EFFECTS OF COMPETENCES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF QUANTITY SURVEYORS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Quantity surveying in Nigeria has been in existence for almost fifty years. Over this period, a lot has been achieved by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) in positioning the profession on a pedestal of excellence in the Nigerian construction industry. Primary data were obtained through a survey of 145 registered professionals comprising architects, builders, consultant engineers and quantity surveyors within the construction industry in the study area. Mean Item Score was used to identify the areas of competence where quantity surveyors had fared best and also to rank their performance. Severity Index was used to assess the competence of quantity surveyors. Spearman's correlation coefficient and regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between competence and performance of quantity surveyors in the study area. The study revealed that quantity surveyors excelled in the following areas of competence contract documentation, valuation and financial management with mean scores of 4.07, 4.01 and 4.01 respectively. There were areas in which they still needed some improvement such as arbitration and dispute resolution, economic management of urban infrastructures and risk management with mean scores of 3.48, 3.30 and 3.17 respectively. The study also revealed that a strong relationship exists between competence and performance from the result obtained from the spearman's correlation coefficient with a correlation of 0.860** . As such an increase in competence will most likely resulted in an increase in performance as seen from the regression analysis. It then recommended the need for efforts to be placed in the areas where Quantity Surveyors were not doing so well. In conclusion, the study was able to show the state of the competence and performance of quantity surveyors. It was also able to show the effect of competence on the performance of quantity surveyors.