Ahadzie, D K, Proverbs, D G and Olomolaiye, P (2005) Project managers' performance measures: a fresh perspective. In: Khosrowshahi, F (Ed.), 21st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2005, SOAS, University of London. Association of Researchers in Construction Management, Vol. 1, 3-12. PROJECT MANAGERS’ PERFORMANCE MEASURES: A FRESH PERSPECTIVE Divine K. Ahadzie 1 , David Gavin Proverbs and Paul Olomolaiye Research Institute in Advanced Technologies (RIATec), University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, WS1 1SB, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK While performance measures are widely held as a viable option for providing appropriate evaluative criteria against which effective managerial performance can be validated, research towards project managers’ (PMs’) performance measures has not been vigorously pursued in construction. This paper is a contribution towards addressing the apparent weakness. Consequently, drawing on the theory of job performance improvement and the criteria of effective project management and project success, it is contended that an appropriate methodology for developing a robust evaluative criteria is for the measures to be based on both performance outcomes and the elements of task and contextual performance behaviours. It is also contended that, there is a need to link the measures to various project phases to help provide support for continuous performance improvement. Consequently, it is intended to use the proposed methodology on an ongoing study aimed at developing a predictive model for evaluating the performance of PMs in Mass House Building Projects (MHBPs) in Ghana. Keywords: Contextual performance behaviours, performance measures, performance outcomes, project managers and task performance behaviours. INTRODUCTION Presently, the role of the project manager (PM) is acknowledged as the key to achieving project success in construction organizations (see for instance Russell et al, 1997; Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer, 2000; Dainty et al, 2003). Consequently, there has been considerable research effort towards improving the performance of construction project managers (PMs). However, the research has primarily focussed on developing standards for project management knowledge and practice (Dainty et al, 2004). Research towards project managers’ (PMs’) performance measures has not been vigorously pursued in practice (Dainty et al, 2003). This has huge implications for the construction industry given that, performance measures are often the only viable means for evaluating the theories of work behaviour, the effective administration of human resources and the provision of feedback to management personnel (see Austin and Villanova, 1992). Furthermore, performance measures are often the only option available for providing evaluative criteria against which the selection, training and promotion of management personnel can be validated (see for instance Borman, 1978; Borman et al, 1995). Thus, PMs’ performance measures are important prerequisite for identifying appropriate evaluative criteria for improving the performance of construction PMs. Consequently, in this paper, a perspective view of construction PMs’ performance measures is presented and a fresh way forward is proposed. Subsequently, following the need for an empirically proven structured system, to 1 D.K.Ahadzie@wlv.ac.uk