Project manager's effectiveness in productivity of Bahrain's construction industry

This research investigates the impact of the project manager's effectiveness on project productivity and vice versa. It also investigates the variables that influence both the effectiveness and productivity particularly in State of Bahrain. The research has proposed and verified four hypotheses: 1. There are five principal categories of influence variables which affect the productivity of a project namely: personal, job, project, organisational and management, and environmental. 2. There are five principal categories of influence variables which affect the effectiveness of a project manager namely: personal, job, project, organisational and management, and environmental. 3. There is a direct relationship between the project productivity influence variables and the project manager's effectiveness influence variables. 4. There is a direct relationship between the project productivity and the project manager's effectiveness and that it is a correlative interrelationship. Data was collected by a questionnaire survey, which covered 38 contractors in Bahrain, and considers the concept of 'family measures' as the basis for its design. Two types of questionnaires were used, which targeted the project managers and their executives (contract managers), which-enables the research to cross-examine the data with each other. The major findings are: A new method of classification, that consists of five categories and is applicable to both productivity and effectiveness influence variables, is introduced to overcome the pitfalls and weaknesses of the current classification methods. The definitions of project productivity and project manager's effectiveness are modified and the concept of 'Universal Productivity' is introduced, which is based on the optimal use and balance of all the resources within the five categories. The research has produced lists of influence variables for each of the five influence categories of both productivity and the effectiveness and identifies their degree of importance on the bases of both the literature and the results. This approach has enabled the identification of how each of the research variables that influence the effectiveness of project manager influences the project productivity and vice versa. Collectively, the research hypotheses, productivity and effectiveness definitions along with the influence categories are diagrammatically presented in two models, which lead to: Productivity is the result of project manager's effectiveness in combining of the five categories of influence variables. Therefore, the success of improving the productivity within a construction project is likely be achieved based on how successfully the management including the project manager could optimise and balance the utilisation of all the resources within the five categories of influence variables in particular those of highest impact, which the research has identified. An effective project manager has certain characteristics and capabilities in the five categories of influence variables, which the research has identified. In addition, the research has contributed in identifying the following issues: Areas to be considered by project managers to improve their effectiveness; characteristics to be adopted by the employers to improve project managers' effectiveness; guidelines for developing a strategy to improve productivity and effectiveness in Bahrain; local needs for the Bahrain construction industry; how project and contract managers perceive project productivity and manager's effectiveness in Bahrain. Finally, the research formulates some suggestions for further research in the field of project managers' effectiveness – project productivity relationships in general and in Bahrain in particular.