Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Project Management Competency Assessment And Development Of A Bridge And Road Contractor: A Case Study Of A Taiwanese Contractor Operating In Vietnam

At the present, Vietnam is executing many large scale transport projects, especially some expressways such as Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway Project, Ha Noi-Hai Phong Expressway Project, Ho Chi Minh-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway Project, etc…, with the participation of many well-known international contractors from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan as well as big contractors of Vietnam which have confirmed their names through previous successful projects.

However, a common situation in executing transport projects in Vietnam is that most of the projects are behind the expected schedule. On 6th of June 2012, the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam held a conference on “Hastening the speed of work and quality assurance in some transport infrastructure projects with the participation of foreign contractors”. In the conference, Mr.Mai Tuan Anh, who is the General Manager of Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) stated that,

“Besides the objective factors such as site problems, weather, increase of material, etc…, the main causes leading to the slow progress are that the contractors are weak in project management, construction planning, and lack of intenseness when developing the works, and contractors’ project managers do not meet the requirements of the works.”(Website www.giaothongvantai.com date 07th of June 2012)

It can be realized that the lack of modern project management knowledge is the current problem of not only Vietnamese contractors but also of the international contractors. This is one of the major causes that affects the progress as well as the quality of the projects. Besides, transport projects are becoming more and more complex with the participation of many organizations, therefore, it is very necessary for the contractors to assess their project management competencies and from that they can know what are their strengths and their weaknesses so that they can improve themselves in order to manage the projects successfully as well as to have better competitive competencies.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Phuoc made a case study aimed to:
1.  identify project management competency factors.
2. assess project management competency of a bridge and road contractor.
3. analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the competency.
4. provide project management competency development framework and strategies for improving the project management competency.

Conclusion

Based on both the result of Project Management Competence Assessment and reviewing the Company’s current project management practice, it can be said that so far the Company has managed its project just based on ad hoc basis and the importance as well as benefits of project management has not been recognized by the Company’s top management.
The recommendations provided are just the frameworks for the Company to start implementing project management methodology. And in order to successfully implement it, the Company is suggested to develop a detailed step by step plan on how to make the whole Company getting used to  apply the project management knowledge in managing it projects.

Recommendation

First, all staff members should be educated about the benefits of project management function.
After that, the Company must define the necessary project management roles in accordance with the project management knowledge area and the competencies of each roles. For example, the roles might be Project Manager, Schedule Manager, Cost Manager, Risk Manager, etc.

The next step is assessing the selected key staffs in order to determine the knowledge and skills of them about project management, to find the gaps to be fulfilled in the future.

Providing training on project management knowledge in general, as well as focus on the specific knowledge areas that are need to improved. After training programs, the staffs will apply what they have learned to managing their work, and the Company should conduct survey after that to determine whether the staff members successfully applied the knowledge and what else needs to do for improvement.

Develop a project management knowledge base, such as tools, templates, previous project information (lesson learned), best practices, etc for better support the project management activities.
Finally, the Company should monitor and assess the whole processes regularly for continuous improvement.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted below.


Nowadays, more and more businesses are acknowledging the benefits of project management to their organizations. A well managed project will be finished on time, within its approved budget and provide satisfaction to the client. In order to manage projects effectively, an organization is required to improve its project management competence. So it is very important for the organization to assess its project management competence so as to know which areas that require improvement.


This report will review the literature related to project management competence assessment, study and assess the current practice of project management of the case study company, and propose recommendations for improvement of the company.

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