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Introduction Every leader in a project has his own unique style in managing the team. The different ways of dealing with the team is called “management style”. It is also defined as ‘manner in which managers exercise their authority in the workplace and ensure that their objectives are achieved. It is about how managers plan and organise work in their area of responsibility and in particular about how they relate to, and deal with their colleagues, subordinates and team members.’ (Understanding Management Styles Checklist 236, 2012) Project Project is defined as: “an organization of people dedicated to a specific purpose or objective. Projects generally involve large, expensive, unique, or high risk undertakings which have to be completed by a certain date, for a certain amount of money, with some expected level of performance. At a minimum, all projects need to have well defined objectives and sufficient resources to carry out all the required tasks.” (Tuman, 1983) Every project requires plan and sufficient planning. Plans are important in providing guidance to the project team members when they work on realizing the project goals set. However, when project management practices are examined on a day-to-day basis, plans seem to dissolve and become less prescriptive. (Nilsson and Söderholm, 2005) Project Manager Every project has a manager, who is the person responsible in fulfilling the project objectives and goals. (Project Management Institute, 2008). The manager also bears the greatest accountability for the endeavour’s success. The major role of manager is to inspire project team members in order to obtain project objectives (Fabi and Pettersen, 1992). In other words, the common expectation on project managers are that they play the roles as team leaders, deciders, and also coordinators (Fabi and Pettersen, 1992); in order to adjust implementations of different groups to approach goals on-time, on-budget, and on-quality (Crowley, 2006; Hyväri, 2006a). There are many activities which project managers have to perform, such as providing a framework for the project’s activities, keeping work on track, coordinating activities, mediating conflicts, and assuring that project goals are delivered on time and on budget. (Guru, 2008) Besides, project managers also require the right combination of skills and competencies to achieve the most effective outcome. (Crawford, 2000) Some of the examples of skills are leadership, good verbal communication skills and ability to encourage team members to show a high level of contributions and recognitions. Project Management Overview

“Project Management as knowledge field is both an art and a science" (Bredillet, 2004) A more recent opinion on project management provides that it is a central strategy in the changes that most of the organizations are experiencing when they were adapting from a stable model to a more dynamic model due to environmental changes. (Seymour, Hoare and Itau, 1992) Therefore, project managers now face a more difficult and complicated task to strike a balance between fostering adaptability and acceptance change as a permanent state; and providing support for their team members to ensure that they have the ability to cope up with a process they may interpret as disorientating and stressful. (Seymour, Hoare and Itau, 1992) This is why several management styles and strategies are required to manage different types of projects and team members in order to achieve the greatest outcome. Types of Management Styles Depending on the circumstances, a manager may need to apply more than one management style in order to achieve the highest degree of productivity in carrying their roles. The various examples of management styles are namely autocratic, laissez-faire, paternalistic, democratic, informal, supervisory and participatory. Depending on the circumstances, a particular style may be more suitable for a certain project type or employee group than another. An autocratic style of management does not take into consideration the team members’ ideas and suggestions. In other words, the managers are the sole decision makers, without giving weight on others’ opinions. It can be said that the team would have lower motivation by working in autocratic management. (Managementstudyguide.com, 2019) In paternalistic management, the managers would decide the best option for the team as well as the project. Before decision making, all the suggestions and feedback of the subordinates will be taken into account. This gives more encouragement to the team as they would feel attached to the project. Next, a democratic management welcomes the feedback of the team members. Every member of the team will have a say to give opinion and discuss the pros and cons of all the plans and ideas. (Managementstudyguide.com, 2019) This style ensures healthy and positive communication between the management and the subordinates. Moreover, there is Laissez-Faire style of management, which managers are in position only for the title and have little contribution to the team. The rest of the team would take the initiatives to make decisions and manage work on their own. In this management style, the subordinates are not dependent on the managers and know what is the best option for them. (Managementstudyguide.com, 2019) Shortly, the literature has stated that project managers play crucial roles in projects (Yang et al., 2011). There is no doubt that project managers have significant impact on both process performance and product or service effectiveness. (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995)

Negative Reinforcement In order to motivate the team, positive and negative reinforcement are common and usually complementary tools used by the managers in project management. Negative reinforcement differs from a positive reinforcement in that the latter is a reward or incentive whilst the former is the use of a consequence, such as lost pay or a demotion, to discourage an employee from underperforming or behaving offensively or unethically. (Anon, 2019) Negative reinforcement definitely plays a role in achieving good management. Some of the practices to promote good performance include demotion and termination, cutting down hours of a part-time employee, reprimanding an employee verbally or through formal documentation (Anon, 2019). The management style is effective when expectations and goals for the team and negative consequences of poor decisions and behaviours are clearly communicated to the team beforehand. The standards of acceptable behaviour and discipline processes can be clearly laid down in company policy manuals and conduct codes to avoid any confusion. The expected outcome of applying this strategy is to discourage employees from leading to undesirable results. However, threats are an imperfect way to motivate performance. There needs to be a balance between negative reinforcement and rewards for positive behaviours to achieve the best outcome and minimise potential risks, which is explained below. There are concerns that negative reinforcement will result in extreme use. Over use of negative reinforcement strategy may result in a low morale, reduced productivity and workplace filled with anxiety and fear. (Barton, 2019) It can also directly result in a high rate of staff turnover. One of the reasons is that public criticism in negative reinforcements to the team will lower the motivation in the team. (Anon, 2019) Besides, if the poor performances are not documented well, terminations without just cause and demotions could also possibly lead to discrimination lawsuits and unlawful termination allegations. There is also possibility that managers will overuse threats as a way to force their teams to perform up to par. (Anon, 2019) Although this may lead to short-term production because of fear for the negative consequences, the productivity will only decrease over time and it rarely contributes to a long-term success. This is because no matter how serious the threat, the work still cannot be done on time if the allocated time was not sufficient anyway. Worse still, if the goal is not achieved, the managers may actually have to make good on their threats. Hence, in order to minimise the possibility of bad outcomes while also using the negative reinforcement strategy is to use it sparingly only when necessary, such as when it can assist in a short-term fix. (Barton, 2019) Conclusion Project managers play a vital role in project managing to achieve the set goals and objectives effectively. The best management styles depend on the project types and team.

Negative reinforcement is one of the strategies employed by the managers to achieve higher productivity. However, the use of threats is only effective in short term fixes. There must be a balance between negative reinforcement and rewards for positive behaviours to avoid overuse of the strategy. (approximately 1309 words)

References Anon, (2019). Management Styles: Positive and Negative Reinforcement. [online] Available at: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/management-styles-positive-negative-reinforcement50594.html. [Accessed 10 Feb. 2019]. Barton, S. (2019). Positive And Negative Reinforcement As A Management Strategy - PSS. [online] Project Skills Solutions. Available at: https://projss.co.uk/2017/03/positive-andnegative-reinforcement-as-a-management-strategy/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2019]. Bredillet, C. (2004). Project management governance : A situational approach. Munich, Germany.: EURAM conference. Crawford, L. (2000). Profiling the competent project manager. Proceedings of PMI Research Conference 2000, Paris, France, 3 – 15. Guru, P. (2008). Projects and Their Management: A Literature Review. [ebook] Bristol. Available at: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/14459/1/1031-3106-1-PB%5B1%5D.pdf [Accessed 10 Feb. 2019]. Managementstudyguide.com. (2019). Management Style - Meaning and Different Types of Styles. [online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/managementstyle.htm [Accessed 10 Feb. 2019]. Nilsson, A. and Söderholm, S. (2005). From blueprints to maps in project management.. Munich: EURAM. PMI (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. Seymour, D., Hoare, D. and Itau, L. (1992). Project Management Leadership Styles: Problems of resolving the continuity-change dilemma. Florence, Italy: 11th INTERNET World Congress on Project Management. Tuman, G. (1983). Development and implementation of effective project management information and control systems. Cleland, D.I. & King, W.R.: Project management handbook. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., pp.495-532. Understanding Management Styles Checklist. (2012). [ebook] Corby: Chartered Management Institute. Available at: https://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Files/Campus %20CMI/Checklists%20First%20Management%20Role/Understanding%20management %20styles.ashx [Accessed 10 Feb. 2019]....