Causal relationship between project schedule problems and communication in construction

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.

Source: KNUST