KEY FACTORS IN ASSESSING PROJECT MANAGERS’ COMPETENCIES IN THE

ROAD AGENCIES IN GHANA

By

Ama Yayra Baidoo

(Bsc. Construction Technology and Management)

A thesis submitted to the Department Construction Technology and Management, Kwame

Nkrumah University of Science and Technology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

NOVEMBER, 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work toward the attainment of Master of Science

in Construction Management, and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contains no material

previously published by another person nor material which has been accepted for the award of

any other degree of the University, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the

text.

Ama Yayra Baidoo(PG 5053518) ………………….. …………………

Student Name: Signature Date

Certified by:

Prof. Edward Badu …………………… …………………

Supervisor Signature Date

Certified by:

Prof. Bernard K. Baiden ………………… …………………

Head of Department Signature Date

i

ABSTRACT

Most inland transport in Ghana seems to occur on our roads, in view of this the eminence of

roads is very vital to the country’s development. As important as this is, recently there have been

many reports on the poor state of Ghana’s road network. Many stakeholders are relating the poor

nature of roads to how competent projects managers are. It is therefore expedient to ensure that

personnel in charge of road project acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in ensuring value

for money. This study therefore sought to identify key competency factors for the assessment of

project personnel within road agencies in Ghana. The objectives of the study were to identify the

key factors used for the assessment of professional competencies of project managers’ in the

road agencies; identify an appropriate existing framework for the assessment of professional

competencies in the road agencies in Ghana and identify tools and techniques that could be used

to assess project managers’ competency. A cross sectional descriptive research was used in this

study. In achieving the objectives, structured questionnaires with closed ended questions were

distributed to all project managers (engineers and quantity surveyors) with a minimum of 10

years working experience in the various road agencies. This was done in order to determine

which competency factors were paramount and also to determine the means by which project

managers can be assessed in order to ensure efficiency. Both descriptive and the relative index

technique were used to analyze data gathered for the research. After the analysis some findings

gathered were that 61.1% of these professionals suggested that routine examinations should be

organized for personnel of the various road agencies to ensure that they were abbressed with the

latest trends in their professional practice. Then 52.8 % of the participants also suggested that a

360 feedback approach was also a very expedient means of assessing project managers. 56.9%

suggested that mere interviews could be used to assess project managers’ competencies. Again,

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15 main technical competency factors were considered and out of these, most participants were

of the view that it was very important for the project manager to understand the objectives, the

risks and the what quality is required of the project. For behavioral factors, participants were apt

for an assertive, effective and efficient leader. As part of qualities they would expect from a

project manager, they ranked the ability of a project manager to be able to resolve and control

conflicts as second. Under contextual competencies, participants ranked the need to understand

developments on projects and the effects certain actions may have on the projects as paramount.

It was recommended that because the various road agencies had different organizational

structures a competency framework would have to be developed for each of the road agencies,

tailor made to suit the organizational structure.

Key Words: Project managers, competency framework, technical competency, behavioural

competency and contextual competency

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION..............................................................................................................................i

ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................................iv

LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................vii

LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..............................................................................................................ix

DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................x

CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................1

1.1 BACKGROUND..............................................................................................................1

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT....................................................................................................3

1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS....................................................................................................4

1.3 AIM........................................................................................................................................4

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................4

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY...............................................................................................5

1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY...............................................................................................................5

1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOOGY........................................................................................6

1.8 DISSERTATION OUTLINE.................................................................................................6

CHAPTER TWO...........................................................................................................................8

LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................................................8

2.1 STRUCTURE OF ROAD SECTOR IN GHANA.................................................................8

2.1.1 Ghana Highway Authority (GHA)..................................................................................8

2.1.2 Department of Feeder Roads and Department of Urban Roads......................................9

2.1.3 Koforidua Training Centre..............................................................................................9

2.1.4 The Ghana Road Fund Secretariat...................................................................................9

2.2 TYPES OF PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS USED BY THE ROAD AGENCIES IN GHANA.....................................................................................................................................10

2.2.1 Fixed Price or Adjustable Price Contracts....................................................................10

2.2.2 Lump Sum Contracts.....................................................................................................10

2.2.3 Time based contracts.....................................................................................................10

2.2.4 Performance Based Contracts.......................................................................................11

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2.2.5 Measured Term Contracts.............................................................................................11

2.3 STANDARD FORMS OF CONTRACTS FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION WORKS......11

2.3.1 The Red Book................................................................................................................12

2.4 CONCEPT OF COMPETENCY.........................................................................................13

2.4.1 Types of Competency....................................................................................................15

2.5 CONCEPT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY...........................................................15

2.6 EXISTING COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE..........17

2.6.1 Project Management Competency Framework.............................................................19

2.6.2 International Competency Baseline...............................................................................22

2.6.3 Association of Project Management Competency Model.............................................24

2.6.4 Australian International Competency Model................................................................24

2.6.5 Other Competency Models............................................................................................24

2.7 SIMILARITIES/ DISSIMILARITIES, ADVANTAGES/ DISADVANTAGES OF THE VARIOUS COMPETENCY MODELS....................................................................................26

2.8 KEY FACTORS USED FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY.........................................................................................................................27

2.8.1 Technical Competencies................................................................................................28

2.8.2 Behavioral Competencies..............................................................................................31

2.8.3 Contextual Competencies..............................................................................................32

2.9 EFFECT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE ON PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE.........................................................................................................................33

2.10 ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY................................34

CHAPTER THREE.....................................................................................................................36

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...............................................................................................36

3.10 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................36

3.20 RESEARCH DESIGN.......................................................................................................36

3.2.1 Target Population..........................................................................................................36

3.2.2 Sampling Technique......................................................................................................37

3.2.3 Data Collection and Procedure......................................................................................37

3.2.4 Structured Questionnaires.............................................................................................38

3.2.5 Distribution of Questionnaires......................................................................................38

3.3 DATA ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................39

3.3.1 Descriptive statistics......................................................................................................39

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3.3.2 Relative Importance Index............................................................................................39

CHAPTER FOUR.......................................................................................................................40

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS..........................................................40

4.10 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................40

4.20 BACKGROUND OF RESPONDENTS............................................................................41

4.21 Road Agencies................................................................................................................41

4.22 Level of Education.........................................................................................................42

4.23 Work Experience............................................................................................................42

4.24 Current Position Held by Participants............................................................................43

4.25 Professional Body participants belong to.......................................................................43

4.30 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT MANAGERS IN THE ROAD AGENCIES..............................................................................44

4.4 KEY COMPETENCY FACTORS......................................................................................45

4.41 Technical Competencies.................................................................................................45

4.42 Behavioral Competencies...............................................................................................48

4.43 Contextual Competencies...............................................................................................49

CHAPTER 5.................................................................................................................................51

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................51

5.10 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................51

5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS..........................................................................................51

5.21 Key Factors for assessing Project Managers Competencies..........................................52

5.22 Existing Competency Frameworks................................................................................52

5.23 Tools and Techniques for Assessing Project Managers.................................................53

5.4 RECOMMENDATION.......................................................................................................53

5.5 LIMITATIONS....................................................................................................................53

REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................55

APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................59

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LIST OF TABLESTable 2.1 Structure of the PMCD Framework...............................................................................21

Table 2.2: Operational Measures of Project Manager’s Competency...........................................25

Table 4.1: Data of the Road Agencies...........................................................................................41

Table 4.2: Data of the Level of Education of Project Engineers of the various Road Agencies...42

Table 4.3: Data of the number of years of Work Experience........................................................42

Table 4.4: Data of the Current position held by Participants........................................................43

Table 4.4: Data of the Professional bodies participants belong to................................................44

Table 4.5: Table of Key Technical Competence...........................................................................46

Table 4.5: Table of Key Behavioural Competence.......................................................................48

Table 4.6: Table of Key Contextual Competence.........................................................................49

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 ICB Version 3 Eye of Competence..............................................................................23

Figure 2.2 Competency Framework by (Dziekoński, 2017).........................................................26

Figure 4.1 Methods of Assessing Project Managers.....................................................................44

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincerest gratitude goes first and foremost to the Almighty God for the strength and

opportunity to carry through with this work. I would also like to thank Prof. Edward Badu, my

supervisor, for his precious time, guidance, magnificent assistance, advice, and encouragement

throughout this research. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to Prof. Theophilus

Adjei-Kumi for all his support towards this work. I am grateful.

My Special thanks to all the staff of the road agencies (Ministry of Roads and Highways, Ghana

Highway Authority, Department of Feeder Roads and Department of Urban Roads).

Then to my dearest husband for all his encouragement and my family during this season.

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this research work to my dear husband, my dad, my siblings and all my friends.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

Infrastructure has always been a very critical part of every growing economy and road

infrastructure would always be one of the most vital infrastructure to many low- and middle-

income countries. According to (Fay et al., 2015), its approximated that, governments in low-

and middle-income countries around the world are devoting about US$ 1 trillion (or between

3.4% to 5% of GDP) in infrastructure every year.

“Millions of people – especially in the fast-growing cities in developing countries are facing the

challenging consequences of substandard infrastructure, and often at a significant cost. A

government’s ability to implement resilience-building options depends on whether it has

effective systems in place to implement, finance, manage, and maintain infrastructure assets.

Strong institutions, clear assignment of responsibilities, and transparent and reliable financing

mechanisms are all crucial to ensuring the effective provision of public services.”(Kornejew,

Rentschler and Hallegatte, 2019). Substandard infrastructure in developing countries has put a lot

of questions into the minds of stakeholders. Mostly questioning the competencies of contractors

as well as project managers looking at the millions spent on road infrastructure.

According to a sector report by (Fdii, 2013) , most inland transport in Ghana seems to occur on

our roads, in view of this the eminence of roads is very vital to the country’s development. As

important as this is, recently there have been many reports on the poor state of Ghana’s road

network. Many stakeholders are relating the poor nature of roads to how competent projects

managers are.

1

According to (Udo & Koppensteiner, 2004), a project can be properly comprehended and

planned, it could be adequately funded and its related component elements, machinery and

participants/personnel may be very proficient; however, if the output of these participants are not

competently harmonized, the project in question would run out on budget, it would not meet the

schedule, and the functionality and technical quality of the project may be lost. “There is not one

agreed-upon definition of “project manager” nor his/her responsibilities: scope of duties range

anywhere from administrator to multimillion-budget manager. In addition, a lot of companies

have defined project manager selection criteria vaguely and often focus more on fit into the

organization than competency for the position.” (Udo & Koppensteiner, 2004).

The Project Management Institute (PMI®) makes mention of three levels of competencies; the

knowledge, the personal and performance. The knowledge and performance are governed by 9

project management principles which are described in the Guide to the Project Management

Book of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). The personal competencies are also summarized under

six principles achievement and action, helping and human service, impact and influence,

managerial, cognitive, personal effectiveness (PMI 2002, p3)

Literature has it that the word competency refers to a traditional of understanding, abilities and

assertiveness desirable to accomplish a certain objective. This notion encapsulates the qualities

or skills that are inputs for signifying competency. However, many fail to recall the subsequent

part of the definition, which is that competency is mandatory to achieve something. Costa et all

(2013). Competence according to this study consists of the knowledge, expertise, and outlooks

applied to actual operations of project managers in ensuring that stakeholders get value for all

road infrastructure investments.

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A Project manager by this study would be engineers’ /quantity surveyors directly in charge of the

day to day running of road projects and are capable of being project coordinators.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

There have been a number of reports and news lines on the construction and usage of the roads

with some key stakeholders questioning the integrity and competence of project managers in

administering road projects. In fact, a World Bank report in 2017 on infrastructure development

across the continent indicates that Ghana has the highest road density in the region and to the

extent that it’s above international averages. Even with this, the proportion of high-quality paved

roads compared to other lower –middle-income countries are below average.

It is reported that by the close of 2015, 40.12% of the national road network was assessed to be

in good condition whilst 30.66% was in fair condition. 29.22% was however assessed to be in

poor state (Fdii, 2013). Even on some news platforms, the percentage of bad road networks is

pegged at 61% of the total road networks in Ghana. In view of this grave problem, many have

attributed many road accidents to the poor nature of roads. Some argue that roads constructed in

Ghana are so expensive and yet do not attain the required life cycle before they deteriorate. In

spite of all this investment, it is as though the country is not getting value for money on these

road projects. We can attribute the poor nature of our roads to many different dynamics including

competencies of contractors, competencies of project engineers, materials and its usage

investments etc.

(Udo & Koppensteiner, 2004) have stated that a project may be well comprehended and

sufficiently funded, the resources may be specialists, and consultants may be highly proficient,

but if the efforts of all the participants are not competently harmonized and managed, the project

may overrun the budget, would fail to meet the schedule, or fall short in functional and technical

3

quality. As such supervision still remains a very critical part of project management. It is

therefore very expedient that project managers have a certain abilities and capabilities to enable

then run projects more efficiently especially looking at the kind of investment that go into the

roads sector. However, literature on key factors in the assessment of project managers’

competencies in the road agencies in the Ghanaian construction industry is rare. This study

therefore sought to bridge the gap in literature relating to the key factors in the assessment of

project managers’ competencies in the road agencies in the Ghanaian construction industry.

1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions were addressed at the end of the research study;

What were the key factors for the assessment of professional competencies of project

managers’ in the road agencies?

What were the existing frameworks available to assess professional competencies of

project managers’?

Which tools or techniques were being used by these agencies to assess project

managers’ competency?

1.3 AIM

The aim of this research study was to identify key factors for the assessment of

project managers’ competencies.

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to:

Identify the key factors used for the assessment of professional competencies of project

managers’ in the road agencies;

4

Identify an appropriate existing framework for the assessment of professional

competencies in the road agencies in Ghana; and

Identify tools and techniques that could be used to assess project managers’ competency.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

According to the Ministry of Transport, over 80% of Governments Annual budget for the

transport sector is channeled into road infrastructure projects. This allocation for funding is

necessary because data gathered by the Ghana investments Promotion Center indicates that road

transport makes about 96% of combined domestic passengers and freight traffic.

What competence at work does is that, it takes the uncertainty and pain out in identifying the

right personnel by providing a systematic way of selecting the required set of people for peculiar

tasks. This study seeks to identify a competency criterion for which these road agencies could

identify personnel capable of managing project to ensure value for money.

This study is important to ensure that personnel that work on road projects possess certain basic

skills and knowledge to lead the construction team, apply basic project management knowledge

and ensure proper contract administration process with respect to various road projects.

1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY

The Road Infrastructure unit is managed by the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Department

of Feeder Roads (DFR) and the Department of Urban Roads (DUR), which are agencies under

the Ministry of Transport. (Fdii, 2013). The study would consider all project managers

responsible for road projects in the three agencies including the Ministry of Roads and

Highways. It would relate the generic responsibilities of these project managers to that of the

roles of project managers according to the Conditions of contract of the various projects. All of

5

these together with the key factors would be used to determine the key factors for assessing the

competencies of project managers within the three road agencies.

1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOOGY

This study adapted a quantitative research approach. The researcher identified its population size

as project engineers with a minimum of 10years working experience and used the census

sampling technique as the survey tool. With this technique, the total population size is considered

for the study. Although cost considerations make this impossible for large populations, a census

is attractive for small populations (e.g., 200 or less). A census eliminates sampling error and

provides data on all the individuals in the population. (Israel, 2003). After determining the

sample size, questionnaires were designed, pretested to ensure that participants understood the

subject and all the necessary errors were corrected before it was finally distributed to all

participants.

Data gathered was analyzed, described and presented using the Statistical Package of Social

Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel.

After the analysis, all findings were summarized and the relevant recommendations were made

with respect to the research objectives

1.8 DISSERTATION OUTLINE

This study is organized in five main structures, comprising of the Introduction, Literature

Review, Research Methodology, Data Analysis and the Conclusion.

Chapter One: It is the introduction to the study. It explains the subject matter and gives

the reader an insight into the subject matter

6

Chapter Two: This refers to the Literature Review. It reviews works done by other

writers in relation to the subject matter to the subject matter.

Chapter Three: This chapter summarizes how data was gathered in order to achieve the

necessary results.

Chapter Four: analyses the data gathered and interprets the data to reflect the objectives

of the subject matter.

Chapter Five: this chapter summarizes all findings, suggests recommendations and

provides limitations to the study.

7

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 STRUCTURE OF ROAD SECTOR IN GHANA

In Ghana, the Ministry of Roads and Highways is the organization with the mandate to construct

roads for its citizenry. Its responsibility includes policy formulation, sector coordination, sector

performance monitoring and evaluation of road infrastructure development and maintenance as

well as financing road maintenance works. It is made up of five agencies. Viz;

Ghana Highway Authority

Department of Feeder Roads

Department of Urban Roads

Koforidua Training Centre

Ghana Road Fund Secretariat

2.1.1 Ghana Highway Authority (GHA)

This agency under the Ministry of Roads and Highway was established as a body corporate by

GHA Decree 1974, (NCRD 298), was repealed by GHA Act 1997(Act 540). It is in charge of the

13,367km of trunk road and related facilities and is responsible for the administration, control,

development and maintenance of the country’s trunk road network. Trunk roads are roads that

run through the country connecting the regions and linking Ghana to its neighbors. (Ghana

Institution of Engineers, 2017)

8

It is made up of three Departments; the Administration, Development Department and the

Maintenance Department. The Administration Department is responsible for finance and human

resource related issues, legal services, training and development, public affairs and the MIS

division. The maintenance Department has all the 10 regional offices operating under it, with the

responsibility of performing maintenance activities on the trunk roads and maintaining all the

plant and equipment in the institution. The Development Department has seven major divisions,

the Road safety and Environment, Planning, Materials, Contracts, Quantity Surveying, Design

and Surveying and Bridges.

2.1.2 Department of Feeder Roads and Department of Urban Roads

These two agencies were calved out of the Ministry of Roads and Transport to provide citizenry

with well-constructed and well maintained feeder and urban roads respectively. The vision of the

Ministry of Roads and Highways is to provide “An integrated, efficient, cost-effective and

sustainable road transportation system responsive to the needs of society, supporting growth and

poverty reduction and capable of establishing and maintain Ghana as a transportation hub of

West Africa.

2.1.3 Koforidua Training Centre

Koforidua Training Centre is the agency responsible for training of professionals (engineers,

contractors, consultants, administrator staff, etc.) in the transport sector.

2.1.4 The Ghana Road Fund Secretariat

The Secretariat was established under Act 536 (1997) to cater for the finance of Routine and

Periodic Maintenance of road and related facilities, upgrading and rehabilitation of Roads,

9

selected Road Safety projects and other relevant activities as may be determined by the Road

Fund Board.

2.2 TYPES OF PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS USED BY THE ROAD AGENCIES IN

GHANA

Construction contracts provides a legally binding agreement for both the owner and the builder

that the executed job will receive the specific compensation. The procurement method usually

determines the procurement contract type to be used.

2.2.1 Fixed Price or Adjustable Price Contracts

Contract prices could be deemed as fixed which means it is not subject to change or adjustable

which means it is subject to change to reflect the current market conditions. Fixed price

Contracts are usually used for projects with are duration less than 18months within which period

changes in economic conditions such as labour material and fuel are perceived to be

insignificant.

On the other hand, price adjustable Contracts span for long periods of time and therefore usually

consider a price adjustment factor for the unit prices in the contracts to cater for any changes in

market conditions. These price indices are usually published by the country’s government.

(Ribeiro, 2009)

2.2.2 Lump Sum Contracts

Lump Sum contracts are also called fixed fee contracts. With these kinds of contracts, the

contractor agrees to do exactly what has been described in the contract at a fixed fee. This type

of contract is suitable when the scope and schedule have been properly defined.

10

2.2.3 Time based contracts

Time based contracts are suitable for works in which the scope and length are difficult to

estimate, either because the services are dependent on the activities that others must perform for

which the length of time required may change or in some other instances inputs required by

consultants are in accessible. (Anon, 2004)

2.2.4 Performance Based Contracts

Performance based contracts are contracts that set the performance expected for the final project.

Performance based contracts indicates a set of desired outcomes, not the process to achieve the

outcome. Therefore, the standards of the outcome are clearly identified in the project. (Gajural,

2014)

2.2.5 Measured Term Contracts

Measured term contracts is where the employer and contractor get into an agreement to carry out

unknown construction work which will be paid based on an agreed priced schedule of works.

(Griffiths, 2010)

2.3 STANDARD FORMS OF CONTRACTS FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION WORKS

As stated earlier, contracts set up a level of agreement between two parties. According to

(Ramus, J., Birchal S and Griffiths, 2006)‘Standard forms of construction contract have been

developed to provide formal, predetermined arrangements and mechanisms to cope with the

situation that can arise during the course of a construction project’. They are precisely

premeditated to costume the construction process and provide a practical approach to dealing

with common construction concerns. An important feature of standard forms is that many are

11

agreed between expert bodies representing client interests, the construction industry and the

professions thereby reflecting long experience of the construction process. (Cunningham, 2013).

A Latham Report in 1994 indicates that the main strength parties obtain in using these standard

forms are that they are well known and so are perceived to be fair.

Even though standard forms have over the years accrued some confidence in the industry, it

seems to be open to certain criticisms. The Latham report indicated that in instances where

conditions are ambiguous, it tends to create a high level of mistrust between the parties and may

lead to conflicts.

(Murdoch JR and Hughes, 2008) also explains that the use of single standard forms for

construction projects may be unrealistic due its varied environment and exclusive characteristics

of projects.

The Road Construction industry in Ghana usually adapts the International Federation of

Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) form of contracts in administering road projects. There are about

five FIDIC books upon which roads contracts are drafted and dependent on the procurement

type.

The Red Book: Conditions of Contract for Construction Works

The Yellow Book: Conditions of Contract for plant and Design-Build

The Silver Book: Conditions of Contract for EPC/ Turnkey Projects

The Green book: Short form of Contract

The Blue Book: Contract for Dredging and Reclamation Works

The MDB Harmonized Conditions of Contract for Construction

For the purpose of this study, the road contracts in relation to works would be considered. As

such the obligations of the project manager according to the red book form of contracts or

conditions of contracts would explained.

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2.3.1 The Red Book

The Red Book is for Contracts for Construction for Building and Engineering Works designed

by The Employer. It comprises of twenty sections and the various parts of the contracts are

explained to reduced ambiguity in administering projects. The first chapter is the General

Provisions. It defines key terms within the conditions, how certain words should be interpreted,

what forms of communication should be used. It also mentions the laws that govern the contract

and the language of the contract. It mentions the priority of documents in the contract and the

conditions of the contract agreement including the parties involved in the project. The third

section makes mention of who the Engineer is and what his responsibilities are. According to the

FIDIC red book, ‘the employer shall appoint the Engineer who shall carry out the duties

assigned to him in the Contract. The Engineer’s staff shall include suitably qualified engineers

and other professionals who are competent to carry out these duties’.

According to the red book the Engineer has no right to make changes to the contract in anyway.

He/she may exercise authority as for as the conditions stipulates in the contract. It mentions that

if there is the need for the engineer to obtain approval from the employer, it would be stated in

the particular conditions of contract/ the contract data. The engineer is responsible for delegating

authority to assistants. It further explains that these assistants could be resident engineers.

Resident Engineers as the name suggests refer to engineers responsible for the day-to-day

running of the project and these assistants according to the book shall be competent, qualified

persons to carry out the project. This section basically mentions the responsibility of the engineer

and states all exceptions to the rule.

2.4 CONCEPT OF COMPETENCY

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According to a study by (Hoge, Tondora & Marrelli, 2005) cited in (Wilcox, 2012), the concept

of competence can be dated as far back as 3000 years ago when the Chinese had to replace

recommendations made by superiors to writing civil service examinations when government jobs

had to be selected. Just about the 20th Century, the social efficiency became a dominant social

concept in the United States. Roosevelt administration in the 1930’s in the United States began to

encourage functional analysis of jobs which ensued in the publication of a dictionary of

occupation titles classifying knowledge and skills associated to different occupations (Horton,

2000). The study of history of the concept of competency can be said to be dominant between the

20th and the 21st centuries where success are defined by results or performance orientation.

With every operation and machine, there is always a human input. The quality of the human

behind the machine or the process determines the performance of the company. In view of this,

the performance of the company hinges not on the human assets but the human asset having

accurate match of competencies and their levels for performance requirements. (Bhharthvajan.,

2013). When organizations identify that human resource is the most valuable asset an

organization may have, they tend to help manage the carriers of their employees. What

competence at work does is that it takes the uncertainty and pain out in identifying the right

personnel by providing a systematic way of selecting the required set of people for peculiar

tasks.

Competency has been defined by many researchers and in a study by Scott Parry in 1998 cited in

(Bharthvajan,2013), competency was defined as a cluster of related knowledge, attitudes, skills

and other personal characteristics that affects major parts of one’s job, correlates with the

performance of one’s job, measured against well accepted standards and could be improved

through training and development. In that same paper, McClelland defined competency as an

14

underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion referenced effective

and/or superior performance in a job or a situation. (Hayes 1979), also defined competence as a

generic knowledge motive, trait, social role or skill of a person linked to superior performance on

the job. Then Albanese said in 1989 that competence is a personal characteristic that contribute

to effective managerial performance. Competency refers to a standard of defined behaviors that

provide structured guidelines in identifying, evaluating and developing the behavior of

employees.(Purushothamnaik, Somasundaram and Naik, no date)

2.4.1 Types of Competency

According to (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005), there is a lot of discrepancy in the whole concept

of competency that it is difficult to determine a clear theory or to arrive at a definition capable

of accepting and merging all the diverse ways that the term is used. Basically, competency can

be identified under three main concepts. Namely;

Behavioural Competency: This type of competency usually considers skills required in

identifying problems and solving behaviours used appropriately for the management of

people or personal affairs. These skills usually consume the concept of leadership which

in itself is quit fuzzy.

Functional Competency: This type of competency tries to develop a relationship with the

functions, roles and processes within an organization which captures the knowledge, skill

and practices required for that particular job or task. Its geared towards the achievement

of organizational principles or objectives. It could also be refered to as Technical

Competency.

15

Professional Competency: This type of competency is basically performance oriented.

They are accelerators of performance – it is the reason people fail or succeed at their job

2.5 CONCEPT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY

According to (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005), ‘there is such confusion and debate concerning

the concept of ‘competence’ that it is impossible to identify or impute a coherent theory or to

arrive at a definition capable of accommodating and reconciling all the different ways that the

term is used.’ Competency has been conceived as a fuzzy concept by many writers. In spite of

this (Boon & van der Klink, 2002) acknowledged that it is the best term to leverage education

and job requirements. (Boam and Sparrow, 1992; Mitrani et al.,1992; Smith, 1993) explained

that some writers constantly use ‘competency’ when discussions are related to occupational/

professional competence or treat the two as synonymous (Brown, 1993, 1994).

Professional competency is the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are prized by a particular

professional association, organization or body connected to an employee’s future carrier. Core

competence is a firm-specific organizational signature that leads to market dominance. It is a

signature because represents a firm-specific way of doing business, and emerges from

organizational knowledge, expertise, experience, skills, systems, technology, capabilities and

resources along with value chain that all differentiate firm from their competitors. (Uysal, 2007).

Basically, the aptitudes, skills and the motivation of the human resource is a necessity for core

competence to be built in an organization. (Godbout, 2000). Core competencies are usually

organization oriented while professional competencies are employee oriented. In order to get the

best in any organization therefore there is the need to ensure that as much investment is made in

developing the human resource as it is in making the organization competitive.

16

(Investment in People, 1995) as cited by (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005) defined professional

competence as ‘the ability to perform activities in the jobs within an profession, to the standards

expected in employment’. However, the definition also included ‘mastery of skills and

understanding’ and ‘aspects of personal effectiveness’.

(Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer, 2000) iterated that professional competency in project management

would be acquired with a combination of knowledge gained during training, subsequent

application as well as other skills developed in the course of practice.

The project management competency refers to the capability to manage projects professionally

by applying best practices with regards to the design of the project management process and the

application of project management.(Gebril and Wah, 2012).

Due to the nature of project manager work, which is largely based on cooperation and project

team directing, manager’s characteristics can have a crucial impact on project’s results.

Therefore, a choice of a “right” person to perform a project manager role is one of the most

important decisions taken by project’s sponsor/investor.(Dziekoński, 2017)

2.6 EXISTING COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Although competencies are not new, paying for competencies is rapidly gathering attention. In

many firms, the rate of change is so great that the individual job has ceased to be useful as the

"atom" around which organizations and human resources practices are structured. (Zingheim et

al., 1996). Professional competencies are becoming one of the key building blocks of success of

the company to achieve both the mission and vision in creating added value and improve

business performance and especially the development of their own people. (Manxhari, 2017).

A competency framework is a model that broadly describes performance excellence within an

organization. Such a framework usually includes a number of competencies that are applied to

17

multiple occupational roles within the organization. A competency framework is a means by

which

organizations communicate which behaviors are required, valued, recognized and rewarded with

respect to specific occupational roles.(Framework, no date)

A competence model in a managerial context, describes the performance criteria or the

description of the characteristics of a competence performance against which a manager’s

performance is measured, reviewed and evaluated. It identifies and describes the knowledge,

skills and behaviors needed to perform a role effectively in an organization to achieve the

organization’s goals.(Manxhari, 2017). It is basically a mix of knowledge and skills that are

needed for an effective performance (Bhardwaj, 2013). As part of this study, existing

frameworks adapted by a number of institutions would be considered.

Basically theses competency models are developed by identifying the roles and responsibilities

of project managers in their various organizations. International organizations have organized

these responsibilities and developed models to generally suit organizations.

(Aitken, 2011) defined a lot of project management principles that had been accepted by both

private and public sector institutions. These principles have been organized under three

categories namely:

a. Knowledge – Based Competency

The PMBOK Guide (PMI, 2008) is the basic project management knowledge based standard

which organizes the key knowledge areas for project managers which are expected to be made

known to project managers for them to be assessed by that. (Aitken, 2011). The PMBOK are

structured in 9 areas. Viz

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Integration

Scope

Time

Cost

Quality

Human Resource

Communications

Risk management and

Procurement management

Within these knowledge areas, there are process groups used to ensure that these standards are

followed professionally. According to (Alam et al.,2010) argues that the BOKs does not create a

relationship between the competencies and the learning outcomes. It only provides a theoretical

background which does not necessarily fit into actual practical applications.

b. Performance –Based Competence

(Crowford, 2000) cited in (Arendse, 2013) explained that performance based competence

standards describe what people can be expected to do in their roles at their work places as well as

the knowledge and understanding of their occupation that is needed to reinforce these roles at a

precise level of competence. In order to fulfill this objective of upskilling a nation’s man power

many countries including the UK, South Africa and Australia at present have organized a

structured project management performance based principles that captures the role of team

members and that of the directors. (Aitken, 2011).

c. Hybrid Standards

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Generally, the International Competency Baseline (ICB) (IPMA, 2006) and the Project Manager

Competency Development Framework (PMI, 2007) are the standards accepted internationally.

(Hudson and Moussa, 2006) explains that while there are other competency principles, the ICB

and the PMCD are the most mentioned to in works and usually accepted through the world of

Project Management Practice. In view of this (Aitken , 2011) therefore identifies project

management standards that do not adapt the formal performance structure nor its description as a

hybrid.

2.6.1 Project Management Competency Framework

The Project Management Institute (PMI) sponsored the Project Management Competency

Development which was first released in 2002. The main aim of this model was to establish a

basis for which project managers could be assessed. It is aimed at a Project Manager who:

has the necessary practical project management knowledge, skills and experience

represented in the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Examination Specification

requirements and PMP®Role Delineation Study.

has demonstrated knowledge competence by recently passing a suitable exam (PMP® or

equivalent)

is able to provide evidence of Performance and Personal competencies identified in the

Framework

is a Project Manager with 3-4 years of experience managing medium-sized or larger

projects, and who may be under the guidance and direction of a Program or Portfolio

Manager, or Senior Project Manager? (Cartwright & Yinger, 2007).

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Generally, the competencies can be captured under five main components; abilities, attitudes,

behavior, knowledge, personality and skills. In order to be recognized as competent, an

individual and in this case a project manager must have been successfully evaluated against

Project Management Knowledge Competence, Project Management Performance Competence

and Personal Competence. (Cartwright & Yinger, 2007).

The writers defined

Project Management Knowledge Competence as what a project manager knows about

project management.

Project Management Performance as what the manager is able to do or accomplish while

applying the project management knowledge

Personal Competence as the behavior of the project manager while carrying out project

activities.

The PMI took its source of documentation for the PMCD from a number of sources captured in

the table below.

Table 2.1 Structure of the PMCD Framework

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The Structure of the PMCD Framework

The framework represents typical competency standard. A typical competency standard

identifies:

The Units of competence: Each Unit of Competence of the PMCD Framework matches

to one of the five Project Management Process Groups of Initiating, Planning, Executing,

Controlling, and Closing.

Elements of Competence: Each Unit of Competence comprises of a number of Elements

which reveal the actions in which project managers are anticipated to be practiced.

Performance Criteria: Each Element is described by Performance Criteria, which

stipulate the values to be attained in order to prove competent performance.

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Types of Evidence are associated with each of the Performance Criteria: These form the

basis upon which competence can be self-assessed.

The PMCD Framework primarily organizes the duties of a project manager in a matrix which

expounds the performance requirement of each process group. Once this is done, comparing the

performance of the project manager as against the competency baseline will identify the gaps and

help indicate various developmental needs for project managers. An additional measurement for

personal competence guises at the project manager behavior comparative to general competence

in managing projects. Its aim is to meet or exceed the baseline competency defined by the

PMCD Framework. (Cartwright & Yinger, 2007).

2.6.2 International Competency Baseline

Another competency model worth mentioning is the International Competency Baseline Version

3 and Version 4. International Project Management Association developed this competency

framework mainly for project managers. It defines competence as Knowledge plus Experience

plus Personal attitudes. (Arendse, 2013). According to this framework knowledge and experience

relate to function and attitudes relate to the behaviors. The baseline classifies 46 competency

elements. These elements are further categorized into Technical Competency, Behavioral

Competency and Contextual Competency. It defines 20 technical competency elements, 15

behavioral competency elements, and 11 contextual competency elements. (Caupin et al., 2009).

Each element is composed of a knowledge and experience component that can be evaluated to

yield a competency assessment.

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Figure 2.1 ICB Version 3 Eye of Competence

Technical Competencies

These are competencies are adapted to ensure that projects are delivered in accordance to the set

principle of project management practice.

Contextual Competencies

These competencies manage relationships of the projects in the organization, programs and

portfolios, based on the knowledge of project features, project in relation to the organization and

the environment.

Behavioral Competencies

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These are competencies for a positive, collective and dynamic thrust in nurturing project

management professionalism such as leadership, communication, results orientation, ethics,

negotiation and so forth.

2.6.3 Association of Project Management Competency Model

The APM Competence Framework sets out the competences required for effective project,

program, portfolio management and project management office (PMO). This particular

framework consists of 27 competency elements aimed at achieving the basic outcome of project

professionalism.

2.6.4 Australian International Competency Model

The purpose of this standard is to fulfill the requirement of the project management profession.

This standard is designed to cover most industries and most projects from the simple one to the

more complicated ones. In this standard, being competent means to have the minimum

predefined levels of knowledge and skills in project management and to be able to apply this

knowledge and skills at the workplace. From “Project Practitioner Level” to “Project Manager

Level”, or from “Project Manager Level” to “Project Director Level”, of the responsibility and

minimum requirements for the knowledge, skills, and experience increase as well. (Omidvar et

al., 2011)

2.6.5 Other Competency Models

Apart from these international organization’s competency models, a number of institutions and

writers have also developed competency models based on the international organization’s

elements of competency. American Society Civil Engineers created the 24 foundation fields of

knowledge, skills and attributes of a modern civil engineer. Apart from strictly technical issues

25

that are inherently related to the profession, there is a great proportion of managerial skills such

as: problem recognition and solving, risk and uncertainty, project management, communication,

public policy, business and public administration, globalization, leadership, teamwork, attitudes,

lifelong learning, professional and ethical responsibility.

By a study conducted by (Kosaroglu & Hunt, 2009), the PMCD framework caters for the needs

of the project management community at large. The IPMA, AIPM and APM on the other hand

are the most current publicized frameworks which captures many more standards and

qualifications and addresses the minimum number of criteria that supposes competence.

Table 2.2: Operational Measures of Project Manager’s Competency

Founded on a study carried out by (Dziekoński, 2017) ,a competency model for construction

project managers in Poland was developed based on certain key competency areas. He gathered

information from the international bodies and adapted it in his study. According to him, apart

from strictly technical issues that are inherently related to the profession, there is a great

proportion of managerial skills such as: problem recognition and solving, risk and uncertainty,

project management, communication, public policy, business and public administration,

globalization, leadership, teamwork, attitudes, lifelong learning, professional and ethical

responsibility. He then developed his model based on the industries standards like the PMBOK®

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Guide, the Construction Project Management skills, Achieving Excellence in Construction

Procurement Guide, Code of Practice for Project Management for Construction and

Development.

This model was described in this study because, construction industrial standards were used in

developing it. Again since it’s in relation to construction, challenges construction projects

managers face in managing projects are not so different.

Figure 2.2 Competency Framework by (Dziekoński, 2017)

2.7 SIMILARITIES/ DISSIMILARITIES, ADVANTAGES/ DISADVANTAGES OF THE

VARIOUS COMPETENCY MODELS

The various competency models have their own levels of successes depending on the

circumstances or the conditions under which they were designed. The PMCD framework defines

competencies at different levels of management. By doing this the concept of competency for

different organizations tends to change. Therefore, a project manager could be declared

27

competent in an organization but in another he could be declared incompetent. Since there is no

consistence in what defines competence under the PMCD framework, it serves as a disadvantage

to this framework. Meanwhile, IPMA and APM have quiet similar certification standards which

are different from the AIPM model.

In projects that require phasing, more often than not, it is required that certain competencies are

expected from project managers. The PMCD framework by its structure provides this kind of

system. Where the required competencies per phase are provided. On the other hand, the IPMA,

APM and AIPM do not provide these. The whole competency concept by its nature is assessment

based. Which seems to run across all other frameworks except the PMCD framework. The

PMCD is more development based than assessment based. It provides a methodology to

assessing competencies of project managers at certain levels.

Another feature worth mentioning about these frameworks has to do with how assessments od

competencies are done. According to (Omidvar et al., 2011), in the AIPM assessment process,

there is an assessor who assess the project manager but in the IPMA and APM, assessment of

managers are assessed by two assessors. Usually, one assessor is taken from the same industry as

the candidate. It is believed that since there are two assessors, assessment is more rigorous

compared to the AIPM framework. Where assessment is done by one person. By this candidate

are aware of their shortfalls. This is a feature PMCD does not have.

2.8 KEY FACTORS USED FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL

COMPETENCY

Smith, Bruyns & Evans (2011) explained that projects worldwide still records a significantly

high level of failure in spite of the efforts of project management community to assist with tools

and techniques to ameliorate the system. According to Kerzner (2009) in many firm’s personnel

28

are inappropriately promoted to management levels on the basis of their professional or technical

competence rather than their managerial ability. He further explained that technical skills were

important but are not a guarantee of project success.

The frameworks mentioned in 2.6 are all based on opinions of very seasoned project

management practitioners and their empathetic of competencies essential for effective project

managers (Omidvar et al., 2011). Even though these standard competency forms are used in

project management, each of them has a focused place on differing areas. (Gale and Brown,

2003) explained that the competency-based approach provides an organization with the impetus

to identify and develop people with the competency requirement for the executing a job. Recent

evidence suggests that while the bodies of knowledge provide the standard for what professional

project managers are expected to know, competency standards provide us with the view of what

project managers should be able to do and how they should be expected to behave. (Arendse,

2013).

The ICB competency framework has a list of elements which form the factors for assessing the

competencies of project managers. In total there are about 46 list of competencies using the ICB

standard. The model puts the number of technical competencies 33, contextual competencies to

15 and behavioral competencies to 21.

The main purpose of IPMA Competence Baseline is to define a standard to be used for the

universal certification system. Another purpose of this standard is to develop personnel that are

working in the project management area. (Omidvar et al., 2011). For these reasons, this study

would adapt the ICB version 3 standard.

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2.8.1 Technical Competencies

Project Administration Success: Under this competency criterion, the idea is to identify or

determine if the project manager identifies and understands what project stakeholders define as

success on the project.

Project Stakeholders: Does the project manager know the various stakeholders and what their

demands are in relation to the project?

Project aim and purpose: The project manager must understand what the goals are and try to set

a realistic target for the goal of the project.

Probabilities and Chances: These could also be defined as the risks and opportunities of the

project. The project manager is expected to identify these risks and opportunities for the benefit

of the project.

Quality: The project manager is expected to understand all that constitutes quality in order for

the stakeholders to get value for money

Project planning/management: The project manager ensures that designs, schedules and

resources are properly organized in order to attain the design goals.

Project team management: The project manager determines or identify personnel with adequate

skills to achieve particular tasks that aid the project.

Problem determination: The project manager identifies potential dying issues that are likely to

affect the flow of the project

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Project structures: The project manager ensures that there is hierarchy/ a project structure where

both stakeholders and project team members are properly organized and proper communication

structures are put in place.

Scope & deliverables: Project managers are to ensure that projects goals are achieved through

proper work package organizations etc.

Time & project phases: By understanding how the project activities are interrelated, a project

manager can now design a schedule for the works. Theses schedules can then be used to

determine whether a project would be a onetime thing or it would be divide in phases to achieve

the required results.

Resources: refer to the personnel, materials and equipment required for the project at hand.

Cost & finance: The project manager plans and organizes cash flows related to the project

Procurement & contract: The project manager is responsible for identifying the project,

advertising, selecting and properly administering projects to achieve project goals. 

Variations: Generally, variations refer to changes made to projects. They could be scope changes

or cost changes depending on whatever changes there are. Project managers are therefore

expected to understand and efficiently manages changes to prevent time and cost over runs.

Control & reports: the project manager is expected to ensure that project plans are achieved, he

should be able to track progress on the projects and report on the progress as well as anticipated

changes.

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Information & documentation: Project managers must ensure that all documents pertaining to the

project are properly organized and well-kept for future referencing

Communication: The project manager must be and efficient and effective speaker.

Start-up: Start-up dates are one of the most important variable in project management. The

project manager must therefore ensure that there is no ambiguity in the start date.

Close-out: There should be no ambiguity in this to ensure proper transfer of the project to its

owners.

2.8.2 Behavioral Competencies

Leadership: A project manager is expected to have qualities of a visionary. He/she should be

able to properly organize his/her team to attain a common goal.

Engagement & motivation: The project manager must in himself be self- motivated and

dedicated to the project

Self-control: The project manager must be able to control his direct environment to properly

diffuse tension or pressure

Assertiveness: The project manager should bold and confident in taking decisions on a project.

Relaxation: The project manager should be able to create a more welcoming atmosphere to

accommodate all project team member

Openness: The project manager should be open to accept people on his team

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Creativity: The project manager should be able to explore possibilities in attaining project

success

Results orientation: The project manager should no lose sight on the project goal

Efficiency: The project manager should be a good manager of project resources

Consultation: The project manager seeks advise on techniques in achieving project goals

Negotiation: The project manager should be able to convince stakeholders or push for a drive to

the benefit of the project

Conflict & crisis: The project manager manages conflicts.

Reliability: The project manager should be a dependable person.

Values appreciation: The project manager appreciates to a large extent the principle of his team

members

Ethics: The project manager should be morally upright in his judgement

2.8.3 Contextual Competencies

Project orientation: The project manager understands the objectives of the project.

Program orientation: The project manager is able to properly align the project goals to that of

the organization

Portfolio orientation: The project manager should be able to give management a heads up on

program priorities to help the organization’s goal.

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Project, program & portfolio orientation: The project manager provides information on the role

of portfolios, programs and projects to management of the organization to have a proper business

strategy.

Permanent organization: The project manager should be able to organize relationships between

the project and the other organizations working hand in hand in achieving the project success.

Business: The project manager understands the core business of the organization.

Systems, products & technology: The project manager understands the causes of developments

and the effects of actions in the project and is able to manage these relations effectively.  

Personnel management: The project manager recruits, selects, develops, appraises and rewards

his team members in a way that stimulates effective behavior and successful teamwork.

Health, security, safety & environment: The project manager is aware of health, security, safety

and environmental aspects of the project and manages these adequately.

Finance: The project manager has adequate knowledge of and insight in the financial and

administrative processes of the project and integrates these aspects in his actions.

Legal: The project manager must be appressed with legal implications of the project in question

2.9 EFFECT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE ON PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

Management of a project team is significantly different from managing team of employees. That

is mainly due to the nature of project and resulting range of project manager duties. Projects are

strictly defined by result requirements, the cost and time constraints, and are bounded by the

34

environment in which are implemented. In construction industry, projects are companies’ source

of revenue. Therefore construction industry is probably the largest project-based sector.

(Dziekoński, 2017).

(American Society of Civil Engineers, 2008) describes construction project managers’ job as:

“(…) the act of managing the engineering relationships among the management tasks related to

staffing, organizing, planning, financing, and the human element in production, research,

engineering, and service organizations. Engineering managers must understand and integrate

organizational, technical, external, and behavioral variables and constraints in order to

accomplish predetermined tasks and goals”.

(Birkhead et all., 2000) and (Gokaydin, 2007) explained that the project management practice

was introduced in the construction and engineering fields to improve planning and cost

challenges.

It is imperative to mention that having a “competent” project manager alone is indicative of

project success. A project manager may effectively poise the challenging demands of scope,

time, cost, quality, resources and risk, but the project success may be influenced by

organization's project management development and competence. It is just as possible to have a

“competent” project manager working within an organization in the early stages of mellowing its

practices resulting in an unsuccessful project, as it is to have an unsuccessful project resulting

from a project manager who is not “competent” working within a mature organization.

(Cartwright & Yinger, 2007).

2.10 ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY

According to ( Ahadzie et al., 2008b), (Alam et al.,2008), (Bodea et al.,2010), (Chen,Parting &

Wang, 2008), ( Crowford and Gaynor,1999), Dainty et al., 2005), Delo & Hepworth, 2010),

35

(Foune & Barry, 2011), (IPMA, 2006), (Omnidvar, Jaryani, Zafarghando et al., 2011), Qureshi et

al., 2009), (Rodriguez ,2005) and Shepheard, 2005 as cited in (Arendse, 2013), there are specific

applications for the measuring and accessing project manager competency.

In his study, he mentioned that (Alam et al., 2008) suggested a continuous learning, examination,

collections, self-assessments, conferences outcomes and peer reviews as some techniques to be

used for the assessment of the project managers. He also suggested that a framework approach

where checklists and observational methods are used for the assessment. The first two focus on

performance measurement and the framework approach relates to the integrative perspective and

competence. Which is measuring competence as 360- degree feedback approach

Other writers like (Delo & Hepworth, 2010) suggested the use of psychometric instruments,

project management, knowledge test, a 360-degree feedback approach by peers and assessment

centers. They also explained that competencies could be assessed using competency framework

or online assessment of centers that deploy a technique called Scored CV. But (Rodriguez, 2005)

also explains that 360- degree feedback programmers focus on critical knowledge, skills and

abilities associated with employee position

(Rodriguez, 2005) also suggested the STAR method of assessing project managers. Which

represents the situation the task at hand, the activity being carried out and the result. He further

explained that interviews are actually one of the most essential hiring techniques for any

employer.

Ultimately, the (International Project Management Association, 2006) and (Bodea et al., 2010)

integrate that the assessment of the knowledge and the experience base of a project manager

36

requires a mixed method including training portfolios, written exams, 360-degree feedback,

workshop, project reporting, references and an occasional interview in itself.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.10 INTRODUCTION

This chapter adapts the various research techniques and tools required in achieving the research

objectives. The aim of this research is to study and assess the competencies of project engineers

on road projects in Ghana. The study was geared towards

Identifying the key factors used for the assessment of professional competencies of

project managers/engineers in the road agencies

Identify existing frameworks for the assessment of professional competencies and

To assess the professional competencies of project managers/engineers using an

identified framework.

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3.20 RESEARCH DESIGN

A cross sectional descriptive research was used in this study. In achieving the objectives,

structured questionnaires with closed ended questions were distributed in order to gather the

data. This study adapted the quantitative approach in achieving its objectives. In doing this

adequate information was obtained to make all necessary conclusions.

3.2.1 Target Population

This study puts the three main road agencies in charge of implementing road projects under

scrutiny. Its targeted population are the engineers in the roads agencies capable of running

projects. The key personnel in charge of projects like the principal engineers, senior engineers,

engineers and assistant engineers were considered for this study. There are 142 engineers in

Ghana Highway Authority, 77 engineers and 48 quantity surveyors in the Department of Feeder

Roads. 66 engineers and 34 quantity surveyors at the Department of Urban Roads. However, the

targeted population was quantity surveyors and civil engineers with a minimum of 10 years

working experience. On the average, there were 50 engineers and quantity surveyors from the

both The Department of Feeder Roads and the Department of Urban Roads with a minimum of

10 years working experience. From the Ghana Highway Authority 86 engineers had this

minimum criterion Therefore, the total population for this study was 186 engineer’s /quantity

surveyors.

3.2.2 Sampling Technique

With the population size, the census sampling technique was used. With this technique, the total

population size is considered for the study. Although cost considerations make this impossible

for large populations, a census is attractive for small populations (e.g., 200 or less). A census

38

eliminates sampling error and provides data on all the individuals in the population. (Israel,

2003). With the population size of 186, the census sampling technique was most suitable because

this is the total number of engineers and quantity surveyors with 10years working experience

capable of answering the questions related to the topic.

3.2.3 Data Collection and Procedure

Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The quantitative approach was

used for this research. Structured questionnaires were designed with closed ended questions in

gathering data. These questionnaires were distributed and participants were given ample time for

their responses. The questionnaires were pretested with 3 potential participants for pilot

purposes.

3.2.4 Structured Questionnaires

In order to achieve the objective of the study, close-ended questions were addressed to

respondents to gather data. The questionnaires consisted of the following parts:

The first part of the questionnaire dealt with the demographic data of the respondents, here the

agency under which the participant worked was sought, professional association, job position of

the respondent was sought and finally the number of years that he/she had been in the road

agency. This was meant to establish the credibility of responses from respondents. A Likert-type

scale was used in the survey instrument by instructing participants to respond with a level of

agreement to a declarative statement using a number scale (Culler, 2009). For the purpose of this

study it was much easier using the Likert –type response option for all the questions. A scale of 1

to 5 was provided to measure the level of significance of each factor to the last respondent,

39

where “1” meant not relevant “2” Slightly relevant “3” Quite relevant “4” Very relevant “5”

Extremely relevant. See Appendix A for the detailed format of the questionnaire.

For clarity on the subject of the questionnaire, a preamble was provided in the questionnaire to

briefly refresh the minds of the respondents on the subject.

3.2.5 Distribution of Questionnaires

The questionnaires were designed using the Google forms tool. This tool was used because of the

questionnaire could have distributed via mail and other social media platforms. There by making

it assessable to all participants. The questionnaire was designed and pretested before it was

finally distributed to most participants. All the respondents were given the freedom to answer

and rate the factors in a manner that they deemed fit.

3.3 DATA ANALYSIS

For data analysis the researcher adapted the descriptive statistics and the relative importance

index (RII) to analyze the data gathered.

3.3.1 Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics, in short, help describe and understand the features of a specific data set by

giving short summaries about the sample and measures of the data. The descriptive statistical

tools employed for this research were mainly frequencies and percentages. These analytical tools

were used to analyze background data of respondents.

3.3.2 Relative Importance Index

Relative index analysis was selected in this study to rank the criteria according to their relative

importance. The following formula is used to determine the relative index RI = w A × N (1)

40

where w is the weighting as assigned by each respondent on a scale of one to five with one

implying the least and five the highest. A is the highest weight and N is the total number of the

sample. Based on the ranking (R) of relative indices (RI), the weighted average for the two

groups will be determined. According to Akadiri (2011), five important levels are transformed

from RI values: high (H) (0.8 ≤ RI ≤ 1), high medium (H–M) (0.6 ≤ RI ≤ 0.8), medium (M) (0.4

≤ RI ≤ 0.6), medium-low (M-L) (0.2 ≤ RI ≤ 0.4) and low (L) (0 ≤ RI ≤ 0.2).

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

4.10 INTRODUCTION

After literature was reviewed on the subject matter, data was gathered and analyzed to observe

how the phenomenon was observed in the various agencies. In order to achieve the objectives of

the study, analysis was based on the questionnaires that were distributed electronically. The

questionnaire was structured in three main sections. However, the second section which captured

the main competency factors was further divided into three. Therefore, the questionnaire appears

to have three sections. The first section of the questionnaire considered basically the background

of the respondents and the second section focused mainly on the key competency factors with

41

respect to the ICB version 3and the third section focused on the techniques and tools used to

assess project managers in the road agencies.

The statistical tools adopted for the analyses include descriptive, relative importance index.

In total 186 questionnaires were distributed to the various road agencies. 86 to Ghana Highway

Authority, another 50 to the Department of feeder Roads, 50 to the Department of Urban Roads

and 10 to the Ministry of Roads and Highways. Out of all the questionnaires that were

administered, 25 was retrieved from the Department of Urban Roads, 24 from the Ghana

Highway Authority and 23 from the Department of Feeder Roads This represented 32.70% of the

population and this formed the basis for discussion.

4.20 BACKGROUND OF RESPONDENTS

This section in the questionnaire gave a brief of all respondents. There were basically 5 questions

which were requirements before the other section could be answered. The questions enquired the

exact agencies the respondents belonged to, the level of education of the respondents, how long

they have been working, the current positions they occupy and the professional bodies they

belong to. These details were deemed necessary because such discussion expound further

discussion and increases credibility to the information attained as a result.

4.21 Road Agencies Out of 186 questionnaires distributed, 72 responded with 25 respondents from the Department

of Urban Roads, 22 from the Department of Feeder Roads, 20 from the Ghana Highway

Authority and 5 from the Ministry of Roads and Highways. (See Table 4.1)

42

Table 4.1: Data of the Road Agencies

4.22 Level of Education

Participants indicated their level of education as a way of increasing credibility. (See Table 4.2)

Table 4.2: Data of the Level of Education of Project Engineers of the various Road

Agencies

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Post Graduate 51 70.8 70.8 70.8

Ist Degree 21 29.2 29.2 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

4.23 Work Experience

43

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Ghana Highway Authority 20 27.8 27.8 27.8

Department of urban Roads 25 34.7 34.7 62.5

Department of Feeder

Roads22 30.6 30.6 93.1

Ministry of Roads and

Highways5 6.9 6.9 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

In order to assess the competency of engineers in ensuring the use of appropriate techniques on

the field of work, it was expedient to determine how long participants had been working in these

road agencies. (See Figure 4.3)

Table 4.3: Data of the number of years of Work Experience

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid less than 5 years 5 6.9 6.9 6.9

5-10 years 9 12.5 12.5 19.4

11-20 years 37 51.4 51.4 70.8

20 years and above 21 29.2 29.2 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

4.24 Current Position Held by ParticipantsParticipants were required to also provide details of the positions they held in the institution in

which they worked. (See Fig. 4.4)

Table 4.4: Data of the Current position held by Participants.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Assistant Engineers/

Quantity Surveyor6 8.3 8.3 8.3

Engineers/Quantity Surveyor 8 11.1 11.1 19.4

Senior Engineers/ Quantity

Surveyors13 18.1 18.1 37.5

Principal Engineers/Quantity

Surveyors

20 27.8 27.8 65.3

44

Chief Engineers/Quantity

Surveyors25 34.7 34.7 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

4.25 Professional Body participants belong to

Professional bodies usually provide a level of certification to professionals. Which is usually one

of the criteria in determining how competent a project manager should be. Therefore, the

researcher sought to determine the number of personnel who have been certified under the

various institutions. Figure 4.5 explains the number of engineers and quantity surveyors who

were properly licensed under these institutions

Table 4.4: Data of the Professional bodies participants belong to.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Ghana Institute of Engineers 39 54.2 54.2 54.2

Ghana Institute of Surveyors 30 41.7 41.7 95.8

Association of Project

Management3 4.2 4.2 100.0

Total 72 100.0 100.0

4.30 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT MANAGERS IN THE ROAD AGENCIES

45

So far it has been established that competent personnel make competent organizations and

usually progressive institutions would resort to some level of training in developing their human

resource. After this training, how can we determine or establish that a project manager is capable

or competent to organize and manage a road project. A number of tools from the literature

review were suggested by the research to these professionals and these were the results. In this

section, participants were allowed to select more than one option for assessing project managers.

Figure 4.1 Methods of Assessing Project Managers

61.1% of these professionals suggested that routine examinations should be organized for

personnel of the various road agencies to ensure that they were abbressed with the latest trends in

their professional practice. Then 52.8 % of the participants also suggested that a 360 feedback

approach was also a very expedient means of assessing project managers. 56.9% suggested that

mere interviews could be used to assess project managers’ competencies. Again, another 51.4%

suggested that a proper competency framework should be developed for the various road

agencies so that if there is a standard, project managers’ competency should be measured

according to that framework. 34.7% and 31.9% of the respondents suggested that the Situation,

Task, Activity and Results (STAR) approach and knowledge test respectively could also be

46

considered in assessing project managers’ competency. 20.8% and 25% suggested self- appraisal

and peer reviews respectively for assessing project managers. 15.3% of respondents suggested

resorting to portfolios and scored CVs for assessing project managers. Then 9.7% suggested the

use of psychometric instruments in assessing project manager’s competencies.

4.4 KEY COMPETENCY FACTORS

Basically from the Literature review, the key competency factors for assessing project managers

were categorized into three; Technical, Behavioural and Contextual competencies. The relative

importance index was used to assess how important or critical some of the factors were

compared to others.

4.41 Technical Competencies

As explained earlier, these competencies are adapted to ensure that projects are delivered in a

structured way including the project management process. Participants were therefore required to

rate or determine the level of significance of these competencies in a more structured way.

The score of each factor is calculated by summing up the scores given to it by the respondents

(for instance see Badu et al., 2013; Fugar et al, 2010). For a five-point response item, RII

produces a value ranging from (0.2 – 1.0) (cf Badu et al., 2013; Ugwu et al, 2007). Based on the

five-point likert scale, variables with Mean greater than (4.00) are considered important. In the

calculation of the Relative Importance Index (RII), the following formula was used (Badu et al.,

2013):

47

Where, W: weighting given to each competency by the participants is between 1 and 5 and; A –

Higher response integer (5), and N – total number of participants. The standard deviation

specifies the level of regularity of the participants.

Table 4.5: Table of Key Technical Competence

15 main technical competency factors were considered and out of these, most participants were

of the view that it was very important for the project manager to understand the objectives, the

risks and the what quality is required of the project. The second ranked was for the project

manager to understand what level of cost or resources was involved in the project. This factor

could not be underestimated especially considering the financial constraints of every economy.

Participants also considered proper organization of projects and an attention for change orders on

road project. These two were ranked third and fourth respectively. Then came the need to have

an accurate start and end date which could have some cost implications if not properly consider.

Sixth was the need to have a very good team in executing road contracts and also getting the

team and the project manager alike to understand the project success criteria. Properly detecting

problem areas at the start and in the cause of the project, understanding project stakeholders, the

48

project scope and deliverables, and the need to have proper information sharing systems as well

as proper documentation were ranked the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th respectively. Having proper

communication systems, project procurement practices, whether a particular project should be

executed within a particular time frame or it should be phased and project structures are ranked

12th, 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.

In a study by (Arendse, 2013), Technical competencies were ranked as follows;

Clarification of Project structure

Effective communication

Project management requirements

Clear projects tasks and scope

Effective monitoring of quality, time and resources

Efficient Project management

Facilitation of project management processes

Proper organization of project meeting and correspondents

Plan project economy

4.42 Behavioral Competencies

Like the key technical factors, key behavioral factors were also ranked in a like manner. Below

are the results.

Table 4.5: Table of Key Behavioural Competence

49

For behavioral factors, participants were apt for an assertive affective and efficient leader. As

part of qualities they would expect from a project manager, they ranked the ability of a project

manager to be able to resolve and control conflicts as second. Participants then ranked the fact

that a project manager must be a motivator, should exercise self-control, should seek advice and

have good negotiation skills as the 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. They then ranked his/ her ability

to anticipate conflicts, being result oriented, have leadership skills and respecting the beliefs and

morals of team members as 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. In that same study, rankings of

behavioral competencies were as follows;

Effective leadership

Communicate effectively

Show reliability

Involvement of participants

Provide direction

Demonstrate Commitment

Show reliability

Possess self-control

4.43 Contextual Competencies

Contextual competencies were mostly project specific. It captured key factors that cut across all

road projects independently. The results of the findings could be found in the table below:

Table 4.6: Table of Key Contextual Competence

50

From the table above, participants ranked the need to understand developments on projects and

the effects certain actions may have on the projects as paramount. They also emphasized the

need to have knowledge and insight on the particular road project as well as the legal,

compliance and the liable aspects of the project as 2nd and 3rd ranks respectively. They then

ranked the relation between the project and other organizations, security and health and safety as

4th and 5th ranks. Then the rationale of the project, the project programme and the goal of the

project to the business of the organization as 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. Then recruiting,

selecting and developing personnel as 9th and knowing the clients objective of the project as

10th. In the above study as well, contextual competencies were ranked as follows;

Plan project Economy

Develop Project management professionalism

Plan project quality control

Perform procurement and enter contracts

Promote Personnel competency and learning

Handle management programme

Support handling project execution tasks

Personnel management

51

Handle strategic management process

Portfolio management process

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.10 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the research was concluded by summarizing the issues that have thoroughly been

discussed throughout the study. Additionally, an overview of how the research objectives were

attained is presented followed by the main conclusions of the study. The study is finally ended

52

with recommendations and direction for further research based on the limitations and conclusion

of the study. (Yakubu, 2014)

5.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The overarching aim of this research paper was to identify key factors for assessing the

competencies of project managers in the various road agencies in Ghana. This paper sought to

identify key factors to note in describing a project manager as competent by examining some

existing competency frameworks and selecting the most appropriate competencies in selecting

project managers in road agencies in Ghana. The objective of the study was to

Identify the key factors used for the assessment of professional competencies of project

managers’ in the road agencies.

Identify an appropriate existing framework for the assessment of professional

competencies in the road agencies in Ghana.

Identify tools and techniques that could be used to assess project managers’ competency.

The research methodology involved assessing a number of research papers by other authors in

order to achieve the research objective. In order to achieve the research objective, the qualitative

approach was used for this study. It involved designing questionnaires with closed ended

questions. These were distributed and data gathered was analyzed and deductions were made

according to the data that was gathered. Analysis was basically descriptive and the use of the

relative importance index technique. In this chapter all objectives would be reconsidered to know

if the research covered all grounds.

5.21 Key Factors for assessing Project Managers Competencies

53

From the literature review, four main competency frameworks were identified. Out of this 4 one

was selected based on the fact that the framework was more personnel oriented that the three

others, the International Competency Baseline version 3 developed by the International Project

Management Association was therefore the most appropriate competency model used. The

model divided competencies into three main section. It is upon that bedrock that the

questionnaires were designed. Participants were then made to rate or rank the level of

competency under the three main sections in order that the key factors could be determined and

probably considered if a competency framework could be developed from this study.

5.22 Existing Competency Frameworks

This objective was mainly delved into in the Literature review. Four main international

competency frameworks were identified and examined. Out of the four one was selected upon

which further study was done. The structure, the concept and the certification of these

frameworks were discussed and the merits and demerits of these frameworks were also

discussed. Beyond this one other competency framework designed by a writer known as

(Dziekoński, 2017) was also discussed. His work was considered because he developed a frame

work for construction managers who could also be referred to as project managers.

5.23 Tools and Techniques for Assessing Project Managers

Most of the tools and techniques identified in this research were cited in a research work by

(Arendse, 2013). He considered a number of tools and techniques developed and mentioned by

other writers and that formed the basis for the final part of the questionnaire. The questionnaire

listed a number of tools and techniques that could be used for the assessment of project managers

in the various road agencies and participants were made to select more than one tool depending

54

on whatever they deemed appropriate. Finding from that placed examinations as a main tool in

assessing project managers on the key factors.

5.4 RECOMMENDATION All the road agencies have different organizational structures and so it is recommended

that a competency framework is developed for each of the road agencies, tailor made to

suit the organizational structure.

5.5 LIMITATIONSTo every research study there is bound to be a level of limitation. First of the looking at the

structure of the various road agencies and how recruitments are done this research did not

consider the criteria in identifying the project managers for the various road agencies. In other

words because the various roads agencies have different structures it is unknown if there is a

criteria for selecting project managers and even if there is there a framework to ensure proper

succession in the organizations?

In conclusion, with the kind of road investments made in this country, it is only expedient that

personnel put in charge of these road projects are properly trained and assessed so that there

would be value for the investments made in the road sector. Once a competency standard is

developed to ensure that roads are constructed with very competent personnel we are likely to

make gains on whatever investments we make. This concept of competency should not be

underestimated because it is the road map to a class A organization.

55

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APPENDIXKey factors in accessing Project Managers' competencies in Road Agencies in GhanaDear Sir/Madam,

I would be grateful if you could provide insight for my research on KEY FACTORS IN ASSESSING PROJECT MANAGERS' COMPETENCIES IN ROAD AGENCIES IN GHANA. Information given out will be used only for the purpose of this academic research. Thanks for your cooperation

*Required

1. Which of the Road Agencies do you belong to? *Mark only one oval.

( ) Ghana Highway Authority

( ) Department of Urban Roads

( ) Department of Feeder Roads

( ~) Ministry of Roads and Highways

2. Level of Education *Mark only one oval.

( ) Post Graduate

( ) Ist Degree

( ) Diploma

( ) Other:

3. How long have you been working under this institution *Mark only one oval.

( ) less than 5 years

( ) 5-10 years

( ) 11-20 years ( ) 20 years and

above

4. What is your current position *Mark only one oval.

( ) Technician Engineers / Quantity Surveyors

( *) Assistant Engineers/ Quantity Surveyors ( )

Engineers/Quantity Surveyors

( ) Seniors Engineers/Quantity Surveyors

( ) Principal Engineers/Quantity Surveyors

( ) Chief Engineers/Quantity Surveyors

5. Which of the professional bodies do you belong to *Mark only one oval.

( ) Ghana Institute of Engineers

( ) Ghana Institute of Surveyors

( ) Association of Project Management

Technical CompetenciesThere are basically three main competency areas under the ICB Version 3 Competency Framework. They are the Technical, Behavioural and the Contextual. Under these are a number of general competencies. Please rate these competencies according to how relevant these competencies are to road projects Should be answered if you have more than six (6) years experience in running road projects. Please answer these according to the position you hold currently.

6. How relevant is it to understand the project success criteriaMark only one oval.

11. How relevant is it to detect a problem early and resolve it as soon as possibleMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

12. How important is it to understand the project structuresMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) o O o CD extremely relevant

How relevant is it to understand the project stakeholders

Mark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) o O CD O extremely relevant

How relevant is it to understand project objectives, risks and quality

Mark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) o O CD O extremely relevant

How relevant is it to properly organize a road project

Mark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) CD O CD CD extremely relevant

Is team work or team building important

Mark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) O o CD CD extremely relevant

13. How relevant is it to understand the project scope and deliverablesMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ~) ( extremely relevant

14. Is it important to define the time or put the projects in phasesMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

15. Is it important for the project manager to understand the resources, cost and finances of the projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

16. Is it important to understand project procurement practices and contractsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ~) C C ~) C ^ extremely relevant

17. How important is it to understand changes and variations on projectsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

18. How important is information sharing and documentation to road projectsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

19. Is communication at any level in a project importantMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

20. Is it important to set an accurate start and end date for a projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ~) ( extremelyrelevant

Behavioral CompetencyThere are basically three main competency areas under the ICB Version 3 Competency Framework. They are the Technical, Behavioural and the Contextual. Under these are a number of general competencies. Please rate these competencies according to how relevant these competencies are to road projects Should be answered if you have more than six (6) years experience in running road projects. Please answer these according to the position you hold currently.

21. Is it relevant to possess leadership skills in running road projectsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

22. Is it important to be a motivator, exercise self control, have an open mindMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ^ ( ~) ( ( ~) extremely relevant

23. Does a project manager have to necessarily be assertive,efficient or reliableMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

24. Should a project manager be solely result oriented and creativeMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

25. Should a project manager have a skills to resolving or controlling conflicts on projectsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

26. Should a project manger have the ability to anticipate potential conflicts and crisisMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ~) ( extremely relevant

27. How important is it for a project manager to seek advice on how to manage a projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

28. How important is it for a project manager to have good negotiation skillsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ~) ( ( ~) extremely relevant

29. Should a project manager understand the beliefs, moral values and ethical values of his team membersMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( *) ( ~) ( ( ~) extremely relevant

Contextual CompetencyThere are basically three main competency areas under the ICB Version 3 Competency Framework. They are the Technical, Behavioural and the Contextual. Under these are a number of general competencies. Please rate these competencies according to how relevant these competencies are to road projects Should be answered if you have more than six (6) years experience in running road projects. Please answer these according to the position you hold currently.

30. Is it necessary for a project manager to understand the rationale of a projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

31. How important is it for a project manger to align the program goals to the business strategy of the organizationMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

32. How important is it for a project manger to have an effective project program priorityMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ~) ( ( ~) extremely relevant

33. How important is it to manage complex relations between the project and other organizations related to the projectsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

34. Is it important to know the business objective of the client in relation to the road project being executedMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

35. Is it important for a project manager to understand the developments and the effects of the actions on a projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

36. Should a project manager recruit,select, develop, appraise, and reward team membersMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

37. Is it necessary for a project manager to be aware of the security, health and safety as well as the environmental aspects of the projectMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

38. Should a project manager have knowledge or insight into the financial and administrative processes of a project to integrate these in his actionsMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) extremely relevant

39. Should a project manager understand the legal, compliance and liability aspects of the project and and manage these adequatelyMark only one oval.

1 2 3 4 5

not relevant ( *) ( ") ( *) ( ( ~) extremely relevant

Methods of assessing project manager's competency

40. Which of the following techniques can be adapted for assessing project managers in your institutionTick all that apply.

| | Examinations

| | Self-assessments

| | Interviews

| | Peer reviews

| | Portfolios

| | adapting a competency framework

| | 360 feedback approach

| | use of psychometric instruments

| | knowledge test

| | scored CV

| | Situation, Task, Activity abd Result (STAR) method

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