What attributes should a project coordinator possess?

Construction projects are increasingly multidisciplinary and the role of a project coordinator has become critical for success. A clear differentiation is drawn between the roles of a project manager and a project coordinator, and the attributes required in a successful project coordinator are defined. A total of 24 such attributes were identified through a survey of available literature and personal interviews with top construction professionals based in India. A ranking has also been assigned to these attributes on the basis of a questionnaire survey. Statistical analyses of responses indicated a distinct difference between the attributes possessed by the project coordinators in projects that were considered successful, and those that were considered failures. Project coordinators of successful projects were found to excel in certain important attributes such as relationship with client, consultant and contractor; timeliness; technical knowledge of the subject; belief in team playing spirit; and coordination for achieving quality compared to their counterparts in projects which were regarded as failures. Interestingly, the required attributes remained the same for project coordinators whether they worked for the contracting agency or the owner's organisation. Factor analysis was used to group the 24 attributes into three major skills categories: team building skills; contract implementation skills; and project organisation skills. These findings will be useful to practitioners during the recruitment of project coordinators.