Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
The main aim of this study was to assess the procedures of a project management system in order to benefit service delivery within the North West Department Public Works & Roads.
The literature review provided the essentials of construction project management which are inter alia project constraints, time and costs. These essentials were discussed together with the responsibility for control and coordination of the activities of consultants, main sub-contractors, processes and procedures. Furthermore, the literature review touched on organisational structures and how they influence project management systems.
The study was conducted by means of a mixed approach, namely qualitative and quantitative. The researcher made use of questionnaires, interviews and document analysis to collect and analyse data. Of the 70 questionnaires emailed to construction stakeholders in the North West Province, forty were retrieved.
The major findings of the study
Poor design capacity and frequent designs impact negatively on quality and hence lead to failure. Clearly, poor contract management causes project failures.
There are complicated projects which failed in the past and are still continuing.
The client does not work according to the original plan but initiates variation in orders along the project life cycle, which is time consuming.
The designers do not have the capacity to design a perfect project and for that reason they keep on changing what they design.
Late awarding of contracts by the client has a negative impact on the delivery of projects. An assumption would be that the contractor does not have enough time to analyse the details of the contract and rather tries to beat the deadlines and compromise quality.
Planning processes and planning of the projects are disregarded, hence lead to failures.
The consultants have the capacity to implement poor decisions which ultimately has negative bearings on the projects.
Contractors poorly manage either their resources or their processes and this impacts negatively on the projects allocated to them by clients.
It implies that the contractors carrying out projects have inadequate experience...