Strategies for Preventing Project Delays in Construction Management

Introduction

Research topic

One of the crucial activities, which are supposed by the performed by the project managers in the organization, is to ensure that the undertaken project is accomplished on time. Scenarios in which plans do not meet their deadline are terms as project delays in organizational management (Ulrichsen, 2014). The theory of project management indicates that these scenarios may put immense pressure on the project managers, teams as well as other stakeholders to maintain the project deadlines, failing which disastrous consequences could be faced (Ulrichsen, 2014). Project delays raise the question on the efficiency of the project managers as well as the organization regarding project handling, especially when seeking business dissertation help.

Various studies in project management help understand that organizations operating in the construction industry, which fails to meet the deadlines of their projects, gradually lose their excellence in the business markets (Roberts, 2011). These deadlines are highly significant to the shareholders as the probability of the returns on their investment depends upon the success of the projects. For this reason, project managers and directors are required to develop and deploy the approaches and strategies through which construction projects can be completed on time and scenarios of project time delay can be prevented (Ulrichsen, 2014). In addition to this, it is also found that project delays often result in an enhancement in project cost, the need for material in additional quantities, cost overrun, and many more. This way, time delays not only affect the execution aspect of the construction projects; but also affect the sustainability of organizations and their projects. In worst-case scenarios, the project time delays allow the companies to miss the opportunities for which the projects were considered. In the construction industry, a meeting of project deadlines is considered highly relevant to the project managers (Straw, 2015). Delays in project execution may have extremely adverse effects on gatherings to a contract, which may ultimately raise certainties, income-related problems, allegations made by the clients, stakeholder dissatisfaction, and many more.

Due to these reasons, organizations and project managers are required to put the focus on the ways through which projects can be managed as per the allocated time, and time constraints could be reduced. It can be understood that there can be different factors corresponding to different countries, which could cause delays in construction projects (Horine, 2012). Some of these factors may include situations in external as well as internal environment of the construction company, cultural issues, socio-economic factors, and many more. Based on these considerations, the current research work is focusing on elements causing delays in construction project management, and what provisions could be considered to reduce the time constraints in projects.

Research Problem

In current times, several companies operating in the construction industry focus on P3 management approaches to bring efficiency to project management. P3 management is focused on program, project, and portfolio management approaches. It can be said that construction projects can be highly complex depending upon the construction structures and the other factors (Young, 2013). For this reason, it becomes questionable whether the P3 management approach in construction organizations may help project managers to reduce the scenarios of project time delays. The current research work will explore the ways P3 management may facilitate the progress of the project and enhance time efficiency. The research work will be investigating how P3 control can be used by the project managers in the construction industry to optimize the project and meet the set deadlines. The study is highly empirical and will draw real-time information about P3 management and its implication to the construction industry. This is why the problem of the current research work will be to evaluate the usability of P3 management in project execution and excellence.

Research Question and Objectives

Research Question

What are the P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector?

Research Objectives

The current research work will be conducted by focusing on the following purposes.

To study the types of delay in construction projects

To identify the factors of delay in construction projects and

To understand the effect of delay in construction projects

To evaluate the P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector and their impacts

To provide recommendations about the implication of P3 management factors in construction project delays

Factors of delay in construction projects

According to the research work accomplished by Zhang & Fan, (2013), several factors are accountable for time delays in construction projects around the world. The ineffectiveness of the project plan is one of the prominent factors, which may create challenging conditions for project managers. possibility of errors in project plans may affect their execution. For this reason, project managers are required to develop strategies with high precision (Harned, 2017). It can be understood that the project managers recognize errors made in the project plan after the commencement of the project. In these scenarios, efforts to make to improvise the projects could result in time delays.

Another major factor, which prevents the timely execution of the construction projects, is the frequently changing demands presented by the clients or changes in the structure (Schwalbe, 2015). It can be understood that the needs of the stakeholders, such as owners and many others, may change as per the time. For this reason, construction project managers are required to implement the changes suggested by the owners and clients. As a result, the construction projects may get delayed and may require more time for successful accomplishment.

In addition to this, there are also several factors resulting in time delays in construction projects such as shortage of material, funding constraints, and many others. The study completed by Santamaria (2013), indicate a lack of pre-planning may allow the project managers to face the challenges of short supply of material and many more. Irrelevant to the cause, the ultimate effects of these factors are on the execution of the construction projects. These projects cannot be completed on time if there is a shortage of material due to lack of communication with suppliers, inadequate funding, and many others.

Effect of Delay in Construction Projects

One of the significant impacts of project delays to the organizations is the considerable scale enhancement in project cost. There are thousands of companies in different industries, which have faced issues of cost enhancement due to project delay (Santamaria, 2013). It can be analyzed that due to project delay scenarios, workers and employees are supposed to work for an extended period due to which companies are required to pay them. In addition to this, project delays may also result in an enhancement in the cost of the material.

Another noticeable impact of project delay in organizations is the need for laborers and workers for the long term. Several studies suggest that companies operating in the construction industry work on standard contracts with jobs, engineers, and workers (Keane and Caletka, 2015). During the agreements, the company is liable to pay the wages and salaries of the workers. For this reason, scenarios of project delay put organizations under pressure to maintain the workforce as workers and employees may leave the project, if not paid sufficiently. At the same time, it can be challenging for companies to manage project costs.

The project undertaken by the organizations has the interests of several stakeholders. The theory of stakeholder interest indicates that suppliers, financiers, employees, workers, managers, customers, and many more have different needs from a project (Santamaria, 2013). These stakeholders may get disappointed if the plans do not meet the set deadlines. It can be said that after the accomplishment of projects, stakeholders such as owners, investors, and many others start to generate revenues (Portny, 2011). In these scenarios, project delay may prevent them from acquiring profitability.

Every organization commences working on a project to gain a competitive advantage in their respective industry and generate profitability. It is found in many studies that strategic managers in organizations undertake the project, which precision planning to step ahead of the competition and become a market leader (Ulrichsen, 2014). The scenario of project time delay may decline the project efficiencies and provide opportunities to the competitors to adopt the same or similar approaches.

P3 management Factors Implicated in Project Delays

According to the study carried out by Keane and Caletka, (2015), approaches of P3 management are highly effective in enhancing the time efficiencies of the construction projects. P3 stands for project management, program management, and portfolio management. Organizations operating in the construction industry may regulate different practices related to construction projects and become pro-active towards time constraints. Approaches project management in P3 allows the project managers to focus on every aspect of construction, such as procurement, planning, execution, and many more. It can be analyzed that intense focus depicted by the project managers on these aspects of the P3 management may allow them to recognize the time taken by the entire project and pace up accordingly (Horine, 2012). This way, time constraints in construction projects can be reduced.

Further, Straw, (2015) has indicated in his research work that developing project portfolio and sticking to it is one of the astounding approaches in P3 management, which may bring time efficiency in construction projects. Project managers are required to develop a detailed portfolio after focusing on all activities and risks associated with the construction. The collection may be considered as a planning document, which will allow the project managers to speculate the factors likely to emerge in the future (Zhang & Fan, 2013). It can be analysed that the project managers may take the required actions to enable the project to meet the deadlines.

Programming is also considered an essential part of P3 management in construction projects. Several studies suggest that the project managers need to program the project by including the best available resources such as talented employees, engineers, workers, supervisors, and many others (Young, 2013). These approaches are likely to provide feedback on the possibilities of projects to get accomplished on time. This way, project plans can be improvised and developed with high precision, which will reduce the time delay scenarios.

Research Strategy

The research strategy considered for the current study will comprise the data collected using secondary and primary sources. In this study to the investigation of P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector, primary as well as secondary data sources will be used. A primary source is about collecting data from varied reliable sources so that the information is attained directly from the respondents (Fulford and Hodgson, ‎2016). The primary cause is about collecting data and information through the help of an interview. The primary research strategy will help the research work in drawing many reliable outcomes, which will be based on real-time data. The primary research strategy will be highly effective in drawing rational conclusions in the current research work on the investigation of P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector. This research strategy will provide recent information related to the construction industry, which could be trusted easily, and the high quality of research execution will be achieved.

In addition to this, a secondary research strategy will also be considered in which information will be collected from various secondary sources such as peer-reviewed journals, articles, websites. It can be said that the secondary research strategy will be used to present the real facts and information about the research topic and will form the part of the literature review chapter of the study (Creswell, 2014). This research strategy will also be crucial for the completion of the current research work because it will help in identifying the gaps in the existing literature and filling them efficiently.

Research Method

As far as the success factor for research work is considered, it can be said that the selection of a suitable research method plays an important role (Hakim, 2012). The research method can be defined as the practice of choosing the most appropriate way of collecting data as per the requirements. It is found that there can be several research methods, which may include qualitative comprising of unstructured interviews or surveys, quantitative such as corporate financial data, closed-ended questionnaires, and mixed-method. Considering the suitable research method for the current study, it can be said that mixed-method will be considered. In this research method, a survey comprising of a questionnaire will be conducted among various project managers in the construction industry. In addition to this, corporate financial data and other information will also be analysed critically, which may help in achieving the research objectives and aim. Consideration of mixed research methods will help explore the P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector and drawing a suitable conclusion about the research topic with the help of the survey. Along with this, it also provides recent data due to which credibility of the outcomes drawn in the research is also enhanced.

Methods of Data Collection

In this research study, the focus will be mainly on the investigation of P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector. Correspondingly, both primary and secondary data will be considered for conducting this research study. The secondary data that will be considered for this research study comprises a collection of relevant information from journals, literature, and online sources, which will focus on P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector. On the other hand, primary data for this study will be collected using interviews with the project managers belonging to the companies operating in the construction industry. Most notably, the collection of information will be done based on specific open-ended questions that are directly linked to the research objectives (Creswell, 2014). As much as 8 respondents are proposed to be sampled in this research study through random sampling technique. Skype will be used for conducting the interview with the target respondents as considering the current COVID19 pandemic, face to face interview is not deemed as possible. This will further include items that enable the people involved to be able to express their opinion clearly, further serving the purpose of the research study. The interview is expected to be completed in around 20-30 minutes time.

For drawing suitable conclusions in the research work, data analysis and processing will be carried out in various ways (Fulford and Hodgson, ‎2016). The use of mathematical tools such as calculators and many others will be considered for the analysis of primary data. Such data will be analyzed in the form of tables and many others. Along with this, for analysis of secondary data, justifications made in the research works of various scholars will be evaluated and mapped by the aims and objectives of the current research work.

Research Process

The time scale for the research work on the investigation of P3 management factors implicated in project delays in the construction sector is described in the following manner.

References

Creswell J.W.(2014) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, USA: SAGE.

Fulford, A. and Hodgson, ‎N. (2016) Philosophy and Theory in Educational Research: Writing in the Margin, UK: Routledge

Hakim C. (2012) Research Design: Succesful Designs for Social Economics Research, UK: Routledge

Harned B. (2017) Project Management for Humans: Helping People Get Things Done, UK: Rosenfeld Media

Horine G. (2012) Project Management Absolute Beginner's Guide, UK: Que Publishing

Keane, J. and Caletka, A. (2015). Delay Analysis in Construction Contracts. USA: John Wiley & Sons

Portny S. (2011) Project Management For Dummies, USA: John Wiley and Sons

Roberts P. (2011) Effective Project Management: Identify and Manage Risks Plan and Budget Keep Projects Under Control, UK: Kogan Page Publishers

Santamaria, G. (2013). Urban Megaprojects: A Worldwide View. USA: Emerald Group Publishing

Schwalbe K. (2015) Information Technology Project Management, UK: Cengage Learning

Ulrichsen, K. (2014). Insecure Gulf: The End of Certainty and the Transition to the Post-oil Era. UK: Oxford University Press

Young T. (2013) Successful Project Management, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.

Zhang, L. & Fan, W. (2013). Improving performance of construction projects A project manager’s emotional intelligence approach. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 20(2), 195-207.

Dig deeper into Statues Plaques and Other Constructions of Past Slave Owners with our selection of articles.