Managing the Performance of Consulting Engineers within a Multi-Project Environment in South Africa
Date
2011-04-19
Authors
Theron, Erik
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Abstract
The performance of consulting engineers in large South African firms who work on more than one project simultaneously – each project with its own project team, different client, and scope of work, quality, budget and time constrains – is driven by their motivation in the work place. An increase in the performance of the consulting engineers results in more successful projects and therefore more successful clients.
The objective of this research study was to improve the performance of consulting engineers operating within a multi-project environment in large engineering consulting firms in South Africa through determining and managing the key factors that influence their performance. The concepts consulting engineer, consulting firm and multi-project environment were defined and characterised and the factors that affect their performance, as described in the literature, were presented as propositions.
Consulting engineers from the twenty largest CESA (Consulting Engineers South Africa) registered consulting firms responded to a questionnaire by rating performance-related manifest/measurable variables and also suggesting additional factors affecting their performance. The exploratory factor analysis done on the qualitative data revealed that the performance is managed by having excess specialist capacity, having a clever and strategic reward system, letting consulting engineers experience leadership, managing the workload and knowledge through alignment to organisation vision, creating an optimal working environment and enforcing group work where knowledge is shared. The consulting engineers suggested that the client and social involvement also influence their performance and these factors could be managed.
No correlation existed between the actual factors affecting the performance of consulting engineers and the number of years of experience, the engineering discipline or the management position. Knowing and understanding the actual factors, they could be utilised in managing the performance of the consulting engineers that will lead to increased client‟s satisfaction.
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Consultants, Engineering consultants, Performance management