Improving project delivery in South African construction

Empirical findings advocating performance improvement have continued to populate the international construction management literature in a bid to address the sub-optimal performance of the industry. A common theme among the publications is the seemingly lacklustre performance recorded on construction projects in terms of a range of performance indicators such as cost, environment, H&S, quality, and time. Similarly, South African construction is reportedly contending with a range of project performance issues, which led to this empirical research. Through the review of related literature and a quantitative survey, this paper reports on research conducted with the overall aim of identifying issues contributing to performance impediments, and their effects in South Africa. The survey was undertaken among general contractor (GC) members of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC). Selected findings include: a range of issues contribute to inadequate capture and transfer of knowledge, and inappropriate organisation culture, and poor management of site logistics are either collectively or individually marginalising the realisation of project objectives in South Africa. These issues in turn may manifest in the form of client dissatisfaction, delays, and rework in South African construction. However, there appears to be major scope for improvement if project stakeholders can proactively apply interventions / practices such as optimum management of quality, logistics, and organisational culture, in their quest to improve project delivery.