CHAPTER 6: Discussion of the Results
6.3. Research Question 2
What are the project management competencies that need to be developed in young graduate engineers?
The purpose of Research Question 2 was to identify those project management competencies that are the most important to be developed in young graduate engineers working in the project management environment in the construction industry, because the literature only indicates what the competencies are that an actual project manager needs to possess, and not which of these should be developed in graduate engineers who are working their way up to becoming project managers.
The various competencies that are the most important for graduate engineers were identified by using the responses from the data collection tool described in Section 4.3.5. Table 31 in Chapter 5 combines the responses from the graduate engineers, human resources professionals and the senior managers. To answer Research Question 2, the column heading Combined in Table 31 was used. All the competencies in the table were ranked in order of importance on the combined responses and the following can be deduced from the table: the top seven competencies listed in the table were all rated above a 4, and can thus be accepted as being the most important. This group suggests that these competencies all have to do with physically doing the work of a site engineer on a construction site. The
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understanding of how a construction project actually works is crucial, so it also forms the foundation for all further career advances in the industry, and it justifies this ranking of these competencies in the list. The literature also indicates that graduate engineers in the construction industry start their career on a construction site as a site or field engineer, where they would take some responsibility and assist the project manager in the running of the project (Career Structure, 2012). It can thus be deduced that the most important aspect in the career development of a graduate engineer in the construction environment is learning the basics of the industry to set the graduate up for further development later in his or her career.
The bottom five competencies in Table 31 can be seen as being much more advanced and would be used more when a graduate engineer has moved up the ranks, closer to becoming a full-time project manager. It is very important to note that these competencies require the knowledge that first had to be gained by working on a construction site and being responsible for the various competencies at the top of Table 31 and discussed in the previous paragraph. It can therefore be concluded that these competencies are not crucial for the development of graduate engineers during their first couple of years in the construction industry. However, it would be helpful to explain these competencies to them from an early stage, because, even though they would not be directly responsible for these competencies, the manner in which they perform and manage the top seven competencies in Table 31 will definitely influence the effectiveness with which a project manager is able to perform the five competencies at the bottom of the table.
The competencies in the middle of Table 31 between the two groups already discussed can be seen as the softer or more indirect competencies. These are competencies that can assist graduate engineers in becoming better and more effective at undertaking the top seven competencies in the table, and ultimately better at the bottom five competencies, becoming better project managers.
The literature identifies the various competencies that are required by project managers (Edum-Fotwe & McCaffer, 2000; Lei & Skitmore, 2004; Odusami, 2002;
Thomas & Mengel, 2008), but neither specifies any order that these should be developed in for graduate engineers, nor a structured development path (Thomas &
Mengel, 2008). Hence, it is important to note that this study provides empirical data to
81 Spending physical time on site
learning the basic skills & trades of the industry
Safety, Environmental & Quality Management
Understanding company systems i.e. Quality, Safety, Procurement, HR, Conducting formal inquiries Activity Resource and Duration estimation, developing an Activity Schedule
Understanding the Project &
Construction Environment and different Project Stages Project Time Management
Problem-solving and Root Cause analysis
Understanding and managing different cultures, including Client, Sub-Contractors, Foremen &
Unskilled workers
Financial and Cost Management Delegation & follow-up skills HR Management, including Teamwork, Leading, Motivating and communicating to people Having a People-oriented Personality
prioritise the numerous competencies that are required for a successful project manager into practical groupings that can be used to develop young graduate engineers into successful project managers.
Figure 5: Order of Importance of Project Management Competencies in the Construction Industry
Learn the Basics Refine the Basics
Risk Identification & Management
Integration Management – Being able to see the bigger picture and manage the complete scope
Procurement Management Negotiation Skills
Contractual experience, e.g. Compiling Claims
Competence in Advanced Project Management
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Figure 5 can be used to summarise the findings for Research Question 2 in terms of the competencies that should receive attention as soon as possible after a graduate engineer enters the construction environment, in other words, after learning the basics at a tertiary institution. The competencies that can be developed after these most important ones will allow an engineer to become better and more effective at the more important competencies. The red arrow indicates that the most important competencies on the left must first be mastered before moving on to the competencies on the right, and the green arrow indicates that the competencies on the right will complement the competencies on the left. Lastly the competencies that need to be developed as an engineer becomes more senior and closer to becoming a full-time project manager are also identified but require the mastering of the first two groups of competencies first before focussing on the more advanced competencies.