TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
PULCHOWK CAMPUS

A
Research Proposal
On

ANALYSIS OF CAUSATIVE FACTOR OF SCOPE CREEP IN

THE CONSTRUTION PROJECTS IN KATHMANDU VALLEY

For
The Course Of
Project Works (CE907-C01)

Submitted To
Asst. Prof. Mahendra Raj Dhital
Department of Civil Engineering
IOE, Pulchowk Campus

Submitted By
Bir Bahadur GT
(076MSCoM006)
MSc. in Construction Management

May,2022
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1

1.1. Background ....................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Statement of the problem .................................................................................. 2
1.3. Research Objectives .......................................................................................... 2
1.4. Research Questions ........................................................................................... 2
1.5. Significance of the study ................................................................................... 2
1.6. Scope of the Study ............................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 4
2.1. Introduction to scope......................................................................................... 4
2.2. Importance project scope .................................................................................. 5
2.3. Project scope statement ..................................................................................... 6
2.4. Scope Change and Scope creep ........................................................................ 6
2.5. Examples of scope creep in construction .......................................................... 8
2.6. Studies for causes of scope creep in project management ................................ 9
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 13
3.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 13
3.2. Research Strategy ............................................................................................ 13
3.3. Research Design and its Justification ............................................................. 13
3.4. Sample Design Process ................................................................................... 14
3.5. Population Definition ...................................................................................... 15
3.6. Data Collection ............................................................................................... 15
a. Primary Data Collection .................................................................................... 15
b. Secondary Data Collection................................................................................ 15
3.7. Relative Importance Index .............................................................................. 15
3.8. Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient....................................................... 15
3.9. Chi-Square Test............................................................................................... 16
3.10. Data Analysis ............................................................................................... 17
3.11. Research Matrix ........................................................................................... 17
CHAPTER 4: EXPECTED OUTCOME .................................................................. 18
REFERENCES: ............................................................................................................ 20
Figure 1: Requirement change is inevitable (INCOSE, 2012) ....................................... 5
Figure 2 : Demarcation of Scope change ....................................................................... 7
Figure 3 : Difference between Scope Change and Scope Creep .................................... 8
Figure 4: Figurative way to define Scope creep ............................................................. 8
Figure 5 : Flow chart for research ................................................................................ 14
Figure 6: Fishbone diagram for scope creep in construction industry ......................... 19
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
A project is a set of tasks that must be completed in order to arrive at a particular goal
or outcome. Project scope helps to distinguish what is and is not involved in the
project and controls what is allowed or removed as it is executed. The process of
record keeping or documenting of a project's scope is called a terms of reference or
scope statement. It explains the boundaries of the project. Although the scope are
fixed at the beginning of the project, it changes with time and might or might not have
impact over the project. In the design phase of the construction project, client might
not be sure about his needs and want. Needs are basic requirement that the client must
have to meet his/her planned or temporary endeavor. Wants are usually ultimate or
eventual requirements of client of which he is eager to have during a perfect scenario.
Unspecified need and wants at the design phase maybe the reason for change of scope
in construction industry but is not the only reason for scope creep. Scope creep is
when a project’s scope changes, the project work starts to extend, or “creep”, beyond
what was originally in either uncontrolled or unaccounted way or both.

Background
Construction projects are complex in nature and follows a changing pattern with
course of time. This kind of complexity of construction is due the dynamic nature of
construction along with the involvement of multiple disciplines and huge amount of
interlinking parks. This very nature on its turn follows from the increase in uncertainty
in technology, budget, and development processes(Chan et al., 2004).
Projects with a high degree of interaction and interdependency, as well as those that
are always changing or evolving, are the most complicated. The main causes of
complexity are inadequate communication and information development and usage.
While technological complexity is important, it is the organizational features that play
a role as the greatest contribution to project complexity.(Wood & Gidado, 2008)
"Project Scope" refers to the boundaries of a project that dictate what work will be
performed within the project lifecycle (PMBOK, 2008). It also entails determining
what work will be excluded from the current round of product/service development.
Outputs are developed during the planning phase to capture and define the work that
needs to be accomplished. Managing scope creep, documenting, tracking, and
approving/disapproving project modifications are all part of the controlling and
monitoring process. Finally, the closing phase examines project deliverables and
compares the results to the original plan. Scope refers to both product and project
scope. Business requirements, project requirements, and delivery

1
 Statement of the problem
Change in scope of the project has become a usual thing no matter how small or large
the change be. Even in the case of experienced party for scope management, the scope
change seems to be inevitable. Usually the scopes are well discussed and
documentation of scope are done which are approved version in nature and are
considered as baseline scope. With the progress of the project especially in the design
of construction project, scope of the design changes or extends unintendedly.
Scope creep is a well-known phenomenon in the field of project management. Any
kind of projects whether it is film making, IT, Construction, etc. can suffer from the
scope creep problem. There are many example of scope creep in global level. Failed
projects of Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Germany. The Berlin Brandenburg Airport
has been anything but inefficient even though Germany is recognized for its
efficiency. The Germans anticipated that this airport would help to establish Berlin as
a commercial hub. Construction of the airport began in 2006, after 15 years of
planning. The original launch date was set for 2011, but that date has now passed.
Later on project was launched on October 31, 2020. One of the main reason behind
this delay was scope creep or changes in uncontrolled and unaccounted way.
Many projects in Nepal might have been affected by the scope creep but with lack of
study they are stated with other causes. Scope creep occurs in the construction phase
as there is gap between requirements and performance.
Research Objectives
Design phase of the construction is the important phase of construction project.
Construction endeavor seems to be lagging behind in schedule or are victim of cost-
overrun in usual cases. One of the reason seems to be fault in scope management of
such projects. To the objective for this study will be:
 To identify and assess the causes of scope creep in construction by the study of
the literatures available
 To identify and assess the impacts of the scope creep in the construction of the
project.
Research Questions
This study aims at addressing the following research questions:
 What are the causative factors of scope creep in construction project in
Kathmandu Valley?
 What are the impacts of scope creep in construction of the construction project
in Kathmandu valley?
Significance of the study
In the context of Nepal such incidents might come up in every kind of construction
sector and in every phase whether it is design construction or post construction phase.
Scope creep is regarded as an uncontrolled change to the scope of the project. So, here

2
comes the question that why scope creep occurs in project design phase. It is not well
known about the design phase scope creep and their consequences. It is obvious
extension of defined boundary constraint can become a big problem to the
construction industry but no any kind of research seems to be done in Nepal for the
study of scope creep for project design and project construction stage.
Despite of the fact Nepalese literatures are less or nearly nil in the context of scope
creep study, studies about the scope creep has been done and can be studied in
various field of project management like IT, Livelihood , Social welfare, etc. if we
have a glance at international journals. Scope creep being the fresh field for the study
in the context of Nepal can be studied for construction industry. With the recent
change in governance system, design works for small to large construction has been
increased enormously in Nepal. Representative of people from all three independent
levels of governance system with their endeavor to develop their respective
representative area without seeking for consultancy services i.e. supervision of
construction activities. Even though specifications are given, actual services usually
change or deviate from the stated scopes.
Finding out the causes of the scope creep and its possible impact might enhance the
scope management aspect in the construction design industry.
Scope of the Study
The study focuses on studying the scope creep in the design process of construction
project in Nepal.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
A humorous saying by Parkinson in his essay later known by Parkinson's Law is the
old saying that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. Here work
expands due to the procrastination and scope creep. There is always some gap or
leisure for abnormal situation in work scheduling for a project or work but human
nature of procrastinating and uncontrolled expansion of work causes the work to delay
and meet up with allocated time no matter what is the given period.(KAT
BOOGAARD, 2022)
Introduction to scope
Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and
documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. A
scope statement or terms of reference is a document that documents the scope of a
project. It defines the project's boundaries, assigns tasks to each team member, and
develops methods for verifying and approving completed work.
This documentation assists the project team in staying focused and on task during the
project. The scope statement also serves as a guide for the team when making
judgments on change requests throughout the project. The scope statement of a project
should not be confused with its charter; the charter simply states that the project
exists.
Everything you and your team generate for the project is considered a deliverable (i.e.,
anything that your project will deliver). All of the items or services that you and your
team provide to the client, customer, or sponsor are considered deliverables for your
project. They contain all intermediate documents, plans, schedules, budgets,
blueprints, and everything else created along the route, as well as all project
management documents you create. Project deliverables are tangible results,
measurable outcomes, or particular products that must be provided in order for the
project or project phase to be considered complete. Like the objectives, intermediate
deliverables must be specific and verifiable. For example:
50 bedded Hospital
1 MW peaking Run-off Hydropower plant
A daily report versus a weekly report
After all of the deliverables have been defined, the project manager must document all
of the project's requirements. Whether it's a product or a service, requirements specify
the features of the ultimate offering. They specify the functionality that the final
deliverable must have or the particular requirements that the final output must meet in
order to accomplish the project's goals. A requirement is a goal that must be achieved.
The project requirements, as described in the scope plan, outline what a project should
accomplish and how it should be designed and implemented. Who, what, where,

4
when, how much, and how does a business process work? Requirements answer these
questions about the as-is and to-be states of the firm.

Figure 1: Requirement change is inevitable (INCOSE, 2012)

Requirements define how the final project deliverable should appear and function.
Measureable, testable, and relevant to identified business needs or opportunities,
requirements must be established to a level of detail suitable for system design.
Functional, non-functional, technological, and business, user, and regulatory needs are
the six basic categories. The requirements must be fulfilled for a good project
deliveries.
Change is inevitable, as indicated in above figure, and managing the impact of change
on a project is the work of configuration management (INCOSE, 2012). With the
course of time, workplace environment changes and hence some of the requirement
foreseen will no longer need to be fulfilled and some of the requirement will be added.
With the change in requirement final delivery will be different from the original
request and hence will eventually lead to scope change.

Importance project scope

Writing a project scope statement that includes information on the project deliverables
is a first step in project planning. The benefits a project scope statement provides to
any organization undertaking a new initiative include the following:
 articulates what the project entails so that all stakeholders can understand
what's involved;
 provides a roadmap that managers can use to assign tasks, schedule work and
budget appropriately;
5
  helps focus team members on common objectives; and
 prevents projects, particularly complex ones, from expanding beyond the
established vision.
Establishing project scope ensures that projects are focused and executed to
expectations. The scope provides a strong foundation for managing a project as it
moves forward and helps ensure that resources aren't diverted or wasted on out-of-
scope elements.
Project scope statement
A project scope statement is a written document that includes all the required
information for producing the project deliverables. It is more detailed than a statement
of work; it helps the project team remain focused and on task. The scope statement
also provides the project team leader or facilitator with guidelines for making
decisions about change requests during the project.
The project scope statement establishes what is not included in its initiatives, either
implicitly or explicitly. Objectives and tasks not listed in the scope statement should
be considered out of scope. Project managers can also list specific work that will not
be part of the project.
As such, this statement establishes the boundaries of a project. Project leaders must
take those requirements and map what should happen and in what order those items
should occur. This leads to the creation of a work breakdown structure (WBS). The
WBS breaks down planned work into smaller, defined portions and required tasks.
A well-articulated scope statement is a critical part of effective project management.
Project scope should be determined for every project, regardless of what project
management method is used. Stakeholders for the project should review the project
scope statement, revise it as necessary and approve it.
Once the project scope statement is completed and approved, project managers can
assign tasks and give their teams directions on what they need to do to meet the target
timelines, budget and goals.
Scope Change and Scope creep
Scope change is a project management decision made by the parties involved in a
project to change a feature, reduce or increase functionality, or make adjustments to
an overall project. Scope change could be as simple as a budget expansion or as
complicated as a complete overhaul to the features and timeline of a project.
The steady extension of project work without official acknowledgment or
acknowledgement of costs, scheduling impacts, or other consequences is known as
scope creep in project management.(Turk, 2010)
The difference between the impact of normal scope changes and scope creep can be
seen in figure below. Scope changes are noticed and, based on their impact, approved

6
or not by the client and contractor. These changes are then formalized and scope
management makes sure that the scope is still in control.

Figure 2 : Demarcation of Scope change

If a change of scope is not formalized, it can be named scope creep (Larson & Larson,
2009).Change management only applies when scope changes are formally noticed and
documented, scope creep however is not formalized and therefore not controlled.
Therefore, the impact is unknown and scope creep can influence the project negatively
without having the project anticipating it. Scope creep increases the project costs by
many minor scope changes and always influences the project budget and schedule
(Kuprenas & Nasr, 2003). So, scope creep are non-formalized scope changes whereof
the impact is negative and not researched.

7
 Figure 3 : Difference between Scope Change and Scope Creep

Figure 4: Figurative way to define Scope creep

Examples of scope creep in construction

Imagine having already started construction on an emergency medical center and
inviting the emergency room doctors and nurses in to see the progress...only to have
them point out inherent problems with the design and layout that will negatively
impact their workflows and patient care. Changing room layouts doesn’t just impact
where walls go; everything from wiring, HVAC, plumbing, and other systems will
also need to be reconfigured, raising hospital construction costs. Changes once
construction begins are the most costly forms of scope creep and can easily exceed a
project owner’s contingency fund.

8
Similarly, a jailer will often spearhead a large-scale jail project and most likely be the
main point of contact for your project. However, always be sure to talk with people
who will actually walk the floors and manage the day-to-day operations as well. For
example, without giving the jail administrator a seat at the table to address a need for
an additional padded cell or larger activities room, changes to the layout will be
required in order to meet the jail administrator’s needs, bringing up costs. Structural
and design constraints could also impact an administrator’s ability to write policies
and procedures the way they intended.

Finishes and Features: Scope creep can also occur with seemingly smaller items such
as wall coverings, doors, counters, and flooring. A project owner may decide they
want Terrazzo flooring instead of stained concrete, for example, doubling or tripling
the cost. Adding upper cabinetry when only lower cabinets were initially spec’d could
add millions of rupees.
External Factors: Sometimes scope creep occurs through no fault of the project
manager or owner. Most types of commercial construction require submitting plans to
local and state building officials to ensure compliance. When the inspector shows up,
they may interpret the code differently than the officials who originally reviewed the
plans.
A project might end up needing to add more fire dampers, parking stalls, or green
space to satisfy an inspector’s requirements. Working with a construction manager
who’s experienced in your industry can help anticipate and reduce these risks.
Studies for causes of scope creep in project management
Projects are unique in themselves. Some concepts of the project management of a
particular type of project may or may not be applied in another type of project. Scope
creep being the broad terminologies with its effect over the global construction
industry can be used in design aspect of the construction project. With less literatures
in construction genre about scope creep, study of readily available literatures relating
to the scope creep in other field of project management were reviewed.
Scope creep can occur for a variety of causes, but the following are a few of the most
common(Turk, 2010):
Initial requirements were inadequate: Someone didn't write the original requirements
or objectives very well. Requirements are sometimes poorly worded. They might be
lacking in clarity or information. They could be unclear, vague, or difficult to
comprehend. They could be incompatible. It's possible that no end consumers or
potential customers were involved. It's possible that the requirements aren't
categorized or prioritized. A bad set of requirements or objectives, for whatever cause,
can lead to disaster when revisions or additions occur.

9
Unwillingness to refuse a client's request: The client is ultimately in charge because
he or she is the one who pays the fee and receives the project. It could be your
supervisor, someone else in the company/organization, or a customer from the outside.
PMs are frequently frightened by clients and fear saying "no," or they want to be
viewed as the good, can-do man.
No systematic mechanism for reviewing and approving changes.
Changes are approved at random since no board, panel, committee, or individual is
responsible for reviewing the changes and comparing them to some sort of acceptance
criteria.
Neglecting the little changes
Similarly,(LORENZ; ANDREA SHAPIR O : CAR OL, 2000) claims the causes of
scope creep as managing projects by its parts devoid of system thinking ; advance
estimates of schedules and resources; complexity of the governance i.e. project team
structure; cutting corners and politically induced contract scam ; delay over the project
life time ,etc.
With the study of research works done by (INCOSE, 2012) there are seven main
causes with their sub-causes that are found and can be listed as below:
1. Start of the project
• Wrong interpretations
• Moving scope while tendered as fixed scope
• Tendered with missing input
• Rationality
• Complexity
2. Process of an EOW (Engineering order change)
• High costs involved
• Discussions take long and are arduous
• Long waiting times
• Starting before having an official approval
3. Time pressure
4. Scope management process
• Not formalizing changes
• Consistency

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• Too much detail
• Changes till the last moment
• Not anticipating changes
• Wrong process of reacting on reviews and changes
5. Team composition
• Wrong people on the wrong spot
• Not enough capacity
• Project is not correctly managed at the other stakeholders
• Missing links
• Parties involved with strong opinions
• Working too good
6. Process of the project
• Reviews that take too long
• Reviews without integrity
• Setting up products in a wrong order
• Many disciplines at one place
• Game-like interaction
7. Human

11
Poor quality of design/work breakdown structure (Ubani et al., 2015)
(LORENZ; ANDREA
SHAPIR O : CAR OL,
Managing projects by its parts devoid of system thinking 2000)
(LORENZ; ANDREA
SHAPIR O : CAR OL,
Advance estimates of schedules and resources 2000)
(LORENZ; ANDREA
SHAPIR O : CAR OL,
Complexity of the governance 2000)
(LORENZ; ANDREA
SHAPIR O : CAR OL,
Cutting corners and politically induced contract scam 2000)
(LORENZ; ANDREA
SHAPIR O : CAR OL,
Delay over the project life time 2000)
Lack of defined and disciplined procedure for project
management (Kerzner, 2013)
Environmental changes/force majeure (Turk, 2010)
Internal changes by development team (Turk, 2010)
Poor requirements specifications that lacks in details or contain
conflicting need that were not identified before the specification
were issued (Turk, 2010)
New ideas or market needs (Turk, 2010)
Table : Causes of Scope Creep in construction (from different literature)

12
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter explains the procedures of this study. It entails the availability and
selection of appropriate research design, strategy and method that helped address the
key questions raised.

Research Strategy
In this study, a quantitative strategy was chosen because the theory-related
quantitative studies follow a deductive approach and deal with design measurements
and sampling(Naoum, 2012). Quantitative strategies use statistical methods to identify
the relationship between facts and chances. Quantitative research is also objective in
nature and is based on tests of hypotheses or theories composed of variables (Naoum,
2012). Frechtling and Sharp (1997), cited by Naoum (Naoum, 2012), characterized the
common data collection methods used in quantitative research as questionnaires, tests,
and existing databases. Quantification is emphasized because reliable and reliable data
is often collected in quantitative studies. The samples collected are often large and
representative. This means that quantitative research results can be generalized to a
larger population within the margin of error.

Research Design and its Justification

Researchers collect evidence when asking someone for their opinion. Next, an attempt
is made to determine a general opinion within a particular group. The research study
was considered suitable for this study for three reasons:

• The survey included data collection from a group that generalized the findings and
predicted the attitudes of the population of interest.

• The questionnaire can be structured to collect information from the population of

interest in a systematic and unbiased manner.

• Allows statistical analysis of data and generalization to a larger population, making

it suitable for construction management research.

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 Research Idea

Research Problem Statement

Formulate Research Questions

Research Objective

Methodology

Data Collection

Primary Data Secondary Data

Questionnaires Literatures, Research Articles

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Results and Discussion

Conclusions and Recommendations

Figure 5 : Flow chart for research

Sample Design Process

The purpose of sample is to gain information about the population by observing only a
small proportion, i.e., the sample size. This research intended to identify the causes of
scope creep in construction projects of Kathmandu valley. As a result, the researcher

14
focus will be on the professionals involved in the construction projects of Kathmandu
Valley.
Population Definition
The selection of professionals was limited only to professionals with civil engineering
background working in Kathmandu valley. This was done due to limited time and
resources available which do not allow the researcher to consider all professionals
involved in construction projects of Kathmandu Valley.
Data Collection
The study will be based on primary as well as secondary data to identify the causes of
scope creep and effects scope creep in construction projects of Kathmandu Valley.
a. Primary Data Collection
Primary data are the base of the research. More the actual figures collected from the
primary data more will be the precise of the study. And for the collection of primary
data, Questionnaire’s survey will be conducted.
b. Secondary Data Collection
Secondary data will be collected from the literature study of national and international
articles about the scope creep in construction industry. The published journals, reports,
internet/websites related to the scope creep is another source of data that is involved in
this research.
Literatures (Publication, report, magazine, records, and data) of national
international context were collected for the study of scope creep in
construction industry from different part of world.
Relative Importance Index
Questions used for data collection were prepared in Likert Scale. The Relative
Importance Index (RII) was adopted for determination of significance of factors
because Adnan et al (2007) asserted that to analyze data on ordinal scale, the
application of RII is suitable. Hence, RII was used to rank variables. RII is computed
as in (Adnan et al., 2007):
RII= ∑w/ (AN)
= (5*n5+4*n4+3*n3+2*n2+1*n1)/5(n1+n2+n3+n4+n5)
Where: A- highest weightage, N- Total number of respondents, w- weightage given to
each factor ranging from 1 to 5, n1- number of respondents who responded 1, n2-
number of respondents who responded 2, n3- number of respondents who responded
3, n4- number of respondents who responded 4 and n5- number of respondents who
responded 5.
Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient
Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient was used to compare the perception of the
client, consultants and the contractors. Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient is a
15
technique which can be used to summarize the strength and direction (negative or
positive) of a relationship between two variables (Mukaka, 2012).
The Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient can be calculated using following
expression:

Where, “d” is difference between the ranks of the item and “n” is the number of the
item.
This co-efficient r𝑠 is a value between -1 to 1, which can be interpreted to analyze the
degree of agreement or disagreement between two parties. A value of +1 indicates a
perfect positive linear correlation while a value of -1 indicates a perfect negative
linear correlation. The value of correlation approximates to zero implies that there is
no significant relationship between the two groups on the variable under investigation
(Kottegoda, 1997).

Table 3.1: Rule of thumb for interpreting the size of a correlation coefficient

Size of Correlation Interpretation

Very high positive (negative)

0.90 to 1.00 (−0.90 to −1.00)
correlation
0.70 to 0.90 (−0.70 to −0.90) High positive (negative) correlation

0.50 to 0.70 (−0.50 to −0.70) Moderate positive (negative)

correlation
0.30 to 0.50 (−0.30 to −0.50) Low positive (negative) correlation

0.00 to 0.30 (0.00 to −0.30) negligible correlation

Chi-Square Test
A chi-square (χ2) statistic is a test that measures how a model compares to actual
observed data. There are two types of chi-square tests. Both use the chi-square statistic
and distribution for different purposes:
a) A chi-square goodness of fit test determines if sample data matches a population.
b) A chi-square test for independence compares two variables in a contingency
table to see if they are related. In a more general sense, it tests to see whether
distributions of categorical variables differ from each another.

16
The Formula for Chi-Square is χc2 = ∑[(Oi−Ei)2]/Ei where, c=Degrees

of freedom, O=Observed value, E=Expected value

Data Analysis
The data collected from both primary and secondary source will be summarized,
classified, tabulated and categorized in several categories. Computer software such as
MS Excels, SPSS will be used for the analysis of the data. And the logically
interpreted outcomes will be presented in tables, charts, graphs.

Research Matrix
Table 3.2: Research matrix

S.N. Objective Data Data Tools Expected

Required Source Outcomes
1. To determine Causes of Professio Quest Different views
the causes of scope creep nals ionna regarding the
scope creep experienced ire causes of scope
involve
in by creep and their
in Surve
y frequency of
construction professionals
constructi
occurrence.
projects of involved in on
projects
Kathmandu construction
Valley projects

2. To determine Effects of Professio Quest Various effects of

effects of scope creep nals ionna scope creep in
experienced
scope creep ire construction
by involve
professionals projects and their
in in Surve
y frequency of
construction
constructi
occurrence.
projects on
projects
Kathmandu
Valley

17
 CHAPTER 4: EXPECTED OUTCOME
Upon studying the literature found till date, the probable outcome of the research will
be ranking of the effect and impacts based on relative importance index obtained by
the statistical assessment of the data obtained from the questionnaire survey.

Scale and Frequency of No. of RSI Rank

Respondents Respondent Sum (%)
1 2 3 4 5
S6 Lack of knowledge and poor understanding 2 4 11 20 61 98 428 87.35 1
of product versatility/complexity
S10 Poor understanding of customer 4 3 13 23 55 98 403 82.24 2
requirements prior to project scope
definition and contract signing
S12 Poor quality of design and work breakdown 6 8 10 24 50 98 398 81.24 3
structure
S1 Lack of define and discipline procedure for 13 12 9 22 42 98 362 73.88 4
project management
S7 Customers requirements changes and lack of 8 10 25 20 35 98 358 73.06 5
change control contingency plan
S16 Managing project by parts devoid of system 10 9 27 22 30 98 347 70.08 6
thinking
S14 Poor requirements specifications that lacks 11 13 29 18 27 98 331 67.55 7
in details with conflicting needs not
identified prior to implementation
S3 Unavailability of formal risk analysis and 13 17 20 28 20 98 292 59.60 8
planning process
S2 Incompetent project manager/poor team 20 23 23 14 18 98 281 57.35 9
management
S8 Environmental changes/force majaure 23 24 22 16 13 98 266 54.29 10
S17 Advance estimates of schedule and resources 31 21 24 12 10 98 243 49.59 11
S9 Platform changes 38 24 18 8 10 98 222 45.31 12
S2 Lack of formal communication plan 38 22 23 11 4 98 215 43.88 13
S11 Internal change by development team 41 25 21 8 3 98 201 41.02 14
S15 New ideas or market needs 44 27 19 7 1 98 188 38.37 15
S19 Cutting corners and political induced 46 30 14 7 1 98 181 36.94 16
contract scam
S18 Complexity of governance 44 32 15 6 0 98 171 34.90 17
S4 Inability to manage stakeholders clients 50 53 10 5 0 98 166 33.88 18
S20 Delays over the project life time 49 38 8 3 0 98 161 32.86 19
S13 Gold plating 52 40 4 2 0 98 152 31.02 20

Table 1: Relative importance index for the causes of scope creep in construction
Besides, the data can be used to form a ishikawas fishbone diagram to study the cause
and effect of scope creep in construction industry. A fishbone diagram helps visually
study problem or condition's root causes, allowing them to truly diagnose the problem
rather than focusing on symptoms. It allows to separate a problem's content from its
history, and allows for consensus around the problem and its causes.

18
Figure 6: Fishbone diagram for scope creep in construction industry

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 REFERENCES:
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