Competencies that lead to high performance as a project engineer in a management consulting engineering company

Abstract

CONTEXT Over the last century there has been increasing application of projects and project management techniques as foundations for business operations. In engineering industries, this has resulted in the emergence of project engineering as an area of specialisation, and there is a need to understand what this encompasses in the context of Western Australian engineering practices in the mining industry. PURPOSE This study aims to contribute to the body of research focusing on engineers and the mining industry. The main objective is to establish broad competencies required to achieve high performance as a project engineer. As a priority, it aims to improve overall understanding of the role of engineers, specifically project engineers, in project completion. METHODOLOGY A Critical Incident Technique (CIT) methodology was used for the interview and analysis. CIT is a cognitive task analysis (CTA) method described by Flanagan (1954) to diagnose key actions or requirements that make the difference between success and failure in the performance of a task in five key steps: objectives, plans and specifications, collecting the data, analysing the data, and interpreting and reporting. OUTCOMES The key competency areas discovered were 1: Expertise, 2: People management and interpersonal skills, 3: Actions and approach to work. The overall objectives of project engineers as described by the participants fell into either of two categories: to support the project manager, or to facilitate the delivery of a project on-budget, on-schedule and in accordance with the contract. CONCLUSIONS The project engineer is a hybrid of technical expert and project manager, where technical expertise is broad rather than specialised. The key discovery made in this work is that a high performing project engineer also cultivates an approach to work that is based around continuous learning. The engineer must extend their expertise beyond technical outputs and focus on project tasks and roles. This research has implications for engineering education relating to the need to develop alternative skillsets (for example, leadership, people management and linking interdisciplinary tasks) alongside traditional engineering competencies.