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Project management skills are important for today’s engineers, as they get involved in various project-based employment roles. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a learning model to provide project management knowledge through scaffolding and project-based learning (PjBL) methods in the project engineering course.

This paper discusses a generic learning model that includes how scaffolding and project-based methods are integrated to provide project management skills to the students. The paper uses the survey method to collect and analyze data on the applicability of the model.

Statistical analysis of the collected data shows that the respondents positively perceive the value of the learning model to gain project management knowledge and skills. The response shows that the model is useful not only to the current students but also the graduates who use project management skills in their employment.

The learning model can be used by the instructors to provide project management skills to undergraduate and graduate students from all education disciplines.

This paper focuses on the development of a unique learning model, and artifacts used by the students and the instructors for interactive learning and gaining skills on project management.

This research aims to evaluate the status of project management best practices in the road infrastructure sector of Ghana through the inquiry of project managers’ competency.

Based on a thorough literature review on competency and project management best practices, a criterion for measuring best practices based on the competencies was identified. Using closed-ended questionnaires as a survey instrument, data was collected and analyzed using a one-sample t-test, Kendall’s concordance coefficient and simple regression.

The key finding reveals that in achieving project management best practices for the Ghanaian road infrastructure projects, project managers should straighten and strengthen their capability in terms of skills, personal characteristics and knowledge as ranked. An appropriate blend of these characteristics would be a necessary requirement for project managers. Through this, project managers and project-based road infrastructure organizations will be able to win the confidence of their stakeholders and attain improvements in cost-effectiveness, quality and time management.

This study provides project managers in the road infrastructure sector with relevant information on which criteria and variables are critical and are frequently required to manage such projects. This will be helpful for training programs and professional development of project managers in the road infrastructure sector.

The study provides a new direction and focuses for project managers in the road infrastructure industry toward best project management practices in developing countries. It also complements existing studies in this area which deepen the understanding of the subject area.

Due to the frenetic and dynamic working conditions ascribed to architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) project organizations, enormous research has addressed the poor mental health propensity of project management practitioners (PMPs). However, research has not considered the distant factors related to organizational design causing poor mental health. Therefore, this study addresses the problem by integrating institutional theory, agency theory and resource-based theory (RBT) to explore the relationship between organizational design elements: project governance, knowledge management, integrated project delivery, project management skills and mental health management indicators. Examples of mental health management indicators include social relationships, work-life balance and project leadership.

Purposive sampling method was adopted to collect survey data from 90 PMPs in 60 AEC firms in Australia. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilized to test the relationship between the variables.

The research found that project governance, knowledge management and integrated project delivery are positively correlated to mental health management indicators. However, the research finding suggests that project management skills have a negative impact on mental health management indicators.

The findings offer guidelines to AEC firms on achieving positive mental health management outcomes through concentration on project governance, knowledge management and integrated project delivery. It further calls for a reconsideration of existing project management skills causing poor mental health management outcomes.

Major maintenance projects are often regarded as maintenance activities regardless of the projects' complexity and scale. Consequently, very scarce research attention has hitherto been paid to the critical skills required when undertaking these projects. More specifically, the body of relevant knowledge is deprived of a study focusing on maintenance projects within the energy sector. In view of this shortcoming, this research aims to examine the critical project management (PM) skills required to deliver major maintenance projects within the energy sector.

Based on a quantitative research strategy, this study addressed the knowledge gap through a cross-sectional survey of professionals involved in the delivery of major maintenance projects in the United Kingdom's (UK) energy sector. Data obtained were analyzed via descriptive (e.g. frequencies, mean and standard deviation [SD]) and inferential statistical analyses (One sample t-test and exploratory factor analysis (EFA)).

Out of the 45 PM skills identified in the literature and examined by the respondents, the results obtained from the One sample t-test (based on p (1-tailed) = 0.05) showed that 37 were considered to be at least “important,” accounting for 80.4% of all the skills identified. EFA revealed a clustering of the PM skills items into seven components: “skills related to work scheduling and coordination”; “communication, risk, safety and stakeholder management skills”; “quality assurance skills”; “people management skills”; “skills related to forecasting scope and duration of outage”; “implementation of processes and time management skills” and “technical/engineering skills and experience pertaining to the outage and local site knowledge.”

This study has identified and contributed to the limited state-of-the-art skills project managers must possess to manage major maintenance projects in the energy sector successfully. The findings would be useful to organizations within the energy sector in ensuring that the organizations have suitable personnel in place to deliver major maintenance projects on the organizations' assets.

Various studies have been conducted to explore the factors that are important to be considered for the effectiveness of construction contract administration (CCA) but lack in the context of graduate architects. The purpose of this study is to identify factors influencing the effectiveness of graduate architects in CCA and possible methods to enhance their work efficiency through developing the relevant skills in a changing construction environment.

This paper identified the factors that influence the effectiveness of graduate architects in CCA through the quantitative methods. General skill elements that are perceived as essential for the effectiveness of CCA had been investigated through a survey of graduate architects in the construction industry. One hundred and twenty-seven completed questionnaires returned were analyzed and tested using descriptive analysis and relative important index (RII).

The result from the study showed that the factors influencing the effectiveness of graduate architects as CCA are building construction skills, design management skills, project management skills, soft skills and dispute resolution skills.

The contribution of this study can be utilized for developing models/tools in the future that would improve the work performance of graduate architects in CCA. Educators may utilize this study to improve their syllabus to cater to the market's demand and facilitate students' entry into the labor market.

Numerous attempts at installing six sigma (SS) have faced challenges and fallen short of the desired success. Thus, it becomes vital to identify the critical factors and characteristics that play a pivotal role in achieving successful adoption. In this study the research has aimed to highlight that a considerable number of corporate SS initiatives, around 60%, fail primarily due to the improper incorporation of essential elements and flawed assumptions.

To validate the influence of critical success factors (CSFs) on SS accomplishment, the study employed a research design combining exploratory and mixed-methods approaches. A Likert-scale questionnaire was utilized, and a simple random sampling method was employed to gather data. Out of the 2,325 potential participants approached, 573 responses were received, primarily from Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The analysis focused on 260 completed questionnaires and statistical methods including structural equation modeling (SEM), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized for data analysis.

The study acknowledged four essential components of CSFs that are imperative for sustaining the success of SS: (1) Competence of belt System employees; (2) Project management skills; (3) Organizational economic capability and (4) Leadership commitment and engagement. These factors were identified as significant contributors to the maintenance of SS’s success.

The practical implications of this research imply that institutions, practitioners, and researchers can utilize the four identified factors to foster the sustainable deployment of SS initiatives. By incorporating these factors, organizations can enhance the effectiveness and longevity of their SS practices.

The investigation's originality lies in its contribution to assessing CSFs in SS deployment within the European automobile industry, utilizing a mixed-methods research design supplemented by descriptive statistics.

Increased construction risk due to the complexity and numerous construction performance challenges requires improved construction project managers’ competence. However, contextual interrogation of these competencies is limited. This paper aims to report on a study that sought to determine the expected competencies of construction project managers and assesses the existence of statistically significant differences due to gender, designation and educational levels of respondents.

A quantitative research design was instituted through the administration of a questionnaire survey on Project Managers, Architects, Engineers and Quantity surveyors working for consultants and contractors’ organizations. Descriptive and inferential statistics analysed significant differences due to demographic variables. Factor analysis was also used to reveal interrelated significant sets of competencies expected of construction project managers.

Factor analysis determined 11 significant components with the highest-ranked components comprising organizational savvy and experience in managing project constraints. The univariate analysis determining effective communication, leadership and good team-building skills as being the three most critical expected competencies. Significant differences due to educational levels were established, with shortcomings existing in those with Diplomas.

The higher education institutions need to establish curricula designs that align with the competency expectations. Mentorship programmes within construction organizations can also be significant in bridging the existing competence gap. However, due to the exploratory nature of the study, the insights of clients were not considered.

The study determined competencies for construction project managers and demographic-specific interventions.

Effective procurement of infrastructure is partly dependent on infrastructure procurement personnel having the skills that are important for the discharge of their role. Addressing the infrastructure deficits in developing countries, therefore, calls for an understanding of the skills that are important for the discharge of the roles of public personnel that are involved in infrastructure procurement. This study aims to investigate these skills from the perspective of public infrastructure procurement personnel in the sub-Saharan African region.

A questionnaire survey of procurement personnel yielded 590 useable responses, which were analysed using t-tests and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

EFA established eight key components of important infrastructure procurement skills to include skills related to: project success factors; social and environmental sustainability; marketing and e-procurement; project phase management, the application of procurement laws and procedures; soft skills, ICT and communication; and data analysis and team building.

The findings are crucial in developing infrastructure procurement capacity building programmes that would be appropriate for infrastructure procurement personnel in developing country contexts. Infrastructure procurement personnel ought to engage more in capacity development training that is aligned to enhancing skills within the eight components.

Project managers' competencies contribute toward project success in a considerable manner. The significance of technical competencies' (TCs) contribution toward success in Oil and Gas (O&G) projects is even higher due to the complexity and the technology-intensive nature of these projects. However, technical competencies have often been overlooked in favor of behavioral competencies or simply identified and listed in terms of their significance. Thus, there is currently very limited research-based knowledge concerning the contribution mechanisms of technical competencies toward project execution success. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the contribution mechanisms of TCs toward success in O&G projects.

A case study was employed as the research strategy through which data was collected from project professionals in O&G projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain using semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were then analyzed through thematic analysis method with the aid of NVIVO 12.

The findings reveal six mechanisms through which technical competencies of project managers contribute toward execution success in O&G projects. TCs not only act as a launch pad toward project success, but also help in optimizing engineering designs throughout the project life cycle.

Instead of simply identifying and listing TCs, the obtained results enhance our current understanding of their contribution mechanisms toward project success in O&G projects.

Construction organizations' investment in effective talent-development programs is a key strategy in attracting, developing and retaining staff. Such programs are especially important given the current challenges in the construction workforce, including labor shortages, an aging workforce, generational differences in the workforce, supply chain disruptions and the need to effectively train staff in the skills that are essential in a constrained labor environment. To address these challenges, this study proposes a performance measurement strategy that construction companies can use as input to design their talent development programs.

The strategy intends to assess the performance of project managers and develop criteria that define categories of their performance, including the top performers' category. This enables construction organizations to provide each project manager with individualized training that addresses areas of weakness and in turn, develops the skills that correspond with being top performers. The proposed strategy was developed and tested by surveying the immediate supervisors of 187 project managers working for general and specialty contractors in the United States. Principal component analysis was used to develop a single performance construct from seven performance criteria.

This construct was used to organize the project managers into the categories of top, above-average and below-average performers. According to the findings, top-performing project managers have well-rounded skills in the areas of leadership, communication, technical proficiency and overall job knowledge.

The outcomes of this study can help construction organizations focus their talent-development programs on the skills most associated with PMs being top performers.

This study provides construction organizations with a comprehensive performance-measuring construct to focus their talent-development programs on the skills most associated with top-performing project managers. Researchers can use this study as a foundation for further understanding how performance is related to various construction professions.