A case study of leadership in consulting engineering

The aim of this research paper is to determine the importance of leadership from engineering managers working in consulting engineering firms for a specific case study. This is achieved by discussing important factors relating to the development of leadership skills in these managers in a case study environment. These important factors are expertise of engineering managers in practice, leadership from engineering managers, with the required leadership theories and styles, and other factors that contribute to leadership development in engineering managers. The case study is applied to an engineering consulting organisation that has approximately 800 professionals worldwide in more than 30 offices on six continents. Leadership styles from different leadership theories, which might be used in managing and leading team members at different designated levels, are suggested for the case study. The appropriateness and adequacy of the suggested leadership styles for team members were tested by team members using a questionnaire. The use of the questionnaire led to the determination of leadership styles which the engineering mangers can adopt when leading team members.