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THE VALUE OF SOFT

SKILLS IN
CONSTRUCTION
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
By Josiah Johnson

CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON

1
Abstract

The construction industry is one the UK’s premier source of income as it contributes nearly
164 billion pounds each year. It provides almost three million jobs in around 300 thousand
businesses. However, the industry has experienced several turbulent years with many
construction companies making profit margins of just 1.5%, coupled with the loss of one of
the biggest construction firms in the UK Carilion. In addition, the future of the industry
appears to be just as difficult due to the need to deal with the uncertainty of Brexit. Naturally,
this creates a climate where construction managers are under increased pressure to deliver
successful projects. This relies not only on the knowledge of the managers and their
technical abilities but just as importantly their human skills. The term human skill is often
most commonly referred to soft skill. Currently, there is very little information available on the
key soft skills in the UK construction industry, particularly in terms of its impact on the
success of a construction project. The questions this dissertation aims to answer include
“what are the key skills that enable a construction manager to achieve successful
outcomes?” “how important are they in terms of achieving successful project outcomes” and
“how can be attained in the workplace?”. The research in this dissertation was conducted
through survey compiling the most requested soft skill mentioned in job advertisements as
well as through a survey asking representations of UK construction organisations which
skills they believed contributed to project success amongst other questions. The results were
then evaluated and discussed.

Contents

Abstract................................................................................................................................. 2

Key Definitions ...................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7

Justification of the Research .............................................................................................. 7

Importance of skill in construction .................................................................................. 7

The need for research on soft skills................................................................................ 7

2
 Aim .................................................................................................................................... 8

Objectives of the research ................................................................................................. 8

For the Literature Review- .............................................................................................. 8

Research Investigation................................................................................................... 8

Scope of research ............................................................................................................. 9

The Structure of the Dissertation ....................................................................................... 9

Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 10

Previous study on the topic.............................................................................................. 10

Construction Project Management................................................................................... 13

Definition of Project Management ................................................................................ 13

Background of Construction Project Management .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Skill ................................................................................................................................. 14

Definition of Skill .......................................................................................................... 14

Types of Skill ............................................................................................................... 15

Hard skills and Soft skills ............................................................................................. 16

Soft skills within the workplace ........................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Importance of soft skills in construction ........................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Examples of Soft skills identified in literature................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Soft issues amongst graduates within the construction industry .....Error! Bookmark not
defined.

Developing soft skills ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Question of nature and nurture ....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Success and Effectiveness .............................................................................................. 17

Concept of success and effectiveness in construction projects .................................... 17

Traits required for Success and Effectiveness of projects ............................................ 18

Research Methodology ....................................................................................................... 19

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 19

Types of research ............................................................................................................ 20

Research philosophy ....................................................................................................... 20

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 Research Reasoning ....................................................................................................... 21

Deductive reasoning .................................................................................................... 21

Inductive reasoning ...................................................................................................... 22

Reasoning method used .............................................................................................. 23

Research Approach ......................................................................................................... 23

Types of research study ............................................................................................... 24

Research Method ............................................................................................................ 25

Aim .............................................................................................................................. 25

Research Process........................................................................................................ 25

Data Collection ................................................................................................................ 26

Primary Data ................................................................................................................ 26

Data source ................................................................................................................. 26

Population definition ..................................................................................................... 27

Data collection period .................................................................................................. 27

Limitations.................................................................................................................... 27

Results and Analysis ........................................................................................................... 28

Results of investigation 1 ................................................................................................. 29

Frequency of ads with/without soft skills ...................................................................... 30

Identified Soft Skills ...................................................................................................... 31

List of 20 most mentioned soft skills ............................................................................. 32

Top 5 skills based on experience ................................................................................. 33

Results of Investigation 2 .................................................................................................... 37

Questionnaire Design ...................................................................................................... 37

Results of Questionnaire ................................................................................................. 37

Demographics Description ........................................................................................... 37

Demographics Analysis................................................................................................ 38

Questionnaire Answers ................................................................................................ 39

Survey Results ............................................................................................................. 39

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 43

4
 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 43

Review of research project .............................................................................................. 43

Recommendations for further research............................................................................ 44

References ......................................................................................................................... 46

Key Definitions

Project: A specific task or a group of tasks undertaken within certain timeframe and cost to
produce a unique service, product, or result.

Project management: the processes of executing and applying methods skills, knowledge,
and experience to achieve the project objectives.

Project manager: The person responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, execution
monitoring, and controlling the successful conclusion of a project.

Project team: The people, including those from the functional departments,

subcontractors, and vendors, who make up the set of skills and services required

to complete a project.

Project success: To achieve all project objectives effectively and efficiently

in scope, within budget and on time

Skills: The personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously
with other people.

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List of Figures

Figure 1 (Frequency of adverts with/without soft skill) ......................................................... 30

Figure 2 (Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 0 to 2 years of experience) ................................ 34
Figure 3(Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 3 to 5 years of experience) ................................. 35
Figure 4(Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 6 and above years of experience) ...................... 36
Figure 5(Results of question 1: What are the top 5 most important skills) ........................... 39
Figure 6 (Questionnaire results) .......................................................................................... 40

List of Tables

Table 1( Frequency of adverts mentioning at least 1 soft skill grouped by experience

required) ............................................................................................................................. 29
Table 2(Top 20 types of soft skills mentioned in adverts) .................................................... 31
Table 3 (Demographic of research participants) .................................................................. 37

6
Introduction

Justification of the Research

Importance of skill in construction

The construction industry is a project-oriented industry comprising of activities which

can range from simple to extremely complex (Barmayehvar, 2013). For example,
typical construction jobs could range from building a basic garden fence to designing
and constructing the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. As civilisation
progresses, develops and evolves so does the need for increasingly more complex,
unique and complicated projects like that of the Burj Khalifa. As projects increase in
complexity, the execution process of producing a final project requires more than just
a technical knowledge of the subject. The success of the project relies squarely on
the performance of the leaders of the project especially the project manager. This
places a burden on engineers, architects, project managers and key project leaders
tasked with the responsibility of completing the project successfully due wide range
of skill required.

The need for research on soft skills

The construction project manager’s main responsibilities include ensuring a

construction project is delivered as required on time, on budget and safely. This
relies on his or her understanding of the overview of the project as well as the ability
to monitor, control, and plan the project. Although these are skills identified on
several master’s management courses, there is insufficient information on the
concept of the importance of soft skills in the construction industry. More specifically,
in an industry that involves interaction between multiple players ranging from
contractors, sub-contractors, clients and consultants across several sectors such as
civil, mechanical, electrical, plant and machinery, there appears to be insufficient
information on the role soft skill contributes to a project manager achieving a
successful project. Hence, more work is required on the skills required to achieve
successful project outcomes. This project aims to provide fresh insight into creating

7
more well-rounded project managers. Hence, it is aimed at newly qualified project
managers and provides an insight into becoming more effective project managers.

Aim

The preliminary research indicates that project manager’s skill play’s a key role in
achieving successful outcomes. The concept of skill is broad area and so this report
will focus mainly on soft skills in order narrow the research focus. As a result, the
overall aim of this investigation is the conduct and in-depth research into the role or
value of soft skills in the construction industry in the UK.

Objectives of the research

The main aim of this dissertation is to identify the key soft skills required for success
in the construction industry, as well as the role each skill plays in achieving success.
Another question this report aims to answer is what are the ways in which individuals
aiming to develop the various soft skills can do so?

The main objectives for this dissertation are to:

For the Literature Review-

- To provide a review on the current practices for leading and

managing projects along with the existing theories on effective project
management
- Investigate key concepts such as soft and hard skill
- Identify the key soft skills required in the construction industry
- Investigate the links between such skills and project productivity in the
different stages of a typical construction project.
- Explore the training and development practices used in the UK and provide
suggestions for improvements
- Provide suggestions for individual professional soft skill development

Research Investigation

- Identify the key soft skills required for success as a construction manager.
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 - Investigate the importance of soft skills for the success of construction
projects

Scope of research

Although aspects of this research may be relevant to project managers within other
industries, the primary focus of this investigation is for budding and new construction
project managers such as graduates and managers with a few years’ experience.
The research contained in this paper is divided into a literature review and a
research survey. This review consists of an evaluation of established practices in the
sector found in a range sources from textbooks on the subject matter as well as data
from the institute of engineers covering the subject. The information identified in the
literature review will then be compared with the findings of the second part of the
research.

The Structure of the Dissertation

This dissertation is divided into five main chapters.

Chapter 1: This chapter gives the background, motivation and scope of research of
the dissertation

Chapter 2: The aim of the literature review is to provide a critical overview of

the theoretical background of soft skills. This chapter includes a discussion of the
current practice in relation to project management studies both within the within the
construction context and outside the construction context. It also highlights gaps and
area for improvement within the construction industry.

Chapter 3: The purpose of the research methodology is to discuss the research

approach and more specifically the research design and philosophy chosen for this
study. In addition, it contains the process for evaluating the qualitative study also
discussed in this chapter.

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Chapter 4: Findings and Data analysis details the outcome of the results by
explaining research findings as well providing a comparison between the results in
the investigations and a comparison with finding of the literature review.

Chapter 5: The conclusion provides a review of the research project as well as

recommendations for future investigations.

Literature Review

The issue in project management is that as projects continue to increase in

complexity, the demand required to achieve the parameters of success (quality, time
and cost) also continues to increase. For budding managers to become capable of
achieving the success within the construction industry, it is vital they are equipped
with the knowledge of the skills required of them. As a result, more information is
required on the effectiveness of project managers. (Barmayehvar, 2013)

The aim of this chapter is to review current practice within the concept of project
management as well as the key role of soft skills within the subject area. The topics
addressed include the role of a project management, the concept of effective and
successful project management and the concept of soft Skills vs hard Skills.

Previous study on the topic

As previously mentioned there appears to be a lack of information directly focused

on the topics of the key soft skills required for success within the construction
industry and the influence each of the skills have on achieving successful project
outcomes. This issue is even more glaring as far as the UK is concerned. Although
many articles, thesis, reports and books cover the subject of soft skills, a significant
proportion of these pieces of information are limited in providing information of the
soft skills in the construction industry and even less so in the United Kingdom. When
information was found on the concept of soft skill, the focus was largely either on the
other industries such as information technology and mechanical engineering, or the
data provided concerned countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United
States. However, all information on the subject is useful and so in an attempt gain

10
more insight into the concept of skills within construction the following studies
amongst others were used as key resources for providing knowledge the subject.

1. Davis et al (2015) produced a study titled “Soft skills requirements in a BIM

project team”. Although the concept of BIM has been in existence for more than thirty
years it has never had a bigger role in the construction industry than it does at this
present moment. A key aspect of the use of BIM is the need for collaboration which
is a key feature in construction project management. The aim of the investigation is
to is to conduct through an analysis of interviews with BIM practitioners from New
Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands. This report centres on the concept of the
importance of soft skills within the workforce particularly in relation to the delivery of
projects. One of the key discoveries found as a result of this investigation on the
ability to deliver project outcomes was that “Personal and interpersonal management
skills were often required by BIM specialists as “specific skills requirements”. These
characteristics or skill include communication, negotiation and conflict management,
authority and leadership, attitude. This paper also identified factors that influence the
development of soft skills such as personality, experience, external training and
internal training and knowledge sharing. One example mentioned when the idea of
personality is raised was the general school of thought that “soft skills are innate”
and can only be developed if a person already possessed the fundamental skill.
Another example highlighted the fact that gaining knowledge through practical
experience and having a mentor plays a major role in an individual developing the
required soft skill for effective project delivery.

2. Gillard S. (2009) produced a report titled “Soft Skills and Technical Expertise
of Effective Project Managers” in which she discussed the idea of other factors
having a major influence on the success of project rather than technical skills only.
Although this report does not focus on the construction industry it provides insight on
the topic of soft skills Also highlighted in the report is the importance of leading a
project rather than just managing one. One of key points made within the report is
the contrast between the influence of technical skill and soft skill and the fact that
each type of skill is suited to deferent industries. For instance, technical expertise is
probably the more important skill in technical roles such as IT where the primary
focus is systems analysis, design and installation and therefore area experts are
more suitable for a management within those industries. On the other hand,

11
engineers who are placed in management positions based on the technical expertise
“fall short of relating their game plans to the overarching strategy of the
organization”. Gillard S. (2009) highlights the fact that although there is a general
agreement that the success of the project relies on skills of the manager there is a
disagreement on which skills are viewed a most important. Like Davis et al (2015),
Gillard S. (2009) highlights several qualities that are mentioned at the top of list of
experienced project managers as the most important and they include
planning/organizing, networking and informing leadership and negotiating.

3. “Establishing the Malaysian contractors’ soft skills requirements for

construction management graduates” is a recent report produced by Affandi et al
(2017) with the objective of investigating the soft skills of construction management
graduate when performing entry-level construction managers’ activities in the
workplace. This investigation was based on a soft skills development model
developed by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia using a questionnaire and
analysed using a “Rasch Measurement Model”. One of the key points made in this
report was the idea that giving the modern working environment and project climate
it is not possible for a project to be completed successful without the incorporation of
the human skills. While in the past many managers focused on the technical and
conceptual skills, the modern and evolving environment and dynamic challenges
require personnel to possess an element of human skill. A major reason for this view
is the fact that projects contain different levels and different scopes. This report
makes use of the “Rausch Measurement Model that is designed for surveys and
identifies seven main soft skills which are communication, critical thinking, and
problem-solving, teamwork, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, ethics and
professionalism, and leadership.

4. Awan et al (2015) produce the report titled the “Impact of Project Manager’s
Soft Leadership Skills on Project Success”. This report provides an insight into the
impact of Project manager’s leadership skill on a project’s success. In the report the
leadership skills of a project manager are divided into communication, interpersonal,
coordination, team building and delegation, problem finding, analysing, solving skills.
Awan et al (2015) found that although the impact of soft skills on a project is difficult
to gauge one researcher has indicated that soft skills contribute to 85% of the
success of a project. It was also found that the subject of soft skill in general is

12
largely misunderstood and under notice particularly because research focusing on
the effect of a project manager’s skill on are scarce and often at times, research
within the area focuses largely “on investigating the behaviour of the leaders and
exploring the impact of the project manager’s leadership style” rather than the
“project manager’s soft leadership skills on project success”.

5. Mouchi et al (2011) produced the report entitled “The skill sets required for
managing complex construction projects”. It intends to explore one of the defining
factors of construction projects and that is its complexity. The construction industry is
unique in the sense that the requirements of each project changes from project to
project. Projects vary from one another and this may be in form of a change in the
ground quality, building quality or characteristics or difference in building materials,
government restrictions or client demands. It means the product or result of each
project is never the same. As a result, there are many demands placed on the
construction project manager including the need to be adaptable and creative to
cope with the demands of the role. What this report aims to investigate is the skill
required for higher order management activity. This is achieved through the views of
senior management personnel within the industry using interviews. The results of
this report showed that for every project there are four equally important factors that
are required by project managers. They are planning and risk management,
communication and people skill, technical skills and experience and vision and focus
on the result.

Construction Project Management

Definition of Project Management

Project management is defined in Project Management Institute (2008) as “the

application of knowledge, skills, tools, and technique to project activities to meet
project requirements” and characterises “high quality projects as those that deliver
the required product, service, or result, within scope, on time, and within budget”.
Several definitions of concept of project management exist. The main idea behind
managing a project is to ensure it is completed successfully. The process to
managing a project however may be viewed as a series of activities according to

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Lock (2004) who stated, role of project management comprises of the following
steps, to plan, organize and control a project. This is in line with Sears et al (2008)
who defined the role as a person who organizes, plans, schedules, and controls the
field work and is responsible for getting the project completed within the time and
cost limitations. As observed from the definitions stated above the objectives of each
project centres on three main terms budget, schedules and scope. Within the
construction context Lock (2004) categorised the three main objectives of a project
as follows.

- Delivering a project on or before the date agreed with the client

- Completing the project within the allocated budget

- In construction management, producing a building that meets the required

standards of quality.

Skill

Definition of Skill

Collins English dictionary defines skill as “something requiring special training and
expertise” (Harper C. 2016). Skill is developed over time. It can be acquired from a
range of areas such as through observation, reading, or hearing. The gaining of a
skill is typically a step by step process where one becomes acquainted with the skill
at a beginning phase before practice and experience helps person to gain familiarity
with the skill. This characteristic leads to a second definition mentioned in Bevan
(2016) which describes skill as “The bundle of knowledge, attributes and capacities
that enables an individual to successfully and consistently perform an activity or task,
whether broadly or narrowly conceived, and can be built upon and extended through
learning”. This definition highlights all the key characteristics of skill within any
context such as the fact that skill can be in several different forms ranging from
simply possessing knowledge or having a capacity or having a capacity. Skill also
requires that an activity or task is not only performed but that it is performed
successfully and consistently. In addition, as mentioned before skill may be
developed improved or built upon through learning over a period of time. In practical
terms within the work place, skill may be viewed as a set of attributes or

14
characteristics demonstrated by an individual’s qualifications and experience which
indicates knowledge of a job or the capacity to perform the role or tasks to be under
taken. (Bevan 2016). Due to the nature of construction projects it is safe to say a
construction project will be extremely difficult to execute from inception to completion
without having acquired a set of skills or in other words expertise in several aspects
of a project. Construction projects are complex activities that are highly demanding
on the skillset of a project managers. This demand is high regardless of the size of
the project. Project managers are expected to possess abilities and knowledge in a
wide range of areas (Mouchi, Rotimi, & Ramachandra, 2011). For example, a
graduate site manager may be expected to have expertise in producing a bill of
quantities, planning abilities, reading drawings, using ICT and having the ability to
drive. These are skills acquired from a range of areas, largely from educational
experience before being reinforced with work experience. (Awan, Ahmed, &
Zalqarnan, 2015) (Mouchi, Rotimi, & Ramachandra, 2011) (Bevan, 2016)

Types of Skill

The concept of skill is a broad subject area that may be classified in several ways.
Bevan (2016) divided term skill into two main categories, generic and subject specific
skill. Generic skill is also known as Core skill or Employability skills or “Life skills”.
Examples of generic skills include “numerical skills, interpersonal skills, and the
ability to use technology, communication skills, problem solving and computer skills”
(Bevan, 2016, p. 14). Generic skills are essentially the basics and foundational skills
required by a typical worker within the workplace. (Marando, 2012). Subject specific
skill refers skills directly associated with a specific type of work or topic area.
Naturally, job requirements and therefore skillset requirements vary depending on
the job in question. In other words, subject specific skills refer to the specialist skills
and knowledge required to perform a particular role. For example, in construction a
subject specific knowledge could be, possessing an understanding of
transformational change procedures, measuring quantities, choosing a beam size or
the process for performing a risk assessment.

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Hard skills and Soft skills

Another way to classify the concept of skill within the workplace is to divide it into soft
and hard skills. Marando (2012) produced a report titled “Balancing Project
Management Hard Skills and Soft Skills” which provides a breakdown of the key
differences and similarities between the two skill types.

According to Marando (2012) soft skills may be described as intangible skills and
are mainly interpersonal. Soft skills are also “not associated with a deliverable or a
concrete output”, they are “less visible” and are “generally employed without the use
of tools or templates”. (Marando, 2012, p. 2) In general, the concept of possessing
soft skills focuses largely being a “personable” “individual” and on the “building of
relationships within the workplace” as well as “the ethics or culture related to a
person”. (Bevan, 2016, p. 16). In general, soft skills are largely associated with the
essential skills for employment as well as personal development. (Lau, 2013). The
name used to identify the concept of soft skills differs from country to country. For
example, depending on the country it is sometimes referred to as “key
competencies”, “employability skills” or “core skills” in other instances it may be
referred to as “key skills”, “essential skills” or “workplace know-how”. (Lau, 2013, p.
21) Examples of soft skills according to Marando (2012) include communication,
problem-solving and negotiation.

On the other hand, Hard skills is similar to the term “subject specific skills” mentioned
in the previous paragraph. Hard skills are technical in nature. They typically refer to
meeting tangible outcomes and achieving tangible results. Therefore, they are more
technical in nature and rely on the use of tools and technology like softwares. Some
people feel more confident with one skill more than the other. Interestingly, the idea
or question of whether either soft skills and hard skills contributes more to the
success of a project is up for debate. Research carried out by Katz and Kahn (1978)
in Jha (2005) suggests that although technical knowledge is useful for a project
manager or coordinator. There are some downsides to having a technical expert or a
one that is adept at the hard skill aspect of a project. For example, Kat and Kahn
(1978) cited by Jha (2005) states that “for larger projects involving multiple
disciplines” “a technical expert may not be a wise option” particularly due to the
“apprehension that project manager would engage himself in too much technical

16
details and may not be able to do justice to other aspects of the project”. El-Sabaa
(2001) in Jha (2005) provided the estimates in terms of relative importance to the
success of a project where technical skill which relate to an individual’s hard skill has
a percentile score of 50.46% while human skill had a percentile score of 85.3%.

The growing importance of soft skills in modern society

Lau (2013) determined that “there is substantial evidence to indicate that generic
skills are regarded as at least as important” as “job-specific skills for the 21st century
workplace”. (Lau, 2013 p. 36). This can be linked to the fact that the nature of the
workplace continues to evolve. As a result, the dynamics of soft skill within the
workplace also continues to change. The changes can be linked to a more modern
society built upon the concept of a “knowledge-based economy”. The term
knowledge-based economy refers to economies built on the use of knowledge to
provide increase productivity. As a result, knowledge is viewed a powerful tool in
determining the rate of growth within such an economy. The United Kingdom may be
viewed as having one of such economies. As a result, employees possessing soft
skills play a vital role in helping companies achieve efficiency and productivity
through their abilities.

Success and Effectiveness

Concept of success and effectiveness in construction projects

The terms success and effectiveness are sometimes used interchangeably in to

express meeting be completion requirements. The distinction between the two terms
was made by Barmayehvar (2013) who identified that successful project managers
are those who are able to receive rapid promotion, deal with different types of
activities but may not have the ability to extract the best of their workers. On other
hand effective project managers have the ability to “communicate with project
stakeholders, manage conflict, and train, develop, and motivate team members” and
are productive, committed and have high performing and satisfied team members.

17
These two terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive for example successful
project management does not rely solely on effective project management and vice
versa. Being effective also does not mean becoming successful projects. The goal
for a manager ultimately is to be both effective and success.

Traits required for Success and Effectiveness in projects

Project Management may be described as an amalgam of a diverse range of skills.

As a result, a range of different approaches have been used to identify and
categorise the key skills of managing a construction project. For example, the key
skills required for effective project manager as highlighted by Barmayehvar (2013)
range from administrative skill, leadership ability, managing change, technical
knowledge, social skill, decision-making, handling problems to recognising
opportunities. Udo, N. & Koppensteiner, S. (2004) on the other hand, categorised
skills into three main areas which are knowledge, personality and performance.
Performance essentially refers to having a proven track record. Each of the three
skill categories may be broken down further. For instance, knowledge has three
categories. General management skills such as leadership, negotiation,
communication, team building and other human resource management skills that are
necessary in any management position, project management skills such as project
scope management, project time management, and project cost management and
industry specific management knowledge, such as lifecycle management and
product development methodologies. Personality is regarded as the most vital skill
component it comprises of “personality characteristics such as can-do attitude,
confidence, enthusiasm, open mindedness, adaptability, and personal integrity” as
well as people management skills including the “ability to communicate, ability of
motivation, ability to influence and political sensitivity.” According to Jha K.N. (2005)
the role of the project manager is to be redefined due to its complexity and renamed
the project coordinator.

Current soft skill gap

A skill gap essential refers to area in which there a difference between the required
skills of a job and the actual skills possessed by the employees. It may be described

18
a lack of fundamental skills required for a job. In some situations, it may lead to
employers struggling to fill job possessions. It is caused when candidates are not
well rounded in their attribute e.g. not having either good soft or hard skill. Carstens
(2005) suggested that one of the main causes for soft skill gap in the construction
industry is that “has become more reliant on tertiary education and training
programmes to supply the work force for an increasingly complex and demanding
work environment”. She also assets that although employers are concerned by the
low level of skills in modern employees, “universities are not doing enough, nor are
they on par with the standards demanded by industry, in particular with regard to
producing well-rounded graduates with technical knowledge as well as being flexible
and adaptable”. (Carstens 2015 p 2). According to Manaseh et al (2015) another
reason for the soft skill gap is that “Both the construction industry and academia are
not aware of the nature and magnitude of the soft skills gap” and “Current solutions
to bridge the soft skills gap are unstructured”. (Manaseh et al p.4). On-going
research is being performed on the topic one of the solutions that have been offered
is prioritizing the soft skills based on the construction industry’s needs.

Research Methodology

Introduction

After describing assessing and analysing existing research on the concept of soft
skill especially within the construction industry, this chapter focuses describing on
the research method used to perform the investigation and the mindset behind the
choice of research approach. In practical terms this chapter aims to put in action,
confirm and address some of the findings of the theoretical aspect of this report. The
key objective of this chapter is to discuss the research methodology used for this
study. The chapter briefly describes potential methods used for performing research
particularly within the context of this report and provides a justification the choice of
methodology. This also chapter describes the research design and philosophy and
strategy used for the study and explains how they help to meet the aims and
objectives of this report. Eventually the completion of the research should provide

19
answers to the pressing question stated in the aims and objective such as what are
the key soft skills required for success within the construction industry in the United
Kingdom? The relative importance of soft skills in construction and how are these
skills developed?

Types of research

There are four main types of research according to Neville (2007). They are
exploratory, descriptive, analytical and predictive. Predictive research focuses of
generating intelligent predictions on future events based on current evidence.
Analytical research refers to identification of key variables in a subject and the use of
the identified variables to answer why and how questions. Descriptive research aims
to identify and classify the characteristics of a subject. Exploratory research is used
to “look for patterns, hypotheses or ideas that can be tested and will form the basis
for further research”. (Neville, 2007) One of the underlying reasons for the research
contained within this paper is to explore general issues and to synthesize existing
knowledge. This report therefore takes more of an explorative focus since it aims to
undertake a study that is believed to not yet have been undertaken.

Research philosophy

Neville (2007) describes research as “a process of enquiry and investigation; it is

systematic, methodical and ethical; research can help solve practical problems and
increase knowledge”. This definition highlights the main focus of the research
methodology which is to provide a practical solution within an industry by increasing
knowledge within that knowledge base. One way of achieving this aim through
providing a collection of information gathered from personnel within an area of a
work. It essentially aims to provide an explanation of the “knowledge assumptions”
and used by a researcher. The benefits of adopting a research philosophy is the fact
that it provides a basis for forming the research methodology. As a result, it provides
a template which enables a researcher to generate an approach that enhances the
research enquiry into a particular knowledge area.

Several forms of research philosophy exist in literature Barmayehvar (2013) provided

a description of philosophical positions ranging from objectivism which states that

20
“social entities exist in reality independent of social actors in relation to their
existence” or subjectivity which is the opposite of objectivity or realism where there is
a believe that it is only possible to investigate phenomena through “scientific
observations that have a direct association”. Other forms of philosophical
assumptions include nominalism which states that “different versions of truth may be
found by people” and relativism where there is believe is there is no single reality
since every person has different experiences. On a whole the choice of a research
assumption is crucial for a research project as it provides “the basic assumption is
that a researcher needs to adopt certain premises that would explain the research
data.

As a result, the research position or philosophy chosen for the project is pragmatism
and nominalism. Pragmatism states that “knowledge and understanding should be
derived from direct experience”. What this project aims to achieve through the
research conducted is to provide clear reflection of the realities of being a project
manager particularly in terms of soft skills within construction. The adoption of
nominalism and pragmatism is directly linked with the means of deriving information
within this project since the knowledge is gained from experience and perspectives
of project managers and workers within the construction sector.

Research Reasoning

One way in which research varies from each other is the form of reasoning used.
There are typically three main forms of reasoning as highlighted by Walliman (2011).
Two of the types of reasoning exist at two ends of a spectrum. They are inductive
and deductive reasoning. The third type of reasoning aims to strike a balance and
overcome the shortcomings between the two types and that is hypothetico-deductive
method.

Deductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning essentially uses general statements and logical arguments to

come to conclusions. The initial statement is called a premise. The use of deductive
reasoning requires the development of a hypothesis derived from research literature
or another source after which the research is conducted to answer the question. The

21
process using of deductive reasoning involves the generation of a statement to be
tested. The test is used to confirm if the observation used to generate the statement
is true. If the statement is not true, then the observation or statement is altered or
replaced, and a different observation or statement is proposed to be tested. The
process is a trial and error process. An example of deductive reasoning is as follows

All living things will eventually die.

(General statement – first premise)

This animal is a living thing.

(Inference – second premise)

Therefore, this animal will eventually die

(Conclusion)

Inductive reasoning

(Walliman, 2011 pg. 18)

Inductive reasoning

Inductive reasoning refers to the process of concluding from a generalisation of

experience. The conclusion is used to create a rule. Issues with the use of inductive
reasoning include the question of the number of observations required to come to a
reliable conclusion and the condition or situation under which a reliable conclusion
may be made. As a result, inductive reasoning often requires large samples of
observations to be reliable. According Barmayehvar (2013) An inductive research
approach “needs to use qualitative data and diverse data collection methods in order
to explore different views of phenomena”

Hypothetico-deductive method

22
This reasoning method combines both inductive and deductive reason to produce a
result. The process of using Hypothetico-deductive comprised of the following
process:

 identification or clarification of a problem;

 developing a hypothesis (testable theory) inductively from observations;
 charting their implications by deduction;
 practical or theoretical testing of the hypothesis;
 rejecting or refining it in the light of the results.
(Walliman, 2011, p. 19)

Reasoning method used

The most appropriate method of reason for this project is inductive reasoning. The
most reason why deductive reason is unsuitable is due to the fact that the results
from this research is intended to provide a conceptual framework that will be used as
guideline for graduates on the skillset they need to develop. The conceptual
framework will be formed on the basis of the experience of personnel within the
construction industry. Deductive reasoning is ruled out since the focus of the
research is not based on proving an initial premise but rather concluding based on
observations.

Research Approach

Many approaches to conducting research exist. Often research projects combine the
different types of approaches. Two established approaches to conducting research
are the qualitative and quantitative approaches. (Neville 2007 pg. 2). The concept of
a research approach within the context of this report relates to the manner of
producing, synthesising and analysing data. For example, quantitative research
focuses on collecting and analysing numerical data. Quantitative research method is
a generally object method of research which is suitable for natural phenomena. One
of the key reasons for using this method is to discover the cause and effect
relationships between variables with objective of exploring a hypothetical model.
(Barmayehvar 2013). The quantitative research method is primarilly used in areas
where the main data produced in in the form of a feedbak from people. For instance

23
the quantitative research method is suitable for collating and exploring people’s
“judgements, feelings of comfort, emotions, ideas, beliefs”. Quantitative research is
often characterised by tests or questionnaires. Qualitative research on the other
hand is used for addressing data involving mainly numbers such as “pressures,
bending forces, population densities, cost indices” (Walliman 2011, pg. 71). In this
research project both methods are used. As mentioned earlier in this report one of
the main aims is to identify the key soft skills required in the construction industry
within the UK. Achieving this outcome will require quantitative data. Another aim is to
determine the importance of soft skill within the construction industry. This will
require qualitative data since the level of importance must be quantified

Types of research study

The choice of research methodology is a critical aspect of a research report. Various

methodologies exist and therefore a suitable choice is chosen based on several
parameters include those mention in this chapter such as the choice of reasoning,
choice of either a qualitative or quantitative approach, and research philosophy.
Types of research studies are provided as follows:

 Surveys
 Experimental Studies
 Longitudinal Studies
 Cross-sectional Studies
 Case Studies
 Action Research
 Ethnography (participant
observation)

(Neville 2007, pg. 7)

Survey was deemed as the most appropriate choice for several reasons. For
example, it provides a way of generalising the results of a group that reasonably

24
predict the opinions, views and attitude of a larger population, it provides information
that is easily analysis to produce a clear conclusion and it provide data and
information that easily structured and systematic.

Research Method

Aim

There are two main aims this research intends to achieve and they are as follows:

1. To identify the most important soft skills required within the construction
industry.
2. To determine the importance of soft skills to the success of a construction
project

Research Process

1. Identifying the most important soft skills required in the construction industry
in the United Kingdom, comprises of two activities.
- The first activity is to collect data taken from job ads on the internet as well
as from newspapers within the United Kingdom.
- The second activity is to ask interviewees from the construction industry
particularly construction managers to state the soft skills they believe are
the most important for success within the workplace.

2. Determine the importance of soft skills to the success of a construction project

will involve a survey questionnaire. The survey will comprise of a set of
questions aiming to gain an understanding of the role of soft skills within
construction.

25
Data Collection

Primary Data

As part of the investigation to determine the most important soft skills required in
construction management as well as the importance of soft skills in terms of
achieving a successful project, data must be collected from a variety of sources.
Data is the main source of justification for any research project and the basis for the
research analysis. An important distinction that must be made when selecting the
most suitable data type is whether to use primary or secondary data. Secondary data
refers to data taken from a body of recorded information while primary data means
new data generated by the researcher conducting the research. The data used in
this report will be entirely primary. One reason for this choice is it provides a
reference that may be compared with previous data. In addition, there is currently
inadequate information on topic of soft skills in construction management in the
United Kingdom and therefore there is a need for new information on the subject.

Data source

To achieve the first aim, data was collected from 15 of the most used job
advertisement websites. In addition, data was collected directly from job ads posted
on the websites of UK construction companies.

To achieve the second object a survey questionnaire will be used. The survey
questionnaire was chosen largely due to its practicability. It consists of 1 question
and 5 statements where answers are provided on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of the
degree of agreement with the question. Surveys were sent by email to 60
construction companies within the United Kingdom. In addition, 9 successful surveys
were conducted by telephone and two face to face. The first part of the survey
questionnaire asked about the profile of the interviewee. Where questions included
age, gender, education, position and their experience.

26
Population definition

The survey conducted to achieve complete the 1st investigation focused mainly of
project manager roles or similar jobs as titles like such as project coordinator,
development manager and construction manager.

Although the survey questionnaire focused on the role of the construction project
manager, the targeted respondents included most construction professionals such
as quantity surveyors, civil engineers, construction planners, building contractors,
structural engineers, project managers and architects. The targeted participants
were chosen due to fact they were either project managers or their roles typically
involve an interaction with a project manager and therefore they are in a good
position to comment on the skills required in the role of the project manager.

Data collection period

The data collection took place over the course of approximately 2 months from the
15th of June 2018 to 1st September 2018.

Limitations

Limitation are essentially any factors which may affect the research process
particularly in terms of data collection. (Creswell, 2005) the use of a survey for
research purposes presents a number of challenges particularly in terms of the
quality and quantity of the responses. The limitations expected of this project are
stated as follows:
1. Time Limitation: The time dedicated to completing the research is approximately
three months. As the source of the research is a survey this may be an insufficient
amount of time to receive responses from all potential interviewees. As a result, this
could have a major impact of the reliability of the data since the sample size is
reduced
2. Receiving Responses: The targets for the research are professionals within the
industry. For several reasons perhaps due to busy schedules, privacy concerns or
lack of interest it is highly likely some of the survey may be declined.

27
3. Quality of Responses: It is unlikely all respondents will provide responses to the
best of their ability. Meaning it is expected for some responses to be rushed and
others partially completed.

Results and Analysis

This section presents the results of the two investigations described in the previous
chapter. The first results presented is the findings of the most commonly mention
soft skills requirements found in construction management job advertisements. The
second results presented show the outcome of the survey conducted to understand
the role soft skill plays within the construction industry in relation to the role of the
project manager.

28
Results of investigation 1

The investigation took place over the course of a month where 255 United Kingdom
construction project management job advertisements were sampled and analysed
based on the profile and job requirements. The focus was to identify the different
types soft skills mentioned in construction management job adverts and to create a
tally of the most mentioned skill. The results provided an indication of the most
important soft skills for a career in construction management. Each soft skill that was
identified was ranked based on the total number of times it was mentioned. An
observation was also made of the differences in the soft skill requirements based on
the level of experience for each job. Grouping the list of soft skills mention based on
the experience requirement of each job advert provides an indication of the most
relevant skills based on the job experience required.

Table 1( Frequency of adverts mentioning at least 1

soft skill grouped by experience required)

Experience 0 to 2 3 to 5 6 and
Requirement (year) above
Number Construction 85 99 71
Project Manager job
ads
Number of Ads 55 77 40
mentioning soft skills

29
 Figure 1 (Frequency of adverts with/without soft skill)

PROPORTION OF ADS MENTIONING

SOFT SKILLS
Number of Ads mentioning soft skills Number of Ads not mentioning soft skill

OVERALL PERCENTAGE 0.67 0.33

6 AND ABOVE 0.56 0.44

3 TO 5 0.78 0.22

0 TO 2 0.65 0.35

Frequency of ads with/without soft skills

The figure above shows the ratio between job ads containing a soft skill and those
without a soft skill. Approximately 67 percent of the job advertisements within the
sample stated at least one soft skill within its job requirements. A significant
proportion (approximately 72%) of the jobs requiring 0 to 5 years of experience
contained soft skills within it job requirement. This indicates the emphasis
construction companies place on the importance of possessing soft skills at the start
an individual career. A higher proportion of jobs where over 6 years of experience
were needed appeared to indicate an increased focus on technical skill. Although
soft skills were mentioned in many cases, a relatively lower proportion of job within
this experience range placed emphasis on soft skills in their requirement. This may
be attributed to the fact that a significant proportion of jobs within the 6 year and
above range had more specialised job requirements. Candidates at this stage are
transitioning from being assistant construction managers to senior project managers
or project coordinators. One observation made when collecting samples is that, jobs
within the 6 years and above range required candidates with specific skillset such as
an experience of specific types of projects or a conceptual knowledge of an aspect of

30
the industry such as either property development or client or stakeholder
engagement.

Identified Soft Skills

Upon evaluating the 172 job advertisements that mention a soft skill. A list of soft
skills was created. Eventually approximately 32 main soft skills were identified.
However, in many of the cases there was an overlap of the skills identified. As a
result, in some cases, some of the skills had to be grouped under a more general
term. For example, presentation skills, explaining skills or public speaking were
grouped under communication skills. Similarly, strong desire and work ethic were
group under the terms motivation/passion. And the term initiative included being
proactive or the ability to work independently while common sense included risk
management as well as health and safety. Eventually, the different types of soft skill
were divided into 20 different types.

Table 2(Top 20 types of soft skills mentioned in adverts)

Skill Mentions Total

percentage
of mentions
(%)
Communication- The ability to exchange 115 67
information orally, in writing or by any other
medium
Initiative – The ability to assess and act 83 48
independently.
Flexibility – Willingness to try new thing, to 81 47
change or compromise.
Team work 80 47
Responsibility- Being accountable for 69 40
something and having control over
something.
Leadership 55 32
Eagerness to learn 46 27

31
 Motivation/Passion- Possessing an 45 26
eagerness for the industry
Interpersonal skills- Being able to get along 44 26
and to relate to others as well as having a
sense of humour
Attention to Detail 40 23
Problem-solving- Having the ability to 35 20
generate solutions
Common sense– Having knowledge of the 25 15
rules of operation in the workplace
particularly health and safety and risk
management.
Time management – The ability to use time 22 13
effectively
Planning skills – The ability to decide in 21 12
advance
Organizational skills- Similar to time 18 10
management. The ability to use resources
efficiently to achieve desired results
Negotiation – Ability to have discussions that 15 9
lead to an agreement
Persuasion- A process aim at changing a 10 6
person’s opinion
Analytical- The ability to examine 7 4
methodically in order to interpret
Coordinating – Ability to bring complex 6 3
elements together in order to create a
harmonious relationship
Monitoring – ability to observe the progress 3 2
of something over time

List of 20 most mentioned soft skills

The most mentioned soft skill by a significant margin was communication.

Communication skills essentially refers to the ability to transfer information.

32
Communication skills covers a range of different skills such as presentation ability,
listening, explaining or writing. It is required in all aspects of a project, ranging from
ensuring all actors in a project are kept abreast of their role and obligations or
producing reports to avoiding disputes. Communication was mentioned 67 percent of
the time. Indicating clearly that communication is the most valued skill. There is a
difference of 3 in the number of mentions for the next 3 skills which are having
initiative, having flexibility and team work respectively. The bottom five skills
mentioned were negotiation, persuasion, analytical, coordinating and monitoring.

In general, although project management may be the title of an individual job

specification, the responsibilities of each project manager varies. For example, some
project manager job roles are more client or supplier based and therefore require the
ability to negotiate, some require the ability to produce plans, success in other roles
is contingent on managing resources efficiently or even coordinating and managing
subcontractors. This means that certain skills such as the ability to communicate, or
have initiative are more transferrable than other skills because a large proportion of
project management job roles that rely on them. One observation that can be made
about the disparity between the top 5 soft skills and the bottom 5 is the fact that skills
such as communication, team work or flexibility are more transferable in nature. In
the sense that the ability to communicate or have flexibility are used in a large
proportion of project management roles while skills like having the ability to negotiate
or coordinate are more role specific since less project manager jobs rely on them.

Top 5 skills based on experience

0 to 2 Years’ experience

This group refers to entry level project managers. There were 55 advertisements
within this group which mention at least 1 soft skill in its requirements. The list below
shows the top 5 soft skills required in candidates with 0 to 2 years’ experience.
Based on the results, the most desired soft skill is the ability to communicate.
Communication is followed by the ability to be intuitive and then an eagerness to
learn, then flexibility and finally teamwork. The general profile of an individual with 0
to 2 years’ experience is that of a person beginning their career within the
construction industry. Thus, the individual is likely to have skill and knowledge gaps

33
due to yet having acquired extensive job specific knowledge. As a result, it appears
the skillset demand of this age group primarily focused on maximizing an individual’s
ability to work in a new environment. This is demonstrated by the fact that jobs within
this experience range require potential employees to have an ability to be flexible
most likely in order to be able to adapt to different situations. Candidate also need to
be able to have possess a desire to gain new information and also have initiative in
order to be able to independently put into action what they learn. Communication is
also vital for this experience group since a significant proportion of the job adverts
required candidate to have a good grasp of the English language both verbally and
in writing as well as the capability for communicating with a wide variety of people.

Figure 2 (Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 0 to 2 years of experience)

TOP 5 SOFT SKILLS FOR 0 - 2 YEARS EXPERIENCE

Team working 25
5

Flexibility 27
4

Eagerness to learn 31
3

Initiative 34
2

Communication 39
1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

3 to 5 years’ experience
This was the most common group among the sample. This group contains individual
who have recently completed graduate programmes or have been working in the
industry for a relatively short period of time and are still developing their
understanding of project management while taking on projects requiring higher
responsibility. Unlike in the 0 to 2 years of experience category, traits such as
eagerness to learn falls outside the 5 most desired soft skill and is replaced by the
responsibility. This indicates a transition from the need to gain experience due to a
limitation of knowledge and the dependence on other senior staff to a position of
having to be trusted to work independently. As a result, responsibility which covers

34
the idea of being accountable and being capable of making good decision is more
highly desired. The rest of the top 5 of skills requiring 3 to 5 years of experience
contains the same skills as the 0 to 2 years of experience group which are team
work, flexibility and having initiative.
Figure 3(Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 3 to 5 years of experience)

TOP 5 SOFT SKILLS FOR 3 - 5 YEARS

EXPERIENCE
Iinitiative 35
5

Responsibility 41
4

Flexibility 42
3

Team working 46
2

Communication 52
1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

6 to 10 years’ experience
Among the sample of ads chosen this group provided the fewest job adverts. This
group also presented the fewest proportion of ads mentioning soft skills. What this
group indicated was a transition to specific roles for project manager. Unlike the jobs
requiring less than 6 years where a significant number of the titles of the job adverts
were either graduate project manager, assistant project manager or project manager
trainee, the 6 to10 years of experience group contains a large proportion of senior
project managers. As was the case with the previous group communication was the
most mentioned skill. There was also an increased emphasis on the leadership
ability as well as problem solving. This focus is in line with the responsibilities of
senior project managers and contractors who has the responsibility of guiding a
group of workers to achieve a required outcome. Senior project managers are
responsible for controlling the actions of their project teams, which is dependent on
the leadership skills. The mentions of problem solving can be attributed to the fact
that many job adverts within the 6 to 10 years of experience range require managers
to be able to troubleshoot project activities and tasks. Senior managers are required

35
to identify and are relied upon by the project teams to eliminate defects or issues and
to monitor them.

Figure 4(Top 5 skills mentioned requiring 6 and above years of experience)

TOP 5 SOFT SKILLS FOR 6 AND ABOVE

YEARS EXPERIENCE

Team working 12
5

Initiative 14
4

Problem-solving 21
3

Leadership 22
2

Communication 24
1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

36
Results of Investigation 2

Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire was divided into 2 sections. The first section asked questions on
the profile of the interviewees. The first section included questions about the
experience and qualifications of the interviewees while the second section asked
questions aiming to evaluate and examine role of soft skills in construction
management. The survey questionnaire consisted of 6 questions. 5 of the questions
contained either open ended questions or statements requiring the respondents to
rate their degree of agreement on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 mean strongly disagree
and 5 means strongly agree.

The main objective of this survey was to gain an understanding of the views of
construction workers on the influence, value and importance of soft skills in the role
of a construction project manager. The first question required interviewees to state
their top 5 soft skills. Question 2 and 3 aimed to quantify the importance of soft skill
in the workplace and on project. Questions 4 to 6 are about the importance of soft
skills in terms of a having success within the industry.

Results of Questionnaire

Demographics Description

Table 3 (Demographic of research participants)

Demographics Categories Frequency Percentage%

Gender Male 23 82.1
Female 5 17.9
GCSE or O Levels/A
Education levels 2 7.1
Bachelors 13 46.4
Masters 10 35.7
PhD 3 10.7

37
 Experience
8 28.57
(Years) 0 to 2
3 to 5 9 32.14
6 and above 11 39.29
Positions Project Coordinators 7 25.0
Project
11
Managers/Contractors 39.3
Site Managers 3 10.7
Others (Surveyors,
7
Civil Engineers etc 25.0

Demographics Analysis

The survey questionnaire was sent to 80 construction management organisations

within the United Kingdom. Approximately 50 companies were rang to request the
opportunity to conduct a telephone interview. There was a total of 28 responses. 9 of
the responses received were conducted by telephone while the rest were received
by email.

All responders were educated to some level. In terms of the education level of the
candidates, the interviewees had a wide variety of qualifications. The highest
proportion of interviewees had a bachelor’s degree in some aspect of construction
for example construction management, civil engineering or surveying at 46.4
percent. 35 percent of the rents of the respondents had a masters while the rest of
the candidates possessed a either a GCSE or A levels or a PHD. Very few of the
responses were from people with less than 5 years’ experience in the construction
industry. The less than 5 years of experience group comprised of approximately 28
percent of the participants. The 6 years and above group accounted for 39.2 percent.

Project managers and contractors were also responsible for the most responses
however there also responses from people working in other construction professions
such as surveyors, engineers and architects. Other interviewees accounted for 25
percent of the responses. The responses could be considered as reasonably reliable
and relevant due to the fact that the majority of responses came from project
managers.

38
Questionnaire Answers

To enable a comparison between the results of the 1st investigation, the question of
the 5 most important soft skills was posed to the interviewees. The aim of the
comparison is to test the reliability of the first investigation. The results are presented
below. The result indicate that communication is the most important soft skill since
17 of the interviewees mentioned it. This is followed by team work and responsibility
which was mentioned a total of 16 and 15 respectively. Both leadership skills and
problem solving were also regarded as important since they were mentioned 12 and
10 times respectively. The top 5 skills on the table below all appeared in the top 11
of table of the list of soft skills in investigation 1. Although this comparison is useful
there is a limitation on the reliability of the result due to the sample size disparity.
The first investigation had a total sample size of 255 while there were only 28 usable
responses in the second investigation.
Figure 5(Results of question 1: What are the top 5 most important skills)

1. What are the 5 most important soft skills

Problem solving 7
5

Leadership 9
4

Responsibility 12
3

Team work 13
2

Communication 14
1

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Survey Results

The survey results presented below contained 10 questions aimed at determining

the role soft skills play in terms of achieving success in construction project.
Achieving this objective included determining the importance of skills as a whole on
a construction project as well as the importance of soft skills in enabling a budding
construction project manager to achieve success in the industry. Admittedly, the
structure of the questionnaire is in a generic form which has a number of limitations

39
such as the inability to receive detailed responses such as anecdote of experiences
encountered by construction managers and construction workers when performing
their duties. However, this structure was chosen to encourage more responses to the
email that were sent out. Due to the limitation in the time period for collection it was
vital to produce a questionnaire that was quick and easy to complete and thus
reducing the likelihood of uncompleted questionnaires. The limitation in the depth of
responses was slightly overcome by conducting some of the interviews over the
phone. The use of telephone interviews provided an opportunity to ask follow-up
question which encouraged interviewees to expand on the reasons for their choices.

Figure 6 (Questionnaire results)

RESULTS OF SURVEY
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

SOFT SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESS

1 2 3 11 11
2

OF A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

A MAJOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT CAN

9 6 5 6 2
3

SUCCEED WITHOUT GOOD SOFT SKILL

YOU CANNOT BE AN EFFECTIVE AND
S U C C E S S F U L C O N S T R U C T I O N P R O J E C T 01 5 3 19
4

MANAGER WITHOUT GOOD SOFT SKILLS

THERE IS A SOFT SKILL GAP AMONG
3 4 5 7 9
4

GRADUATES

LACK OF SOFT SKILLS CAN HOLD YOU BACK

11 2 3 21
5

WITHIN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY?

SOFT SKILLS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN
TECHNICAL SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE IN 2 4 7 10 5
6

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT IN …

2. Soft skills are important for the success of all construction projects

The objective of this question was to determine the importance of soft skills in a
construction project. An overwhelming amount of the research informants agreed
with the statement, that soft skills are important to the success of the project. Some
of the candidates who agreed, stated that due to the nature of construction projects
especially fact that they involve human beings, an individual would struggle to
achieve success in construction projects in the long term because “sooner or later

40
there will be a need to rely on skills” such as your ability “generate solutions” or “to
think ahead”. A few candidates who disagreed or strongly disagreed felt that
technical knowledge believed that although soft skills are useful projects technical
knowledge such a clear understanding of the fundamental principles were far more
important in most construction project.

3. A major construction projects can succeed without the project manager or project
participants having the soft skills you stated in Question 1

This question is a follow up to the first question. The aim of this question is to
specifically determine or quantify how critical soft skills is to achieve successful
objectives. Naturally, most of the interviewees who agreed that soft skills were
important for the success of construction projects disagreed that a project could
succeed without soft. 9 of the total interviewees strongly disagreed with the
statement. This may be due to the fact that the project manager’s skillset plays vital
role in project. One reason that was often stated is the fact that lacking vital soft skills
such as the ability to communicate or interact with co-workers will in many situations
lead to difficulties. 6 people stated they disagreed and 5 of the interviewees were
unsure. 5 other candidates agreed with the statement. One of the reasons that was
cited for the agreement of the statement, is the fact that individual had experienced
and witnessed a project being completed successful (although through struggles)
despite the project manager having what may be described as poor soft skills.

4. There is a soft skill gap among construction management graduates

The reason this question was asked is to assess the validity of a common question
that has often been associated with graduates starting their career within the
industry. Although there were a variety of responses to this question majority of the
respondents agreed with the statement at a ratio of 16 to 7. This suggest that there
is an issue in the industry where recent graduate who complete their qualifications
are ill equipped to deal with the soft skill demands of their job. Therefore, it is
important for a graduate to be made aware that in order to be able to implement their
project management knowledge and skills for the successful a career, it is necessary
for them develop their project management soft skills or competencies before and
while undertaking the discipline.

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 5. Lack of soft skills can hold back a budding project manager from progressing
within the construction industry?

There overwhelming majority of respondent agreed with this statement. 21 out of the
28 respondents strongly agreed while 3 more respondents agreed with the
statement. The response to this question suggests that it is highly unlikely for an
individual be successful in the industry without possessing a good soft skill skillset.

6. Soft skills are more important than technical skills and knowledge in a career
construction project management in your opinion.

15 out of the 28 responses stated they agreed with the premise that soft skills were
more important than technical skills. As the research in the literature review suggest
soft skills and hard skills or technical form the basis of the ability of a project
manager to execute their job effective and successful. There has been debates as to
which skill is more important. What this result indicates is that soft skill is more
important in a project management career. This indicates that although having
technical skills are valuable especially when finding a job, intangible skills such as
your ability to be creative, having a desire to learn, listen and explain, or having good
interpersonal skills contribute more to the success of the average project manager.

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Conclusion

Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the outcome of this research project. The
chapter provides an explanation of the procedures taken in achieving the objectives
of this project which was to gain an understanding of the importance of soft skills in
construction project management and to identify the key soft skill required be
become an effective and successful project manager. This chapter is divided into 3
sections, a review of the research project and its result and suggestions for
investigations.

Review of research project

This research investigation provided insight into the role of soft skills in construction
management project and the industry in the United Kingdom. The project was
necessary since there were very few reports, papers or thesis that covered the topic
especially in relation to the United Kingdom. This project also provided valuable
practical information for new graduates and relatively inexperienced project
managers. Construction managers may use the information contained in this report
help their career prospect by taking information from the literature review such as
ways to ways to develop their skills or by examining the results of the two
investigations.

Through the literature review we learn about several key concepts, such the concept
of skill including its definitions and types, as well as the concept of effectiveness and
success in construction projects. We also learn about the concept of skill gaps and
the causes as well as some of the issues the construction industry is encountering in
terms of a skill gap in recent graduates.

Two investigations were carried out as part of this project, the first investigation
involved compiling a list of the most mentioned soft skills by reviewing job
advertisements for construction project management roles and counting the number
of times different soft skills were mentioned. This helped to determine the most in
demand skills and therefore provide an indication of the most important soft skills.
The results showed that the soft skills required for a project manager varied
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depending on the experience required for a particular job. For example, it was
determined that for although overall the 5 most mentioned soft silks were
communication, initiative, flexibility, teamwork and responsibility, the top 5 varied for
jobs requiring 0 to 2 years, 3 to 5 years and 6 and above years of experience. This
indicates the types of soft skill required changes as the responsibility of the project
manager increases. One of the main observations made was the fact that having
good communication skills appeared at the top of each least. This suggest that for
any budding project manager it is vital they develop their communication skills in
order to be successful as a construction project manager in the United Kingdom.

The second investigation involved using a questionnaire survey to determine the

importance of soft skills as a project manager. The outcome of the investigation was
that soft skills did indeed play a significant role in becoming a successful project. The
majority of respondents agreed that soft skill was important for the success of a
project, that major projects will struggle to be completed successfully without good
soft skill. Majority of the respondents also agreed that the was a soft skill gap and
therefore recent graduate should try to develop their soft skills when embarking on a
career as a construction project manager.

Recommendations for further research

One of the biggest issues encountered during the investigation was the time
constraint particularly when receiving feedback from the interviewees. The time limit
meant there wasn’t enough time to receive many responses.

The first investigation may be enhanced further by not only increasing the sample
size but also by asking the some of the companies who place the advert about the
reason they chose the skills mentions, how the skills affect company related
activities and how they came to choose the specific skills that were mentioned.

The reliance on using emails in investigation 2 to contact potential interviewees also

contributed to receive a low response rate, especially since it was very easy to
simply ignore emails and follow up check. Fortunately, more responses were
received by carrying out some of the surveys by phone, due to time constraints the
number of surveys that could be carried out by telephone were also limited. A more
effective and reliable investigation may be carried out by increase the investigation

44
time period to allow for more responses and therefore a larger sample size for
investigation 2. To encourage more responses and to avoid partially completed
surveys the number of questions were limited to 6 and so the investigation may be
improved by asking more question that go into more detail about the perspective of
organisations on soft skills, development of the interviewees soft skills as they
gained more experience as well as practical ways to improve your soft skills.

45
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