Pieterse, B; Agyekum, K; Manu, P; Mohandes, S R; Cheung, C and Yunusa-Kaltungo, A (2024) Examining critical project management skills for successful delivery of major maintenance projects: Insights from the United Kingdom energy sector. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 31(4), pp. 1556-1584. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: 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. Design/methodology/approach: 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)). Findings: 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.” Originality/value: 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.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | asset maintenance; energy sector; maintenance strategies; project management skills; survey |
| Index terms: | stakeholder management, accounting, complexity, methodology, state of the art, strategy, United Kingdom, survey, quality assurance, exploratory factor analysis, personnel, scheduling, clustering, implementation, energy sector, duration, project management, coordination, deviation, statistical analysis, time management, forecasting, quantitative research, project manager |
| Subjects: | project controls, systems engineering, statistical analysis, quality assurance, industry analysis, research methods, management, project management theory and practice, Geography, operations research, economic analysis, prediction and forecasting, financial and cost management, data analysis and analytics, contractual arrangements, participation process, data science, profession, research dissemination and communication, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Procurement, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Time Control, Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Quality Management, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here