Interface Management between Internal and External Project Managers in Public Works Procurement: Fundamental Competencies Required

Abstract

Relationship management in project management has generally been studied in the context of the managers and their teams’ stakeholder management, leaving the interactions between and among the managers’ themselves as a gap to be filled. This paper explored fundamental competencies required of internal and external project managers for managing their interfaces in public construction projects. A qualitative research approach was adopted to study perceptions from two Ghanaian institutions – one Public Institution and one Private Construction Firm which together offered the phenomenon studied. The Public Institution represents the Internal Project Managers (IPM) perspective while the Private Construction Firm represents the External Project Managers (EPM) perspective. Data were collected through in-depth interviews which were recorded and analysed using open, axial and selective coding. Three competency themes were studied - knowledge, skills and management styles. It was found that, Internal and External project managers need experiential knowledge about the overriding influences of public sector policies and generic tension between investment and profit interests. Skills required include leadership, communication, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and managing in political environment. Management style elements also include collaborative, win-win and noncombatant posture approaches. The managers are also to be aware of the basic causes/sources of conflicts including; poor project scoping, frequent request for review, breach of contract provisions and variation orders. A conceptual interface management model embodying characteristics, management essentials and action steps also emerged, indicating that, the IPM-EPM interface management has theoretical and conceptual foundations which could be modelled, practiced and studied as a knowledge area in Project Management. The study provides project management literature with empirical practicefocused knowledge on project managers’ operational interfaces management in public construction projects and a call for public-private Organisational learning platforms to educate their project managers on public project related policies and processes for effective project performance to benefit society.