February 28, 2005—A new study by the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) sheds light on the “core functions” of a Construction Manager—the tasks and responsibilities that most realistically define the job as it is actually practiced.
More than 500 respondents were asked to rank 120 common project responsibilities according to both their importance in a CM’s work and the frequency with which they actually engaged in these activities. The responses fell into seven broad categories: project management planning; cost management; time management, quality management, contract administration, safety management, and CM professional practice.
Respondents ranked maintenance of CM professional practice as their most important ongoing concern, including adhering to ethical standards and providing true leadership to their firms. The project management planning arena was ranked as the most important of all project-specific functional areas by CMs responding to the survey.
Survey respondents reported that their most frequent jobs—functions they performed on a daily or near-daily basis—included pre-qualifying designers, developing and managing a selection process, creating project procedures manuals, and developing trade contractors scope of work definitions for contract agreements.
The next most important general area was time management, in which CMs reported their most important function is to develop a construction schedule, followed by developing and managing a critical path schedule for the job and reviewing detailed short-term schedules with contractors.
