First International Conference on Construction In Developing Countries (ICCIDCI) Advancing and Integrating Construction Education, Research & Practice

August 4-5, 2008, Karachi,, Pakistan

Assessing the Viability of Total Quality Management Implementation in Contracting firms of Pakistani Construction industry
Rizwan U. Farooqui (Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan & Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Construction Management, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA) Rehan Masood (Site Engineer, Paragon Constructors (Pvt) Ltd.,Karachi, Pakistan) Junaid Aziz (QC Engineer, Izhar (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, Pakistan)

Abstract
This paper aims at analyzing the significance and willingness of contracting firms regarding implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) to Pakistani construction industry; the problems and conclusions are weighed and assessed respectively. An in-depth analysis and statistical sorting of data were based on extensive industry surveys via questionnaires and one-to-one interviews with key contractors of the existing market. The current practices infer the average attitude of the contractors towards the importance of adopting TQM. The aspects that were targeted such as quality in the organization employee training, and organizational culture, seem to be slightly appreciable. Also partnering is known by almost everyone in the industry but they show a low response in this regard. Lacking of having a concise and exact definition of quality was also observed. The fragmented nature of the industry is a big hurdle in TQM application. Lack of education is also one of the reasons why TQM would fail. In addition, corruption, negligence and irresponsibility are also critical issues. Contractors are apprehensive in adopting TQM philosophy as they have a myopic view and are unable to realize its long term benefit. Implementing TQM requires a major organizational change that would transform the culture, process, strategic priorities and belief of an organization. Apart from commitment top management must educate its employees on the need of TQM so that it will help to reduce the amount of work for employees if they no longer need to attend the customer complaints and defect problems.

Key Words
Total Quality Management, Employee Training, Organizational Culture, Strategic priorities, Pakistan

1.Introduction
The main emphasis of this study is to assess the current status of the contracting firms of Pakistan Construction Industry regarding the implementation of TQM and the implementation of quality management approach in prevailing culture of contracting firms of Pakistani construction industry. More over the response of client firms has been discussed earlier under same issues to investigate the acceptance for TQM and found partial opinions. The approach to adoption of TQM for both client and contracting firms is comprised of different trends and objectives. Total Quality Management (TQM), which comprises of a continuous improvement philosophy, its appropriateness and adequacy towards

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implementation in Pakistan Construction Industry is evaluated and assessed with respect to implementation hurdles. In developing a total quality culture in construction, one important step is to develop a construction team of a main contractor, subcontractors and suppliers who would commit to the quality process and develop a true quality attitude (Low and Peh 1996). Chase (1998) concluded, in the construction industry, application of TQM to the jobsite has been proven to speed-up projects while increasing profitability (Steven McCabe, 1996). When time and money are premium then TQM implementation will be confrontational and adversarial because mostly contractors cannot afford to improve (Todd et. al, 2003). The contractors varied in their definition or perception of quality by indicating: price (value), compliments, management commitment, measurement and improvements, repeat business, and finishing on schedule (Alfred & Patrick, 1999) The supply chain context is especially salient in the quality assurance of construction projects as a general contractor often outsources most of the construction work to other members in the supply chain, i.e. its suppliers and subcontractors (Gunaydin, 1995). In construction phase, extent teamwork of parties participating in the construction process was found to be very important and ranked 2nd by constructors and 4th by construction managers (David & Murat, 1997). Product quality in the construction industry may refer to achieving quality in the materials, equipment and technology that go into the building of a structure, whereas process quality may refer to achieving quality in the way the project is organized and managed in three phases pf planning and design, construction, and operation and maintenance (David & Murat, 1997). In the construction industry, contractors are selected by owner on a competitive basis. Even though the bid is considered to be the major criterion of selection, especially private owners also consider the contractors safety record, technical support, equipment capabilities, and especially reputation regarding the quality of the work performed. Contractors with a bad reputation are not likely to be awarded many projects in the existing competitive marketplace. It therefore pays for contractors to invest in measures to achieve high work quality in order to increase chances of winning contracts (Low & Hui, 1992). Quality is also the cornerstone of competitive strategies for contractors seeking to widen as well as secure their clients. The global competitive arena has compelled contractors to constantly think of new ways to gain a competitive edge. (Bubshait and Al-Musaid, 1992) concluded that clients involvement in the construction phase is essential to project quality though they share Lomabrds view that the contractors role is vital and look for a much closer liaison between the clients and contractors. Willenbrock and Shepard (1980) concluded that the contractor or designer should maintain a quality control group, whose duty should be limited only to quality control, and who must be insulated from cost and schedule pressures. Finally, there are those who argue that the choices of quality control program and who should initiate it must depend on the particular characteristics of the project(Hester, 1979) .(Peter, Heng, Zahir & Olusegun, 1998) Both contractors and design consultants to be quality focused and to be committed to on-going learning process. (Peter, Zahir, Eddie & Heng, 2002) The alliance between a contractor and sub-contractor may lead to competition in both learning of new skills and refining of organizational capabilities in their products and processes. This study will therefore explore the current status of adoption of quality culture in Pakistan construction industry with respect to acceptability and suitability towards implementing TQM in the near future. Contracting firms are chosen for this study since they, as identified above, has vital position to encourage practical implementation of TQM in the construction sector.

2. Pakistani Construction Industry

Construction sector, the world over, is considered to be a basic industry on which the development of the country depends. To a great extent, the growth of a country and its development status is generally determined by the quality of its construction companies and their capability. In spite of being one of the most neglected sectors in Pakistan, construction participates to increase the GDP and comprises about

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14% of employment of total labor force (Labor Force Survey Report-Government of Pakistan, 2005-06). The industry is more labor intensive, with moderately less use of mechanization. Therefore, compared with other industries in Pakistan (like the manufacturing industry) this industry is labeled as being backward because of its relative lack of use of the latest advances in technology, management styles and procedures. Indeed it invests very meager amounts in research and development, which hinders the industrys ability to adopt new technology and processes. Considering that quality is the most significant factor of competitive advantage, the industry is creating a healthy atmosphere to work in and also the involvement of the foreign parties, agencies and funds, the industry is demanding so because of increasing numbers of construction projects. Advancement of technologies is unavoidable in such a fast-growing working environment. Traditional way of works, i.e. human or labor driven practices involved with the incorporation of the advanced technologies is leading Pakistani Construction Industry towards a developed country. Improvisation of the practices and processes will enable the industry to create an internal well established culture. Respecting the traditional and cultural values, mingled with the levels set internally may provide a step towards the viability of the same.

3. Objectives and Scope

The research work reported in this paper is part of an on-going research project under Pakistan-US Science and Technology Cooperative Program (STCP), with funds provided jointly by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), USA and Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), Pakistan. The above-mentioned project has four main objectives: 1. Assess the current state of Pakistan construction industry through quantitative research with specific reference to the status of construction management education, research and practice. 2. Develop a strategic model for the improvement and strengthening of construction management education, research and practice in Pakistan. 3. Devise a framework to standardize the construction industry practices for achieving improved performance on cost, time, quality, productivity and safety. 4. Capacity building of academia, industry, owners and government in the area of construction management so as to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the construction industry. Since no accurate information regarding the extent of construction management application in the Pakistan construction industry was available, the first objective of the research project was set as the investigation of the adoption and implementation of construction management practices in Pakistan construction industry. While this paper will focus only on the assessment of the quality culture in contracting firms in Pakistan construction industry as a way forward to TQM implementation in Pakistan, the remaining research work will be reported in further papers.

4. Methodology
The research methodology consists of the following steps: 1. Development of a questionnaire to elicit information about quality management practices of contractors. 2. Conducting questionnaire survey through personal interviews. 3. Assessment of feedback from questionnaire survey to identify the current state of quality management practices in contracting firms

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The steps are explained as follows. A questionnaire was developed initiating with request of personal information (e.g. work experience, position in company) and company information (e.g. types of construction works performed, number of employees). After that thirty one (31) questions laid out in eight (08) key areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Perception of quality (2 questions) Quality in your organization (10 questions) Employee training (2 questions), Culture within the organization (3 questions) Practices in the organization (7 questions) Data acquisition methods (3 questions) Partnering (1 questions), Implementation of TQM (3 questions)

The questionnaire was used to conduct personal interviews with representatives from total of 31 major contractors working in major cities of Pakistan so as to get their feedback on the prevailing culture in their organizations with respect to quality implementation. 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 top management who were involved in the quality management programs. 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 quality management activities in their organizations. The survey response is analyzed in the following section.

5. Analysis and Discussion

The analysis and discussion about the questionnaire survey is organized in nine key areas identified in section 4 above. In line with the format of the questionnaire, the results are reported in seven sections. Due to the small sample size, the respondents responses are indicated in numbers. Percentage values are reported only when they represent more meaningful results. 5.1 Perception of quality In this section, two questions were asked to evaluate the contractors firms perception of quality. 1. What is your perception of quality? (Prioritize) Priority Criterion Customer satisfaction 1 2 3 4 5 Minimization of reworks Scope achievement Minimization of cost Others Response 50% 13% 10% 13% 0%

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Required priorities have been set to analyze the responses and according to the results average percent of contracting firms (50%) have realized the importance of customer satisfaction and have kept customer satisfaction as their first priority. But afterwards most of them deviate from set priorities as minimization of rework and cost complies at equal level i.e. 13% and seems not to have clear concept of quality, in addition few firms respond to scope achievement (10%) because completion of work in time is becoming criterion of general contract conditions. 2. How would you rate Customer Satisfaction? A majority of the contracting firms surveyed (48%) placed customer satisfaction as the prime factor on which project success depends. This ensures repeat business for the contracting firm and hence better projects and financial gains. Almost one quarter of contractors (23%) think that customer satisfaction dictates companys quality standards. This means there is potential to develop internal quality system. Summary According to the contractors, their perception of quality is meeting client / customer demand. This shows lack of standardization as whatever client specifies is tried to be met, however low in quality that demand may be. On the other hand, it also shows a desire to succeed and willingness on the part of contractors to improve their organizations to better meet client needs. 5.2 Quality in your organization In this section, ten questions were asked to evaluate the practices regarding quality in contracting firms. 3. Has you organization developed a clear quality policy? About 65% of respondents have clear concept of quality policy but the definition and implementation has not been coincided as observed during visits to the firms because now general trend is to attract customers by representing the setup up to the standards which has weaken the foundation of quality concern and may cause of conflicts later in project execution phase. 4. Is a separate standard operating procedures manual prepared for each project before starting execution or handing it over to sub-contractor? About 52% of contracting firms are presently in a practice of preparing a SOP manual for every project undertaken, before handing it on to the subcontracting firms. This process is project specific rather than a generalized system. 5. How does your organization perceive Quality? (Prioritize) Priorit y 1 2 3 4 Inspection & Corrective actions 5 Value for Money 13% Criterion Satisfaction at all ends of the project Competitive advantage Quality Manuals are referred to if required Respons e 27% 7% 10% 7%

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6 Continuous Improvement 7 Whatever client specifies is quality 8 Inexpensive alternatives

7% 3% 10%

A majority of the contracting firms (27%) believe that continuous improvement and satisfaction at all ends of the project are the true meanings of quality stating at first priority. Analyzing the remaining set priorities the results are scattered and reveal as competitive advantage is at initial phase to accept new technology, availability of quality manuals may support to perform the procedures in better way only if customer demands, very few percent go for inspection and corrective actions because mostly this is liable to consultant/client, value of money is second well responded priority because issue of finance deal with the profitability, most of the firms use their experience to improve their procedures and it is continuum project to project, very few firms has not characterizing quality as client specification because mostly client are concerned to progress and may also corrupt and at last healthy percent of professional firms (10%) likely to adopt the inexpensive alternatives to perform quality work. 6. What determine the quality of your projects? Options Client demand Standards set organization by the Response 45% 32% 23% 16%

Current market standards International standards

The quality of projects is gauged in terms of standards that are developed in house; client demands (45%) also dictated the quality assessment on projects. As for the market trends and international standards there is no clear priority. 7. Does your organization set its quality goals to the level of? Options Leading company Competition general Level set internally Other in Response 32% 23% 26% 1%

Market competition is a very big incentive towards quality establishment. Most firms feel that in order to gain popularity and a competitive edge over other contemporaries they needed to establish a benchmark, and work towards the achievement of this goal. Mostly firms (32%) standardize the leading company and

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strive to adopt their procedures but due to unstable market conditions many firms (23%) follow the general competition to get projects, and with due to induction of professional firms (26%) set their quality goals internally. 8. Your organizations quality improvement program can be defines as: Most of the contracting firms surveyed were of the opinion that there is continuous monitoring (42%) of their processes, which results in a continuous improvement in quality. A significant number of contracting firms either have a formal program underway (35%) or rely on periodic or motivational programs (17%). 9. What type of quality improvement system(s) do you have? Some contracting firms claim to have incorporated TQM as their quality improvement system (i.e. 10%). Majority of the firms however focus on quality control/ quality assurance (i.e. 30%). 10. To increase productivity would you compromise quality? There is a great deal of contingency involved with the timely completion of projects. If there is a quality and productivity trade off, most contractors are likely to choose productivity (50%) in order to complete the project of time. 11. Your organizations quality performance has originated from: Options Deep rooted quality consciousness Close working subcontractors relationships with Response 29% 30% 26% 15%

Fully developed quality management system Quality assurance certification

There is a difference in opinion regarding the origins of organizational quality performance among contractors. By a very small margin, cordial relationships with subcontractors (30%) are cited as the main reason for organizational quality performance. Most professional firms (26%) have quality system and few of them (15%) rely only on quality assurance certification for organization quality performance. 12. How does your organization measure quality? Options Profit Margins Timely Projects Completion of No. of Responses 4 12 4 Increased productivity 5 Optimum Resource Usage 16

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Customer Satisfaction

Timely completion of projects (12%) and Customer satisfaction (16%) are rated as the most popular means of gauging an organizations quality measure which are reason of contract conditions and stay in business respectively. Few firms go for optimum resource usage (5%) which shows that they want to feed as many projects with same resource pool which depend on good management that how to utilize the resources but it is essential part of new era and not said to be measuring tool. Very few firms has equal percent (4%) to measure quality according to profit margin and increased productivity because measuring is next to implementing to quality system and that is under process. Summary Organizational perception of quality varies from that of personal perception at the highest level. At the organizational level, satisfaction at all ends and not just the clients end is deemed as quality. A contradictory answer generated in this head is that quality of projects is gauged in terms of standards that are developed in house. This is given more preference to client demand while higher management perception is that quality is customer satisfaction. Standards are not given much importance by the contractors. Contractors tend to strive to be the best in their field of expertise and focus on quality control / quality assurance. Contractors are willing to sacrifice quality in order to increase productivity. This reflects two things: firstly, confusion regarding their priorities and secondly, clients willingness to let quality be compromised in order to achieve increased productivity and thus reduced time period. Contractors say that their first priority is quality but they measure quality with respect to time period and customer satisfaction. 5.3 Employee Training In this section, respondents were asked four questions to explore about TQM related training programs designed for the employees. 13. Percentage of managerial/supervisory staff who have undergone quality management training: Range 0% - 25% 25% - 50% 50% - 75% 75% -100% Other Technical 0 4 10 7 0 Non Technical 5 6 6 2 2

Employee training plays a vital role in any organization/companys quality building efforts. The current trend in the industry leans toward maximized training of employees (50% - 75%) especially those related with technical/ specialized works because it accelerate the organization performance. Mostly technical staff is permanent so training will be investment to gain competitive advantage but as far as non technical staff is concerned it is observed that even though in spite of their casual status most of the organization posses interest (25% - 75%) to train them which gains staff understanding towards procedures and hence this can be utilize to get most advantage. 14. How do you train your employee for quality?

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Options On site training Trainings/Seminars/Workshops Improvement In-house sessions for quality Impart training on individual basis Other on Quality

Response (%age) 65% 19% 19% 16% 0%

An overwhelming majority (65%), of those surveyed, believes in on-job training so that the employees gain first hand experience of the technicalities involved in the construction process. On-job employee training is given special preference by contractors.

5.4 Culture within the organization In this section, three questions were asked to explore the culture within the organization. 15. Which code of ethics do you follow within your organization? Options Code of ethics provided by P.E.C We have our own code of ethics No formal code being followed 11% Other Response (%age)

37% 37% 15%

Majorities of Contractors either use the P.E.C. code of ethics (37%) in their organizational dealings or prefer to modify the P.E.C. code of ethics (or any other applicable code of ethics i.e. 37%) according to their own needs. It is positive element to gain systematic approach to follow the standard procedures. 16. What is the involvement of employee in your quality building effort? There exists a difference in opinion among contractors regarding involvement of employees in company policy. About 32% contractors implement upper management decisions but in similar way for the same percent of contractors when there are more technical staff, their suggestion are incorporated.. 17. What is your labour insurance policy in case of a fatal accident or severe injury to a labourer?

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Options No such issue faced Investigative compensation W.C.I No action action and

No. of Responses 10 10 4 0

The table clearly shows that majority of the contractors either insure their labors or provide compensation in case of fatal accidents to employees (10%). In major projects organization insured their resources to minimize the risk factor and compensate through insured money. Summary Contracting organizations tend to give importance to their employees. They value the opinions forwarded by their employees. They are also in the practice of providing for the safety of their employees and labor insurance is common within contracting organizations. Various facilities are also provided to employees. 5.5 Quality practices in the organizations In this section, seven questions were asked to explore the culture within the organization. 18. For continuous improvement in the construction process, what practice(s) have you adopted in your organization: Almost 67% of those surveyed believe in organized team effort to bring about continuous improvement in the construction processes. A team with similar quality perceptions is likely to achieve their quality goals more efficiently. 19. Before the start of the project, do you obtain client commitment to quality? Result shows 79% of contractors go for client commitment to quality which ensures the contractor that the client will not try to force the contractor to use substandard material and practices. 20. What testing procedures do you follow? All material testing is prevalent among contractors (almost 52%) to ensure high quality standards of construction. Substandard material can lead to reworks and an unsatisfied end user, resulting in project failure. 21. What percent of your projects done so far you found large amount of remedial work to do. Range No. of Response

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0% - 25% 25% - 50% 50% - 75% 75% -100%

14 2 1 1

Almost all of the sample population show minimal amount of remedial work on their projects. Minimum reworks in most cases suggest that project under consideration passed quality checks. Since most contractors surveyed had a minimum quality benchmark, minimal rework means that material and labor effort put in during the time of construction abides with standards. 22. Do you ask for a change order if the client objects about the quality of work? The most contractors about 70% are working for client satisfaction while following the proper procedures. This also shows that contractors do not take lightly to objections regarding their quality of work. 23. How do you comply with specification requirements? Most Contractors about 65% believe that by performing work as per specifications, they are providing the best quality to the clients. A few, however, recognize their responsibility to forward better suggestions to the clients. This shows that majority of the contractors are not motivated enough to propose better alternatives and thus settle for following specifications. 24. Do you encourage your engineer/project manager to keep a checklist for better quality assurance? Above 80% of the contractors make it compulsory for their project managers to keep checklists so that quality assurance is better implemented. This shows the commitment to quality of such contractors. Summary Contractors emphasize on team work. They believe it is the only way a learning curve will develop & continuous improvement will occur. Contractors also obtain client commitment to quality but theyre willing to sacrifice quality for increased productivity and time saving. 5.6 Data acquisition & analysis methodology In this section, three questions were asked to evaluate the performance of the organization. 25. What data acquisition methodology do you follow within your organization? Priorit y 1 2 3 4 Employee feedback forms Intranet Criterion Maintenance of Database Respons e 26% 13% 3% 3%

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Progress reports Others

0%

Generally contracting firms (26%) relay on maintain a database for continuous monitoring, but later on in second priority employee feedback (13%) considerable percent shows management shows trust on employee for progress. In addition, essential criterion has been set to monitor projects by Progress reports (3%) to assess project status as well as organizational status. The use of intranet (3%) is not a common means of data acquisition. Conventional technology is the preferred tool for data acquisition. 26. When working on a new project how do you incorporate learning from your previous projects? While undertaking new projects, contractors do not usually revise their adopted methodology before analyzing their previous works for mistakes and implementing their learning from them. They prefer to find solutions by learning from their mistakes i.e. 59% of contractors behavior. 27. How do you evaluate end user feedback? Priorit y 1 2 3 4 By number of claims 0% Contractors usually measure end user Others feedback in terms of returning clients (30%) because they want to stay in business but considerable percent i.e. 10% go for feedback forms because to maintain database and evaluate business strategies. Few of firms rarely evaluated end user feedback (7%) because of lack of resources and also some entertain claims (7%) which are low level priority. 5 Summary Contractors focus on data acquisition from their projects and on finding solutions to the problems encountered on projects. In this way they enhance their learning. Criterion Returning clients Feedback forms & analysis End User feedback is rarely evaluated Respons e 30% 10% 7% 7%

5.7 Partnering and Teamwork In this section, four questions were asked to find out to what extent the contracting firms use partnering and teamwork approaches in their projects, if any. 28. What type of partnering approach(s) do you practice? Options Response (%age)

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Ownership pf Process Partnering contractors with other

19% 27% 8% 12% 35%

Partnering with suppliers Internal partnering Partnering is not practiced

Contractors in general are not familiar with partnering in its real sense; they usually perceive it to be a form of joint venture. A majority of the contractors like to work with suppliers with whom they have a past history of cordial and professional relations. A considerable percent (35%) do not practiced partnering because of lack of resources. 5.8 Implementation of Total Quality Management In this section, respondents were asked three questions to explore facts about quality management and improvement strategies in their organizations. 29. Which of the following factors might motivate you to implement TQM? Options Self motivation improvement Competitive pressure Customer demand Market trend Cost reduction needs Last resort TQM is already being implemented towards continuous Response(%age) 39% 9% 21% 6% 12% 6% 15%

Self-motivation for improvement (39%), so that clients can be delighted (21%) and cost reduction needs (12%) are the major reasons cited by contractors for implementation of TQM in their organizations. TQM philosophy has many facets; generally it has been observed that most contractors are implementing some elements of TQM if not all. 30. Are you aware of the relationship between ISO-90000 and TQM? Options Response(%age)

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ISO-90000 is the first step towards TQM They are similar to each other ISO-9000 is a part of TQM They are different from each other

39% 17% 22% 22%

The construction industry, contractors in particular, are not aware of the true relationship between ISO and TQM. ISO and TQM both direct an organization towards improved quality but their approaches are very different. An appreciable percent (39%) of contractors present some understanding towards TQM and ISO relationship due to induction of international clients. 31. What obstacles do you foresee in the implementing of TQM? Options Resistance to change Resistance from top Management Policies Documented, Implemented Silo Approach Consumption of time & money Other Not Response(%age) 33% 15% 18% 9% 18% 6%

Contractors generally believe that unwillingness to change (33%) and non keen attitude (15%) towards implementation of policies (18%) are the major hurdles in the path of TQM implementation to Pakistan Construction industry. Most of the contractors feel that there is much finance spend (18%) but there is no surety of success. Nearly all the contractors interviewed, believe that there is a vast majority, among contractors themselves, which believes in silo approach (9%) and this is what may lead to unwillingness to change. Summary Majority of the contractors are unsure as to why they would implement TQM. Majority are unsure as to the relationship between ISO and TQM. Nearly all the contractors interviewed, believe that there is a vast majority, among contractors themselves, which believes in silo approach and this is what may lead to unwillingness to change. It is observed that contractors generally focus on Quality, Project practices and data acquisition & learning. Practices in an organization reflect the true factual happenings that take place on projects. Partnering is not understood in its true sense by Pakistani Contractors. They believe it to be a modified form of joint ventures; hence the emphasis placed on it as shown in graph is not a true representation of actual industry perception. Quality in the organization portrays the in house quality setup. It in turns reflects upon the projects undertaken by the organization. The bar chart shows the importance given by Contractors to employee training as it in turn reflects upon the technical capability of the organization.

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6. Conclusions & Recommendations 6.1. Conclusions: 1. It is evident that contractors give only average importance to important issues related to TQM such as quality in the organization, employee training and organizational culture. Contractors usually focus on organizational practices however; these do not tend to reflect in their efforts as the people in key positions do not have a concise and exact definition of quality. In contrary client firms has learnt the importance of TQM but only for cost estimating, warranty claims and project economy. A wide gap has been observed between both stakeholders only because of level of knowledge and awareness about TQM. 2. In addition the interviews conducted with higher officials of the contractors reflect that not necessarily in Pakistan Construction Industry, this is primarily due to the cost associated with TQM being passed on the consumer base, whom is not interested in bearing the extra financial burden associated with price hikes etc. otherwise TQM is totally progressive and allows genuine construction specialist to thrive and improve the overall infrastructure of the country in a positive manner. The same constraints of lack of financial resources for implement TQM revealed by client firms but QA/QC is preferred because it fulfills their objectives.

3. Contractors dominate the construction industry being the major players and decision makers. The practices adopted by them determine the direction and trends followed by the construction industry. But client firms seem to bind them to implement TQM through contract/agreements or assigned certain amount of project for it. 4. Resistance to change shown by most of the contractors reflects their lack of interest in adopting new technologies as they do not want to break away from the established norms. Also majority of the contractors currently operating within the industry are not there for long time, but enter for a short duration with the objective of maximization of profits only. 6.2. Recommendations: 1. Construction contractors need to improve their worker relations and show faith in their employees. Employees should be allowed to make decisions regarding their work and should be encouraged to propose solutions related to work problems. Through effective communication and improved project coordination, workers must be motivated to improve their work. 2. Contractors must move away from their obsession with the bottom line. They need to bind all parties together including subcontractors by mutually set and internalized goals. This may prove to be instrumental in minimizing re-works as well as improvement of the overall level of quality. 3. Motivation, training and retention of good employees must be enhanced by the human resource developers of the organization, combined with the support of the unions and employees about the concept of TQM. 4. In order to improve over all performance, contractors need to focus on aspects of time, performance, maintenance of a stable and well-trained workforce, and establishing long-term partnerships with their subcontractors.

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7. Obstacles in Implementing TQM Program:

Analysis of the questionnaires shows significant bottlenecks regarding the implementation of TQM. The key factors that are needed to be taken into consideration reflecting from the analysis of the sections of the questionnaires as well as the hurdles regarding the implementation of TQM in organizations are listed below 1. Profit Maximization 2. Resistance to change 3. Lack of resources and time 4. Perception of TQM (Contractors assume customer satisfaction as TQM) 5. Lack of employee training 6. Rigid ness shown by the upper management 7. Lack of employee empowerment 8. Employees suggestions are not appreciated (due to vertical hierarchy) 9. Lack of standardization 10. Unawareness of TQM Program/Philosophy

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Peter E.D. Love, Heng Li, Zahir Irani and Eddie Cheng (2002). A model for supporting interorhanizational relations in the supply chain. Engineering Construction and Architecture Management,, Vol. 9, No.1, pp. 2-15. Steven McCabe. (1996). Case studie: Creating excellence in construction companies: UK contractors experience quality initiatives. The TQM Magazine, Vol. 08, No. 6, pp. 14-19. Todd W., Peter Hoonakker, Pascal Carayon, Michael J. and E.Andrew. (2003). Safety and Quality Management systems in construction: some insight from Contractors. Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement (CQPI). Zantanidis, S. and Tsiotras, G. (1998), Quality management: a new challenge for the Greek construction industry, Total Quality Management, Vol. 9 No. 7, pp. 619-32.

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