Impact of leadership style and team context on psychological empowerment in construction project teams

Abstract

The empowerment process makes huge demands on organizations and its constituents. The team as the proximal work environment creates a social environment for interactions that can change individual behaviour, attitudes and perceptions. Leadership provides a direct channel through which individuals interpret organizational policies and practices. The impact of leadership style and team context on psychological empowerment in project teams was examined using data from a parallel questionnaire survey of construction client, consultant and contractor organizations in Hong Kong. It was posited that span of control and interdependence will positively and significantly influence psychological empowerment. Person orientated leadership style was expected to positively impact psychological empowerment while task orientated leadership style was expected to have a negative impact. No significant relationship was found between span of control and psychological empowerment while team interdependence had a positive and significant relationship with psychological empowerment. Task orientated leadership was positively and significantly related to psychological empowerment in the full sample and contractor teams but not in consultant and client teams. Person orientated leadership was positively and significantly related to psychological empowerment in the full sample, consultant and client teams but not in contractor teams. The distinct findings in relation to the leadership style-empowerment link are consistent with a systems perspective of the construction process. Client and consultant teams constitute a "managing sub-system" and rely on management of interrelationships (i.e. person orientated leadership) to succeed while contractor teams constitute the "operating/task sub-system" and rely on task performance (i.e. task orientated leadership). The findings add to the growing evidence of lack of support for the stereotypical views on how task and person orientated leadership styles manifest. In project settings where "getting the job done" and "teamwork" are inseparable both leadership styles can produce positive outcomes through "leadership adjustment".