Successful infrastructure construction project execution

The following research builds on the existing project management success and critical success factor research by focusing on the social mechanisms used by project managers and project teams to achieve success. Through analysis of previous literature five criteria for success are determined and the critical success factor themes of personnel and communication emerge. Study One uses semi-structured interviews with ten current or former construction project managers to develop a conceptual model of six antecedents to the previously identified critical success factor themes. The unit of measure is the project and not the project manager which allowed for ten interviews to provide insights into twenty projects, the ten most successful and the ten least successful of the interviewees careers. Those interviews provided six constructs or antecedents that lead to effective communication and project personnel. The personnel constructs are; planning, choosing, and retaining. The communication constructs are frequency, understanding, and inclusivity. Study Two uses semi-structured interviews with twenty current or former construction project managers to determine the causal social mechanisms that lead from the antecedents to the critical success factor themes. Through recording, transcribing, coding, and analyzing the interviewee’s responses project managers and project teams use similar mechanisms to achieve the critical success factor themes. Knowing those mechanisms will benefit practicing project managers.