Teaching Leadership

Introduction

What is leadership?

“If your aspirations inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”  John Quincy Adams.

The construction industry is a fast paced business environment in which decisions can result in a successful project or lead to financial ruin.  Traditionally, construction companies have entrusted these difficult decisions to construction managers that have many years of experience.  Accordingly, management in the construction industry is vital.  However, management skills are not all that is required for success.  Construction managers that possess strong leadership skills are better able to manage projects.  So what is the difference in management and leadership?  According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, management is defined as “the act, art or manner of managing or handling, controlling directing, etc.”  A leader is defined as “a person that leads, directing, commanding or guiding head of a group or activity.”  In practical terms, management is associated with the technical and financial aspects of construction while leadership is associated with the human relationships within the industry.  One point of clarification, often many positions within the construction industry requires the industry practitioner to be a leader and a manager.  These individuals typically have management jobs but practice the concepts of leadership.  Stated another way, managers and leaders take different approaches in how they motivate those who work for them.  Managers have subordinates which work for them and do as they are told.  The manager expects the subordinate to earn their paycheck by doing what is required.  In comparison, leaders do not have subordinates but rather have followers.  They realize telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you but rather they use their people skills to appeal to their followers.  Additionally, leaders pass credit on to those who deserve it and take blame as necessary which in turn builds up loyalty.

As it relates to construction, the construction leader motivates their project team into realizing success.  Often construction managers think they are leaders but simply don’t communicate well enough to their subordinates to have the affect of being an effective leader.  Kirk (2000) was able to show that a construction project manager needed to have leadership skills for about 60% and management skills for about 40% of their tasks.  If a project manager was a marginal manager but still possessed leadership skills they would be successful.  However if a project manager did not possess leadership skills, no matter how successful of a manager they were, they would not be successful project managers.  These interesting conclusions developed by Kirk indicate the importance of leadership skills.  Additionally Beliveau and Peter (2002) found that leadership skills were the third most important skills from a list of the ten most needed skills for the 21^st century constructor.

A real world example of this leadership versus management was relayed to the authors by a senior project manager for a large general contractor (Lewis 2005).  The contractor had a subcontractor on a project that had mistakenly underbid a portion of their work.  This subcontractor was an owner-operator company and he could not afford to take a $10K loss on a $35K wall covering contract.  If the subcontractor walked off the job, it was going to cost several thousand dollars in re-procurement costs plus the time lost to find a replacement.  The project manager for the general contractor decided to float the subcontractor a loan and the subcontractor would bid the next several projects at cost to make up the difference.  A ‘by the book’ project manager would have likely terminated the subcontract and taken the subcontractor to court.  This action is not justifiable because it is not in the best interests of all parties involved.  However, the leader in this case tried to solve the construction problem by working with (thinking of the personal relationships) the subcontractor and trying to develop a win-win scenario which both parties could live with.

This paper explores the importance of teaching leadership at the undergraduate level and explains how this is accomplished at Central Washington University.

Background

What makes certain individuals capable of being strong leaders while others fail?  Is it genetics, a certain personality type, or your upbringing?  The answer to this question is maybe.  Leaders are not born but rather developed through experiences, training and willingness to learn.  Some leadership skills can be taught, yet there are limitations (Kirk 2000).  Additionally some people must be taught and have their leadership skills drawn out of them.  One commonality amongst all effective leaders is that they constantly work to improve their leadership skills (Clark 1997).  Therefore if one strives to become a leader, regardless of their personality they can become better leaders.  The transformational leadership theory also supports this premise (Clark 1997).  The transformational leadership theory states that people who choose to become leaders can improve in this area and this is the foundation for this paper; education and training can make better leaders and construction management programs should start this education process.

There are 11 principles of leadership used by the US Navy in their leadership training (US Navy 2003) that once mastered can help anyone become a better leader.  This military model follows the doctrine that leaders are made rather than born.  Construction is a demanding environment which requires the input of numerous individuals.  The industry can not sit back and rely on born leaders, rather it needs to take the initiative and build them.  Implementing these principles into the construction industry will greatly improve the effectiveness of construction managers.  These principles apply to the construction industry specifically:

1) Know yourself and seek self-improvement: Spend some time honestly evaluating your leadership skills, try to determine your strengths and weaknesses.   Seek honest evaluations from co-workers, mentors and friends.  Develop a plan to improve your leadership abilities and follow through with the plan.

2) Be technically proficient:  As a construction manager, you need to know the construction industry from all sides.  Additionally, you need to know your employee’s tasks and responsibilities.

3) Know your people and look out for their well being: Spend time getting to know employees and their families.  Understand their family situation.  Work with employees when family conflicts arise.  Never make an employee choose between their family and the job. 

4) Keep your workers informed:  Effective communications are required with your employees and also senior management.  Never assume workers should have heard about something.

5) Set the example:  It’s hard to punish your employees for making personal phone calls when you spend time on the internet.  Model the behavior you expect from your employees.

6) Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised and accomplished:  Make sure tasks are clearly defined including when they are to be completed.  Supervise, especially new employees, until you can trust them to meet your expectations every time.  Ensure all work is accomplished according to your expectations.  Often at the end of projects, it’s easy to let things slide.  It’s your reputation and responsibility to make sure everything gets done.

7) Train as a team:  Successful teams work together.  Make sure your team of workers is truly a team and constantly focus on the best interests of the project and team.  Rotate team leaders to ensure everyone gets a feel for leadership roles.

8) Make sound and timely decisions:  A good decision today is better than a great decision a month from now.  The construction industry changes too quickly to find the perfect solution for all the problems that arise during a project.  Often you must think on your feet and make instant decisions.

9) Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers:  Encourage professional development.  Ask for worker input.  Require them to be part of the solution.

10) Use the full capabilities of your organization:  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. 

11) Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions:  Accept new challenges, constantly seek new methods to improve the organization.  When you lose money on a job do not blame others, weather, etc find the root cause and fix it.

The act of being a leader is a difficult task.  You constantly have to balance the objectives of your employer and the well being of your employees.  To be an effective leader you need to be able to communicate effectively with your workers and be an honorable and ethical worker who others will instill trust.  Leadership skills do not develop overnight and often take a lifetime to hone.  However, in order to obtain maximum effectiveness of your employees and co-workers, learning and developing effective leadership skills are essential. 

What needs to be done?

Graduates of a construction management program have a solid foundation of the technical skills needed to succeed in the construction industry; however, not all graduates have a foundation in the necessary leadership skills.  Therefore, it’s imperative that construction management programs have a certain amount of leadership training in their curriculum.  Using some of the above principles these traits can be developed in young construction professionals.

Current Leadership Efforts

An informal sampling was conducted of schools listed on the ASC website.  Although an exhaustive search was not conducted, the sampling provided the authors an approximate gauge to what is being done at the undergraduate level.  Approximately 30% of the schools which offer a construction management degree were reviewed.  The construction management programs website was visited and if available the class requirements were investigated.  Out of the approximately 30 schools which were investigated, only a small fraction of these schools listed leadership in any of their class descriptions.        

Additionally, email correspondence was sent to several construction management department chairs across the US.  Of the replies that were received, about 65% of the schools offered no leadership training at all.  However, the leadership training that was provided typically consisted of a few class periods in a project management class.

Higher education does offer leadership studies and there are entire degree programs devoted to leadership.  These programs are offered at the undergraduate and graduate level.  Additionally many MBA and business programs offer specific classes in leadership.  These courses are offered outside of most construction management programs.

There is not a specific leadership requirement by the American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) accreditation body.  There is a requirement for business and management courses and leadership topics could fit in one of the suggested elective course topics. (ACCE 2000).  The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) similarly requires course work in business and management.  ABET specifically calls out leadership as a topic area that would qualify under this major category (ABET 2004).

Based on this sampling, it can be inferred that more leadership training needs to be accomplished at the undergraduate level.

How Industry Trains Leaders

Associations

The construction industry associations have recognized the need for life long learning and leadership training.  This training is in the form of specialized classes, conference training, and opportunities to provide service in a leadership capacity.  Three of the major associations are presented to review a sampling of what training is available.  There are many more associations, private training companies, and opportunities available to the practitioner.

The Associated General Contractors (AGC) offers training in several venues and targets different levels of industry personnel.  The Supervisor Training Program (STP) is geared toward the on-site superintendent or those individuals aspiring to become a superintendent.  Leadership training is provided in a module but the focus is on managing the construction process.  Project management is available via workshops, videos and training classes, again the focus is mostly on managing the construction process but some leadership specific training is provided.  AGC also offers a workshop specifically addressing leadership.  This workshop is for leaders from project superintendents to company executives and significant efforts are directed at becoming better leaders. 

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) offers leadership training to its members.  This training is offered at various levels and some specifically targets leadership for project managers.  The training provides project managers with the skills to motivate employees and adapt to changing situations. 

The Project Management Institute (PMI) offers certifications in project management that includes some components of leadership, for example human resource management and communications.  PMI also offers a host of seminars and many deal with leadership, for example communications, influencing, and team building.

Industry Practitioners/ Construction Companies

A review of several large sized companies in the Pacific Northwest has shown they have formalized training programs.  The training is mostly technical in nature.  Leadership is gained through experience and training.  This training is normally performed by others outside of the firm, for example via AGC.  Smaller companies tend not to have formalized training programs but professional development may be offered through industry associations.

Russell and Dunne (2004) found that leading construction management firms have established leadership development programs.  The programs focus on developing strong leaders yet more could be done in this area to develop enough good leaders for the needs of today.

Leadership Education and Opportunities at CWU

Introduction

There is not a specific class in leadership but students are exposed to various leadership training efforts throughout their education.  This training ranges from small group activities to having the opportunity to lead other students on a project.  Some leadership training is subtle, for example assigning two students that do not know each other to work on a project requires them to communicate and exercise personal leadership.  The following are specific classes where students are exposed to leadership education.

CMGT 245 Light Commercial Construction

This is a laboratory class that builds a small construction project in the community.  Sample projects are garages, small studio homes, and building portions of homes.  Students with experience are selected as foreman and are exposed to on the job leadership skills.  These student foremen must plan the days work and ensure each student has a job duty.  Leadership is exercised by performing some of the traits listed above: making sure other students understand the work at hand, communicating, making decisions, being technically competent, knowing when to ask for help, and taking responsibility.

CMGT 455 Principals of Construction Management

This course is a fundamentals project management class where students learn the skills of managing the construction process.  Several class sessions are devoted to leadership within the construction industry.  These leadership skills are then exercised in small group projects and leaders obtain feed back from other students on their performance as leaders.  For example a group may build a house of cards utilizing supplies that cost a certain amount.  The objective is to build the strongest house with the least amount of money.  Once the project is completed team members assess the team leader’s skill at leading.  These exercises allow a student to try out the recently discussed leadership topics and get immediate feedback on their performance.  

CMGT 485 Contemporary Topics

This course uses Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey 1990) as a text.  The first three habits of personal leadership are stressed.  It is felt that students need to mature in this area before they become strong leaders.  Several exercises are designed to begin students on their way to developing better personal leadership skills.  The other habits that deal with communication, teamwork, and cooperation are reviewed and provide an excellent foundation for good leadership skills needed in the construction industry.

MGT 380 Organizational Management

This course is offered by the business school and students have the option to taking this course as part of their business and management requirement.  This course includes a section on leadership.  Objectives of the course are to understand organizational structures and develop the skills required of a manager.

Student Clubs

The student AGC club is very active and students obtain leadership experience as officers.  The honor society routinely builds small projects for schools.  Several students get involved in planning, fund raising and executing a major event such as the logistics for the ASC student competition.  These small projects offer students a chance to learn leadership skills in organizing and getting commitments from fellow students.

What Leadership Education Should Be Provided

Students in construction management programs should be exposed to their initial leadership education and training as a part of their college experience.  This initial training should only begin their life learning in this area. 

Personal Leadership

Students are still maturing to become responsible citizens, construction professionals, and leaders.  A construction management curriculum is a relatively rigorous endeavor.  Students must develop a work ethic and personal responsibility in order to complete the program.  Students are exposed to time management issues, setting priorities, and setting goals.  These are all traits needed to begin the development of effective leaders.  As educators we should keep our standards high and encourage students to stretch to reach goals.  This will build the personal leadership skills needed to succeed in the construction industry. 

Team Leadership

Students should have projects assigned that allow them to lead other students.  The authors have found that even two person projects, depending on the dynamics of the team, may require significant leadership skills.  Class exercises that allow an individual to lead and provide feedback on their efforts are very valuable education and assessment tools.

Case studies need to be developed which require individuals to lead groups of people in a project setting.  All too often in group projects, one strong student carries and makes up for weaker students.  This is unfair to the stronger and weaker students.  Assignments need to be structured where team leaders rotate and each take a turn leading a group through a project or a task.  Some excellent active leadership exercises are described by Gier and Hurd (2004).  These exercises have the students actively participating as managers and laborers.  The exercises are described in enough detail to be applied in the classroom and an assessment of their effectiveness is provided.     

Conclusion

Leadership skills are invaluable in the fast paced environment of construction.  Employees who do not have effective leadership skills will not realize the same effectiveness as leaders who can inspire their coworkers and subordinates to reach their maximum potential.  Additionally, with the onset of an aging workforce, more and more responsibility will be handled by employees with less experience.  Therefore, it is critical these employees develop effective leadership skills.

Most leadership skills and traits can be taught, although some people are better prepared to become the best leaders.  Graduates of construction management programs will most likely become project managers at some point in their careers and must be leaders in order to be successful. 

However, in light of the growing need for effective leaders in construction, only a limited number of construction management programs across the United States offer coursework and classes on this topic.

Leadership training is recognized as valuable professional development.  This training is available at all levels of an organization via on the job training, training provided by others, from associations, and higher education programs.

Recommendations

Higher education’s role is to start the leadership education process.  Construction programs should prepare students for personal leadership and lay the foundation to be able to lead workers, teams and other people involved in the construction industry.  Therefore, more emphasis should be given to leadership education and training.

Accreditation of construction management programs may want to consider a requirement for leadership education.  This education should focus on developing personal leadership and the beginnings of team leadership.  The requirements for business and management should specifically call out a leadership subtopic requirement.  The authors suggest this leadership education should be interwoven into existing course work even if at the expense of some technical topics.

Continual leadership education and training are required.  Advanced training in this area should come after graduates have been in the workforce for awhile and have had an opportunity to mature and apply their skills. 

Future Work

Writing a paper on leadership curriculum forces you to research, evaluate and benchmark your own program.  The authors plan to improve on the established curriculum by continuing to add meaningful projects and strengthening the student’s ability to think critically and apply leadership skills.

Additional research needs to be conducted on the development of effective team leader assignments and how such assignments are to be implemented and assessed.  The authors plan to experiment with the leadership exercises offered by Gier and Hurd (2004).  The authors also plan on researching and developing measurable criteria to define the effectiveness of leadership training.

References

Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). (2004). Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs dated Nov 1, 2004.  ABET Baltimore, MD.

American Council for Construction Education (ACCE).  (2000). Document 103 Standards and Criteria for Accreditation of Post Secondary Construction Education.  ACCE San Antonio, TX.

Beliveau, J. Yvan and Peter, David. (2002).  Education for the Builders of Tomorrow – Can We Do it Better?  ASC Proceedings of the 38^th Annual Conference, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.

Clark, D. (2005, July 7).  Concepts of Leadership [WWW document] URL http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html

Covey, Steven. (1990).  Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.

Gier, M. Dennis and Hurd, W. Marjorie. (2004).  Increasing the Effectiveness of Active Learning Exercises in the Construction Management Classroom.  ASC Proceedings of the 40^th Annual Conference, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.

Kirk, W. Max. (2000).  Cognitive processes in leadership in relationship to the effectiveness of construction project managers.  PhD Dissertation University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.

Lewis, Tim. (2005).  Project Management Presentation. Presentation to Construction Management Class May 2005, Ellensburg, WA.

Russell, B. Donald and Dunne, D. Dennis. (2004).  How Healthy is Your Company’s Leadership Development Culture?  Construction Management Association of America E Journal. McLean, VA.

US Navy. (2003).  Principles of Naval Leadership. Navy Leadership Planning Guide, 2003 [WWW document] URL http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/navy/leadership_principles.pdf