18 Key Attributes Construction Managers Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Sophia Miller

Monday, September 7, 2015

Construction managers plan, direct, or coordinate, usually through subordinate supervisory personnel, activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities, and systems. Participate in the conceptual development of a construction project and oversee its organization, scheduling, budgeting, and implementation. Includes managers in specialized construction fields, such as carpentry or plumbing.

The core tasks that construction managers are likely to carry out include:

Schedule the project in logical steps and budget time required to meet deadlines.
Confer with supervisory personnel, owners, contractors, or design professionals to discuss and resolve matters, such as work procedures, complaints, or construction problems.
Prepare contracts and negotiate revisions, changes and additions to contractual agreements with architects, consultants, clients, suppliers and subcontractors.
Prepare and submit budget estimates, progress reports, or cost tracking reports.
Interpret and explain plans and contract terms to administrative staff, workers, and clients, representing the owner or developer.
Plan, organize, or direct activities concerned with the construction or maintenance of structures, facilities, or systems.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that construction managers would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Having a strong preference for enterprising work environments. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 100%

Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 95%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 95%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.8%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.8%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.2%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.8%

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 83.8%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82.4%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81.8%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 81.2%

Having a strong preference for realistic work environments. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 81%

Maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80.6%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 80%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%