One of the best practices that emerged from the shift to a leadership and organizational basis of project management is the essential role of Emotional Intelligence (EI) as a galvanizing factor of making projects more relevant and accomplished in complex organizations (Clarke, 2010). Where authoritarian and transactional management leadership had been sufficient for managing projects during the systems perspective era (Kioppenborg, Opfer, 2002) those leadership skill sets were not sufficient for the era of leadership and organizational behavior (Keegan, Hartog, 2004). This fundamental shift in project management perspective also corresponded to a shift in the expectations, need and requirements of a subsequent generation of knowledge workers as well (Keller, 2006). No longer would be authoritarian and transactional work. The entire culture of how projects were managed had to shift to a more transformational leadership style that was marked by very high levels of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Not only would project managers have to concentrate on this aspect of leadership, they would need to also concentrate on making sure their skill sets included the core building blocks of II. These included having enough self-awareness to understand empathy they were providing, motivation levels they were delivering, self-awareness, self-regulation and social skills (Keller, 2006). These are the most critical factors in defining the skill set that project managers need in the 21st century to excel in their roles

(Clarke, 2010) (Keller, 2006).

Project Management as a Social Science

The arguments for project management as a social science are predicated on the multidisciplinary approach used for defining its best practices from a leadership and organizational behavior perspective (Shenhar, Dvir, 2007). The debate of whether project management is a problem-driven or central paradigm perspective illustrates how varying industries are integrating project management into their cultures and processes for product development. Of these two approaches the central paradigm has...

Project management is going to evolve into a strategic asset for organizations who excel at this aspect of orchestrating limited resources, both from a time and materials standpoint. Given the expanded role of project management from a central orchestration standpoint, the central paradigm will become dominant (Shenhar, Dvir, 2007).
References

Clarke, N. (2010). Emotional intelligence and its relationship to transformational leadership and key project manager competences. Project Management Journal, 41(2), 5-20.

Gundersen, G., Hellesoy, B.T., & Raeder, S. (2012). Leading international project teams: The effectiveness of transformational leadership in dynamic work environments. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 19(1), 46.

Keegan, a.E., & Den Hartog, D.,N. (2004). Transformational leadership in a project-based environment: A comparative study of the leadership styles of project managers and line managers. International Journal of Project Management, 22(8), 609-617.

Keller, R.T. (2006). Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and substitutes for leadership: A longitudinal study of research and development project team performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 17-17.

Kioppenborg, T.J., & Opfer, W.A. (2002). The current state of project management research: Trends, interpretations, and predictions. Project Management Journal, 33(2), 5-18.

Leban, W., & Zulauf, C. (2004). Linking emotional intelligence abilities and transformational leadership styles. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(7), 554-564.

Shenhar, a.J., & Dvir, D. (2007). Project management research -- the challenge and opportunity. Project Management Journal, 38(2), 93-99.

Strang, K.D. (2005). Examining effective and ineffective transformational project leadership. Team Performance Management, 11(3), 68-103.

Wechsler, J., & Clinton,…