Effective Project Management

Effective and efficient project management is essential for a project to succeed. According to Waheed (2016) aspects such as straightforward yet thorough text covering knowledge, skills and developments are needed in the contemporary day to ensure projects are successful. The effect of ineffective management is a waste of resources. Baumann et al, (2015) noted that high project failure rates result in billions of wasted dollars annually. This paper, therefore, seeks to analyze and explain effective leadership style and project management to implement the intended expansion of Ecological Wastewater Solutions Pty Ltd (EWS) to the international markets.

Leadership Style Chosen

The Ecological Wastewater Solution Pty Ltd expansion plan is an ambitious project that needs to be well planned and effectively managed. Hornstein (2015) is of the view that effective management of people influences many results of the company. This, therefore, means that the leader should consider human resources in his project management goal. According to Goleman (1995), there are different project management methods that include authoritative, coercive, all for one and one for all, democratic and the pacesetter. An authoritative leader has a vision and is joyful to share it with the team. This kind of leaders allow collaboration of the team members and recognize the contribution made by the members. On the other hand, coercive leaders accept little or no input from their juniors (Landa & Tyson, 2017). This leadership method is effective where the members of the team have no adequate knowledge or skills to complete the project. A democratic leader does not lead or guide, members are allowed to share their input. A leadership model that adopts all for one and one for all leadership model allows the team members to work at their own pace, while a pacesetter leader expects the highest standards from the team. EWS would use authoritative leadership model (Iqbal, Anwar & Haider, (2015) since they would encourage team members to collaborate on the project. Utilizing other models would lead to the delay of the project, for instance, all for one and one for all leadership style would see employees work at their own pace.

Tools and Technique Used

EWS case study presents various aspects of project management that should be addressed. Since the company is expanding to other parts of the world, it is essential to conduct stakeholder analysis. A research conducted by Thomas & Mullaly (2016) concluded that a project management maturity is significantly associated to time, cost and technical performance. It further found that top administration support and devoted project manager have a substantial impact on the time success dimension. To achieve customer satisfaction, the management considers their views and the product they require (Pan& Nguyen, 2015). It is also essential for EWS to consider the legal requirements in the countries it plan to set its base. The employees of the firm play a major role in the accomplishment of the plan, the root cause of task failure is bad team behavior. Program evaluation review technique identifies the specific activities and milestone of the project, it also helps determine the sequence of activities as well as the time required to complete each activity. This means that the leader is aware of the level of completion of the project and would encourage the employee to put more effort.

Managing Communication outside of the Project Group

Some of the tools that can be used to communicate outside of the project are the use of ICT technology. According to Mnkandla (2013) to communicate effectively, the plan team uses a set of tools and techniques that are applicable to a given task and its environs. Further, the tool in project communication management refers to software tool and instruments used to help in the gathering and dissemination of project data. Project manager of EWS should inform the employees of the loss of business due to inability to process order in a timely manner. Rezvani et al, (2016) assert that effective and clear communication is an essential technique that should be used to pass information. Other tools that can be used for communication include the use of virtual meeting tools like virtual whiteboards. It would also be in order for the project manager to use a collaboration portal, and video conference. Muszynska et al, (2015) assert that among the many techniques of communication, establishing a communication which plans when the event happen and keep the stakeholders informed is essential for the success of the project. This means that the project manager should manage the flow of information to guarantee the correct data reaches the correct person at the correct time.

Type of Power

There are five different type of power that a leader can employ to motivate the team members to work collaboratively. According to Walls & Berrone (2017), individual power arise from five social fonts’ namely legitimate, reward, coercive, expert, and referent power. Referent power is where the employees are encouraged to work because they desire to be their leader. A leader utilizing punishment power to motivate the employees intends to coerce the employee to deliver result while expert power occurs where the leader leads by example. On the other hand, a leader would utilize legitimate power where they tell the group members what they should be working on or a leader would use reward power system that controls how things are done in a firm. EWS project management should employ expert power. According to Lincoln & Keller (2018), a leader should ensure that he demonstrates competence that develops referent and expert power with employees. It is essential to know the employees and continuously assess their leadership potential. The team members of EWS needs to be informed of the progress, objectives and the goal of the company. This, therefore, means that the leader should be able to administer information, knowledge and expertise to others, this way, and the employees would understand what is expected of them.

Methods of Developing Self-Managed Teams

Employees should be encouraged to be aggressive and self-manage themselves. In self-managing groups, the followers are permitted to supervise their jobs themselves (Muller, 2014). To effectively manage themselves, the employees should be taught self-management principles so that they deliver without constant supervision or direction from leadership. This includes setting inclusive direction, scheming the group and administrative context as well as checking and handling work progress and process. According to Dybå & Dingsøyr (2015), agile software progress denotes a new attitude to planning and handling a software project. There is a need for open plans and stringent control, this method depends on casual partnership, harmonization, and learning. It is also essential for the leaders to work on internal communication skills to build team trust and collaboration. After every sprint session, the members of the team should meet and talk about what happened during that time period (Andrei & Murray, 2018). While focusing on individuality to deliver, the team should actively involve since they are responsible for determining the next workload together as well as allocating of duties.

Reason for Selecting the Approach

An effective leadership is important because the team members depend on the leader for guidance and direction. According to McLeod, Doolin & MacDonell (2012) by recognizing that individuals and group may informally evaluate project at various point across and beyond the life cycle of the project by using a number of different evaluation criteria where project manager seek feedback from the stakeholders would assist in preempting or addressing emergent problem or avoiding problematic project trajectories. This implies that in a project such as that of EWS, involving the employees and the community would ensure that the project succeeds. Adopting an authoritative leadership model is chosen because it is taken to be effective. According to Rosete & Ciarrochi (2005), a transformational leader is capable to deal with planned matters skillfully and in turn is capable to form obligation in staffs and would probable to take the group forward. It, therefore, follows that effective leadership would entail putting the interest of the company first. The approaches are chosen because they support and enhance teamwork where the leader is aware of the purpose and the goal of the project and has plans, methods, and procedures to achieve it through teamwork.

Alleviating Challenge Faced by Project Team

The leader confronting the challenges before they grow large and damage the work environment or the final project live to see the completion of the project. A project team manager is faced with challenges such as lack of trust and conflict and tension (Rezvani et al, 2016). Resolving this problem would ensure that the members of the team collaborate and believe in themselves. Building trust would entail having the employees share information and trusting in each other. This would also help ease tension and conflict within the team. According to Tabassi et al., (2015) a project delivery challenge arise in an organization when the group is multi-cultural. One of the elements that can influence group efficiency in such setting is how conflict is handled. In essence, this means the management should effectively deal with the conflict when it arises. The other challenge that might face the team is lack of transparency and low engagement. When there is no transparency on what is done, the employees tend to lose interest in the project. A study by Okello & Gilson (2015) observed that motivational factor that is linked to trust include respect, recognition, appreciation, and reward. Therefore, low engagement of employee means there would be no recognition or reward.

Conclusion

To effectively manage the expansion program of EWS, the management should ensure it has effective communication. Type of leadership employed by the leader determines the success or failure of the project because it influences the working of the employees. In extending to new markets abroad, EWS should be considerate of the legal aspects and human resource requirements in the foreign countries. Establishment of self-management team is important for EWS because it would ensure there is minimum or no supervision of the employees who will be working to achieve the goals and objective of the company.

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