Investigating the managerial ‘‘nuts and bolts’’ for the construction industry
Built Environment Project and Asset Management
ISSN: 2044-124X
Article publication date: 28 April 2020
Issue publication date: 2 July 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Managerial shortfalls can considerably undermine the delivery performance of construction projects. This paper appraises the project management essentials (PMEs) for successful construction project delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a detailed literature review, a questionnaire survey was developed encompassing 20 PMEs that were identified. An opinion questionnaire survey was used to facilitate data collection from key construction stakeholders in the Malaysian construction industry. The survey data were subjected to descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis.
Findings
Findings indicated that the leading PMEs are competency of the project team, competency of project manager, good leadership, effective planning and control and realistic cost and time estimate. Spearman’s rank correlation tests affirmed a good agreement on the ranking of PMEs across stakeholder groups. The present study found that PMEs for construction have a total of four dimensions, namely: scope, communication and competence management; stakeholder commitment and collaborative engagement; construction time–cost planning and control; and environment, health, safety and quality management.
Practical implications
The findings could potentially contribute to the development of appropriate project management best practices to address managerial shortfalls in Malaysia and other developing countries.
Originality/value
This paper bridges the identified knowledge gap about critical managerial dimensions for successful project management in construction. The present study adds to the existing body of knowledge around this under-explored area in the construction management literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to all the practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey reported in this paper. The work was supported by UTAR Research Fund (UTARRF) (Project Number: IPSR/RMC/UTARRF/2019-C2/J01). Special thanks go to the Editor-in-Chief, Professor Mohan Kumaraswamy, Associate Editor, Professor Syed M. Ahmed and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback, which has helped to improve the quality of this paper.
Citation
Yap, J.B.H. and Chow, I.N. (2020), "Investigating the managerial ‘‘nuts and bolts’’ for the construction industry", Built Environment Project and Asset Management, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-10-2019-0094
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited