scholarly journals Exploring the linkages between project managers' mindset behaviour and project leadership style in the Ghanaian construction industry

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
De-Graft Owusu-Manu ◽  
Caleb Debrah ◽  
Lydia Amissah ◽  
David J. Edwards ◽  
Nicholas Chileshe

PurposeLeadership encapsulates a process of influencing others to understand what needs to be done and how it can be done. The related area of mindset behaviour which moderates leadership styles adopted in various industries has hitherto received scant academic attention in a construction context. This paper thus explores the linkages between project manager's mindset behaviour and project leadership style in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachLiterature reviewed provides the basis for a questionnaire data collection instrument developed to gather primary data from construction professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI). A quantitative research strategy was then adopted using the Relative Importance Index (RII) to determine the level of significance of the leadership and mindset archetypes. A Pearson's correlation test was run to ascertain whether the mindset behaviour of project managers has a significant impact upon the type of leadership style.FindingsThe study's results indicate that democratic, transformational and situational leadership styles were prevalent leadership styles in the GCI. The analysis also revealed that project managers favoured the “growth mindset”. Furthermore this style had a moderate positive relationship with democratic and transformational leadership styles. Conversely, a fixed mindset had a low positive relationship with autocratic and situational leadership styles but a low negative relationship with transformational leadership style.Research limitations/implicationsThis research provides sufficient data for project managers to identify the type of mindset to nurture (the growth mindset is recommended) and the effective leadership style to be employed. This study engenders wider discussion on mindset behaviour and project leadership style in developing countries. Moreover, the findings present policymakers and practitioners with the leadership styles to promote and develop (democratic, transformational and situational) and mindset behaviour (growth mindset) to ensure project success in Ghana and other developing countries.Originality/valueThis research represents the first comprehensive study appraising the linkages between project managers’ mindset behaviour and project leadership style in the construction industry. Empirical data presented bridge the identified knowledge gap that exists on the lack of theoretical understanding of the influence that project managers' mindset has on leadership styles in the GCI.

Author(s):  
Emily M. Potter ◽  
Temitope Egbelakin ◽  
Robyn Phipps ◽  
Behrooz Balaei

Purpose Existing research has highlighted the need for influential leaders to respond to the evolving social, economic and environmental constraints on the construction industry. Studies on leadership in other sectors have shown that influential leaders tend to demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence. Little or no research examining relationships between leadership style and emotional intelligence has been conducted specific to construction project managers. This study aims to identify the prevalent leadership style adopted by construction project managers and investigate potential correlations between leadership style and emotional intelligence. Design/methodology/approach An online questionnaire including a mix of open and closed questions was adopted to address the research objectives. The group studied comprised project managers currently working in the construction industry in New Zealand and the UK. Findings The research found that transformational leadership style is prevalent among project managers examined in this study. Significant positive relationships were found between project managers’ emotional intelligence and their likelihood of adopting a transformational leadership style. Originality/value The research results provide the construction industry with a benchmark against which individuals with high emotional intelligence, and so most suited to the challenges of the project management role, can be identified and trained. Recommendations including suitable methods for identifying, recruiting and training project managers, as well as secondment and mentoring options, were suggested for improving leadership capabilities in the construction industry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-276
Author(s):  
Anne Live Vaagaasar ◽  
Ralf Müller ◽  
Donatella De Paoli

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the triadic relationship between project workspace (i.e. spatial context), project type and project manager’s leadership style. It develops the concept of leadership construct (i.e. mental models of leadership to predispose the way leadership is performed) to explain related preferences for workspace and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A combination of phenomenological inquiry on preferred workspaces in different project types is combined with a conceptual study on related leadership styles in these settings. Findings Four different leadership constructs are identified, which are conditioned by workspace and project type: one-on-one, virtual, interactive and mixed leadership. Also, four leadership patterns are identified, and these are related to open office and virtual office settings in product, service, software development and infrastructure construction projects. Research limitations/implications The results show the interaction of workspace, project type and leadership styles, which extends existing leadership theory and provides more granularity in determining appropriate leadership styles for project managers. Practical implications Practitioners benefit from a more conscious selection of appropriate leadership styles, which positively impacts project results. Originality/value By linking workspace, project type and leadership styles, the study is the first of its kind and a novel contribution to theory in project leadership.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1082-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaithen Abdullah Al Harbi ◽  
Saud Alarifi ◽  
Aissa Mosbah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the effect of transformational leadership on followers’ inventiveness and organizational innovation. It studies transformational leadership and innovation at the organizational level and creativity at the individual level. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model was created, which entailed the development of variables and hypotheses. A survey instrument was used to obtain data, through a self-completion questionnaire. The final sample was made up of 503 individuals, recruited using a random sampling technique. Findings The results showed that transformational leadership has a significant positive relationship with both followers’ creativity and organizational innovation. Furthermore, a significant positive relationship was found between followers’ creativity and organizational innovation. In addition, the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ creativity, through the mediating role of employees’ psychological empowerment, support for innovation, workplace relationships and employee learning, was also found to be both positive and significant. However, the data showed that intrinsic motivation does not significantly affect the relationship between transformational leadership and creativity. Practical implications The study provides guidance to organizations that need to change their leadership style and approach, as well as their innovation and creativity mechanisms, at a strategic level. The resulting guidance provides organizations with insight into how they can improve the creativity of their employees through motivating, supporting and inspiring them. Originality/value This study is an attempt to illustrate the extent to which transformational leadership can affect organizational innovation in Saudi Arabia, specifically in the public sector, and to explore how employees’ creativity can be improved. This research is beneficial for academics, organizations and policy makers, especially in the Gulf countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Puni ◽  
Sam Kris Hilton ◽  
Benedicta Quao

Purpose While substantial a number of research studies have examined the effect of leadership styles on work-related behaviour, the interaction effect of transactional-transformational leadership on work-related behaviour has been rarely investigated in a developing context. Thus, this study aims to examine the interaction effect of transactional-transformational leadership on employee commitment in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study used descriptive and cross-sectional survey designs. Cross-sectional data was obtained from 360 employees in the aviation industry of Ghana and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and hierarchical regression techniques. Findings Transactional leadership style has a significant positive effect on employee commitment. However, when transformational leadership was added on transactional leadership base, there was no augmentation effect of transformational leadership style in predicting employee commitment. The results further indicate that there was a negative interaction effect of transactional and transformational leadership styles on employee commitment. Practical implications The findings imply that organizational leaders can improve employee commitment by purely resorting to transactional leadership behaviours. Leaders can also enhance employee commitment by augmenting transactional leadership behaviours on transformational leadership, as the reverse has no augmentation effect. Originality/value This study considerably complements existing leadership literature by establishing how a transformational leadership style can augment and/or interact with transaction leadership style to influence employee commitment in a developing country.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Aldhaheri

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the predominant leadership style of school leaders in Abu Dhabi. The leadership style deployed by a school leader affects the performance of the school and its pupils. Methods for identifying the leadership style of school leaders in the UAE have varied, and it is difficult to conclude what the predominant leadership style is. Some studies have sought only to identify a specific leadership style, whilst others have focussed on a particular school type. Changes and improvements cannot be made without an understanding of the baseline leadership style. Design/methodology/approach The 36-item multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ)5x questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 2004) is used to quantitatively understand the full range of school leaders’ leadership styles, with 167 respondents from across both public and private schools. Findings School leaders predominantly exhibited transformational leadership, practising transactional leadership less frequently and rarely using laissez-faire leadership. This is a positive finding for schools in the UAE; transformational leadership has been shown to result in improved subordinate and organisational performance. Differences between school leaders in public and private schools were tested and are discussed. Dimension reduction techniques were used to assess the structure of the 36-item MLQ5x but did not provide results that met minimum requirements for acceptability. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to fully explore and baseline an understanding of the predominant leadership style amongst school leaders in the UAE, identifying the full range of leadership styles – transformation, transactional and laissez-faire – in both public and private schools.


2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 645-667
Author(s):  
Somchanok Passakonjaras ◽  
Yanki Hartijasti

Purpose Indonesia was chosen to be a site of study on leadership style due to its high economic growth potential. The primary objectives of this study are twofold. This paper aims to, first, explore the leadership styles of Indonesian managers and investigate whether the full range leadership theory by Bass (1985), i.e. transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership, is applicable in the Indonesian context and second, investigate whether there are differences in leadership styles among Indonesian managers, as Indonesian people are composed of over 300 ethnicities. Design/methodology/approach Respondents were asked to rate their direct bosses on leadership and their perceived performance on an multifactor leadership questionnaire. In all, 425 Indonesian managers participated in the study. Multiple regression and t-test were used to address the above research questions. Findings Results indicated that the full range leadership theory is applicable in the Indonesian context, in which Indonesian people generally rate their superiors who use transformational leadership higher than those who use transactional and laissez-faire leadership. Ethnic differences in leadership style were found between that of Padang and Javanese and of Padang and Chinese. Padang managers, whose cultural values are quite unique, seem to practice more transformational leadership and contingent reward, which is a positive reinforcement in transactional leadership. Research limitations/implications Common method bias may occur due to the single source of data, i.e. subordinates. The confidentiality of the survey helps reduce the bias as subordinates could evaluate their bosses in a true manner. In addition, categorizing ethnicities among Indonesians is not an easy task. A finer distinction of ethnicities is certainly needed in future research. Practical implications The results are useful for human resource department in selecting the potential leaders, as transformational leaders are generally more preferable. In addition, the findings shed some light on the effective leadership styles of Indonesian managers perceived by their subordinates. Originality/value One major theoretical contribution of this study is a proof of the applicability of the full range leadership theory by Bass (1985) in Indonesian work setting. It confirms the extension of the theory’s universality. A unique theoretical contribution of this study is its being the first study that addresses the ethnic differences in leadership style in Indonesia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 963-987
Author(s):  
Ahmed Zakaria Abdullahi ◽  
Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo ◽  
Hod Anyigba

PurposeThe study investigates the effect of autocratic, democratic and transformational leadership styles on employees' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The study further examines the moderating role of leaders' emotional intelligence between leadership styles and OCB.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were used to collect data from 618 small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) employees in Ghana. For this study, both simple random and convenient sampling were adopted in selecting respondents. Regression was used to test the hypotheses in the research model using IBM–Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).FindingsThe results show that democratic and transformational leadership styles both positively predicted the OCB of SME employees, although transformational leadership has a more significant influence. On the contrary, autocratic leadership style was found to have an insignificant relationship with OCB of SME employees when the interactive effect of the various leadership styles and emotional intelligence were introduced into the model. The results also show that whereas leaders' emotional intelligence positively moderate the relationship between autocratic leadership style and OCB, the relationships between democratic leadership style and OCB and between transformational leadership style and OCB are not significantly moderated by leaders' emotional intelligence.Research limitations/implicationsAn examination of other prominent leadership styles (for example, the transactional leadership style and the laissez faire leadership style) could be key areas for future research as it is a potential limitation of this study. Similarly, the use of a Western leadership instrument could also be a potential limitation in the Ghanaian context, although these instruments and scales may be applicable. Future studies could also consider a longitudinal approach to give a more holistic picture of the effect of the leadership styles on OCB.Practical implicationsIn general, the findings of the study support the idea that the autocratic leadership style affects SME employees' OCB both directly and indirectly through leaders' emotional intelligence. This study recommends that leaders of SMEs should focus on leadership styles that combine both result-oriented and people-centric behaviors to encourage SMEs' employees to engage in OCB.Originality/valueThis study provides firsthand information on the impact of autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and transformational leadership style on an employee's OCB from the Ghanaian SME perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nhat Tan Nguyen ◽  
Lai Wan Hooi ◽  
Mohan V. Avvari

PurposeThis paper aims to look into the role of transformational leadership and transactional leadership as predictors of employee creativity and organisational innovation. Employee creativity is examined as a potential mediator in the leadership styles–organisational innovation relationships.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional, quantitative design was adopted and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to analyse data collected from 369 employees working in 39 public coffee enterprises in Vietnam.FindingsTransformational leadership and transactional leadership were significant predictors of employee creativity and organisational innovation. Specifically, transformational leadership was instrumental to employee creativity and organisational innovation while transactional leadership was detrimental to these two variables. Additionally, employee creativity partially mediated the relationships between the two leadership styles and organisational innovation.Practical implicationsResults of this study benefit the management of organisations and policy makers by providing an insight of which leadership style will effectively suit public enterprises to promote employee creativity and foster organisational innovation.Originality/valueWhile there is a lack of studies investigating organisational innovation in organisational methods and that the interrelationships between leadership styles, employee creativity and organisational innovation are not fully understood, this study pioneers in examining relationships between leadership styles and organisational innovation that is being mediated by employee creativity. Figuring out that organisational innovation is more likely to be fostered by the positive influence of leadership behaviours and the improvement of employee creativity, in particular, the significant role of employee creativity represents important contributions of the current study.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drea Zigarmi ◽  
Taylor Peyton Roberts

Purpose This study aims to test the following three assertions underlying the Situational Leadership® II (SLII) Model: all four leadership styles are received by followers; all four leadership styles are needed by followers; and if there is a fit between the leadership style a follower receives and needs, that follower will demonstrate favorable scores on outcome variables. Design/methodology/approach For the first and second assertions, a proportional breakdown of the four leadership styles observed within a sample of working professionals is presented and discussed. Regarding the third assertion, for ten outcome variables, multiple one-way analyses of variance tested mean differences between followers who experienced leadership style fit (i.e. a fit between received and needed style) and followers who did not experience fit (n = 573). Subscale scores from the Leader Action Profile, the Work Intention Inventory, the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and an adapted form of the Affective/Cognitive trust scale (McAllister, 1995) were used as study measures. Findings Three of the four leadership styles of the SLII framework were reported as frequently received. All four of the leadership styles were reported as needed. This study also found that follower-reported fit between one’s needed and received leadership style at work resulted in more favorable scores on nine of the ten employee outcomes, as compared to follower-reported misfit. Practical implications As human resource development practitioners seek to educate and train their leaders on how to be more effective with their direct reports, this research provides evidence that all four styles are needed and received, although there were lower instances of reporting the S1 style to be needed or received. Also, the findings demonstrated that when followers view a fit exists between the leadership behaviors they need and the leadership behaviors they receive, greater positive job affect, lower negative job affect, increased cognitive and affective trust in the leader and higher levels of favorable employee work intentions were evident. Originality/value This paper builds on the resurgence of studies examining initiating structure and consideration as leader behaviors. This is one of very few recent studies that, by combining initiating structure and consideration, reinvestigates the four leadership styles established by past contingency theories. Specifically, the authors used the SLII framework as a foundation for analysis. Overall, the study supports three of the major assumptions of the SLII framework.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mekpor ◽  
Kwasi Dartey-Baah

PurposeThe primary aim of this study was to determine whether or not leaders' emotional intelligence plays a mediating role in the relationship between leadership styles and voluntary work behaviours among employees of selected banks in Ghana. Specifically, the objective was to determine the mediating effect of leaders' emotional intelligence on the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership styles and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) and counterproductive workplace behaviours (CWB).Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative approach to research was adopted to collect data from 234 respondents. More so, both purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used for the selection of respondents for the study.FindingsThe findings of the study revealed that amongst the various leadership styles and OCB and CWB relationships, only the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB was mediated by leaders' emotional intelligence.Practical implicationsIt was however recommended that transformational leadership style be adopted in the quest to encourage employees to exhibit OCB and mitigate employees' involvement in CWB since such leaders are more prone to exhibiting high levels of emotional intelligence in the dealing with employees.Originality/valueFor the first time in the Ghanaian banking sector, this research explores the leaders' emotional intelligence as mediator on the nexus between leadership styles and voluntary work behaviours of employees of selected banks in Ghana.


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