The Role of Leadership in Project-oriented Organizations

Juris Binde, Ilze Saulite
(Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, Ltd., Ropazu str.6, Riga, Latvia)

Abstract: The future challenges of telecommunication companies are related to the convergence that will manifest itself as the merger of the Internet, mobile, fixed and television/video communications into one service package. The key of the project management discipline is a project manager—his/her skills, competencies, experience, and personality. Research shows that leadership is currently the most demanded competence at all levels of management including project management. As projects become more sophisticated and in many cases are related to organizational change the need for leadership is growing. Ability to meet the challenges and hardships, to allay uncertainty in the team becomes crucial to succeed in development projects. The role of a leader in a project is more than just effectively managing resources—human, financial and time, in order to achieve the goal. The leader has a clear vision, ability to bring out the best in people and inspire them to perform better than they knew they could. Project management based on leadership can ensure that energy is used to create value for the company and people take responsibility for bringing the team closer to the common goal. The aim of the paper is to justify the leadership change in the organization’s management approach as the main competence in project management.

Key words: leadership; project-oriented organizations; management; project management

JEL codes: M12, O32