Project Leadership: Reflective Journal - MGT5PLS Course Analysis

This reflective journal explores project leadership, examining the application of situational leadership within different project life cycle stages. The author argues that project managers should adapt their leadership style based on the project's needs, particularly during the planning and execution phases. The journal discusses the importance of treating team members equitably, emphasizing that while individual support is necessary, it should not create conflict or perceived favoritism. The author reflects on ethical considerations in project leadership, highlighting the need for leaders to foster a positive and inclusive team environment. The paper references several academic sources to support the arguments made about effective project leadership.

Running head: PROJECT LEADERSHIP
Project leadership
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1PROJECT LEADERSHIP
Project manager can employ a specific leadership style for a given project life cycle
stage. In my opinion, a project manager is accustomed to handle various circumstances. The
ability to adapt with the changing environment is one of the key characteristics of situational
leadership (McCleskey, 2014). Therefore, the style of leadership that could be employed by a
project manager is situational leadership. The situational leadership is the best-suited style for
project managers to employ in various stages of project life cycle. Since from the initial stage
of the project life cycle, the project manager have to deal with situations that might not go
according to the plan that they made for a specific project in the second phase of project life
cycle that is Project planning. The consecutive phase of Project Execution is where the
maximum amount of changes occur since in this stage the team members are supposed to
deliver the customer satisfactory deliverables (Buyle, Braet & Audenaert, 2013). This is
where the project manager could employ the situational leadership style. There might be a
circumstance where the team members might not be able to focus on their allocated job and
the project manager have to be efficient enough to employ the style of situational leadership
and motivate the team members for their assigned tasks. It is in this phase only there might be
some changing circumstances and that could slow down the productivity if the team
members. However, with the application of situational leadership the project manager could
do the dual task of motivating the team members and even adapt with the changes in the
project that has arisen. Now, it is evident that the project manager is the pivotal member of
the project management (Too & Weaver, 2014). Thus, he or she holds responsibility for the
delivery of the project. This feature or nature coincides with the leadership skills and thus, a
project manager is bounded with the responsibility of the entire project and thus, ultimately
have to lead the way for the team members of the project.
One of the key leadership skill of leaders is to treat each member of the team equally
without any unethical act of favouritism or discrimination (Yang, Huang, & Hsu, 2014).

2PROJECT LEADERSHIP
Thus, it is essential that a project leader as well practice the ethical act of treating every team
member the same. However, there might be a possibility that a particular member of the team
require special attention or motivation as he or she might suffer from a difficulty. This does
not mean that the project leader provide the member with the privilege of special treatment.
This act by a project leader could generate a conflict among the other team members and
thus, ultimately result in unsuccessful project closure. Therefore, the project leader must
always keep in mind that while helping a certain team member overcome his or her difficulty
does not implement any special treatment and thus generate conflict among other team
members. The intention of the project leader should not have a negative impact on others by
treating everyone differently. In my opinion it is fine to treat everyone within the team
similarly as it will give a good impression on the team members and avoid the chances of
conflict.

3PROJECT LEADERSHIP
References
Buyle, M., Braet, J., & Audenaert, A. (2013). Life cycle assessment in the construction
sector: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 26, 379-388.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and
leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Too, E. G., & Weaver, P. (2014). The management of project management: A conceptual
framework for project governance. International Journal of Project
Management, 32(8), 1382-1394.
Yang, L. R., Huang, C. F., & Hsu, T. J. (2014). Knowledge leadership to improve project and
organizational performance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(1), 40-
53.