Authentic Leadership of Program Managers

December 3, 2025

Authentic Leadership of Program Managers

Beth L. Wilson | 2022

Abstract

In today’s global, fast-paced markets, many organizations are shifting away from traditional departmental or functional structures to implement a complex yet more agile project-based, cross-functional matrix structure. A program manager typically leads these project teams with little to no positional authority over the team yet has significant responsibility for the project’s outcome. Despite this shift in organizational and leadership structures, there is a limited theoretical and practical understanding of the leadership skills necessary for program managers to lead their cross-functional teams and successfully achieve their projects’ objectives. This descriptive phenomenological study sought to fill that gap and bridge the theoretical concepts of authentic leadership, program managers, and the factors that define the success of modern organizational projects. It broadens the current literature using a multimethod approach, investigating the perceptions and experiences of program managers and their project stakeholders. This study used a qualitative method of collecting and analyzing data from leaders and members of cross-functional project teams of a multinational product development and manufacturing organization. This study shows that the perceptions of the program managers and project stakeholders align and bridge the authentic leadership constructs to the broader context-dependent, case-specific, and shared-values framework that accounts for a project’s success. It proved that program managers require a unique balance of developed skills and techniques with foundational moral and ethical leadership attributes. It also expands on the nomological framework of authentic leadership. It investigates a deeper essence of how and why program managers’ authentic leadership attributes influence their projects’ success. This understanding is crucial in helping today’s organizational leaders identify and embrace the breadth and depth of project success factors and the program managers’ leadership characteristics needed to lead the cross-functional team to achieve them.

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