Abstract

Growth in the use of programs to achieve organizational strategy has led to a requirement to understand the leadership competences of effective program managers. This paper presents the results of the first stage of a larger study on the influence of leadership on program results. A qualitative, inductive interview-based approach was used with 15 program managers from a range of industries in China, Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK. The purpose of this qualitative study is: a) to develop the constructs for program context and program success in the research model in order to design a questionnaire for the subsequent quantitative study; b) to collect data from program managers on the magnitude and mix of leadership competences needed for successful program management. In addition to the development of measurement dimensions for program context and program success, the results also show that program managers’ leadership competences are a key success factor in program management and program managers’ leadership styles are contingent on program context.

Introduction

Program, as an effective project governance mechanism, provides a bridge between projects and organizational strategy. It is now widely used by a large number of organizations. Maylor et al. (2006) termed this emergent tendency as from “projectification” to “programmification”. With programs becoming popular, the challenge of managing these complex endeavors is put forward for program managers. Are programs just a collection of projects? Is program management just an advanced form of project management? Is a program manager just an expert project manager? Partington et al. (2005) and Pellegrinelli (2002, 2008) answered these questions by saying NO because they believed that program managers require “a subtle blend of interpersonal skills and personal credibility, a deep understanding of the political dynamics of the formal and informal networks that form the organizational context, and a great knowledge of the broader strategic context” (Partington et al., 2005, p. 87), whereas project managers tend to focus on delivering tactical deliverables in an efficient way (Thiry, 2004).