Leadership Grid between Concern for People and Intuition

Considerable studies have been devoted to the use of intuition by chief executives. Some of the interesting findings are (Kolb 1983; Dean et al. 1974; Agor 1986; Isenberg 1984; Torbert 1983):

Researchers have determined that successful people have highly developed intuitions, and that people who are highly intuitive are more successful (Mihalasky 1967; Dean et al. 1974). So perhaps there should be more research into the use of intuition for making decisions in construction management.

Abraham Maslow’s (1971) concept of self-actualization is highly spiritual. But, from where does self-actualization originate? What is this motor that drives and actualizes? How does it sustain itself? The answer is that there are inner storehouses of energy and knowledge from which decision making is known intuitively. With each successful decision self-confidence increases. The human celebrates and rejoices in the new light discovered. There is a spontaneity that increases in the person’s actions, a spontaneity that is natural and refreshing—a transcendence of being—a sign of fundamental common sense, perhaps divinity. It must be appreciated that Maslow’s psychological theories and the underlying motivations for his writing were fundamentally spiritual (Maslow 1970).

Decision making requires self-confidence. A diffident executive will barely be able to keep work moving. Self-confidence through intuition further allows managers to take needed risks essential for company growth and survival. Self-confidence is necessary during long hours of negotiation, bargaining, loan arranging, claims management, and dispute resolution. Self-esteem and self-confidence, which are part of Maslow’s motivation pyramid, are closely related as well. A person will have self-esteem if that person feels self-confidence. It is this self-esteem that leads to professional integrity, ethical behavior, and dignity. The “self,” like “mind,” is immeasurable and not perfectly definable. But, self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-actualization are human variables all powered by the inner forces of intuition. We thus see the crucial role that intuition plays in the creation of a responsible, holistic manager.

Albert Einstein, Clerk Maxwell, Neil Bohr, Fred Hoyle, Jonas Salk, and many others stated time and again that without intuition there is no thought, no knowledge, no advancement (Rowan 1986; Vaughn 1989). Philosophers and psychologists such as Spinoza, David Hume, and Carl Jung, among others, have felt that something beyond reason assists humans in perception and understanding. Rene Descartes, on whose works many areas of engineering depend, received at least two visions in which his philosophies, or parts thereof, were revealed to him. Descartes actually traveled to Loretto, Italy, to thank the Virgin Mary for those visions (Hampshire 1956). For spiritual philosophers from the East—Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda, to name only a couple—intuitive senses are the gateway to divine knowledge (Aurobindo 1952). In their meditation, divine knowledge encompasses material and physical understanding. It is worthwhile to understand that inspiration for growth and further learning can come directly from the divine. This thing called “thought” and its derivative, “knowledge,” thus exist pervasively, including, therefore, in the business of construction engineering and management.

It is knowledge that allows people to make decisions; thus, intuitive knowledge assists in that process. Esoteric insights are frequently not possible through use of analysis and logic. William Blake’s dream “[t]o see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower; hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour” is not possible through any scientific or objective method of sight. Consider Mozart’s explanation for such events, when he reflected “[W]hen I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good Cheer . . . it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence they come, I know not; nor can I force them.” However, it should be evident that if the force of intuition can be harnessed, it can hope to serve creativity and good decision making.

In this study, we decided to see how much construction engineers and managers rely on intuition as a decision-making methodology. We realize that the quality of decision making is an important aspect of organizational culture and health. In an earlier study, it was learned that construction managers perceive their job to be oriented more toward management skills rather than engineering skills (Singh 1997a). This is an important finding, because in management, decisions involve more heuristics and subjectivity than in design engineering. But, intuition is an understudied aspect in management science. Nevertheless, the presence, importance, and effects of intuition in management have been tangibly proven (Agor 1986; Goldberg 1983; Holton 1971; Pondy 1983; Ray and Myers 1989; Rowan 1986; Vaughn 1989). Studying intuition is important if a large portion of the engineering population uses it. Information on intuition research has the potential of changing management emphasis and improving motivation styles.

Coupled with intuition that may help to enhance productivity, engineers’ concern for people and colleagues is another important factor that helps to ascertain the qualitative culture of their organization. Obviously, a high concern for people is desirable, but not at the total expense of productivity. Blake and Mouton (1972) presented the managerial grid that identified “concern for production” and “concern for people” as the primary axes of analysis. The managerial grid was later morphed by numerous scientists into the conflict grid (Thomas and Killman 1974). This paper has further modified the managerial grid to couple the study of intuition with a manager’s concern for people; we call this the leadership grid.

The aim of this study is to see how widespread the use of intuition is, what engineers feel about intuition, and how much of it is accepted as a decision-making tool. We also want to find how much concern the engineers have for other staff members, in contrast to exhibiting selfish behavior. In addition, we want to understand how the senior members of this organization—the resident engineers (REs) and area engineers (AEs)—fare with respect to the relatively junior members, the project engineers (PEs). Lastly, we wish to determine whether there is a relationship between the use of intuition and concern for people.

This study focuses on two parameters: “intuitive behavior” and “concern for people.” Concern for people is measured through the parameter called “selfishness” in this study. Quantitative values for these two parameters were collected by way of a questionnaire distributed to engineers at the State Department of Engineering Construction (SDEC). Focus is on extending classical theories of leadership and management styles.

The questionnaire is shown in the Appendix. Complete anonymity and confidentiality was maintained in the collection of answers. Eighteen project engineers and 8 resident engineers plus area engineers responded, for a total of 26 responses, representing 62 percent of the total population of engineers at SDEC.

Scale I of the questionnaire corresponds to Use of Intuition (UoI); Scale II corresponds to Concern for People (CfP). To find the final score for UoI, the scores from Scale I were added and averaged, and then converted to a percentage. The score for selfishness is the average of the Scale II scores. Concern for People is calculated by first calculating the average score for selfishness, as a percentage, and then subtracting that percentage from 100. The aggregate scores for each respondent for UoI and CfP are given in Table 1. The average response for each question is given in Table 2.

Questions were asked that were designed to measure whether, first of all, engineer-managers believed in intuition at all or not. An impressive 69 percent of engineers answered that they believed in the use of intuition (Q.1). This was complemented by 52 percent who believed that intuition could be used in construction engineering and management decision making (Q.2), and 47 percent who reported using it in their regular job (Q.5). Interestingly, many engineers believed that objective engineering formulas can be used to arrive at viable construction management decisions; 77 percent believed that objective data is useful in decision making (Q.16). About 50 percent use intuition in their everyday life (Q.4), and exactly 50 percent indicated that they have confidence in the power of Intuition (Q.11).

Interestingly, most engineers (70 percent) report that their intuitive decision making is accurate 70 percent of the time (Q.8), and 54 percent are confident or partially confident while doing so (Q. 10 and Q. 12). However, they caution against relying on intuition completely (72 percent); the reason for this is probably because immature decisions are possible if intuition is not used properly. Although 47 percent feel compelled to make intuitive decisions (Q.17), 56 percent feel that it is probably unethical to do so (Q.18). All agree that idea formulation exacts the maximum use of intuition (and creativity), while feasibility analysis and construction tie for a distant second place. Project engineers felt that idea formulation can benefit from intuition 67 percent of the time, while AEs and REs felt that number was 57 percent. See Fig. 1 from Question 20 of the questionnaire.

Approximately half of all respondents felt they worked for their own personal gains rather than the welfare of the world. This is a practical and reasonable outcome, because the individual has to balance many things in his/her life. Having no concern for self would probably be a problem, as it might detract from the desire to do a good job, or a job at all, for that matter. However, as discovered in an earlier study at SDEC, engineers felt themselves responsible for public safety (Singh 1997b). Such a feeling is even more significant for a public organization such as SDEC, where sensitivity to the public is important. Concern for the health and safety of the public is a fundamental ethical canon of engineering Societies. All respondents felt that they willfully contribute to the benefit of society and SDEC, a very noble sentiment that must not be taken for granted by SDEC, as it is related to job motivation. Engineers were equally divided in thinking that their interests are the same as society’s interests. The matter of group decisions is important. We have seen earlier that active leadership requires engineers to make their own decisions rather than always deferring to the group (Singh 1997c). However, this must ideally be done after significant group input. Fifty percent of PEs and 62 percent of REs and AEs like making decisions by themselves rather than in a group. This is significant in that PEs have earlier expressed self-confidence in their job (Singh 1997b). It seems that engineers are predominantly concerned about the interests of others, which is evident from the responses to Question 25. They also feel affronted by corruption (Q.27). Any loyalty to SDEC, their employer, is manifest by Question 28: 77 percent of engineers feel that they hold company’s mission uppermost in their mind and 77 percent also felt they cared a lot about SDEC’s esteem. This is important because every individual desires to work for a reputable and successful institution. It is rational to assume that all individuals care about salary, and 53 percent feel that salary and self-gain is the most important reason for their professional work. In the same vein, engineers care a lot for self-esteem.

Blake and Mouton (1972) developed the managerial grid to measure and identify management styles. They used two axes in their measure: (1) Concern for Production; and (2) Concern for People. Their rationale was that production and people were the two most significant factors in organizational management. No work could be done without people, and an organization would be worthless without adequate production of whatever goods or services they produced. The managerial grid tapped a fundamental principle of management—serving the organization and the individual. The Concern for People axis is an emotional and human-relations measure that is basically a right-brain activity. The Concern for Production axis, on the other hand, is an efficiency concern, which is a left-brain activity (Singh 2002). It made a lot of sense to combine left and right brain activities into a comprehensive whole to gauge management style. These two axes were later used to develop the conflict grid, where conflict management styles reflected the management styles from the managerial grid (Thomas and Killman 1974).

It is well known among psychologists studying personality that intuitive thinkers make for visionary leaders. These generally have the marker “NT” on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (where N stands for the Intuition trait and T stands for the Thinking trait)) (Johnson and Singh 1998). The Johnson and Singh study showed that although there were only a few leaders with the NT marker, there were many who displayed intuitive sense. Thus, it was decided to modify the managerial grid to convert the Concern for Production axis to Use of Intuition. The leadership grid, therefore, has Concern for People and Use of Intuition as the two axes.

Next, there is no leadership without people. Questions about leadership would not arise if there were no people. It is meaningless to talk in terms of leading machines and robots. Thus, Concern for People is a fundamental ingredient of any leadership measure. If leaders do not show adequate concern for people, it is unlikely that they will remain elected and respected leaders for long.

Now both the axes depict right-brain activity, but leadership exists in the right brain, and management efficiency exists in the left brain (Singh 2002). Hence, if the main focus is on leadership analysis, then the focus must move to right-brain measures. One might argue that instead of using Use of Intuition on one axis, some other right-brain parameter could be used. That might be a good argument, except that no other parameters have been related to visionary leadership. We are, therefore, content with Use of Intuition and Concern for People as the two axes. The model is graphically illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

The values of Intuition (I) and Concern for People (CfP) were plotted and are provided in Figs. 2 and 3 to compose the leadership grid. The chart is divided into five zones, as follows:

Results showed that there are two project engineers (PEs) who are in Zone IV, representing 11 percent of the PE population. Five other PEs are outside Zone V, but do not fall into any of the other zones; no negative impact can be concluded from these five. Finally, 11 out of 18 PEs, 61 percent of the PE population, fall into the desirable Zone V (Fig. 2). The final breakdown for PEs for psychological balance in this engineering organization is as follows:

Among the REs and AEs, there are none who fall in any undesirable zone. Seventy-five percent fall in the desirable Zone V. Twenty-five percent are in the neutral or nonconclusive zones of the graph (Fig. 3). Their main characteristic is that they use a lot of intuition or rely heavily on intuition. Such overreliance $(\mathrm{UoI}>70\text{percent})$ might be a possible deterrent in an organization where objective decision making is also desirable.

It is important to realize that engineers care about self-esteem and respect, as evidenced in this study. This psychology must be appreciated and respected, because the development and nurturing of self-esteem is related to the growth and development of SDEC. We should recall that self-esteem was a fundamental step towards self-actualization in Abraham Maslow’s motivational hierarchy of needs. It is also realized that engineers care about the State Department of Engineering Construction’s reputation, as well, because a good reputation will contribute to their own esteem. The overall level of concern for people is also balanced. A majority of engineers believe in Intuition and use it in decisions of construction engineering management. Sixty-seven percent of REs and AEs and 55 percent of PEs thought that the use of intuition was needed during idea formulation. The plotting of UoI-CfP values showed that engineers predominantly fall in the very stable and balanced Zone V. Therefore, it is possible to predict that the engineers have sound psychological health vis-à-vis organizational leadership. This further means that they relate reasonably to their environment, their organization, society, and are thus coping with the organizational culture that exists. Only 10 percent of PEs are possibly “impractical” and lack foresight.

All levels of engineers have similar perceptions about UoI and CfP, based on correlation values between REs and AEs and PEs. So, the general pattern at all levels is identical. There was no significant correlation found between Use of Intuition (UoI) and Concern for People (CfP). ANOVA did not yield statistical differences in means in the responses of PEs versus REs and AEs for UoI, or for CfP, at the $a=5\text{percent}$ level. Hence, it cannot be inferred that those having more intuition have an increased concern for people.

What does this say for leadership skills of the members? In some likelihood, those with high leadership skills may not rank highly on all right-brain activity items such as emotional maturity, empathy with people, and intuition. However, nobody at SDEC displayed very high intuitive skills and very high concern for people. Could this mean, though, that leadership skills at SDEC are wanting? Given the general organizational climate at SDEC, cross-linked with other studies conducted, there is definitely a shortage of leadership personalities at SDEC. The absence of anyone in Zone I with high UoI and high CfP scores does tend to underline this conclusion.

Positive steps must be taken to make engineers further enjoy their work so as to enhance their feeling of self-worth on the job. It is important to realize that engineers generally feel a sense of loyalty to SDEC, so it is recommended that SDEC give priority attention to personnel affairs and human resources development. Requests from the field for job improvement should be considered seriously at all occasions. Because it is safe to say that Intuition is believed in, and used, by about half of the engineers or more, the esoteric side of the engineer as an individual should be given greater prominence. The enhancement of the psychological health of engineers can not be underestimated. Any overemphasis on decisions based on “fixed formulas” should be tempered with counter emphasis on well-being and comfort levels of engineers. Further assistance should be provided, by way of objective scheduling and claims analysis, to help engineers have better information so they are able to use their intuitive senses to greater effect.

The research was prepared in cooperation with the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, Highways Division, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The contents of this report reflect the view of the authors. The first author is responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification or regulation.