A profitable project

Joseph Thanikal 

Joy Gumz famously said, “Operations keep the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organisation forward.”   If there is something that has vindicated the importance a civil engineer deserves, it is construction project management.

One can’t deny the role of civil engineers in the scheme of the modern world, which is held together by a string of infrastructure projects. India’s growth story has fuelled the need for civil engineers. However, many civil engineering students find themselves lost right after their graduation, and the nervousness grows on forcing them to ask themselves the uneasy question: What next for them?

MBA in Construction Project Management

Why and What is it?

The construction industry in India is growing at an annual rate of 10 per cent making it one of the country’s fastest growing sectors. The nation is witnessing high levels of construction activity in all categories of developmental projects such as transport, infrastructure, residential, and commercial. These projects are extensive in nature and require effective and efficient execution, geographical separation, cost estimates, and the quality of specifications are to be paid attention to. Therefore, the successful completion of such projects requires best methodologies and techniques.

Construction Project Management (CPM) uses specific project management techniques that oversee the scheduling, design and construction of a project from the beginning to end. The essential aspects to control in anyconstruction project are: time, cost and quality. CPM’s daily task is to deal with multiple responsibilities, handling resources like manpower, materials, machinery, and construction methods, and last but not the least, money, in order to achieve client’s requirements.

MBA in Construction Management is a multi-disciplinary stream of specialisation focusing on project management, development aspects, statutory requirements, legal framework, business environment, infrastructure, funds and finance, technology and marketing etc. The CPM course equips the students with the theoretical knowledge along with a host of practical and technical skills to manage people and projects within the construction industry.

A career in this field will allow civil engineering graduates to rise in a field that is relatively untapped and give them a golden opportunity to expand their horizons. A construction manager is the one accountable for managing and running the construction site as he works closely with architects and other stakeholders to go over project timelines, blueprints and determine labour costs, schedule work on sites and gather permits.

As per a research as many as 97 per cent of graduate engineers are seeking jobs either in software engineering or core engineering. However, only 3 per cent graduate engineers have the necessary skills to be employed in the product or software market, and close to just 7 per cent can handle core engineering tasks. In such an intense scenario, it is quite natural for civil engineering graduates to get a little overwhelmed and experience a state of dilemma.

MBA in CPM will ensure that the civil engineering graduates will have a career with wide scope of fast-paced growth, good remuneration, and a consequential impact on the welfare of the society.MBA CPM hones theirmanagerial skills and helps them in becoming techno-managers to complement their technical ability and have a bright and fulfilling future.

— The writer is Associate Dean, RICS SBE, Noida