Introduction

The construction industry is changing as it moves forward in the 21^st century.  The challenges of globalization, new markets, changing workforce demographics, and information technology requirements are transforming the focus of construction leaders.  In this changing environment the ability to remain focused on “delivering the project” is ending as new issues require an organizational perspective to successfully remain competitive.  Within this context, the role of project managers and senior executives is witnessing a significant alteration.  A sample of the challenges facing construction leaders include the need to implement new competitive strategies, forge international partnerships, and motivate the workforce to rapidly adopt new practices.  Unfortunately, the ability to address these issues falls outside of the classic project management perspective that dominates the construction industry.  The challenge to the industry is how to develop, implement, and support the leadership required to successfully lead construction projects and organizations in the new construction environment.  Responding to this challenge is the focus of the proposed task group and the emphasis of this proposal.

Objectives and Scope:

The Task Group on Leadership in Construction Projects and Organizations focuses on leadership issues within the construction industry with emphasis on project and organization leadership.  The scope of this task group fits within the overall scope of W065 which has the directive of focusing on organization and management issues within the construction industry.  As detailed below, the objectives for the task group are focused on the development of industry leaders and the emerging challenges facing new leaders. 

Objectives:

1. Establish an international group to research the state of leadership in the construction industry today and to identify the barriers to development in the near future.
2. Establish a global focus on leadership and identify the characteristics of successful leaders within the new construction industry.
3. Establish a global focus on organization and project leadership and identify the primary issues facing construction leadership such as knowledge management, diversity, partnerships, and change management.
4. Broaden the global emphasis on leadership by attracting industry representatives /
   stakeholder representatives and people from other regions, including and especially Asia / China.
5. Establish a formal collaboration forum for international researchers to exchange information, establish collaborations, and promote the investigation of leadership issues.
6. Initiate a workshop and conference series to regularly exchange and publish research in the area of leadership and management.
7. Serve as a focal point for raising the awareness of leadership issues within the construction industry and the need for further research in this area within the academic community.

Programme

The proposed task group will actively focus on collaboratively investigating the issues outlined above in the task group objectives.  As a basis for this investigation, the task group proposes the following programme of events during the three year period.

 Year 1 – Oct. 2006 – Sept. 2007

• Kick off task group at the W65 meeting in Rome, Oct. 2006
• Initiate “State of Leadership” initiative by developing a leadership survey for global distribution.
• Initiate electronic community for the exchange of current research documents and data.
• Co-sponsor the ASCE 2007 Construction Research Congress and host a track based on task group member research.
• Sponsor a session(s) at the 2007 CIB World Congress.
• Distribute white paper based on leadership survey data.

 Year 2 – Oct. 2007 – Sept. 2008

• Continue “State of Leadership” initiative through case studies of organizations in each of the represented countries.
• Sponsor a 2008 Leadership and Management conference in conjunction with W65.
• Distribute white paper on leadership challenges in the global construction industry.

 Year 3 – Oct. 2008 – Sept. 2009

• Complete “State of Leadership” initiative by releasing a report on the global state of leadership in the construction industry.
• Sponsor a 2009 Leadership and Management conference in conjunction with W65.
• Release an industry focused book on leadership in the construction industry based on research on global issues by the task group members.

Deliverables:

1. Electronic Community - The establishment of an electronic community where discussion and document exchange focused on leadership is a necessity that has yet to be filled in the academic community.  The proposed task group will initiate and support this community as an initial deliverable.
2. Conference Series - The current conference series on Leadership and Management in Construction will be continued under the primary badge of the task group with proceedings published in conjunction with each conference.
3. White Papers – As discussed above, the task group will release at least one white paper each year focused on the research results obtained through the global collaboration initiated in the task group.
4. Leadership Report - An analysis document reflecting the current state of organization management within the construction industry with a perspective on the global task group membership will be a cumulative effort with contributions from throughout the global community.
5. Industry Book – A focus of the group will be the long-term delivery of a book focused on leadership in the construction industry.  This objective will be revisited by the group at the conclusion of the first year.

Initial Membership

Dr. Paul Chinowsky, University of Colorado, USA, Co-Chair

Dr. Patricia Carrillo, Loughborough University, UK, Co-Chair

Dr. John Ameh, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dr. Andrew Dainty, Loughborough University, UK

Dr. Irem Dikmen, Middle East Tech. University, Turkey

Dr. Frances Edum-Fotwe, Loughborough University, UK

Dr. Patrick Fong, Hong Kong Polytechnic, Hong Kong

Dr. Michael Garvin, Virginia Tech, USA

Mr. Pekka Huovinen, TKK, Finland

Dr. Anand Jayawardane - University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Dr. Kalle Kahkonen, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland

Dr. Constantine Katsanis, Ryerson University, Canada

Dr. Mohan Kumaraswamy, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Dr Helen Lingard, RMIT University, Australia

Dr. Ray Levitt, Stanford University, USA

Dr. Martin Loosemore, University of New South Wales, Australia

Dr. Bill Maloney, University of Kentucky, USA

Dr. George Ofori, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Dr. Martin Sexton, University of Salford, UK

Dr. Anthony Songer, Virginia Tech, USA

Dr. Michael Toole, Bucknell University, USA