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Kultur Dokumente
Abstract
The construction industry is dynamic in nature due to the increasing uncertainties in technology, budgets, and development processes. Nowadays, building projects are becoming much more complex and difficult. The project team is facing unprecedented changes. The study of project success and the critical success factors (CSFs) are considered to be a means to improve the effectiveness of project. However the concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the mind of the construction professionals. Consequently, this research is conducted in order to make an attempt to identify which variables influence the success of project implementation. Based on the results of the survey, we anticipate that patterns will emerge regarding the key performance indicators for measuring project success. These results could then be used in effecting successful projects. This study has chosen seventy seven (77) factors categorized in seven (7) groups that the questionnaire respondents were asked to rank and score. A criticality score and a criticality index were used to identify the CSFs which, in descending order of importance, were found to be: Decision making effectiveness, Project Managers experience, Contractors cash flow, Contractor experience, Timely decision by owner/ owners representative, Site management, Supervision, Planning effort, Prior project management experience, Clients ability to make decision. Further study on the key performance indicators (KPIs) is needed to identify the causal relationships between CSFs and KPIs. The causal relationships, once identified, will be a useful piece of information to implement a project successfully.
Keywords
Critical Success Factors, Construction Projects, Pakistan, Key Performance Indicators
1. Introduction
A construction project is completed as a result of a combination of many events and interactions, planned or unplanned, over the life of a facility, with changing participants and processes in a constantly changing environment. Certain factors are more critical to project success than others. These factors are called critical success factors (CSFs). The term "critical success factors," in the context of projects and the 392
management of projects, was first used by Rockart (1982) and is defined as those factors predicting success on projects (Sanvido et al. 1992). The topic has since become a prolific research area. Furthermore, because the pursuit of excellence in project delivery systems is not new, this new research direction could thrive upon a rich legacy of many previous investigators. However the concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the mind of the construction professionals. Consequently, this research is conducted in order to make an attempt to identify which variables influence the success of project implementation. The research is focused to the construction industry of Pakistan. Based on the results of the survey, it is anticipated that patterns will emerge regarding the key performance indicators for measuring project success in Pakistani construction industry. These results could then be used in effecting successful projects.
3. Research Tasks
The following research tasks were completed. 1. Define the project success criteria 2. Identify the factors affecting construction project success 3. Develop structured questionnaire 4. Collect data 5. Analyze data 6. Develop guidelines for CSFs
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As one would suspect, there is some variability even within the same firm on the same project. The factors of importance range from meeting internal budgets to professional satisfaction and on to producing a job that will help the firm obtain repeat business or serve as a marketing tool for similar projects with different clients. For example, two designers working on the same project may view success differently. An experienced designer serving as a project engineer may be concerned about meeting internal budget criteria as well as meeting the client's needs. A less-experienced designer working at a lower level of responsibility may consider the opportunity to gain valuable design experience as a success criteria and be less concerned about meeting the internal budget. No single list will ever be totally comprehensive when it comes to a definition of success for a project. The criteria developed for use with the CPSF project does give a general overall impression of each of the three groups viewpoints. It determines the "envelope" of ideas that are used to evaluate success.
construction sophistication, well-defined scope, owners risk aversion, client project management (Chan and Kumaraswamy 1997; Songer and Molenaar 1997; Dissanayaka and Kumaraswamy 1999). 5.4. Design team-related Factors Designers play a vital role as their work involves from inception to completion on a project. Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997) considered that design team-related factors consist of design team experience, project design complexity, and mistakes/delays in producing design documents. 5.5. Contractor-related Factors The main contractor and subcontractors start their main duties when the project reaches the construction stage. The variables include contractor experience, site management, supervision and involvement of subcontracting, contractors cash flow, effectiveness of cost control system, and speed of information flow (Chan and Kumaraswamy 1997; Dissanayaka and Kumaraswamy 1999). 5.6. Project Manager-related Factors The project manager is another key stakeholder in a construction project and his competence is a critical factor affecting project planning, scheduling, and communication (Belassi and Tukel 1996). Variables under this factor consist of the skills and characteristics of project managers, their commitment, competence, experience, and authority (Chua et al. 1999). A construction project requires team spirit, therefore team building is important among different parties. Team effort by all parties to a contractowner, architect, construction manager, contractor, and subcontractorsis a crucial ingredient for the successful completion of a project (Hassan 1995). 5.7. Business and Work Environment-related Factors Various researchers support environment as a factor affecting the project success (Akinsola et al. 1997; Kaming et al. 1997; Songer and Molenaar 1997; Chua et al. 1999; Walker and Vines 2000). Akinsola et al. (1997) further described environment as all external influences on the construction process, including social, political, and technical systems. The attributes used to measure this factor are economic environment, social environment, political environment, physical environment, industrial relation environment, and level of technology advanced.
6. Research Methodology
The research methodology consists of the following steps: 1. Development of a questionnaire to elicit information about critical success factors for construction projects of Pakistan as perceived by construction contracting organizations. 2. Conducting questionnaire survey through postal mail and personal interviews. 3. Assessment of feedback from questionnaire survey to identify the major success factors for construction projects of Pakistan. The steps are explained as follows. A questionnaire was developed to facilitate data collection by the researchers and to ensure consistency in the elements examined. The questionnaire consisted of two parts A and B. Part A consisted of requesting respondents personal information (e.g. work experience, position in company) and company
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information (e.g. types of construction works performed, years in business, annual volume of work, number of employees). Part B consisted of checklist which was prepared after extensive literature review. The literature review was done through books, conference proceedings, internet, and leading construction management and engineering journals. Through literature review, all the critical factors were identified. In total, 77 factors were categorized as follows: 1. Project Management Factors 2. Procurement-related Factors 3. Client-related Factors 4. Design team-related Factors 5. Contractor-related factors 6. Project Manager-related Factors 7. Business and Work Environment-related Factors The questionnaire was used to conduct personal interviews with representatives from 37 major contracting organizations working in major cities of Pakistan so as to get their feedback on critical success factors. The respondents were asked to rank and score the listed factors for their level of criticality towards projects success. Almost all of the firms approached were large size organizations (based on their annual volume of work and number of employees). The questionnaires were completed by their project management who were involved in the project planning, executing, procurement and decision making processes. Almost all of them (more than 90%) had over 10 years of construction experience. On the basis of their position, education, work experience and professional background, it can be inferred that the respondents had adequate knowledge of the project management activities in their organizations. The survey response is analyzed in the following section.
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Table 1: Criticality Assessment Criteria Mean Factor Score Range 1.0 2.5 >2.5 5.0 >5.0 7.5 >7.5 10.0 Criticality Index 1 2 3 4 Criticality Level Least significant towards project success Mildly significant towards project success Moderately significant towards project success Most significant towards project success
Table 2. Critical Success Factors Project Management Related S. No. I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Project Success Factors Project Management Factors Communication system Control mechanism Feedback capabilities Troubleshooting Planning effort Coordination effectiveness Decision making effectiveness Project monitoring Developing an appropriate organization structure Implementing an effective safety program Implementing an effective quality assurance program Control of sub-contractors work Prior project management experience Risk identification and allocation Formal dispute resolution process Motivation/ Incentives Constructability program Training the HR in the skill demanded by project Overall managerial actions
1
Mean
Mode
Criticality Index1 4 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4
7.83 7.11 7.17 7.11 9.05 8.76 9.44 8.94 7.78 7.71 8.06 8.13 9.00 7.88 6.81 7.50 7.61 6.84 8.61
8 8 8 7 10 10 10 10 10 7 9 8 9 8 9 8 8 8 10
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
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Table 3. Critical Success Factors Procurement Related S. No. II 20 21 22 Project Success Factors Procurement Related Factors Project delivery system (e.g. design-bid-build, designbuild) Project bidding method (e.g. price based competitive bidding, negotiated bidding, best value bidding) Project contract mechanism (e.g. lump sum, unit price, cost plus, etc.)
1
Mode 10 9 9
Criticality Index1 4 4 4
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
Table 4. Critical Success Factors Client Related S. No. III 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Project Success Factors Client Related Factors Influence of client/ clients representative Clients experience Nature of client (privately funded vs. publicly funded) Size of clients organization Clients knowledge of construction project organization Clients confidence in construction team Owners construction sophistication Owners clear and precise definition of project scope & objectives Timely decision by owner/ owners representative Owners risk attitude (willingness to take risk) Clients emphasis on low construction cost Clients emphasis on high quality of construction Clients emphasis of quick construction Clients project management Clients ability to brief Clients ability to make decision Clients ability to define roles
1
Mean 8.24 6.89 7.59 7.00 7.56 8.28 7.18 8.50 9.17 6.65 6.67 7.53 8.18 7.29 7.06 9.00 7.31
Mode 10 8 8 8 8 10 8 10 10 8 9 7 8 10 9 10 7
Criticality Index1 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 4 3
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
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Table 5. Critical Success Factors Design Team Related S. No. IV 40 41 42 43 44 Project Success Factors Design Team-Related Factors Design team experience Project design complexity Mistakes/ delays in producing design documents Design teams contribution to construction (constructability review, value engineering, etc.) Adequacy of plans and specifications
1
Mode 10 8 10 8 10
Criticality Index1 4 4 4 4 4
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
Table 6. Critical Success Factors Contractor Related S. No. V 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Project Success Factors Contractor-Related Factors Contractor experience Site management Supervision Extent (Involvement) of Subcontracting Contractors cash flow Effectiveness of cost control system Speed of information flow
1
Mode 10 10 10 8 10 8 9
Criticality Index1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
Table 7. Critical Success Factors Project Manager Related S. No. VI 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Project Success Factors Project Manager Related Factors Project Managers competence Project Managers experience Project Managers authority to take day-to-day decisions Project Managers authority to take financial decision, selecting key team members, etc. Technical capability of project manager Leadership skills of project manager Organizing skills of project manager Coordinating ability and rapport of project manager with contractors/ subcontractors Coordinating ability and rapport of project manager with owner/ owner representatives 400 Mean
9.00 9.33 8.94 8.78 8.83 9.00 8.89 8.78 8.61
Mode
9 10 9 8 10 10 10 8 9
Criticality Index1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
61 62 63 64 65 66
Motivating skills of project manager Project managers commitment to meet quality, cost & time Project managers early & continued involvement in project Project managers adaptability to changes in project plan Project managers ability to delegate authority Construction control meetings
1
9 10 9 8 9 9
4 4 4 4 4 4
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
Table 8. Critical Success Factors Business and Work Environment Related S. No. VII 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Project Success Factors Business and Work Environment Related Factors Economic environment Social environment Political environment Physical work environment Industrial relations environment Administrative approvals environment Commitment of all parties to the project Adequacy of funding Technology availability Human Skill availability X-Factor (fraudulent practices, corruption, favoritism, lack of ethics, etc.)
1
Mean 8.28 6.78 6.72 8.21 7.33 7.72 8.37 8.56 7.61 8.41 6.41
Mode 10 8 9 10 8 10 10 10 9 9 9
Criticality Index1 4 3 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3
for least significant factor=1, for mildly significant factor=2, for moderately significant factor=3, for most significant factor = 3
7.2 Critical Success Factors and Critical Success Categories After analyzing Tables 2 through 8, the top 10 critical success factors (with respect to their mean criticality indices), ranked in descending order of criticality, are shown in Table 9. Table 9 also provides category and criticality ranking for these CSFs. Table 9. Critical Success Factors Various Categories Factor Criticality Ranking 4 4 4 4
Project Success Factors Decision making effectiveness Project Managers experience Contractors cash flow Contractor experience
Category Project Management Factors Project Manager-related Factors Contractor-related Factors Contractor-related Factors 401
Timely decision by owner/ owners representative Site management Supervision Planning effort Prior project management experience Clients ability to make decision
Client-related Factors Contractor-related Factors Contractor-related Factors Project Management Factors Project Management Factors Client-related Factors
4 4 4 4 4 4
Further assessment of Tables 2 to 8 to identify success factor criticality ranking of various categories of factors (based on a value of mean criticality index for each category) results in Table 10. The table has been arranged in descending order of criticality. Table 10. Success Factor Criticality Ranking - Various Categories Mean Criticality Index1 8.91 8.57 8.39 8.22 7.97 7.67 7.65 Criticality Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Category of Critical Success Factors Contractor-Related Factors Project Manager Related Factors Procurement Related Factors Design Team-Related Factors Project Management Factors Business and Work Environment Related Factors Client Related Factors
1
Mean criticality index for a category = sum of mean of factors in each category/ total number of factors in each category
8. Conclusions
The initial objectives of this research were to define the critical factors that lead to project success and provide a forecasting tool to enable parties to rapidly assess the possibility of a successful project from their viewpoint. These, general objectives were met through the accomplishments of the research. More importantly, a list of specific factors were identified as critical to the success of projects. The top five (5) CSF categories are: 1. Contractor-Related Factors 2. Project Manager Related Factors 3. Procurement Related Factors 4. Design Team-Related Factors 5. Project Management Factors This is to say that factors in above categories share a major average (mean) position of importance, while other categories do not have the same average (mean) impact on project success. The top ten (10) CSFs (across the seven categories given above) are shown below. Their mean criticality scores (maximum 10) are given in parenthesis. 1. Decision making effectiveness (9.44) 2. Project Managers experience (9.33) 402
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Contractors cash flow (9.32) Contractor experience (9.22) Timely decision by owner/ owners representative (9.17) Site management (9.11) Supervision (9.06) Planning effort (9.05) Prior project management experience (9.00) Clients ability to make decision (9.00)
This paper focuses on the CSFs and not on the measurement of project success, i.e., the key performance indicators (KPIs). Further study should be directed to identify the KPIs, so that the causal relationships between CSFs and KPIs can be identified. The causal relationships, once identified, will be a useful piece of information to implement a project successfully. It can help in selecting project team members, identifying the development needs of the project team members, and most important for forecasting the performance level of a construction project before it commences.
7. References
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Pocock, J. B., Liu, L. Y., and Tang, W. H. (1997a). Prediction of project performance based on degree of interaction. J. Manage. Eng., 13(2), 6376. Rockart, J. F. (1982). "The changing role of the information systems executive: A critical success factors perspective." Sloan Mgmt. Review, 24(1), 3-13. Sanvido, V., Grobler, F., Pariff, K., Guvents, M., and Coyle, M. (1992). Critical success factors for construction projects. J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 118(1), 94 111.
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