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 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 inhouse departments, outsourced organisations, various third parties, consultants and contractors. The paper suggests the management techniques required for project managers in this type of environment