Paper Title
Professionals� Leadership Styles In The Nigerian Built Environment

Abstract
The nature of a sector in an economy determines the kind of leader by which it is led. The construction industry over the years is becoming complex and its activities are equally becoming multi-dimensional due to new innovations in procurement system and construction methodologies. The professionals are saddled with the leadership responsibilities as contractual obligations to their employers at various stages of construction projects. Against this background, the paper examines leadership system in the Nigerian built environment with a view to examining the leadership styles in practice and factors influencing the leadership system among built environment professionals. The study data were collected through a well-structured questionnaire administered on built environment professionals in the Southwestern states in Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using the descriptive statistics. The study found out that the most effective leadership style among Nigerian built environment professionals is goal oriented. Others include relationship, technical, team style and task/autocratic oriented. The goal oriented leadership style is significant because the industry clients (public or private) award construction works based on set of goals and aim to be achieved. The task oriented leadership style was equally ranked high because the industry activities cover multi-interrelated tasks. Moreover, factors influencing leadership system in the Nigerian built environment are leader value system, level of motivation and effort of leaders, feelings of security in uncertain situations, inability to influence others and interpretation of organizational policies and practices among organization stakeholders. The paper concludes that goal oriented, relationship, technical, team style and task/autocratic are the common leadership styles in the Nigerian built environment. Keywords- Leadership styles, goal oriented leadership, built environment, professionalism