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THE EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE COMPETENCIES

ON PROJECT PERFORMANCE

IN VIETNAMESE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

By

Cao Hao Thi - Fredric W. Swierczek

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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

• Introduction• Literature review• Hypothesis• Research methodology• Conclusions and recommendations

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Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

• Question: Does Human Resource Competencies effect on Project Performance?

The answers are still debatable

• Many academics and practitioners have agreed that HR Competencies is one of the most crucial elements project success.

• The results of the empirical studies conducted by Pinto and Prescott (1988) and Belout and Gauvereau (2004) contradict the above judgment.

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Introduction OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

• Attempts to respond to the controversial findings

• Investigate the effects of human resource competencies on project performance of infrastructure projects in Vietnam

• Consider key project factors of human resource competencies as they relate to project performance criteria

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Literature Review PROJECT PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

• Criteria may differ according to the assessors

Common criteria:

+ Cost

+ Time

+ Technical performance / Quality

+ Customer satisfaction

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Literature Review KEY PROJECT FACTORS

• Belassi and Tukel (1996) grouped critical success factors into 4 areas related to:

+ External environment

+ Project manager and team members

+ Organization

+ Project

• Pinto and Prescott (1988) and Belout and Gauvereau (2004) concluded the ‘Personnel factor’ did not have an impact on project success.

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Literature Review SUMMARY

• Many studies in project management have presented HR competencies factors including two main components of manager and team members of project

• There is limited research on the strength of the relationship between the human resource competencies and project performance

• Some results of the empirical studies concluded the ‘Personnel factor’ did not have an impact on project success. This contradicts the trend in project management in which the HR competencies usually plays important role in the success of organizations or in the performance of projects

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

ProjectPerformance

HumanCompetencie

s

ManagerCompetencie

s

MemberCompetencie

s

Coordinate

MakeDecision

Negotiate

DelegateAuthority

Problem Solving

TroubleShooting

GoalCommitment

TechnicalBackground

Cost

CustomerSatisfaction

Time

TechnicalPerformance

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HYPOTHESIS

In a project, the higher the competencies of the project human resource the better the project performance

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Research Methodology RESEARCH DESIGN

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Pilot Survey

FinalQuestionnaire

Reliability Analysis

ExploratoryFactor Analysis

(EFA)

Reliability Analysis

ExploratoryFactor Analysis

(EFA)

ConfirmatoryFactor Analysis

(CFA)

StructuralEquation Modeling

(SEM)

Survey

Literature Review

InterviewsInitial

Questionnaire

Back Translation

RevisionFirst Draft

Questionnaire

The Research Process

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Research Methodology OPERATIONALIZATION & MEASUREMENT

• The indicators of project performance and project management factors will be mainly measured by the perception of project managers of infrastructure projects in Vietnam

• Indicators of Project Performance:+ Cost

+ Time

+ Technical performance

+ Customer satisfaction

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Research Methodology OPERATIONALIZATION & MEASUREMENT

• Indicators of HR Competencies factors are mainly based on the groups of factors developed by Belassi and Tukel (1996). These groups related to:

+ Project Manager Competencies

+ Team Member Competencies

• In the conceptual framework, two factors of project manager competencies and team member competencies are considered as first order constructs; and HR competencies are treated as higher order construct.

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Research Methodology SURVEY

• Empirical research with quantitative approach• Self-administrative questionnaire• Informants: professionals in infrastructure projects in

Vietnam• Number of questions: 25 • Method: Mail + Direct interviews• Sample size: 239 (response rate: 24%)

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DATA ANALYSIS

• Descriptive statistics• Factor analysis• Structural equation modeling• Testing the conceptual model• Hypothesis testing

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Data Analysis DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

• Project background characteristics+ Position of respondents+ Ownership of project+ Type of project+ Number of activities+ Total budget of project+ Work experience of professionals+ Organizational structure+ Stage of project

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Data Analysis DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

• Assessment of non-response bias

Response from the survey were not significantly different from the pilot survey

• Correlation between dependent variables and independent variables

The project factors are significantly correlated with performance criteria

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Data Analysis FACTOR ANALYSIS

• 11 HR Competencies variables 2 factors + Manager Competencies ( 5 5)+ Member Competencies ( 6 6)

Confirm factors developed by Belassi & Tukel (1996)

• 4 project performance variables 1 factor (4 variables)Confirm project performance most used in previous

research

• Results of factor analysis confirm the appropriate scales for measuring the key projects factors of HR Competencies & Project performance

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Data Analysis FACTOR ANALYSIS

HR Competencies

Member Competencies Manager Competencies

Problem solving .884

Trouble shooting .859

Commitment .737

Teamwork .687

Communication skills .673

Technical background .630

Ability to make decisions .895

Ability to coordinate .824

Ability to negotiate .782

Ability to delegate authority .757

Ability to perceive role and responsibility .691

Average of factor 5.099 5.214

Standard deviation of factor 0.966 1.141

Eigenvalues 6.579 1.174

Variance explained (%) 59.81 10.67

Cumulative variance explained (%) 59.81 70.48

Cronbach alpha 0.9001 0.9128

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Data Analysis FACTOR ANALYSIS

Project Performance

Technical performance .828

Customer satisfaction .712

Cost .599

Time .505

Average of factor 4.916

Standard deviation of factor 0.955

Eigenvalues 2.313

Variance explained (%) 57.817

Cumulative variance explained (%) 57.817

Cronbach alpha 0.728

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Data Analysis SEM ANALYSIS

Overall Fit Index Critical values

Chi-square χ2 Smaller is better

p-value p-value > 0.05

Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI) Range from 0 to 1. Close to 1: good

Comparative Fit Index (CFI) Range from 0 to 1. Close to 1: good

Normed Fit Index (NFI) Range from 0 to 1. > 0.9: acceptable

RMSEA < 0.05 : good fit. 0.05 - 0.08: reasonable

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Data Analysis

SEM MODEL

ProjectPerformanc

e

HumanCompetencies

ManagerCompetencies

MemberCompetencies

Coordinate

MakeDecision

Negotiate

DelegateAuthority

Problem Solving

TroubleShooting

GoalCommitment

TechnicalBackground

Cost

CustomerSatisfaction

Time

0.81

0.58

0.52

0.62

0.85

0.84

0.82

0.80

0.86

0.840.92

0.81

0.80

0.66

TechnicalPerformance

0.74

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Data Analysis TESTING THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL

• All of Overall Fit Index of CFA of key project factors and project performance fall into the acceptable range of goodness of fit criteria

• This confirmed the validation of the proposed constructs as well as the overall fit of observed data

• The SEM results supported the hypothesis of the relationships in the conceptual framework

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• There are 2 factors including Manager & Member Competencies had a significantly positive relationship with HR Competencies and finally impact on Project Performance

• Provide confirmatory support to the HR Competencies variables developed by Belassi and Tukel (1996):+ Project manager and + Team members

• Confirm the important role of HR competencies in project performance that stated from management theory

Conclusions and RecommendationsFINDINGS

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• Confirm 4 project performance most used in previous research:+ Cost+ Time+ Technical performance+ Customer satisfaction

Project Performance can be considered a unidimensional construct

Conclusions and RecommendationsFINDINGS

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• The results indicated that the criteria of technical background and customer satisfaction are more important than cost and time in the evaluation of the project success

• Four variables including the abilities of project manager to make decisions, to coordinate, to negotiate, to delegate authority were significantly related to the Manager Competencies

• Four variables including problem solving, trouble shooting, goal commitment, and technical background were significantly related to the Member Competencies

Conclusions and RecommendationsFINDINGS

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• From the results, the Vietnamese project professionals as well as their peers throughout developing countries can recognize and insure the key human resource competencies needed for better project performance

• Develop the competencies through more appropriate training for project managers and professionals may be very important for future success of projects.

Conclusions and RecommendationsMANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS

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• A limitation concerns the use of subjective measurement

• The present findings are only based on the sample of infrastructure projects in Vietnam

Conclusions and RecommendationsLIMITATIONS

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THANK YOU

FOR YOUR ATTENTION!