Leadership in Civil Engineering: Effects of Project Managers’ Leadership Styles on Project Performance

Abstract

Successful completion of a construction project requires the ability to coordinate activities of numerous individuals participating in tasks that often have high levels of complexity and uncertainty. Thus, the project manager plays crucial roles, often setting the ground rules and fostering a collective approach that strongly influence project performance. However, there are uncertainties regarding various aspects of project managers’ influence, particularly related to their leadership style. Thus, the research reported in this paper explores the degrees to which leadership styles affect project outcome and specific leadership styles are appropriate in specific types of situations. The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey of views of 162 project managers employed by the largest public infrastructure client in Sweden. The results indicate that project performance (in terms of cost, time, and quality) is affected by leadership, suggesting that the project manager’s leadership style is a significant project success factor. Further, the results show that certain styles are appropriate in different situations, highlighting the importance of a contingency perspective.