Al Shamsi, S K (2019) Managing construction projects in the United Arab Emirates to gain competitive advantage. PhD thesis, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Abstract
A tremendous growth has been experienced in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the construction industry. It is also mirrored by the expansion and development of project management tools and techniques. The term project management prevails as a trending topic in the business world due to its vitality in the transformation process and execution of new business opportunities. However, regardless of the increasing importance of project management, still UAE construction industry is facing massive challenges in controlling their assignments since projects continue to fail in very high rate. Therefore aim of this research is to explore how the UAE construction organisations are managing construction projects to enhance competitive advantage. Given the relatively new and unexplored nature of the research problem, qualitative research method was adopted to collect and analyse data. Semi-structured interviews with 65 professionals were used to collect data which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion. The study concluded that a complex mix of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental forces drives construction project management in the UAE. Therefore, understanding the macro-environmental factors that impact on the UAE construction project management is important. Furthermore, it is noted that understanding drivers is imperative for smooth project implementation. As revealed in the current study, the single most important driver for managing projects in UAE is to improve greater efficiency. In addition, the UAE project management education struggles with challenges such as there are too many knowledge areas in project management, and struggle to provide education to professionals from different background and learning styles. Therefore, the UAE project management training and education should lead to a more active/practical approach. The study concludes that adoption of digital technologies in the UAE construction industry is still at their infancy. Despite of the incremental significance of project management, yet, businesses are confronting encounters in controlling their assignments since projects keep failing in very high rate. A project management competency framework for managing construction projects was developed and validated. It is recommended to explore the level of embeddedness of construction project management between developed and developing countries. This should lead to a generation of benchmark data and best practices in addressing global construction project management issues.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Mushatat, S and Renukappa, S |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | best practice; competitive advantage; content analysis; developing countries; interview; project management; qualitative research; United Arab Emirates |
| Index terms: | efficiency, construction organization, competitive advantage, transformation, construction project management, embeddedness, global construction, best practice, project management, implementation, construction industry, developing country, interview, project management competency, content analysis, learning style, qualitative research method, qualitative research, construction project, United Arab Emirates, digital technology, environmental factor |
| Subjects: | data analysis and analytics, data collection methods, business, research design and methodology, computing systems, learning methods, sociology, industry analysis, performance management, professional development, project management theory and practice, contractual arrangements, environmental science, strategic management, organization, market analysis, production management, Geography, development economics |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Information Management, Research Practice, Digital Applications, International Construction, Geographical Context, Project Management, Sustainability, Procurement, Quality Management, Education |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here