ONTOLOGÍAS COMO HERRAMIENTA PARA LA DESCRIPCIÓN

A review of literature on success factors by Turner and Muller (2005) gives very little credence to leadership as a contributing factor to project success, whereas leadership in organisations is considered influential and has been the subject of considerable research over the past 60 years by scholars such as Adair, Belbin, Fiedler, Tannenbaum and Schmidt, and Vroom and Yetton, who have offered various theories on approaches, styles, behaviours and traits of leadership (Mullins, 2016). For the purpose of this research leadership is focused mainly on decision- making and the parameters within which the style of leadership exists. In simple terms the parameters will vary between the extremes of authoritarian and

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Authoritarian Democratic

democratic with various styles of leadership in between such as dictatorial, bureaucratic, consultative, charismatic and inspirational (Mullins, 2016, p. 331).

Figure 3.10: Extremes of leadership (adapted from Mullins, 2016)

Leadership in construction is intrinsically a people factor, mainly attributed to the PM although not exclusively, as all functional managers of the project team are encouraged to display leadership skills in their particular domain. However, it is the PM who is tasked with getting the best performance from the team, which generally means leading by example and being flexible with their style of leadership (Walker, 2015). Situational leadership theory fits well with the process of construction. Senaratne and Samaraweera (2015) argue that the style of leadership must change depending on the stage of the project and/or what the situations demand to get the best outcome. However, it is important that the leader assesses not only the situation but also the competence and commitment of the team members, which will have a bearing on the appropriate style (Burke, 2013). An example of his could be the PM’s lead in the recommendation of the use of offsite bathrooms as an alternative to traditional methods, demonstrating visionary leadership to the client and design team.

Given the amount and quality of published research on leadership, Muller and Turner (2010) suggest that organisations should adopt the practice of ‘profiling’ when selecting a project leader for a particular project. From a review of existing research, 15 competencies were identified and sub-divided into three groups: intellectual, managerial and emotional. Four hundred completed questionnaires were analysed. The findings suggest that leaders of construction projects require intelligence which is high in critical thinking, management skills high in developing

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others, emotional skills high in influence, motivation and conscientiousness (Muller and Turner, 2010). A further study on the influence of emotional intelligence on construction PMs’ leadership, from a sample of 68 construction professionals, would suggest that the non-confrontational approach requires the leader to demonstrate emotional sensitivity and expressiveness in communicating with other members of the team to attain the ‘leader-follower chemistry’ that will influence project success (Pryke et al., 2015).

Through a quantitative study, Jha and Iyer (2006) found that the leadership of the PM is a critical positive attribute in achieving quality compliance. Conversely, a PM with a negative attitude to quality is unlikely to motivate other project participants to be quality compliant. Sommerville et al. (2010) argue that the PM not only manages the project team, but is also required to demonstrate leadership, to gain the trust of team members, through motivation, co-ordination and maintaining morale.

While leadership in this section has related mainly to the PM, it could be argued that minimal leadership has been shown by construction owners, clients and the government to increase the uptake of offsite construction (Nadim and Goulding, 2009). Elnaas et al. (2014) argue that committed leadership at senior management level is required by the construction industry to engage with clients and the design team at the design stage to influence the uptake of offsite methods. A mixed method study to gauge the effect of employee empowerment on productivity within offsite factory environments identified the importance of leadership as a contributing factor. People-oriented leadership was considered more influential in comparison to authoritarian leadership in creating a teamwork spirit that empowered employees to increase productivity. While the research consisted of a relatively small sample of 23 managers and foremen from two offsite factories and therefore the results should not be considered as a generalisation of the industry, it is still worth reiterating the importance of people-oriented leadership on offsite construction in comparison to authoritarian approaches (Alazzaz and Whyte, 2015).

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Leadership is an important aspect of organisational IM, never more so than at the interface between senior management level (strategic) and project management level (implementation). If the PM advocates the use of offsite construction, but senior management does not consider it part of its strategic plan, then conflict will occur between the two. A level of collaboration and trust is required on either side when an innovative process is being proposed, and rather than senior management being dismissive of non-traditional processes, leadership is required from senior management to analyse the proposal and make an informed decision (Raes et al., 2011). Arif and Egbu (2010) argue that not only is a cultural shift required to move from traditional to offsite forms of construction but that strong leadership is also required. Pour-Rahimian et al. (2014) agree and add that education has a part to play in making use of virtual reality tools, which can inform construction students of the interface issues that pertain to offsite construction. Exposure to traditional site visits complemented with virtual reality scenarios will also enhance the students’ decision-making abilities, which in turn will encourage the development of leadership skills when a novel solution is required.

Currently construction educational courses are centred on management skills; however, with increasing project complexity, equal emphasis must be placed on leadership skills, to adequately equip the construction leaders of the future (Obonyo, 2011). An important aspect of leadership in relation to the interface of offsite and onsite components is safety management. Kelly and Berger (2006) posit that effective communication, which is ‘key’ to the safety controls required when incorporating offsite components onsite, must be instigated by strong and effective leaders, who lead by example and demonstrate effective communication in all matters in relation to the management of the interface between offsite and onsite construction.