Causal relationship between project schedule problems and communication in construction
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Date
2021-06-22
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Abstract
Most of the factors that affect project schedule performance arise from ineffective
communication among project stakeholders as the form of communication adopted has an effect
on the flow of the project. Therefore, the study aimed at establishing the causal relationship
between project schedule problems and communication in construction project management.
Four (4) objectives were established which were to identify the factors that affect project
schedule problems in construction project management, to identify the factors that affect
communication in construction project management, to establish if there is relationship between
factors of project schedule problems and communication in construction project management
and to determine the extent of impact between project schedule problems and communication in
construction project management. With these objectives, an extensive literature review was
conducted from which variables on schedule problems and communication were identified.
Using the quantitative research method, the variables were subsequently used in the development
of a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed and fifty-four (54) was retrieved
and used for the analysis of the study. The analysis was done using the mean score ranking and
the multiple regression analysis. From the analysis, it was realized that, the most significant
schedule problem as indicated by the respondents was project managers competence. The
ranking of its sub-criteria in descending order were poor project manager technical capability,
poor skills in leadership of PM, poor organizing skills and relations of PM with other contractors
on site and lack of confidence to take decisions and enforce those decisions by the PM’s team on
site. The second ranked factor was monitoring, feedback and coordination. The third most
significant schedule problem was owner’s competence. The ranking of its sub-variables are as
follows; Poor timing of decision by the owner/consultant, poor monitoring and feedback by
client and inadequate training of human resources in the appropriate skill required for the
execution of works. With the second objective of the study, the most significant factor that
affects effective communication was the communication medium used. The second most
significant factor was the timing of the communication. The third ranked factor was the
establishment of a formal and visible communication system. The third and fourth objective
wanted to measure the relationship between communication and schedule problems. In order to
make inference of the relationship and the extent of impact, the beta values, significance level
and t-statistic values were calculated using the SPSS software version 20. The calculation was
done at a confidence level of 10% (α = 0.10; two-tailed test). The results indicated that, there is a
significant relationship between communication factors and schedule problems in the Ghanaian
construction industry. With these findings, it was recommended that, a project manager must
endeavor to adopt the appropriate communication medium at any particular point in time to
expedite the communication process. Also, the client and his advisors should be very keen in
selecting a suitable project manager for the project as the selection of an incompetent project
manager can affect the delivery of the project. Finally, an appropriate monitoring and reporting
tools should be adopted during the construction phase of a project.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Department of Construction and Technology
College of Art and Built Environment
in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of
Master of Science
Keywords
Communication, Schedule problems, , schedule performance, Project manager