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 CONFERENCE: ICCEM-ICCPM

TITLE: THE INFLUENCE OF THE PROJECT MANAGER ON THE SUCCESS OF THE

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

1 2
Mahdi M Abdulsamad Ali and Nicholas Chileshe
1
BSc (Eng), MSc (Construction Mgt) and Ph.D. Candidate, Built Environment Division, Faculty of
Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield, S1
1WB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
2
MSc (Eng) MSc (Mgt) Pg.Cert.LT PhD FCIOB FBEng MCIM FHEA, Senior Lecturer in Construction
Management, Built Environment Division, Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam
University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

The success and failure of any project depends upon many factors, the Project Manager is
considered to be the key contributor to the success of any project, as well as a guide to the team
members to achieve the client satisfaction (Cost, Time and Quality). Therefore the main aim of this
paper is to provide a practical approach for understanding the importance of the Project Manager and
his effectiveness to the success of the construction projects. In addition, the Project Manager's roles,
responsibilities and duties have direct impact to the success of the construction projects.

In order to identify the thoughts and opinion of the construction industry on this particular assertion, a
quantitative study was carried out within the UK construction industry. The result of the study shows
that there is an extremely strong correlation between the Project Manager and the success of the
construction projects. In construction projects the Project Manager is considered to be one of the
most important people who can lead and drive the projects in the right direction and conclude
construction projects successfully. Moreover, these can play the most important role regarding the
improvement of the organization's performance, the organization's profitability and the client's
satisfaction. The research confirmed that the Project Manager is a very essential element to the
success of the construction project and have an impact at every stage of the construction project. So
it concluded that selection of a Project Manager should be carefully done with regard to experience,
knowledge, power/authority and good understanding to the kind of the project.

Keywords: Project Management, Construction Management, Project Success Factors.

1. INTRODUCTION

The reasons for success or failure of projects and project management are many and different.
Nguyen [1] believed that a construction project is commonly acknowledged as successful when it is
completed on time, within budget, and in accordance with specifications and to the stakeholders'
satisfaction.

When a project is finished on time, within budget, to an acceptable quality and the client's satisfaction
it is considered to be a successful project. This is due to the ability of all workforces within the project.
As much as they have good experience to mange the job properly, good communication links and
understanding their responsibilities the triangular success project management will be achieved. The
following are some definitions of "Project Success" in general and in construction. Effective project
management in construction must vigorously pursue the efficient utilization of labour, material and
equipment to improve labour productivity. In addition good project management in the field of
construction should have an excellent project manager, expert site manager, and very good
contractor having extensive experience in construction, professional subcontractors and good
engineer sites.
Project success does not just depend upon the performance of the project team. The success or flair
often is depending upon the contributions of function managers, suppliers, customers, contractors etc.
But as I have mentioned above the project manager as a leader for the construction projects can be
the most important person to lead the project to the success that is depending on his/her skills,
knowledge and experience. As much as the project manager has experience will be very easy for
him/her to reach the success, finish the project on time, within budget and a high quality of work.
Baccarini [2] said it is common for these two separate components of project success and presents
them as a single entity. In sequence to properly define and assess project success, a distinction
should be made between product success and project management success, as they are not the
same. Project management success focuses upon the project process and, in particular, the
successful accomplishment of cost, time, and quality objectives. On the other hand, product success
deals with the effects of the project’s final product and the objectives of the project. The Project
managers in construction are responsible for the overall success of delivering the owner's physical
development within the constraints of cost, schedule, quality and safety requirements.

Kerzner [3] defining that the successful project management is strongly depended upon the following
points:

 A good daily working relationship between the project manager and the line manger who
directly assign recourse to projects
 The ability of functional employees to report vertically to their line manager at the same time
that the report horizontally to one or more project manager.

According to Lientz and Rea [4] the project manager has three clearly defined management
responsibilities:

 Resource Manager. Managing and direct project resources to achieve the project’s objectives
 Planning and control manager. Develop the project plan and ensure that the work is
completed on time, within budget, and with acceptable quality.
 Coordinator. Interface with upper management regarding project review, approval, and
address project issues. The project manager must also relate successfully to line managers
and staff.

Kerzner [5] stated that the project manger is responsible for ensuring the accomplishment of group
and organizational goals and objectives. To affect this, he must have a through knowledge of
standards and cost control policies and procedures so that comparison is possible between operating
results and re-established standards. The project manager must understand organization behaviour in
order to effective and most have strong interpersonal skills. This is especially important during the
controlling function.

2. DEFINITIONS OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

There are roles and typical responsibilities for project managers which have been defined. The project
manager role, as applied to a construction project, is defined as addressing the following: "The overall
planning, co-ordination and control of a project from inception to completion aimed at meeting a
client's requirements in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project that will be
completed on time within authorized cost and to the required quality standards." [6]. "The person who
is charged with managing the resources to get the complete project implementation on time, within
budget with the agreed functionality" [7]. "A project manager is the person who has the overall
responsibility for the successful planning and execution of a project. [8].
Synthesising these definitions, it is clear that Project Manager has overall responsibilities for the
execution of a project taking into account to complete the project on time, within budget with the
agreed functionality.

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF PROJECTS MANAGERS (PM)

Organizations have recognized that project managers play a critical role in the success of service
engagements. To succeed, project managers are required to deliver products and services that meet
the needs of the organization and that deliver value to their clients. They must master the hard skills,
such as understanding processes, tools and techniques, as well as people skills. The latter allows
project managers to provide vision and direction, resolve issues, evaluate and mitigate risk, and build
and sustain client relationships. [9]. Furthermore, the PM is considered the most important person
who could manages and resolves all problems that arise during the project life cycle of the
construction project, and to ensure that projects follow the planned time scale that has been prepared.

4. THE ROLES OF THE PROJECT MANAGERS (PM)

The role of the project manager on the construction process can be different from company to
company, that is it depends upon many issues such as the size of the company and the size of the
construction project. The project manager is accountable to the sponsor for the day to day
management of the project work from the outset through to closure. [10]. The key role of the project
manager is to motivate, manage, co-ordinate and maintain the moral of the whole project team. [11].

To manage the project management processes, a person should be well organized, have great
follow-up skills, be process oriented, be able to multi-task, have a logical thought process, be able to
determine root causes, have good analytical ability, be a good estimator and budget manager, and
have good self-discipline. The project manager normally is responsible for defining and planning the
project. This results in the completion of a Project Definition and a project work plan. Once the project
starts, the PM must successfully manage and control the work, including:

 Identifying, tracking managing and resolving project issues.

 Proactively disseminating project information to all stakeholders.
 Identifying, managing and mitigating project risk.
 Ensuring that the solution is of acceptable quality.
 Proactively managing scope to ensure that only what was agreed to is delivered, unless
changes are approved through scope management.
 Defining and collecting metrics to give a sense for how the project is progressing and whether
the deliverables produced are acceptable.
 Managing the overall work plan to ensure work is assigned and completed on time and within
budget. [12].

4.1 People Responsibilities

In addition to process skills, a project manager must have good people management skills. This
includes:

 Having the discipline and general management skills to make sure that people follow the
standard processes and procedures
  Establishing leadership skills to get the team to follow direction willingly. Leadership is about
communicating a vision and getting the team to accept it and strive to get there.
 Setting reasonable, challenging and clear expectations for people, and holding them
accountable for meeting those expectations. This includes providing good performance
feedback to team members
 Team building skills so that the people work together well, and feel motivated to work hard for
the sake of the project and their other team members. The larger your team and the longer
the project, the more important it is to have good team-building skills.
 Proactive verbal and written communicator skills, including good, active listening skills. [12].

[13]; [14]; [15] and [16] stated that the manager can perform these roles, Interpersonal roles,
International roles and Decisional roles, so these roles, can be defined as the follows:

The Interpersonal Roles:

 The Manager as Figurehead. This is a senior role and involves being the public face of the
organization, representing the organization at functions and acting as the high level talking
head to the media. The manager should be the key link between the management and the
other workface within the organization.
 The Manager as Leader. In this, the organization looks to its formal head for guidance and
motivation. One of the most important points for the project manager in this section is to give
motivation and activation. Also the manager should be responsible for allocating staff, at all
levels within the organization.
 The Manager as Liaison. Here, the manager should use all forms of contacts, written or
verbal, with other persons or organization, whether inside or outside the organization that is
including the client's customers, suppliers, contractors, engineers and the sub-contractors.

The Informational Roles:

 The Manager as Monitor. In this regard, the manager should have the control function in the
organization, collecting information on matters such as whether company budgets of planned
project costs, time and quality targets are being met. Moreover, the manager should be
responsible and monitor the entire workforce and the project’s processes within the
organization.
 The Manager as Disseminator. The manager should make sure that everybody in the
organization is provided with the appropriate information and data required for them to carry
out their job properly.
 The Manager as Spokesperson. Here, the project manager is the external public relations
head, representing his organization effectively.

The Decisional Roles:

 The Manager as Entrepreneur. In the entrepreneur role, the manager acts as initiator and
designer of much of the controlled change in his organization. What is more the manager
should activate the role and improve the performance and position of the organization.
 The Manager as Disturbance Handler. This involves dealing with both external disturbances
such as government changes in policy and internal disturbances such as personality clashes
and industrial disputes.
 The Manager as Resource Allocator. This requires deciding how the organization's resources
including capital will be used.
 The Manager as Negotiator. This involves discussions inside and outside the organization on
matters such as contracts payments.
The role of the PM encompasses many activities including: Planning and Defining Scope; Activity
Planning and Sequencing; Resource Planning; Developing Schedules; Time Estimating; Cost
Estimating; Developing a Budget Controlling Quality; Managing Risks and Issues; Creating Charts
and Schedules; Risk Analysis; Benefits Realisation; Scalability, Interoperability and Portability
Analysis Documentation; Team Leadership; Strategic Influencing and Customer Liaison. Young [10]
added that, the project manager’s role can be including the following points:

 Responsibility for achieving a successful outcome.

 Being expected to have proven skills in the use of project tools and techniques.
 Being expected to have team leadership skills.
 Being limited in authority to secure resources, internally and externally.
 Working with the unknown and unpredictable.
 Operating in a position subject to risk.
 Being regarded with distrust by many of those not involved.
 Being forced to cut through hierarchical boundaries to get things done.

The PM should be responsible for allocating staff and this done at all levels within the organization,
and should be responsible for connecting with all parties inside and outside the workplace, so being
able to receive and send information easily, and making a good relationship with the whole workforce,
which leads to project success.

The PM should ensure that the work is going on, day by day, keeping control and finishing the
construction process on time without any problem in the budget and in the time management. Also he
should make sure that everybody in the organization is provided with the appropriate information and
data required for them to carry out their job properly.

The PM is responsible for resolving the problems inside the organization if they occur, such as
problems between the contractor and employees, sub-contractor and contractor, engineers and sub-
contractors, or the problems in the construction process if they occur. What is more he/she can be a
negotiator which involves discussions inside and outside the organization on matters such as
contracts payments.

5. THE PROJECT MANAGER DUTIES

Parsloe and Wild [6] defined the duties of the project managers, as follows:

 To ensure that the design management plan is being complied with.

 To ensure that the requirements of the consolidated brief are being met.
 To produce, together with the design team, an integrated programme for the activities of all
design team members.
 To develop the design programme to include dates for the submission and consideration of
outstanding reports affecting design issues.
 To commission any additional reports required.
 To draw attention to the design team's duties under the CDM Regulations.
 To obtain, on behalf of the design team, information and decisions relevant to the design from
the client.
 To submit, with the design team, preliminary design proposals to the client for approval.
 To obtain regular cost reports, monitor the cost plan and secure client approvals at agreed
stages.
 To clarify responsibilities between the design team and specialist contractors or
manufacturers who may contribute to the design.
 To review project control procedures and amend the project handbook as required.
 To review and if necessary amplify the consolidated brief for each design unit.
  To co-ordinate client and design team activities.
 To prepare with the design team a detailed design and production information programme
defining tasks and allocating responsibilities.
 To establish key dates for delivery of information for cost checking, client approval, and
tender preparation purposes.
 To liaise between client, design team and statutory bodies.
 To prepare and collate design progress reports.
 To obtain client approval for detailed design.

6. THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROJECT MANAGER

Young [10] stated that the project manager has so many responsibilities during the work which can be
accounted as the following points:

 Selection of the core team with the project sponsors.

 Identifying and managing the risks.
 Monitoring and tracking project progress.
 Solving the problems that interfere with progress.
 Leading the project team, and being responsible for the team.
 Delivering the project deliverables and benefits.
 Managing performance of everyone involved with the project.

7. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PROJECT MANAGER AND PROJECT SUCCESS

There is an extremely strong correlation between the PM and the success of construction projects. In
construction projects the PM is considered to be one of the most important people who can lead and
drive the projects in the right direction and conclude construction projects successfully. Moreover,
these can play the most important role regarding the improvement of the organization's performance,
the organization's profitability and the client's satisfaction. Hauschildt et al [17] said, it is accepted that
effective project managers are essential to project success and many organizations have spent large
sums to improve the selection of managers. According to Turner and Muller [18] who also has shown
that a project manager’s success at managing his or her project is dependent on his/her competence,
particularly in regard to leadership style, comprising emotional intelligence, management focus and
intellect. Followed, PRINCE2 [19] defines that "The project manager has the authority to run the
project on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the Project Board within the constraints laid down by the
Board. The project manager's prime responsibility is to ensure that the project produces the required
products to the required standard of quality, within the specified constraints of time and cost". So it
could be concluded that the project manager is considered to be the main person responsible for
delivering the project successfully and achieving the project's goals.

Successful construction projects need appropriate project managers with high levels of experience,
good quality of knowledge, skills, and the ability of communicate with others, co-operative techniques,
motivation and capability of driving the project to success and managing any occurring problems.
Supporting this, Crawford [20], [21] and [22] defines competence as the knowledge, skills and
personal characteristics required to achieve job performance as defined by appropriate standards.
Thus, to manage the project effectively, the project manager needs knowledge about the application
of project management tools and techniques and not only the skill to apply them in routine situations
but also the competence to apply them in unfamiliar situations, so to be able to respond to
unexpected situations. The project may also need technical knowledge of the project domain, and the
skill to apply it.
Moreover, Turner and Muller [18] concluded that the project manager's leadership style does
influence success, and that different leadership styles are appropriate on different types of projects.
The messages for the managers of projects are as follows:

1. When appointing project managers to projects, they should consider their leadership style and
appoint project managers with an appropriate leadership style for the project they have to manage.

2. They understand the types of projects the organization has undertaken, develop within the pool of
available project managers appropriate leadership styles for those projects.

3. They should value their project managers. The project manager's competence contributes to
project success, so competent project managers should be valued.

8. THE PROJECT MANAGER AS A SUCCESS FACTOR

In stark contrast, a notable absence from many of the lists of success factors presented is any
mention of the project manager. The manager, their competence, personality, or leadership style is
hardly ever mentioned as a success factor of projects. [18]. Kendra and Taplin [23] directly suggest
the project manager's leadership style and competence as a potential success factor for projects.
However, the project management literature is quite reticent at mentioning the project manager and
his or her competence and leadership style as a success factor for projects. However, the silence has
not been deafening, some work has been done over the years. For instance, authors have suggested
the following:

 The project manager's competence is related to their success as a project manager.

 Different project leadership styles are appropriate at each stage of the project life cycle
 Specific leadership styles are appropriate for multicultural projects.
 Project managers have a leadership role in creating an effective working environment for the
project team.
 Project managers prefer task-oriented to people-oriented leadership style.
 The project manager's leadership style influences his or her perception of success.

Role of the PM Description of the Factors of the Project Manager’s Role

Directing Direct the project resources.

Motivation Motivate the project team in the presence of normal pressures of work
as well as political realities and pressures.

Planning Anticipate and plan ahead. Anything unforeseen can reflect poorly on
the project manager, even it is not the manager fault.

Supervising Supervise the work.

Administering Today’s project manager often has to perform many administrative

tasks without support.

Interfacing and coordinating Such as meeting and working with line management, external
contractors, sub-contractors and management.

Training Train members of the project team in project management methods

and tools which they are involved.

Delegating Delegate and then supervise work on the project.

Resolving Resolving conflicts over recourses and schedules.

Table 1.1: Project Manager Roles

The project success can be achieved through the good performance of project managers in the
project. For the purpose of this study, project success is defined as the completion of a project within
acceptable time, cost and quality and achieving client’s satisfaction. Project success can be achieved
through the good performance of project managers in the project. [24].

9. FACTORS AFFECTING PROJECT MANAGER SUCCESS

Lientz and Rea [4] defined that there are ways to fail as a project manager and many ways to
succeed as Project Manager, these ways can be as the following:

Ways to fail as a Project Manager Ways to Succeed as a Project Manager

Take a hands-off approach to project administration. Know what is going on in the project in detail.

Do not get involved in individuals tasks. Understand and be sympathetic to project team
members.

Let issues drift and remain unresolved. Be able to make decision.

Be unwilling to listen to suggestions for change. Understand issues and their importance and
meaning to the project.

Be over focused on specific project management Communicate effectively with management.

tools.

Become obsessed with percentage complete for Develop alternative actions.

tasks.

Measure milestones by presence and not quality. Translate actions into specific changes in the
project.

Devote too much attention to relations with Know how to use project management tools and
management and not enough to the project team. methods effectively.

Be over concerned with project administration and Be able to learn form past projects.
neglect project management.

Attempt to micromanage the project and the Be able to criticize yourself and you performance.
delegate.

Be formal in relations with project team. Be able to take criticism.

Do not stay in communications with the line Understanding trade-offs involving the schedule and
manager. budget.

Make too many changes to the schedule. Listen to project team members.

Be willing to rapidly adopt new tools without Understanding and act on suggestions from
assessing the consequences. improvement.

Be status-oriented and not issue-oriented at project Be open to new methods.

meeting.

Develop an overly general project plan without Understand the trade-offs between the projects
detailed tasks. needs of the organization.

Be tools-focused as opposed to method-oriented Communicate effectively with line managers.

with the tools supporting the methods.

Fail to regularly communicate in person with all key Manage your time well.
members of the project team.

Leave issues unsolved and allow then to faster and Set up and manage the project life.
grow.

Address issues without analysis. Be able to generate and use reports from project
management software system

Have patienc

Be able to take a longer term perspective.

Have a sense of humour and be able to run meeting.

Relate current events to project management and

the project.

Table 1.2: Ways to fail & succeed as a project manager

10. THE RESEARCH SAMPLE

The questionnaires were sent to a wide number of Construction Companies in the UK, the list of these
companies were identified from the FAME database. More than 75 questionnaires were posted to the
construction companies; a two week period was set on to receive the completed questionnaires’. The
overall rate of return was very good with a final response rate of 39% of the overall posted
questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in accordance with the primary objectives of the study
in mind, that is, to gather extensive information about the influence of the Project Manager on the
success of the construction project, the successful factors and the barriers factors on the success of
the construction project management. Section A Background (Seven Questions), Section B
Identification of leadership Attributes (One questions with seven points), Section C Investigation the
factors influencing the PM style of the CPM (Three questions), Section D Factors in successful Project
Management (Five questions), and Section E Identification of barriers affect to successful Project
Management (Two questions).

11. THE ANALYSIS

The discriminants which I used to identify the (Total score, Mean score and Importance index) are as
the following:

Total Score (TS) = W1S1 + W2S2 + W3S3 + W4S4 + W5S5......................................Equation 1.0

Mean Score (MS) = Total Score / 100..........................................................................Equation 2.0

Importance Index = Mean Score / N ...........................................................................Equation 3.0

Where W1 (predictor variables) are metric with 1-5 points in which the measured points 1-2 are low
importance, 3 is medium and 4-5 are high importance.

N = the total number of choice.

S1 is the respondent's percentage, which was calculated as the following Equation:

(N * 100) / T................................................................................................................Equation 4.0

N = Number of respondents.

T = the total number of respondents which I have got.

Development of Project Managers Relative Importance index

Wi
Levels of Agreement / Attributes of Project Managers = N …..................Equation 5.0

Where: ∑ Wi = The sum of the average of each profession (construct)

N = the total number of the Construction Professions (N = 5).

Scoring the Levels of Suitability of Construction Professions for Project Managers’ Role

Average Score (∑Wi) RAI, RRI and SSI SSAI Level

4.0 to 5.0 0.8 to 1.0 High (H)

3.0 to < 4.0 0.6 to < 0. 8 Medium (M)

1.0 to < 3. 0 0.2 to < 0.6 Low (L)

Table 1.3: Source: Adapted from Chileshe [25]

Based on the mean scores of the respondents, the Project Managers Relative Agreement Importance
Index (PM-RAI) was generated; this can be used by the Construction Industry and in identifying the
professional best suited for undertaking the role of the Project Manager. The PM-RAI was calculated
using the following formula

w
AxN (0  PM-RAI 1) ………………….……Equation 6.0

Where: w = weighting as assigned by each respondent in a range 1 to 5, where 1 implies 'Least

importance' and 5 implies 'Very importance';

A = the highest weight (i.e. 5 in this case); and N = the total number in the sample.
11.1 Factors in successful Project Management.
The following sub section presents the descriptive statistics of the four factors in the successful
project management.

An areas do you consider to be critical to the effectiveness of project management.

A question 12 aim was to ascertain what was considered critical to the effectiveness of the project
management. A number of areas were given and the respondents had to indicate a response.

1. Client-contractor relation.

60%

50% 51%

40%
33%
30%

20%
13%
10%
3%
0% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Figure 1.1: Client-contractor Relation

Regarding client-contractor relation (Fig 1.1), the majority of respondents agreed that this was an
important area with 51% agreeing with it very strongly whilst a further 33% agreeing with it. Only a 3%
of respondents stated that these relationships between client and contractor had no or little influence
on project management.

2. Labour relation.

60%

50% 49%
40%

30%
26%
20% 20%

10%
5%
0% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Figure 1.2: Labour relation

With regards to labour relations, 49% and 20% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed
respectively that this area to critical to the effectiveness of the project management.
3. Good Project Manager.

60%
56%
50%

40%
38%
30%

20%

10%
3% 3%
0% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Figure 1.3: Good Project Managers

The majority of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that having a good project manager in
place is very critical to the management of the project, with 38% and 56% respectively confirming as
so. Only a very small number of the respondents, comprising 3% total, disagreed with the importance
of a good project manager in charge.

4. Negotiation ability of the PM.

50%
45% 44%
40%
35%
30%
28%
25%
23%
20%
15%
10%
5% 5%
0% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Figure 1.4: Negotiation ability of the PM

A communication is an essential commodity for a CPM, thus the majority, 72%, of the respondents
agreed/strongly agreed that a PM with good negotiation skills to be a very important to the project.

There are many factors that can influence the success of the construction project management, such
as Client-contractor relation, Labour relations, Good project manager and Negotiation ability of the
PM. However the results of this survey confirmed that PM is considered one of the most important
factors linking to the successful project management. This survey confirmed that the good
understanding and high quality of relationship in the construction project will be very helpful to the
workforce to complete project tasks and achieve the project’s goal. Also it could be seen that
successful project management should has good relationship between all members.
11.2 Description selection for importance critical effectiveness factors of PM.

The descriptive statistics (frequencies) shown in Figures 1.1 through 1.4 are computed and
summarised to generate the total score, mean score and importance indices which are shown in
Table 1.4 . The ranking of the critical effectiveness factors of the Project Manager is based on the
mean score with the higher the mean, the more important the choice with the ranking in the order of
importance as identified with other attributes in this chapter.

Critical Effectiveness Factors of PM Total Mean Importance Rank Levels

score score index

1. Client-Contractor relation 432 4.32 0.864 2 H

2. Labour relation 384 3.84 0.768 4 M

3. Good project Manager 447 4.47 0.894 1 H

4. Negotiation ability of the PM 411 4.11 0.822 3 H

Table 1.4: Description selection for importance critical effectiveness factors of PM

Examination of Table 1.4 illustrated that a Good project manager is considered the first most
important effectiveness element of successful project management with (mean score=4.47, Ii=0.894).
Also it could see that client-contractor relation and negotiation ability of the PM are essential factors to
the success, within High levels of rank. Labour relation comes in the last position of the success
factors of this question, which placed Medium levels.

Given the descriptive statistics for the critical effectiveness factors of the Project Manager, the
following sub section provides the summary of the definitions of the Project Manager's effectiveness
factors.

Definitions of critical effectiveness factors of PM.

Critical Effectiveness Factors of PM Definition

1. Client-Contractor relation Good relationship between client and the contractor.

2. Labour relation Good relation between all members (client & contractor,
PM with the management, PM with the client, contractors'
engineers, workers etc.

3. Good project Manager Good performance, ability to finish work within time cost
and quality work, expert and availability.

4. Negotiation ability of the PM Ability to resolve problems and ability to negotiate with all
parties inside and outside the project.

Table 1.5: Definitions of critical effectiveness factors of PM

Importance critical effectiveness factors of PM.
The four critical effectiveness factors of the PM are illustrated graphically in Figure 1.5 with the values
of the mean score and importance indices identified in Table 1.4 clearly indicated.
Mean score & importance
6

5 0.864 0.894
0.822
0.768
4
index

3
4.32 4.47 4.11
2 3.84

0
CEF1 CEF2 CEF3 CEF4

Critical Effectiveness factors of PM

Figure 1.5: critical Effectiveness Factors

An importance of the following Characteristic of the Successful Project Manager.

1. Strong leadership and motivation capability.

69%
70%
60%
50%
40% 26%
30%
20%
5%
0% 0%
10%
0%
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree

Figure 1.6: Strong Leadership and Motivation Capability

Question 13 asked the respondents to rate the importance of a number of traits that a project
manager should have, these characteristics included, strong leadership with good motivation
capabilities, only 5% of the respondents did not express view but the remaining 95% stating this to be
very important characteristics.
2. High standards of ethics and integrity.

59%
60%

50%

40% 28%
30%

20%
13%

10% 0% 0%

0%
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree

Figure 1.7: High Standards of Ethics and Integrity

When it came to having a high standard of ethics and integrity, 59% agreed that this be very high
whilst a further 13% strongly agreed with it.

3. Committed and decisive.

60%
56%

50%

40% 31%

30%
13%
20%
0% 0%
10%

0%
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree

Figure 1.8: Committed and Decisive, Regarding Emergency Cases

The majority of respondents, that 56% agreed very strongly that a project manager should be
committed and decisive especially when it come dealing with emergency cases, only 13% of the
respondents did not rate this in either capacity. A successful Project Manager must have process
strong leadership and motivation capability, high standards of ethics and integrity plus committed and
decisive, regarding contingency cases. As a result from this survey strong leadership is considered
very important factor regarding a successful Project Manager.

Description selection for importance characteristic of the successful PM.

Table 1.6 sets out the descriptive statistics in form of the total and mean score of the characteristics of
the successful Project Manager. The ranking of the characteristics of the successful Project Manager
is based on the mean score with the higher the mean, the more important the characteristic with the
ranking in the order of importance as identified with other attributes in this chapter.
 Characteristic of the Successful PM Total Mean Importance Rank Levels
score score index

1. Strong leadership & motivation capability 464 4.64 0.928 1 H

2. High standards of ethics and integrity 365 3.65 0.73 3 M

3. Committed & decisive 443 4.43 0.886 2 H

Table 1.6: Description selection for importance characteristic of the successful PM

In term to fined the most importance characteristic of successful PM, the above table shows that
strong leadership was the most importance characteristic, with (mean score=4.64, Ii=0.928) which
placed the first rank and high levels of importance. The other two characteristics where equally
important as they fell within the high and medium levels.

Given the descriptive statistics for the characteristics of the successful Project Manager, the following
sub section provides the summary of the definitions of the stated Characteristics.

Definitions of Characteristic of the Successful PM

Characteristic of the Successful PM Definition

1. Strong leadership & motivation capability Being able to have high level of relation with allurements,
motivate employees to achieve project tasks.

2. High standards of ethics and integrity Being respectable, understand other cultures, being
honest with all parties and having ethics relation with
others.

3. Committed & decisive Good committed and controlling work. Ability to manage
work if there any thing happened to the main plan.

Table 1.7: Definitions of Characteristic of the Successful PM

Importance characteristic of the successful PM.

The three important characteristics (CS1 through CS3) of the successful Project Manager are
summarised and illustrated graphically in Figure 1.9 with the values of the mean score and
importance indices identified in Table 1.6 clearly indicated.
 Mean score & Importance
6

5 0.928 0.886
4 0.73

index 3
4.64 4.43
2 3.65
1

0
CS1 CS2 CS3

Characteristic of the successful CPM

Figure 1.9: Characteristic of the Successful PM

Ranting the following points upon which successful project management depends.

Question 14 followed similar structures to previous question but asked the respondents to rank a
number of points on how they affected the success of the management of the construction project.

1. The good performance of the PM.

54%
Strongly Agree

38%
Agree

8%
Neutral

0%
Disagree

0%
Strongly Disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Figure 1.10: The good performance of the PM

Nearly all the respondents that are 92% agreed or strongly agreed that a good performance by PM
had big influence on management of project.
2. The selection of the project team.

82%
Strongly Agree

13%
Agree

5%
Neutral

0%
Disagree

0%
Strongly Disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Figure 1.11: The Selection of the Project Team

3. Scheduling of activities.

44%
Strongly Agree

51%
Agree

5%
Neutral

0%
Disagree

0%
Strongly Disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Figure 1.12: Scheduling of Activities

This overwhelming view was followed by again the majority of respondents, 82% strongly agreeing
that a careful selection of project team and good scheduling of activities have positive impact on
successful management of project.
4. Risk assessment and contingency plan.

20%
Strongly Agree

49%
Agree

31%
Neutral

0%
Disagree

0%
Strongly Disagree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Figure 1.13: Risk assessment and Contingency Plan

Regarding to the risk assessment and having a contingency plan in place, 31% of respondents did not
express a view but 49% agreed that these contributed to the management success, this number was
further supported by 20% of respondents strongly agreeing with.

Successful project management depends upon many factors, which revolves around time, cost and
quality work. Baker et al [26] defined project success as “If the project meets the technical
performance specifications and/or mission to be performed and if there is a high level of satisfaction
concerning the project outcome among: key people in the parent organization, key people in the client
organization, key people in the project team and key users or clientele of the project effort, the project
is considered an overall success.

Performance of the PM, Selection of the project team and Scheduling of activities are the must main
factor for project success. All of these factors are depending upon the performance of the PM,
because he/she will plays importance role regarding to select the project team and scheduling of
activities. So it is clear to conclude that from this survey and literature review the success of the
project depending upon many factors in the project, but still the construction project manger is
considered the most important person who can lead the project to the success and achieve the
organization goals.

Description selection for importance points of Successful project management.

Table 1.8 sets out the descriptive statistics in form of the total and mean score of the characteristics of
the key points of successful Construction Project Management. The ranking of the key points of the
successful Construction Project Management is based on the mean score with the higher the mean,
the more important the key point with the ranking in the order of importance as identified with other
attributes in this chapter.
 Points of successful construction Total Mean Importance Rank Levels
project management scor score index
e

1. Good performance of the PM in the project 446 4.46 0.892 2 H

2. The selection of the project team 477 4.77 0.954 1 H

3. Scheduling of activities 439 4.39 0.878 3 H

4. Risk assessment & contingency plan 389 3.89 0.778 4 M

Table 1.8: Description selection for importance characteristic of the successful PM

Examination of Table 1.8 indicates that the Selection of the project team comes in the first important
successful points of the construction project management, with (mean score=4.77, Ii=0.954), then the
Good performance of the construction project manager, within (4.64 mean score and 0.892
Importance index). Scheduling of activities and Risk assessment & contingency plan came in the third
and fourth importance successful points. With three high levels of importance the table confirmed the
literature review that the good performance of the PM, the selection of the project team and
scheduling of activities are considered very essential factors for the project success.

Definitions of Characteristic of the Successful PM.

Points of successful construction Definition

project management

1. Good performance of the PM in the Knowledgeable, expert, reliable, integrity and

project knowing exactly how to finish tasks in the date
time, within acceptable cost and high level of
quality, and finally how to meet the client
satisfaction.

2. The selection of the project team This is PM responsibility to select workers who are
having good experience and knowledge. Team
should be cooperative & tactical. There should be
great plan of selection the project's team and put
the right person in the right place.

3. Scheduling of activities There should be great time table and deadline

dates for all project tasks. PM would be responsible
to commentated project's tasks on time
corroborates with project team.

4. Risk assessment & contingency plan Contingency plan should be available in the project
in case any risk happened.

Table 1.9: Definitions of Characteristic of the Successful PM

Importance points of Successful project management.

The four key points (PS1 through PS4) of the successful Construction Project Management are
summarised and illustrated graphically in Figure 1.14 with the values of the mean score and
importance indices identified in Table 1.8 clearly indicated.
Mean score & Importance

7
6
5 0.954
0.892 0.878
0.778
index

4
3
4.46 4.77 4.39
2 3.89
1
0
PS1 PS2 PS3 PS4

Points of successful construction project maangement

Figure 1.14: Successful project management

The high quality of PM is considered one of the most important factors in determining the
success of the construction project.

60%
51%
50%
46%

40%

30%

20%

10%
3%
0% 0%
0%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

Figure 1.15: the quality of the PM

Table 1.10 sets out the frequency of the responses to the quality of the Construction Project
Managers.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

20 18 1 0 0

Table 1.10: the quality of the CPM

The majority of the respondents believe that how good the PM is on his/her job is big factor is
determining the success of the construction project, this supported by 51% agreeing very strongly
with statement, followed by 46% agreeing. Hardly any of the respondents Disagreed that the quality of
the PM had any major influence on the success of the project, with 3% not expressing a view.

Quality means (experience, knowledge and authority), so it’s clear that the experience, knowledge
and authority are very important essential skills of the PM. These factors should be taking into
account once selection the PM, in order to select high quality of PM.

12. CONCLUSION

Project manager as a Leadership in the construction industry has been shown to be an important
factor in successful project execution in a number of studies. [28] Showed that good supervision is the
most significant variabit influencing percentage time of bricklayers. [27] Also remarked that the effect
of management factors on productivity could be significant. [29] Attributed most project failures in
terms of time and cost overruns or abandonment to lack of purposeful leadership in the industry. As
long as the project managers have more experience, the required set of knowledge, a high level of
skills and authority, he/she would not find any difficulties in finishing the projects within the time scale,
estimated budget, acceptable quality of work and finally to the satisfaction of the client.

It is very important that managers are chosen who have the same background and match their
abilities to the types of the projects. Choosing appropriate project manager to the right project needs
to take into account different elements, such as viewing the last experience of the managers; the
extent of knowledge they have; and the authority of controlling the project (in case any thing happens
in the main plan). The Project Manager competence, including his or her style does influence the
project success. The roles of the project manager are difficult to mange sometimes, but it's still the
project manager's responsibility to create a balance between project needs and the other parties.

It is importance to take into account the leadership style (Knowledge, Experience, Authority etc) when
appointing the PM, also there should be big consideration to select the appropriate project manager
for the type of the project. As long as the project mangers have good relationship with other parties
(contractor, client, sub-contractor, engineers, employees, the management etc) can take advantages
to the project success. Good communication and interaction links between the workers inside the
organization are considered the most importance elements for the successful project management,
and also can reduce the failure.

Achieving the successful management triangle (Time, Cost & quality) must be taking into account by
all people who involved in the project. This may not be achieve by the project manger himself, but this
needs good relationship, personal & employees motivations, great planning, high level of
communication and finally selection appropriate project manager. Experience, knowledge and
authority are considered very important elements of the PM in the project management; these
elements should be taking into account once choosing the PM to any project.

The research confirmed that the Project Manager is considered a very essential element to the
success of the construction project. He/she can have an impact at every stage of the construction
project, but the most importance stages should be focus are Strategy, Per-construction and
Construction stages. As a final word, it could be concluded that Successful project management
depending upon many factors, such as good PM with high level of skills, strong relationship,
motivation capability to the workforce, selection of the project’s team, high level of communications
great planning and control and right project manager selection. So to avoid the failure the above
factors should be taking into account during and before starting in any project.
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