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In a perfect world, the leader of the project would simply carry out a project plan, he would cooperate with others to make up the schedule, to organize the project team, to monitor progress and tell what to do next, and everyone would be busy. But nobody lives in a perfect world, and rarely everything goes as we plan. It often happens that the project participants become more irritable, they stop helping each other, other departments don’t meet their obligations, technical problems appear, and work takes longer than it was expected. The task of a strong leader is to turn the execution of the project back on track. Leader accelerates some operations, finds ways to solve technical problems, helps to reduce tension, if it occurs, and selects appropriate alternatives of time, cost and scope of the project. So, strong leadership is always necessary to successfully complete a project (Palmisano, 2008).
However, the responsibilities of project’s leadership is much more than simply organize the work and ensure that everything runs as expected. Leaders are also needed to make the changes and adapt to constantly changing conditions. They often have to deviate from what was planned, and to make changes in project scope and schedules in accordance to unexpected threats or new opportunities. For example, there can be changes in client’s needs that will require significant changes in projecting. Competitors may produce a new product that will dictate the time, cost and project priorities. The working relationship between the members of project team may be unsuccessful and it can require changes in the team. And finally, the originally planned or expected results may differ from the final result (Abrahamson, 2008).
The role of project’s leader is very important, as he makes decisions about how to use human and other resources more effectively in order to achieve pre-set goals, and then implement these decisions. Leaders make plans and schedules, encourage and supervise team workers. All these makes strong leadership and integral part of the successful completion of a project.
Strong leadership is very important, as project leaders know how to dispose the resources in order to complete a specific project on time, stay within estimates and do not violate the technical standards. They are the link between the organization and the customer and must be able to match customers’ expectations with what can and should be done.
Strong leaders provide guidance, coordination and unification of efforts of team members, which often consists of temporary members, structurally related to their functional departments. Leaders of projects are responsible for all the work. They should be able to achieve reasonable compatibility with the draft strategic plan of the organization and ensure the optimal level of integration within the management of real projects.
Leaders of the projects are responsible for the unification of given resources to complete the project according to plan. At the same time they need to make changes in plans and schedules, as the constant internal problems make the plan unfeasible, or unforeseen external events require corrective action. In other words, leaders support the implementation of the project, making the necessary changes in the process of its implementation.
Leadership is associated with the recognition and formulation of the need to change the direction and operation of the project, to send people into a new direction, motivating them to work together to overcome difficulties and achieve new goals.
Clifford Gray and Erik Larson, state that “strong leadership, while usually desirable, is not always necessary to successfully completing a project” meaning that straight-forward basic projects don’t require strong leadership and support (Larson, 2006), but Robert N. Lussier and Christopher F. Achua don’t agree with them, proving that most projects require strong leadership. For example, strong leadership is needed for a project to develop the software, where the parameters vary depending on the developments in the industry. (Lussier, 2009).
The abilities to manage and supervise make the leader of the project the most important person for the organization. They are aware of the need to manage project relationships and create a social network that helps them determine what to do, and to achieve the necessary cooperation.
Strong leaders understand that power and influence is not the same thing, and effective project management is associated with the management with very complex and extensive relationships. They face a wide network of relations. For example, a major project, whether it’s reconstruction of the bridge, creating a new product or installation of a new information system, one way or another is related to work with diverse groups of people.
First of all, it is the work with a core group of specialists selected for the project. In this group are likely to include professionals who will perform work on a specific segment of the project during some exact time. In addition, there are groups within the organization that directly or indirectly are associated with the project (senior management). There are other leaders of the project: the functional managers, administrative services, financial managers, etc. Depending on the nature of the project there may be external factors affecting the success of the project; the most important of these is the role of the customer that ordered the project. A strong leadership is necessary for cooperation between all segments of the project implementation.
Project leaders play a great role in project coordination, as they are able to reassure the customer, defend the project at the highest level of the organization, identify quickly the problems that threaten the project, and at the same time, protect the integrity of the project and the interests of its members (Koestenbaum 2002, 201-202).
The leader of the project can determine what should be done to achieve the project objectives and achieve the necessary cooperation for its implementation. Project leaders can achieve the cooperation, without using his power.
Strong leaders have the ability to communicate, life experience and a great influence, so they are always necessary to successfully complete a project. With the help of the behavior, the project manager can influence the actions and reactions of other people on various issues relating to the project.
So, the practice shows that no single factor provides the greatest benefit and the advantage of the organization than effective, strong leadership. Strong leaders are required to define goals and objectives for the organization, coordination, promotion of interpersonal contacts with subordinates and determining optimal, effective ways of solving various problems. Strong leadership is always necessary to successfully complete a project. Obviously, the organization with strong leaders can achieve success faster than organizations without leaders.

Abrahamson, J., O’Meara, A. (2008). Leadership: Combat Leaders and Lessons. Pp. 65-66.
Koestenbaum, P. (2002). Leadership: the inner side of greatness: a philosophy for leaders. Pp. 201-202.
Larson, E. W., Gray, C. F. (2006). Project management: the managerial process. 3rd ed. p. 312.
Lussier, R. N., Achua, C. F. (2009). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. Pp. 45-48.
Palmisano, D. J. (2008). On Leadership: Essential Principles for Success. Pp. 78-79.