Construction Project Leadership from the Perspective of Islam

Abstract

It is commonly agreed in literature that leadership is the most critical factor in the success or failure of an organisation or institution (Bass 1990). It is subject that has long excited interest among people (Tirmizi 2002) and will continue to spark discussion, research and debates. Also, literature indicates, both leaders and managers, especially at the top management level, are keys to the success or failure of an organisation or business (Dahlena 2013). Effective leadership influences a group or organisation to achieve successfully and meet its goal and objectives (Osman & Shuhaimi 2012). The leadership acts as an extra ingredient to the sum of efforts of many people and help the organisation to achieve or accomplish more than the normal achievement (Hitt et al. 2005; Osman & Shuhaimi 2012). Thus, leadership is the energiser needed for people working a group or organisation, to get them motivated and moving effectively to achieve goals and eventually to achieve success, which management skills alone will be able to provide.The study of project leadership is not new also in project management. Leadership is of fundamental importance to effective management of construction projects, independent of size, sector or location (Dainty et al. 2005; Bogus & Rounds 2006) and therefore, leadership is important at all levels of construction administration from field supervision to company management (Bogus & Rounds 2006). The importance of leadership for the overall project execution and eventually leading to project success is increasingly recognised in the project management literature. For example, Skipper and Bell (2006) state that the need for improved leadership skills in the construction industry is gaining recognition as an important issue and has attracted much recent attention. Limsila and Ogunlana (2008) state that effective leadership is essential for construction projects. Leadership is widely accepted as one of critical factors in determining the success or failure of a project (Amason et al. 2007).Project managers are key players in projects and construction industry, and much of the fate of projects lies in their hands and rest on their shoulders. Their interpersonal skills and leadership in addition to the project management technical competencies will ensure smooth running of projects towards achieving its designated goals and success. The role of project manager is primarily to provide leadership to the entire project team from inception to completion to achieve project objectives and eventually project success (Zarina et al. 2012). In similar view, Gharehbaghi & McManus (2003) point out that a major task of the project manager is to provide effective leadership throughout the life of a construction project leadership. The project manager's ability to successfully lead a team and achieve goals is and will always be critical to the success of a project (Hyvari 2006). Literature and research in project management that suggest the practice of transformational leadership for project manager in construction projects is found to be enormous. Example of previous research on transformational leadership for project manager in project environment have been conducted by the following authors in their published research; Barber and Warn (2005), Keegan and Den Hartog (2004), Davis (2008), Prabhakar (2005) and Murugesan (2012). Dyett (2011) in her doctoral research has stated that many state of the art studies on project leadership have been on transformational model of leadership. Keegan & Den Hartog (2004) state that most of the current works and studies on leadership in both general management and project management literature have shown a great emphasis on the importance of transformational leadership. Barber & Warn (2005) and Murugesan (2012) suggest that to be effective, project manager need to exhibit both transactional and transformational leadership style. Davis (2008) state that the study of transformational leadership is pertinent in project management and strong empirical data were presented in the literature review that transformational leadership is an effective leadership style in various settings. …