POWER TYPES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
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Power Types in Project Management
Project managers need to use their powers effectively throughout a project. Project managers will have varying degrees of power depending on their organizations’ setting, i.e., functional, matrix, or poeticized. The failure of Boeing’s 787 project (headed by McNerney) can be attributed mainly to the failure of senior management in understanding the costs, challenges, and risks of their decision. For the case of the 787 projects, McNerney’s leadership approach to employees, dealers, and labor resources was notably of putting. However, reward power could have been demonstrated positively by the project leader. Notably, Reward power is a power type that gives the leader the ability to provide his followers with things that they desire or provide something that reduces the pains of undesirable experience.
Reward power often increases the likelihood of a project’s success because it motivates people to work for a reward. McNerney could have utilized this power type by either increasing comfort or decreasing comfort among all key players of the 787 project. For instance, he would have ensured that the criteria to be met are clear to all team members, and all stand a fair chance to attain it. Furthermore, he would have focused on rewarding project objectives such as timely delivery, work quality, etc. Rewards are imperative because they foster a collaborative nature among team members.
Influence is one of the major contributors to successful leadership. More importantly, influence enables a leader to sell ideas to support and implement decisions. Having multiple sources of influence enables a leader to motivate and direct others towards goal accomplishment and consistently develop and sustain cooperative working relationships. Further, they enable a leader to get things done through his team members. While influence is the process that entails making others do react or believe they you want them to, manipulation occurs when a person exerts a devious influence over others for selfish gain. The two are closely linked but are different because influence preserves a leaders’ target for future use and makes team members feel positive. At the same time, manipulation often leaves the target (followers/employees) feeling negative.
References
Anderson, B. (2010). Project leadership and the art of managing relationships. T&D, 64(3), 59–63.
David Willer, Michael J. Lovaglia, & Barry Markovsky. (1997). Power and Influence: A Theoretical Bridge. Social Forces, 76(2), 571-603. doi:10.2307/2580725
Scheid, J. (2011). Project Management Leadership Styles. Bright Hub Project Management. Accessed 28 Feb. 2016 at http://www.brighthubpm.com/monitoring-projects/64679-project-management-leadership-styles/
Wong, Z. (2007). Human Factors in Project Management: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques for Inspiring Teamwork and Motivation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. http://ezproxy.laureate.net.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid&db=nlebk&AN=199920&site=eds-live&scope=site