Leadership vs Management in Construction: a Researched Perspective

The construction industry is characterised by project-based teams. Project-based teams are different to typical organisational teams due to;

• Limited and predefined duration,

• Non-routine work content,

• High uncertainty and risks, and

• Interdivisional collaboration of heterogeneous team (Ali et al., 2020).

This creates a somewhat unique organisation chart, where the team is separated into interdependent divisions relating to their discipline, with an overlying matrix structure with managers for specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI). All discipline and KPI leads answer directly to the Project Manager. This creates a complex team with often competing goals (Liphadzi et al., 2015) operating in a fast paced, high pressure and uncertain environment.

The academic development of Project Management in construction has primarily been developed from the field of engineering. This ‘hard science’ approach to the field has created a very short-term task and goal orientation (project planning and cost controls), with a transactional mentality. Very little emphasis had been placed on the ‘soft skills’ of long-term relationship management, people development and leadership (Liphadzi et al., 2015; Toor & Ofori, 2008). This is despite the abundant studies and literature (Ali et al., 2020; Chartered Institute Of Building (CIOB), 2008; Oliveros & Vaz-Serra, 2018; Spatz, 1999; Toor & Ofori, 2008), that emphasise the importance of the ‘soft’ skills such as relationship management and transformational leadership.

 Using Kotter’s, (2009) model of management vs leadership, the traditional Project Manager is focussed on the management or administrative side, rather than on the leadership side. Research into what qualities followers find important in their Project Managers include; communication skills, strategic vision, understanding of the business, integrity, and decisiveness (CIOB, 2008). This implies that there is great potential for above average performance if one develops the leadership skills to complement their technical and managerial skills.

Not OR but AND

This isn’t a choice between management and leadership, instead it is an important distinction to make, to ensure we are doing both. We must be astute managers. Without this, we would never get past our first day on site. However, to truly unlock the potential of the team, we must also be great leaders. 

The same way management is taught, so can leadership be. However, as much as management is about learning systems and processes, leadership is about learning about people… most importantly ourselves.

Research into Managerial Competencies in Construction

There exists a 91 question questionnaire which is a self assessment against the six domains of managerial competency as shown below.

• Personal Management,

• Team Leadership,

• Networking Aptitude and Persuasiveness,

• Problem Solving and Decision Making,

• Administrative and Operational, and

• Strategic and Organisation-Wide.

I have summarised the findings of three research papers into the effectiveness of Managers in construction to evaluate the most in demand competencies correlated to success.

The questionnaire (available upon request), will provide a rating in each domain. Each domain can be broken down further into competencies within each domain. As Engineers, if we can identify where we need to develop further, we can place our effort targeted towards those ends.

Key Take-Aways

• Leadership is people, management is things,

• Leadership AND management are required for success

• Both can be learnt.

• We must self-assess and request feedback from friends, family, colleagues and bosses to identify where we need to develop.

• Define where we need to develop and make clear SMART goals to achieve that development.