Study of factors affecting strategic leadership in post disaster reconstruction processes

Abstract

The increasing nature of impacts from both natural and man made disasters has made post disaster reconstruction a key area of concern. Specifically, recovery is a momentous challenge for those with less experience in large scale post disaster reconstruction. This is not an exception to Sri Lanka, which is prone to natural disasters. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami gave Sri Lanka a warning as to its vulnerability to large scale disasters. The Center for Policy Alternatives report of 2006 indicates that a lack of clarity regarding the duties and functions of many actors created confusion and delays in the recovery process. Further, it says that the absence of a coherent structure caused problems in coordination, preventing aid from reaching many people in an efficient and effective manner. Such findings emphasis the importance of having a good leadership base for reconstruction activities. This study aims to identify factors affecting strategic leadership in post disaster reconstruction processes and their evaluation in practical terms. A questionnaire survey was carried out among twenty five experts in construction industry. The Delphi technique was used to formulate factors which affect strategic leadership in post disaster reconstruction. The survey revealed 19 of 25 factors as critical for effective strategic leadership, which were further compressed into five factors based on similarities such as, basic parameters (knowledge, experience, communication and skill), conceptual skills (conceptual flexibility, future vision, political sensitivity), personnel qualities (ethics, moral, self belief, responsibility), positive attributes (empowering subordinates, interpersonal competency, team performance) and special abilities (commanding ability, coordination, decision making, personal competency, strategic thinking). Evaluation of these factors in two housing projects revealed that future vision, political sensitivity, self belief, decision making, strategic thinking, coordination and empowering subordinates contributed more to the successful of post disaster reconstruction, while less experience, poor team performance and a failure to empower subordinates contributed to less successful outcomes.