Projects and personalities: A framework for individualising project management career development in the construction industry

The widespread use of project management across the construction industry has had a significant impact on management and management structures. Within this context, promotions based on traditional management models are no longer advisable for career development and ultimately business performance. This paper seeks to provide an additional route for competency identification and individualised career development founded on a project management based management model for the UK construction industry that recognises required shift in strategic awareness. A meta-list competency model was established via the analysis of relevant published models against a conceptual project management model. The meta-list was then used to analyse the MBTI (R) type descriptions for the generation of a theoretical career development framework that incorporates the impact of mental preference on performance, job satisfaction and succession planning. In doing so, it recognises the variance in strategic mentality and provides a practical approach to competency identification that demonstrates the potential link between project role and mental preference. From this, organisations within the construction industry now have an additional route for individualised and impartial gap identification and succession planning in their programmes. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. and IPMA. All rights reserved.