Yang, K; Sunindijo, R Y; Wang, C C and Zhang, S (2024) Key leadership competencies in different management levels for digital transformation in construction organisations. In: Thomson, C (ed.) Proceedings of 40th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2024, London South Bank University, UK.
Abstract
In recent years, the slow progress of digital transformation in construction organisations has received an increasing attention, and effective leadership is considered an important factor in driving transformation. Using China as the study context, this research aims to identify important leadership competencies for digital transformation across different management levels in construction. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey from 299 construction practitioners. The finding points out that interpersonal leadership competencies are considered important by construction practitioners at all levels. Conscientiousness, collaboration, and trust-building are particularly critical competencies in this domain. The research also found variances in what being considered important competencies in different management levels. For general staff, competencies, such as task decomposition and goal establishment, is the key. The competency of policy interpretation and implementation becomes important for the line managers and middle managers. For senior managers, the competencies of encouragement, persuasion, empowerment, and supervision have become key. This research provides practical guidance for leadership development for each management level in a construction organisation to support digital transformation.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | leadership; competencies; construction; China; digital transformation; information technology |
| Index terms: | empowerment, construction organization, manager, variance, encouragement, construction practitioner, transformation, survey, questionnaire, leadership development, collaboration, supervision, trust-building, information technology, line manager, China, implementation |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, psychology, training, control systems, practitioner, computing systems, data collection methods, business, organization, measurement and scaling, Geography, professional development, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Information Management, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here