Appraisal of Construction Management Practice in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Construction industry has complexity in it nature because it contains large number of parties such as clients, consultants and contractors. The factors that influence construction management practice differ from country to country, due to prevailing conditions. The objective of this project is to identify factors that influence construction management practice in Nigeria construction industry and elicit perceptions/ranking of the severity using relative importance index of the various factors. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to generate a set of factors believed to influence construction management practice in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was conducted and fifty-seven (57) factors were identified, grouped into nine (9) categories, evaluated and ranked from the construction actors perspectives. 108 questionnaires was produced and distributed to the key construction actors as follows: 45 to contractors, 33 to consultants and 30 to clients. Out of these questionnaires distributed, 92 were received (85%) as follows: 40(88.9%) from contractors, 28(84.8%) from consultants and 24(80%) from clients as respondents. They nine categories considered in this research work are as follows: quality management during design, quality management during construction, construction management techniques used in practice, economic policy, management style, socio-political consideration, motivation of staff, obstacles facing construction management practice and benefits of applying construction management tools in practice. The enlarged features included those from both previous Nigerian studies and other related international studies represented in the literature. The degree of agreement between parties regarding the ranking of factors was determined according to Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance and the survey findings indicate from three target groups (contractors, consultants and clients) agree that the most important factors that influence management of construction projects are as follows: conflicting design information, effective co-ordination of resources, critical path method, materials availability, setting timeliness, civil strife of riots, sense of belonging & identification with the project team, lack of construction management knowledge and known work progress.

Title Page……………………………………………………………………………………….....i

Certification……………………………………………………………………………………….ii

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………...iii

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………..iv

Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………....v

List of Tables …………………………………………………………………..……………….viii

List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………….....x

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….xii

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………...1

1.0 Background……………………………………………………………………………………1

1.1 Statement of the problem……………………………………………………………………...3

1.2 Objectives of study……………………………………………..............................................3

1.3 Significance of the study………………………………………………………………………4

1.4 Scope of the study……………………………………………………………………………..4

1.5 Limitation of study…………………………………………………………………………….4

1.6 Hypothesis……………………………………………………………………………………..4

1.7 Thesis structure………………………………………………………………………………..5

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………………6

2.0 Review of related works………………………………………………………………………6

2.1 Construction management……………………...……………………………………………..7

2.2 Functions of management in construction…………………………………………………….8

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2.3 Resources for Construction Industry………………………………………………………...11

2.4 The Roles of Construction Actors……………………………………………………………12

2.5 Factors that Influence Construction Management Practice…………………………………14

2.6 Quality Management during Design…………………………………………………………14

2.7 Quality Management during Construction…………………………………………………...14

2.8 Construction Management Techniques Used In Practice……………………………………15

2.9 Economic Policy…..…………………………………………………………………………18

2.10 Management Style………………………………………………………………………….19

2.11 Socio – Political considerations…………………………………………………………….19

2.12 Motivation of Staff………………………………………………………………………….20

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………...23

3.0 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………23

3.1 Study Area…………………………………………………………………………………...23

3.2 Data Collection Instrument…………………………………………………………………..24

3.3 Administration of the Data Collection Instrument…………………………………………...24

3.4 Population and Sample………………………………………………………………………24

3.5 Data Collection………………………………………………………………………………26

3.6 Method of Analysis…………………………………………………………………………..27

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION………………………...…30

4.0 Data Presentation…………………………………………………………………………….30

4.1 Analysis and Interpretation…………………………………………………………………..48

4.2 Test of Hypothesis (Computation of Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance)………………56

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………..58

5.0 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………......58

5.2 Recommendations……………………………………………………………...…………….59

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................62

APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………66