Organizational leadership role in the delivery of sustainable construction projects in UK

Purpose – Sustainable construction project delivery should be supported by committed and inspirational leadership, with a clear understanding of the sustainability challenge. Construction organizations need intra-organizational leadership that provides the collective vision, strategy and direction t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Built environment project and asset management 2015-05, Vol.5 (2), p.154-169
Main Authors: Opoku, Alex, Cruickshank, Heather, Ahmed, Vian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Construction industry
Data processing
Empirical analysis
Environmental impact
Green buildings
Influence
Leadership
Organizations
Project engineering
Qualitative analysis
Roles
Society
Studies
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Sustainable practices
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Summary:Purpose – Sustainable construction project delivery should be supported by committed and inspirational leadership, with a clear understanding of the sustainability challenge. Construction organizations need intra-organizational leadership that provides the collective vision, strategy and direction towards the shared common goal of a sustainable future. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of intra-organizational leadership within UK construction organizations charged with the promotion of sustainability practices. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a mixed method approach with qualitative data collected through semi-structured interview with 15 leaders, followed by an industry-wide survey of 200 intra-organizational leaders in contractor and consultant organizations in the UK construction industry. Findings – The analysis of the data revealed that, the most important role of intra-organizational leadership in promoting sustainable construction practices is to formulate policies, implement procedures and disseminate best practices throughout the organization .Originality/value – Nothing has been written on intra-organizational leadership role in promoting sustainability practices in the construction industry. Although leadership and sustainability has been widely covered as separate issues this study provides the empirical evidence of the link between leadership and sustainability in construction.
ISSN:2044-124X
2044-1258
DOI:10.1108/BEPAM-12-2013-0074