Running head: Leadership Styles

Assessment 1-Leadership Styles BUS/518 Project Management Leadership January 23, 2011

Leadership Styles Leadership Situation One

CII is an automotive company and the IT department are set to launch a project in 3 days. All of the personnel assigned to the project has the appropriate credentials for their individual jobs and are aware of the project details and client expectations. All members have also been assigned their roles and responsibilities; however, the project manager has become ill with influenza and possibly will not be able to give his full attention to the project. Leadership in this situation shouldnt be extremely difficult. The project lifecycle has four stages: initiating, planning, executing, and closing. During the life cycle there is a different level of leadership required of the different levels of management, according to the book Project Leadership by Kloppenborg, Shriberg, and Venkatraman. At this phase of the project senior leaders time are not required as much. During this phase the front line workers step up and take on leadership roles. Being that this is a technical team, motivation and getting the task done shouldn't be an issue and if the Project Leader keeps in touch everything should be fine (Lewis, 8). I personal believe that the person with most communication and interpersonal skills will emerge as the leader of this group while the project manager is out. From my experience the person with these skills normally turns out to be surprising; because they are normally the person that would least expect. I experience this when I was president of my daughters parent committee. This committee was extremely different because it encompassed three daycare centers; on a military base. I had set up a book fair and we had it at all of the centers. All of the board members had transfer right before the annual book fair. I went through with it, reluctantly and I found a few volunteers.

Leadership Styles

The volunteers really pulled through for the organization and at each center one parent stood out as the leader for the fair. I was able to manage all three from afar because I was unexpectedly deployed at the last minute to Bahrain. The book fair did excellent, it was the most successful that has ever taken place on that base and I believe that because it was an annual event people kind of already knew what to do and my wonderful planning and organizational skills helped me manage the event at a distance. Leadership Situation Two A branch of an accounting firm in Miami, Florida, received a memo from corporate headquarters that they had to cut their staff in half in 2 weeks. Along, with eliminating 50% of their budget in 30 days time. This situation would cause anyone to be stressed and rumors to fly around. I personal would immediately being talking to people, in an open forum so that individuals can plan. If you wait until the last day of the 2 week period to layoff individuals you will have a lot of hurt feelings that could possibly hurt you in the long run. Honesty is the key, an honesty is also the first quality that Kouzes & Posner list as a characteristic of a leader.

Leadership situation 2. Analyze the situation of a project team progressing through the normal stages of team development. For each stage, provide examples of how you would apply the Kouzes & Posner Leadership Practices to move the team through the stages and improve performance. Explain how your examples would address the expected FIRO concerns of the team members.

Leadership Styles

Leadership Styles References

Kloppenborg, T., Shriberg, A., & Venkatraman, J. (2003). Project leadership. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, Inc. Lewis, J. (2003). Project leadership. Boston: McGraw-Hill.