Leadership vs. Management in the construction industry

Construction and project management has become a vital component of the delivery of construction. The hypothesis of this research is that the dependence on the characteristics and functions of management to deliver construction has a direct impact of increasing the risk of nonperforming construction, leading to performance issues. It is also proposed that a leadership structure is more efficient than the current management based structure, and will lead to increased construction performance. An efficient process uses leadership characteristics of empowerment, trust, self assessment by the timely use of performance information, and the measurement of a contractor's ability, to identify, prioritize, and minimize risk. A leadership structure results in a "win-win" relationship between clients (best value) and contractors (maximized profit). This research proposes that the use of a leadership oriented process may minimize the inefficiencies of the construction industry. Research is being proposed to explain the importance of moving to a leadership environment to the construction industry using information concepts. The objective of the research is to identify the characteristics of leadership and management, identify the relationship between the use of performance information, an information environment and leadership, and then develop a leadership based education which will use the information based processes to assist project/construction managers move to a leadership style. Management has a direct relationship to inefficiencies of delivery processes, and results in the inefficient or non-value added functions of control, management, and minimum quality construction. The research used deductive logic, previously published Information Measurement Theory (IMT) models, successful business practices, and results of management and leadership principles by Maxwell, to validate this hypothesis.