Identifying attributes for expert construction project managers in the context of China

Abstract

The Construction Industry in one of the most booming industries in China at present. Like any other big industry, it has the competitions, the risks, and the complexities. Just a few decades ago, a Construction Project Manager (CPM) was not recognized with that significance. But with the industry becoming complicated, the job of CPM has become multi-dimensional, and there is an overall concern to improve their skills to make them fit for the changing scenario. Currently in China, the CPMs are categorized mainly through educational degrees. However, empirical observation suggests that there are several other tacit attributes a CPM needs to possess which can separate an expert one from an average one. A CPM needs to carry out many responsibilities on and off the site. In this study, the top responsibilities of CPMs were first identified through literature review. Then a survey was conducted on CPMs, with the respondents carefully chosen through conditional random sampling in the province of Shandong, one of the busiest provinces considering the construction sector. With several demographic criteria hypothesized to be those tacit predictors of expertise, a comparative statistical analysis was conducted by using Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) in order to identify certain determining attributes. The study suggested that such method can be helpful for the industry when there is a need for systematic search for suitable CPMs.