Project Management Leadership Case Study On Hubble Telescope Launch
Question
Task The purpose of this assignment is to build a clear understanding of project management fundamentals and their application, specifically:
- demonstrate project leadership skills; identify and assess risk in designing, executing a major project;
- critically reflect on current project management ethics, research, and theory and practice;
Answer
Executive Summary
Hubble Telescope launch project used in this project management leadership case study is one of the large-scale and complex projects. Leadership plays a significant role in such projects and activities. The report analyses the case of Hubble project and brings out the leadership issues and styles.
The project management leadership case study also covers the leadership styles that must be used for project success and the ethical issues that may emerge.
Introduction: There are a number of tasks and processes that are involved under the domain of project handling and management in this project management leadership case study. It is necessary that the project leaders have the skills and competencies to adequately give shape to such tasks. The necessary skills of the project managers and leaders are assessed through the case study around Hubble Telescope launch project [1].
Leadership Issues: Project Manager and Project Leaders are responsible and accountable for the success/failure of the project. There are projects wherein the leaders do not have the required skills sets to lead and manage the project and the success rate of such projects is usually low.
There are numerous responsibilities that are assigned to a Project Leader during the leadership journey. Communication in the project is one of such primary responsibilities. The Project Leaders are responsible for ensuring enhanced level of communication among the internal team members. The leaders are also responsible of maintaining the effective levels of communication with the external stakeholders. In the case of the absence of necessary communication skills, there may be enhanced conflicts among the team members and the stakeholders.
There are also various risks that a project is exposed to which is referred in this project management leadership case study. A leaders needs to understand the nature and type of these risks to implement the resolution and treatment strategies accordingly. However, there are certain leaders that fail to identify and analyse these risks adequately. There are also cases wherein the leaders fail to obtain the necessary support from the fellow team members. The treatment of the risks in such cases becomes a major issue in the project [2].
The leader and managers are responsible for making sure that the resources in the project contribute towards the project and show enhanced levels of motivation at all times. There are scenarios wherein the productivity levels of the resources may fluctuate and it is the responsibility of the leader to make sure that enhanced resource productivity is always maintained all throughout the project. However, there are leaders that do not have team collaboration and cohesion skills that may lead to the inability to maintain the required productivity levels of the resources.
Leadership Styles: Charles Pellerin relied heavily on the emotional intelligence and the leadership styles driven and regulated by the same. There are four major categories in which Charles classified the leadership styles in to. The classification in this project management leadership case study is also based on the emotional quotient with combination of logic.
The primary leadership styles that were applied by Charles were emotional-intuitive and emotional-sensing leadership in order to manage the project. The first category of leaders is the one in which the leaders put a lot of focus on the fellow team members and provide them the opportunity to participate in the decision making processes. Collaboration is the key to success in such leadership styles. The second style of leadership is the one in which the leaders work on developing the team skills and carry out team-building activities to achieve the business objectives. The amalgamation of these two styles was done by Charles to achieve the project aims.
Charles made sure that the resources were not simply directed as per the commands of the leader but they also participated in the leadership activities and decision-making processes. As a result, the primary style of leadership that has been identified by Charles is transformational leadership. It is the leadership style that includes resource collaboration and engagement in the decision-making activities. It is the style in which the leaders encourage all of the team members to participate in the decision-making activities [3]. The leaders and the members in the project team work along to achieve the project aims and objectives.
Project Success: The traditional styles of leadership are no longer applicable in achieving the successful results in the project. It has become necessary that the newer leadership styles are used and applied. The leadership style for project success is not a static approach. Rather, it depends upon the project factors and components. There is bureaucratic style of leadership in which the leader provides the direction to the team members and motivates them to perform in the best interest of the project [4]. The style has been successful in achieving positive results as the team has the correct guidance and understanding of the path to be followed.
Transformational leadership as explained in the section above is another style that can be utilized to achieve the project success. In this style, the collaboration from the fellow team members is also included in the decision-making processes so that the perspective of all the entities is undertaken before making any final decisions [5].
Ethical Issues: The failure of the Hubble Project as discussed in this project management leadership case study was due to various reasons. There were technical and operational issues involved in the failure. Apart from these issues, there were numerous leadership and ethical issues that were also involved.
The failure of the Hubble Project as discussed in this project management leadership case study was due to various reasons. There were technical and operational issues involved in the failure. Apart from these issues, there were numerous leadership and ethical issues that were also involved.
Such issues provide an indication of the gaps in the ethical execution and compliance in the areas of professional development and competence of the resources [6].
Conclusion
Leadership is one of the necessary traits of the managers and leaders involved in the project as referred in this project management leadership case study. However, apart from the regular leadership styles and skills, there are various other skills that a leader must have. Some of these skills include communication skills, team collaboration skills, negotiation skills, and likewise. The amalgamation of all of these skills and knowledge provide the leaders with the ability to succeed as an efficient leader. It is also necessary that the leaders succeed in maintaining enhanced levels of team engagement and collaboration level and provide them with the ability to bring forward their concerns and issues. The resolution of the concerns in this project management leadership case study will be made possible with the aid of the such an approach. Project Management Leadership Case Study assignments are being prepared by our project management help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable help with assignments online service.
References
[1]C. Emond, "The Best Project Managers are Emotion-driven Leaders", Project Smart, 2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-best-project-managers-are-emotion-driven-leaders.php. [Accessed: 25- Apr- 2019].
[2]W. Drath, "Issues & observations: Leadership beyond leaders and followers", Leadership in Action, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 20-24, 2012. Available: 10.1002/lia.1265.
[3]N. Saxena, "Paradigm Change of Leaders, from Transformational Leadership to Super Leadership", SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012. Available: 10.2139/ssrn.2528378.
[4]T. Bark and E. Bell, "Issue Prioritization by Bureaucratic Leaders: The Influence of Institutional Structure", Administration & Society, p. 009539971881019, 2018. Available: 10.1177/0095399718810194.
[5]K. Anderson, "Transformational teacher leadership: decentring the search for transformational leadership", International Journal of Management in Education, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 109, 2008. Available: 10.1504/ijmie.2008.018388.
[6]Myers, "Preparing for Ethical Leadership: A Longitudinal Study", Journal of Leadership Education, vol. 14, no. 2, 2015. Available: 10.12806/v14/i2/r10.
