Leading an Engineering Project Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leading an Engineering Project Team - Essay Example The skill to motivate is an essential component of that. A personal leadership experience is used in this essay to discuss the various components of leadership (e.g. communication, rational thinking, leadership styles, etc.) that are integral to leading project teams. Leadership and Communication The author has recently been assigned to an engineering project in Dubai as an electrical supervisor. He belongs to a team of contractor whose job was to assemble and commission an 800-ton crane project. One of his responsibilities as an electrical supervisor is getting the electrical works done from shipyard supervisors and electricians through efficient communication. Since the workers who carry out the tasks of the project usually have almost all the information, managers must gain their opinions or feedback to enhance decision making, confidence, efficiency, processes, and, eventually, organisational productivity, strength, and sustainability. As mentioned by Walker (2010), upward commun ication â€Å"has to be constantly fostered and reinforced, so that people see it’s something that’s valued† (p. 98). Project leaders must evaluate the formal communication system to determine where there are problems in communication that could detrimentally impact the organisation’s general wellbeing. ... Some of the members feel anxious when talking to their supervisors. In order to resolve such issues, employees must be persuaded to assess and understand both procedures and outcomes. Self-evaluation and feedback from other members of the team and supervisors would be very useful (Bass & Bass 2009, 313). It must be stressed to the members that an attention to abilities is the integral component of enhancing communication with their supervisors. Successful outcomes rely on the skills of the members of the team. Everybody recognises the need for managers to possess the abilities to communicate with employees. Yet, many employees ignore the value of abilities when communicating with their manager. Since the engineering project is big but fairly simple, the traditional communication approach may be useful. This model is highly applicable to teams working with a project supervisor. Downward communication is simple and fast. But upward communication could provide more benefits to projects composed of only a few teams (Bass & Bass 2009, 453). The decision-making process could be hastened by the electrical supervisor provided that the other members of the team are ‘properly behaved.’ An upward communication strategy could be used by the electrical supervisor to the project’s advantage since he and the other members of the team were all from the same country, sharing a common language. Leading Successful Teams Project leadership has to be realistic and concentrate on performance outcomes. Even though project leaders still carry out numerous roles, such as making schedules of work activities, discussing work allocation, etc., they function more as mentors, guides, and coordinators. Project leaders