Hard hat, hard heart? An examination of the leadership qualities required to manage soft projects

Projects and programmes today are increasingly affecting the whole of a company or organisation. Preparation for the Euro, Year 2000 compliance and business change resulting from mergers and acquisitions, globalisation and e-commerce are typical whole-company undertakings. Project managers are having to find elegant ways of improving their communications and expectation-setting vehicles to suit this type of change. They also increasingly have to deal with composite teams-teams comprising resources from a mixture of in-house departments, outsourced organisations, various third parties, consultants and contractors. This paper suggests the management techniques required for project managers in this type of environment