AMBO UNIVERSITY WALISO CAMPUS (AUWC)

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
MA. IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

DEVELOPMENT PLANNING & STRATEGIC

MANAGEMENT

Assignments to be submitted on

Article review

Submitted by

NAME: ID NO.

DEREJE GELANA ------------------------------- PMGMT- PGR/ 005/14

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Mesfin (Ass Professor)

Jan – 2022 G.C.
 Review on Articles about Critical Factors Affecting the Implementation of
Total Quality Management in the Construction Industry
Dereje Gelana
Ambo University Waliso Campus
Faculty of business and economics
Project Management MA
Jan 15/2022
Abstract
While change of events is a fact of life on projects, project performance problems are
fundamentally dynamic problems that result from attempts to manage in the face of change and
uncertainty. With the growing complexity of projects, some weaknesses of traditional
approaches in coping with the strategic issues are being highlighted. Many scholars have been
studying this and suggest system design as a solution and gave their own assessments; this paper
primarily discusses and reviews the works of 3 articles, Critical Factors Affecting the
Implementation of Total Quality Management in the Construction Industry by Firas
Mohamad Al-Sabek; Factors affecting quality management practices on building
construction sites in Nigeria by O Z Oni, L M Amusan, J D Owolabi and B F Akinbile; Challenges
on Successful Completion and Delivery of Public Building Construction Projects: The Case
of West Shoa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia’[. by Yerosan Abera

Key words: Project management, quality management, critical factors

Introduction
Quality management in construction refers to keeping up the nature of quality works at
satisfactory range in other to satisfy clients' craving that would bring long haul aggressiveness
and business survival for the organization, (O Z Oni, 2019) They stated that the term quality
management as utilized in the construction incorporates the ideas, for example, quality control,
quality confirmation, quality enhancement, quality measures and so forth. They further
uncovered that the first type of formal quality management practice in construction can be traced

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back to the antiquated Greece and Rome. Further to this, state that quality management practice
incorporate all the efforts utilized by managers to guarantee the execution of their quality
arrangements this quality control, quality affirmation and quality enhancement
Management commitment is very important for implementing TQM in any company. If the
management loose interest in quality then everyone in the organization will do so. The success of
TQM will depend mostly on the top of the pyramid. Also cost is reduced and money is saved
when the project team implements TQM. While if no quality measures are present within the
team, the project will suffer a commercial failure. (Al-Sabek, 2018)
Unsuccessful project completion and delivery harms the economic development of one country.
Identifying challenges on construction project delivery is the first step to minimize bottlenecks
associated with construction projects. This study aimed to identify challenges and on public
building construction projects in the West Shoa Zone of Ethiopia and how many projects were
affected by the challenges. 53 challenges were identified during the literature review and
examined by construction stakeholders (client, contractor, and consultant) with the help of the
relative importance index method. (Abera, 2021)

Objective

The objective of this paper is to systematically review, analyze and understand the published
articles about Factors affecting quality management practices on building construction.

Comparison of articles
Both article by (O Z Oni, 2019) and (Al-Sabek, 2018) discusses that their study focused on the
factors that effects TQM implementation in a construction organization in the UAE and in
Nigeria. The objective of their research is to examine the most critical factors affecting the
implementation of quality management along with the benefits of applying TQM and how it will
affect the cost time quality triangle.
In order to cope with the uncertainty of project all articles suggest using project success factor
tool known as critical factors. It was designed to help decision-makers learn about the structure
and dynamics of complex systems, to design high leverage policies for sustained improvement,
and to catalyze successful implementation and change. In recent years, the TQM has been used
by researchers and project managers to understand various social, economic and environmental
systems in a holistic view (O Z Oni, 2019), (Al-Sabek, 2018) (Abera, 2021)
The total quality management in building construction is primarily based on cause-effect
relationship. This cause-effect relationship is explained with the help of stock, flow and feedback
loops. Stocks and flows are used to model the flow of work and resources through the project.
Feedback loops are used to model decisions and project management policies. Article by (O Z
Oni, 2019) and (Al-Sabek, 2018) argues that most projects fail due to lack of management
understanding of the systemic effect of actions.
(Abera, 2021) Suggest that Unsuccessful project completion and delivery harms the economic
development of one country. Identifying challenges on construction project delivery is the first
step to minimize bottlenecks associated with construction projects. Managers need to re-think
the way in which activities are performed in the face of unprecedented external changes. TQM
engagement emphasizes how managers react to change over time. By being able to understand
the implications (of type and rate) of change, managers are better able to adjust to the
environment within which they operate. It also explains what the internal are and external
reasons for uncertainty in detail whiles the other articled do not.
In addition Article by (O Z Oni, 2019) focused on the factors that effects TQM implementation
in a construction organization in the UAE. The objective of the research is to examine the most
critical factors affecting the implementation of TQM along with the benefits of applying TQM
and how it will affect the cost time quality triangle only. This idea is also reflected on article by
(Al-Sabek, 2018) as they are often referred to as the presence of potential or actual treats or
opportunities that influence the objectives of a project during construction, commissioning, or at
time of use. This approach is more logical and acceptable than what Article (Abera, 2021) and
(O Z Oni, 2019) claims as stated above.
It is evident from the mentioned titles of articles that all three articles try to see the complex
nature of projects in different perspective, but all suggest using TQM method with holistic
approach to avoid project failure.
When explaining TQM, article by (O Z Oni, 2019) it argues that, Management commitment is
very important for implementing TQM in any company. If the management loose interest in
quality then everyone in the organization will do so. The success of TQM will depend mostly on
the top of the pyramid. Also cost is reduced and money is saved when the project team

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implements TQM. While if no quality measures are present within the team, the project will
suffer a commercial failure.
This is not correct in reality as many projects depend and use these tools and as article by
(Abera, 2021) clearly states on the conclusion part that TQM view of project dynamics has
produced an undue focus on the project work and it is necessary to expand this view into wider
context. However this should not suggest that traditional models have to be totally replaced or
abounded. The quality models need to be improved and it is the author’s opinion that effective
implementation of strategic decisions can be better achieved by exploring the potential synergy
of combining strategic and operational models.
Article by (Al-Sabek, 2018) suggest that the study concludes that most of the factors affecting
effective project quality management in Oyo State were generated by the government,
professionals, quality organization agencies construction workers and other stakeholders in
construction industry. The study recommends that adequate sanction should be impose on the
non-compliance of quality by the standard assurance organization.
On article by (O Z Oni, 2019), as weakness, from the abstract part, its mentioning about the
objective is to compare consultants and contractors perception of the severity of the factors on
differential in direct costs. But in the introduction part this issue is not placed in the justification
part, and it seems run out from scope. Also it does not explain in pure words what project
dynamics is.

Conclusion
All the mentioned articles try to explain Factors Affecting the Implementation of Total Quality
Management in the Construction Industry with different degree and reasoning. But final they
suggest using the more modern approach to face the problem of dynamic nature of projects by
implementing Construction industry should implement quality control inspection program and
quality policy. Change in the behavior of the project as a result attempts to manage (achieve a
schedule) in the face of the external change. Interacting positive and negative feedback loops of
cause-effect relationships, with stocks, flows, delays, and non-linearity, are capable of generating
all observed modes of dynamic behavior of projects. It is my opinion that Article 3 has
addressed this issue more clearly.
Bibliography
Abera, Y. (2021). Challenges on Successful Completion and Delivery of Public Building
Construction Projects: The Case of West Shoa Zone,Oromia, Ethiopia. INDIAN
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 22.

Al-Sabek, F. M. (2018). Critical Factors Affecting the Implementation of Total Quality

Management in the Construction Industry in U.A.E. Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL
SCIENCE: HInterdisciplinary, 4.

O Z Oni, L. M. (2019). Factors affecting quality management practices on building construction

sites in Nigeria. 3rd International Conference on Science and Sustainable Development
(ICSSD 2019) (p. 4). Ogun State: IOP Publishing.