Assessing the managerial competencies of male and female construction managers in Ghana

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Date
NOVEMBER, 2016
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Abstract
Around the world, the construction industry is normally seen to be dominated by men. This is not in regards to workers alone but managers as well. In Ghana, only a few projects are managed by female construction managers. The managerial competencies of construction managers should be investigated to get a comprehensive understanding of this situation, and determine if this unbalanced scale in construction managerial positions has a link with differences in managerial competencies. This study assessed the managerial competencies of construction managers in the Ghanaian construction industry by gender. The study identified several core managerial competencies including, job knowledge, leading and motivating employees, building teamwork, communicating and listening to the team, managing finances, demonstrating strategic leadership and several others. To complete this study, the Yamane’s formula was used to determine the sample size, the purposive sampling technique was used together with the snowball sampling technique to identify female construction managers. Data was sought from 157 respondents comprising 122 male managers and supervisors and 35 female managers and supervisors. A three-part questionnaire was developed with the focus part being the competency assessment instrument where respondents were asked to rate their construction managers. Data gathered was analyzed by statistical test of significance where the mean scores approach was used. The results of the analysed data revealed that male construction managers exhibit equally similar competencies as exhibited by female construction managers. The study revealed that female construction managers score relatively higher in expecting ethics and accountability, working with diverse people and perspectives and communicating and listening to the team whiles male construction manages score relatively higher with regards to understanding performance indicators and metrics. The study concluded that the roles and responsibilities of a construction manager may be a more determinant factor in selecting competent managers than the gender of the construction managers and hence recommended employers to discard negative perceptions of female construction managers and balance the gender of construction managers.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
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