Project Managers’ Competencies and Leadership Styles from the Perspective of Organizations Functioning in Poland

Abstract

The aim of the artcle is to present the issue of project manager competencies and project leadership styles which occur in different types of project-oriented organizatons, i.e., the strictly project-oriented organizatons (implementng projects for external clients) and organizatons that manage projects for internal purposes. The subject literature studies and empirical research results conducted in 100 enterprises were used to accomplish the above-defned goal. The authors discussed the specifc nature of project-oriented work and the specifcity of project team management. A literature review on project manager competencies and project leadership styles was conducted. Three important competencies were identfed that differentate project managers between those working in strictly project-oriented organizatons and those working in organizatons which perform project-based management for internal purposes, i.e., achievement orientaton, sensitvity teamwork and cooperaton. The analysis of applied and desired leadership styles indicated a preference by project team members for a democratc leadership style, in partcular during the project implementaton phase, in both types of project-oriented organizatons.