Leadership and Cultures of Lithuanian and Dutch Construction Firms
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 133, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper addresses both firm cultures and top leadership styles in construction firms in a West and an East-European country, the Netherlands and Lithuania. Human Resource managers filled in valid questionnaires during an interview on the premises of 16 construction firms in each country. The significant differences between the two countries pertain predominantly to the desired firm cultures and leadership styles. Construction firms in Lithuania strive toward more job autonomy, a more external orientation, an improved human resource orientation, a stronger interdepartmental orientation, and more of an improvement orientation in general. The Dutch respondents seek firm-culture improvements only in terms of a more external and interdepartmental orientation. Concerning desired transformational and transactional leadership, both leadership styles are significantly more desired by Lithuanian construction firms. Dutch top managers appear to rely already on transformational leadership with some transactional style components. Lithuanian managers have started to rely more on transformational leadership, whereas transactional leadership remains important in Lithuanian construction firms. Combining transformational and transactional leadership styles is highly recommended by current leadership research. Also, learning from “the best of both worlds” in terms of firm culture is recommended.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 133 • Issue 11 • November 2007
Pages: 900 - 911
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 29, 2006
Accepted: Feb 8, 2007
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
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