LEADERSHIP IN PROJECTS

CALL FOR PAPERS
TPM Special Issue

LEADERSHIP IN PROJECTS
Guest Editor: Nicholas Clarke

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30th June 2011

Team Performance Management has established a strong reputation over a number of years for publishing high quality research that examines the ‘soft’ or human side of projects. This parallels developments in our understanding of the importance of team processes and relationship management as ‘critical’ factors associated with project effectiveness (Cooke-Davis 2002; Hodgson & Cicmil 2008). 

Within this area of research, increasingly attention is being targeted on the specific area of leadership. To date, contributions in this area have offered insights into the relevance of leadership style as an area of particular significance for project contexts (Clarke 2010a; Keller 2006; Strang 2005;); how different leadership behaviours are more relevant for different types or stages of a project (Muller & Turner 2007; Weinkauf & Hoegl 2002; Thambain 2004), perspectives on the functions of leadership in projects (Cobb 2006); the leadership behaviours of top performers in projects (Hacker 2000; Skipper & Bell 2006); leadership issues in virtual projects (Andres 2002; Oertig & Buergi 2006) as well as the relationship between leadership and project effectiveness or success (Heinz et al 2006; Yang, Huang, & Wu 2010).

One of the more interesting aspects of this body of work is seeking to understand more about how the specific context of a particular project may influence the nature of leadership. Norman, Khan & Ehsan (2010) for example found that project virtuality moderated relationships between leadership and empowerment, whilst increasing complexity in projects may place boundary conditions on the significance of transformational leadership behaviours (Keegan & Den Hartog 2004). This suggests the traditional, functionalist approach to leadership commonly found within project management texts (and the project management body of knowledge) may in fact becoming increasingly divorced from the reality of how projects operate in practice. At the same time, elsewhere in the project management literature attention to other but related soft aspects of project management such as the role of emotions (Clarke 2010b; Lindebaum 2010; Peslak 2005), trust (Maurer 2010), commitment (Gattiker & Carter 2010) and social capital (Tansley & Huang 2004),   are opening up new avenues from which to examine our understanding of leadership in this particular form of work organization. 

This special issue will offer a platform for bringing together the most recent theoretical and empirical research investigating the notion of leadership in projects. We welcome submissions from a wide range of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds, including project management and management science, human resource management, organizational behaviour, psychology and sociology. Papers undertaking comparative studies of leadership in different types of projects are also particularly encouraged. 
Empirical papers that investigate leadership from across the spectrum of quantitative and qualitative methodologies as well as those that seek to advance new methodological approaches for studying leadership in project contexts are highlighted. 

To encourage submissions from as wide a range of perspectives as possible, we are using an open and competitive process for this call. All manuscripts submitted must be original work and not under consideration by any other journal. Papers will then be subject to the rigorous, blind-review process in order to ensure quality and appropriateness. 

Authors considering submission are welcome to contact the guest editor with a short summary of their paper or any queries to Dr Nicholas Clarke, at  n.r.clarke@soton.ac.uk by 1 March 2011. The final deadline for receipt of all manuscripts is 30 June 2011. 

Although not exhaustive, suitable topics could be drawn from the following:

1. New perspectives on how the concept of leadership might be better understood within project contexts as well as critical reviews of orthodox approaches.
2. Investigations of the role and significance of leadership style to project contexts and/or project stages.
3. How cultural differences affect expectations of leadership in projects.
4. How followers are conceptualised in projects and their influence on leadership.
5. The relative importance of leadership to project effectiveness or success.
6. How leadership interacts with project team culture, learning and/or relationship management.
7. The role of the project manager as leader, including in-depth analyses of how leadership in enacted with key project constituents (eg stakeholders, technical specialists, suppliers, procurement, line managers).
8. Moral and ethical dilemmas facing leadership specifically within project contexts.
9. Implications of leadership for education, training and qualification in project management.

Manuscripts should not exceed the customary word length of 7000 words for Team Performance Management and must adhere to the TPM submission requirements. These can be found at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/writing/index.htm. 

Submissions to the issue should be made through ScholarOne Manuscripts: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tpm.

Emerald encourages authors for whom English is not a first language to avail themselves of the Emerald Publishing Editing Services before submitting their manuscripts. For more information on this service visit http://info.emeraldinsight.com

References
Andres, H.P. (2002), ‘A comparison of face to face and virtual software development teams’, Team Performance Management, Vol. 8, pp. 39-48.
Clarke, N (2010a), ‘Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences’, Project Management Journal, Vol 28, No.3, pp. 1-10. 
Clarke, N. (2010b), ‘Projects are emotional: How project managers’ emotional awareness can influence decisions and behaviours in projects’, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol 3, No. 4, pp. 604-624.
Cobb, A.T. (2006). Leading Project Teams. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage
Cooke-Davies, T. (2002),  ‘The real success factors on projects’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 20 No. 3, pp. 185-190. 
Gattiker, T.F., & Carter, C.R. (2010), ‘Understanding project champions’s ability to gain intra-organizational commitment for environmental projects’, Journal of Operations Management, Vol 28 No.1, pp.72-85.
Hacker, M. (2000), ‘The impact of top performers on project teams’, Team Performance Management, Vol 6, No. 5/6, pp. 85-90.
Heinz, V., Baga, T., Gebert, D & Kearney, E. (2006), ‘Leadership and cooperation as success factors in innovative R&D projects on electronic platforms’, Team Performance Management, Vol 12 No. 3/ 4, pp.66-76.
Hodgson, D. & Cicmil, S. (2008), ‘The other side of projects: The case for critical project studies’, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol 1 No.1, pp.142-152.
Keegan, A.E., & Hartog, D,N. (2004), ‘Transformational leadership in a project-based environment: A comparative study of the leadership styles of project managers and line managers’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 22 No. 8, pp.609-618. 
Keller, R.T. (2006), ‘Transformational leadership, initiating structure and substitutes for leadership: A longitudinal study of research and development project team performance’,  Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 91 No.1, pp.202-210. 
Lindebaum, D. & Fielden, S. (2010), ‘‘Its good to be angry’: Enacting anger in construction project management to achieve perceived leader effectiveness’, Human Relations, DOI: 10.1177/0018726710381149.
Maurer, I. (2010),  ‘How to build trust in inter-organizational projects: the impact of project staffing and project rewards on the formation of trust, knowledge, acquisition and product innovation’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 28 No.7, pp.629-637.
Muller, R., & Turner, J.R. (2007), ‘Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 25, pp.21-32.
Nauman, S., Khan, A.M., & Ehsan, N. (2010), ‘Patterns of empowerment and leadership style in project environment’, International Journal of Project Management, Vol 28, pp. 638-649.
Oertig, M. & Buergi, T. (2006), ‘The challenges of managing cross cultural virtual project teams’,  Team Performance Management, Vol 12 No. 1/ 2, pp.23-30.
Peslak, A.R. (2005), ‘Emotions and team projects and processes’, Team Performance Management, Vol 11 No.7/8, pp. 251-262.
Skipper, & Bell, (2006), ‘Assessment with 360° Evaluations of Leadership Behavior in Construction Project Managers’, Journal of Management in Engineering, Vol 22 No.2, pp.75-80. 
Strang, K.S. (2005). ‘Examining effective and ineffective transformational project leadership’, Team Performance Management, Vol 11 No. 3/ 4, pp.68-103.
Tansley, C., & Huang, J. (2004), ‘Social capital and knowledge integration in an ERP project teams: The importance of bridging and bonding’,  British Journal of Management, Vol 15, Supplement, 1 S43-S57.
Thambain, H.J. (2004), ‘Team leadership effectiveness in technology-based project environments’, Project Management Journal, Vol 35 No.4, pp. 35-46.
Weinkauf, K. & Hoegl, M. (2002), ‘Team leadership activities in different project phases’,  Team Performance Management, Vol 8 No. 7/8, pp. 171-182
Yang, L-R., Huang, C-F., & Wu, H-S. (2010), ‘The association among project manager’s leadership style, teamwork and project success’, International Journal of Project Management. Doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.03.006