An evaluation of factors to improve performance of American engineering and construction managers overseas

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether or not American engineering and construction managers who work overseas perceive individual factors and structural factors as affecting their performance. The study also addresses the issue of whether the perceptions of American mangers differ based on their tenure in overseas assignments, interests in overseas assignments, and experience with an orientation program for overseas assignments. Perceptions of American engineering and construction managers about the importance of factors for performance were elicited by a questionnaire. The sample for the study consisted of managers from seventeen American engineering and construction firms of international repute who worked in Asian countries. The findings indicate that American engineering and construction managers who worked in Asian countries felt that individual factors (i.e., job ability, interaction ability, language ability, job amenities, and family) and structural factors (i.e., communication procedures, decision making procedures, and control procedures) do influence and affect performance overseas. Job ability, interaction ability, company structure, family, job amenities, and language ability, as found from analysis of the perceptions of American engineering and construction managers, are respectively first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth in terms of their relative importance for performance overseas. The study indicates that individual factors and structural factors should be considered by American engineering and construction firms in their selection and training of American managers for overseas positions.