Identifying the key process factors affecting project performance
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
ISSN: 0969-9988
Article publication date: 19 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
A construction project traditionally involves a variety of participants. Owners, consultants, and contractors all have diverse opinions and interests, but they all seek to ensure project success. Success is habitually measured as performance output regarding cost, time, and quality. Despite previous research mapping the success and failure factors, construction managers seem to have difficulty in attaining success. To provide clearer guidance on how to fulfill success criteria, the purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying factors that affect performance and thus project success in construction processes.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey based on a literature review provided 25 key process factors divided into five key categories. Based on the responses from commonly involved construction parties, the factors were ranked and tested for significant differences between the parties.
Findings
The top five most important process factors were found to relate to the sharing of knowledge and communication. Moreover, testing the ranking for significant differences between owners, consultants, and contractors revealed five differences. The differences related to the interpretation and importance of trust, shared objectives, project coordination, and alternative forms of coordination.
Originality/value
All respondents identify improved knowledge sharing and communication as the key to improved cost, time, and quality performance and are therefore the areas where construction managers need to focus their resources. Thus, improved experience sharing and communication will increase the likelihood of project success, through improving competences, commitment, and coordination.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Kent V.V. Christensen and Peter V. Nielsen who designed the questionnaire during their MSc dissertation, and a special thanks to the respondents for their involvement throughout the research project. The Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University provided financial support for this research. Finally, the authors would like to thank the reviewers for their suggestions and competent comments.
Citation
Lindhard, S. and Larsen, J.K. (2016), "Identifying the key process factors affecting project performance", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 657-673. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-08-2015-0123
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited