Transformational Leadership Practices for Small and Medium Sized Companies in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate transformational leadership practices in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) that operate in construction sector of Turkey and to determine how these practices are perceived by the observers. In this direction 49 people were subjected to Kouzes and Posner's 360 0 assesment on "Leadership Practices Inventory" (LPI) analysis which examines transformational leadership qualities under five practice category. A Mann-Whitney hypothesis test is applied in order to determine the similarities and differences in the leaders' opinion on their leadership practices and the observers perception of these practices. The study reveals that perceptions of leaders and observers match under 4 practices where they differ in the 5th practice, "encouraging the heart", which addresses the motivation of employees. Accordingly it is that the effort leaders make to motivate their employees do not meet its purpose. When the employees do not recognize this motivation, the satisfaction for the work being carried out at the enterprise, work performance and satisfaction of customers decrease and this leads to decline in revenue (Deeb, n.d.). This is one of the factors that cause problems in SMEs regarding management and guiding in respect to efficient operation styles.