Framework

The study was anchored on the Functional Theory of Leadership advanced by

White and Lippitt (2005). The theory focuses on the interaction between leaders and

group members and that the behavior of the leader influences the climate and outcomes

of the group. Leaders use their relationship management skills to inspire others,

influence their behavior and develop their potential while simultaneously managing

projects, emergencies and conflicts. Managing relationships can be more complicated

than managing projects, though, since you can’t predict how people will react to any

given situation. Whether you’re dealing with a conflict between co-workers or an

intimidating personality and successfully manage relationships of the team (Contino,

2010).

A focus on leadership competencies and skill development promotes better

leadership. However, skills needed for a particular position may change depending on

the specific leadership level in the organization. By using a competency approach,

organizations can determine what positions at which levels require specific

competencies.

Capability is a feature, faculty or process that can be developed or improved.

Capability is a collaborative process that can be deployed and through which individual

competences can be applied and exploited. The relevant question for capability is not

“who knows how?” but “How can we get done what we need to get done?” and “How

easily is it to access, deploy or apply the competencies we need?” (Vincent, 2008).

Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of

action or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person’s sense of right and wrong or what
“ought” to be. “Equal rights for all” and “People should be treated with respect and

dignity” are representative of values. Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior.

For example, if you value equal rights for all and you go to work for an organization that

treats its managers much better than it does its workers, you may form the attitude that

the company is an unfair place to work; consequently, you may not produce well or may

perhaps leave the company. It is likely that if the company had had a more egalitarian

policy, your attitude and behaviors would have been more positive.

Leadership skills within an organization, identifying critical leadership

competencies required for effectiveness helps define what skills leaders need (Pernick,

2001). According to Katz (1955), a skill can be defined as "an ability which can be

developed, not necessarily inborn, and which is manifested in performance, not merely

potential". Similarly, Nahavandi (2000) defined a skill as “an acquired talent that a

person develops related to a specific task” Katz (1955) identified three categories of

skills needed by leaders: technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. Each skill

is necessary for successful leaders to posses, but the amount of each skill may vary

depending on position within the organizational hierarchy. Technical skills are more

important at the lower levels of administration. As a leader moves up in the

organizational hierarchy, he/she relies on the technical skills of followers more than on

his/her own technical skills. Human skills are essential throughout all management

levels. Conceptual skills are perhaps most important at top management levels where

policy decisions, long-term planning, and broad scale actions are required. Newer

approaches to leadership skills have been built upon the technical, human, and

conceptual skill classification, but are slightly different.

someone or something in one’s environment. When you say, for example, that you “like”

or “dislike” someone or something, you are expressing an attitude. But it’s important to

remember that an attitude, like a value, is a hypothetical construct; one never sees,

touches, or actually isolates an attitude. Rather, attitudes are inferred from the things

people say or through their behavior. Attitudes are influenced by values and are

acquired from the same sources – friends, teachers, parents, role models, and culture.

Attitudes, however, focus on specific people or objects (Schermerhorn, 2012).

There is no doubt that teams are pervasive and important in organizations; they

accomplish important tasks and help members achieve satisfaction in their work. But we

also know from personal experiences that teams and teamwork have their difficulties;

not all teams perform well, and not all team members are always satisfied.

Teams in all forms and types, just like individuals, should be held accountable for

their performance. And to do this we need to have some understanding of team

effectiveness. In organizational behavior, effective team defines as one that achieves

high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability.

With regard to task performance, an effective team achieves its performance

goals in the standard sense of quantity, quality, and timeliness of work results. In terms

of member satisfaction, an effective team is one whose members believe that their

participation and experiences are positive and meet important personal needs. They are

satisfied with their team tasks, accomplishments, and interpersonal relationships. Lastly,

with regard to team viability, the members of an effective team are sufficiently satisfied

to continue working well together on an ongoing basis. When one task is finished, they
look forward to working on others in the future. Such a team has all important long-term

performance potential.

In the fast-paced environment of human resources, it is important to seek

leadership training that builds the skills most desired by hiring executives. Securing

leadership knowledge, as well as developing the practical and soft skills needed for

success, can increase the chances of being considered for HR career opportunities.

The essential human resource manager’s skill set should cover the following main

competency areas:

Motivation is defined as forces within the individual that account for the direction,

level, and persistence of a person’s effort expended at work. Direction refers to an

individual’s choice when presented with a number of possible alternatives (e.g., whether

to pursue quality, quantity, or both in one’s work). Level refers to the amount of effort a

person puts forth (e.g., to put forth a lot or very little). Persistence refers to the length of

time a person sticks with a given action (e.g., to keep trying or to give up when

something proves difficult to attain). In other words, motivation predicts effort. But

because motivation is a property of the individual, all that managers can do is try to

create work environments within which someone finds sources of motivation. A major

key to achieving this is to build into the job and work setting a set of rewards that match

well with individual needs and goals. Reward systems emphasize a mix of intrinsic

rewards – such as a sense of achievement from completing a challenging task, and

extrinsic rewards – such as receiving a pay increase.

Selection is the process of picking up individuals (out of the pool of job

applicants) with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the

applicants. On the other hand is negative in its application in as much as it seeks to

eliminate as many unqualified applicants as possible in order to identify the right

candidates.

Being able to keep compensation and benefit packages attractive over time is

essential to retaining top talent. Human resource managers need to be able to remain

up to date on industry trends in order to adjust the benefits and compensation offerings

in a way that supports the acquisition and retention of ideal employees.

Employee relationship management is a process that companies use to

effectively manage all interactions with employees, ultimately to achieve the goals of the

organization. The human resources department can play a critical role in this process,

both in terms of training and coaching managers and executives on how to effectively

establish and nurture relationships with employees and in measuring and monitoring

those relationships to determine whether objectives are being met.

Employee relationship management is a general term that means a lot of

different things to a lot of different people. At the outset, it is important to define what is

meant by employee relationship management and, specifically, what areas of the

relationship will be managed. For most companies, relationship management centers

around items like attracting and retaining employees. Common measures of the

effectiveness of these relationships include time to hire, turnover and employee

satisfaction.

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the study. The independent variables

are the respondents’ profile in terms of age, educational attainment, length of work
experience, and number of personnel supervised. The dependent variables are the

construction manager’s leadership competencies in terms of capabilities, values, skills,

attitude, and team effectiveness, and human resource management (styles or skills) in

terms of motivation (recognition and rewards), safety, selection, compensation, and

employee’s relations.
CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES AND HUMAN
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (SKILLS OR STYLES)

A Project Paper
Presented to the Faculty
School of Graduate Studies
Liceo de Cagayan University

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements of the Degree
Master in Management
Major in Management Engineering

by

Engr. Rameir Carlo A. Daan, MM ME

July 2016