An investigation into the development processes and project management practices of government construction projects in Saudi Arabia

The aim of this research was to explore the nature of Saudi government construction projects. The intention was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the processes of taking government construction projects from their inception stage to completion and to explore the established project management practices observed during these processes in order to identify the management problems and impediments that affect such projects and to provide recommendations that may contribute to the improved performance of future projects. The business culture of Saudi government organisations was also considered in this research in order to assess the effect of business culture on current processes and management practices, and the extent to which government organisations in Saudi Arabia can adopt the recommendations of this research. The research used Hofstede's work on business culture as a basis for a survey which analysed the business culture of government sector organisations which undertake construction projects, to identify the cultural characteristics of these organisations in terms of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity. The research moved to a second survey and analysed the development processes and project management practices adopted by government organisations in developing and managing their construction projects. The findings from this survey were supplemented by three case studies of completed projects. The overall findings revealed that the current development processes and management practices suffer from major problems and impediments and are in need of improvement. Many specific reasons have been identified and grouped together as underlying causes of the present problems and impediments. These included government regulations, shortage of staff with appropriate skills in engineering departments, business culture, lack of systematic and coherent procedures for many processes and practices, lack of effective project management system, and lack of a central government entity responsible for controlling, regulating, and improving the construction system. The research thereafter made recommendations that may contribute to improvements in the current practices and management processes of government construction projects in three stages: 1. First stage: short term improvements in the existing practices and procedures. 2. Second stage: adoption of recognised project management system. 3. Third stage: long term improvements in the existing practices and procedures.