Donatella De Paoli Mrs. Donatella De Paoli is a associate professor at The Norwegian School of Management BI. This School is one of Norway's largest research based educational institutions, and it represents the country's largest academic milieu within the areas of business economics and administration, marketing and management. Professor Donatella De Paoli has written a thesis regarding the organisation of big building projects and have also been a visiting scholar at Construction Managment Department at Stanford University in the United States.

Leadership from a Norwegian perspective - The case of the construction industry by dr. oecon Donatella De Paoli Norwegian School of Management BI

Content Leadership challenges within the construction industry Historical background of the Norwegian leadership perspective Central ideas of a Norwegian leadership model Applying the ‘Norwegian way of leading’ on construction

Leadership challenges within the construction industry Developing leadership abilities Building trust and teamwork across disciplines Encouraging client focus in projects Reevaluating traditional roles and communication patterns - The hero in construction is Clint Eastwood, talks little and shoot first, time for reevaluating the myth of the macho leader. Research showing that the main challenges for increased productivity is the handling of humans, ref. my thesis. - Too much focus on control and management through economic incentives and formalized contracts and project methods decreases trust and teamwork and increases transaction costs. One of the main challenges is to build trust among parties and develop more teamwork so different parties and disciplines work and communicate better. - The client considerations comes in the last, too much focus at technical issues. Many times people at the bottom do not know who the client even is. Bringing in client focus and client goal encourage engagement and participation. Is important at all levels, also in construction agencies supporting project execution. - The construction industry is with the academic and church sector very bound to traditions en engrained roles and behavior. Needs to be evaluated to adapt to new IT and different times.

Historical background of the Norwegian leadership perspective Dugnad - the first widespread Norwegian project The development of social democracy Democracy in the workplace Cooperation between labor groups and employers/managers The self-directed groups movement Democratic leadership

Central ideas of a Norwegian leadership model Values : Equality, participation and harmony Perception of the leader : Counselor or couch Perception of employees : Students or soccer players Role models : Political leaders,Leading soccer trainers, Explorers

Central ideas of a Norwegian leadership model Self-directed groups - the beginning of the team movement Ownership and control to the workers Open dialogue and participation From self-directed groups to nowadays empowered teams

Applying the ‘Norwegian way of leading’ on construction agencies Meets the need for greater flexibility and technological change Meets the need of the ‘new workers’ - the educated professionals Stimulates the generation of new ideas, cooperation and dialogue Empower - Give responsibility for job and client

Applying the ‘Norwegian way of leading’ on projects Use of teams and empowering leadership style to revitalize construction projects Contingent use of teams based on the duration of project, project stages, size, technology and environment

Challenges to the ‘Norwegian leadership model’ due to changing economic conditions Increasing globalization of economy Drive toward tighter competition and efficiency Outsourcing of functions and departments

Relevance for you as a leader Impulses to reflect upon the relevance of history, traditions and values for your leadership style Contribution to rethink your values and leadership style Inspiration to take the leadership role seriously