The Impact of Leadership Styles on Project Success

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the impact of leadership style, trait and competences that an effective leader must have, when and how to apply them towards achieving project success. The study adopted the conceptual literature review (synthesis) of related literature on leadership styles, traits, competences and how these influence project successes was conducted. Resources were identified through electronic databases provided by the University of Dundee. Data bases utilized includes Google scholar and web of science. The search was entirely constraint to only reviewing articles published in English language which were further analyzed critically. The study disclosed that leadership style has a positive impact on project success and that the style adopted by a project manager is influenced by various factors such as personal traits. It was also discovered that there are numerous leadership styles (transactional, charismatic, democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire), but are only applicable either base on circumstance, team or project type. It was concluded that Personal traits lead to competences which in turn influence the choice of leadership style and project success. To achieve project success, a project leader must be adaptive to range of styles and can identify which one suits a situation. The combination of technical, emotional and conceptual competence is necessary for the project leader to be effective and often leads to project success.