| The construction industry is a large and significant portion of the United States national economy. The impact of the industry is felt in both direct and indirect job creation, worker productivity, and in national defense. Numerous research initiatives are routinely funded to identify new procedures, processes, materials, equipment, computer applications, and other improvements that will enhance the performance of construction project managers.; A central and important aspect of construction and project management has not been adequately addressed, that being the need for leadership skills. The construction industry is dominated by engineers of various disciplines who initially entered the field because of their interest in technical skills. However, there is an increasing need for engineers in project management positions to have leadership skills to enable them to obtain the maximum effort and results from their personnel. To date there has been little research dedicated to the subject.; This research analyzed the leadership behaviors of two groups of construction project managers from a large and diverse construction company. A group of top performers was selected by corporate executives, and a control group was randomly selected from the residual population. A total of 35 top performers and 33 control group performers were ultimately evaluated through a 360-degree leadership evaluation process. The top performers were determined to have quantifiably better leadership behaviors than the control group.; Another aspect of the research was to identify the causal influences that may have resulted in construction project managers achieving, or failing to achieve, a higher level of leadership skills. Through use of a supplemental questionnaire, hard data and opinions were analyzed and compared between the two groups of construction project managers. The data and analysis indicates that there are causal influences that may impact leadership development. Specifically; the number of job assignments prior to the first project manager assignment, years of experience as a construction project manager, reading and self-study, and coaching/mentoring, were all found to have a significant impact upon the leadership development of top performing construction project managers. Recommended actions for application of these influences to improve the development of leadership skills in construction project managers were provided for educators, corporate executives, and individual construction project managers. |
