Yean-Yng Ling, F and Sui Pheng Low, G (2000) Importance of design consultants' soft skills in design-build projects. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 7(4), pp. 389-398. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Architects and engineers (AE) need to possess both hard' and soft' skills. Soft skills are important because AE interact in organizational settings instead of working by themselves. Soft skills may be grouped under conscientiousness', initiative', social skills', controllability' and commitment'. As part of a larger study on the selection of consultants by design-build (DB) contractors in Singapore, a survey was conducted to gauge whether contractors felt that soft skills are important for consultants to carry out their design tasks in DB projects. From the literature, attributes relating to these skills were identified. Data were collected via mailed questionnaire. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a five-point scale the importance of various soft skills. It was found that all the soft skills, which were operationalized into 14 attributes, are important factors that contractors look for when selecting consultants. It is, therefore, concluded that contextual performance is important and relevant.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Architects; contextual performance; design-build; engineers; selection; soft skills |
| Index terms: | questionnaire, commitment, survey, architect, Singapore, engineer |
| Subjects: | Geography, psychology, data collection methods, profession |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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