Critical Technical Competencies of Public Sector Project Managers in Developing Countries

As the main public sector procurement agencies, public works departments, especially in developing countries, play a vital nation building role of providing physical infrastructure and public buildings. Their under-performance has often been criticised. Blame is often attached to their project managers for being incompetent. Yet, the technical competencies of project managers in public organisations in developing countries have been very much under-studied. Research was conducted to examine the technical competencies of project managers required by Malaysia’s Public Works Department. Using the Delphi Technique to collect data from senior staff who regularly appraise their subordinates’ performance, the study sought to uncover very important and always used technical competencies. By combining the two data sets, those deemed critical were isolated. Eight competencies were found to be very important, nine always used and nine critical. The critical competencies are time management, quality assurance, strategic planning, project technical capability, coordination of nominated subcontractors and utility companies, budget development, resource needs identification, project control administration, and determination of project deliverables. The findings of the study can feed into the organisation’s quest to increase the level of project management performance particularly during staff selection and training exercises. Their sister organisations in other developing countries can replicate the study to uncover their own sets of requisite critical competencies which can likewise be used for targeted staff selection and training.