PhD Defence Ron Reidy

RELATIONAL LEADING PRACTICES IN A PROJECT TEAM: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

Ron Reidy is a Ph.D. student supervised by prof. dr. Celeste P. M. Wilderom from the faculty of Behavioural, Management, and Social Sciences (BMS), chair, Change Management and Organizational Behaviour (CMOB) as well as prof. dr. Jacqueline M. Stavros, DBA program director, College of Business and Information Technology, Lawrence Technological University, USA.

In business today, there are challenges or problems that exceed the capabilities of one or two individuals.  These types of business challenges often require a team of subject matter experts (SMEs) to analyze, recommend, and resolve the challenges at hand. Tactically, businesses are frequently able to deploy project task tracking and resource utilization programs to assist them.  While these tools are good in supporting a project, they only operate on one side of the equation.  There is another side, an equally important side to this equation, it is the human element insofar as how team members relate and work in harmony to support project efficiency and success.   

In this single case study thesis, a high-technology project team consisting of 16 core team members was observed, analyzed through project documentation and correspondence, and queried via individual and focus group interviews.  The purpose was to discover whether relational leading was present and emerged within the project team, and if so, did these relational leading practices influence organizational communication?

As to be expected, so called ‘relational leading practices’ did emerge and were found to positively influence organizational communication.  Four new relational leading practices were discovered.  These were combined with the 12 extant relational leading practices in the past literature.  These 16 relational leading practices form the so-called Integrated Relational Leading Practices Framework presented in this thesis. Additionally, through an analysis of the dialogue surrounding the relational leading practices discovered, a new definition of relational leading was offered, “persons in connected relationships, moving forward to make meaning to create positive change through relational practices.” 

The resulting framework from this thesis’ research suggests that developing relational leading practices within an organization provides the ability to positively influence employee communications, enable an effective spirit of empowerment, encourage shared learning, and provide opportunities for playfulness, within an environment of formal project processes, and informal social behaviors.