Rethinking leadership to construction partnering projects

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of partnering in construction. Central to any successful partnering arrangement is the change in cultural and behavioural characteristics towards mutual trust and understanding. Leadership is originally the source of the beliefs and values which forms shared assumptions of organisational culture. According to Schein, leadership can create, transmit, change and manage culture. This paper builds on the leadership literature which has so ably demonstrated the influence of powerful leaders. As Bueno and Bowditch states “the reality may be that managing will remain much more of an art than a science”. However true this statement may be, there is a number of things that management can do to further cultural integration and the success of construction partnering projects. This paper initially reviews the theory behind partnering, culture and leadership. It stages arguments and discussions over the importance of behavioural aspects of leadership and explores applicability of leadership styles to construction partnering projects.