Assessment of key competencies for project management in construction projects

Abstract

Purpose of this study was to identify the key competencies of a project manager who has the responsibility of project success. Literature survey was conducted to identify the Project Manager's competency profile towards project success. Expert interviews were conducted to design the questionnaire survey and validate the competencies identified from the literature. Web-based questionnaire was circulated among Team Leaders, Project Directors, Project Managers and Engineers in Sri Lankan construction industry. They were requested to rank the 57 competencies for an effective project manager, based on their experience, 66 completed questioners were returned and used for analysis. It was identified that Communication skill under the category of Leadership Competencies as the most important competency followed by Analytical thinking skill under the category of Technical Competency and Leadership skill under the category of Leadership Competencies. Results of this research can be used as a guideline to select project managers for projects as well to design training programs for project managers in order to develop their competencies. Respondents perception of the ranking of competencies also evaluated, and results showed that there is a strong relationship between Technical and Leadership competencies. The analysis conducted to check the relationship between project managers work experience and their competency ranking found that the meanvariance was not significant.