Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: Construction industry
- Creators: Wiezel, Avi
- Creators: Badger, William
Description
The goal of this research study was to identify the competencies the Project Manager (PM) will need to respond to the challenges the construction industry faces in 2022 and beyond. The study revealed twenty-one emerging challenges for construction PMs grouped into four primary disruptive forces: workforce demographics, globalization, rapidly evolving technology, and changing organizational structures. The future PM will respond to these emerging challenges using a combination of fourteen competencies. The competencies are grouped into four categories: technical (multi-disciplined, practical understanding of technology), management (keen business insight, understanding of project management, knowledge network building, continuous risk monitoring), cognitive (complex decisions making, emotional maturity, effective communication), and leadership (leveraging diverse thinking, building relationships, engaging others, mentoring, building trust). Popular data collection methods used in project management research, such as surveys and interviews, have received criticism about the differences between stated responses to questions, what respondents say they will do, and revealed preferences, what they actually practice in the workplace. Rather than relying on surveys, this research study utilized information generated from games and exercises bundled into one-day training seminars conducted by Construction Industry Institute (CII) companies for current and upcoming generations of PMs. Educational games and exercises provide participants with the opportunity to apply classroom learning and workplace experience to resolve issues presented in real-world scenarios, providing responses that are more closely aligned with the actual decisions and activities occurring on projects. The future competencies were identified by combining results of the literature review with information from the games and exercises through an iterative cycle of data mining, analysis, and consolidation review sessions with CII members. This competency forecast will be used as a basis for company recruiting and to create tools for professional development programs and project management education at the university level. In addition to the competency forecast, the research identified simulation games and exercises as components of a project management development program in a classroom setting. An instrument that links the emerging challenges with the fourteen competencies and learning tools that facilitate the mastering of these competencies has also been developed.
ContributorsKing, Cynthia Joyce (Author) / Wiezel, Avi (Thesis advisor) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Qualifications based selection (QBS) of construction services uses a variety of criteria to evaluate proponents and select a contractor for the project. The criteria typically fall into three categories: past performance and technical capability, key personnel, and price, with price often being considered the most important factor in selection. Evaluation and the merits of the key personnel category is not well described or discussed in research. Prior research has investigated the evaluation criteria elements and their ability to differentiate proponents. This case study uses QBS evaluation data from fifty-eight construction projects to show that use of a structured interview process provides the highest level of differentiation of qualifications of proponents, as compared to the proposed price and the technical proposal. The results of the analysis also indicate: 1) the key personnel element (the interview) is statistically more important than price,
2) Contractors who propose on projects using QBS should use their best people in proposal response, and 3) Contractors should educate/prepare their teams for interviews, people count.
2) Contractors who propose on projects using QBS should use their best people in proposal response, and 3) Contractors should educate/prepare their teams for interviews, people count.
ContributorsSawyer, Jeff T (Author) / Sullivan, Kennth S (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The discipline of continuing professional development (CPD) is well defined and established within a variety of industries, such as medical, legal, and financial. The built environment is a less defined and mature industry with respect to educational pathways and professional education, with no uniform structure. Occupational licensing, such as registered nurses, certified professional accountants, and others are well known within both their industries and the public. Additionally, occupational core-competencies are well established. Planning is a core skill set within the built environment and construction management. Definitions of the term “planning” vary quite broadly across the built environment, but generally includes activities such as risk identification, scope identification, and scheduling. Understanding how professionals in the built environment learn to plan is critical to meeting CPD needs for planning skills and the ability of a professional to “plan” effectively. Many planning tools and software have been developed, but often rely on an individual professional’s personal experiences and abilities. Limited literature in the field of professional education in the built environment has left a gap on the topic of how to train professionals in planning competencies. Survey results indicate that current training is not meeting the expectations of professionals, as only 16 percent of professionals are trained how to plan using their preferred method of learning. While on-the-job training is the primary format, the most preferred format is internal company training, but only 54 percent of companies provide this format. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were conducted and revealed that organizations with internal training programs have higher employee satisfaction with their organization’s planning process. Further, organizations with internal training programs are seen as having a more formal internal planning process. Research is needed to develop CPD within construction management and provide the foundation upon which a professional education structure can be created. An andragogically-centered schema for a heuristic approach to construction CPD is developed and tested on a seminar for pre-project planning. The full instructional design of the seminar using the model is disclosed and seminar results showed positive results and participants achieved high levels of learning.
ContributorsHurtado, Kristen (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The workforce demographics in the United States are rapidly changing. According to census information, 35% of working adults are project to retire within the next 20 years. The construction is being particularly affected by this demographic shift as fewer employees are entering into the industry. This shift is especially bad among project professionals within the industry. The response to these changing demographics depends on how companies manage their talent and plan for successions. In order to investigate this workforce problem in the construction industry, the author has partnered with an expert panel of human resource executives from various companies in the construction industry. This research seeks to investigate methods in which construction companies can identify high potential project leaders early on in their careers through quantitative methodologies. The author first validated the research problem by gathering demographic data from six U.S. construction companies varying in size and industry expertise. As a result of analyzing information from 2,294 construction employees in the project management career path, the authors have found that 58% of these individuals are projected to retire within the next 12 years. The author also conducted a detailed literature review and six company interviews to investigate current succession planning practices in the industry. The results show that very few companies have contingency plans for early to mid-level employees. Lastly, the author conducted 76 employee psychological evaluations to measure personality and behavior traits. These traits were then compared to supervisory performance reviews of these employees. The results of this comparison suggest that high potential employees tend to showcase previous leadership experience and also tend to be more outspoken and are also able to separate their emotional bias from business decisions. Using these findings, the author provides an interview tool that employers can use to expand their talent pool in order to identify high potential candidates that may have been previously overlooked. The author recommends additional research in further developing the use of quantitative tools to evaluate early-career employees in order to more efficiently align resources within the shrinking talent pool.
ContributorsGunnoe, Jake Alan (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean T. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017