Modeling Project Manager Competency: An Integrated Mathematical Approach
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 142, Issue 8
Abstract
Although the construction industry is a major component of the U.S. economy, it has been suffering from declining productivity for decades. The human element, project managers (PMs) in particular, are key in solving these persisting problems. Measurement of a PM’s overall performance is important to identify training needs and enables executives to better match competent PMs with the appropriate projects. This paper provides the construction industry with a generic mathematical formulation to reliably weigh different PM competencies. The developed data-driven mathematical model reflects the relative importance that industry practitioners place on different PM competencies while distinguishing exceptional PMs from average ones. This developed model is applied to a data set of 124 PM assessments filled by 62 PM supervisors so that each PM supervisor selected and rated an exceptional PM and an average PM. The results presented in the paper suggest that PMs should focus on developing their cognitive side, rather than settling only for possessing adequate knowledge and experience, managerial skills, and leadership capabilities. Also, these quantitative results illustrate that having business and financial acumens, disciplinary understanding of all the phases of construction projects and their interrelationships, continuous monitoring of similar construction projects, and consistent awareness of the available information technologies are among the most distinguishing competencies between exceptional and average PMs. Such results can assist the construction industry in directing its efforts toward accurately identified leverage development areas through pinpointing actual training and educational needs. Additionally, this paper compares the results of the developed data-driven mathematical model to an existing expert evaluation, presenting a key step in revealing and, in turn, reducing experts’ subjectivity.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude toward a number of individuals and groups who were instrumental in some way in the completion of this paper. The acknowledgements begin by thanking the Construction Industry Institute and specifically CII-RT-306 team members for their valuable efforts in advancing the field of PM competency modeling. The authors would also like to extend our gratitude toward the John S. Nelson Foundation, The Boldt family, and John W. Rogers for their generous financial support of the second, third, and fourth authors, respectively. Finally, thanks go to Adelina Yankova for her careful attention to language and clarity during the editing process.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 142 • Issue 8 • August 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 31, 2015
Accepted: Dec 8, 2015
Published online: Feb 25, 2016
Discussion open until: Jul 25, 2016
Published in print: Aug 1, 2016
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