Graduate Construction Management Education: A Senior-level, Industry-Based Delphi Study

Abstract

Graduate education can be utilized by working professionals as an advancement to their careers. This paper presents the results of a Delphi survey sent to 31experts in the construction industry. A survey questionnaire was developed to ask the participants about their perceptions of the relevance of the current graduate-level construction management courses in developing senior-level construction managers. A curriculum analysis of 34 graduate CM programs in the United States was conducted. The resulting data from the curriculum analysis is utilized in developing the survey questionnaire. The study is part of a larger research Delphi study that aimed at identifying the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities required for senior-level managers in the construction industry. Two phases of the survey were sent to participants in this Delphi study. The results of the study indicate that the current graduate programs in construction management across the United States of America are not adequately focused on developing senior-level construction managers.

Ranked generic criteria for EPC contractor selection

“…Increasingly used in construction management research, the Delphi method is a structured communication technique originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method that relies on a panel of experts answering questionnaires in consecutive Rounds until convergence, with the facilitator providing a summary of their judgments to the group in the form of the mean or median response in each Round: as uncertainties arise from the judgments of decision makers, this method accounts for interpersonal uncertainty and variability in one's opinion (Martin & Ramjarrie, 2021). Of particular relevance here is the increasing use of the Delphi method in such construction management research as graduate education (Pathuri et al, 2020), company performance (Mansour et al, 2020) and contract administration (Gunduz & Elsherbeny, 2020), as well as contractor selection (Mahdi et al, 2002), in terms of performance criteria (Gunasekara et al, 2021), safety criteria (Gharedaghi & Omidvari, 2019), public contract criteria (Hajek et al, 2017), effectiveness factors (criteria) (Lajimi et al, 2018), construction supply chain pre-qualification and selection criteria (Mahamadu et al, 2017), and project source criteria (Faraji et al, 2020).…”

“…As uncertainties arise from the judgments of decision makers, this method accounts for interpersonal uncertainty and variability in one's opinion (Martin and Ramjarrie, 2021). Of particular relevance here is the increasing use of the Delphi method in such construction management research as graduate education (Pathuri et al, 2020), company performance (Mansour et al, 2020) and contract administration (Gunduz and Elsherbeny, 2020), as well as contractor selection (Mahdi et al, 2002), in terms of performance criteria (Gunasekara et al, 2021), safety criteria (Gharedaghi and Omidvari, 2019), public contract criteria (Hajek et al, 2017), effectiveness factors (criteria) (Lajimi et al, 2018), construction supply chain prequalification and selection criteria (Mahamadu et al, 2017), and project source criteria (Faraji et al, 2020).…”

“…As uncertainties arise from the judgments of decision makers, this method accounts for interpersonal uncertainty and variability in one’s opinion (Martin and Ramjarrie, 2021). Of particular relevance here is the increasing use of the Delphi method in such construction management research as graduate education (Pathuri et al. , 2020), company performance (Mansour et al.…”