Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Project Team Performance: Assessing the Mediating Role of a Project Team Management Education Saif ul Amin
Dr. Yasir Kamal
Asiya Sohail
MS Scholar, Dept. of Management Sciences COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan
[email protected]
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Management Sciences Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences), Peshawar, (Pakistan)
[email protected]
Lecturer, Dept. of Management Sciences COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad , Pakistan
[email protected]
Abstract: The purpose of this research paper is to find the relationship between transformational leadership, and project team performance, consistent with management education. Transformational leadership is getting attention and enjoying success, as a unique and phenomenal practical leadership theory. In previous era investigators have studied a particular bond between transformational leadership dimensions and project team performance. Project management experts from both public and private sectors of the Pakistan were being gauged and pilot outcomes are described. Data exploration has been exercised according to the statistical technique of simple and multiple correlation coefficients. Results of statistical analysis exposed that dimensions of transformational leadership was significantly and positively linked to project team performance and that this connection was fully mediated by management qualification of project team members. Implications for project team development are presented. Limitations and future directions are also discussed. Keywords: Transformation Leadership, Project Team Performance, Relationship, Pakistan, Management Education, Dimensions.
I. INTRODUCTION Leadership is a characteristic which is greatly appreciated in most establishments and this has caused in the matter becoming one that is broadly discussed and discovered in association activities [1]. Transformational Leadership is the ability to use inspirational and motivation skills to enable performance such as facilitate thinking of followers to understand and deal with the situational demands [2][3]. Management educational programs is the standards and contain packages collected of components designed to help in achieving proficiencies for a particular organization, such as project management [4]. Leader’s transformational skill can be polished by management education and training.
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Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
The project team is a set of persons who contribute normally in different tasks and activities of identified project [5]. Project team optimistic performance is critical for success of project’s desired vision on allocated resources [1]. It is a well-known statement that for any group to be properly systematized there must be a desired leader style and transformational leadership is one of them that can have a solid influence on the performance and activities of team participants [6]. Pakistan is in process of developing, that’s why here only a petty work has been done to categorize structures that can affect project management and team performance [7]. Although, Pakistani project management institutions are applying new training culture, technology, and leadership education to improve performance [8] but implication is very slow. The management education structure has developed from previous era, and now improved management skills, organizational structure, team culture, etc. have been applied within the projects [9]. A central concession is recent research by Piccolo et al. [10] that studied the role of autonomy, task significance and effort in the relationship between transformational leadership and team performance. Management education increases leadership skills, which, results in improved team member’s performance [11]. Furthermore, transformational leadership is the focal point in reviewed literature to achieve desired levels of follower performance [12][13][14], but literature doesn’t reflect much upon achieving higher levels of project team performance [14]. Yet, Muff, [4] noted in their meta-analysis that when managers have effective managerial skills, they have more impact on the team performance. Hence, from the every sign, and the evidence in literature it is suggested that there is significant relationship between transformational leadership dimensions and teams members performance. This research tries to find the answer of interrogations such as, what is the relationship between transformational leadership and project team performance? Furthermore, effective management education enhances transformational skills of project manager for development of the project team members. Project team members are commonly regarded as the utmost operative machinery through which the project objectives and goals can be easily accomplished. The significance of this research paper is to help project managers in the project management know the best adopted and practical dimensions of transformational leadership preferred by their supporters to enhance their performance. This study is also concerned with the nature and control of management education upon transformational leadership and project team performance and aims to fill relevant literature gaps. II. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The objectives of the current study are to investigate, scan and find the bond between the transformational leadership and performance of the project team. In context of Pakistan, no study has yet examined and 2
Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
calculated the relationship of transformational leadership elements on the performance of project team. By establishing the association between transformational leadership and team performance in project management sector, the study will help Project managers to identify deficiency in their leadership role. It will also bring out the impact of management education for better leadership and team skills. Mainly, the current paper tries to succeed in meeting the following objectives:
To investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and Project Team Performance.
To analyze the influence of project team management education on the relationship of transformational leadership and project team performance.
To make a comparison of relationship of four elements of transformational leadership with project team performance. III. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Transformational leadership and project team performance Leadership is an expected function in the organizations as well as project teams. There is a commonly held faith that leadership is one of the features that governs whether a team, a project or even a nation will be successful or not. This is because a leader can have a significant impact on the performance and activities of team members. Different styles leadership has become the most usually researched aspect of institutional behavior and a numerous philosophies have developed focusing on the transformational leadership style [3]. Transformational leadership is a collective stimulus process in which the manager seeks the voluntary participation of followers in an effort to reach project goals [6] a process of manipulating the actions of team members towards goal success in particular circumstances [2]. Transformational leadership can be explained through various explanations. One of the best descriptions is by Yuki [13] which defines that a transformational leader inspires team members to jointly commit and deliver intellectual stimulation, and increase joint productivity of team, performance and skills while allowing for individuals consideration [15]. Project team members are valuable resources in project management. Transformational leadership tends to enable project management towards achievement of expectation and increased team performance. A number of public and private projects spring up yearly in Pakistan but many of them go downhill at the end of the day, because of a wrong philosophy of leadership. Transformational leaders increase the selfconcept of supporters and inspire supporters towards collective goals of both the leaders’ and the project
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Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
[16]. Skilled and qualified transformational leaders have the ability to educate and support teams, while stimulating them to stretch themselves in direction to do their work and inspire the workers in their struggle to support career goals [17]. Although, the idea of team working has changed considerably since the middle of twentieth century, investigation surrounding improvement in team work has not been able to keep pace with the upward need for understanding how project teams can accomplish more operative performance [18]. Intellectual stimulation is defined as the grade to which managers’ stimulate their supporters’ efforts to be creative and innovative by questioning expectations, approaching timeworn situations in new methods and reframing difficulties. Inspirational motivation is defined as the extent to which leaders communicate an appealing vision and act in ways that encourage followers by providing them challenge and support [14]. Hence, transformational leaders use intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation to inspire supporters in their struggles to uphold team performance. Previous researches have recognized a direct linkage between transformational leadership and team performance [19]. Stodgill [20] on the special effects of dependents’ contribution, it was initiate that there was a progressive signal for the hypothesis that leaders transformational skills leads to high performance of followers. The findings were illuminated in terms of team dynamics and performance. According to Kouzes and Pasner [21], transformational leaders have higher efficiency and production in the teams as a result of collaboration that occur between the project manager and team members, which increases performance and thus high productivity. Management Education
Transformational Leadership
Project Team Performance
Fig 1.Summary of hypothesized relationships between the research’s vital variables Source: Amin, 016.
B. The mediating role of team members’ management education in transformational leadership and project team performance From the middle of the 20th century, researches of business management and structural processes were supported and project managers improved their understanding and knowledge, of how to add value to their team members, shareholders (owners) and leaders [5][11]. As a consequence of ever-growing awareness in the area of transformational leadership, scholar’s started to examine the conceivable magnitudes of team member’s performance. Management qualifications were used to forecast the leader’s
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Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
activities [2] [21]. Since, it is the duty of project manager to get things completed through the coordinated determinations of team members; it is supposed that transformational leadership will influence the member’s performance [23]. Many theoretical and empirical researches have confirmed the project management qualification as an important factor that might be impacting both leadership dimensions [7] [9] and performance [6]. Williams [24] described that over 62% of chief executive officers gave one cause for failure as: a lack of administrative/management qualification and skills. This suggests that organizations were able to achieve noteworthy performances through project team members’ management skills and education/knowledge. Moreover, since 1968s, most German academia who has engineering associates also offers “Wirtschaftsingenieur” (industrial engineering and business studies) education. This is a combination of engineering and management science. The curricula for engineering studies offers little or no education in general management, strategic management or project management [25][26]. This curriculum includes management functions such as quality management, finance, operations research, project management, general management, and marketing management [25].Feller and Stahl [27] describe, that in the upcoming time demand for engineers, management education along with basic knowledge in project management will increase. The relationship of transformational leadership and team member’s performance can be affected by other variables, such as gender, management education, and age [3][28].
IV. HYPOTHESIS The central hypothesis of the current paper is that a progressive signal exists between transformational leadership and team performance in project base organization. H1:
Transformation leadership’s four key behaviors are positively related with project team performance.
H1a:
Transformational leadership idealized influence behavior is positively related to project team performance.
H1b:
Transformational leadership individualized consideration influence behavior is positively related to project team performance.
H1c:
Transformational leadership intellectual stimulation influence behavior is positively related to project team performance.
H1d:
Transformational leadership inspirational motivation influence behavior is positively related to project team performance.
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Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
This hypothesis associates the different dimensions of leadership actions on team performance. H2.
Project team management education positively influences the relationship of transformational leadership and project team performance.
The purpose of this investigation is to find the connection between of transformational leadership and project team performance for the growth of project performance and find suitable explanation for project complex problems, this study find how to enhance team’s productivity and performance, moreover through this study project manager understand the role of management education and also understand project manager related problems in the project base organization.
V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Sample and procedure The present study has a descriptive quantitative design, which uses survey research method to analyze the relationship of transformational leadership, project team performance and management education of team members. The sample size used in this research study was five projects based public and private organizations in Pakistan. We selected five project teams with the highest individualism/collectivism scores (162 participants) and five project teams with the lowest individualism/collectivism (18 participants) scores to classify them as two groups. The convenience sampling procedure was adopted for data collection. The participants were requested for voluntary contribution in survey questionnaire process through email or link that was shared via social media. The four provinces, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa, Baluchistan, and Sind project were considered for this research. 180 individuals were invited and 118 individuals came to participate with 66.64% response rate. The collected information is presented in tables and evaluated using correlation and regression analysis techniques with the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS VERSION 22) in order to test the hypothesis. In the total sample, 19 % were women and 81% were male with the mean age of 32.61 years old. Regarding management education background, it was found that 55.1 % participants had not completed the management qualification and 44.9 % participated had completed. B. Instruments Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used for analysis of the transformational leadership behavior of project team leader, which consists of four qualities [14]. The MLQ has forty-four items of which 36 items concentrate on the nine sub categories of the four variables, and the other nine measure
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Amin, et al., Apeejay-Journal of Management Sciences and Technology, 3 (3), June - 2016 ISSN -2347-5005
three outcomes: effectiveness, satisfaction, and performance [12] [14]. Project team member performance was measured using 11 items [29]. Each participant provided ratings for their direct reports. The items covered a comprehensive assortment of job performance indicators including quality, quantity, overall ability, efficiency, accuracy, judgment, creativity, and job knowledge in execution members’ assigned tasks. Regarding management education information, basic questions are asked in demographic section about management qualification background, as evidenced from literature of multiple meta-analyses e.g., [30]. VI. RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND FINDING The results of the SPSS 22.0 analyze the hypothesis test with the correlations, and for mediating variable hierarchical regression are presented in this section. TABLE 1 MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND CORRELATION
Variable
Mean
S.D
1
1.
Transformational Leadership
3.65
.83
2.
Management Education
3.37
.56
.402**
3.
Project Team Performance
4.36
.79
.705**
2
.341**
**Correlation is significant at the p
