RESILIENT LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATIVE STRATEGIES: PROJECT DYNAMICS SHAPING SOUTH AFRICA

At the heart of South Africa, lies a dynamic project management landscape shaped by unique and diverse historical, economic, social and environmental factors that weave a complex tapestry of projects and investments. South African projects and developments have through the recent years shown that they require resilient leadership, sustainable innovation, and strategic project management to thrive within the South African landscape.

As the country continues to navigate towards achieving a circular economy through sustainable developments in both its bustling urban areas and rapidly urbanizing rural communities, South African Project Managers face an ever-changing tangled web of complex and often unpredictable challenges and obstacles within the development of multi-disciplinary projects; requiring in-depth understanding, dynamic interplay, and sustainable implementation of innovative project strategies to mold a successful South African project development and management narrative.

In exploration of how resilient leadership and innovative project strategies can leave an incredible and sustainable impact on successful project deliveries within South Africa, the following blog article navigates the intersection between four distinct dimensions of project management strategies and the notable impact that each dimension has had on projects within the South African landscape.

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ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY VS PROJECT STRATEGY

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As a starting point, we need to obtain a clear understanding on what exactly a project strategy is, and how it interlinks with and differs from an organizational strategy. While (Artto, et al., 2008) defines project strategy as the principal direction within the project (formulated from a specific project approach, plan and action) that contributes to the project’s own success within its environment; (Landau, 2024) describes organizational strategy as a non-project centralized strategy that encompasses the overall direction and long-term vision of the organization to which the project belongs.

These subtle differences mean that a project strategy has a much narrower focus as it functions and is developed with an aim to deliver on specific deliverables within a pre-determined schedule and cost; as such it takes into consideration the scope, resources, risks and stakeholders (including the organization to which it belongs) that directly influence its success within the determined borders.

This scope and focus divert slightly from that of the organizational strategy in that the organizational strategy is developed with a wider focus aimed at not only achieving multiple deliverables (projects) but aligning multiple departments (including their functions and resources) to achieve broader executive economic, social and governance goals that determine the organization’s economic sustainability, profitability and competitive advantage (Tharp, 2007).

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THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF PROJECT STRATEGIES

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As projects are more often than not, products and initiatives of one or more principal stakeholder organizations; Project strategies are directly influenced by their level of independence towards and within their principal stakeholder(s) environment, and by the number of principal stakeholder organizations that have executive authority over the project (Artto, et al., 2008).

These factors have led to the identification of four dimensions (each with their unique set of defining attributes) in which project strategies can be observed, namely: the ‘Obedient Servant’, ‘Flexible Mediator’, ‘Independent Innovator’, and ‘Strong Leader’ project strategy dimensions (Artto, et al., 2008).

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DIMENSION ONE: THE OBEDIENT SERVANT PROJECT STRATEGY

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In this realm of project management strategies, projects have only one principal stakeholder organization to which the project falls under. In addition to this, the project is given a low level of strategic and operational independence of which as a result, the principal stakeholder organization is perceived as the God and law within the project’s environment that is crucial to the success of the project (Young & Jordan, 2008).

Strategies developed in this realm function with the narrative that the main and most important object of the project is the fulfillment of its principal stakeholder organization’s goals and objectives and thus aims to intricately align itself to its principal stakeholder organization’s strategy as the rate to which the project can function within and achieves these strategic goals serves as a benchmark for the project’s success.

South Africa’s Batho Pele Revitalization Strategy (BPRS), a strategy aimed at public service delivery projects within country is an active example of ‘Obedient Servant’ project strategies as this project management strategy stands as a government initiative to transform the country’s public service delivery sector by placing the citizens as the principal stakeholder for all public service delivery endeavors (DPSA, 2021). As such, a project that can be classified as a public service delivery project, under the BPRS, can only be considered successful to the degree at which it satisfies and meets the South African public’s needs, wants and aspirations (Mushi, 2022).

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DIMENSION TWO: THE FLEXIBLE MEDIATOR PROJECT STRATEGIES

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Emphasizing adaptability and collaboration, this dimension of project management strategies allows projects to establish their a more flexible direction through defining the environment in which the project is restricted to operating within (Artto, et al., 2008). As projects within this strategic project management realm still have low level strategic independence despite having multiple principal stakeholder organizations (often with similar executive levels of influence/authority); strategies formulated within this dimension aim to ensure that the project negotiates and adapts to mutual goals, objectives and operation standards between all involved principal stakeholder organizations.

As such, the successful implementation of strategies within this dimension is benchmarked by the project in question’s ability to not only survive, but to foster effective synergy and cooperation between and within the principal stakeholder organizations’ environment. Despite this often being a difficult feat to accomplish, especially in an extremely diverse environment like South Africa, the South African Association of Mediators (SAAM) has shown the successful development and implementation of this project strategy, showcasing its potential through the association’s success within the South African Landscape (Mkhize, 2023).

Despite being a Non-Profit Organization (NPO), SAAM acts as a professional mediation regulatory body (SAAM, 2023). Through incorporating ‘Flexible Mediator’ based strategies within its operations, SAAM allows mediators operating within South Africa to proactively contribute to innovative and collaborative dispute resolutions across various industries and disciplines, making it one of the most successful South African Dispute Resolution Organizations.

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DIMENSION THREE: THE INDEPENDENT INNOVATOR PROJECT STRATEGIES

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As the name suggests, despite having only one principal stakeholder organization to which the project falls under, projects that have strategies formulated within this dimension have a high level of strategic and operational independence (Artto, et al., 2008). This strategic project management dimension thus allows projects to experience and celebrate high levels of creative control and independent innovative solution generation as the principal stakeholder organization pushes the project to define its own unique and innovative strategic and operational direction to achieving and maintaining its defined goals and objectives within the organization’s environment.

As such, project strategies within this dimension allow projects to be strategically selective, adopting sections of the principal stakeholder organization’s strategies, goals and objectives that allow it to meet its purpose whilst fighting against strategies, goals and objectives that it deems to be detrimental to its definition of success.

In winning the 2015 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) ‘s social impact special prize, Lesley Erica Scott’s TB Diagnosis Calibration Method (TBDCM) project showcased the results that the independent thinking and innovation freedom this strategy provides to project can bring to the principal stakeholder organization (Scott, 2015).

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DIMENSION FOUR: THE STRONG LEADER PROJECT STRATEGIES

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The strong leader project strategy centers itself around the creation of strong influential and independent cultures, within a project’s strategic and operational environment, that act as motivators for project managers to drive strong, innovative and independent strategies that propel the project in question to achieving success despite the project having multiple principal stakeholder organizations (Artto, et al., 2008).

To achieve this, strategies developed in this dimension provide projects with the independence to determine and review their own strategic goals and operational objectives that span across the principal stakeholder organizations’ network through the establishment of a governance system in which the project has authority to determine its own project governance structure. With the executive level authority to determine the roles of the stakeholders within the project, and which stakeholders should be included or excluded from the structure completely, projects with strategies rooted in this dimension enjoy the highest level of innovative capabilities (Knox, et al., 2017).

This ability to establish their own independent objectives and success indicators, through utilizing principal stakeholder organizations as project resources is displayed by ZRF Holdings. This remarkable South African conglomerate plays a crucial role within South Africa’s economic growth, with its influence seeping into the social and youth development sectors due to its strong leader strategic management and vision?(Keswa, 2023).

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CONCLUSION

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As the country delves deeper and deeper into sustainable developments, South African projects have become much more complex and interlinked. This new landscape within project development and management requires project managers to innovatively navigate this intricate web of multi-disciplinary project developments, developing sustainable project management strategies that can address unique and everchanging project development requirements.

Through in-depth understanding of the diverse potential of the project management profession and by drawing inspiration from the ‘Obedient Servant’, ‘Flexible Mediator’, ‘Independent Innovator’, and ‘Strong Leader’ project strategy dimensions, project managers have the potential stand at the helm of the South African community as pioneers of an innovative and sustainable South Africa.

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Tavonga Matumbura

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REFERENCES

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Artto, K., Kujala, J., Dietrich, P. & Martinsuo, M., 2008. What is Project Strategy?. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 26, pp. 4-12.

DPSA, 2021. Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy, Pretoria: Department of Public Service and Administration.

Keswa, L., 2023. Zareef Minty announced as the youngest influential CEO. [Online] Available at: https://www.citizen.co.za/alberton-record/news-headlines/local-news/2023/06/08/entrepreneur-recognised-for-impact-on-youth/ [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Knox, D. et al., 2017. The art of project leadership: Delivering the world's largest projects. [Online] Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/operations/our%20insights/the%20art%20of%20project%20leadership%20delivering%20the%20worlds%20largest%20projects/the-art-of-project-leadership.pdf [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Landau, P., 2024. What Is Organizational Strategy in Business? (Examples Included). [Online] Available at: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/organizational-strategy [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Mkhize, P., 2023. MEDIATION DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA. [Online] Available at: https://weinsteininternational.org/south-africa/south-africa-bio/ [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Mushi, M., 2022. Public Service and Administration on approval of Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy. [Online] Available at: https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/public-service-and-administration-approval-batho-pele-revitalisation-strategy [Accessed 4 June 2024].

SAAM, 2023. SAAM Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility. [Online] Available at: https://www.saam.org.za/_files/ugd/ac6384_197fc7c86ac847ddb6ac059c0313d2eb.pdf [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Scott, L. E., 2015. Prof. Lesley Erica Scott - IPA 2015 Social Impact Innovation Prize Winner [Interview] (4 October 2015).

Tharp, J., 2007. Align project management with organizational strategy. [Online] Available at: https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/align-project-management-organizational-strategy-7393 [Accessed 4 June 2024].

Young, R. & Jordan, E., 2008. Top management support: Mantra or necessity?. International Journal of Project Management, Volume 26, pp. 713-725.