Emuze, F A and Smallwood, J J (2011) Improving project delivery in South African construction. In: Egbu, C and Lou, E C W (eds.) Proceedings of 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2011, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
Empirical findings advocating performance improvement have continued to populate the international construction management literature in a bid to address the sub-optimal performance of the industry. A common theme among the publications is the seemingly lacklustre performance recorded on construction projects in terms of a range of performance indicators such as cost, environment, H&S, quality, and time. Similarly, South African construction is reportedly contending with a range of project performance issues, which led to this empirical research. Through the review of related literature and a quantitative survey, this paper reports on research conducted with the overall aim of identifying issues contributing to performance impediments, and their effects in South Africa. The survey was undertaken among general contractor (GC) members of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC). Selected findings include: a range of issues contribute to inadequate capture and transfer of knowledge, and inappropriate organisation culture, and poor management of site logistics are either collectively or individually marginalising the realisation of project objectives in South Africa. These issues in turn may manifest in the form of client dissatisfaction, delays, and rework in South African construction. However, there appears to be major scope for improvement if project stakeholders can proactively apply interventions / practices such as optimum management of quality, logistics, and organisational culture, in their quest to improve project delivery.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contractors; performance; South Africa |
| Index terms: | project performance, international construction, project stakeholder, construction project, performance improvement, organizational culture, engineering contractor, publication, site logistics, project delivery, South Africa, performance indicator, survey, rework, general contractor |
| Subjects: | sociology, performance measurement, performance management, production management, firms, Geography, project management theory and practice, operations management, project delivery, research dissemination and communication, data collection methods, strategic management, practitioner |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Site Management, International Construction, Quality Management, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Information Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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