Noganta, A (2019) Key challenges faced by main contractors in coordinating the works of their subcontractors: A case study of kusile power station project. PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Abstract
Coordination is a crucial function in the management process of interdependent parties and their activities. In major construction projects, where there are manifold participants; the contractor is faced with the challenge of coordinating the interdependent subcontractors’ tasks and subtasks in ensuring that quality standards, time and cost requirements are met and ultimately project success is achieved. Lack of coordination of subcontractors’ works by the main contractors is one of the causes of deviations from project goals such as delivering a quality project within time and cost. This research is directed at identifying the key challenges that main contractors face when coordinating the subcontractors’ works in major construction projects and how they overcome these challenges. Kusile Power Station was chosen as a case study for this research because it is a large project whereby the problem was observed by the researcher. This case was strategically selected because of the numerous contractors (at different levels) working at the peak stage of the project. In-depth interviews were held with four main contractors’ representatives dealing with coordination at the Kusile Power Station Project. These four main contractors were selected based on the scope they are contracted to do, size of the company, and the number of subcontractors they manage and were responsible for. The four main contractors interviewed had 46, 8, 9 and 6 subcontractors respectively. 32 challenges were identified and grouped into 7 seven distinct groups. The key conclusions from the research data analysis was that resource handling (issues), clashes/ changes in designs/ drawings, and access issues are the three key coordination challenges faced by main contractors at the Kusile Power Station Project. To overcome these major challenges, the contractors perform & make use of resource scheduling, two/ three week look ahead, and site walks. It is recommended that a similar study he done in another major project to uncover other means of dealing specifically, with the three key challenges.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Laryea, S |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case study; coordination; power station; project success; resource scheduling; scheduling; standards |
| Index terms: | interview, data analysis, scheduling, face, drawing, construction project, power station, subcontractor, main contractor, case study, project success, quality standard, deviation, resource scheduling, major project, coordination |
| Subjects: | infrastructure and transport systems, management, project management theory and practice, technical documentation, data analysis and analytics, financial and cost management, data collection methods, quality assurance, production management, psychology, operations research, strategic project management, practitioner |
| Topics: | Time Control, Organizational Design, Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Cost Management, Research Practice, Quality Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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