Author(s): Amany Mohamed Gamea Ali Al-Hashimi & Mohd Rayme Bin Anang Masuri
The construction projects have witnessed fast development in recent decades and sustainable growth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Today many multinational construction companies entered the UAE construction market which imposes more pressure on local companies to improve construction performance. In many instances, construction contractors are blamed for poor project management and criticized for having limited knowledge in the application best management techniques, especially construction risk management. The records showing that a large construction companies have won many residential projects in UAE but at the end they have a big loss due improper handling to project schedule over a series of sub-contracts. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the impact of risk management and project management skills on the performance of construction projects in UAE. This study applies quantitative methods based on SEM to examine the relationship between the variables. The survey was managed in three large construction companies located in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The total number of population equal to 1270 individuals. Those individuals represent project managers, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, project director, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, ICT, architects and landscape architects. The finding shows that risk management and project management skills have significant effect on the project performance of construction companies. Project managers assigned for construction projects can benefit from the finding of this study and understand the main skills for project management, whereas the practices of risk management (e.g. risk identification, risk assessment, risk response, and risk monitoring) are the basic skills that every project manager should be experienced to foster construction performance.