Limits to Effective Leadership Style and Tactics in Critical Incident Interventions

Leadership effectiveness takes many forms. Its impact on performance can be critical, but by no means does it stand alone, and hence cannot truly be evaluated in isolation. Nor can it be assumed that more of any one effective style is necessarily a good thing. In project management contexts, these issues are particularly salient. Here we study the impact of multiple leadership styles on project performance, as well as the joint role that intervention tactics in general play. Our empirical study demonstrates the benefit of moderate mixes of leadership style and the declining returns on active interventions in these settings.