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Determining the competencies required for engineering programmes has become important due to the increasing challenges faced by engineers after graduation and the tremendous development in technology. This research aims to identify the general competencies that fresh graduate students of engineering schools in Jordan believe they need to become competent and effective in their profession as engineers. This study was the first of its kind with students as respondents, and it was the first study of this kind in Jordan. Competencies were collected from a previous study with 48 competencies split into 11 groups. A questionnaire was prepared with these competencies, then rated for the degree of importance by answering “What engineering competencies graduates will require for their future work in Jordan?” The study showed that all competencies were vital, including technical, personal, non-technical and attitudinal competencies. This study will help to link the outputs of university education provided by engineering departments with market needs as well as to harmonise study programmes offered by Jordanian universities. Also, the research outputs are expected to facilitate the transition process of students from one university to another. The empirically identified competencies could be used to help assess different engineering study programmes in Jordan.

The construction industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) faces many challenges throughout the project’s lifecycle; on top of these challenges is poor communication which occasionally results in project failure or at least time and cost overruns. A range of steps and methods must be taken to minimize the causes and effects of poor communication to enhance communication. The main aim of the study is to exploring poor communication in MENA construction industry and defining the causes and effects of poor communication from the perspective of consultants, clients, and contractors in small and medium enterprises in a developed region like MENA. Construction professionals from different project parties were asked to complete a questionnaire listing 32 causes and 21 effects of poor communication identified from the literature. The model was validated by Structural Equation Modelling SEM in terms of convergent and discriminant validities. The results revealed, that out of 54 cause and effect factors of poor communication, only 18 factors were retained. These causes and effects were ranked using the relative importance index RII. Results showed that all causes and effects are highly important, with RII above 0.6. The most important causes of poor communication are lack of communication procedure and training, followed by lack of adequate representation for project stakeholders. However, the least important cause of poor communication is a lack of understanding among the construction parties. Conversely, the most acute effects of poor communication are misinterpretation, followed by conflict among construction parties. However, the least important effect of poor communication is a late response to the disaster. Results and recommendations derived from this study represent the vital need of the MENA construction industry to focus on enhancing the current status of communication. The commitment of all project stakeholders to the drawn recommendations regarding the causes of poor communication will undoubtedly limit or reduce the effects of poor communication. Construction firms looking to improve their performance may benefit from the developed model.

This study aimed at identifying competency components of project managers of small to medium-sized firms in the Palestinian construction industry and ranking them according to their degree of importance. A postal questionnaire survey was administered to 150 construction companies in Nablus, Tulkarm, and Jenin, which are located in the West Bank. A total of 109 questionnaires were returned, and the response rate was 73 percent. The respondents were project managers. The study identified four competence dimensions, namely, knowledge competence, functional competence, personal/behavior competence, and value/ethical competence. Each dimension is measured by several constituents. Knowledge dimension includes technical knowledge, management knowledge, general knowledge, communication knowledge, computer knowledge, financial knowledge, and legal knowledge constituents. Functional competence dimension includes seven constituents, namely, organizing project initiations, developing a project plan, managing human resource functions, managing project quality health safety and environment, managing design development and contract administration, tracking and controlling system, and administering project close out. Personal competence dimension has two constituents, namely, social-vocational and intraprofessional. Values/ethical competence dimension consists of two constituents, namely, personal values and professional values. Thus, personal competence is in the top ranking followed by functional competence, knowledge competence, and values competence. Finally, a mixture of knowledge, functional, personal, and values competences must be considered to produce a competent project manager in the Palestinian construction industry. This study recommends that the Palestinian Contractors Union and the Palestinian Engineers Association improve the competencies of their members by conducting continuous and up to date construction management training programs by targeting competencies included in this research.

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The construction sector in Jordan is an important economic area, contributing 3.1% to Jordan's GDP in 2016. The sector has changed over the past two decades since the end of gulf war; even changed rapidly in the last five years as a result of Arab spring, companies are encountered with more risks and uncertainties than before. One of major risks in the Jordanian construction industry is time delay, it is considered as inevitable. The goal of this study is to identify risk factors that cause time delay and then to explain the risk matrix for these factors in building projects in Jordan from the point of view of key construction project parties. The approach followed in the study is identifying main risk factors causing time delay. These factors are tabled in a questionnaire form and sent to construction professionals asking for their input in defining the risk framework of the 38 factors in terms of the effect and possibility of each hazard event. The framework was split into three categories (green, orange, and red) by the degree of severity over the time delay of the projects. Assessment of the 38 risk factors reveals that six elements of minor importance as they are in the green zone, 29 factors of medium importance in the yellow zone, and eight factors of critical importance in the red zone. This study's findings and suggestions will direct the project managers to improve their performance, which will have a significant impact on the sector.

The construction sector in Jordan faces various obstacles, one of the most significant being poor communication, which negatively impacts project performance and can even lead to project failure. The primary objective of this study is to identify and evaluate the causes and effects of poor communication in Jordan. A questionnaire containing 32 causes and 21 effects of poor communication was used to gather data. The top ten causes of poor communication are; possessing different levels of education among construction teams; a lack of communication plan; a lack of an appropriate communications medium; a lack of communication procedures and training; a slow flow of information between parties; diversity of culture among construction teams; construction teams possessing different skill levels; contractual barriers; the unavailability of information at the time of need, and a lack of understanding among parties. Poor communication is a prevalent issue in the Jordanian construction industry, Jordan's construction industry needs to improve its current communication state. Both contractors and consultants are affected by this issue and there is a high level of agreement between them on the causes and effects of poor communication.

Abstract-An exhaustive literature search revealed that not much research has been done on factors causing problems in managing a construction project in a country under military occupation like Palestine. So, it is the main goal of this research is to identify these factors which could be used by the decision makers to select the appropriate project manager who bosses the suitable skills and competencies to deal with these problems. The study is a step toward determining means to improve the effectiveness of projects through identifying project manager competencies. It is important for Palestinian construction industry to progress in terms of project success; the problems that face the project managers must be determined and identified, in order to achieve the best results with less risk. A clear understanding of such problems helps the Palestinian construction industry of finding the suitable solutions to overcome these problems. A questionnaire survey was carried out to achieve the main aim of this research. The respondents were engineers have more than 3 years in the position of project manager in the Palestinian construction industry. The survey was based on factors drawn from findings of another researches in different countries, together with special factors identified as potentially affecting Palestine. The results identified many factors created problems; they were clustered in eight groups. These groups were arranged according to respondents in descending order as follows: the political situation of Palestine, lack of consultants` technical competencies, lack of resources, insufficient planning, team members uncommitted, conflicts between departments, breakdowns in communications, and changes in goals. As a result of this study one could conclude that managing a project in Palestine is as difficult as the complication of the political situation of the country. The project manager should have a complicated mixture of skills and competencies from dealing with Israeli occupation to dealing with stakeholders to lack of resources and unclear goals. The study has recommended to the Palestinian government to improve the regulations and laws to meet the impact of closure and segmentation of the Palestine.