Project Manager's Leadership Competencies: The

Final Dissertation – MSc. Project Management ID: 00462829 – Mohamed S. Nassar

Project Manager’s Leadership Competencies: The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Project Success

Mohamed Sobhi Nassar Student ID: 00462829

Word Count: 13,246

The dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of The University of Salford – Salford Business School for the degree of MSc Project Management

December 2016

Final Dissertation – MSc. Project Management ID: 00462829 – Mohamed S. Nassar Salford Business School Declaration on Conduct of Assessed Work (Academic Good Conduct) Programme & Year

MSc. Project Management - 2016

Module

Dissertation (ID: 5938) – Final Module

Module Tutor

Dr. Susan Harwood

Tutorial Group

UoS-DIS - [UoS] Dissertation

Assignment Title

Project Manager’s Leadership Competencies: The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Project Success

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Mohamed Nassar

Name (print): Mohamed Sobhi Nassar ID Number:

00462829

Date:

29th Dec. 2016

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BIM Marking Scheme Salford Business School – Dissertation Marking Scheme

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Mohamed Sobhi Nassar

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00462829

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Date DISSERTATION MARK (%)

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Markers overall comments and rationale for mark

Abstract, Introduction and Literature Review

Methodology

Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Recommendations and Presentation

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Abstract Today’s business environment is changing tremendously due to different economic forces. Meanwhile, the project-based industry has grown exponentially in the past decade and as such, companies need competitive project managers who are strong leaders to execute these projects successfully. The dissertation is aimed at examining the Emotional Intelligence as a leadership competency and its relation to different leadership styles, as well as to evaluate the influence of project manager’s emotional intelligence on project performance. The results of this study will help the HR managers in terms of how they can more effectively hire new project managers, and allowing for better identification of suitable project managers assigned to new projects. Also, results could be used for the development of individual training programs for prospective project managers. This study is descriptive, quantitative and facilitated by a web-based questionnaire of four parts: demographics, MLQ, EQI, and CSF. The data was collected from 63 samples including project managers and their direct reports, HR professionals, owners and senior executives. Findings suggest that project manager’s emotional intelligence is significantly positively correlated with project success through the adaptation of transformational leadership style. Therefore, project-based organizations should invest in project leadership training in order to create a suitable culture for leadership. Thus, allowing current and future project managers to enhance and develop the set skills beyond their capabilities

Key Words: Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Project Management, Organizational Behavior

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Dedication To my parents, who taught me how to hold a pen.

Acknowledgment I would like to extend my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Susan Harwood for her unlimited and valuable time and support during this thesis. Dr. Harwood was there from the beginning helping me to anchor this paper in the right direction. Simultaneously, allowing this research to be my own work. I would like also to thank my sister in law, Dr. Rhonda Tabbah for her support during this journey. Dr. Tabbah’s support was unparalleled, and for that, I am very grateful. I would like also to thank the faculty members, my colleagues, and everyone from RKC and Salford Business School. You have been an inspiration to me, and meeting you was one of the best things in my life.

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Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... IV Dedication ....................................................................................................................... V Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................. V List of Figures ............................................................................................................... VIII List of Tables ................................................................................................................ VIII List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... IX Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1

Background of Study ............................................................................................. 1

1.2

Rationale of Study ................................................................................................. 3

1.3

Aims and Objectives .............................................................................................. 4

1.4

Limiting Factors ..................................................................................................... 4

1.5

Structure of the dissertation................................................................................... 5

Chapter Two: Literature Review ...................................................................................... 6 2. Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 6 2.1

Introduction............................................................................................................ 6

2.2

Leadership and Management ................................................................................ 6

2.3

Leadership Theories .............................................................................................. 8

2.3.1

The trait school................................................................................................... 9

2.3.2

The behavioral school ...................................................................................... 10

2.3.3

The contingency school ................................................................................... 11

2.3.4

The charismatic (visionary) school ................................................................... 12

2.3.5

The emotional intelligence school .................................................................... 14

2.3.6

The competency school ................................................................................... 16

2.4

Leadership competencies.................................................................................... 17

2.5

Project Management and Project Success .......................................................... 20

2.6

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 23

Chapter Three: Methodology ......................................................................................... 25 3. Research Methodology ........................................................................................... 25 3.1

Introduction.......................................................................................................... 25

3.2

Research Philosophy........................................................................................... 25 Page | VI


3.3

Research Purpose ............................................................................................... 26

3.3.1

Research Design.............................................................................................. 26

3.3.2

Research Approach ......................................................................................... 27

3.4

Research Questions and Hypotheses ................................................................. 28

3.5

Data Collection Methods ..................................................................................... 28

3.6

Ethical Issues, Reliability and Validity ................................................................. 29

3.7

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 30

Chapter Four: Results, Discussion, and Analysis .......................................................... 31 4. Results, Discussion, and Analysis .......................................................................... 31 4.1

Introduction.......................................................................................................... 31

4.2

Hypotheses Testing ............................................................................................. 31

4.2.1

Testing Hypothesis 1 ........................................................................................ 33

4.2.2

Testing Hypothesis 2 ........................................................................................ 36

4.3

Research Findings .............................................................................................. 39

4.4

Further Findings .................................................................................................. 40

4.5

Limitations and Future Research ......................................................................... 41

4.6

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 42

Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendations ........................................................ 43 5. Conclusion and Recommendations ........................................................................ 43 5.1

Introduction.......................................................................................................... 43

5.2

General Conclusions ........................................................................................... 43

5.2.1

Conclusions from Hypothesis 1 ........................................................................ 44

5.2.2

Conclusions from Hypothesis 2 ........................................................................ 45

5.3

Conclusion and Recommendations ..................................................................... 45

Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix A1: Comparison of research philosophies in management research ............ 52 Appendix A2: Reliability Tests – Cronbach’s Alpha ....................................................... 53 Appendix A3: Summary of (MLQ – 5x Short) Questionnaire ......................................... 54 Appendix A4: Summary of CSF Questionnaire ............................................................. 55

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List of Figures Figure 2.1-1 Topics of the Literature Review ................................................................... 6 Figure 3.4-1 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 28 Figure 4.2.1-1 Hypothesis 1 .......................................................................................... 34 Figure 4.2.1-2 Weighted Mean – EQI subscales & TL .................................................. 34 Figure 4.2.1-3 Weighted Mean - EQI – TL Overall ........................................................ 35 Figure 4.2.1-4 Correlations – EQI TL ............................................................................ 35 Figure 4.2.1-5 Correlations – EQI & MLQ TL ................................................................ 36 Figure 4.2.2-1 Hypothesis 2 .......................................................................................... 37 Figure 4.2.2-2 Weighted Mean - TL & CSF ................................................................... 37 Figure 4.2.2-3 Correlations – TL & CSF ........................................................................ 38 Figure 4.2.2-4 Correlations - CSF & Overall MLQ ......................................................... 38 Figure 4.3-1 Weighted Mean – EI & CSF ...................................................................... 39 Figure 4.3-2 Correlations between EI & CSF ................................................................ 40 Figure 4.4-1 Weighted Mean EQI & Transactional Leadership ..................................... 40 Figure 4.4-2 Correlations – EQI & Transactional Leadership ........................................ 40 Figure 4.4-3 Weighted Mean – EQI & Laissez Faire ..................................................... 41 Figure 4.4-4 Correlations – EQI & Laissez-Faire ........................................................... 41

List of Tables Table 2.3.2-1 Four Styles/Behaviors of project manager .............................................. 11 Table 2.3.3-1 Leadership styles, project teams, and the project life cycle..................... 12 Table 2.3.4-1 Dimensions of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire .............................. 13 Table 2.3.5-1 Domains of Emotional Intelligence .......................................................... 16 Table 2.4-1 Leadership Competencies and their styles of leadership ........................... 18 Table 2.4-2 Performance of different leadership styles on different types of projects ... 19 Table 2.5-1 Popular Frameworks in measuring projects’ success ................................ 23 Table 2.6-1 Summary of the Literature .......................................................................... 24 Table 4.2-1 Demographics ............................................................................................ 32

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List of Abbreviations IT

Information Technology

EI

Emotional Intelligence

H

High

M

Medium

L

Low

IQ

Intellectual Competency

MQ

Managerial Competency

EQ

Emotional Competency

MLQ

Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire

CSF

Critical Success Factors

HR

Human Resources

EQI

Emotional Quotient Inventory

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences TL

Transformational Leadership

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Chapter One: Introduction 1. Introduction This chapter will focus on introducing the research topic and will provide an overview of the research paper; highlighting the topics that will be discussed and fully explored in the remainder of this document. It will also explain the background of the research analysis introducing the main topics, highlighting the dissertation’s aims and objectives and presenting the breakdown of the research structure.

1.1 Background of Study Leadership has a huge influence on organizations because it affects the businesses tremendously. It is as well considered an issue because leaders influence not only organizations but the whole world (Jandaghi et al., 2009). Leaders, in general, are the ones who influence others to help accomplish group or organizational objectives (House et al., 2004). Maylor (2010, p.293) defined leadership as: “The quality of obtaining results from others through personal influence; individual skills and attitudes”. This definition is people-related as it comprises both emotional and managerial notions, it also builds on several studies by other scholars, Muller and Turner (2010) and Turner and Müller (2005) who agreed that executives should have both emotional and managerial characteristics. Despite the importance of leadership in organizational success, which has long been recognized as a success factor for organizations, it was not until recently that this concept was adopted and empirically researched in projects’ context. Leadership in project management is different than leadership in traditional general management. According to Müller et al. (2012) and Muller and Turner (2010), one of the most important factors in project success is the project manager’s leadership. Project managers play a crucial role in setting the ground rules and fostering a collective approach that strongly influences project performance. They are constantly facing new challenges and the surrounding environmental changes from time to time. The role of the project manager is more challenging as he/she works across multiple functional and organizational environments. As such, the components of leadership in projects are different than those required in Page | 1


traditional management and those typical challenges have a higher complexity level and uncertainty. There are uncertainties regarding the various aspects of leadership styles which affect project outcome and the leadership styles that are appropriate for different types of projects. According to Muller and Turner (2010), leadership theories started by measuring the different traits of individual leaders (The trait and behavioral schools), then evolved into measuring the context of leadership environments/conditions (The contingency school). Finally, it has shifted from observable behaviors to the intellectual and interpersonal relationships (charismatic, contingency, and emotional intelligence schools). The literature on leadership and its role in organizations is rich. However, the research about the role of the manager in project management is dearth, and the vast amount of research related to project success factors has merely mentioned the leadership competencies of the project manager (Turner and Müller, 2005). The main arguments in this paper are related to the very little focus on the need of leadership competencies, specifically emotional intelligence (EI) as a requirement for project managers to successfully run different projects. Despite the fact that several studies have discussed leadership in project management, few researchers have focused on EI as a highly required leadership competency. Building on existing studies in leadership in project management, the relationship between leadership competencies and project success in different types of projects is studied in this paper. This research is solely focused on leadership competencies, especially EI, which have been studied earlier by other scholars (Mazur et al., 2014; Müller et al., 2012; Rezvani et al., 2016; Turner and Müller, 2005) and its effects on project success. Leadership and management co-exist in every organization. However, the companies’ management hierarchy structure determines to which degree each concept is exercised and implemented. Moreover, leadership depends on the authority levels given to particular roles (Westerveld, 2003). Within the parameters of this dissertation, the focus will be on the projects’ environment where the project manager has the complete authority over the project and its resources. The project manager is the driving force for the project

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team and the one who creates the vision of the desirable outcomes by providing the resources to successfully accomplish the objectives of the project. This study is a cross-sectional quantitative research facilitated by an online questionnaire and it is consisted of four parts: Demographics, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaireshort (MLQ-5x short) to assess the leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and Laissez-Faire), Critical Success Factors questionnaire (CSF) to assess the critical factors leading to project success, and Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I) questionnaire to assess the emotional intelligence of the project manager. The survey will be sent to project managers and their direct reports as well as hiring managers from different project based companies in order to assess the aim of this research. The secondary data is collected from various archival studies and used to validate the results of the primary data collected in this paper. This dissertation is written in pursuit of answering the below research question: 

What is the relation between project managers’ emotional intelligence (EI) and project success?

In answering this question, the below hypotheses are drawn from the available literature on EI as a leadership competency: H1: Project Manager’s EI is correlated with transformational leadership. H2: Project Manager’s transformational leadership is positively correlated with project success.

1.2 Rationale of Study Many scholars and academic professionals such as Nauman et al. (2010) and Turner and Müller (2005) have confirmed the importance of leadership in managing resources and people in projects. However, the influence of different leadership competencies, especially EI, on project success has not been studied thoroughly. Hence, the focus of this dissertation is to examine EI and its relation to leadership styles as well as its influence on project success.

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1.3 Aims and Objectives The aims of this study are: 1. To examine the leadership competencies, especially EI, and its relation to different leadership styles. 2. To evaluate the influence of project manager’s emotional intelligence leadership competency on project performance. The objectives of this study are: 1. To evaluate the literature on leadership competencies (EI) effect and influence in organizations and projects’ performance. 2. Make recommendations to hiring managers in terms of how they can more effectively hire new project managers. 3. The results of the study could allow for better identification of suitable project managers assigned for projects. 4. The results of the study could be used for the development of individual training programs for prospective project managers.

1.4 Limiting Factors The foreseen limitations for this study are: 1. The study is to be completed within twelve weeks which restricted the aims of the study. 2. The study is restricted in terms of financial resources which may have reduced the participation rates due lack of incentives to participants. 3. The data is to be collected using questionnaires. As such, it might be inadequate to understand some forms of information; such as change of emotions or behavior. 4. The study is based on the perceptions of the employees of certain companies in the Middle East. As such, the results may not reflect similar stakeholders at other companies in other regions.

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1.5 Structure of the dissertation The structure of this study follows the normal standard of academic research and includes the following; Chapter One (Introduction) – This chapter is devoted to the background of the leadership in project management, the rationale of this study, research questions, proposed hypotheses, and the limiting factors. Chapter Two (Literature Review) – Provides a broad review of previous studies of leadership in general and leadership in project management as well as emotional intelligence and its effect on project success. Chapter Three (Research Methodology) – This chapter is dedicated to research philosophy, research design, research questions, data collection and analysis methods. Chapter Four (Results, Discussion, and Analysis) – Presents and analyzes all results and data collected, both primary and secondary data using tables and figures as well as showing various results from the primary data collection phase and makes a comparative analysis of relevant secondary data. Chapter Five (Conclusion and Recommendations) - Draws a conclusion and outlines a key recommendation for organizations and policy makers deduced from the various data collected, both primary and secondary, on leadership influence on project success.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review 2. Literature Review 2.1 Introduction This chapter focuses on introducing and defining the notion of leadership, the difference between leadership and management, the key leadership schools and their competencies that are most desired in project managers, and the factors that are considered critically significant for project success. The findings are supported with strong and relevant references from several leadership and project management top scholars. The purpose of this chapter is to present the literature that will support elements related to leadership styles and competencies and their relationship with project success. Thus, highlighting the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on different projects. The Literature review of this dissertation will follow the structure shown in Figure 2.1-1

Leadership and Management 2.2

Leadership Theories and Competencies 2.3 – 2.4

Project Management x and Project Success 2.5

Figure 2.1-1 Topics of the Literature Review

2.2 Leadership and Management Leadership and management are not the same. Leadership is dependent on the concept of social influence, motivation, the introduction of new cultures and improvement of others. It is concerned with the ability to convince, inspire confidence, and support subordinates. Leaders are good listeners and they have a sense of significance by giving their employees the power of their vision and value (Kibort, 2004). They are as well mentors, coaches, team builders, negotiators, and strategic planners (Müller et al., 2012). Maylor (2010) argued that each society has its own definition of leadership. The GLOBE study, which was dedicated to linking societal culture and organizational behavior, supported Maylor’s claim (House et al., 2004). According to DuBrin (2015), leadership Page | 6


can be best explained by evaluating its important variables, for example, behavior, style, competency, member characteristics, and the surrounding environment. Management, on the other hand, is dependent on the power of the chain of command (Jandaghi et al., 2009). Maylor (2010, p.292) defined management as: “the technical discipline of applying and administering authority over others which is given through the formalized structural arrangement of the organization”. He claims that the manager’s position is the business’s product to represent leadership while several scholars describe the manager’s role as paradoxical and cognitive. Kibort (2004), for example, states that managers are required to manage the contradictions; being both global and local, collaborate and compete, and look for change but maintain the order. Like the leadership styles which have been studied by several scholars, Gosling and Mintzberg (2003) have categorized managers into five different mindsets: 

The reflective mindset: Managers who understand the past to use the present in order to get the better future. They have a huge respect for the history of the organizations they represent.



The analytical mindset: Managers who are juggling many balls while keeping the eyes on the prize. They analyze situations with the ability to evaluate diligently and thoroughly.



The worldly mindset: Managers who are thinking outside the box. The ones who think globally and elaborate on how things are done outside their organizations.



The collaborative mindset: Managers who are focusing on managing relationships between people more than managing people. They are embracing people’s skills and watching them from a distance.



The action mindset: Managers who manage emotions of the subordinates and lead them to the right path.

Despite the above-mentioned differences, leadership and management intersect in many ways. In fact, the role of the manager is as important as the role of a leader. A great manager is a strong leader who embraces leadership attributes: leading by example, listening aggressively, creating an environment of trust, looking for results not blames, Page | 7


taking risks, building up people, and communicating the purpose and meaning (Kibort, 2004). Managers accomplish and conduct while leaders influence guidance, course, action, and opinion. This has been confirmed in several industries, R&D for example, while other areas such as construction and Information Technology (IT) are still undergoing research (Müller et al., 2012). Turner (2009) claims that 30% of the global economy is project based, as such, the project success rates might increase gradually because organizations strive to save their projects from failure. Khan et al. (2014) confirm the huge increment in the project-based organizations, especially, event management, IT, and construction. Most of these organizations are trying to find project managers with technical and administration expertise with some leadership competencies. Yet, some organizations still manage their projects by their line managers without a proper understanding of project management concepts, thus, causing projects failures. A study involving the American managers stated that 49% of the surveyed managers were doing trivial jobs that could have been delegated to others while spending only 3% of their time using their talents and experiences (Javidan and House, 2001). Earlier studies of leadership and management in project context were related to team roles, using instruments such as Myers-Briggs and Belbin as measures of leadership. These measures are, however, neither related to leadership nor the project manager’s role in project performance (Müller et al., 2012). Therefore, training in management is considered essential for managers and it should not only focus on the technical and management skills, but also on the development of different leadership competencies (Muller and Turner, 2010).

2.3 Leadership Theories Leadership has been studied more than any other aspect of human behavior and it is one of the classic themes in the social sciences and management with extensive history and different schools which follow different theories (Müller et al., 2012). Different leadership schools have agreed that leadership has an influence over the success of organizations Page | 8


where different leadership styles are used. To add, many theories are trying to identify a methodology for measuring the effectiveness of different leaders (Muller and Turner, 2007; Slavik et al., 2015). Higgs (2003) has identified six major schools each has its own definition of leadership: trait, behavior, contingency, visionary/charismatic, emotional intelligence and competency schools. According to Muller and Turner (2010), leadership theories started by measuring the different traits of individual leaders then evolved into measuring the context of leadership situation. Finally, it has shifted from observable behaviors to intellectual and interpersonal relationships. Nowadays, most leadership studies are related to members’ relations with organizations. These studies acknowledge the importance of fit between context and leadership styles (Müller et al., 2012). Other scholars have gone further by defining new leadership schools. Most of these schools are derived from the existing ones. Authentic school, for example, is a consolidation of the transformational and ethical schools and it assumes that leaders are honest to themselves and others without any misuse of power (Khan et al., 2014). Despite the consensus among scholars and academic professionals on the importance of leadership, and its different styles as well as its vital role in both success and failure in organizations and projects, some scholars criticized the over-hype about the role of leadership. Latham (2014) argues that the task of leadership at all organizational levels is getting more than what it should have and there is too much credit going to the leaders. The reason behind these voices is because the notion of leadership is very complex and there is no universal definition of leadership (Slavik et al., 2015). The six schools identified by Higgs (2003) will be discussed in details leading to the emotional intelligence and competency schools which form the core of this dissertation.

2.3.1 The trait school The trait school was popular in the 1940s and it assumed that effective leaders are born, not made and they share some common traits. DuBrin (2015) has emphasized the importance of leadership traits in project management context. The literature on the traits of effective leaders has focused on three main areas: abilities such as management skills,

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personality such as self-confidence and emotional variables, and physical features such as size and appearance. Nevertheless, other scholars have identified numerous traits of effective leaders. Turner and Müller (2005), for example, identified six traits of leaders: drive and ambition, desire to lead and influence others, honesty and integrity, selfconfidence, intelligence, and technical knowledge.

2.3.2 The behavioral school The behavioral school was popular in the 1950s and it had the assumption that leaders adopt certain behaviors. This assumption contradicts the trait school assuming that leaders are not born but made and leadership is a skill, not a talent. Derue et al. (2011) claim that there is a lack of integration in the literature related to trait and behavior schools. They argued that none of the research studied both schools from multiple perspectives, instead, the focus was always on a single trait or behavior. They claimed that leadership behaviors are the more important predictor of leadership effectiveness rather than leaders’ traits. According to Turner and Müller (2005), most theories characterize managers/leaders against one or two parameters including concern for people or relationships, concern for production, use of authority, formulation decisions, choosing options, and flexibility versus application of rules. Different scholars have categorized leadership behaviors into three types: 

Task Performance: Leaders focus more on tangible criteria to measure team’s performance towards achieving their goals, such as; work quality and quantity as well as efficiency.



Group Maintenance: Leaders are focusing on maintaining the collaboration and teamwork of the group.



Participation and Decision Making: The way decisions are made either autocratically or democratically.

Building on that, Turner and Müller (2005) identified four different styles of project managers based on three parameters: formulation decisions, choosing options, and Page | 10


flexibility versus application of rules (Table 2.3.2-1). Project managers tend to follow the autocratic behavior where they tend to make decisions by themselves due to urgencies and inflexible budgets. Nevertheless, the nature of the project itself is considered a factor in determining such behavior. Project managers can also be democratic and seek subordinates’ opinion in the subject matter. On the other hand, Laissez-Faire leadership is rarely involved in project management as the final decision is in project manager’s hand. Therefore, there is a consensus among project management professionals that the leadership style is determined based on the project type, and this is where the contingency school has evolved. Parameter Formulation Decisions Choosing Options Flexibility vs. Rules

LaissezDemocratic Faire H H H L H H

Autocratic

Bureaucratic

L L H

L L L

Table 2.3.2-1 Four Styles/Behaviors of project manager Source: (Turner & Muller, 2005)

2.3.3 The contingency school The contingency school was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. The assumption was that different situations are what creates great leaders. Followers of this school tend to follow a pattern that starts by assessing the characteristics of the leader to evaluate the situation in terms of key contingency variables, then matching between the leader and the situation (Turner and Müller, 2005). Amongst different studies on the contingency theory, the pathgoal theory has proved its popularity as the leader helps his subordinates to find the path to their goals. This theory has identified four different leadership behaviors: directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented which are related to environmental and subordinate factors. The environmental factors include task structure, formal authority system, and workgroup, while subordinates’ factors are: site of control, experience, and perceived ability. Other scholars preferred to have different leadership styles depending on the favorability of the leadership situation (Turner and Müller, 2005). Three major variables were identified to determine this favorability including leadermember relations, task structure, and position power. The author recommended that taskPage | 11


oriented leaders be appointed in very favorable and very unfavorable situations because of their ability to lead in a directive and controlling style, while he assigned participative leaders to moderately favorable situations depending on their interpersonal relationship orientation. Muller and Turner (2007), on the other side, suggested that different project lifecycles require different leadership styles and different team structures (Table 2.3.3-1). Leadership Style Laissez-Faire Democratic Autocratic Bureaucratic

Stage Feasibility Design Execution Close-out

Team Type Egoless Matrix Task Surgical

Team Nature Experts - shared responsibility Mixed discipline - several tasks Single discipline - separate tasks Mixed discipline - single task

Table 2.3.3-1 Leadership styles, project teams, and the project life cycle Source: (Turner & Muller, 2005)

2.3.4 The charismatic (visionary) school The charismatic (visionary) school was very popular during the 1980s - 1990s and it has emerged from the influence business leaders had on their organizations leading them to success. Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) state that this school emerged from research in organizational change and distinguished between two leadership styles including transactional and transformational which have been taken by some scholars to project management context. Two types of leadership under this school were identified: 

Transactional Leadership: Emphasizes rewards upon meeting performance targets. It depends on two fundamental tools; cognitive reward and exceptions and It is built on monitoring and controlling of followers and rewarding the desirable behavior by giving the followers what they want in exchange of what the leader’s need (Slavik et al., 2015).



Transformational Leadership: Depends on charisma, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation (Slavik et al., 2015). The transformational leader develops a vision, respects and trusts followers. Provides inspiration by creating high expectations and gives consideration to individuals by paying respect to followers and providing intellectual stimulation by challenging them with new ideas and approaches. Page | 12


Gardner and Stough (2002) and Leban and Zulauf (2004) used the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) developed earlier to test the three styles of leadership: transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire. The MLQ is based on nine dimensions, five to test the transformational style, three to test the transactional type and one for Laissez-Faire. According to Turner and Müller (2005), the MLQ is the most widely used questionnaire to assess leadership styles nowadays (Table 2.3.4-1). Leadership Style

Dimensions

Idealized Influence (Attributed) Idealized Influence (Behavior) Transformational Inspirational Motivation Intellectual Stimulation Individualized Consideration

Transactional

Laissez-Faire

Description Leader’s Charisma Charisma-values, beliefs, and mission Energizing followers Challenging creativity Advising, supporting, and caring

Contingent Reward Active Management Passive Management

Providing role and task clarification Active vigilance to meet goals Intervenes after mistakes happened

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Indecisive leader who does not use authority

Table 2.3.4-1 Dimensions of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Source: (Dulewicz & Higgs, 2004)

Results from several studies (Barling et al., 2000; Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008; Leban and Zulauf, 2004; Muller and Turner, 2007; Nixon et al., 2012; Turner and Müller, 2005) showed that transformational leadership style has significantly greater impact on project performance than the transactional style. This is because, and according to Hogan (2002), the personality of leaders is determinant in leadership effectiveness. However, a different combination between both transformational and transactional will be appropriate for different circumstances. Antonakis et al. (2003) went further to identify the influence of context on the MLQ findings and they have identified environmental risk, leader’s hierarchical level, and gender as contextual factors. Dulewicz and Higgs (2005) integrated those factors along with adding scales of organizational commitment and context. These scales contain five items in total, four of them to assess the degree to which employees are committed to the organization and the other one is to measure the change faced by

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that organization. Those items are; job satisfaction, realism, employees’ commitment to the organization, understanding the need for change, and the change faced by the organization. In project management context, Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) found no significant link between the transformational/transactional leadership styles despite their prediction that a project manager’s leadership style could be more transformational than transactional. The authors found that there was a strong correlation between the manager’s leadership style and employees’ commitment, motivation, and stress for line managers, but no such correlation was found for project managers. Müller et al. (2012) studied the relation between leadership styles and project complexities and their findings confirmed the earlier prediction by Keegan and Den Hartog (2004) in that transformational style is best followed on complex projects such as organizational change projects. While, the transactional style is best used in simple projects such as the construction of a small house (Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008; Liphadzi et al., 2015).

2.3.5 The emotional intelligence school The EI school was famous in the late 1990s and it assumed that leaders’ emotional intelligence plays an important role in their success. This school has built on the “theory of multiple intelligences” developed earlier by Howard Gardner in the late 1970s focusing on the interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions. The EI school then has moved from an understanding of leadership being observable to the notion of being interactional and relational. The work that was done by Goleman (2005) in the field of EI and its relation to the workplace is very important. He argued that EI is essential in the workplace and it is a very effective ingredient of leadership in projects’ and organizations’ success. Goleman et al. (2002) went further in their research (Primal Leadership) and named EI as the fundamental task of leaders. Primal leadership positions the leader as the one who establishes the emotional guide of the group. Goleman (2005) argued that EI is a dynamic condition in both, leaders and organizations, and it can be learned by addressing the emotional competencies. The eighteen competencies were categorized into personal and Page | 14


social. Personal competencies include self-awareness and self-management, and social competencies covered social awareness and relationship management. Emotional Intelligence school distinguishes between social and personal competencies and it focuses on the ability of leaders to read the emotions in them and their followers and act based on that (Müller et al., 2012). Research suggested that effective leaders will possess at least one competence from each of these four fundamental areas (Gardner and Stough, 2002). Building on the earlier work of Goleman (2005) and Goleman et al. (2002), different scholars promote the idea of self-improvement reaching the ideal self. Thus, and as such, EI can be acquired over time (Barling et al., 2000; Palmer and Stough, 2001). AlimoMetcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe (2001) have linked emotional intelligence to the classic management theory and they have formulated a tentative proposition that there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership. Nowadays, most research supports this claim, and there are a lot of reasons to prove the strong relation between transformational leadership and emotional intelligence. First, leaders who have the basics of transformational attributes like; managing emotions, selfcontrol, and delay of gratification are considered as a role model for their subordinates, thus, fulfilling the idealized influence. Second, leaders with high emotional intelligence have the ability to understand to which limit their followers think of them and can adjust their behavior accordingly. Third, emotionally intelligent leaders are high on individualized consideration with a focus on relationships and empathy (Barling et al., 2000). EI school has identified six leadership styles: visionary, democratic, coaching, pacesetting, affiliative, and commanding. Scholars argue that the first four of these styles are fostering resonance in the team and it has been proven that they lead to better performance in the appropriate circumstance (Goleman et al., 2002).

Personal Competence

Domains Self-Awareness

Competencies Emotional self-awareness Accurate self-awareness Self-confidence Page | 15


Self-Management

Social Competence

Social-Awareness

Relationship-Management

Emotional self-control Transparency Adaptability Initiative Optimism Empathy Organizational Awareness Service Inspirational Leadership Influence Developing Others Change Catalyst Conflict Management Building bonds Teamwork and collaboration

Table 2.3.5-1 Domains of Emotional Intelligence Source: (Goleman, et al., 2002)

2.3.6 The competency school The competency school has started in the late 1990s with an emphasis on the competencies of the effective leader. Some consider this school as a return to the trait school, however, the competencies of the effective leader can be learned and mastered. These competencies can be intellectual or technical in nature building on Bernard’s cognitive roles, and emotional in nature building on the domains of emotional intelligence (Turner and Müller, 2005). This leadership style adopts the contingency model; different combinations of competencies lead to different styles of leadership. Hence, leaders may follow the transactional style in straight low complex projects while following the transformational style in high complex environments (Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008; Liphadzi et al., 2015). According to Müller et al. (2012), the competency school is the most recent of leadership schools and it has integrated all aspects of other schools into three dimensions; intellectual (IQ), emotional (EQ), and managerial (MQ). They also claimed that both sustainability and high success of managers requires good leadership and management capabilities and, therefore, they require IQ, EQ, and MQ. Project managers evaluate Page | 16


plans and actions and provide direction (IQ), they build and maintain the relationship with subordinates (MQ), and demand emotional resilience to respond to unexpected circumstances (EQ). Research showed the link between these competencies and projects’ success and the results showed that IQ accounts for 27% of performance, MQ accounts for 16%, and EQ accounts for 36% of leadership competencies affecting project success. This highlighted that EQ is the most significant leadership competency (Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008; Müller et al., 2012). The competency school encompasses all the different schools because traits and behaviors are considered competencies (Androniceanu et al., 2015). As a result, it is considered the basis of this dissertation as the study is under the influence of the leadership competencies, especially, EI. Therefore, a detailed discussion will be carried in the next section of the literature.

2.4 Leadership competencies Competence can be defined as knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics that deliver superior results (Crawford, 2005), while capability is a collaborative process that can be deployed, and through which, individual competencies can be exploited (Vincent, 2008). According to Gardner et al. (2008), competence is viewed as an essential part of being capable. Thus, large consulting firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton used competence as a principal when hiring senior management and people in leadership positions. Personal characteristics (Charisma and vision) are the major criteria to determine the transformational and transactional leadership styles recognized by the visionary school. Those characteristics are very important to project managers and considered one of their best competencies (Muller and Turner, 2007; Turner and Müller, 2005). On the other hand, knowledge and skills (intelligence, problem-solving skills, and management) are related to the contingency school considering successful management in special situations. Many authors and research professionals have identified four types of competencies that determine leadership performance; cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and motivational. However, and based on their observations, Dulewicz and Higgs (2004) Page | 17


suggested that there are three competencies of leadership that they believe are related to project performance: emotional, managerial, and intellectual. Moreover, they suggested fifteen leadership dimensions under these competencies: three intellectual (IQ), five managerial (MQ), and seven emotional (EQ) (Table 2.4-1). According to Turner and Müller (2005), and despite the other factors that might be added by various scholars, these competencies have been affirmed in the previous literature on the same subject and there is a consensus upon them. Group

Competency

Intellectual (IQ)

Critical analysis and judgment Vision and Imagination Strategic Perspective Engaging Communication Managing Resources

Managerial (MQ)

Empowering Developing Achieving

Emotional (EQ)

Self-Awareness Emotional Resilience Motivation Sensitivity Influence Intuitiveness Conscientiousness

GoalOriented H H H M H

Involving Engaging M H M M M

M M M H L

L M H

M M M

H H M

M H H M M M H

H H H M H M H

H H H H H H H

Table 2.4-1 Leadership Competencies and their styles of leadership Source: (Turner & Muller, 2005)

Dulewicz and Higgs (2004) studied the relation between leadership competencies and project performance in changing projects. They identified three leadership styles: Engaging, Involving, and Goal-Oriented (Table 2.4-2). These styles are similar to what was offered in the path-goal theory and the visionary/charismatic school but are related to the competence of the leader (Turner and Müller, 2005). Results also showed that different leadership styles perform better or worse according to the type of the project following the contingency school as described earlier. Therefore, the fifteen competencies Page | 18


mentioned previously can be used to explain the performance of project managers on different types of projects. Leadership Style Goal-Oriented Involving Engaging

Relatively Stable Good Fit Moderate Fit Poor Fit

Context-Significant Change Moderate Fit Good Fit Moderate Fit

Transformational Change Poor Fit Moderate Fit Good Fit

Table 2.4-2 Performance of different leadership styles on different types of projects Source: Dulewicz and Higgs (2004)

Muller and Turner (2010) suggests that one of the best ways to identify leadership characteristics is by profiling the personalities of successful managers. They studied leadership profiles and competencies in engineering, telecommunication, and construction projects and then presented them in four different criteria; application area, complexity, importance, and contracts. In doing that, they used leadership development questionnaire (LDQ) to measure the competency of project managers through the predefined competencies by earlier studies. They used the fifteen dimensions identified earlier in the changing projects because, according to Muller and Turner (2007), if different leadership styles are appropriate for organizational change projects, then they are appropriate for other types of projects as well. Results showed that critical thinking (IQ) and influence, motivation, and conscientiousness (EQ) are important in all types of projects. Turner and Müller (2005) also built on Dulewicz and Higgs (2004) work, and the results of their research showed that there is a correlation between leadership competencies and team member personalities and behaviors. However, in the context of this dissertation, the focus will be on the emotional leadership competencies and its correlation with the project success. In general, studies examine cultural differences, others identify competencies by different regions, or differentiate them by gender, geographical region, industry, or the role in the company. However, the work done by Crawford (2005) in correlating the project manager’s competence to his/her success was admired by other researchers. Her assessment was not built on the project performance but on the assessment of the project manager’s direct supervisor. Moreover, this assessment was based on the overall Page | 19


performance, not on a particular project. Crawford (2005) found that if the project manager has acquired an entry level of knowledge on the subject matter, additional knowledge will not make him/her more competent. Findings in previous literature assert that effective managers are above average in intelligence and problem-solving skills (Miyamoto, 2015). Other traits defined earlier such as behavioral and motivational, energy, and communication are considered important, however, there is no evidence supporting the claim that these traits support project’s success. Based on the literature on project management competencies, it could be claimed that the leadership competencies required by project managers nowadays are similar to the competencies studied historically (Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008). The effective project manager possesses a combination of personal characteristics (flexibility) and competencies (problem-solving), and effective project managers are transformational leaders who score high on EI competencies.

2.5 Project Management and Project Success The concept of management and leadership overlaps with the concept of project management and excellence in linking between leadership styles and project management techniques with the recognition that vision, values, and execution are vital for projects’ success (Liphadzi et al., 2015; Maylor, 2010). Project management is being referred to as using the tools and techniques to achieve project success without any focus on the project manager’s leadership style being related to the project success. It is not until recently that project management literature has acknowledged that projects other than construction may require project management procedures as well as the idea of the project manager being selected to meet the needs of the particular project (Muller and Turner, 2010). Nowadays, most organizations are considering project management as being mandatory for their survival and those who were opponents of project management became supporters (Androniceanu et al., 2015). Project success is often discussed in the context of project management. However, there is no agreement upon the factors influencing project success or the notion of project

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success itself. According to Nixon et al. (2012), the Project Management Institute (PMI) does not clearly mention success factors, instead, it requires the project charter to set the success criteria during the planning stage and failure means not achieving these targets. Earlier studies investigating project manager to projects’ success were related to team building theories which afterward showed a very weak connection with the management of successful projects (Belbin, 2012). Even in the 1980s, the era of research on project success, scholars barely mentioned the project managers’ leadership style or competence as a critical success factor (Liphadzi et al., 2015). In fact, the project manager was only involved during the organization of the project team. In spite of this, poor leadership is considered as a failure factor during the project initiation and project close up stages but never during the execution phase (Turner and Müller, 2005). In the past two decades, there has been a broadening of the measurement of the concept of project success from time, schedule, and functionality to more accommodating the quality of the final outcome (Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008). Scholars like: Jugdev and Muller (2005), Kenny (2003), and Osorio et al. (2014) claim that when judging projects’ success, both efficiency and effectiveness should be looked at (Table 2.5-1). Efficiency is referred to as maximizing production to a certain input level by meeting the project’s deadline, budget, and quality. Effectiveness, on the other hand, is related to achieving project’s goals and objectives (Dweiri and Kablan, 2006). According to Rezvani et al. (2016), project management scholars generally agree on two components in defining project success: success criteria and critical success factors (CSF). Success criteria focus on the objective measures, such as quality, cost, and time of project completion. This component, however, has been criticized because it reflects simple measures that do not reflect complex projects. Moreover, such criteria fail to consider other success indicators, such as behaviors and strategic management. On the other hand, CSF focuses on the behavioral aspects of the project’s team as well as customers’ and stakeholders’ satisfaction. Thus, it is the most common method used to assess the means of project success. Cooke-Davies (2002) differentiated between project success and project management success. While the former is related to achieving planned business results using project’s Page | 21


outcome, the latter is related to achieving the time, quality, and other goals set for the management of the project. Others supported that claim by addressing the following assumptions: 1. Management style through project cycle: Each project life cycle has its own appropriate leadership style. 2. Joint-venture (Multi-cultural) projects: Many scholars have written about jointventure projects and the leadership styles appropriate for them. Mäkilouko (2004) stated that multi-cultural project managers adopt one of three styles; Didactical (selling ideas by site visits), organization design (choosing potentials carefully to avoid conflict), or culturally blind (does not recognize cultural differences). Selmer (2002) defined five attributes a joint venture project manager should have; intellect, emotional stability, agreeableness, openness, and integrity. 3. The project manager as success factor: Most studies on project success ignored the role of project managers and their influence on project success (Khan et al., 2014; Liphadzi et al., 2015; Turner and Müller, 2005). One reason behind the lack of literature in this area is because of the common notion that project managers should be strong technically without any exposure to social sciences (Khan et al., 2014). Turner and Müller (2005) assumed this was because either one of three reasons; most of these studies asked the project managers about their opinion and the respondents usually ignored their role in the project success, or these studies have ignored the impact of the project managers on projects’ performance, or the assumption of project managers having no impact at all on the project performance. Scholars Patah (2010)

Effectiveness Determined by how well the project contributes to the achievement of the strategic objectives of organizations.

Efficiency Determined by how well the project was conducted.

Jugdev & Müller (2005)

Achieving goals and objectives, and both are guided by practical purposes related to obtaining successful.

Maximizing output for a given input level

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Shenrar et al (2000, 2010)

Strategically managed projects Operationally managed focused on getting results for the projects focused on performing business and grow in the marketplace. the scope and meet time and budget goal. Projects should be evaluated based on their contributions to business results.

Shenrar & Dvir (2010) Dweiri & Kablan (2006)

Evaluated based on the degree of achievement of project objectives.

Meeting targets for time and budget. Measured through the achievement of time, cost and quality criteria of the project.

Table 2.5-1 Popular Frameworks in measuring projects’ success. Source: (Osorio, et al., 2014)

2.6 Conclusion The review of leadership competencies and their role in project success was well documented in this chapter. In light of the research findings and arguments from different articles, refereed papers, reports, and books. It was concluded that the importance of leadership in project management lies within the importance of creating a supportive environment where project managers are leaning toward the transformational side with an emphasis on matching the project manager’s leadership style with project type. The findings of the literature show that different leadership competencies are related to leadership success in different projects. Furthermore, there is a strong relation between emotional competencies and the project manager’s leadership style leading to project success. This was confirmed by other studies which have shown that line managers also require emotional intelligence more than project managers and by this, the higher the level in the hierarchy, the higher the EQ competencies required. The literature also emphasized the importance of some competencies for the project manager to succeed – to name but a few: bottom line awareness, political awareness (prepared game plan to manage everyone on the ticket), and pre-partnering (proper planning and identification of project’s requirement). It has also been confirmed that the project managers will not succeed without having leadership competencies. conversely, leaders need the management skills to be a good leader.

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In light of the above, and because research on leadership competencies, including emotional intelligence, in relation to project success is lacking, this dissertation serves to explore this area. Table 2.6-1 summarizes the content of the literature. Literature

Authors

The difference between leadership and management

(Belbin, 2012; DuBrin, 2015; Kibort, 2004; Maylor, 2010)

Leadership theories and styles

(Crawford, 2005; Dulewicz and Higgs, 2005; Keegan and Den Hartog, 2004; Miyamoto, 2015)

Project leadership and project success

(Androniceanu et al., 2015; Cooke-Davies, 2002; Geoghegan and Dulewicz, 2008; Muller and Turner, 2007; Osorio et al., 2014)

Table 2.6-1 Summary of the Literature

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Chapter Three: Methodology 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction This chapter will explore several methods and strategies that have been utilized to answer the research questions. It will also provide in-depth details of the composition of the research methodologies and the motives for selecting such approach. The purpose of this chapter is to set the parameters of the research philosophy, design, and approach, as well as the methods of data validation of the selected approach. This research is positivist, deductive and following the quantitative approach. The primary data is collected using a web-based questionnaire divided into four parts: Demographics, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-short (MLQ-5x short) to assess the leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and Laissez-Faire), the Critical Success Factors questionnaire (CSF) to assess project success, and EQ-I questionnaire to assess the emotional intelligence of the project manager. The secondary data is gathered from the available literature and it is used to validate and support the findings of the raw data in this study.

3.2 Research Philosophy A research philosophy is a belief about the way in which data about a phenomenon should be gathered, analyzed and used. Jonhson and Clark (2006) confirm the importance of the research philosophy as it affects the researcher’s ways of investigating the research questions. Two major research philosophies have been identified and continuously used

in the field of social science, namely positivist (Natural scientist) and interpretivist (Antipositivist) (Saunders et al., 2009). Using these philosophies depend on the context of the research and the nature of the research questions (Crossan, 2003). To add, the term “research paradigm” is frequently used in social science and it is known as a way of examining social phenomena in order to gain an understanding of these phenomena and attempt to explain it (Appendix A1). This chapter adopts epistemological, positivist philosophy in order to develop an answer to the research questions and hypotheses. Positivist philosophy is concerned with facts Page | 25


rather than impressions and the belief that reality is observable and can be described from an objective viewpoint. This philosophy assumes that things can be studied as hard facts and the relation between these facts can be proved statistically and generalized. Thus, limiting the role of the researcher data collection and analysis of findings only (Crossan, 2003; Crowther and Lancaster, 2012; Saunders et al., 2009). This raises a lot of questions of whether this philosophy is appropriate for such studies that reflect human feelings. It is argued that positivist research treats things as objects which do not apply to a human being. Moreover, such research relies heavily on the experience as a valid source of knowledge, although, a wide range of important concepts are independent of experience (Easterby-Smith et al., 2012). In spite of the above, literature on general leadership, leadership in project management, and the relationship between emotional intelligence and project success follows the positivist philosophy. The research is objective, observable and the researcher is an external observer of the phenomena. Furthermore, the data could be proven statistically, thus the data is more valid and can be generalized without the bias of the researcher (Barling et al., 2000; Gardner and Stough, 2002; Jugdev and Muller, 2005; Leban and Zulauf, 2004; Rezvani et al., 2016).

3.3 Research Purpose The research question influences the philosophy adopted, which will then determine the purpose of the research, as well as the approaches to answer the research question (Saunders et al., 2009). In social science, the research purpose is either descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, or descriptive and explanatory and the research approach can be deductive, inductive, or both (Kumar, 2014).

3.3.1 Research Design The purpose of this research study is to assess the relation between project manager’s emotional intelligence and project success. This research project, as such, is descriptive of the relation between the two previously mentioned variables.

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Descriptive research is defined as: ”portraying an accurate profile of persons, events or situations” (Robson, 2002). The main idea behind using such research is to define the behavior and attitude held by a group of people, which applies to the parameters of the current study. Also, it is aimed to find out the answer to the question “What is?” (Antonakis et al., 2003). Descriptive research is usually used because it limits the bias and error in the results when analyzing the raw data. Nonetheless, the error in sample surveys is unavoidable, and it is important to control such errors by properly choosing the sample size (Saunders et al., 2009). Descriptive studies report summary data such as measures of central tendency including the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, variation, percentage, and the correlation between variables. Furthermore, it uses visual aids (charts and graphs) to help the reader understand the distribution of the large mass of the presented raw data. The literature of leadership in project management and the influence of the project manager’s leadership competencies, especially EI, on project success is descriptive. The research was done by scholars such as Gardner and Stough (2002), Leban and Zulauf (2004), Rezvani et al. (2016), and Spano-Szekely et al. (2016) assessed the relation between EI and TL in managers from different industries using statistical data measured by different tests.

3.3.2 Research Approach Crowther and Lancaster (2008) states that positivist studies relate to the viewpoint of the researcher concentrating on facts and as such, usually adopts the deductive approach. According to Saunders et al. (2009) and Antonakis et al. (2004), Deductive theory focuses on developing hypotheses by beginning with a strong theory base, then emphasizing on testing these hypotheses. After that, these hypotheses will be tested and confirmed or refused in whole or part, leading to the theory development which may be tested in future studies. Deductive research usually uses a highly structured methodology and the researcher should be independent of what is being observed in order to ensure the reliability of the Page | 27


study (Gill and Johnson, 2002). Thus, the studied concepts should be operationalized to enable the facts to be measured quantitatively (Saunders et al., 2009). As such, in this research, the operational definition of the studied variables, namely, emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, and project success follows the literature (Chapter Two). The final step of deduction research is the generalization, and in order to achieve that, it is necessary to select the samples from sufficient numerical size. In this research project, studied samples (N=63) were selected from project-based companies from different industries in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. The study was addressed to project managers, HR professionals, and direct reports to project managers to get a 360 review of the subject in hand.

3.4 Research Questions and Hypotheses This dissertation is written in pursuit of answering the below research question: 

What is the relation between project managers’ emotional intelligence (EI) and project success?

In answering this question, the below hypotheses are drawn from the available literature on EI as a leadership competency: H1: Project Manager’s EI is correlated with TL. H2: Project Manager’s TL is correlated with project success.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

H1

Transformational Leadership (TL)

H2

Project Success

Figure 3.4-1 Conceptual Framework

3.5 Data Collection Methods Positivist, descriptive research mostly follows the deductive approach and adopts the quantitative methods. It is preplanned and structured so the raw data gathered can be statistically analyzed and validated (Crossan, 2003; Saunders et al., 2009). As a result, Page | 28


such research uses the close-end questions, online surveys, for example, which helps the researcher to measure the significance of the studied phenomena among the population the selected samples represent (Gill and Johnson, 2002). This study is a cross-sectional quantitative research, the primary data is collected through an online questionnaire of four parts based on a Likert scale from 0 to 4: 

Demographics: gender, age, educational level, company size, industry, job level, and years of experience.



Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-Short (MLQ-5x Short) which was used by many scholars like Gardner and Stough (2002), Leban and Zulauf (2004), and Rezvani et al. (2016) to assess the charismatic leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and Laissez-Faire).



Critical Success Factors questionnaire (CSF) examined by Cooke-Davies (2002) and then used by scholars like Muller and Turner (2010) and Osorio et al. (2014) to assess the critical factors leading to project success.



Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I) used by scholars such as Barling et al. (2000) to assess the emotional intelligence competency of the project manager.

The study was addressed to project managers, HR professionals, and direct reports to project managers (N=63) to get a 360 review of the subject in hand. The secondary data is collected from various archival studies and will be used to validate the results of the primary data collected in this paper.

3.6 Ethical Issues, Reliability and Validity The research was subject to ethical issues related to the confidentiality and anonymity of the data provided by samples. Moreover, the web-based questionnaire was ethically approved by senior management of the companies included in the study. The questionnaire was adopted and used several times in the literature (Barling et al., 2000; Leban and Zulauf, 2004). The data is analyzed using (IBM SPSS) and Cronbach’s Alpha for MLQ-5x was (α=0.8), CSF was (α=0.816), and EQ-I was (α=0.8). Cronbach's Page | 29


alpha values meet the requirements that the values of the alpha coefficient should be between 0.80 and 0.90 (Streiner, 2003). Thus, suitable levels of relevance confirm the reliability of the results obtained in this study.

3.7 Conclusion This paper adopts the epistemological and positivist philosophy to tackle the research question. Leadership and its competencies should be studied from an objective viewpoint and to be proven statistically so the findings can be generalized. The research is descriptive of the relation between emotional intelligence and transformational leaderships following the deductive approach. The hypotheses developed in this study were driven by the theory developed in the literature and the data is collected using a quantitative web-based questionnaire of four parts to test the earlier predictions.

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Chapter Four: Results, Discussion, and Analysis 4. Results, Discussion, and Analysis 4.1 Introduction This chapter will integrate the theory and statistical results of the four-part web-based questionnaire and will expand on the concepts of leadership discussed in the literature. In addition, the set of hypotheses derived earlier from the literature will be tested and the model proposed earlier will be validated. This chapter will introduce the affiliation between the survey’s raw data and its association with the main research topics. In this segment of the thesis, the findings of the research are presented in two sections to best answer the research question. The first section tests the first hypothesis about the correlation between EI and TL. The latter section tests the second hypothesis on the relation between TL and project success. The final section of this chapter presents the findings of this study linking the two hypotheses and answering the research question. It also includes a further analysis and potential areas for future research.

4.2 Hypotheses Testing In order to answer the research question, the two hypotheses proposed earlier in this study (chapter One) were tested using a structured web-based questionnaire, which consisted of four parts: Demographics, EQI, MLQ-5x Short, and CSF. All these tests were used by different scholars in previous research, including Barling et al. (2000), Gardner and Stough (2002), and Osorio et al. (2014) respectively. In order to assess the reliability of these tests, Cronbach’s Alpha was tested and the results were: CSF α=0.944, MLQ-5x short α=0.641, and EQI α=0.734. Both CSF and EQI showed reliability similar to prior literature (Streiner, 2003), while MLQ-5x short showed a questionable result due to the conceptual heterogeneity of the items in the questionnaire measuring different concepts (Lance et al., 2006). As a result, MLQ-5x short reliability test was repeated only for transformational leadership and results were acceptable (α=0.729) (Appendix A2).

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The questionnaire was sent to 150 professionals from different levels including HR professionals, project managers and their direct reports, and senior management and executives from different industries in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. Only 63 (42% response rate), took the survey. The sample included 23 females (36.5%) and 40 males (63.5%). Table 4.2-1 shows demographic details and sample characteristics. Age 21-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 Education Some college Bachelor degree Graduate degree Company Size 1-4 employees 5-9 employees 10-19 employees 20-99 employees 100-499 employees 500-999 employees 1000-4999 employees 5000-9999 employees 10000+ employees

% 47.60% 44.40% 6.30% 1.60% % 1.60% 68.30% 30.20% % 7.90% 3.20% 1.60% 15.90% 14.30% 9.50% 20.60% 1.60% 25.40%

N Gender 30 Female 28 Male Industry 4 1 Healthcare N Non-profit 1 Information Technology 43 Energy & Utilities (Oil & Gas) 19 Transportation & Logistics N Engineering and Contracting 5 Retail 2 Finance 1 Education 10 Professional Services (Consulting Services) 9 Others Years of Experience 6 13 1-2 Years 1 3-4 Years 16 > 5 Years Table 4.2-1 Demographics

% 36.50% 63.50% % 3.20% 1.60% 12.70% 3.20% 6.30% 47.60% 3.20% 3.20% 4.80% 1.60% 12.70% % 17.5% 15.9% 66.6%

N 23 40 N 2 1 8 2 4 30 2 2 3 1 8 N 11 10 42

The EQI consists of twenty-seven questions on a Likert-scale (from 0 to 4), divided into four subscales: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Empathy and Social Awareness, and Relationship Management (Goleman, 2005). The MLQ is comprised of twenty-one questions on a Likert-scale (from 0 to 4) and divided into three subscales: Transformational, Transactional, and Laissez-Faire. The Transformational subscale consists of twelve questions and is also divided into four subscales: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. The Transactional subscale consisted of six questions and divided into two subscales: contingent rewards and management by exception (Active). Laissez-Faire consists of three questions measuring Laissez-Faire (Management by Exception – Passive) (Appendix A3).

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In order to analyze this study’s hypotheses, the weighted mean is calculated for each subscale of EQI, MLQ, and CSF using IBM SPSS. Unlike the median, which is considered inefficient in showing differences among groups, the weighted mean is used because the Likert data is nominal and can be located on the original scale (Coakes and Steed, 2011).

4.2.1 Testing Hypothesis 1 Gardner and Stough (2002) stated that the empirical links between emotional intelligence and effective leadership are weak, unlike the theoretical links. They also confirmed that the work done earlier by Bass and Avolio (2000) on transformational/transactional leadership has provided the framework of these relationships. Although there were little to no empirical studies investigating the connections between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, skills like motivation, empathy, and initiative leads to more effective communication strategies that can improve the idealized influence and foster the talent in order to build a compelling environment that inspires and motivate subordinates (Cavazotte et al., 2012). Day and Carroll (2004) claims that emotional intelligence is a necessity for individuals who will be in charge. As such, leaders who control their emotions and understand their impacts on their actions and others as well should have a greater probability of providing effective leadership. Emotional intelligence was linked to transformational leadership in different aspects, and emotionally intelligent project managers are more likely to experience and to express their emotions in a positive manner (Peslak, 2005). This will likely enable the project managers to communicate effectively with their subordinates and addressing more challenging tasks creatively. Mazur et al. (2014) and Muller and Turner (2010) claimed that EI can be considered a key factor in project success. Subsequently, Muller and Turner (2007) have found direct evidence that EI increases the chance of project success, especially, in highly complex projects. However, unlike the findings of the most of the scholars which leans toward linking emotional intelligence to transformational leadership and project outcomes, Brown et al. (2006) stated the importance of EI and its relation to TL but found no significant relationship between both, EI and TL. This might be the result of the methodological differences and the sample size chosen in each study as the sample size Page | 33


is very important to robustness and the generalizability of the study. Additionally, the cultural and organizational circumstances can not be discounted as the study was held in the US and the relatively large sample size might have included different elements and psychologies (Brown et al., 2006). These results do not mean that there is any relation between TL and EI. Rather, this study did not support such relation when measured by the EQI questionnaire. H1: Project Manager’s Emotional Intelligence is significantly correlated with transformational leadership.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

H1

Transformational Leadership (TL)

Figure 4.2.1-1 Hypothesis 1

In order to test the first hypothesis, two tests were used: EQ-I used by scholars, such as Barling et al. (2000), to assess the emotional intelligence competency of the project manager, and MLQ-5x Short which was used by many scholars; Gardner and Stough (2002), Leban and Zulauf (2004), and Rezvani et al. (2016) to assess the leadership styles in the charismatic school (transformational, transactional, and Laissez-Faire). The collected data (N=63) was categorized into four subscales. The weighted mean for each response to the four subscales was calculated using IBM SPSS (Figure 4.2.1-2): SelfAwareness (2.714), Self-Management (2.714), Empathy and Social Awareness (2.95), and Relationship Management (2.95). Then, the weighted mean is calculated for the overall transformational leadership (3.214) and Emotional Intelligence (2.833) presented in Figure 4.2.1-3. Subsequently, both, EI and TL, were correlated using IBM SPSS. Weighted Mean

Std. Deviation

N


3.2143

.43731

63

Self-Awareness

2.7143

.63318

63

Self-Management

2.7143

.63318

63

Empathy & Social Awareness

2.9524

.70548

63

Relationship Management 2.9524 .59375 Figure 4.2.1-2 Weighted Mean – EQI subscales & TL

63

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Mean

Std. Deviation

N


3.2143

.43731

63

Emotional Intelligence - All

2.8333

.47941

63

Figure 4.2.1-3 Weighted Mean - EQI – TL Overall

Results presented in Figure 4.2.1-4 showed that Emotional Intelligence of a leader is significantly correlated with Transformational Leadership (0.587, P