Bibliography
Hwang, Bon-Gang, and Wei Jian Ng. 2013. "Project Management Knowledge and Skills for Green Construction: Overcoming Challenges." IEEE Engineering Management Review (IEEE) 41 (2): 87-103.
In the world of the project management industry a long-standing question exists. How much knowledge about the technical aspects of the specific project is necessary for the project manager to have? Another way of asking this is, can anyone with project management skills tackle any project in an industry where they have little to no experience? On one hand, project team members are the subject-matter experts (SMEs) and so the project manager should be able to rely on their perspectives. At the same time, perhaps team members have incentives to be less than forthcoming in areas of a project where they hold some responsibility for outcomes. In that case one could argue that a Project Manager (PM) might act as their own SME instead of blindly trusting team input. The compromise scenario is in between where shared expertise can lead to better decision making, as in two heads are better than one. In the reviewed article the authors attempt to help answer this expertise tension by examining a specific kind of project that requires a great deal of specific technical knowledge, that of green construction.
Construction in general is a technical endeavor, but green projects add a layer of technical requirements that inevitably add complexity and cost. Not all construction companies have the knowhow to fulfill these additional requirements such as building designs that include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
In examining PM roles in green construction projects, the authors considered ways to score individual PM performance in terms of “social skills, decision-making skills, problem-handling skills, ability to recognize opportunities, and management of changes as key personal attributes affecting project success” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 87). They compared scores in these and other areas with experience in the specific project industry wondering if these PM competency scores might correlate in some way.
Among other results, the authors note relative importance among PM skills and techniques. As one might guess, their findings were mixed. They looked at 39 knowledge and skill areas in a pre-survey questionnaire. The result was ranking then selecting the top 20 “for the main survey” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 93). They then invited construction companies in Singapore to evaluate various PM performance experiences. “Ultimately, a total of 52 completed survey questionnaires were received, tabulated and analyzed” (Ibid.). Beyond the surveys, their industry literature review “revealed that the project managers may face challenges such as higher costs on green construction projects and that there are elevated risks due to different forms of project delivery and lengthy planning and approval process for new green technologies and materials” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 99). Their primary conclusion of the survey analysis was “that there are specific knowledge areas that should be strengthened in order to effectively manage green construction projects” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 100). The data showed that increased knowledge of the PM did not replace the need for SMEs, but performance increased when a given PM was not completely reliant on team SME perspectives. There is project outcomes benefit to industry specialization in project management.
Hwang, Bon-Gang, and Wei Jian Ng. 2013. "Project Management Knowledge and Skills for Green Construction: Overcoming Challenges." IEEE Engineering Management Review (IEEE) 41 (2): 87-103.
In the world of the project management industry a long-standing question exists. How much knowledge about the technical aspects of the specific project is necessary for the project manager to have? Another way of asking this is, can anyone with project management skills tackle any project in an industry where they have little to no experience? On one hand, project team members are the subject-matter experts (SMEs) and so the project manager should be able to rely on their perspectives. At the same time, perhaps team members have incentives to be less than forthcoming in areas of a project where they hold some responsibility for outcomes. In that case one could argue that a Project Manager (PM) might act as their own SME instead of blindly trusting team input. The compromise scenario is in between where shared expertise can lead to better decision making, as in two heads are better than one. In the reviewed article the authors attempt to help answer this expertise tension by examining a specific kind of project that requires a great deal of specific technical knowledge, that of green construction.
Construction in general is a technical endeavor, but green projects add a layer of technical requirements that inevitably add complexity and cost. Not all construction companies have the knowhow to fulfill these additional requirements such as building designs that include Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
In examining PM roles in green construction projects, the authors considered ways to score individual PM performance in terms of “social skills, decision-making skills, problem-handling skills, ability to recognize opportunities, and management of changes as key personal attributes affecting project success” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 87). They compared scores in these and other areas with experience in the specific project industry wondering if these PM competency scores might correlate in some way.
Among other results, the authors note relative importance among PM skills and techniques. As one might guess, their findings were mixed. They looked at 39 knowledge and skill areas in a pre-survey questionnaire. The result was ranking then selecting the top 20 “for the main survey” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 93). They then invited construction companies in Singapore to evaluate various PM performance experiences. “Ultimately, a total of 52 completed survey questionnaires were received, tabulated and analyzed” (Ibid.). Beyond the surveys, their industry literature review “revealed that the project managers may face challenges such as higher costs on green construction projects and that there are elevated risks due to different forms of project delivery and lengthy planning and approval process for new green technologies and materials” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 99). Their primary conclusion of the survey analysis was “that there are specific knowledge areas that should be strengthened in order to effectively manage green construction projects” (Hwang and Ng 2013, 100). The data showed that increased knowledge of the PM did not replace the need for SMEs, but performance increased when a given PM was not completely reliant on team SME perspectives. There is project outcomes benefit to industry specialization in project management.
| green_pm.pdf |
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