See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342112967 Effective IT Project Leadership Article in MIS Quarterly Executive June 2020 CITATION 1 4 authors: Mike Taein Eom University

of Portland 17 PUBLICATIONS 117 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE David S. Preston Texas Christian University 31 PUBLICATIONS 2,907 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Wilfred Wu on 06 June 2023. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. READS 238 Wilfred Wu University of Oklahoma 8 PUBLICATIONS 117 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Jerry N. Luftman Global Institute for IT Management 83 PUBLICATIONS 6,961 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE ResearchGate SIM MIS MARTERLY XECUTIVE EXE WHERE IT LEADERS CONNECT 金 TM KELLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS INDIANA UNIVERSITY Effective IT Project Leadership Effective project leadership, which goes beyond traditional project management, is essen- tial for successfully deploying IT initiatives that are often overwhelmed with increasing levels of technology and business integration complexity. We identify five distinct project leadership types (Administrator, Technologist, Business Integration Lead, Principal Lead, and Consummate Lead) that can be matched to projects with different complexity levels. Together with the corresponding transformational and transactional behaviors essen- tial for leaders, these five types provide a framework for effective project leadership. ¹,2 Mike Taein Eom University of Portland (U.S.) David S. Preston Texas Christian University (U.S.) DOI: 10.17705/2msqe.00029 Wilfred W. Wu University of Portland (U.S.) Jerry N. Luftman Global Institute for IT Management (U.S.) Successful IT Initiatives Require More than Traditional Project Management Organizations continue to face challenges as they seek to deploy and use emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G and 6G networks, robotics, blockchain, and biometrics. The impact of IT on organizational success is reflected in the projected worldwide 2020 IT spending of $3.9 trillion, an increase of 3.4% over 2019.³ This increase underlies the importance of IT initiatives (delivered via IT projects) for organizations. The continual emergence of new technologies provides new technological sophistication and has profound organizational implications. New technologies often substantially increase both IT project uncertainty and ambiguity, and challenge organizations to create desired business outcomes. To be successful, organizations need proficient project leadership that goes beyond traditional IT project management.4 1 Varun Grover is the accepting senior editor for this article. 2 The authors are thankful for the helpful guidance provided by Professor Grover and the anonymous reviewers. 3 McLellan, C. IT budgets 2020: How the Money Will Be Spent, and Who Will Spend it, ZDNet, September 3, 2019, available at https://www.zdnet.com/article/it-budgets-2020-how-the-money-will-be-spent-and-who-will-spend-it/. This article includes Gartner's IT budget projection for 2020. See also: 1) Kappelman, L., Torres, R., McLean, E., Maurer, C., Johnson, V. and Kim, K. "The 2018 SIM IT Issues and Trends Study," MIS Quarterly Executive (18:1), March 2019, pp. 281-314, which shows that more IT initiatives are aligned with organizational mission and overall strategic goals; and 2) Peppard, J. and Ward, J. "Unlocking Sustained Business Value from IT Investments," California Management Review (48:1), October 2005, pp. 52-70, which discusses how IT projects are contributing to organizational success. 4 The unique nature of IT projects and how to run effective IT projects are illustrated in: 1) Keil, M. and Mähring, M. "Is Your Project Turning into a Black Hole?" California Management Review (53:1), November 2010, pp. 6-31; and 2) Weiner, M., Mähring, M., Remus, U. and Saunders, C. "Control Configuration and Control Enactment in Information Systems Projects: Review and Ex- panded Theoretical Framework," MIS Quarterly (40:3), September 2016, pp. 741-771. June 2020 (19:2) | MIS Quarterly Executive 135 Effective IT Project Leadership Table 1: Project Management and Project Leadership5 Participants Decision rights before adopting data analytics Role Focus Source of Impact Process Goals Tactician functioning within existing organizational parameters. Tasks and process of the project. Project management are contrasted in Table Methodical planning with rational goals, resources, clarified roles, and delegated tasks Long-term overall vision, charisma, and Subject matter knowledge, expertise, social capability for interpersonal and and experience. organizational relationship-building and communication. Monitoring the progress of the project with quality standards, problem solving, and timely milestones. Efficiency (and productivity) by doing things right. Meeting project milestones and demonstrating benefits defined by the organization. and project leadership Project leadership is an evolution of traditional project management to a role that requires an understanding of a project's core business process implications and the changes businesses must make to take advantage of new technologies.5 Every industry around the globe is now operating in the “era of digitization,” where organizational leaders must engage in IT projects to capitalize on information assets for strategic- level initiatives. Although those performing a project leadership role are often competent project managers, good project managers may not necessarily be effective leaders; the two 136 MIS Quarterly Executive | June 2020 (19:2) 5 The key project management and project leadership character- istics shown in Table 1 are based on: 1) Kotter, J. P. "What Leaders Really Do," Harvard Business Review (68:3), June 1990; 2) Strang, K. "Examining effective technology project leadership traits and behaviors," Computers in Human Behavior (23:1), January 2007, pp. 424-462; and 3) Toor, S. and Ofori, G. "Leadership versus Manage- ment: How They Are Different and Why," Leadership and Manage- ment in Engineering (8:2), April 2008, pp. 61-71. Strategist expanding organizational parameters. People and overall strategic goals of the project. Decision rights after adopting data analytics ● ● ● Articulating the strategic goals of the project and beyond the project Providing empowerment and adequate resources in decision making and tasks Handling conflict and overcoming challenges Encouraging innovative problem solving. Effectiveness by doing the right things. Demonstrating overall value and attaining long-term strategic goals for the organization. roles are fundamentally different. Nevertheless, project management and project leadership are complementary. Managerial roles tend to focus on how to supervise project tasks, while leadership roles focus on how to deploy IT and attain business value. Focusing on both management and leadership are necessary for successfully deploying the technology that results from an IT project and requires addressing varying degrees of technology and business integration complexities. The context of an IT project can rapidly change due to organizational and technological complexities and market forces. Coping with a changing project context requires an integration of managerial and leadership roles balanced 6 The distinction between leadership and management was discussed in detail using interview data in Toor, S. "Differentiating Leadership from Management: An Empirical Investigation of Leaders and Managers," Leadership and Management in Engineering (11:4), October 2011, pp. 310-320. misqe.org | © 2019 University of Minnesota Figure 1: IT Project Leadership Framework Project Complexity Technology Business Integration with traditional technical management skills.7 This integrative view builds on the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) talent triangle. The PMI's talent triangle comprises leadership, strategic management, and technical project management.Ⓡ However, the nature of IT projects means they both modify existing technologies and likely apply emerging technologies in IT initiatives that enhance the operations of an organization. These "technology" aspects of IT projects add a layer of complexity and call for managerial and leadership skills that go beyond the PMI's talent triangle. Our research indicates that there is a strong requirement to apply a more integrative and comprehensive project leadership framework (see Figure 1). This framework includes five types of project leadership (Administrator, Technology Lead, Business Integration Lead, Principal Lead, and Consummate Lead), with leadership roles being assumed by one or more people- typically project manager, project champions, project sponsors, or business counterparts. The framework also identifies the best fit between the five types and project complexity, 7 For information about project leadership roles, see: 1) Muller, R. and Turner, R. "Leadership Competency profiles of successful project managers," International Journal of Project Management (28:5), July 2010, pp. 437-448; 2) Muller, R., Geraldi, J. and Turner, J. R. "Relationships Between Leadership and Success in Different Types of Project Complexities," IEEE Transactions on Engineering Manage- ment (59:1), March 2012, pp. 77-90; and 3) Turner, J. R., Muller, R. and Dulewicz, V. "Comparing the leadership styles of functional and project managers," International Journal of Managing Projects in Business (2:2), April 2009, pp. 198-216. 8 For more information on the talent triangle, see PMBOK Guide, Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, 2017. Project Leadership Type Assumed By 00000 Administrator Technology Lead Business Integration Lead Principal Lead Consummate Lead Project Manager Project Champion Project Sponsor Effective IT Project Leadership Business Counterparts taking account of both technology and business integration complexity. This framework enables organizations to ensure the success of IT projects in today's dynamic business and technology environments. The need for such a framework is recognized by the information systems (IS) academic community.⁹ A lack of proper project leadership often results in IT initiatives that don't deliver the expected business benefits, especially when the initiatives are directly related to a company's revenue. The impact of a lack of project leadership is illustrated by two frequently discussed failed IT initiatives: 1) the National Health Service's (NHS's) Electronic Health Record systems project in England, and 2) Denver International Airport's Automated Baggage System project. In the NHS case, project leadership lacked the management skills required to respond to the changing technology scope and specifications of the project. In addition, leadership did not build relationships among the key constituents or resolve major points of contention, including timelines, cost, changes in scope, and progress. The Department of Health declined to report objective information about project progress to the U.K. Parliament while the government was reluctant to audit the project and openly 9 See, for example: 1) Piotrowski, C. and Watt, J. D. “Developing Leaders: Examining the Role of Transactional and Transformational Leadership across Business Contexts," Organization Development Journal (29:3), December, 2011, pp. 51-66; and 2) Nauman, S., Khan, A. and Ehsan, N. "Patterns of Empowerment and Leadership Style in Project Environment," International Journal of Project Management (28:7), October 2010, pp. 638-649. June 2020 (19:2) | MIS Quarterly Executive 137 Effective IT Project Leadership Figure 2: Classification of Project Complexity High Technology Complexity Low 2. Underlying Technology Elements Examples: Projects focused on emerging technologies-artificial intelligence (Al), machine learning, virtual reality (VR)-or large-scale software applications- healthcare record systems, insurance claims systems 1. Process-driven Project Examples: IT infrastructure management and maintenance projects-cloud migration of email, database servers and upgrades of applications Low we-can-learn-from-them.html. evaluate the program. Project leadership failed to adequately communicate project progress and required changes. In the Denver International Airport case, project leadership failed to engage all key stakeholders (e.g., project team, major airlines) when assessing, mitigating, and addressing the risks arising from scope changes. Leadership disregarded the risk reports and forged ahead with the project, which led to inadequate resources. These failures on the part of project leadership cost the NHS in England £10 billion (approximately $13 billion) and Denver International Airport $2 billion. ¹⁰ Our research reported in this article reinforces the importance of project leadership. By building on the core principles of IT project management, we clarified the leadership roles inherent in complex IT projects. We used a modified Delphi methodology for data collection and an integrated grounded-theory approach to analyze firsthand field data gathered in two panel sessions involving interviews with a total of 33 participants. (The research methodology, including the interview questions asked, 10 For more examples of project leadership failures, see Widman, J. "IT's biggest project failures and what we can learn from them,” Computerworld, October 9, 2008, available at https://www.computer- world.com/article/2533563/it-s-biggest-project-failures----and-what- Business Integration Complexity 138 MIS Quarterly Executive | June 2020 (19:2) 4. Integration of Technology and Business Elements י Examples: Projects enabling seamless and uninterrupted interactions and transactions for revenue generation- ERP, CRM, loT, big data/data analytics for supply chain management 3. Synthesis of Business Elements Examples: Projects encompassing multiple functions and business processes-collaboration application/ portal, airline reservations, insurance claims High is described in Appendix A.)¹¹ The project leadership framework presented in Figure 1 was derived from data collected from the participants. ¹2 We describe the components of the framework in more detail below, beginning with a classification of project complexity and then descriptions of the project management and leadership roles necessary for different types of project complexity. Next, we describe the roles and behaviors necessary for effective project leadership and the different project leadership styles that arise from the roles and behaviors. Finally, based on the research findings, we provide three recommendations for effective project leadership. Project Complexity 13 In line with prior project management literature, ¹3 our research data showed that organizations deal with multiple and evolving layers of complexity (technical and nontechnical) 11 In keeping with the Institutional Review Board's (IRB's) ano- nymity guidelines, participants are identified by letters (A, B, etc.). Information about the anonymous participants' job titles and industry sectors are is included in Appendix A. 12 The projects described during the interviews were highly diverse in scope (in terms of coverage and support), and the deliverables ranged from new IT applications to installations of off-the-shelf products. 13 For discussions on project complexity, see: 1) Muller, R., Ger- aldi, J. and Turner, J. R., op. cit., March 2012; and 2) Muller, R., and Turner, J. R. "Matching the Project Manager's Leadership Style to Project Type," International Journal of Project Management (25:1), January 2007, pp. 21-31. misqe.org | © 2019 University of Minnesota/n Instructions: Read the Week 2 article (Week 2 MISQE Effective IT Management) and write a 2-page, double spaced response summarizing what the article was about and what you learned.