Professional Documents
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PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
International Journal of Project Management 25 (2007) 517526
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman
Abstract
The problem of delays in the construction industry is a global phenomenon and the construction industry in Malaysia is no exception.
The main purpose of this study is to identify the delay factors and their impact (eect) on project completion. Earlier studies either considered the causes or the eects of project delays, separately. This study takes an integrated approach and attempts to analyze the impact
of specic causes on specic eects. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the causes and eects of delay from clients, consultants, and contractors. About 150 respondents participated in the survey. This study identied 10 most important causes of delay from a
list of 28 dierent causes and 6 dierent eects of delay. Ten most important causes were: (1) contractors improper planning, (2) contractors poor site management, (3) inadequate contractor experience, (4) inadequate clients nance and payments for completed work,
(5) problems with subcontractors, (6) shortage in material, (7) labor supply, (8) equipment availability and failure, (9) lack of communication between parties, and (10) mistakes during the construction stage. Six main eects of delay were: (1) time overrun, (2) cost overrun, (3) disputes, (4) arbitration, (5) litigation, and (6) total abandonment. This study has also established an empirical relationship
between each cause and eect.
2006 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Delay causes; Delay eects; Construction industry; Malaysia; Correlational analysis
1. Introduction
The problem of delays in the construction industry is a
global phenomenon. In Saudi Arabia, Assaf and Al-Hejji
[6] found that only 30% of construction projects were completed within the scheduled completion dates and that the
average time overrun was between 10% and 30%. In Nigeria, Ajanlekoko [2] observed that the performance of the
construction industry in terms of time was poor. Odeyinka
and Yusif [16] have shown that seven out of ten projects surveyed in Nigeria suered delays in their execution. Ogunlana and Promkuntong [17] conducted a study on
construction delays in Thailand. Al-Momani [5] carried
out a quantitative analysis on construction delays in Jordan. Frimpong et al. [10] conducted a survey to identify
and evaluate the relative importance of the signicant fac*
518
2. Previous studies
Many researchers have studied the causes and few
researchers have studied the eects of project delays in
the construction industry. We have broken the studies into
two parts: (1) Studies on causes of delay and (2) Studies on
eects of delay.
2.1. Studies on causes of delay
Manseld [14] identied 16 major factors that caused
delays and cost overruns in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was carried out with contractors, consultants and client
organizations in Nigeria. They presented that the causes of
delay and cost overruns in Nigerian construction projects
were attributed to nance and payment arrangements,
poor contract management, shortages in materials, inaccurate estimation, and overall price uctuations.
Assaf et al. [7] identied 56 main causes of delay in
Saudi large building construction projects and their relative
importance. Based on the contractors surveyed the most
important delay factors were: preparation and approval
of shop drawings, delays in contractors progress, payment
by owners and design changes. From the view of the architects and engineers the cash problems during construction,
the relationship between subcontractors and the slow decision making process of the owner were the main causes of
delay. However, the owners agreed that the design errors,
labor shortages and inadequate labor skills were important
delay factors.
Ogunlana and Promkuntong [17] conducted a study on
construction delays in Thailand. They found that the problems faced by the construction industry in developing economies like Thailand could be: (a) shortages or inadequacies
in industry infrastructure (mainly supply of resources); (b)
caused by clients and consultants and (c) caused by contractors incompetence/inadequacies. They recommended
that there should be concerted eort by economy managers
and construction industry associations to provide the necessary infrastructure for ecient project management.
Chan and Kumaraswamy [8] conducted a survey to
determine and evaluate the relative importance of the signicant factors causing delays in Hong Kong construction
projects. They analyzed and ranked main reasons for
delays and classied them into two groups: (a) the role of
the parties in the local construction industry (i.e. whether
client, consultants or contractors) and (b) the type of projects. Results indicated that ve major causes of delays
were: poor site management and supervision, unforeseen
ground conditions, low speed of decision making involving
all project teams, client initiated variations and necessary
variations of works.
Odeyinka and Yusif [16] have addressed the causes of
delays in building projects in Nigeria. They classied the
causes of delay as project participants and extraneous
factors. Client-related delays included variation in orders,
slow decision-making and cash ow problems. Contrac-
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520
consultant-related, and material-related factors to the probable cost and time overruns. In this research, we take an
integrated approach and attempt to link the causes and
the eects of delays in Malaysian construction industry
through a systematic analysis.
3. Methodology
A questionnaire was developed to assess the perceptions
of clients, consultants, and contractors on the relative
importance of causes and eects of delay in Malaysian construction industry. The questionnaire was divided into
three parts. The rst part requested background information about the respondents.
The second part of the questionnaire focused on causes
of construction delay. The respondents were asked to indicate their response category on 28 well-recognized construction delay factors identied by Odeh and Battaineh
[15]. These causes were categorized into the following eight
major groups:
1. Client related factors: nance and payments of completed work, owner interference, slow decision making
and unrealistic contract duration imposed by owners.
2. Contractor related factors: delays caused by subcontractor, site management, improper construction methods,
improper planning and errors during construction, and
inadequate contractor experience.
3. Consultant related factors: contract management, preparation and approval of drawings, quality assurance and
waiting time for approval of test and inspection.
4. Material related factors: quality of material and shortage in material.
5. Labor and equipment related factors: labor supply,
labor productivity and equipment availability and
failure.
6. Contract related factors: change orders and mistakes or
discrepancies in contract document.
7. Contract relationship related factors: major disputes
and negotiations, inappropriate overall organizational
structure linking to the project and lack of communication between the parties.
8. External factors: weather condition, regulatory changes,
problem with neighbors and unforeseen site condition.
The respondents were asked to highlight their recommendations to improve the performance of Malaysian construction industry through an open-ended question at the
end of second part of the questionnaire.
Third part of the questionnaire focused on the eects of
construction delay in Malaysian construction industry. The
six eects of construction delay identied were: time overrun, cost overrun, dispute, arbitration, litigation, and total
abandonment [1]. Similar to the second part of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to highlight their recommendation to minimize the eects of construction delays
through an open-ended question. A ve-point Likert scale
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Table 1
Demographic characteristics of respondents
Demographic characteristic
Frequency
Percent
Age
Less than 20
2029
3039
4049
50 and above
2
71
43
24
10
1.3
47.3
28.7
16.0
6.7
Sex
Male
Female
96
54
64.0
36.0
Education
Lower secondary (Form 1 3)
Upper secondary (Form 45)
Pre-university (Form 6)
University
Post graduate
1
12
19
90
28
0.7
8.0
12.7
60.0
18.7
Type of organization
Clients (government or developer)
Consultants
Contractors
67
48
35
44.7
32.0
23.3
Occupational level
Non-executive
Executive
Managerial
23
99
28
15.3
66.0
18.7
20
43
42
45
13.3
28.7
28.0
30.0
Fields of specializations
Building
Infrastructure
Mechanical and electrical
Others
60
41
19
30
40.0
27.3
12.7
20.0
18.0
31.3
50.7
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Table 2
Ranking of causes (based on overall)
Causes of delays
RII
Rank
3.3
3.3
2.0
5.3
4.0
8.7
7.3
10.7
23.3
40.0
31.3
42.0
38.0
37.3
41.3
32.0
31.3
10.7
18.0
10.0
0.780
0.687
0.732
0.661
4
20
13
24
0.0
0.7
2.0
1.3
0.0
0.0
7.3
2.0
9.3
4.0
8.0
7.3
25.3
20.0
32.0
15.3
31.3
25.3
42.0
44.7
44.0
44.7
36.7
36.0
25.3
32.7
12.7
34.7
24.0
31.3
0.771
0.813
0.712
0.815
0.753
0.783
5
2
15
1
10
3
0.7
0.0
0.0
1.3
17.3
6.7
14.7
14.0
34.7
48.0
44.7
44.0
31.3
31.3
31.3
30.0
16.0
14.0
9.3
10.7
0.689
0.705
0.671
0.669
19
16
22
23
0.0
0.0
9.3
7.3
29.3
28.0
46.7
36.7
14.7
28.0
0.733
0.771
12
6
2.7
1.3
0.7
7.3
10.7
9.3
18.0
24.7
27.3
52.7
40.7
37.3
19.3
22.7
25.3
0.757
0.745
0.755
7
11
8
0.7
0.0
14.0
16.0
38.7
29.3
38.0
41.3
8.7
13.3
0.680
0.704
21
17
0.7
0.0
0.0
10.0
14.7
7.3
36.7
48.0
28.7
36.7
29.3
43.3
16.0
8.0
20.7
0.715
0.661
0.755
14
25
9
External causes
Weather condition
Regulatory changes
Problem with neighbors
Unforeseen site condition
2.7
3.3
4.0
1.3
20.0
20.0
20.7
13.3
34.0
34.0
44.7
33.3
38.0
30.0
26.7
42.7
5.3
12.7
4.0
9.3
0.647
0.657
0.612
0.720
27
26
28
18
Based on the ranking, the important eects of construction delays as perceived by clients were: time overrun
(RII = 0.821), cost overrun (RII = 0.782), dispute
(RII = 0.687),
arbitration
(RII = 0.621),
litigation
(RII = 0.591), and total abandonment (RII = 0.585). The
important eects of construction delays as perceived by
contractors and consultants were exactly the same as those
of clients and therefore, a separate analysis using Spearmens Rank correlation was not done to test the agreement
between the three groups of respondents. Table 5 gives the
ranking of eects based on response of all respondents (clients, contractors and consultants).
The next step in the analysis was to identify the empirical relationships between the causes and the eects. Empirical relationships are based on observations and
propositions that are based on sense experience and are
derived from methods of inductive logic, including mathematics and statistics [18]. In short, empirical relationships
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Table 3
RII and ranking of categories of causes of delay
Category
Clients
Consultants
Contractors
Overall
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
RII
Rank
Client-related
Contractor-related
Consultant-related
Material-related
Labor and equipment-related
Contract-related
Contract relationships-related
External-related
0.674
0.758
0.664
0.721
0.741
0.679
0.694
0.637
6
1
7
3
2
5
4
8
0.742
0.791
0.697
0.792
0.768
0.708
0.735
0.655
4
2
7
1
3
6
5
8
0.757
0.783
0.703
0.757
0.752
0.694
0.709
0.674
3
1
6
2
4
7
5
8
0.715
0.774
0.684
0.752
0.752
0.692
0.710
0.652
4
1
7
2
3
6
5
8
Table 4
Spearmans rank correlation coecients of the ranking of clients, consultants and contractors for causes of delay (28 causes)
Ranking
Client
Consultant
Contractor
Client
q
Signicance probability
N (number of causes)
1.000
28
0.867a
0.000
28
0.772a
0.000
28
Consultant
q
Signicance probability
N (number of causes)
0.867a
0.000
28
1.000
28
0.896a
0.000
28
Contractor
q
Signicance probability
N (number of causes)
0.772a
0.000
28
0.896a
0.000
28
1.000
28
Correlation is signicant at the 0.01 level of signicance if signicance probability is lesser than the level of signicance, correlation is signicant.
Table 5
Ranking of eects (based on overall)
Eects of delays
RII
Rank
Time overrun
Cost overrun
Dispute
Arbitration
Litigation
0.0
0.7
0.7
2.0
4.7
0.7
2.7
14.7
22.0
21.3
20.7
29.3
41.3
46.0
48.7
56.0
37.3
38.0
24.7
22.7
22.7
30.0
5.3
5.3
2.7
0.801
0.787
0.665
0.619
0.595
1
2
3
4
5
Total abandonment
6.7
36.0
29.3
21.3
6.7
0.571
Table 6
Correlation between the categories of causes and eects of delays
Eects
Causes of delay
Client
Contractor
Consultant
Material
Labor
Contract related
Contract relationship
External
Time overrun
Cost overrun
Dispute
Arbitration
Litigation
0.164
0.145
0.171
0.172
0.170
0.277
0.148
0.001
0.051
0.019
0.045
0.097
0.042
0.050
0.103
0.092
0.024
0.067
0.033
0.152
0.046
0.037
0.155
0.096
0.204
0.019
0.165
0.222
0.146
0.273
0.134
0.087
0.251
0.203
0.288
0.007
0.004
0.165
0.104
0.214
Total abandonment
0.165
0.129
0.216
0.093
0.294
0.287
0.159
0.301
Correlation analysis is a powerful method to study the relationship between variables that have interval data [18].
Therefore, a correlation analysis was done to study the
empirical relationships between the categories of causes
and eects. Table 6 gives the results of the analysis.
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5. Discussion of results
This section discusses the results obtained in the earlier
section. First, we discuss the results obtained by analyzing
the causes of delays. Second, we discuss the results
obtained by analyzing the eects of the delays. Third, we
link each of the eect with the causes of delay.
The ten most important causes of delays (based on all
respondents) as shown in the Table 2 were: (1) contractors
improper planning (RII = 0.815), (2) contractors poor site
management (RII = 0.813), (3) inadequate contractor
experience (RII = 0.783), (4) inadequate clients nance
and payments for completed work (RII = 0.792), (5) problems with subcontractors (RII = 0.771), (6) shortage in
material (RII = 0.771), (7) labor supply (RII = 0.757), (8)
equipment availability and failure (RII = 0.755), (9) lack
of communication between parties (RII = 0.755), and
(10) mistakes during the construction stage (RII = 0.753).
5.1. Contractors improper planning
Local contractors often fail to come out with a practical
and workable work program at the initial planning
stage. This failure is interrelated with lack of systematic site
management and inadequate contractors experience
towards the projects. The consultant only checks and
reviews the work program submitted by the contractors
based on experience and intuitive judgment. Improper
planning at the initial stages of a project manifests throughout the project and causes delays at various stages. Only a
project that is well planned can be well executed.
Odeh and Battaineh [15] indicated that inadequate contractor experience was an important factor and this could
be linked to the contract awarding procedure where most
projects were awarded to the lowest bidder. A contractor
with inadequate experience cannot plan and manage the
projects properly and this can lead to disastrous
consequences.
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526
reduce the incidences of delays. The academicians can conduct similar studies in other parts of world and identify
causes and eects of delays. As mentioned earlier, some
causes and eects may be unique to certain countries.
References