Introduction
Towards total project
quality ± a review of
research needs
A.R. Toakley and
M. Marosszeky
The authors
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky are at the University
of New South Wales, Australia.
Keywords
Construction industry, Procurement,
Total quality management, Research,
Project management
Abstract
The focus of quality management (QM) in the construction
industry, and its literature, has been on during
construction and on product quality. The construction
phase represents the final step in the construction
procurement process, however it is the outcome of the
previous stages of analysis, planning and design and
represents but a small fraction of the overall cost and
value that is created in the construction and use of
buildings and built infrastructure. In other industry sectors
and through the international quality movement, the focus
in QM has moved to total quality. This is reflected
internationally in the criteria for quality awards in which
product quality represents only some 20 per cent of the
total score for an enterprise. This paper briefly reviews the
development of the quality movement and its application
within the construction sector and suggests a broader
scope for the application of quality concepts within the
procurement process from a whole-of-life perspective.
Identifies also areas which require further research.
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Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
Volume 10 . Number 3 . 2003 . pp. 219-228
# MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0969-9988
DOI 10.1108/09699980310478467
219
The main purpose of this paper is to suggest a
much broader scope for the application of
quality concepts within the construction
procurement process. It identifies areas which
require further research; these deal with issues
such as the evaluation of quality, life cycle
performance, sustainability issues, benefits
and costs of quality, risk management, and
the integrated approach to quality. However
because of the very broad scope of issues
considered, and the constraints of length, the
paper can only engage relatively superficially
with each topic raised.
The construction sector constitutes one of
the most important parts of the economy of
most countries. A recent analysis of the
Australian economy showed that the building
and construction cluster represented 14.4 per
cent of GDP in the 1996-97 financial year
(DISR, 1999). The efficiency of the sector
and the effectiveness of its products
determines the overhead costs paid for built
infrastructure by the entire economy and this
has an important influence on a nation's
international competitiveness.
This is an industry where developers, clients,
engineers, architects, contractors, financiers
and others come together to develop complex
projects. The end users who ultimately bear
the costs through rent, lease or purchase and
whose businesses are beneficially or adversely
impacted by the effectiveness of the built
infrastructure within which they operate, are
very rarely consulted. As a result of a
combination of process fragmentation,
product complexity, poor definition of quality
attributes and the ``one-off'' nature of many
projects, high level and consistent quality
achievement is difficult to achieve both during
the design and construction processes and
particularly in terms of the whole-of-life
performance of completed facilities.
The paper begins with a brief review of the
evolution of the quality movement, and its
beginnings in quality assurance and quality
control. Attention is drawn to the growing
recognition that quality has a dual character,
in that it consists of objective and subjective
components. The former embraces things
such as conformance to standards, sampling
and process control, and the latter, items such
as customer perceptions and evaluation,
contractual relations, community impacts and
peer review.
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
Also, the modern quality movement brings
together ideas from a number of fields
including systems analysis, operations research,
engineering, group dynamics, fine arts, design
theory and organisational development.
While some progress has been made to date
in the way that quality is managed during
construction, many changes in perception and
practice are required. The most important
issue is a shift from a relatively simplistic
product quality view to a total quality focus. In
other industry sectors, the goals of total
quality are obvious from the criteria for
international quality awards. Of the total score
for an enterprise, product quality represents
some 20 per cent. This reflects the realisation
that product quality is an outcome achieved
through a broad range of integrated quality
focussed strategies which include supply chain
and customer focus, leadership and training.
To enable the philosophy of total quality
management to be embraced more fully in
practice, some key areas of research need to
be identified and are discussed in the paper.
These include:
. The evaluation of quality. The use of multi-
attribute analysis, together with the
aggregation of subjective measures of
quality involving a linguistic assessment
based on fuzzy set theory. Psychological
factors are highlighted and the critical
relationship between service quality and
perceptions of product quality is
introduced.
. Life cycle and sustainability issues. How
should these be incorporated into the
overall quality assessment?
. The benefits/costs of quality. Appraising and
reporting the costs and benefits of quality
are important in assessments of total
quality management. Improved means of
evaluating these items are required.
. Risk management techniques. Currently, little
use is made of these techniques, although
considerable scope exists to incorporate
them into the management of quality.
. Integrated approach to quality. Integration
of the various issues that contribute to
quality requires the development of a
systems approach.
Moving towards quality
The quality control movement in
manufacturing was initiated in the 1920s by
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Dr W.A. Shewhart of the Bell Laboratories.
He used statistical methods to develop a
control chart for process quality control, but
this was not adopted widely until World
War Two. Further development of quality
control concepts was undertaken by
Dr W.E. Deming, who expounded principles
for achieving better quality at a lower cost,
and recognised that it is better to prevent
mistakes and defects, rather than remove
those which occur. In 1950 he lectured
Japanese researchers, managers and engineers
on his statistical concepts. This led to creation
of the Deming prize in Japan, and helped
accelerate the Japanese quality revolution.
This was given considerable impetus by
another American, Dr J.M. Juran, who
provided a clearer and applicable definition of
the elusive notion of quality. He saw it as
involving the two essential elements of
freedom from deficiencies, and product
satisfaction for customers. Prevention of
defects in itself is insufficient; quality also
implies customer acceptance and usefulness.
Juran and Deming also emphasised that the
achievement of quality requires a supportive
organisational structure, with the active
involvement of senior management, as well as
staff at all other levels. Significantly, these
broader concepts are no longer seen as
applicable only to industrial production, but
also to the improvement of entire systems and
organisations and have become the basis of
awards such as the Baldridge Awards in the
USA and the Australian Quality Awards.
The growth of the quality movement in
Japan and elsewhere has seen the
development of a wide range of associated
concepts, techniques and approaches. Some
of the more important of these which have
relevance to the construction sector are as
follows:
(1) Quality assurance (QA) and quality control
(QC). These are now seen as limited
approaches which concentrate
respectively on prevention and
inspection. In QC, the focus is on
technical issues of product performance
while QA focuses on how procedures can
be adjusted to achieve products which
satisfy a specific quality standard. An
identified weakness of QA is that it does
not link the quality of management
processes with the quality of the products
being made.
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
(2) Total quality management (TQM). This is
sometimes known total quality control,
and involves the application of quality
principles to every operation, including
the satisfaction of ``internal'' as well as
external customers.
(3) The Juran trilogy. Juran's ideas about the
achievement of quality progressed over the
years, and in 1986 he articulated these
broad concepts for its management. These
constitute the ``Juran trilogy'' and are:
. quality planning (the front end of the
process, covering matters such as
identification of external and internal
customers, and customer needs and
goals);
. quality control (a management
control approach which has its roots
in control chart techniques);
. quality improvement (a decisive
movement to higher levels of
performance through changes in
attitude, cultural patterns, knowledge
and diagnostic procedures). This is a
continuous process.
The ``Pareto Principle'' enunciated by
Juran forms part of his overall concept. It
postulates that a relatively small number of
factors in a given situation will account for
a large proportion of the targeted impact.
(4) Benchmarking. This involves a
comparison of key attributes between
projects and enterprises. It usually
involves the collection of well defined,
specific data and statistical comparison
across a sample. Using this management
tool, ``world's best'' practice can be
identified as well as the relative
performance of projects and enterprises.
(5) Quality function deployment (QFD). This
originated in Japan, where it was
introduced around 1972. It employs a
mathematical analysis using a series of
matrices, the one associated with the
initial phase often being known as the
House of Quality. It is essentially a tool
for defining and linking customer
expectations of quality with the
parameters that industry professionals use
to define, design and make products. A
more recent development that builds on
QFD is customer-integrated decision
making (Daetz et al., 1995). This is
claimed to be a broader and more
integrated approach with a stronger focus
on market research.
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One possible danger of the quality approach
sometimes mentioned is that can inhibit the
use of innovative approaches, and stifle lateral
thinking. While this is always possible in any
structured approach to problem solving, it is
not an inherent difficulty.
How has the construction sector leveraged
these ideas? Of this broad range, construction
has adopted relatively few concepts, and even
those have been adopted in a fragmented
manner. Designers have had considerable
difficulty in developing formal quality based
strategies and few assess client or user
satisfaction in any formal sense. Each
contracting party has tended to focus on
product quality, generally approaching their
goal from the conservative and limited
perspective of fitness for purpose within the
framework of the documentation. Customer
satisfaction and supply chain quality are rarely
measured and the inevitable link between
service quality and customer perceptions of
product quality is very rarely explicitly
recognised.
ISO9000 was mandated by government
clients in Australia, the UK and Hong Kong
and this led to the investment in quality
systems being drawn from marketing budgets.
Consequently, in these markets the primary
value of quality systems is seen as a marketing
one. Very few organisations in the sector
worldwide have grasped the strategic
significance of the quality philosophy for their
businesses.
The planning and design phases of a project
are the stages where the greatest impact on the
whole-of-life quality of a project can be made,
yet in a historical sense, quality methods have
been much more concerned with production
than with conception and design. A further
step in the direction of implementing quality
into the planning, design and construction
process is potentially available with QFD,
which has been described as ``the epitome of
TQM.'' A discussion of its likely benefits in
the construction industry can be found in
Mallon and Mulligan (1993).
These authors point out that King (1989)
has helped to clarify quality evaluation in
QFD applications by dividing it into
expected, or demanded quality, and
attractive, or exciting quality:
Expected quality relates to those elements of a
product that the customer expects and that must
be present to satisfy that customer . . . No
additional amount of expected quality will
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
increase customer satisfaction. Exciting or
attractive quality is a product attribute that
pleasantly surprises the customer. If this
characteristic is not present, the customer's
satisfaction is not reduced. If it is present and
recognised however, the level of satisfaction is
increased.
Another helpful account of the dimensions of
quality is provided by McConachy (1996),
who describes a dual-dimensional model of
project quality. In this model, one dimension
represents conventional project quality
(objective matters such as technical
requirements, contract schedule and contract
cost), and the other represents contemporary
project quality (subjective matters such as
customer satisfaction, contractual relations
and peer review).
As mentioned previously, the fragmentation
of the supply chain and of both design and
construction processes and the complexity
and ``one-off'' nature of the end product in
the construction industry makes the use of
quality management methods much more
difficult than for (say) a production line in a
manufacturing plant.
Areas for further research
Evaluation of quality
The greater the extent to which quality and the
parameters which determine it can be gauged,
the more it can be understood and controlled.
However, as mentioned previously, quality has
a dual nature, in that it has objective and
subjective dimensions, and there are a variety
of different components making up each
dimension. In other words, quality has
multiple attributes, some of which are difficult
or impossible to quantify. The aggregation of
these attributes into a meaningful overall
measure of quality also presents problems.
Another important aspect of quality in the
present context is the stage in the life cycle of
a project at which it is assessed. This is
normally done at the completion of
construction, but assessments made at the
completion of the design or during
construction may also be undertaken.
Assessments may also be made during the
service life of a project, as for example is
sometimes done with the post-occupancy
evaluation of buildings. An interesting facet of
the quality assessment process is that it is now
becoming more common to rate individual
firms as well as projects.
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In construction work, project management
procedures require that a continuing
assessment of ``earned value'' be undertaken to
measure and control the achievement of time
and cost objectives. An analogous procedure
which assesses ``earned quality'' is proposed by
Paquin et al. (1996) as a means of managing
the build-up of quality in a project during the
design and construction phases. They outline
a procedure based on multi-attribute utility
theory (Keeney and Raiffa, 1976). Essentially,
it involves a hierarchical approach in which the
first step is to identify the essential properties
and quality attributes of the project. As well,
the project manager must identify the activities
that contribute to the achievement of the
selected quality attributes. The remaining
linkages in the hierarchical structure also need
to be determined, as well as the relative
importance or weight of each item in the
hierarchical ``tree.''
The authors point out that the weights can
be evaluated in various ways, and cite the
binary comparison method of Saaty (1980).
Attention is also drawn to the difficulty of
using subjective evaluations for qualitative
items. Another important matter is the issue
of how items in the hierarchical structure are
related when interaction exists between them.
For example, this interaction could be
additive, or multiplicative, or take some other
form. The assumption of additivity is
commonly made, and implies that the items
are mutually independent in utility.
Although the most significant quality
decisions are made during the planning and
design stages, most of the quality
management effort occurs during the
implementation phase of a project. An
interesting discussion of measures of quality
during this stage is given by McConachy
(1996), who deals with it under the two
headings of ``conventional project quality''
and ``contemporary project quality.'' The
former is defined as the extent to which the
customer's requirements are met in respect of
the budget, schedule and technical
specifications. A simple numerical rating is
used by rating each of the three factors on a
scale of 1 to 100, and using a weighting
system of 20 per cent each for budget and
schedule, and 60 per cent for contract
specifications. These items represent control-
based systems, whereas contemporary project
quality is essentially subjective in nature. It
involves a qualitative assessment of customers
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
and project team members as to how a project
is meeting their expectations with regard such
things as the communication of goals and
values, peer review, customer expectations,
partnering and quality awards. Rather than
use a single numerical index of quality,
McConachy (1996) proposes that a dual
system be adopted, in which the separate
ratings given to the conventional and
contemporary aspects of quality are
communicated (e.g. a rating might be 80/50).
This has the distinct advantage of facilitating
meaningful comparisons between different
projects, as well as providing a meaningful
assessment of individual projects.
A comprehensive approach to the
assessment of project quality (for engineer-
procure-construct projects) is described by
Stevens (1996). This covers the phases of
preplanning, design, procurement,
construction, start-up, operation and final
disposition. It leads a project team through
steps to identify and develop predictive
measures for project quality, and it helps the
team to determine the ``critical few''
measurements needed for a specific project on
the basis of a detailed cause and effect
analysis. Quality measures include traditional
project success measures such as cost,
schedule and safety, as well as measures such
as customer satisfaction, leadership, employee
involvement, teamwork, training, flexibility
and responsiveness. In the light of the above
discussion, there are a number of observations
which may be made:
. the usefulness and understanding of
quality measurements is improved if
results are presented in a disaggregated
rather than an aggregated form (e.g. by
separating objective and subjective
assessments, and doing the same for the
different project phases);
. there is a lack of knowledge concerning
the nature of the interaction between
various quality components when
undertaking multi-attribute analyses;
. in view of the importance of the planning
and design phases in determining overall
project quality, improved methods for its
measurement at these stages would be
valuable; and
. current assessments of product quality
use deterministic values for the weighting
of attributes, and do not allow for
uncertainty or varying degrees of
confidence in these scaling factors.
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The following avenues of research are
therefore proposed:
. Construction projects vary enormously in
character and scope, ranging from special
purpose buildings where the architecture
may be a vital feature (e.g. an art museum
or an opera house) to more utilitarian
projects dominated by functional
requirements (e.g. an infrastructure
project). Across this range of projects, the
analysis of quality in each case requires
both objective and subjective assessments
to be made, but the nature and extent of
these evaluations will differ as regards
their relative importance in the different
phases of the procurement process, and
also in the final appraisal of the project. It
is proposed that empirical assessments of
a range of project types be undertaken
with a view to providing guidelines
regarding the objective and subjective
measures which need to be considered, as
well as their relative importance for
various categories of project. As part of
this study, it would be appropriate to
undertake an analysis of the psychological
basis of quality perception. For example
in construction, the quality of a
contractor's services in terms of
parameters such as timeliness, site
cleanliness, defect free construction and
rapid response to questions during the
construction phase influences client
perceptions of product quality on
completion. This would be a substantial
project, as can be seen from the resources
put into study of the analogous area of
risk perception (Royal Society, 1992).
. There is an extensive literature dealing
with utility functions, and multi-attribute
utility theory is a complex and intricate
field of study (Hwang and Yoon, 1981).
The assumption of independence of
utilities referred to above is problematic,
but does have the advantage that utilities
can be added. It would also seem to be
plausible in many situations. Any attempt
to determine the nature of complex
interactions between utilities fails, because
humans find it difficult to discriminate
between alternatives and make consistent
rational comparisons. However, it is
conjectured that this will not be the case in
examining the ``carry-over'' effects of
quality from planning to design, to
construction etc. in arriving at an overall
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
assessment of quality. The interaction
between phases would seem likely to be
basically multiplicative in nature, and this
is something which could be investigated.
Further, the interaction between elements
of contemporary quality (McConachy,
1995) such as teamwork, contractual
relations and customer focus and
traditional dimensions of quality is
complex, and deserves investigation.
. Multi-attribute utility functions can be
used to undertake the quality analysis of
any phase of the project procurement
process. To date, deterministic values for
the weightings have been adopted, but it
may be possible to provide a more
meaningful result by using subjectively
determined probabilities for these (the
risk analysis approach has proved to be
very valuable in project cost analyses).
. Qualitative assessments are most
important for the planning and design
phase and for the assessment of the
functional performance of completed
facilities. The use of fuzzy set modelling
(Zadeh, 1965) for this purpose would
seem likely to prove very useful for multi-
attribute analyses. A small synthetic
example of a building design in which
energy efficiency and environmental
impact were taken as the controlling
variables indicated the efficacy of the
method. Linguistic variables such as
``low'', ``medium'' and ``high'' can be used
as descriptors for the design variables,
and the attribute weightings can be
treated in the same way. The range of
linguistic variables can be increased if
greater refinement is sought (e.g. very
low, low, medium, high and very high),
and probabilistic uncertainty can be
combined with fuzzy imprecision.
Life cycle and sustainability issues
Life cycle analyses concerned with operating
costs and reliability have become a more
common feature of project feasibility studies.
However, with growing awareness of the
significance of sustainability, it is becoming
recognised that life cycle analyses need to
include this broader perspective. Drawing on
the writings of others, Dovers (1996) has cast
the importance of sustainability in the
following terms:
Globally, sustainability is, in Harrison's (1992)
words the universally agreed goal of human
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progress. It is, inescapably, the largest policy
agenda ever, being the culmination of many
years of intellectual, community and policy
effort, and a growing realisation of the severity
and interdependence of the ``interlocking crises''
of environment and development . . . (World
Commission on Environment and Development,
1987).
The sustainable design, construction and
operation of projects is becoming a new
frontier for quality management, and involves
practice which aims to be ethically right and
professionally sound. It attempts to keep
options open for future generations by
minimising waste reducing environmental
impacts. A good example for the engineering
framework required for sustainable projects is
provided by the Institution of Engineers,
Australia (1997). This provides guidance for
sustainable engineering practise (design,
construction, energy efficiency, green
buildings etc.), tools for sustainability (life
cycle assessment, risk management etc.), and
other useful documentation on sustainability.
It also gives a simple definition of life cycle
assessment as ``determination of the potential
environmental impacts of a product resulting
from all stages of its production, use and
disposal.''
A useful discussion of life cycle energy in
buildings is provided by Newton (1997,
p. 133), where it is indicated:
. . . a whole of life approach is required to obtain
a balance between the impacts due to the
contributions of the construction of the building
and those due to its operation . . . Impacts on the
environment of the placement and operation of
buildings and other constructed facilities can be
direct through disposal of unwanted solid and
liquid materials and gases emitted via transport
and energy generators, as well as indirect
through discharge of greenhouse gases and other
air pollutants and other chemicals and solids
during manufacture and supply of materials and
energy consumption.
Further, the global impacts of building and
construction activity on resources and the
environment have recently been summarised
(Augenbroe and Pearce, 1998). These are
stated in terms of natural resources used and
environmental impacts relative to all other
human activity.
In practise, there are difficulties in
undertaking life cycle assessments, and the
following research is required:
. Information needs to be available in a
consolidated format which will allow the
systematic quality benchmarking of
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
individual projects to be undertaken. This
includes guidelines on what issues should
be included such as emissions, resource
utilisation, energy consumed at various
stages in the project life cycle etc.
. Guidelines are required concerning data
definitions. Some issues can be described
using different measures, and choices
need to be considered to ensure the
consistency as well as the repeatability of
measures. The relative weights to be
given to the various sustainability issues
as a part of a consolidated environmental
assessment tool need to be considered
taking account of the sensitivity of issues
relative to each other. The advantages
and disadvantages of aggregation of issues
into a consolidated measure verses
disaggregation need to be understood.
. Strategies need to be developed
identifying how such life cycle
information can most effectively guide
appropriate action. Policy frameworks
need to be developed to reflect this,
bearing in mind the need for transparency
of measures and their impact on public
perceptions, action and reaction.
An example of the general type of information
currently available is provided by a recently
reported life cycle analysis of the new
Olympic stadium at Homebush Bay in
Sydney (Jackson, 1999). This indicated:
. the design represents a 30 per cent energy
saving compared to a conventional
stadium;
. the operation and maintenance of the
building will involve 79 per cent of its
total energy use over its 50 year life cycle.
18 per cent of its energy use is accounted
for by procurement of materials, 2 per
cent by actual construction and alteration
and 1 per cent by eventual demolition;
. 76 per cent of the structure is capable of
being recycled and potable water use will be
20 per cent of normal for such a facility.
The usage of other raw materials over the
stadium's lifetime has also been determined
(water is the most significant raw material).
Benefit/cost of quality
Before discussing research needs as they relate
to the benefits and costs of quality, it is useful
to outline a number of salient points, namely:
. Where possible, benefits and costs should
be quantified, together with a description
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of uncertainties. If quantification is not
possible, qualitative descriptions can be
helpful. Also, quantitative information
should not be used to dominate
qualitative factors in decision-making
(Arrow et al., 1996).
. Within a traditional quality control
framework, for a given product and
process it is recognised that there is no
direct relationship between cost and
quality, though within this
conceptualisation, cost was conceived in
terms of the PAF (prevention-appraisal-
failure) cost model first proposed by
Feigenbaum (1991). It is noteworthy that
this model ignores overall process costs
and product as well as service value
enhancements to customers. It measures
costs based on the unrealistic assumption
that both products and processes are
static.
To an extent, the elimination of waste,
and reduction of defects and rework can
be obtained at very little cost. However,
the cost of quality control increases
rapidly as the number of defects nears
zero, while at the same time the negative
impact due to poor quality becomes less
important. The net implication is that as
the number of defects is reduced, the cost
of quality at first decreases (to an
optimum level) and then increases (Juran,
1951). One of the main drawbacks of the
PAF model is the difficulty of identifying
prevention costs, as in fact many quality
and non-quality activities are directed at
the avoidance of quality problems
(Oakland and Sohal, 1996).
Furthermore, within a total quality
perspective, this is both limiting and
misleading. It ignores the fundamental
concept of TQM which is the continuous
improvement of products, processes and
services with a customer focus. In a TQM
perspective, process costs and value
enhancements must both be considered.
This is captured in a simple cost model:
COQ ˆ COC ‡ CONC
…Cost of quality ˆ Cost of conformance
‡ Cost of non-conformance†
This so called process cost model is
described in the revised British Standard
BS6143 (1991) Guide to Economics of
Quality. The cost of conformance (COC)
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
includes all costs incurred in the provision
of products and processes in conformance
with the required standards. The cost of
non-conformance (CONC) combines all
costs of a product or process not
conforming to the requirements and the
costs of process variability (Oakland and
Sohal, 1996).
. There is a relative sparsity of data giving
details of the cost of quality in the
construction industry, but one of the best
studies available has been undertaken by
Ledbetter (1993). However it should be
noted that all of the cost information for
the sector is based on the somewhat
limiting perspective of the PAF model,
which is not based on TQM. Indications
of some other benefits derived from
quality system implementation is given in
a recent study that showed that
companies with quality systems are more
productive than companies which do not
have formal quality systems (Langford
et al., 2000).
Ledbetter has described a quality
management performance system
(QMPS) for the quantitative analysis of
certain quality-related aspects of projects,
by systematically collecting and
classifying the cost of quality. It tracks
labour costs in three main categories viz.
normal work, quality management work
(prevention and appraisal) and rework
(deviation correction). Using this system
to analyse a heavy industrial project with
a total installed cost in excess of
$100,000,000, it was found that the
overall cost of quality was 11.2 per cent of
the total labour expenditure for design
and construction. Quality management
totalled 8.1 per cent (design 5.0 per cent
and construction 3.1 per cent) and
rework 3.1 per cent (arising from changes
and errors in design 2.1 per cent,
construction 0.4 per cent and from the
vendor 0.6 per cent). It should be noted
that QMPS is a simple tool measuring
labour costs only. The paper includes
data for other projects, also undertaken
for the hydrocarbon industry. This shows
considerable variation between projects
as might be expected. More importantly,
it does seem to validate the concept of an
optimum cost of quality management
(about 8.5 per cent in this case) which
leads to a minimum cost of quality.
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Volume 10 . Number 3 . 2003 . 219-228
The generation of data which will enable the
costs and benefits of quality management to
be better understood is a long-term task, but
one which should be undertaken from the
perspective of the COQ model rather than the
PAF model. Four areas of investigation are
proposed:
(1) The work undertaken using the QMPS is
significant, but needs extension. First of all
it is necessary to understand all costs and
their relative significance, not just labour
costs. This would be assisted by the
separation of direct from indirect costs.
(2) Parametric studies are required to assess
the effect of the type of project and the
experience of the project team in
providing guidelines on the ``optimum''
level of quality management. Clearly,
these attributes are of considerable
significance, as is the size of a project.
(3) Identification of all the significant
benefits arising from higher levels of
quality. These should include the impact
of improved service life behaviour
(reduced maintenance and reduced
environmental impacts etc.) as well as the
benefits of process improvements during
design and construction.
(4) The determination of means by which
non-quantifiable aspects of quality such
as improved customer satisfaction can be
included in the benefit assessment of
higher levels of quality and measurable
value improvements in terms of the
effectiveness of buildings for their owners
and users.
Risk management techniques
Much has been written about risk and
uncertainty, and risk analysis and risk
management have been used in a number of
fields to control the levels of risk and to
mitigate their effects. However, the
construction industry has been somewhat
slow to realise its potential benefits. This is
rather surprising considering the presence of
risk and uncertainty in every phase of the
project management cycle. Its use tends to
have been mainly for financial feasibility
studies, scheduling, safety analysis, and
sometimes as a basis for design decisions.
However, it is believed that more use of risk
techniques could be made to assist in other
aspects of quality management.
Williams (1993) has drawn attention to the
fact that the uncertainty involved in real risk
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
situations is epistemic (relating to the
knowledge of things) rather than aleatoric
(depending on chance) in nature. This means
that the judgement of an appraisal team is all
important. It also implies that ``soft''
knowledge needs to be organised and
manipulated in such a way that the utility of
information output is maximised. This is
particularly true where a qualitative rather
than a quantitative risk analysis is undertaken.
It is considered that scope exists for the
former type of analysis to be used more widely
for quality management, particularly in the
planning and design stages of projects, as well
as for the achievement of improved levels of
client satisfaction and performance in use. To
investigate this proposal, case studies are
required to develop standardised procedures,
and establish the likely benefits (software is
available for a number of qualitative risk
assessment methodologies; Neowhouse,
1993).
The simplest qualitative approach is the
simple checklist (things to look for), and a
more general purpose technique is
preliminary hazard analysis, which can be
used during the conceptual or early design
stages. Possible hazards are set down,
together with their effect and possible causes.
Feasible preventative measures are also
identified. A more detailed examination can
be undertaken by an event tree analysis. In
this approach, a defined ``top event'' (a good
design or a satisfied client) is specified, and
the set events causing this to occur are traced
through the system. This procedure has been
used by Ahmed (1993) for a client satisfaction
analysis.
In the light of this, it is also proposed that
an investigation be made of the utility of the
types of analysis described above to help
clarify critical line management
responsibilities in the achievement of quality.
Integrated approach to quality
The fragmentation and generally ``one-off''
nature of projects in the construction sector
was referred to in the introduction to the
paper. This represents a challenge to the
provision of a quality outcome, which will
only ensue if there is excellence in each phase
of the procurement process, and these phases
are properly integrated. The latter requires
the adoption of a systems approach, in which
among other things, careful consideration is
given to interactions between the phases.
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The evolution of project management was a
step towards integration, although the
emphasis has been on the completion of
projects on time and within cost, rather than
on quality. Partnering and alliancing have been
developed as strategies to align the objectives
of the parties within the design and
construction process and hence to reduce the
difficulties that arise from the fragmentation of
the supply chain. These organisational
strategies are designed to improve cooperation
in the achievement of shared goals.
A significant challenge that remains is our
inability to balance short term and whole-of-
life issues during the procurement phase.
Strategies are needed to bring the attention of
project decision makers to the efficiency of
business operations in the use of built
facilities throughout their life. These costs are
an order of magnitude greater than the
construction and operating costs, yet they
continue to be largely ignored.
More recently the quality function
deployment approach has been proposed as a
tool to better link customer quality
expectations with specific goals and processes
throughout design and construction.
Although it is not yet in routine use in the
construction industry, there would seem to be
considerable merit in this proposal.
With the aim of improving the process of
integration, the three research investigations
are proposed:
(1) The size and type of projects for which
QFD is appropriate needs examination. It
is likely that modifications will be
required to the methodology developed
for the manufacturing industry to enable
the method to be effectively used for one-
off projects.
(2) Techniques to balance the needs of
disparate stakeholders such as client/
developer, user and community need to
be developed. In addition it will be
important to develop effective approaches
to balancing the short term and whole-of-
life needs of all the stakeholders.
(3) The way in which the roles and
responsibilities of the many parties need
to be defined to ensure that the interests
of the various legitimate stakeholders,
short and long term can be integrated to
maximum effect needs to be established.
One of the considerations here will be the
appropriate associated form of
contractual arrangement(s).
 Towards total project quality ± a review of research needs
A.R. Toakley and M. Marosszeky
Concluding comments
This paper argues that there is potential for
the construction industry to gain far greater
benefit from the quality movement than it has
in the past. The scope of the matters covered
is very broad, and it has been possible to
provide only an outline of areas where further
research into quality concepts is required, to
enable the concepts proposed to be
implemented effectively on projects.
The recent and continuing focus on quality
is one of the main priorities in the provision of
facilities, and will remain so into the twenty-
first century. The increasing complexity in
community and user expectations and of all
facets of technology requires that sound
quality based procedures be adopted to help
industry meet the increased requirement for
enhanced project performance.
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