Good Leadership Practices in Hong Kong Engineering Companies
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Added on 2019-09-23
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This research project aims to identify and explore the good practices of leadership practiced by leading engineering companies of Hong Kong and to understand how such practices are viewed by local employees within the age group of 30 years to 40 years. The research objectives include exploring the theoretical concept of leadership, conducting primary research on leading engineering companies of Hong Kong, analyzing the data received, and developing a set of recommendation framework that would be effective for both the managers and the employees of Hong Kong’s engineering companies that promote efficiency and effectiveness in performance.
Good Leadership Practices in Hong Kong Engineering Companies
Added on 2019-09-23
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Assignment 3: A Study on Good Leadership practices followed in engineering companies in Hong Kong inthe eyes of 30 to 40 year old local employees 1
1. Executive Summary Hong Kong is likely to experience a boom in its engineering and construction industryin the next decade. This likely growth in the activities however, brings to light a serious challenge which is plaguing the industry – that is of shortage for skilled labours. Hong Kong government are undertaking attractive initiatives to attract skilled and talented workforce in its engineering and construction industry. In this backdrop it was needed to look within the industry to understand how employees view companies of engineering and construction sector and perceive their leadership practices. The rationale was to look within the industry toidentify whether the manner in which these companies are run can give an indication of this chronic labour shortage and high demand for skilled and talented workforce. A primary research is to be conducted amongst leading engineering companies of Hong Kong and a questionnaire based survey is to be conducted on a sample size of minimum 30 respondents within the age group of 30 – 40 years. Alongside qualitative interviews would also be conducted on middle management leaders of these engineering companies. Based on their response, the present leadership aspects of these companies would be explored and as per these respondents the “good leadership practices” which they would like to observe in their own company settings would be identified. Based on the findings from this primary research and extensive analysis of the secondary research (literature review) the final findings would be developed which will help in understanding the right and optimal manner of managing these companies to attract the right talent in their midst. 2
Table of Contents1. Executive Summary...............................................................................................................22. Introduction............................................................................................................................42.1. Background......................................................................................................................42.3. Outline of Proposal..........................................................................................................53. Literature Review...................................................................................................................54. Research Aim, Objectives and Questions..............................................................................74.1. Aim..................................................................................................................................74.2. Research Objectives........................................................................................................84.3. Research Questions.........................................................................................................94.4. Research Hypothesis.....................................................................................................105. Theoretical Content..............................................................................................................106. Experimental Set Up............................................................................................................156.1. Research Approach........................................................................................................156.2. Research Design............................................................................................................156.3. Data Collection, Research Instrument, Sampling and Ethical Considerations.............167. Results, Outcome & Relevance............................................................................................178. Project Planning and Gantt Chart.........................................................................................189. Conclusion............................................................................................................................199.1. Assumptions & Limitations...........................................................................................2010. References..........................................................................................................................213
2. IntroductionIn the twenty first century, the Engineering and Construction sector of Hong Kong continues to become one of the most important drivers and indicators for wealth creation and economic activities. In this present world, where technological advancements have become the norm and change is the only constant, the challenges facing the engineering industry is likely to become even more complex. Along with the dynamic and ever evolving market of China, rail and road infrastructure investments, the residential and commercial development, a large number of infrastructure projects are likely to be witnessed in the future. In this present economic environment that characterises the engineering and construction industry ofHong Kong, it is critical for this industry to have businesses that are innovative in their core approach and to sustain their stronghold on procedures of tendering and control of costs as the industry is expected to become more competitive and have pressure on the margins[ CITATION PwC18 \l 16393 ]. This industry is therefore chosen as the backdrop for the project to be based upon. 2.1. BackgroundIn Hong Kong, the engineering and construction industry is multidisciplinary and includes domains of civil, building, structural, mechanical and electrical. As per 2015 data, the transportation sector was followed by the residential building sector and this was closely followed by the commercial building projects [ CITATION HKT16 \l 16393 ]. Therefore, the dominance of engineering and construction sector is significant in Hong Kong and it is a leading contributor to the economic growth of the city. However, as per the HKCA or the Hong Kong Construction Association, this industry is increasingly getting plagued by a host of issues pertaining to shortage of the skilled workers and workforce management[ CITATION Chu16 \l 16393 ]. The city is undergoing a major increase in the construction and engineering work and to meet these demands, the industry experts and government officials have presented a strategy framework that will tackle these issues amending the practices and cultures of the engineering industry. The HK government is bringing a number of changes in the industry to attract skilled workforce, as the present workforce of the construction and engineering industry is aging having an average age of 50 years of more. This workforce often is against the modern evolved way of operation and is resistant to change. Therefore, a drastic amendment is required firstly in attracting the right personnel to the industry, and 4
secondly in the way the management performs in engineering companies to help the workforce gradually adapt to the change. Experts opine that effective and suitable leadership showcased by leader-managers help in bringing about significant changes, as the former help the employees to understand where they need to be, showcase their path, and reduces obstacles and mental resistance and helps in achieving the shared goals [ CITATION Dar04 \l 16393 ], [ CITATION Fah07 \l 16393 ],[ CITATION Day05 \l 16393 ], [ CITATION Fri18 \l 16393 ]. In such a backdrop it was felt logical to conduct a research project on the good leadership practices of engineering companies as per the perception of employees within the age group of 30 to 40 years. The justification for choosing such an age group is that – neither this group is very young nor it is maturing. The employees of this age group ideally have more than 6 – 12 years of work experience and are seasoned enough to know about the differences between good leadership skills and practices from the ineffective ones. Therefore, such a topic has been selected for this research project. 2.3. Outline of Proposal This research proposal will be comprised of 10 segments. The first two segments werethe executive summary and introduction as can be seen. This is followed by literature review which will review the existing work in this field and shall identify any gaps in the literature. The fourth segment would be the research aim, objectives and questions along with presentation of sub goals. The fifth segment is the theoretical content which will align itself with the theoretical aspects of every research goal. This is followed by the sixth segment which shall present detail about the research to be conducted and the experimental set up. Thepotential results, data and expected outcome will be mentioned and the relevance of such outcome will also be presented. The 8th segment shall present the Gantt chart and the approximate project outline. The 9th segment is the Conclusion segment, which will present the assumptions and limitations and will also present the scope for further work. The last segment will present a list of academic journals and articles, which were analyzed to construct this research proposal. 5
3. Literature Review The engineering and construction industry in Hong Kong is likely to undergo a massive growth due to investments in residential and commercial buildings in the future; but the industry is plagued by an acute shortage of skilled workers, and the existing workers of the industry are gradually aging, with the average age being above 50 [ CITATION Kao18 \l 16393 ], [ CITATION Chu16 \l 16393 ]. Therefore, this becomes an imperative for all the leading engineering companies of Hong Kong to adopt means by which they can adopt strategies by which the rightly skilled and aged workforce and employees are attracted and retained by them. But prior to identifying and devising the strategies which will attract the right workforce towards the companies, it is important to understand the leadership and management approach these companies have towards their employees. This will also help in understanding whether leadership / management approaches act as a significant reason for a worker shortage in this industry. As per a 2014 article by Hout and Michael published in the Harvard Business Review,the companies based in Hong Kong and China are state owned institutions which are experimenting with management practices dominant in the West [ CITATION Hou14 \l 16393 ]. The companies give importance to improvisation, speed, flexibility and responsiveness. These are the abilities which aid them with a critical edge and studies conducted by Liu and Siu of Hong Kong University show that the private companies earn a much higher return thanthe 4% return earned by the state owned organizations. The Hong Kong based companies have learnt to manage and operate differently in the last three decades as they had to evolve through a very turbulent external environment. As per the article, the business leaders of China manage their employees very differently. These leaders are culturally trained to see the employees of their companies as their extended families but in fact in return do expect a lot [ CITATION Hou14 \l 16393 ]. Majority of the CEOs of these companies hail from humble beginnings where they built their company with their own hands and maybe due to this, the founder manager believes in doing every task themselves starti9ng from recruiting to supplier management, to creating government ties etc. Basically the managers get involved in every aspect of the business and it might be too much for the new generation employees who need their own degree of freedom and a sense of empowerment [ CITATION Hou14 \l 16393 ]. 6
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