The impact of leadership personality on team performance in community projects in a selected district in the Western Cape

Abstract

Since the beginning of project management, the personality of a project leader has been overlooked as an important requirement that should be considered when choosing a project leader. The impact of the personality of the project leader has also been neglected. This study seeks to find out if the project leader personality presents aspects that should be considered when selecting a project leader, together with their impact on projects. A questionnaire was used as the tool to gather the necessary information for the study because it is cost-effective and allowed flexibility in the size of the sample interviewed. A random selection of the sample was undertaken, which helped the study by allowing a mix of respondents. The gathered data was analysed and presented with the aid of charts. The study results show that the democratic leadership style is the best to deploy when implementing projects as it is an inclusive leadership style. The results also reveal that the personality of a project leader is very important as it plays a role in project failure or success. The study also found that there are numerous leadership traits that are needed for a project leader to run happy teams and ultimately successful projects.