The scope of construction professionals’ skills. Dr. Olatunji J. Oladiran 45th Builders’ Conference/AGM: Skills development and entrepreneurship in the construction industry, 3rd – 7th August 2015, University of Ibadan International Conference Centre, Ibadan, Nigeria. 1

2 Skills are inbuilt abilities for tasks’ accomplishment. Determines professionals’ competencies Determines projects’ outcomes (Al Omani, 2008): well finished, poorly finished or not finished Determines organizational and professional builders’ effectiveness and efficiency (Juras, 2010) Linked with industries’ performance 1.0 BACKGROUND

3 It boosts career and helps succeed professionally. Crucial for continuity and relevance of any profession (Dada and Jagboro, 2012). Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the scope of construction professionals’ skills.

PREVIOUS STUDIES Need for skill improvement, such as web-based training (Park, Son & Kim, 2012); e-learning (Wall, Ahmed & Smit, 2006) Juras (2010): developing 18 skills by professionals, categorized into technical, interpersonal and conceptual skills. Al Omani (2008): communication, organization and planning, budgeting, conflict management, negotiation and influencing, leadership, team-building and motivating skills. Ogunsemi et. al. (2008): leadership, communication, negotiating, influencing, team building, problem solving and decisiveness skills.

RESEARCH METHODS Cross-sectional survey design. Population: educators and industry practitioners in Lagos State. Questionnaire: 230 distributed, 65 used (28%) Technique: census and convenience Tools: Mode, mean, standard deviation and ANOVA

FINDINGS Figure 1: Respondents’ Positions.

7 SNSkillsEducatorsIndustry Practitioners NSTDModeMeanRNSTDModeMeanR VMVM 1Budgeting and Control Understanding of construction industry requirements Organization and Planning Problem solving capability Technical and professional expertise Leadership capability Ability to present ideas and negotiate Efficacy in understanding and executing assigned tasks People management Multidisciplinary team building and teamwork experience Table 1: The scope of construction professionals’ skills

8 Table 1 continued SNSkillsEducatorsIndustry Practitioners NSTDModeMeanRNSTDModeMeanR VMVM 11 Flexibility and understanding others Communication Tendency to analyze complex organization problems Financial and contractual management Understanding of construction procurement processes Tendency to formulate growth strategies Value Management experience Time management Tending to details Ability to adhere to instructions Tendency to think about organizational values and business philosophy There is no significance difference between the educators and industry practitioners on all the skills

CONCLUSION There are 21 skills that form the scope for construction professionals. The implications of this on professional builders include: i. A paradigm shift from the old perception of what their skills entails to focusing on and acquiring all the identified skills with no exceptions. ii. Rigorous developmental efforts, such as seminars, trainings, courses, conferences and so on, organized by professional bodies, private and public organizations on these skills.

RECOMMENDATIONS Construction professionals, especially professional builders should develop themselves on the 21 skills Employability and admission of professional builders should incorporate these skills. Building Students’ curriculum in higher institutions should be reviewed to accommodate teaching and training on these skills. Training on these skills should be made a key component of Builders’ Continuous Professional Development.