Reimagining civil engineer's managerial role as an entrepreneurial function in the production system of a construction project

Abstract

Civil engineers have been reported to work more in the management aspect of a construction project. As such, civil engineers commonly play their roles predominantly under the managerial perspective. Interestingly, building and construction industry is a combination of manufacturing and service industry which offer opportunity to view the managerial role played by civil engineers from the perspective of the theory of Marshallian entrepreneur. This perspective enables one to re-imagine the managerial role played by civil engineers as an entrepreneurial function. In this perspective, civil engineer who plays the managerial role is being assumed as the one who takes up the Marshallian entrepreneur's function and the managerial role which exhibits all of the elements of the Marshallian entrepreneur's function is the managerial role that demonstrates the epitome of entrepreneurial function in the production system of a construction project. Based on the identification of the elements of Marshallian entrepreneur's function, it can be seen that an evolved civil engineer's managerial role demonstrates the epitome of entrepreneurial function. The evolved civil engineer's managerial role exhibits the element of deciding what product can be produced to satisfy human needs which differentiate it from the conventional managerial role and this element offers opportunity for civil engineer to embrace entrepreneurial orientation. As this element in the context of construction project is yet to be fully understood, further research is needed for future civil engineering practices. In terms of civil engineering education, re-imagining civil engineer's managerial role as an entrepreneurial function highlights the need to introduce entrepreneurial orientation to future civil engineering graduates.