significant reason of failed leadership in
the case study of the project of nRAH is lack of experience of the leader. The leader did not have
proper experience to lead a project team and hence was unable to manage them eventually. As a
result, they were unable to navigate the team and stopped directing people forward (Martin et al.
2017). The leader required to have clear visions and goals for being sure that all the individuals
and team members are continuously delivering higher quality results and hence the project is
achieving its respective goals and objectives. The leader also needed to have to set major
expectations and even keep a track of the total progress for holding themselves accountable.
However, these attributes were absent in the project of nRAH due to lack of experience of the
leader.
ii) Not providing proper Feedback and Criticism: The second vital and significant
reason of failed leadership in nRAH is not providing proper feedback as well as criticism to the
team members. It is extremely easier for the leaders to try and then please every individual;
however it is not always effective. The leader in the project of nRAH would have to take up a
step back and look at the weaknesses of the team for gaining better improvement. When the
individuals would not compliment all the people, it is considered as disservice and similar issue
was noted in this particular project (Covin and Slevin 2017). The project manager did not
provide proper feedback to the team members for ensuring that better efficiency is gained under
every circumstance.

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iii) Leaders refusing to Adapt: Another vital and significant reason of failed leadership in
the case scenario of the project of nRAH is leader refusing to get adapted. The respective project
was needed to be headed in a new direction and hence it was extremely important and significant
for leader to change his leadership style for ensuring that the project results are accurate in the
new environment. However, he was unable to do so and hence the team members were unable to
get aligned with each other regarding the working procedure of the project. As a result, the
leadership approach of autocratic became a major failure; since the team members were not
ready to accept the autocratic leadership style eventually.
iv) Lack of Self Leadership: The next important and noteworthy reason of failed
leadership in the project nRAH is lack of self-leadership. The leader required to know yourself
and communicate with the team members for core values, beliefs and expectations (Mittal and
Dhar 2015). The leader required to understand the strengths, goals and weaknesses for having the
core capability of giving the best self to the team and also comprise of fulfillment. Self-
leadership is the significant practice to intentionally influence the thinking, feeling or action
towards obtaining different objectives and goals. A comprehensive perspective of self-influence
majorly concerns for leading someone in the team. Self-leadership is the answer to how the
personal thinking should be developed for surviving and thriving in the volatile, uncertain,
complicated and ambiguous world (Senge, Hamilton and Kania 2015). Self-awareness and self-
efficacy are required for better handling of the team; however, this particular attribute was absent
for the leader in nRAH project.
v) Lack of Communication: Another important reason of failed leadership in the case
study of the project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital is lack of communication. The leader was
unable to contact or communicate with the team members and hence they were unable to

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communicate in such a manner, which increases productivity, wellbeing as well as performances
of the personnel. Hence, the project did not get maximum effectiveness and the leadership
approach become a failure.
2.4 Identification of Methods by which Leadership in the Case Study can be improved
There are some of the most significant and important methodologies, by which leadership
would have been improved in this particular case study of nRAH. These methods and practices
are provided in the following paragraphs:
i) Setting Self Imposed Goals: The first and the foremost method or practice by which
the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the project could be improved would
be setting self-imposed goals and objectives (Cashman 2017). The respective leader lacked any
type of self-leadership and as a result, they were unable to deal with such discrepancy related to
leadership management. A leader needs to be highly goal driven, so that the respective business
objectives are being achieved by him or her easily or promptly. Moreover, it even is required for
making the other team members aware of the project and highly motivated to work eventually
(Storey 2016). They get the habit of meeting as well as exceeding the goals to ensure that a well-
equipped leader is present within the project without any type of complexity or issue.
ii) Providing Feedback to the Team Members: The second important and significant
method or practice by which the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the
project of New Royal Adelaide Hospital could be improved would be providing periodical
feedback to the team members. This type of feedback is extremely important or vital for ensuring
that all the team members are aware of their respective strengths and weaknesses. Since, nRAH
was a large construction project, it was needed to ensure that all the team members are working
altogether and would be providing effective solutions easily and promptly (Robertson 2016). For

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this particular purpose, it was needed to ensure that the leader is providing feedback eventually;
however he did not do so.
iii) Increasing Communication with the Team Members: The next effective method or
practice by which the leadership attributes within the respective case study of the project of New
Royal Adelaide Hospital could be improved would be increasing communication with the team
members. It is required to ensure that all the team members are working effectively and
communication is getting increased eventually (Priest and Gass 2017). Such increased
communication is also required for ensuring that the goals and objectives are absolutely clear to
all employees and they would be completing their work without much issue or complexity.
Communication would be helpful for the project as the team members would be motivated
enough for providing maximum efficiency and productivity eventually. As a result, according to
the theories X and Y, employee motivation would be kept on top priority and the project of
nRAH would not have faced leadership issue.
2.5 Identification of Leadership Lessons from the Case Study
Leadership is regarding mapping out of the factors that are required to go for winning as
a team or company and it is dynamic, inspiring and exciting. They should also utilize
management skills in guiding their people to the right direction in the most smooth and efficient
way. It refers to several things to various people for understanding the importance of leadership
and management and also the procedure to deal with such complexities. Five distinct virtues are
needed to be considered on top priority (Bolman and Deal 2017). A leader is one, who eventually
inspires as well as motivates action and having a can do personality or stronger leadership skills
for leading the changes. Leadership is the distinct art to motivate a particular group of people for
acting towards accomplishment of any common goal. Leadership captures the essentials to have