Description
In this research study, leadership factors of HR planning were adopted on the basis of project nature and analyzed the effect of the factors on the performance of the project.
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
18
The Impact of Leadership on Project Performance
Muhammad Shahzad Chaudhry
1
, Masood Nawaz Kalyar
2*
, Abd ur Rehman
3
1. National University of Modern Languages (Lahore Campus), Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
2. College of Management & Administrative Sciences, GC University Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
3. National University of Modern Languages (Lahore Campus), Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
* E-mail of the corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
In this research study, leadership factors of HR planning were adopted on the basis of project nature and analyzed
the effect of the factors on the performance of the project. The links of these factors with strategic goals and
objectives of the project were explored in order to improve project performance and develop organizational culture
that foster innovativeness, flexibility, formulating and executing HR systems & policies and activities that produce
the employees competencies and behavior the project needs to achieve its strategic aims. The data was collected
from includes 70 employees from four main consultancies companies working together on a project, located in
Lahore, Pakistan. Responses were gone through EFA and Cronbach’s alpha test to assure consistency and reliability.
Finally, path analysis in SEM using Amos was run to explore the nature and strength of the links. Results suggest
that leadership has positive links with project performance.
Keywords: HR Planning, Project Human Management System (PHMS), Leadership, SEM
1. Introduction
The Human Resource (HR) is one of the very important natural resource for the organization to accomplishing the
tasks in proper manners. In Pakistan, major failures of projects are due to lack of HR planning and its
implementation. Most of companies have no formal infrastructure of HR department and those who have, not
properly implementing it. Project Human Management System (PHMS), plays a vital role in every face of all
projects by rendering project monitoring and system support services (Rodrigues & Bowers, 1996). The workforce
of PHMS comprises of qualified and competent personal from project planning & IT discipline, who pole their
efforts to come up with smart solution to fulfill a project’s planning and system related needs (Dvir, Raz, & Shenhar,
2003).
In this research leadership factors of HR planning are chosen on the base of project nature and analyze the effect of
these factors on the performance of the project. The link of leadership with strategic goals and objective in order to
improve project performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility, formulating and
executing HR systems & policies and activities-that produce the employees competencies and behaviors the project
needs to achieve its strategic aims (Luthans, Norman, & Hughes, 2006). All Divisional/Departmental Heads are
responsible to identify and to ensure that all staff involved in work that affects quality is appropriately trained and
qualified. Invest in its Human Resources by providing training and education opportunities to enhance their skills
and performance. Clearly identify the functions, responsibilities, authorities and interrelationships of all personnel
who manage, perform and verify work affecting quality (Berson & Avolio, 2004).
There is need to increase the efficiency of this project by making Human resource (HR) planning more effective,
and analyzing its impact on the project. HR planning is such an essential part of the success of any company that
they have to set up a section to both explain the HR planning functions, and help HR professionals execute those
plans effectively. HR planning used to describe how companies ensure the right staff to do the jobs. The factors are
chosen on the basis of project nature. The factors for this study include planning for Leadership, Training and
Compensation.
The research is closely related to the area of leadership because it shows these human resource practices’ effects on
the performance and motivation of the employees in this project. So the different projects should emphasis specific
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
19
type of human resource practice(s) to integrate their HR practices with project goals and to solve their excellence
performance through these HR practices.
2. Literature Review
Long & Ismail (2009) study examined the relationship of demographic factors of HR practitioners with HR
competencies in the manufacturing companies of Malaysia. The findings show that the top rank HR competencies
are personal credibility and HR delivery. In this research the findings show that HR practitioners in manufacturing-
companies of the southern-region of Malaysia are lacking in business related human resource competencies. This is
one of the main barriers to be surmounted if local HR practitioners are to become strategic partners in their
organizations.
Kovács & Gergely (2009) explain human resources management is one of the management functions, dealing with
people as the essential resource of the organization. This function aims at the most efficient usage of employees in
order to realize both organizational and individual goals. Nowadays high significance is attributed to human
resources management, since the human factor is the resource that determines the success of an organization. The
results of a company are in proportion with the knowledge and talent of the people on its payroll.
Prabhakar (2008) describe most of the projects hear of in media are either over budget, late or are simply not good
enough and still different lobbies of people claim that those projects have been successful. Neither the practitioners
nor the academicians seem to agree on what constitutes project success. It seems to be a rather elusive concept. This
paper attempts to put forth the points of views of different researchers in this field. In HR planning, project manager
is an important factor leading to project success. As discussed above, many leading authors agree with this point of
view and are conducting research to substantiate this grounded theory. This paper has endeavoured to bring out the
factors associated with project manager’s leadership style having profound impact on project success.
Birch, Kephart, Murphy, Pallas, Alder, & MacKenzie (2007) developed an analytical framework based on the
production of health care services and the multiple determinants of health human resource requirements. The
requirements for human resources in the future is shown to depend on four elements: the size and demographic mix
of the population (demography), the levels of risks to health and morbidity in the population (epidemiology), the
services deemed appropriate to address the levels of risks to health and morbidity (standards of care), and the rate of
service delivery by providers (productivity).
Silvas (2005) understand the conjunction of human and natural systems and the nature of their interactions has been
more and more crucial. The integrated response to the human management of natural systems is nowadays based on
“sustainable development” concept which emphasizes the need to make compatible social, economic and
environmental systems.
Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania (2004) explained (PMP Certification) to Managing Project through
Project Guidance, case Study & test papers. PMP helps to mange the performance of a project and also helps to
increase work efficiency, when human resources are viewed as an asset, companies enhance individual value
through training and human development and ensure continued contribution to the organization”. The importance of
human resources for the corporate performance has in any case proved both in the literature and the empirical
research conducted in all industrial sectors.
Dessler, G. (2004) describes the various training programs are formulated to provide dual purposes. Courses like,
Team Building, Managerial Skills, Negotiation and conflict resolution can be fully utilized to improve inter as well
as intra personal and communication skills. Technical training programs not only cover the theoretical aspect of
civil, electrical and mechanical technologies but also how efficiently and effectively companies make use of it at
different sites.
Fey & Bjorkman (2000) examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and the
performance of foreign owned subsidiaries in Russia. The sample size 101 foreign owned subsidiaries, the study’s
results HRM practices can substantially help a firm perform better when spending high investment in this field. In
this research furthermore, different HRM practices for non-managerial and managerial level employees are found to
be significantly related with firm performance. However, only limited support is obtained for the hypothesized
relationship between subsidiary performance and efforts at aligning HRM practices with firm strategy. The results of
this study provide relatively strong support for the existence of a positive relationship between HRM practices and
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
20
the performance of Russian subsidiaries of Western corporations.
Weinger (1997) addressed some questions by decision-makers as they move towards the production of national and
sub national plans for human resources development (HRD) in environmental and occupational health. People with
appropriate training are an essential requirement in all countries for environmental hazard control and sustainable
development in both the general and the occupational (workplace) environment. However, the task of HRD planning
in environmental and occupational health may seem daunting. It involves assessing the current workforce and
training opportunities, estimating the number and type of staff needed to carry out necessary functions, creating and
upgrading existing educational institutions to produce new personnel, and providing continuing education for
professionals in the field, as well as managing and supervising personnel.
Jackson & Schuler (1990) describes human resource planning have traditionally been used by organizations to
ensure that the right person is in the right job at the right time. Under past conditions of relative environmental
certainty and stability, human resource planning focused on the short term and was dictated largely by line
management concerns. Increasing environmental instability, demographic shifts, changes in technology, and
heightened international competition are changing the need for and the nature of human resource planning in leading
organizations.
3. Theoretical Framework
Leadership is an important function in small business as well in all industrial projects. Leadership and management
represent two completely different business concepts (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Thomas, 1988). Leadership is
commonly defined as establishing a clear vision, communicating the vision with others and resolving the conflicts
between various individuals who are responsible for completing the company’s’ vision (McColl-Kennedy &
Anderson, 2002). Management is the organization and coordination of various economic resources in a business.
Leadership can have a significant impact on an organization’s performance as a whole as well as performance of
various projects.
The belief that leaders actually influence project performance and morale is so acceptable that very little research
and opinion even deals with this issue. Maccoby (1976) conducted in-depth interviews with business executives
over twenty years ago and concluded that organizations required a higher level of leadership than ever before to
survive and prosper. In some industrial projects the role of leadership has had a great influence. The decision to
change leadership in cases has a hit or miss but in the high upside cases the performance of the project team can be
increased through efficient leadership. In addition to leadership making a tangible difference, the perception of these
differences is also important. In some industries it is not only who the new leader is, notoriety, but what is their
background, as well. In computer technology and aerospace it is prudent that the new leader have a strong legacy of
competency in the businesses (McColl-Kennedy & Anderson, 2002). Their knowledge of the business is importance
since almost all of the CEO’s in these businesses are from the industry specifically.
Organizations and teams as well are complex social systems of decorative interactions among people. Simplified,
the need to understand events is directly attributed to the leader by name or by place. Their success is seen as heroic
by the workers and management. The future successions are measured by the perception of the previous leader. If we
accept the logic of attribution theory in a positive way, most firms’ and projects’ successes are attributed to heroic
leaders (Waldman, Bass, & Einstein, 1987). Hence on the basis of discussions above it is proposed that leaders play
a vital role in successful performance of firm’s projects. We can develop the following hypothesis that;
H1: Leadership and performance of the project are significantly correlated.
INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE
4. Methodology
4.1. Data Collection
Through structured questionnaire, data was collected from the companies, which make joint venture (JV) for this
project and their departments specially HR department and different engineering departments included in the
project. The leadership questionnaire was adopted from Antonakis, Avolio, and Sivasubramaniam (2003). The
questionnaires include the questions based on leadership and project performance at the level of maturity that is
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
21
satisfactory performance. The project performance instrument was adopted from (Keller, 1986).In the questionnaire,
“five point liker scale (strongly agree, agree, no idea, disagree and strongly disagree)” was used to check the
significant impact. The questionnaire was distributed among the top subject specialist and section comprising
engineering, sociology, environment, institutional development and so on.
The sample used in the study includes 70 employees from four main consultancies companies working together on a
project, located in Lahore, Pakistan. The sample is a true representative of the population. The total population size
is 145 employees working on this project. Among these respondents, 55 filled in the questionnaire.
The filled questionnaire was processed by the computer and visualized graphically and in tabulated form. It was
examined by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-16); enabled to know the HR system of the
organizations in depth resulting as well as summarizing the findings of each organization regarding three major
factors.
4.2. Data Analysis and Results
Data was analyzed on different performance effecting parameters including leadership. The results were derived
through using statistical tool. Data was also analyzed using the frequency analysis to describe the results. In
frequency analysis tables took frequency and percent values to describe and conclude the results. In order to address
the research questions, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), correlation analysis and path analysis was used to conduct
analysis. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used as factor extraction method in the study. When principal
components analysis (PCA) is used, it is generally assumed that the original variables or items are correlated, and
principal components analysis will develop a new group of variables that are uncorrelated (Chatfield & Collins,
1980). Finally, path analysis was run in Amos 16 to test the hypothesis whether any links exist between leadership
and project performance.
Frequency descriptive statistic output shows that 11 out of 55 employees (20%) were strongly disagreed with the
working of current team, 21 employees (38.2%) disagreed, 7 employees (12.7%) made no comments while only 8
employees (14.5%) were agreed and other with same percentage (14.5%) were strongly agreed with its working.
Majority of employees (58.2%) disagreed with working system and showed their dissatisfaction with present
working team’s performance because employees have their own working style and they mentally accept their
leader’s dictations. It also shows that project leader cannot handle the pressure at work and does not have skills to
manage it. 21 employees (38.2%) strongly disagreed that project leader handle the stress better, 14 employees
(25.5%) disagreed, 7 employees (12.7%) made no comments, 8 employees (14.5%) agreed with this statement and
only 5 employees (9.1%) strongly disagreed. This shows that 63.7% of the total employees find that their leader
cannot handle the situation under stress. This clear representation that leader needs training to handle the stress
which is very necessary for performance improvement.
The Pearson correlation between employee’s motivation regarding project and leader motivation toward employees
is .316. The P-value .019 < ?, so there is a significant correlation between employee’s motivation toward project and
leader motivation toward employees. It shows that when leader motivate his employees and employees their own
self motivate toward the project it will be better impact on the performance of the project.
The Pearson correlation between leader motivation toward employees and leader’s working style is .486. The P-
value .000 < ?, so there is a significant correlation between employee’s motivation toward project and leader’s
working style. It shows that when leader motivate his employees and proactive & flexible in his working style,
employees automatically adopt his style that would be better impact on the performance of the project. The Pearson
correlation between leadership and project performance was r=0.452, p<0.05. The results from path analysis
suggest that leadership describes 72% of project performance.
INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE
5. Discussions and Conclusion
The Leadership Human Resource (HR) planning has significant impact on performance of the project. These
variables are also positively correlated with the project performance. The variables were operationalized by listing
the HR planning for project performance. In the questionnaires, the questions were based on factors of the HR
planning, level of maturity and how did they affect adopting according to the nature of the project under study
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
22
(Rodrigues & Bowers, 1996). The results show that the variables of HR planning have a positive and significant
effect on the performance of the project.
The hypothesis was tested against the empirical finding related to independent and dependent variables under study
showed that the hypothesis was acceptable. However, the study result indicated that these factors for the HR
planning had positively affected the performance of projects. Managers should focus on functioning factors during
the project planning because they have significant impact on the project performance. The fundamental assumption
of this study is that the ultimate goal of the entire commercial organizational project is to maximize their
performance and successfully implement these factors to get maximum results. All the activities are engaged and
organized to achieve this goal and the most important factor is planning, regarding these factors, to achieve
performance (Berson & Avolio, 2004). The study shows that the project has its own planning for every step/stage
especially in case of human resource, which is very important natural resource. But the results show that most of the
projects fail to achieve this goal due to the little attention of management towards the leadership, training for the
employees and their level of compensation. This study is useful to understand the effect of human resource on the
project performance especially on the implementation of these planning factors.
The research study found that leadership is important to provide guidelines to its employees, managing them
efficiently and work with them to understand their work nature and remove their problems. Arrange training for
them to understand the work, helpful to achieve project goals and know about new procedures and technology used
in work (Jing & Avery, 2011). Compensation directly affects the employees’ performance, while providing them
incentives and financial benefits according to their performance.
The leadership can be strengthened through the personal capabilities of the leader. It should be proactive in his/her
work. The leader should have ability to motivate his/her employees and it is possible only if he/she is educated and
experienced. The project leader should lead the team from front and manage it in efficient way and play an
important role in project success. He should try to create congenial environment for working and helps his
employees in accomplishing task. The leader should be responsible to analyze the situation, and make strategic plan
to solve the problems during project.
6. Limitations of the Study
Besides significant managerial and academia implications of the results, the present study also has some limitations
in its scope and subjects of study. First, the data was of cross sectional nature that was collected only over a single
period of time. Second, the study focused only on a single project rather to study multiple projects. Third, data could
be used to test some other statistical and econometrics techniques to draw more generalized conclusions and
implications. Finally, data was only of quantitative nature and only leadership was taken to explore the relationship
between leadership and project performance. However, future studies could focus on multiple dimensions of HR
planning as well as leadership styles to explore the links in depth. Future studies could also be based on both
qualitative and quantitative nature of data.
References
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Development Activities. International Social Research, 2(8), 11-25.
Antonakis, J., Avolio, B. J., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (2003). Context and leadership: An examination of the nine-
factor full-range leadership theory using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3),
261-295.
Atwater, L. E., & Yammarino, F. J. (1992). Does self?other agreement on leadership perceptions moderate the
validity of leadership and performance predictions? Personnel Psychology, 45(1), 141-164.
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study of a telecommunication firm. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(5), 625-646.
Chaudhry, M. S., & Mahmood, S. Y. (2009). Research Methodology. Lahore: Ilmi Kitab Khana.
Dvir, D., Raz, T., & Shenhar, A. J. (2003). An empirical analysis of the relationship between project planning and
project success. International Journal of Project Management, 21(2), 89-95.
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Psychologists. American Psychological Association, 45(2), 223-239.
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Management Journal, 715-726.
Kovács, E. D., & Gergely, É. (2009). Examining some fields within Human Resources Management. Applied Studies
in Agribusiness and Commerce, 3(4), 49-52.
Kouhy, R., Vedd, R., Yoshikawa, T., & Innes, J. (2009). Human Resource Policies, Accounting and Organizational
Performance. Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, 5(4), 2-10.
Long, C. S., & Ismail, W. K. W. (2009). The Effect of the Demographic Factors on the Competency of HR
Practitioners in Malaysia. European Journal of Social Science, 12(1), 23-27.
Luthans, F., Norman, S., & Hughes, L. (2006). Authentic leadership. Inspiring leaders, 84-104.
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Project Management, 14(4), 213-220.
Schein, E. H. (1976). Increasing Organizational Effectiveness through Better Human Resources Planning and
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processes. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 60(3), 177-186.
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doc_347170868.pdf
In this research study, leadership factors of HR planning were adopted on the basis of project nature and analyzed the effect of the factors on the performance of the project.
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
18
The Impact of Leadership on Project Performance
Muhammad Shahzad Chaudhry
1
, Masood Nawaz Kalyar
2*
, Abd ur Rehman
3
1. National University of Modern Languages (Lahore Campus), Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
2. College of Management & Administrative Sciences, GC University Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan.
3. National University of Modern Languages (Lahore Campus), Lahore 54000, Pakistan.
* E-mail of the corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
In this research study, leadership factors of HR planning were adopted on the basis of project nature and analyzed
the effect of the factors on the performance of the project. The links of these factors with strategic goals and
objectives of the project were explored in order to improve project performance and develop organizational culture
that foster innovativeness, flexibility, formulating and executing HR systems & policies and activities that produce
the employees competencies and behavior the project needs to achieve its strategic aims. The data was collected
from includes 70 employees from four main consultancies companies working together on a project, located in
Lahore, Pakistan. Responses were gone through EFA and Cronbach’s alpha test to assure consistency and reliability.
Finally, path analysis in SEM using Amos was run to explore the nature and strength of the links. Results suggest
that leadership has positive links with project performance.
Keywords: HR Planning, Project Human Management System (PHMS), Leadership, SEM
1. Introduction
The Human Resource (HR) is one of the very important natural resource for the organization to accomplishing the
tasks in proper manners. In Pakistan, major failures of projects are due to lack of HR planning and its
implementation. Most of companies have no formal infrastructure of HR department and those who have, not
properly implementing it. Project Human Management System (PHMS), plays a vital role in every face of all
projects by rendering project monitoring and system support services (Rodrigues & Bowers, 1996). The workforce
of PHMS comprises of qualified and competent personal from project planning & IT discipline, who pole their
efforts to come up with smart solution to fulfill a project’s planning and system related needs (Dvir, Raz, & Shenhar,
2003).
In this research leadership factors of HR planning are chosen on the base of project nature and analyze the effect of
these factors on the performance of the project. The link of leadership with strategic goals and objective in order to
improve project performance and develop organizational culture that foster innovation, flexibility, formulating and
executing HR systems & policies and activities-that produce the employees competencies and behaviors the project
needs to achieve its strategic aims (Luthans, Norman, & Hughes, 2006). All Divisional/Departmental Heads are
responsible to identify and to ensure that all staff involved in work that affects quality is appropriately trained and
qualified. Invest in its Human Resources by providing training and education opportunities to enhance their skills
and performance. Clearly identify the functions, responsibilities, authorities and interrelationships of all personnel
who manage, perform and verify work affecting quality (Berson & Avolio, 2004).
There is need to increase the efficiency of this project by making Human resource (HR) planning more effective,
and analyzing its impact on the project. HR planning is such an essential part of the success of any company that
they have to set up a section to both explain the HR planning functions, and help HR professionals execute those
plans effectively. HR planning used to describe how companies ensure the right staff to do the jobs. The factors are
chosen on the basis of project nature. The factors for this study include planning for Leadership, Training and
Compensation.
The research is closely related to the area of leadership because it shows these human resource practices’ effects on
the performance and motivation of the employees in this project. So the different projects should emphasis specific
Industrial Engineering Letters www.iiste.org
ISSN 2224-6096 (print) ISSN 2225-0581 (online)
Vol 2, No.2, 2012
19
type of human resource practice(s) to integrate their HR practices with project goals and to solve their excellence
performance through these HR practices.
2. Literature Review
Long & Ismail (2009) study examined the relationship of demographic factors of HR practitioners with HR
competencies in the manufacturing companies of Malaysia. The findings show that the top rank HR competencies
are personal credibility and HR delivery. In this research the findings show that HR practitioners in manufacturing-
companies of the southern-region of Malaysia are lacking in business related human resource competencies. This is
one of the main barriers to be surmounted if local HR practitioners are to become strategic partners in their
organizations.
Kovács & Gergely (2009) explain human resources management is one of the management functions, dealing with
people as the essential resource of the organization. This function aims at the most efficient usage of employees in
order to realize both organizational and individual goals. Nowadays high significance is attributed to human
resources management, since the human factor is the resource that determines the success of an organization. The
results of a company are in proportion with the knowledge and talent of the people on its payroll.
Prabhakar (2008) describe most of the projects hear of in media are either over budget, late or are simply not good
enough and still different lobbies of people claim that those projects have been successful. Neither the practitioners
nor the academicians seem to agree on what constitutes project success. It seems to be a rather elusive concept. This
paper attempts to put forth the points of views of different researchers in this field. In HR planning, project manager
is an important factor leading to project success. As discussed above, many leading authors agree with this point of
view and are conducting research to substantiate this grounded theory. This paper has endeavoured to bring out the
factors associated with project manager’s leadership style having profound impact on project success.
Birch, Kephart, Murphy, Pallas, Alder, & MacKenzie (2007) developed an analytical framework based on the
production of health care services and the multiple determinants of health human resource requirements. The
requirements for human resources in the future is shown to depend on four elements: the size and demographic mix
of the population (demography), the levels of risks to health and morbidity in the population (epidemiology), the
services deemed appropriate to address the levels of risks to health and morbidity (standards of care), and the rate of
service delivery by providers (productivity).
Silvas (2005) understand the conjunction of human and natural systems and the nature of their interactions has been
more and more crucial. The integrated response to the human management of natural systems is nowadays based on
“sustainable development” concept which emphasizes the need to make compatible social, economic and
environmental systems.
Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania (2004) explained (PMP Certification) to Managing Project through
Project Guidance, case Study & test papers. PMP helps to mange the performance of a project and also helps to
increase work efficiency, when human resources are viewed as an asset, companies enhance individual value
through training and human development and ensure continued contribution to the organization”. The importance of
human resources for the corporate performance has in any case proved both in the literature and the empirical
research conducted in all industrial sectors.
Dessler, G. (2004) describes the various training programs are formulated to provide dual purposes. Courses like,
Team Building, Managerial Skills, Negotiation and conflict resolution can be fully utilized to improve inter as well
as intra personal and communication skills. Technical training programs not only cover the theoretical aspect of
civil, electrical and mechanical technologies but also how efficiently and effectively companies make use of it at
different sites.
Fey & Bjorkman (2000) examine the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and the
performance of foreign owned subsidiaries in Russia. The sample size 101 foreign owned subsidiaries, the study’s
results HRM practices can substantially help a firm perform better when spending high investment in this field. In
this research furthermore, different HRM practices for non-managerial and managerial level employees are found to
be significantly related with firm performance. However, only limited support is obtained for the hypothesized
relationship between subsidiary performance and efforts at aligning HRM practices with firm strategy. The results of
this study provide relatively strong support for the existence of a positive relationship between HRM practices and
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the performance of Russian subsidiaries of Western corporations.
Weinger (1997) addressed some questions by decision-makers as they move towards the production of national and
sub national plans for human resources development (HRD) in environmental and occupational health. People with
appropriate training are an essential requirement in all countries for environmental hazard control and sustainable
development in both the general and the occupational (workplace) environment. However, the task of HRD planning
in environmental and occupational health may seem daunting. It involves assessing the current workforce and
training opportunities, estimating the number and type of staff needed to carry out necessary functions, creating and
upgrading existing educational institutions to produce new personnel, and providing continuing education for
professionals in the field, as well as managing and supervising personnel.
Jackson & Schuler (1990) describes human resource planning have traditionally been used by organizations to
ensure that the right person is in the right job at the right time. Under past conditions of relative environmental
certainty and stability, human resource planning focused on the short term and was dictated largely by line
management concerns. Increasing environmental instability, demographic shifts, changes in technology, and
heightened international competition are changing the need for and the nature of human resource planning in leading
organizations.
3. Theoretical Framework
Leadership is an important function in small business as well in all industrial projects. Leadership and management
represent two completely different business concepts (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Thomas, 1988). Leadership is
commonly defined as establishing a clear vision, communicating the vision with others and resolving the conflicts
between various individuals who are responsible for completing the company’s’ vision (McColl-Kennedy &
Anderson, 2002). Management is the organization and coordination of various economic resources in a business.
Leadership can have a significant impact on an organization’s performance as a whole as well as performance of
various projects.
The belief that leaders actually influence project performance and morale is so acceptable that very little research
and opinion even deals with this issue. Maccoby (1976) conducted in-depth interviews with business executives
over twenty years ago and concluded that organizations required a higher level of leadership than ever before to
survive and prosper. In some industrial projects the role of leadership has had a great influence. The decision to
change leadership in cases has a hit or miss but in the high upside cases the performance of the project team can be
increased through efficient leadership. In addition to leadership making a tangible difference, the perception of these
differences is also important. In some industries it is not only who the new leader is, notoriety, but what is their
background, as well. In computer technology and aerospace it is prudent that the new leader have a strong legacy of
competency in the businesses (McColl-Kennedy & Anderson, 2002). Their knowledge of the business is importance
since almost all of the CEO’s in these businesses are from the industry specifically.
Organizations and teams as well are complex social systems of decorative interactions among people. Simplified,
the need to understand events is directly attributed to the leader by name or by place. Their success is seen as heroic
by the workers and management. The future successions are measured by the perception of the previous leader. If we
accept the logic of attribution theory in a positive way, most firms’ and projects’ successes are attributed to heroic
leaders (Waldman, Bass, & Einstein, 1987). Hence on the basis of discussions above it is proposed that leaders play
a vital role in successful performance of firm’s projects. We can develop the following hypothesis that;
H1: Leadership and performance of the project are significantly correlated.
INSERT FIGURE 1 HERE
4. Methodology
4.1. Data Collection
Through structured questionnaire, data was collected from the companies, which make joint venture (JV) for this
project and their departments specially HR department and different engineering departments included in the
project. The leadership questionnaire was adopted from Antonakis, Avolio, and Sivasubramaniam (2003). The
questionnaires include the questions based on leadership and project performance at the level of maturity that is
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satisfactory performance. The project performance instrument was adopted from (Keller, 1986).In the questionnaire,
“five point liker scale (strongly agree, agree, no idea, disagree and strongly disagree)” was used to check the
significant impact. The questionnaire was distributed among the top subject specialist and section comprising
engineering, sociology, environment, institutional development and so on.
The sample used in the study includes 70 employees from four main consultancies companies working together on a
project, located in Lahore, Pakistan. The sample is a true representative of the population. The total population size
is 145 employees working on this project. Among these respondents, 55 filled in the questionnaire.
The filled questionnaire was processed by the computer and visualized graphically and in tabulated form. It was
examined by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-16); enabled to know the HR system of the
organizations in depth resulting as well as summarizing the findings of each organization regarding three major
factors.
4.2. Data Analysis and Results
Data was analyzed on different performance effecting parameters including leadership. The results were derived
through using statistical tool. Data was also analyzed using the frequency analysis to describe the results. In
frequency analysis tables took frequency and percent values to describe and conclude the results. In order to address
the research questions, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), correlation analysis and path analysis was used to conduct
analysis. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used as factor extraction method in the study. When principal
components analysis (PCA) is used, it is generally assumed that the original variables or items are correlated, and
principal components analysis will develop a new group of variables that are uncorrelated (Chatfield & Collins,
1980). Finally, path analysis was run in Amos 16 to test the hypothesis whether any links exist between leadership
and project performance.
Frequency descriptive statistic output shows that 11 out of 55 employees (20%) were strongly disagreed with the
working of current team, 21 employees (38.2%) disagreed, 7 employees (12.7%) made no comments while only 8
employees (14.5%) were agreed and other with same percentage (14.5%) were strongly agreed with its working.
Majority of employees (58.2%) disagreed with working system and showed their dissatisfaction with present
working team’s performance because employees have their own working style and they mentally accept their
leader’s dictations. It also shows that project leader cannot handle the pressure at work and does not have skills to
manage it. 21 employees (38.2%) strongly disagreed that project leader handle the stress better, 14 employees
(25.5%) disagreed, 7 employees (12.7%) made no comments, 8 employees (14.5%) agreed with this statement and
only 5 employees (9.1%) strongly disagreed. This shows that 63.7% of the total employees find that their leader
cannot handle the situation under stress. This clear representation that leader needs training to handle the stress
which is very necessary for performance improvement.
The Pearson correlation between employee’s motivation regarding project and leader motivation toward employees
is .316. The P-value .019 < ?, so there is a significant correlation between employee’s motivation toward project and
leader motivation toward employees. It shows that when leader motivate his employees and employees their own
self motivate toward the project it will be better impact on the performance of the project.
The Pearson correlation between leader motivation toward employees and leader’s working style is .486. The P-
value .000 < ?, so there is a significant correlation between employee’s motivation toward project and leader’s
working style. It shows that when leader motivate his employees and proactive & flexible in his working style,
employees automatically adopt his style that would be better impact on the performance of the project. The Pearson
correlation between leadership and project performance was r=0.452, p<0.05. The results from path analysis
suggest that leadership describes 72% of project performance.
INSERT FIGURE 2 HERE
5. Discussions and Conclusion
The Leadership Human Resource (HR) planning has significant impact on performance of the project. These
variables are also positively correlated with the project performance. The variables were operationalized by listing
the HR planning for project performance. In the questionnaires, the questions were based on factors of the HR
planning, level of maturity and how did they affect adopting according to the nature of the project under study
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(Rodrigues & Bowers, 1996). The results show that the variables of HR planning have a positive and significant
effect on the performance of the project.
The hypothesis was tested against the empirical finding related to independent and dependent variables under study
showed that the hypothesis was acceptable. However, the study result indicated that these factors for the HR
planning had positively affected the performance of projects. Managers should focus on functioning factors during
the project planning because they have significant impact on the project performance. The fundamental assumption
of this study is that the ultimate goal of the entire commercial organizational project is to maximize their
performance and successfully implement these factors to get maximum results. All the activities are engaged and
organized to achieve this goal and the most important factor is planning, regarding these factors, to achieve
performance (Berson & Avolio, 2004). The study shows that the project has its own planning for every step/stage
especially in case of human resource, which is very important natural resource. But the results show that most of the
projects fail to achieve this goal due to the little attention of management towards the leadership, training for the
employees and their level of compensation. This study is useful to understand the effect of human resource on the
project performance especially on the implementation of these planning factors.
The research study found that leadership is important to provide guidelines to its employees, managing them
efficiently and work with them to understand their work nature and remove their problems. Arrange training for
them to understand the work, helpful to achieve project goals and know about new procedures and technology used
in work (Jing & Avery, 2011). Compensation directly affects the employees’ performance, while providing them
incentives and financial benefits according to their performance.
The leadership can be strengthened through the personal capabilities of the leader. It should be proactive in his/her
work. The leader should have ability to motivate his/her employees and it is possible only if he/she is educated and
experienced. The project leader should lead the team from front and manage it in efficient way and play an
important role in project success. He should try to create congenial environment for working and helps his
employees in accomplishing task. The leader should be responsible to analyze the situation, and make strategic plan
to solve the problems during project.
6. Limitations of the Study
Besides significant managerial and academia implications of the results, the present study also has some limitations
in its scope and subjects of study. First, the data was of cross sectional nature that was collected only over a single
period of time. Second, the study focused only on a single project rather to study multiple projects. Third, data could
be used to test some other statistical and econometrics techniques to draw more generalized conclusions and
implications. Finally, data was only of quantitative nature and only leadership was taken to explore the relationship
between leadership and project performance. However, future studies could focus on multiple dimensions of HR
planning as well as leadership styles to explore the links in depth. Future studies could also be based on both
qualitative and quantitative nature of data.
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