Competencies Critical to Create and Implement Construction Projects' Health and Safety Plan: Perception of the Global Academia

The construction industry plays a significant role in the global and national economies, employing around seven percent of the global workforce and accounting for about thirteen percent of the global gross domestic product. The construction industry is a pivotal contributor to the U.S. economy and significantly impacts the lives of a considerable segment of the population. Despite its importance, the construction industry faces various challenges, such as declining productivity, workplace safety, and work disputes. The human element, particularly construction project managers, is critical to resolving many of these long-standing problems. To identify training gaps and link qualified construction project managers with relevant projects, it is necessary to understand the competencies required for construction project managers. Through a study, we identified 21 skills necessary for construction project managers and revealed essential knowledge areas and personality characteristics critical to each skill. A survey including 20 demographic and 672 ranking questions was developed to explore the global construction academics’ perception of the importance of each recognized knowledge area/personality characteristic to each identified skill. Using a popular web-based survey tool, Qualtrics, the authors proposed an innovative design framework for dividing the lengthy questionnaire to present 21 ranking questions to each participant randomly and evenly. Each participant ranked the importance of two universal knowledge areas, two domain-specific knowledge areas, and three personality characteristics to three skills. Next, the data collected from 2,016 professors, post-docs, and students worldwide, were analyzed to identify the importance of each knowledge area/personality characteristic to each skill. This paper identifies the importance of each knowledge area/personality characteristic to the ability to create and implement a construction project health and safety plan. The findings of this study can assist the construction academia and industry in directing their efforts toward key competency development areas, scaffolding courses and planning curricula, and catering training and professional development to the real needs of the worldwide workforce.