A Study of the Leadership Styles of Project Managers and its Impact on Project Performance in Software Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of leadership styles of project managers in project performance in software Industry of Punjab Pakistan. Full leadership model was selected to make comparison of the effects of three leadership styles (Transformational, Transactional, Laissez-fair) of project managers in project performance. So software industry was focused in this research. After comprehensive literature review on the related topic in the hypothesized model a questionnaire was developed and its validity was checked by the pilot survey first. A sample of two hundred and fifteen first level managers, directly working under project managers like software Architects, Principal software Engineers, Developers, programmers, Quality Assurance personals in software industry was selected by using simple random sampling and the response rate was seventy two percent. The analysis was completed by using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis by SPSS- 16. Finally conclusion and recommendations are suggested. The study concludes that Transformational leadership of project manager has significant effect in project performance and its two construct charisma (CHM) and inspiration (INS) are proved significant and this study also provides significant practical implications of the results for the project managers working in software houses of Pakistan that they can enhance the performance of their projects by learning and exhibiting transformational leadership style as according to Pakistani working environment of software houses this leadership style is proved effective. Further areas for future research and implications are also highlighted in this thesis.