Empowering project teams: toward an integrative conceptualization of empowerment

Despite its long history, empowerment still remains a diffuse concept; a characteristic that has retarded its development and appropriate use. The theoretical underpinnings of empowerment are explicated in order to provide a thorough understanding and the much needed clarity. Towards this, two distinct approaches to the empowerment concept, structural and psychological, are differentiated and their complementarities articulated. Integrating the managerial or organisational acts/practices supportive of empowerment (structural approach) and employee cognition of empowerment (psychological approach) presents a unifying perspective that facilitates better understanding of the dynamics of the empowerment process. A multilevel perspective that exposes a paradox of empowerment in project teams is also explored and the implications for research and practice of such an integrative-multilevel conceptualisation consequently outlined

Performance consequences of psychological empowerment

The relationship between psychological empowerment and job performance, and whether three intermediate performance determinants; motivation, ability, and opportunity to perform hold the key to unlocking the empowerment-performance relationship dilemma are addressed. Using hierarchical linear modeling to analyse responses from 380 project management-level staff, the results show that psychological empowerment not only has direct and positive performance consequences, but also indirect effects, mediated by intrinsic motivation, opportunity to perform and ability to perform. The findings provide preliminary evidence in support of a comprehensive model of work performance that takes into consideration not only motivation and ability but opportunity to perform. Indeed, opportunity to perform actually emerged as a stronger mediator in the psychological empowerment-contextual performance behaviors relationship than ability to perform. The findings of both direct and indirect relationships however demonstrate that the relationship between empowerment and performance is more complex than previously thought. Yet, by demonstrating that empowered employees exhibit positive performance behaviors, psychological empowerment clearly emerges as a valuable path for organizations to pursue in their search for performance improvement in project settings

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

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"

Empowerment in project teams: a multi-level examination of the job performance implications

An integrative multilevel model of empowerment and job performance behaviours is advanced, building on social cognitive theory (SCT). Empowerment climate is hypothesized as influencing individual and team performance behaviours directly and partially through individual and team (psychological) empowerment. Using survey responses from 380 individuals, nested in 115 project management teams, we tested the direct, indirect and cross-level relationships delineated in the multilevel model, using a combination of OLS regression models and hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). Empowerment climate positively related not only directly to both task and contextual performance behaviours but partially through both individual and team empowerment. At the team level, empowerment climate also positively related directly to taskwork and teamwork behaviours and partially through team empowerment. The results suggest that empowerment climate and psychological empowerment play complementary roles in engendering individual and team performance behaviours and are therefore not mutually exclusive. The findings are also evident of convergence in management practices across cultures as well as different work contexts and further provide concrete targets of manipulation by organisations and leaders desirous of empowering individuals and teams in the project context

Taking industry seriously in ICT research – The case of building and construction industry

Industry has received little attention in Information systems research as a factor explaining information and communication technology (ICT) related activities in organizations. By drawing on a case study in the building and construction industry in Sweden, the aim of the paper is to contribute to an enhanced knowledge on how industry specific features shape the adoption and use of ICT. It is concluded adoption and deployment of ICT is shaped by the interplay among three main dimensions of industry: the market and production environment (shaped by specific interaction patterns among its features), the socio-cognitive environment, and institutional actors. The outcomes of this interplay will “fit” material features of ICT, implying certain ICT applications are preferred in an industry. The suggested framework can be used as a point of departure when ICT-related activities in an industry are analysed. But interaction patterns among features and features to be included in the framework will vary among industries

An exploratory study of the contextual meaning and consequences of empowerment in project teams

Empowerment means different things to different individuals. The factors that engender feelings of empowerment and the consequences that ensue are thus multifarious. Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) in semi-structured interviews with project participants in Hong Kong, the contextual meaning and consequences of empowerment are explored. Two broad categories of meanings were ascribed to the concept “empowerment” and related to “what individuals or teams feel or experience” and “what organisations or leaders do”, confirming the extant literature’s dichotomous conceptualisation of empowerment into the structural and psychological perspectives. Positive and negative consequences of empowerment and disempowerment were evident. The need to capture the different individual conceptualisations of empowerment in the implementation of empowerment initiatives is shown and that a contextual fit is essential for empowerment to take place

Models for engaging public-private partnerships in civil infrastructure projects: A case of 'having your cake and eating it too'?

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are established globally as an important mode of procurement and the features of PPP, not least of which the transfer of risk, appeal to governments and particularly in the current economic climate. There are many other advantages of PPP that are claimed as outweighing the costs of PPP and affording Value for Money (VfM) relative to traditionally financed projects or non-PPP. That said, it is the case that we lack comparative whole-life empirical studies of VfM in PPP and non-PPP. Whilst we await this kind of study, the pace and trajectory of PPP seem set to continue and so in the meantime, the virtues of seeking to improve PPP appear incontrovertible. The decision about which projects, or parts of projects, to offer to the market as a PPP and the decision concerning the allocation or sharing risks as part of engagement of the PPP consortium are among the most fundamental decisions that determine whether PPP deliver VfM. The focus in the paper is on latter decision concerning governments’ attitudes towards risk and more specifically, the effect of this decision on the nature of the emergent PPP consortium, or PPP model, including its economic behavior and outcomes. This paper presents an exploration into the extent to which the seemingly incompatible alternatives of risk allocation and risk sharing, represented by the orthodox/conventional PPP model and the heterodox/alliance PPP model respectively, can be reconciled along with suggestions for new research directions to inform this reconciliation. In so doing, an important step is taken towards charting a path by which governments can harness the relative strengths of both kinds of PPP model

A cultural perspective to stakeholder management in the Hong Kong construction industry

The Hong Kong construction industry is lauded for its “can-do” attitude and the apparently high levels of integration and cooperation that enables its high level of performance. An industry that can regularly complete four day floor cycles on high rise buildings over 40 storeys should be an innovative and relationship based industry. However, this is not the case. For example`, the predominant form of procurement in Hong Kong is still design-bidbuild (the “traditional” approach) and “partnering” has been introduced into the industry but in a piece-meal fashion and in a manner which is hardly effective. Still, the industry is characterised by hierarchy, tradition and procedures but the industry is also heavily influenced by the Chinese culture in which it was situated. Hence, values such as face, harmony and conflict avoidance are also embedded in the industry culture. In such a situation, the issue of stakeholders and their management has been paid scant regard; the government was used to making decisions on development rather than consulting widely and the other major players, the oligarchy of large property developers, adopted a simple, economic approach to their business plans and only over the past few years have issues such as corporate social responsibility reached their boardrooms