Project manager attributes influencing project success in the South African construction industry

Abstract

The South African construction industry has suffered the loss of many qualified middle-management-level project managers in recent years. This has resulted in many young, inexperienced project managers being forced to manage large complex projects. In addition, senior project managers, who are still practising locally, are too busy to mentor and guide the younger project managers, due to the shortage of professionals in the local industry. This article reports on a study done to identify the most important attributes that influence project success in the South African construction industry, by extracting a list of factors identified in the existing literature and grouping these factors into six main categories. Each category contains six factors. A questionnaire was compiled and distributed via an online survey tool. The data was analysed using statistical methods including concordance and correlation. The results indicated that ‘interpersonal factors’ was considered the most important category, followed by ‘application of theory’. ‘Personal contribution’ and ‘personal character’ were considered the least important categories. However, the most important attributing factors were ‘communication skills’ and ‘leadership style’, neither of which was listed under the top two categories. In general, a low level of concordance was achieved, confirming the belief that level of knowledge, experience and mutual agreement among participants in the industry is low.