A narrative-based relational leadership: Insights from UK CEOs of project-based organisations

Although the subject of leadership has received increased attention among project management academics and practitioners, there is still a need to explore the underlying processes associated with leadership in project-based organisations. The generic leadership theories cannot be easily applied to understand leadership in project-based organisations because their nature rely on relationships to navigate the very uncertain environment with high stakeholder expectations. In this paper, the relational aspect of leadership is explored through the insights and reflections provided by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) from various project-based engineering, construction, and infrastructure organisations in the UK. Twenty narrative interviews have been conducted with the CEOs. A narrative inquiry methodology and thematic interview analysis have been used in this research. Four narrative-based relational leadership processes have been identified: storytelling, acting, visioning, and influencing organisational actors. We show that these four processes are connected through ongoing teaming process, which provides the relational foundation for leadership in project-based organisations. The interactions between these processes are anchored in the relational leadership theory, which makes an original contribution to theory and provides multiple avenues for future research to enhance our understanding of leadership in project-based organisations.