Jaselski [7] recognised this changing role for construc-
tion project managers and argued that they must sup-
plement their traditional functions with other non-
engineering knowledge and skills to meet today's pro-
fessional demands for which they become responsible.
Ahmad [8] equally emphasised the need for the project
management function itself to adapt to these changing
industry conditions in order to maintain its relevance
for project delivery well into the future. Ahmad [8]
presented the solution to such adaptation as pairing
the project management function with information
technology (IT). The signi®cance of such pairing
becomes more apparent when viewed against the 70%
proportion of construction project managers who con-
sidered their IT resources inadequate to deal with the
demands of their job [9]. Although this is relevant to
developing future project managers, it does not cover
all the dierent issues that project managers operating
in today's industry environment are likely to encoun-
ter. For example [10] sees the management of relation-
ships as an essential ingredient that is increasingly
impacting on successful project delivery. It is true to
say that the management of relationships can be facili-
tated by technology and engineering principles.
However, the very essence of relationships is non-tech-
nical and often social-oriented skills. Many practising
project managers in performing their duties and roles,
naturally, re¯ect these skills. The industry can gain
valuable lessons and insight for expanding the scope
and coverage of the functions required of project man-
agers by establishing the additional skills and knowl-
edge that these practitioners have to continuously
acquire in order to retain marketable services. These
additional requirements often encompass the broader
social aspects such as societal expectations for environ-
mentally responsible behaviour, and maintaining the
right relationships that will have a positive impact on
the project outcome. For the construction industry, the
essence in focusing on improving competency of pro-
ject managers derives also from the impact of projects
on the company's business. Each project forms a sig-
ni®cant proportion of the company's overall turnover.
The failure of a single project can therefore trigger the
failure of the whole company [11, 12].