Project Managers' Leadership Styles and Their Effects on Project Management Performance

PLTU-XYZ construction project is a part of the accelerated development of a 10,000-MW power-generation program first-phase which is being launched by the Indonesian government. To handle large projects that have a high level of complexity requires a leader or a project manager who has expertise in the field of power plant construction, has good leadership skills, and who is expected to be able to overcome the difficulties faced during the process of the project. This research was conducted using a qualitative method to analyze the leadership style of the project managers who had led the PLTU-XYZ project and also to investigate their leadership influence on the project management's team performance. Data were collected by using in-depth interviews, which were then analyzed by using thematic-data analysis. The study discovered that the first project manager had an 'affiliative' leadership style, the second had a 'pacesetting' leadership style while the third had a 'democratic' leadership style. The affiliative leadership style and democratic leadership style brought positive effects to the project management team's performance while the pacesetting leadership style brought negative effects to the project management team's performance. This research also found that the leadership style of the project manager was not a factor that could cause delays in the project.