A team leader selection process for project-based learning experiences

First-year chemical engineering students at the University Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) carry out an integrated design project organized in teams. This project lasts two successive fifteen-week periods and all of the first-year courses participate actively in it, hence the adjective integrated. The goal of this project is that first-year students learn by themselves certain contents of each first-year course and that they apply this knowledge to solve several design problems that may be posed when designing a specific chemical plant. Project teams must also identify and define these design problems taking into account first-year instructors' requirements. To help first-year project teams cope with this challenging experience, project teams are led and managed by fourth-year students who are enrolled in the fourth-year Project Management in Practice (PMP) course. Leadership is a key component for the success of any team and consequently the selection of first-year project team leaders is a key process of the PMP course. The selection process has been designed to select about a dozen students, which represents about one third of PMP's students, who have the highest potential to lead and manage a project team and who are willing to do so. The selection process is structured in three main steps: (1) preselection: academic qualification and motivation to be a leader, (2) screening: personality profile, (3) selection: demonstration of the leadership competence. In the first step, all students enrolled in the PMP course have to fill out a short form to check their academic eligibility for the position and their motivation to be a leader. In the second step, all PMP's students are asked to complete three psychometric tests: Belbin's Team Role Inventory, Myers-Briggs Inventory, and Leadership Style Inventory. The analysis of the results obtained from steps one and two using a set of research-based criteria yields a list of candidates. Finally, PMP's instructors conduct behaviour-based interviews to all candidates to validate test findings and assess their level of leadership competence to ensure that the best candidates are chosen for the position.