CHAPTER 4: Research Methodology
4.2. Phase One
The research design for this phase of the research was qualitative (Saunders & Lewis, 2012) (Mouton, 2009). Data for this phase of the research were gathered by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with graduate engineers, human resources professionals and senior management from various levels in a large South African construction company.
The purpose of this phase of the research was to elicit information regarding what the different competencies of project management are that need to be developed in graduate engineers in a South African engineering construction company during the first five years of service after graduating, and how these various competencies of project management should be developed, based on the opinions of different levels of management in a typical South African construction company.
In the second phase of the research (see Section 4.3), the responses from these interviews were then used in conjunction with the competencies that were identified in the literature review set out in Chapter 2 to design a questionnaire that was distributed to a larger audience of graduate engineers, human resources professionals and senior managers in the same construction company to get sufficient responses for statistical analysis.
4.2.2. Population
The population (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009) for the research was civil engineers, human resources professionals and project managers in the construction industry in South Africa.
36 4.2.3. Sample
The sample (Keller, 2008) for the research was civil engineers, human resources professionals and senior managers from different management levels in one of the five largest construction groups in South Africa. The company has an annual turnover of R 8.9 billion and employs about 16 000 people. The company has around 60 engineers with between one and five years’ experience, about 40 engineers with between five and 10 years’ experience and 40 full-time project managers (from an engineering background) with varying experience between 10 and 30 years in their various business units across South Africa. A typical organogram indicating the reporting structure in a South African construction company is attached in Appendix 1.
The method of sampling used was non-probability quota sampling, because all the engineers and human resources professionals in the construction industry in South Africa were not available to the study, and only a certain number of individuals that fitted the correct profile were chosen from the construction company that was identified (Saunders & Lewis, 2012).
The company’s head office is in Johannesburg, but the company also has offices in other parts of Gauteng, Durban, Richards Bay, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town. To identify the individuals for the sample, the human resources managers of the various divisions were contacted, and they supplied an employee database with job title, years of service and email addresses. For the first phase, it was decided for practical reasons to restrict the quota sample to employees based in Gauteng or employees who visited the head office regularly, and the sample was taken from the employee database. One of the criteria was availability for an interview.
The sample sizes are set out in Table 1.
Table 1: Phase One Sample Graduate civil
engineers with less than five years’
experience
Human resources professionals in the construction
industry
Senior Project Managers, Directors and Managing Directors in the construction
industry
7 2 8
37 4.2.4. Unit of analysis
The unit of analysis (Mouton, 2009) for the research was perceptions of individuals in the construction industry with an engineering qualification or in the human resources profession in the South African construction industry.
4.2.5. Data collection tool
The data collection tool for this phase of the research was in-depth, semi-structured open-ended interviews (Saunders & Lewis, 2012) with seven graduate civil engineers with between one and five years of working experience, three senior managers, five managing directors, one human resources manager and one human resources director.
In these interviews each of the candidates from the different level of management in the organisation was asked what the most important project management competencies are for the development of graduate engineers into effective and competent project managers in the construction industry. Some of the competencies from the literature that were reviewed in Chapter 2 were also discussed after the interviewees had listed the competencies based on their own experiences. The next question that was tabled was aimed at identifying what processes or methods each individual felt were the best suited to expose the graduates to and develop these competencies in the young graduate engineers. In most cases, a general conversation about the industry and the need for skilled employees also formed part of the discussion. (See Appendix 2 for the interview guideline and Appendix 3 for a sample of a consent form.)
4.2.6. Data collection
The data collection consisted of 17 face-to-face semi structured interviews with the identified individuals as set out in Section 4.2.3 and Table 1. The interviews were conducted over a period of two weeks, by making appointments ahead of time with the individual or their secretaries, in the cases of the directors and managing directors, and giving the individual a brief summary of what was to be discussed. The interviews lasted approximately one hour each. The interviews with the senior managers, directors, managing directors and the human resources managers were held in their respective offices in Johannesburg. The interviews with the engineers were held on
38
the construction sites where they were working and at the Johannesburg office, in the case of two individuals who were there for training. All the interviews were conducted in English, although some of the competencies were explained and discussed in Afrikaans with some of the respondents whose first language was not English.
All the respondents who have been working for two years or more seemed very relaxed and actively took part in the conversation. It was encouraging to see that almost all the senior managers and directors felt extremely passionate about developing future talent in the company. Two of the engineers had only been working for six months by the date that the interviews were scheduled, and it was noticeable that they were less comfortable with the process.
At the beginning of each interview, the interviewee was introduced to the topic and the reasons for the research were explained. Thereafter, the person was asked to sign the consent form. It was explained that the meeting might be recorded on an electronic voice recorder and that everything that would be discussed would be treated as confidential. The data were therefore collected by means of a recorded interview, using an electronic recording device, and by taking notes. The recordings would only be used if the content of the notes was insufficient.
After the interviews, most of the senior managers agreed that there was indeed a gap between the education that an engineer receives and what is actually expected of the engineer in the construction environment in terms of managing people and construction processes.
4.2.7. Data analysis
After each of the interviews, the various competencies were identified from the discussion and tabulated in a Microsoft Excel worksheet. After all the interviews had been completed, the various competencies were grouped together into similar topics to avoid duplication. The frequency with which each of the competencies was seen as being important by the various individuals was recorded and the competencies were ranked in order from the highest frequency to lowest.
The various methods of exposing graduate engineers to these competencies and developing them during the first five years after graduating were also tabulated in Microsoft Excel and ranked, based on the frequency with which each method was
39
suggested. A section of this worksheet is attached in Appendix 4. The data were then used in Phase Two.