A STUDY ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF PUBLIC BUILDING

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN SNNPR

MSc. Thesis

ELILTA TANTU ANJULO

HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, HAWASSA, ETHIOPIA

June 2019
 A STUDY ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF PUBLIC BUILDING
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN SNNPR

ELILTA TANTU ANJULO

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING HAWASSA

UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
HAWASSA UNIVERSITY, ETHIOPIA

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER

OF SCIENCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING (SPECIALIZATION: CONSTRUCTION
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT)

JUNE 2019
 Advisor’s approval sheet

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “A Study on Quality Management Practice of Public Building

Construction Projects In SNNPR” was submitted by Elilta Tantu (Id no. PGCoTM 017/09). It is done

for the partial fulfillment of MSc degree in Construction Technology Management in the Graduate

program of School of Civil Engineering of Hawassa University under my guidance. Therefore I agree

that the student has fulfilled the requirement and can submit the thesis to the department.
 EXAMINER’S APPROVAL SHEET

We, the undersigned, members of the board of examiners of the final open defense by Elilta Tantu have

read and evaluated her thesis entitled “A Study on Quality Management Practice of Public Building

Construction Projects In SNNPR” and examined the candidate. This is, therefore, to certify that the

thesis has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree.

Elilta Tantu

Name of Advisor Signature Date

Dr. Ephrem Girma ____________________ __________________

Name of Internal Examiner Signature Date

____________________ ____________________ __________________

Name of External Examiner Signature Date

____________________ ____________________ __________________

Name of the chairperson Signature Date

____________________ ____________________ __________________

SGS Approval Signature Date

____________________ _____________________ _________________

 Declaration

I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis is my original work; prepared under the guidance of Dr.

Ephrem Girma. All sources of materials used for the thesis have been duly acknowledged. I further

confirm that the thesis has not been submitted either in part or in full to any other higher learning

institution for the purpose of earning any degree.

Name Elilta Tantu

Signature ----------------------------------------------

Hawassa University, Hawassa June, 2019

 Acknowledgment

Above all, I praise Almighty God who gave me his grace to be with me and strength to do this work

and blessed all my work until now.

My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr. Ephrem Girma for his constructive ideas and for his

priceless time spent in reviewing and improving the quality of this thesis.

I would also want to thank my parents who were with me in the ups and downs of my life and work and

my dear husband who supported me in different ways and tolerated my weaknesses in patience. I would

like to dedicate my work to all of them and my new born baby.

I am deeply grateful to all who have given me assistance in different ways. The individuals who were

willing to answer my questionnaires and the interviewees who sacrificed their precious time will take

the greatest part in it.

 Table of Contents

Acknowledgment...................................................................................................................................... V
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... VI
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... IX
List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... X
List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................... XI
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. XII
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the Study ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Statement of the problem ................................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Significance of the study ................................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................ 6
1.5 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.6 Research Questions .......................................................................................................................... 7
1.7 Organization of the study................................................................................................................. 8
LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 9
2.2 Quality ........................................................................................................................................ 9
2.2.1 Definition of Quality ........................................................................................................... 9
2.3 Quality Management ................................................................................................................ 12
2.3.1 Evolution of Quality Management .................................................................................... 12
2.3.2 Total Quality Management ................................................................................................ 13
2.3.3 Cost of Quality .................................................................................................................. 20
2.3.4 Principles of Quality Management .................................................................................... 23
2.4 Project Quality Management .................................................................................................... 24
2.4.1 Quality Management Procedures ...................................................................................... 25
2.4.2 Factors affecting project quality management .................................................................. 27
METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................. 28
3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 28
3.2 Study Area ................................................................................................................................ 28
3.3 Research type ............................................................................................................................ 29
 3.4 Research Method ...................................................................................................................... 30
3.5 Research Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 31
3.6 Data sources and collection methods ........................................................................................ 31
3.6.1 Questionnaire..................................................................................................................... 32
3.6.2 Interviews .......................................................................................................................... 33
3.7 Research population and sampling ........................................................................................... 33
3.7.1 Research Population .......................................................................................................... 34
3.7.2 Research Sampling ............................................................................................................ 34
3.8 Sample size ............................................................................................................................... 35
3.9 Validity and reliability .............................................................................................................. 37
3.10 Method of analysis and presentation ........................................................................................ 38
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 40
4.1 Introductions ............................................................................................................................. 40
4.2 Analysis of Questionnaire Response rate ................................................................................. 40
4.2.1 The Consultants ................................................................................................................. 40
4.2.2 The Contractors ................................................................................................................. 40
4.3 Analysis about the questionnaire respondents .......................................................................... 41
4.3.1 Address .............................................................................................................................. 41
4.3.2 Educational Background ................................................................................................... 43
4.3.3 Professional experience ..................................................................................................... 43
4.3.4 Type of the project ............................................................................................................ 44
4.3.5 Quality improvement programs......................................................................................... 45
4.3.6 Personnel responsible to manage the quality .................................................................... 47
4.3.7 Quality policy .................................................................................................................... 47
4.4 Analysis of Questionnaire results ............................................................................................. 48
4.4.1 Quality management practice of the region ...................................................................... 48
4.4.2 Challenges to implement quality assurance ...................................................................... 55
4.5 Analysis of Interview results .................................................................................................... 62
4.5.1 General Information .......................................................................................................... 62
4.5.2 Analysis of the quality management practice .................................................................... 64
4.5.3 Analysis of quality assurance challenges .......................................................................... 65
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...................................................................................... 67
5.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 67
5.2 Summary of Findings .................................................................................................................... 67
5.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 68
5.4 Recommendation ........................................................................................................................... 69
References ............................................................................................................................................... 71
Appendices .............................................................................................................................................. 77
Appendix A: Questionnaire ................................................................................................................. 77
Appendix B: Interview Questions ....................................................................................................... 81
 List of Tables

Table 1: Evolution of Quality Management ............................................................................................ 12

Table 2: Summary of overall survey response rate ................................................................................. 41

Table 3: Places where the projects are found .......................................................................................... 42

Table 4: Educational level of respondents .............................................................................................. 43

Table 5 Professional experience of respondents ..................................................................................... 44

Table 6: Construction projects included in the study .............................................................................. 45

Table 7: Quality improvement program of contractors ........................................................................... 45

Table 8: Quality improvement program of consultants........................................................................... 46

Table 9: Personnel responsible for QM ................................................................................................... 47

Table 10: Quality policy of involved parties ........................................................................................... 48

Table 11: Quality management practices based of stakeholders response .............................................. 49

Table 12: Quality management practices based of combined responses ................................................ 51

Table 13: Cronbach alpha for assessing quality management practices ................................................. 55

Table 14: Challenges of implementing quality assurance ....................................................................... 55

Table 15: Challenges of implementing quality assurance ....................................................................... 57

Table 16: Cronbach alpha value for challenges of quality assurance ..................................................... 62

Table 17: Information about interviewees............................................................................................... 63

 List of Figures

Figure 1: Organization of the study ........................................................................................................... 8

Figure 2: Ishikawa’s six steps expanded from Deming’s model ............................................................. 18

Figure 3: Types of Quality Costs ............................................................................................................ 22

Figure 4: Map of southern Nations, Nationalities and people region ..................................................... 29

 List of Abbreviations

GDCF: Gross Domestic Capital Formation

GDP: Gross Domestic

GTP: Gross

PDCA: Plan–Do-Check-Act

PMBOK: Project Management Body of Knowledge

QA: Quality Assurance

QC: Quality Control

QI: Quality Improvement

QM: Quality Management

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Science

TQM: Total Quality Management

 Abstract

This thesis was mainly prepared with the aim of assessing quality management practice and major

challenges of quality assurance implementation for public building construction projects of SNNPR.

To achieve its objective, questionnaires and interviews were used as data collection tools. Random

sampling technique was used. The questionnaires were distributed to 72 professionals and 53 were

found valid for analysis and this shows a response rate of 73.61%. The collected data was analyzed

using the computer program called SPSS and calculations were done using Microsoft excel. Based on

the result form SPSS, tables that show frequency and percentage were generated. Based on the mean

score value obtained, both the practices and challenges were ranked and discussed. Based on the

findings, most of the projects use corrective measure to manage the quality which shows the existence

of quality control. Lack of top management commitment, onsite quality management trainings and

cost and time overruns were found to be the most challenging factors in the projects and the most

ignored factors. The study also recommended that all the stakeholders involving in the industry to

have clearly defined quality policies and implement them without hesitation and the government body

responsible for managing the quality to focus on quality improvement.

Key words: Public Projects Building Construction, Quality Management practice and Quality

Management system
 CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Construction can be defined in different ways. Construction is the process or method of building or

making something especially roads, buildings, bridges etc. It can also be defined as the process of

designing and construction of a project from the conception of the project in a client’s mind to its

completion for commissioning and use. (Civil engineering dictionary)

In engineering, construction can be defined as process of creating a structure in a certain location by

putting the different elements based on the detailed design and plan. In the process of completing a

construction, three major parties are involved in the different phases. These parties are commonly

called stakeholders. Each party has its own major role in delivering the desired product quality in the

specified time and cost in the industry.

Construction industry is a branch of commercial enterprise concerned with the construction of

buildings, bridges, etc. (Collins English Dictionary) Based on the largest online economics community

of the world, economy watch, Construction Industry is one of the most booming industries in the world

and will remain so, since development is continuing especially for the case of developing countries.

Since Ethiopia is one of the developing countries, the construction industry has been one of the greater

part takers in the economy.

The contribution of the construction industry in the development is showing significant growth.

According to researches done in 2016, the GDP contribution of the construction industry in Ethiopian

economy has reached around 5.6 %. And the GDCF has increased to 75% in 2003. [29]

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As per the reports of the construction Minister in 2018, the construction industry has become the

second most important sector in the economy. Its contribution in the GDP has shown increment to

9.5%. This implies that the success of the construction industry is crucial to ensure rapid, sustainable,

and equitable socio-economic development. It’s also reported that poor performances are also observed

because of quality related problems, cost and time over runs. These factors are interrelated to each

other. As quality of a building deteriorates, then the cost and allocated times for the project will also be

affected.

In recent years, quality has acquired increasing attention in the world. It has been one of the most

difficult terms to be defined by scholars. It has acquired different meanings based on various criteria.

Different organizations and scholars have been trying to give their own definitions. As the International

Standardization Organization (ISO), Quality can be defined as the degree to which a commodity meets

the requirements of the customer at the start of its life. [21]

Others define quality from different point of views. It can be defined from management, quality

assurance, product, marketing, manufacturing and economic point of views. Quality can be defined as

fit for purpose, conformance to requirements, etc. Manufacturers define quality in terms of

measurements and statistics.in short it can be defined as compliance to best known standards, processes

and specifications. [4]

To attain the desired quality of a product or service, quality should be managed properly. The process

of managing quality should be given serious attention. The management process needs continuous

attention; it’s not an action for one instant [6]. The same goes to construction projects. It’s a holistic

approach of managing a project, ensuring efforts to achieve and improve required standards for a well-

2
planned and organized project. The reason for managing quality is to obtain customer’s satisfaction, to

provide value for money, and to fit for purpose. [18]

Many construction companies have been facing difficulties in fulfilling customer’s satisfaction. But since

the application of Total Quality Management, the achievements of set standards and successful

productivity have improved [1]. The construction industry, having unique characters of project, different

stakeholders, climatic changes and labor forces makes the implementation of TQM difficult [2]. Quality

management has two closely related but different concepts. These are quality control and quality

assurance. As the ISO 9000 standard, quality control can be defined as “a part of quality management

focused on fulfilling quality requirements”. It’s the process of verifying the quality of an output. But,

quality assurance is defined as “a part of quality management focused on providing confidence that

quality requirements will be fulfilled”. This implies, quality assurance is process of managing to achieve

a certain quality.

This thesis is done to mainly to propose ways to reduce risks of cost, time and resource wastages the

industry is facing because of low quality products. This will be achieved by discussing about the current

quality management practice of the SNNPR region. We’ll also discuss the challenges faced in the process

of implementing the quality assurance concept to the projects in the region. At last, I’ll try to propose

solutions to solve these challenges.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Time, cost and quality are the three major success criteria of construction industry projects. [25]

Projects to be called successful, these three criteria should be fulfilled. But, according to Khalek H.A,

et al. (2016), the construction industry compared to other industries has been criticized for its poor

performance & productivity. Clients are in need of better quality, faster delivery and technological

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innovations. To attain these needs, the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) was adopted &

integrated from the manufacturing industry. [21]

But for the case of the construction industry, the history of total quality management being adopted has

a very short period of time in the world. When it comes to the developing world, this history of TQM

practice has even a shorter period compared to the other part of the world. For our case, the practice of

TQM in Ethiopia, specifically in SNNPR, can be said negligible. The most commonly used

management concept is quality control.

Due to poor quality performance of building construction projects of SNNPR, projects are delivered

late and the costs show large amount of variation. In worst cases projects would be terminated and both

the client and contractor would be forced to face deficits. Disputes between the contractor, consultant

and client are also observed in the industry. This will in return affect the public who was supposed to

benefit from the project.

The practice of quality control is useful to prevent faulty products reaching the customer. But the

rejected products are expensive since the full costs of production have been incurred. Even though

defective products are not dispersed to customers, this affects the contractor’s profitability unless root

causes are tackled. Hence, the study will consider quality management practices with particular focus

on Quality Assurance to enhance the quality performance of building construction projects.

1.3 Significance of the study

The process of quality management is a must for any kind of product to be delivered to customer. For

the case of the construction industry, constructions in the desired quality should be delivered to clients

or owners. The most common technique of quality management in the region is quality control. But

4
quality control practices are expensive for the client and the contractor. A construction project is said

successful if the project is completed according to the planned schedule, cost and scope.

Quality control is the process of checking the quality of the constructed building. Quality of building is

checked after the construction of each component. The type of quality control for a specific project is

carried out based on the technical specification on the contract document. The most common quality

control types on a construction project in Ethiopia are tests on concrete. The usual once among these

tests are cube test and slump tests.

But if these tests fail to reach the requirements, then the constructions need to be demolished and

reconstructed. This results in additional cost and time for the project. For the case of construction

projects, the additional costs to be incurred are costs and resources of the public, which in turn affect

the economy of the nation. Therefore, solutions should be put to minimize these risks.

The purpose of this paper is to propose methods to ensure these risks being eliminated. The risk of

demolition, which may cost a deficit to the nation, will be eliminated. The time and cost of low quality

structures being rejected or demolished will be reduced and this benefits the client, contractor and the

consultant. They all benefit from the reduced risk of low quality structure. The nation in general will

benefit from the minimized risk of unreasonable resource wastage. Therefore, the procedures to be

proposed on this paper will help the construction industry in the region to reduce the above mentioned

risks. It will also help researchers, students and practitioners of the construction industry interpret the

theoretical knowledge to practice. It will also encourage them to do additional researches and play a

greater role in achieving the desired quality of structure.

5
 1.4 Objectives

Main Objectives

The objective of this study is to propose measures for effective quality management of building

construction projects in SNNPR.

Specific Objectives

 To assess the quality management practice of local contractors and consultants involved in the

construction of public buildings in SNNPR

 To determine the challenges in implementing quality assurance during project execution of

public building construction projects in SNNPR

 To propose measures for effective implementation of quality assurance for public building

construction projects in SNNPR

1.5 Scope of the Study

Quality management is broader discussion topic in any field of study. It has become one of the major

issues currently studied in the world. This thesis deals with quality management practices of building

constructions. Quality management in construction deals with projects and the firm. Therefore, this

study is restricted to quality management of building construction projects only.

Building constructions are taking place in all over the world. But for the sake of effectiveness, the study

area is restricted to only SNNPR of Ethiopia. These constructions can be either public or private. So, I

preferred to focus the study on public construction projects. This is because, public constructions cover

large percentage of the resource in the region. There are large number of public building construction

projects in the region. But I chose to restrict the study on projects that are started in the second GTP

which is between 2008 and 2011.

6
To study the issue of quality management practice of public building construction projects of the

region, questionnaire will be distributed. The questionnaire will be distributed to project managers and

site supervisors involved in the construction of public construction projects of the region. Interviews

will be done to different personnel in the industry.

1.6 Research Questions

Research questions are questions raised in the thesis which shows the main core of the study. This helps

to determine the methodology and will guide all stages of the study. The research questions raised in

this thesis paper are:

 What is the current quality management practice of building construction projects in SNNPR?

 What are the challenges of implementing the quality assurance during execution of public

construction projects?

 What are the measures to be taken to solve these challenges and have effective quality

management practice?

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 1.7 Organization of the study

Organization of the study is the way of describing the main elements of the written thesis. This thesis is

composed of six chapters. Figure 1 shows the structural organization of the thesis. These chapters are:

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

METHODOLOGY

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Figure 1: Organization of the study

8
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter shows the overview of literatures and previously done researches on related topics. The

concept of quality was defined according to different individuals, organizations and approaches. The

development of quality management concept and major contributors to this development are described.

2.2 Quality

2.2.1 Definition of Quality

Before dealing with quality management practices, the meaning of term quality should be understood.

Quality has been one of the most difficult terms defined by scholars, since it is a perceptual, conditional

and somewhat subjective matter. It can be understood differently by different people. Quality has no

specific meaning unless related to specific issues. Among the different definitions of quality by the

scholars, some of them are listed below.

 The American Society for Quality defined quality as the characteristics of a product or service

that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs and a product or service free of deficiencies.

 The British Standards Institution defined quality as the totality of features and characteristics

that bear on the ability of a product or a service to satisfy a given need.

 The Ethiopian Standards Agency defined quality as the totality of characteristics of as entity

that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. [34]

 Armand V. Feigenbaum defined quality as composite characteristics of a product to meet

customer’s expectations.

9
 W. Edwards Deming defined quality as the efficient production of the quality that the market

expects. He also related quality and management to have direct relation.

 Philip B. Crosby defined quality as conformance to requirements.

 Joseph M. Juran defined quality as fitness for use, by which fitness is defined by the customer.

2.2.1.1 Quality Approaches

There are also five different approaches in defining quality. They are discussed as follows. [12]

1. Transcendent approach: the scholars in philosophy thought quality as an innate characteristic

which cannot be accurately defined but can be understood when seen. Quality can be defined

subjectively related to some standards. Under this approach, quality is a property that we learn to

recognize through experience.

2. Product based approach: the scholars in Economics thought quality as precise and quantifiable

entity found in the attributes of product and services. This approach favors measurable attributes over

personal preferences.

3. User based approach: the scholars in economics, marketing and operation management

commonly define quality based on the view of the user. It can be defined as fitness for use. Quality of a

product or service depends on individual’s preference. This approach aligns with quality definition of

J.M. Juran.

4. Manufacturer based approach: according to this approach, quality is defined as conformance to

requirements. Any quality deviation from a predetermined specification reduces quality. This approach

measures the degree of conformity to the specification.

5. Value based approach: the scholars in operation management defined quality in terms of cost

and price. A quality product is the one with higher value. Here, value is defined as benefit of a product

10
outweighing the cost. It relates performance of a product with the cost and benefits. This view aligns

with Armand V. Feigenbaum’s quality definition.

2.2.1.2 Dimensional frameworks for Quality

The Harvard professor Dr. Garvin proposed eight dimensional frame works to further elaborate the

above mentioned five quality approaches. These are: performance, features, reliability, conformance,

durability, serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality. [16]

1. Performance: it refers to product’s primary operating characteristics. It is the efficiency of a product

to achieve its intended purpose. This dimension involves measurable attributes that is used to rank

products. For example: the performance dimensions for automobile products would be acceleration,

handling and comfort whereas, for television sound and picture clarity, color and its ability to

receive distant station.

2. Features: it is a product’s secondary product characteristic which implies to the characteristics that

supplement the basic functions which is the performance characteristic. Free drink on plane,

automatic tuner on color televisions are features of these products.

3. Reliability: it is product characteristic which shows its malfunctioning or failure probability within a

specified period of time. It can also be defined as ability of a product to perform consistently in its

designed useful time.

4. Conformance: it is product characteristic that shows the degree to which a product meets its

established standards for design and operating characteristic. This dimension aligns with the quality

definitions of scholars like Juran. Conformance measure involves defect incidence in the factory and

quantity of product repairs under warranty.

5. Durability: this dimension has two perspectives technical and economic. Technically durability

means the amount of use one gets from a product before it deteriorates. Economically it can be

11
 defined as the repairing or replacing costs of a product after deterioration. So, durability in general

means the amount of use one gets from product before deterioration and replacement is preferable to

continued repair.

6. Serviceability: it is the sixth quality measuring dimension which shows the speed, courtesy,

competence and ease of repair of a product. This dimension is beyond durability. It is the time before

service is restored.

7. Aesthetics: this dimension shows how a product looks, feels, sounds, tastes or smells. It is

determined subjectively, it cannot be defined precisely as performance. It is a reflection of personal

preference.

8. Perceived quality: it is also the other subjectively determined dimension which shows the indirect

quality measuring techniques of a product. Users of a product may not have full information about

the attributes of a product and product durability may not be observed directly. Therefore, images,

advertisements, brand names can be used as inference for quality. This shows that reputation plays a

greater role in this dimension.

2.3 Quality Management

2.3.1 Evolution of Quality Management

According to Ladawan, the concept of quality management developed from the operational level to the

strategic management level the 20th century. He concluded the different aspects of historical

development of quality management in a table. He put as follows. [19] Table 1 shows the concept

development of quality management.

Table 1: Evolution of Quality Management

Aspects Development

12
 Implementation Technical Management

Product quality Detection Prevention Improvement

People involvement QC/QA personnel Whole organization

Sense of responsibility QC/QA function Whole organization

Customer aspect Meet specification Customer satisfaction

According to Ladawan, quality in the early times was seen as a technical work. That means quality is

controlled by the workers and foremen in the project. It has been considered in technical application

level and developed to a strategic management level. The aspect of the product quality has developed

from detection approach through defect prevention to the improvement approach assisted by the

statistical quality control techniques. In the early times, the aspect of people involvement in the

management process has developed from being limited to QC/QA personnel to the involvement of the

whole organization. The goal of an organization has developed from being limited to merely producing

product to customer satisfaction. Quality has become the responsibility of everyone in the organization

from being limited to the QC/QA function.

2.3.2 Total Quality Management

2.3.2.1 Major Contributors to Quality Management

The concept of quality has developed with the help of different individuals. According to Loiy, since

the 1940’s, there has been three different groups of contributors to quality. The Americans who took

the message of quality to Japan were part of the first group. The second group included the Japanese

who developed new concepts in response to the Americans. The third group that contributed to quality

was the westerns who followed the Japanese industrial success. [21]

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A) W. Edwards Deming: was an American statistician who is considered as the father of the modern

quality evolution. He defined quality in relation to customer’s need. He proposed the application of

quantitative method to processes to meet customer’s need. He uses system and leadership approach. His

approach was described using seven concepts. They are: [19]

1. The “system of profound knowledge” – he believes that there is no substitute for knowledge. This

concept has four parts. They are: theory of systems, theory of variation, theory of knowledge and

knowledge of psychology.

 Theory of systems: studying an organization as a system, the relation between activities should be

studied to prevent organizational fragmentation.

 Theory of variation: It is the theory of measuring variations to predict system behavior. Unless it is

well understood, it leads to frustration and increased variability which in return will lead to higher

cost. It is also known as knowledge of statistical theory

 Theory of knowledge: this theory states the necessity of knowledge advancement of managers

about the system and the organization.

 Knowledge of psychology: based on this theory, the management is expected to know people in

the work place, their interactions, needs, working and learning styles.

2. The “PDCA cycle”: this concept emphasizes the obligation of the management on continuous

improvement. There are four steps for the improvement. They are: planning a change, carrying out

the change, observing the effect of the change and studying the result of the change and acting on

what was learned.

3. “Prevention by process improvement”: this concept considers inspection at the end being too late

and too costly. His approach is a shift from detection at the final stage to prevention. This approach

14
 is achieved by process analysis, control and improvement. According to Deming, quality is the

result of studying and changing the process, not by inspecting the final product.

4. “Common cause and special cause variation”: this concept is about products or outcomes with

predictable degree of uniformity to customers and the price they can pay which is their perception

of satisfaction. According to Deming, variation is inevitable. So, he classified variation sources

into two: common and special causes of variation. The common causes are variations that occur

because of the system or the way it is managed and can only be corrected through managerial

actions. The special causes are variations that are not related to the system and are caused by

workers and their supervisors and these individuals are responsible for identifying and removing

them.

5. The “14 points”: according to Deming, these points are management obligations. They provide

basis for initiating and sustaining organizational improvements which focus on customer

satisfaction. They are: create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service;

adopt the new philosophy; cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality; end the practice of

awarding business on the basis of price tag alone; improve constantly and forever the system of

production and service; institute training on the job; institute leadership; drive out fear; break down

barriers between departments; eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force;

eliminate numerical quotas for the work force and numerical goals for management; remove

barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship. Eliminate the annual rating or merit system,

institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement, put everybody in the company to

work to accomplish the transformation.

6. The “chain reaction for quality”: this concept shows chain of actions to improve quality. Based on

this concept, quality improvement leads to cost reduction. This in return improves productivity and

15
 market share of the organization. Product quality can be determined by understanding the concept

of variation and by using the 14 points.

7. The “deadly” and “dreadful diseases”: Deming classified transformation obstacles into two: deadly

and dreadful diseases. The deadly diseases of the transformation can be cured only through

changing the management style. The dreadful diseases are harmful management practices and are

easier to cure. So, he proposed the 14 management obligations as solution.

B) Joseph M. Juran: defined Quality as fitness of a product for use and product is the output of a

process of goods or services. He focuses on meeting customer’s satisfaction. He proposed a strategic

and structured approach. To describe this, he used five concepts. These are: [19]

1. The “spiral of progress in quality”: this concept discusses quality as a result of relationship among

the different departments in the spiral who specialized for specific responsibility and functions. It

is necessary before introducing a product into the market.

2. Breakthrough consequences: this concept discusses about a dynamic and decisive movement to

new and higher level of performance. It helps to attain quality leadership, solve excess field

problems and it improves public image of the organization by focusing on innovation and

improvement.

3. Project by project approach: this concept discusses the implementation of quality improvement

methodology and participation of the employees in teams. The interaction between teams can be

diagnostic and remedial. This is either from symptom to cause or cause to remedy. Their

outcomes should be documented and presented to the organization.

4. “Juran’s trilogy”: this concept is systematic approach to carry out the quality management

methodology. Quality management consists of three processes. They are: quality planning, quality

control and quality improvement.

16
 5. The “vital few” and “trivial many”: this concept describe that most of poor quality costs are the

results of small number of causes which are the vital few. The other causes called the trivial many

are the causes which can be ignored for the time.

C) Armand V. Feigenbaum: brought the idea of total quality control (TQC) later known as total

quality management. He defined quality as better material, process, machines, employee skills, output

and services to be best for customer use and buying price. [21] He believes that quality improvement

requires the involvement of everyone in the organization. There are three step processes for quality

improvement. These steps are: quality leadership, quality technology and organizational commitment.

Total quality control (TQC) is a system to integrate quality development, maintenance and

improvement. This will help the organization to operate at the most economical level to achieve full

customer satisfaction. [49]

D) Genichi Taguchi: was able to relate engineering and statistical methods to achieve rapid cost and

quality improvements by optimizing product design and manufacturing processes. He is famous for his

pioneering method of modern quality control and low cost quality engineering. His method changed the

philosophy and practice of quality control. His method was unheard outside of Japan. But through time

his method became very popular especially in the car industry. [9] his method was developed to control

the quality of both the process and design. He emphasized on quality improvement prior to manufacture

instead of inspection. His contributions to the quality improvement world are can be concluded as

follows: [www.skymark.com] He was the first to quantify the relation between customer’s perceived

and product’s quality or performance.

E) Kaoru Ishikawa: was a Japanese Professor who was noted for his quality management innovations

and considered as the father of Japanese Quality. He is best known for his cause and effect diagram

17
used for the analysis of industrial process. According to Ishikawa, Quality improvement is continuous.

He basically emphasized on two quality improvement areas. They are: management commitment and

its continuity. Commitment from employees and management is required to reach the desired success.

He considers standards as continuous quality improvement program. [46] Figure 2 below shows the six

steps Ishikawa put by expanding the PDCA model of Deming. [55]

Figure 2: Ishikawa’s six steps expanded from Deming’s model

F) Shigeo Shingo: was a Japanese engineer who was considered as the world’s leading expert on

manufacturing practices and the Toyota production system. His contribution was related to quality

control processes in the industry and his teachings can be concluded into three main topics. They are:

[44] Just in time is a concept developed to eliminate all waste using continuous improvement in

productivity. The concept of single minute exchange of dies (SMED) is about reducing or eliminating

the time spent in setting up equipment or materials to get get zero defect and higher efficiency of

machines which in return increases the production rate. The concept of zero quality control is about

targeting on the effective elimination of root cause of a defect.

G) Philip B. Crosby: defined quality as conformance to requirements. His basic approach for quality

management is prevention. This approach has been best described using the following concepts.
18
1. “Do it right the first time.” - This concept is about doing thing right the first time and every

time. He believes that there is no need of planning and investing for non-conformity cases. For Crosby,

Quality product is a product that falls within its design and specifications.

2. “Zero defects” – getting a defect free product or service is the main goal of his quality

improvement process. Every ones commitment is required to get the zero defect product.

3. The “Prevention process” – this concept is about prioritizing prevention over inspection and

error correction. Prevention involves thinking, planning and analyzing. This is the process of

determining where errors could occur and then taking action to keep them from occurring.

4. The “Quality vaccine” – Considering nonconformity as a bacteria, he formulated prevention

vaccine which are three different management actions. These are: determination, education and

implementation. Determination is about the management seeing the need for change. Education is the

process of providing all employees with what quality means; their role in the improvement process and

to develop knowledge to prevent. Implementation is the process of developing plan, assigning

resources and supports a consistent environment with this philosophy.

5. The “Six C’s” – according to Crosby, this is the multi stage process that an organization should

take. Comprehension, commitment, competence, communication, correction and continuance are the

six stages. Comprehension is about understanding the importance of the meaning of quality.

Commitment is the process of the top management establishing quality policy. Competence is the stage

of developing educational and training plan to implement the quality improvement process.

Communication is the stage of documenting and publishing the efforts and successes in the process.

Correction is the stage of focusing on prevention and performance. Continuance is the stage of ensuring

the process being integrated into all day to day operations.

19
6. The “Four absolutes of quality” – according to Crosby, quality improvement begins with the

four absolutes. These concept helped the shift of idea to “quality doesn’t cost” from the thoughts of

quality increase results in increasing cost. The four absolutes are:

 Quality is conformance to requirements

 The system to produce quality is prevention (eliminating error before occurring)

 The performance standard is “zero defect”

 The measurement of quality is the price to non-conformance (quality can be measured by non-

conformance)

To implement the quality improvement process, he proposed 14 step approach which are the

responsibilities of both the top management and workers. These are: management commitment, quality

education, quality improvement team, "Zero Defects Day", quality measurement, goal setting, cost of

quality, error-cause removal, quality awareness, recognition, corrective action, quality councils, zero

defects planning and "Do it over again" approaches.

2.3.3 Cost of Quality

Quality cost or cost of quality is a means to quantify the total cost of quality related efforts and

deficiencies. Before this concept was introduced, experts believe that higher quality requires higher

cost. Even during cost accounting, costs relevant to quality were not categorized while financial

transactions were categorized.

Like the term quality, the definition for the term cost of quality fluctuates among individuals and

organizations. The term is defined in different ways. Some of the definitions for the term cost of quality

are defined as follows.

20
 The American Society for Quality defined cost of quality as a method used to determine the

activities that result from internal and external failures in an organization.

 The British Standards Institution defined cost of quality as cost incurred in the process of

ensuring and assuring quality as well as the loss when quality is not accomplished. [12]

 Armand V. Feigenbaum defined cost of quality as a means of quantifying the total cost of

quality related projects and deficiencies. He stated that process improvement decreases cost. [15]

 Philip B. Crosby defined cost of quality as cost of non-conformance. It can also be defined as

the expense of doing wrong. [9]

According to Avner Engel et el, cost of quality is traditionally composed of four components. They are:

prevention cost, assessment cost, internal failure cost and external failure costs. At a system level,

prevention and assessment costs are categorized as verification, validation and testing (VVT) costs;

internal and external failure costs are categorized as system failures. Therefore, the term quality cost

refers to the VVT cost plus the system failure costs.[9]

Cost of quality for the construction industry can be categorized in four different groups. These are cost

of quality in: the owner’s criteria, for design, for construction and for the operation and maintenance.

Cost of quality for construction is also classified into two: for the construction project and for the

construction firm. Cost of quality for the construction firm implies to the cost of the management which

is related to the internal process and procedure. [36] But here, on this paper we deal with cost of quality

for construction projects only, which excludes the other three categories and cost of quality for the firm.

Cost of quality can be divided into two categories. They are: quality control costs which can also be

called as cost of conformance or system verification, validation and testing (VVT) and quality failure

21
costs called the cost of non-conformance or system failures. [17] The ASQ quality improvement pocket

guide divided cost of quality as cost of good quality and cost of poor quality.

Cost of conformance is the cost incurred to ensure the project conformance to the requirements and to

avoid failure from occurring. It is the cost paid to achieve higher quality. On the contrary, cost of non-

conformance is the cost incurred for not conforming to the quality requirement. It is the cost incurred

because of poor quality. Each of them is sub-classified into two groups. Figure 3 shows the types of

quality costs classified by different scholars and books.

Figure 3: Types of Quality Costs

Cost of Quality

Quality Control Cost Quality Failure Cost

Prevention Cost Appraisal Cost Internal Failure External Failure

Cost Cost

 Prevention costs are costs that arise from the efforts of keeping defects from occurrence. It is a

cost incurred to minimize failure and appraisal costs.

 Appraisal costs on the other hand are costs that arise from detecting defects using tests, audit

and inspections. It is used to determine the degree of conformance to the requirements.

 Internal Failure costs are the costs that arise from defects caught internally in the organization

and solved by removing or repairing the affected items before they reach the customer.

22
 External Failure costs are costs that are associated with defects found after the customer.

2.3.4 Principles of Quality Management

According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), quality management principles

can be defined as set of fundamental beliefs, norms, rules and values that are used as a basis for quality

management. They are developed and updated by the international experts of ISO who are responsible

for developing and maintaining quality management standards.

There are seven quality management principles:

1. Customer focus: the primary focus of quality management is to meet customer’s ` requirement

and expectations. This would help to recognize direct and indirect customers, to understand customer’s

need and to manage relationships with customers.

2. Leadership: it is the state of being a leader. Leaders in quality management are people who

establish unity and direction of the purpose and create conditions to achieve quality objectives by

aligning strategies, policies, processes and resources to achieve the set quality objectives. A good

leadership increases efficiency and effectiveness of the project and brings better coordination. It also

helps to develop and improve stakeholder’s capacity to deliver the desired result and have a better

communication.

3. Engagement of people: involving all employees at all levels increases effectiveness and

efficiency of a project. To get a better result in engaging employees, discussion and trainings can be

done to empower employees. This helps to increase employees understanding about the work, personal

development, initiative and creativity and would increase trust between leaders and employees.

4. Process approach: it is the approach of understanding and managing activities as interrelated

process which increases effectiveness and efficiency. This increases the ability to focus on processes

23
and outcomes’ consistency and predictability. Increasing product consistency would help

organization’s capability to provide confidence to their customers.

5. Quality improvement: it is a continuous act of maintaining current performance levels, reacting

to changes and creating new performances. This act helps to improve project performance, to focus on

root cause investigations and to increase the ability to react to risks and opportunities.

6. Evidence based decision making: this is the act of decision making based on analyzed data and

produced results. Understanding cause and effect relationships helps to increase ability of challenge

reviewing, to improve decision making processes and to improve process performance and ability to

achieve objectives.

7. Relationship management: developing relations between parties results in sustained success.

When these relations are properly managed, there would be understanding of goals and values between

parties.

For the case of public building construction projects, even though the clients are public organizations,

the process of quality planning should consider the indirect customer which is the public. To lead this

quality management process, a quality manager is required. To get the desired quality, everyone’s

involvement is required which includes top management to daily workers. Taking project activities as

process would help the get consistent product. This would take continuous improvement to focus on

root causes. Then, by understanding cause and effect relationships, better decisions can be made. Then,

relations between stakeholders should be developed and managed.

2.4 Project Quality Management

Quality management is a management process used to ensure the process of achieving the required

project quality. Construction quality is related to customer requirement and satisfaction. Quality

24
management of construction projects is the responsibility of all the stakeholders. [19] Project quality

management is the process of ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of project activities when

compared to the purpose of the objective and its performance. It is a continuous process that should

take place from project initiation to project closure phase. It is more about prevention than measuring

and fixing poor quality product. There is difference between project quality and material grades, since

grade is about material characteristics. [37]

There are three project quality management processes. They are: planning quality management,

performing quality assurance and quality controlling. [45]

According to PMbok, project quality management includes management of processes that are required

to satisfy customer needs. It is the process of implementing the quality policy, objectives and

responsibilities by quality planning, controlling, assuring and continually improving.

According to Wysocki as referred by Annane, project constraints are scope, cost, time, resources,

quality and risk. Except risk, the interdependence of all the other constraints is shown in the scope

triangle. Project quality is affected by these three interrelated factors.[4]

2.4.1 Quality Management Procedures

There are four quality management procedures. They are quality planning, quality assurance, quality

control and quality improvement.[34] they are discussed as follows:

Quality planning: is the process of deciding what quality means for the specific project and its

deliverables. [42] It involves identifying which quality standard should be used to the project and how

to comply with the standard. This should be performed parallel with other project planning processes.

[34] Quality planning is useful to standardize processes, reduce waste and inefficiencies, increase profit

and eliminates rework. There are five inputs for quality planning.[34] They are:

25
 Quality policy: is the overall organizational intention and direction related to quality. It is the

responsibility of the top management. [39] The organization on site should have quality policy but if

the organization doesn’t have a policy or if there are more than one organization participating in the

project, then the project management team is responsible for preparing quality policy. [37] The quality

policy is transferred and expanded to objectives in the form of quality manual. Quality manuals are site

documents that show the detail of how the project should operate through the quality policy.[39]

 Scope Statement: is a document that shows the major project deliverables and objectives which

helps to define stakeholder requirements.

 Product Description: is a detail document of technical and other concerns that would affect

quality planning.

 Standards and Regulations: the project management team should consider areal specific

regulations

 Other process outputs: outputs of other knowledge area serve as an input to planning.

Quality Assurance: is a process that is part of the execution and is concerned with making sure that

quality objectives are met. [37] It establishes organizational procedures and standards for quality

implementation. It ensures periodic review and evaluation of the overall project to get things right the

first time. This procedure ensures the project completion according to the agreed time, cost and

specifications to meet customer’s satisfaction. [30]

Quality Control: is the process of monitoring results to determine whether they comply with quality

standards and ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance. [30] This should take place

throughout the project life cycle. Controlling takes place for results of products and the management.

[34]

26
Quality Improvement: deals about increasing the ability of fulfilling quality requirements. There is no

one quality improvement approach to be more successful. But most of the practices are included under

total quality management. [30]

2.4.2 Factors affecting project quality management

According to Ayodeji Oke et.el, identifying the influencing factors will help the project minimize those

effects and stick to the specifications to reduce errors. [8]

Tengan Callistus et.el identified factors that influence quality performance of small scale contractors of

Ghana and classified them as contractor related and consultant related. [43] some of the factors that

influence quality in building construction work are:

 Management commitment

 Effective/ efficient quality planning

 Supervision of workers

 Use of proper equipment for construction

 Effective/efficient construction method

 Training and seminar on quality management

 Adherence to statutory regulation

 Cost and time overrun

 Use of substandard construction materials

 Lack of awareness about quality management

27
 CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Research methodology is a systematic and theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of

study. It can also be defined as strategy that outlines the way in which research is to be conducted and

among other things it identifies the methods to be used. It offers the theoretical underpinning to

understand which method or methods can be applied to a specific research or study. So, the topics

included in the research methodology section of the study are listed below.

This chapter describes how studies are undertaken to reach the thesis objectives. It clearly showed the

geographical boundary to which the study is restricted to. The research type, method, strategy and data

sources used are properly justified. The research population and sample used for the study are also

presented. Then the reliability and validity of the data collection instruments is discussed. At last, the

methods used to analyze the collected data are clearly explained.

3.2 Study Area

This thesis is done in Southern Nations, Nationalities and people’s Region of Ethiopia. It is usually

abbreviated as SNNPR and is one of the nine ethnically based regional states of Ethiopia. The region

borders Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, the Ethiopian regions Gambela and Oromia to the

northwest and the northeast respectively. It covers total area of 105,887.18 km2 (40,883.27 sq mi)

which is 10% of the land area of the country and estimated population of 20,768,000 according to the

May 2018 census. This population is around one fifth of the population of the country with less than

8.9% of the total population living in urban area. Hawassa is the capital of the region. The region

includes 13 administrative zones, 8 special woredas, 133 woredas and 3512 Kebeles. Therefore, the

28
study tries to include all the zones. They are: Bench Maji, Dawro, Gamo Gofa, Gedeo, Gurage, Hadiya,

Kembata Tembaro, Keffa, Sheka, Sidama, Silti, South Omo and Wolayita zones. Among these zones

the questionnaire was distributed to the major cities of each zone. Figure 4 below shows the map of

SNNPR.

Figure 4: Map of southern Nations, Nationalities and people region

3.3 Research type

This research can be categorized as applied research. Applied research is the type of research conducted

to solve practical problems. It can also be described as an investigation that uses scientific knowledge

to solve existing problems. This research is concerned with problems related to existing quality

29
management problems in SNNPR public construction projects. It shows scientific knowledge to solve

this problem and to improve public satisfaction and the constructions to fit for the designed purpose.

3.4 Research Method

Research method is a technique used to collect, organize and analyze data while conducting a research.

It is different from research methodology since methodology is a wider concept as we’ve discussed in

3.1. All research reports must include accurate, unbiased, complete and insightful analyzed data. [24]

There are two methods to conduct a research. They are: qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Selection of the research method affects the data collection and sampling techniques.

Qualitative method is a research method by which the findings are not produced by quantification; they

rather depend on words. Its aim is to provide an in depth understanding on social phenomena by

analyzing and interpreting collected data. It is less structured and focused on development of meaning

when compared to quantitative method. This method includes case study, grounded theory,

ethnography, content analysis, and phenomenological studies. The inability to generalize is considered

as a disadvantage for this method. [27]

Quantitative method is a research method that uses numerical form to collect quantifiable data and

mathematical models and statistical techniques to analyze data. This method includes experiment,

surveys, structured observations, and structured interviews. [25]

In this research, quantitative method is used to reach the objectives. Since it will help to generalize

findings and precise data can be obtained. Data collection and analysis takes relatively less time when

compared to the other method.

30
 3.5 Research Strategy

According to Rahi, the term research strategy implies the process of data collection and interpretation

with clear objectives. As Easter-Smited cited by Rahi, it is a general plan of the way to answer research

questions set by the researcher. [35] According to Yin, there are five categories of research strategies.

They are: experiment, surveys, archival analysis, histories and case studies. Experimental strategy is

used to test the relation between two variables especially when the researcher examines cause and

effect relationships among them. The survey strategy on the other hand is related to deductive approach

and information is collected by interviews or questionnaire. Archival analysis is the strategy used to

report incidence; but is difficult to use during research. History, as the name indicates, is used to

explore past issues especially when no relevant person is available to report a situation. The last

strategy is case study. This strategy is a written description of a problem or situation of small group.

[42]

For the case of applied research, the research strategies could be questionnaire surveys, review of

project records, and case studies. [2] On the other hand, quantitative research can be conducted using

surveys, interviews and observations. [25]

Therefore, for the case of this research, the research strategy used in this thesis will be questionnaire

survey and semi structured interviews.

3.6 Data sources and collection methods

While conducting research, there are two types of data that can be obtained. They are primary and

secondary. Primary data is the type of data that is collected by the researcher himself which has not

been collected previously. Secondary data on the other hand is the type of data which has already been

31
collected previously. Usually this data is collected prior to the primary data to identify what has been

discovered regarding the research topic.

This study will use both primary and secondary data [41]. Primary data is collected through distributed

questionnaires and interviews to different professionals involved in building construction projects.

Secondary data is collected through desk study. Desk study is a preliminary investigation and report

into something collating currently available relevant information. It helps to provide context for a

research and it illustrates how the subject has been studied previously. It also helps the researcher to

learn from previous studies, outline gaps in those studies and to justify the research.

As we’ve discussed in section 3.3, the research method is quantitative. This method describes and

measures occurrence levels on the basis of numbers and calculation. It mainly examines the relationship

between numerically measured variables using statistical techniques. The most common data collection

techniques for quantitative research are questionnaires and interviews. therefore, both techniques are

used to collect data for this research. Each technique is described briefly below.

3.6.1 Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a research instrument that consist a series of questions that helps to gather information

from respondents. The respondents are asked to answer identical questions which are put in a pre-

determined order.

A questionnaire may include open ended or closed ended questions. Open ended questions are

questions that allow respondents to freely reply which is similar to interview. Closed ended questions

are questions that restrict respondents to a certain number of answers to choose from. It includes six

main formats. They are: list of items to choose from, rankings, ratings scales, quantity (responses

required in number), grid and category. [27]

32
The questionnaire prepared for this research has three parts. The first part is about personal information

about the respondent. Their work place, experience, educational level and current position in the project

are questioned. It also includes information about the contractor and consultant of their project. The

second part of the questionnaire is designed to assess the quality management practice of the region. It

uses some list of practices to help the respondents rate their answers. The third part of the questionnaire

is designed to determine challenges for the implementation of quality assurance. It is designed in the

same format as part two. List of challenges is gathered from literature reviews.

3.6.2 Interviews

Interviews are the other most commonly used data collection technique for quantitative researches.

Interview is a purposeful discussion between two or more people that permits face to face interaction

between the interviewer and the respondent. [27]

Semi structured interview is an interview which allows the interviewer to probe and expand the

interviewee’s responses by further questions to get in depth information. It’s a more flexible version of

structured interview. The researcher may have a checklist to cover all the relevant questions while

allowing the interviewee to give in depth probing within the parameters traced out by the objectives.

[18] For the case of this thesis, I chose to use this kind of research since it will help me cover in depth

knowledge on my study.

3.7 Research population and sampling

Quantitative data collection methods are based on random sampling and structured data collection

instruments. Findings of quantitative studies are usually easy to present, summarize, compare and

generalize.

33
3.7.1 Research Population

Research population is a term used to express the well-defined collection of individuals or objects

having similar binding characteristics. [26] Population is a group to which the researcher wants to make

conclusions to.

The total population of this study is the list public building construction projects of SNNPR. The

respondents will be project managers and supervisors participating in the projects. This is limited to

projects by which the constructions started in the second GTP.

According to the information gathered from SNNPR Construction bureau, there are 72 building

construction projects.

3.7.2 Research Sampling

A research sample is a subset of research population. Research samples are required for researches

where the researcher is unable to test all individuals or objects of a population. But the sample should

be representative of the population.

Sampling is the process of selecting subjects from the research population to study the characteristics of

the population. Since studying the whole population is difficult, selected subjects will be studied and

generalization will be made to the whole population. [49]

Sampling process follows five steps: defining the population, determining the sampling frame, selecting

the sampling techniques, determining sample size and at last executing the sampling process. [25] The

population is defined in 3.7.1. The sampling frame is the list of population from which the sample is

selected. This list is attached in the Appendices.

34
There are several types of sampling techniques categorized into two groups. They are: probability and

non - probability. Probability sampling techniques are also called random sampling method which

shows random selection of samples from the target population. The non-probability sampling method is

a method by which the samples are selected on the basis of their accessibility or personal judgment of

the researcher. [47]

As discussed on section 3.5, the choice of the research strategy determines the choice of the sampling

technique. Probability sampling technique is commonly used for the quantitative research strategy. [7]

Probability sampling method can be further classified into five groups. They are: simple random

sampling, systematic random sampling, stratified random sampling, cluster sampling and Multi-stage

Sampling. [36] Among these five sub categories, the simple random sampling technique is used for this

research. This is because it has high probability of representing the whole population and cost lesser. It

is simple and shorter than the other techniques.

Simple random sampling technique is the type of sampling technique in which each unit of population

has an equal probability of being selected as a sample. [35]

3.8 Sample size

A sample size is a part of the population chosen for a survey or experiment. It indicates the total

number of sample used to study the population. This number can be obtained using different formulas.

Here, Cochran’s formula is used to determine the sample size.

Based on the information from the SNNPR construction bureau, the region has around 72 building

construction projects that are started in second GTP. This is the time between 2008 till now. This

35
means we have a total of 72 respondents from project managers and supervisors each. Therefore,

sample size is calculated based on the Cochran’s formula for sample size determination.

= where, = sample size

Z= z- score = 1.645 for 90% confidence level

P = percentage of picking a choice = 0.5

e = margin of error = 10% = 0.1

Therefore, the sample size that should be taken for finite population with 90% confidence level and

10% margin of error became 68. But we have finite number of population. So, the correction formula is

used for the finite population number.

New n = Where, N = total number of population = 72 and n= adjusted sample size

n= n = 35.23

The adjusted sample size became 36. Therefore, a total of 72 questionnaires are distributed to

respondents.

36
 3.9 Validity and reliability

Validity and reliability are key concepts in the evaluation of questionnaire designs. [27] Validity is the

term used to express the meaningfulness of a measurement. In statistical terms it is the same as

unbiasedness. [26] Validity answers the question, “does your measurement process, assessment, or

project actually measure what you intend it to measure?” [23] Reliability on the other hand can be

defined as the consistency or stability of a measurement. [26] It addresses whether repeated

measurements or assessments provide a consistent result given the same initial circumstances. [23]

Reliability analysis can be done using the SPSS computer program. It gives Cronbach alpha value.

Cronbach alpha is the most commonly used measure of internal consistency. Its value lies between 0

and 1. A reliability coefficient alpha of 0.7 and greater is considered acceptable for questionnaires.

There are some conditions that could affect the value of Cronbach alpha. These are: [31]

 Number of item (less than 10 variables causes Cronbach alpha to be low)

 Score distribution (it increases with normality and decreases with skewness)

 Timing (it does not indicate stability over time)

 Wording (it decreases with the use of negative worded questionnaire)

Therefore, the reliability of the questionnaire is analyzed using SPSS. Even though the reliability

analysis shows the acceptability of the questionnaire, it doesn’t necessarily show the validity. So, in

order to check the validity of the data, spearman correlation analysis is done using Excel.

The analysis was done using the mean values for the challenges of quality management practices.

Hypothesis test is used to evaluate if there is opinion relationship between the contractor and

consultant.

37
The Null Hypothesis (Ho): There is no agreement in the ranking of challenges of quality management

between the two groups of respondents.

The Alternative Hypothesis (HA): There is agreement in the ranking of challenges of quality

management between the two groups of respondents.

The Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) is calculated using equation 3.1 found below.

ρ═

Where ρ – Spearman rank correlation coefficient

di – The difference in ranking between each pair of factors

N – Number of factors (variables)

Level of significance of 95% is used which shows P=0.05. To accept or reject the null hypothesis, the

relation between the correlation coefficient and the critical value is compared. If the spearman

coefficient is greater than the critical value, the null hypothesis is rejected. This implies the existence of

statically significant agreement between responses of the two groups. On the contrary, if the critical

value is greater than the calculated correlation coefficient, then the null hypothesis is accepted. This

means there is no statistically significant agreement between the responses gathered from the two

groups of respondents.

3.10 Method of analysis and presentation

After collecting the questionnaires, data was inserted and analyzed using SPSS computer program. The

quantitative data was organized and coded. Then variables were defined and the collected data was

entered. Then, both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for the analysis. The

38
results are presented using tables. The qualitative data was analyzed using qualitative data analysis

technique since the data is collected through writing.

The results were presented using the mean score method to rank the practices and challenges of

building construction projects in the region. Five ordinal measures of Likert scale values are used to

calculate the mean score for each question.

Mean score can be calculated using the following formula.

Mean score = where, f = frequency of a response

S = scores given for each agreement level (1 - 5)

N = total number of responses

It can also be calculated using the SPSS program. Since this reduces time and increases accuracy,

therefore, calculating the mean score using the computer program was adopted.

39
 CHAPTER FOUR

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introductions

This section of the research is designed to present, analyze and discuss the results of the collected data.

There are two types of data collection methods. Questionnaires and semi structured interviews are used

to collect data. The respondents were representatives of both the contractor and consultant groups.

Under this chapter, the questionnaire responses are presented using summarized tables and they are

analyzed using SPSS and the analysis is discussed.

4.2 Analysis of Questionnaire Response rate

A total of 72 questionnaires were sent to the two groups of respondents representing the contractor and

consultants working on public building construction projects. The respondents were project managers

representing the contractor and resident engineers representing the consultant of these projects. Out of

the 72 distributed questionnaires, 53 were collected. The 53 collected questionnaires comprise 24 from

contractors and 29 from consultants. This gives a response rate of 73.61% as shown in table 2 below.

4.2.1 The Consultants

Out of the total 36 questionnaires sent out to the consultants, 24 questionnaires were received and

considered valid for analysis. This represents 45.28% of the total number of questionnaires received

from respondents. Therefore, this gives a response rate of 66.67%.

4.2.2 The Contractors

Out of a total of the 36 questionnaires sent out to different grades of contractors, 29 questionnaires were

collected and considered valid. This number shows 54.72% of the total number of questionnaires sent

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out to contractors. This represents 80.56% of response rate. The table below shows the overall response

rate.

Table 2 summarizes the frequency and percentage of distributed and returned questionnaire and the

response rate.

Table 2: Summary of overall survey response rate

Name of Questionnaire distributed Questionnaire returned Response rate

respondents No. % No. % (percentage)

Project managers 36 50% 24 45.28% 66.67%

Supervisors 36 50% 29 54.72% 80.56%

Total 72 100% 53 100% 73.61%

4.3 Analysis about the questionnaire respondents

The purpose of part one of the questionnaires is to know the educational and professional background

of the respondents, the position of the respondents in the project and the address of the project. The

questionnaires were filled by the representatives of contractors and consultants who participate in the

construction of public buildings in the region.

4.3.1 Address

The 72 questionnaires were distributed throughout the SNNPR region. Since, the region has 13

administrative zones, the questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected public building projects

of the region. A total of 10 questionnaires were distributed in Hawassa and 9 were returned. This

comprises 16.98% of the total collected responses. 18 questionnaires were equally distributed to

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Wolayita, Sidama and Gamo Gofa zones each and a total of 17 questionnaires were collected. This

covers a total of 32.07% of the collected responses. 4 questionnaires were distributed for each of the

other zones. Then, Dawro, Gurage and Hadiya zones were represented by 4 responses each. This is

22.65% of the total collected questionnaire. And 3 responses were collected from Bench Maji, Kembata

Tenbaro and Silti zones each which is 16.98% of the total collected responses. 2 responses were gained

from Basketo and 1 response each from Gedeo, Keffa, Segen and South Omo which covers the

remaining 7.55% of the response. The table below shows the address of the total questionnaires

distributed, collected questionnaires and their percentage out of the total collected responses. the

specific Zones of the projects are summarized in table 3.

Table 3: Places where the projects are found

Questionnaires Questionnaires Percentage

Places(Zones) distributed collected

Bench Maji 4 3 5.66%

Basketo 4 2 3.76%

Dawro 4 4 7.55%

Gamo Gofa 6 5 9.43%

Gedeo 4 1 1.89%

Gurage 4 4 7.55%

Hadiya 4 4 7.55%

Hawassa city 10 9 16.98%

Keffa 4 1 1.89%

Kembata Tenbaro 4 3 5.66%

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 Segen 4 1 1.89%

Sidama 6 6 11.32%

Silti 4 3 5.66%

South Omo 4 1 1.89%

Wolayita 6 6 11.32%

Total 53 100%

4.3.2 Educational Background

Out of the 53 respondents who returned the questionnaires, 40 of the respondents had BSc Degree

and 13 of them had MSc. The result shows that 75.47% of the respondents have BSc and the rest

24.53% have MSc educational qualification as shown in the table below. The percentage

distribution of the professionals indicates that all of the questionnaires were completed directly by

professionals involved in building constructions. So, this shows that the study is well represented by

better qualified professionals in the industry and these groups of respondents are expected to have

plenty of knowledge on the subject matter. Table 4 shows educational levels of the respondents.

Table 4: Educational level of respondents

Educational level Frequency Percentage

BSc 40 75.47%

MSc 13 24.53%

Total 53 100%

4.3.3 Professional experience

Out of the 53 respondents, 14 of the respondents had less than 1 year professional experience. This

indicates that 26.4% of the respondents have less than 1 year professional experience. 16 of the

43
respondents had a professional experience of between 1 up to 5 years. This comprises 30.2% of the total

respondents. 17 of the respondents have professional experience of 5 up to 10 year experience which is

32.1% of the total number of respondents. The other 6 respondents have more than 10 year work

experience. This covers 11.32% of the respondents. Therefore, the above data shows that the

respondents have a reasonable working experience in the industry, since about 43% of the respondents

have five and more year of work experience and 30% of the respondents have experience of between 1

and 5 years. Table 5 shows professional experience of the respondents.

Table 5 Professional experience of respondents

Work experience Frequency Percentage Cumulative

percentage

Less than 1 year 14 26.42% 26.42%

Between 1 and 5 year 16 30.19% 56.61%

Between 5 and 10 year 17 32.07% 88.68%

More than 10 year 6 11.32% 100%

Total 53 100%

4.3.4 Type of the project

This thesis is about public building construction projects. This includes hospitals, houses, offices,

schools, prisons etc. out of the 53 collected questionnaires, 22 were hospitals; 6 were housing

constructions; 3 were offices and 12 were school constructions. This data shows that 41.5% of the

constructions were hospitals and 22.6% of the constructions were schools. 11.3% of the responses show

housing projects and 5.7% covers office constructions. The other 18.9% is covered by other

constructions. Therefore, the above data shows that hospitals and schools comprise more than 60% of

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the construction in the region in recent years. Table 6 shows the different type of projects the study

included.

Table 6: Construction projects included in the study

Projects Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Percentage

Hospitals 22 41.5% 41.5%

Schools 12 22.6% 64.1%

Housing 6 11.3% 75.4%

Offices 3 5.7% 81.1%

Others 10 18.9% 100%

Total 100%

4.3.5 Quality improvement programs

This section of the questionnaire was designed to identify the quality improvement program of the

contractors and consultants. According to the responses collected, 37.7% of the responses show lack

defined quality improvement program and 39.6% of the projects follow quality controlling

improvement program. 3 of the responses show quality assurance and the remaining 9 show total

quality management programs for the contractor. This means, 5.7% of the projects use quality

assurance and 17% projects use total quality management programs. This data shows that 77.3% of the

projects are using quality control or doesn’t have any quality improvement program. The table 7 that is

found below shows the quality improvement program used by contractors.

Table 7: Quality improvement program of contractors

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 QI program Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Percentage

None 20 37.7% 37.7%

Quality Control 21 39.6% 77.4%

Quality Assurance 3 5.7% 83.0%

Total Quality Management 9 17.0% 100%

Total 53 100%

The quality improvement program of consultants is also studied. According to the data collected from

respondents, 15 responses show lack of any defined quality improvement program and 23 of the

responses show quality control. 1 response show quality assurance and the remaining 14 responses

show the usage of total quality management. This data show that 28.3% of the consultants lack quality

improvement programs; 43.4 % of the consultants were led by quality controlling program; 1.9% of the

consultants use quality assurance and the remaining 26.4% uses total quality management. Like the

contractors, majority of the consultants use quality control as their quality improvement program or

have no defined quality improvement program to manage the quality of the project. The table 8 found

below shows the quality improvement program of the consultant.

Table 8: Quality improvement program of consultants

QI program Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Percentage

None 15 28.3% 28.3%

Quality Control 23 43.4% 71.7%

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 Quality Assurance 1 1.9% 73.6%

Total Quality Management 14 26.4% 100%

Total 53 100%

4.3.6 Personnel responsible to manage the quality

This part of the questionnaire is designed to identify the personnel responsible for managing the quality

of the project. 10 responses show that project managers are responsible in quality management and the

remaining 43 responses show that site engineers are responsible to manage the quality. None of the

responses show the existence of quality managers for projects. This indicates that in majority of the

cases, the responsibility of managing project quality goes to site engineers. Table 9 shows summary of

whose responsibility quality management is.

Table 9: Personnel responsible for QM

Personnel Frequency Percent Cumulative

Percentage

Project Managers 10 18.9% 18.9%

Site Engineers 43 81.1% 100%

Total 53 100%

4.3.7 Quality policy

This part of the questionnaire is designed to know if contractors and consultants are led by quality

policies or not. According to the collected responses, out of the 53 responses, 14 show the existence of

quality policy for the contractors and the remaining 39 responses show the lack of quality policy for the

contractor. This in general shows that 73.6% of the respondents disagree to the existence of quality

47
policy. On the other hand, out of the 53 respondents, 20 of them show that the consultants are led by

defined quality policies. The other 33 responses show lack of quality policy for the consultants. This

shows 62.26% disagreement to the existence of quality policies for the consultants working on the

construction of public buildings. This information shows that in majority of the cases, both the

contractor and consultant lack quality policy to lead their project quality management process. Table 10

shown below summarizes the frequency and percentage of the existence of quality policy for both the

contractor and consultants involved.

Table 10: Quality policy of involved parties

Existence of quality Contractor Consultant

policy Frequency Percent Frequency Percent

Led by quality policy 14 26.4% 20 37.7%

No quality policy 39 73.6% 33 62.3%

Total 53 100% 53 100%

4.4 Analysis of Questionnaire results

4.4.1 Quality management practice of the region

One of the objectives of this thesis is to assess the quality management practice of SNNPR public

building construction projects. Therefore, this assessment is discussed in this section of the study. To

do this, the respondents were presented with twenty practices that show the existence of quality

management in the projects according to different literatures.

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4.4.1.1 Results from stakeholders responses

The mean score values of the practices from the responses of contractors and consultants are separately

presented in table 11.

Table 11: Quality management practices based of stakeholders response

Contractor Consultant

Mean Rank Mean Rank

No. Quality management practices

1 Planned Quality objective 2.88 14th 1.93 18th

2 Prepared quality manual 2.83 15th 2.17 16th

3 Clearly stated specifications 3.33 5th 3.97 1st

4 Quality managing staff 3.21 6th 2.52 13th

5 Procedure to check quality of purchased 2.92 13th 2.14 17th

construction materials

6 Procedure to check quality of site 3.46 3rd 3.28 5th

produced materials

7 Careful selection of daily workers 3.42 4th 3.41 4th

8 Proper data recording 3.17 8th 3.0 6th

9 Corrective measures for observed errors 3.88 1st 3.62 3rd

10 Complete design and contract document 3.17 8th 2.93 7th

11 Workers supervision 3.79 2nd 3.72 2nd

12 Use of proper equipment for construction 3.08 10th 2.24 14th

13 Use of effective construction method 2.83 15th 2.65 12th

14 Trainings about quality management 2.5 18th 1.76 19th

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 15 Compliance with planned time and cost 1.92 20th 1.62 20th

16 Use of standard construction materials 3.04 12th 2.86 8th

17 Compliance with statutory regulations 3.17 8th 2.83 9th

18 Adequate support for continuous quality 2.79 17th 2.66 11th

improvement program

19 Hired quality managing expert 2.5 18th 2.21 15th

20 Use of error prevention techniques 3.08 10th 2.76 10th

According to the responses gathered from contractors, the practice that is usually taking place in the

process of quality management is taking corrective measures in cases of problems. Supervising workers

and the existence of procedures to check the quality of site produced materials were ranked 2 nd and 3rd

common practices. Careful selection of workers and clearly stated specifications were ranked 4th and 5th

in terms of most frequently undertaken practice of quality management.

On the contrary, compliance with planned time and cost was ranked 20th. This shows that complying

with the planned or specified time and cost is the practice that is usually ignored or doesn’t take place.

Giving trainings about quality management and hiring quality management expert were ranked equally

18th. This implies, these two actions are also the least usually practiced activity.

On the other hand, the responses collected from consultants show that stating clear specifications,

workers supervision and taking corrective measures for error occurrences were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd

respectively. Careful selection of daily workers and existence of procedure to check quality of site

produced construction materials were ranked 4th and 5th. Therefore, the responses from consultants

show the top five usually practiced quality management activities.

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The responses of consultants also show the list of activities that does not usually take in building

construction projects of the region. Like the contractor respondents, the result from consultant

respondents also show project compliance with planned time and cost was ranked 20th. The practice of

training workers on how to manage the quality and hiring quality management expert was ranked 19th

and 18th respectively.

4.4.1.2 Result and Analysis of combined answers

This section of the study show the result of the questionnaire based on the combined answers of the

contractor and consultants and ranking was done. The ranking was based on the weighted mean score

value of the responses. The table 12 shown below shows the list of quality management practices and

their weighted mean score values being ranked.

Table 12: Quality management practices based of combined responses

Weighted

`Mean Rank
No. Quality management practices

1 Planned Quality objective 2.36 17th

2 Prepared quality manual 2.47 16th

3 Clearly stated specifications 3.68 3rd

4 Quality managing staff 2.92 11th

5 Procedure to check quality of purchased 2.49 15th

construction materials

6 Procedure to check quality of site 3.36 5th

produced materials

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 7 Careful selection of daily workers 3.32 4th

8 Proper data recording 3.08 6th

9 Corrective measures for observed errors 3.74 2nd

10 Complete design and contract document 3.04 7th

11 Workers supervision 3.75 1st

12 Use of proper equipment for construction 2.62 14th

13 Use of effective construction method 2.74 12th

14 Trainings about quality management 2.09 19th

15 Compliance with planned time and cost 1.75 20th

16 Use of standard construction materials 2.94 9th

17 Compliance with statutory regulations 2.98 8th

18 Adequate support for continuous quality 2.72 13th

improvement program

19 Hired quality managing expert 2.34 18th

20 Use of error prevention techniques 2.91 10th

The survey shows the average result of the two stakeholders. Taking the weighted mean score value for

the responses of both the contractor and the consultant is calculated. And the practices are ranked in

decreasing order of frequency of activity practicability. Supervising the workers, taking corrective

measures for observed errors, clearly stated specifications, careful selection of daily workers and

procedures to check quality of site produced materials got ranked first up to fifth.

The same goes to the least frequently practiced activities. Comparing the weighted mean score values

of the responses, these practices are identified. Project compliance with the planned time and cost,

52
giving trainings about managing the quality of the project and the trend of hiring quality managing

expert were ranked 20th, 19th and 18th respectively. This means, these activities are the least frequently

observed quality management activities in public building construction projects of the region.

The above table shows list of practices a quality management system include. The five practices that

mostly take place in the projects when compared to the other activities are discussed below.

Workers supervision: according to the response collected from both stakeholders, this practice was

ranked as the most frequently practiced activity. This is the responsibility of both the project managers

and resident engineers in which they control the workers in their day to day activity.

Corrective measures for observed errors: this is ranked as the second mostly practiced activity. This

shows the focus direction of both stakeholders which is corrective method, not preventive.

Clearly stated specifications: with the weighted mean score value of 3.68, this practice was ranked

third. This means the contract documents clearly specify the quality that should be delivered. This

shows a reduced ambiguity about the quality and clear standards to check the deliverables.

Careful selection of daily workers: this is the practice that shows hiring of daily workers who had

exposure to site experience. This became the fourth practice in order of frequent applicability.

Procedure to check quality of site produced materials: this is the fifth mostly practiced activity with

weighted mean score value of 3.36. These shows the correct ways of checking project quality. The data

shows the existence of planned way of checking the project quality. It includes checking the quality of

concrete and HCB if produced on site.

List of less frequently practiced activities can also be observed from table 12. They are:

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Compliance with planned time and cost: this is the activity that is ranked 20th on order of frequent

practicability. As different literatures show, time and cost are one of the factors that show project

quality. If a project shows cost and time overruns, then it is considered that the project has not delivered

the desired quality.

Trainings about quality management: this activity is ranked as the 19th with the weighted mean score

value of 2.09. Quality management trainings are used to create awareness on the topic. But this was

ranked as one of the least practiced activities in the industry. This shows the shortcoming observed in

the projects.

Hired quality managing expert: as literatures show, this practice is one of the requirements in the

implementation of quality assurance. But, the result on the table labels this activity as 18th. This means

it is one of the five least practiced activities.

Planned Quality objective and prepared quality manual: these activities are ranked as 17 th and 16th

respectively. In the process of implementing quality assurance, quality manuals are must and the

objectives are stated on it. But the result shows the practice being almost ignored.

4.4.1.3 Reliability and Validity Analysis

In this section the relationship between stakeholders ranking of quality management practices of the

projects is tested using spearman correlation coefficient ρ, rho. The Spearman correlation coefficient

(ρ) is calculated using equation 3.1. Then, a value of 0.82 was obtained. From the table of critical

values of spearman’s ranked correlation coefficient ( ), a value of 0.45 is obtained. Since, the

calculated spearman correlation coefficient is greater than the critical value. Therefore, the

questionnaire is considered valid.

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The reliability of the collected data for assessing quality management practices was obtained using

SPSS. Using the software, a value of 0.801 was obtained. This shows that the questionnaire is

acceptable since the Cronbach’s alpha value lies between 0.7 and 1. Table 13 shows the Cronbach

alpha value obtained from SPSS for assessing quality management practices.

Table 13: Cronbach alpha for assessing quality management practices

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

0.801 20

4.4.2 Challenges to implement quality assurance

4.4.2.1 Responses from stakeholders

Respondents were provided with a list of challenges for the implementation of quality assurance which

were found from literatures. As for the problems that are not found in the literature, they are identified

from different individuals working on building construction projects in the region. Table 14 shows the

list of challenges in the implementation of quality assurance and the mean score values calculated from

the responses of the stakeholders.

Table 14: Challenges of implementing quality assurance based on stakeholders’ response

No. Challenges Contractor Consultant

Mean Rank Mean Rank

1 Lack of understanding about the purpose and benefit of 3.42 8th 4.34 3rd

TQM

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2 Lack of employees involvement in the implementation of 4.04 3rd 4.45 1st

QA

3 Lack of quality policy for the parties 3.54 5th 4.34 4th

4 Lack of top management commitment to TQM 4.17 1st 4.38 2nd

5 Lack of government rule and policy to enforce quality 3.04 14th 3.72 9th

assurance

6 Lack of contractual agreement including the 2.63 15th 2.9 15th

implementation of quality assurance

7 Contractor’s unwillingness to implement QA 3.52 10th 3.54 5th

8 Supervisor’s carelessness 2.25 17th 2.41 18th

9 Lack of hired quality managing personnel 3.38 9th 3.69 10th

10 Lack of construction lab in a nearby area 1.92 23rd 2.41 18th

11 Lack of the necessary tests in the nearby lab 2.13 18th 3.69 10th

12 Lack of quality planning 2.29 16th 2.66 16th

13 Implementation of quality assurance is expensive 2.04 20th 2.59 22nd

14 Lack of quality assurance training to employee 3.63 4th 4.34 4th

15 Learning and implementing quality assurance is difficult 2.00 21st 2.28 20th

16 Lack of qualified consultant 2.08 19th 2.24 21st

17 Employees unwillingness to implementation quality 3.25 12th 3.52 11th

management system

18 Only one kind of construction material quality exist in the 1.96 22nd 2.07 23rd

area (nothing to choose from)

19 The project is facing cost and time overrun 4.17 1st 4.03 6th

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20 Cost is treated as the main priority 3.29 11th 3.41 14th

21 Project manager and supervisor focus on problem solving 3.13 13th 3.45 13th

not on prevention

22 Lack of expertise in quality management 3.5 7th 3.76 8th

23 Lack of quality improvement trend 3.33 10th 3.83 7th

As table 13 shows the two stakeholders ranked the challenges form 1 up to 5 depending on the level of

agreement. According to the project managers, lack of top management commitment to TQM and cost

and time overrun of the projects were ranked as the most challenging factors. Lack of employees’

involvement in the implementation of QA and lack of quality assurance training to employee were

ranked 3rd and 4th in the order of challenging the projects. Lack of quality policy for the stakeholders

was ranked 5th in terms of challenging factors.

The responses from the resident engineers show lack of employees’ involvement in the implementation

of QA as the most challenging factor. Lack of top management commitment to TQM and lack of

understanding about the purpose and benefit of TQM were ranked 2nd and 3rd. Lack of quality

assurance training to employee and contractor’s unwillingness to implement QA were 4th and 5th in

order of challenging the projects.

4.4.2.2 Result and Analysis of combined answers

This section of the thesis shows the combined responses of the two stakeholders. The weighted mean

score values are calculated and they are ranked. Table 15 shows the summary of the challenges, their

weighted mean score values and their rank.

Table 15: Challenges of quality assurance implementation

57
No. Challenges Weighted

Mean Rank

1 Lack of understanding about the purpose and benefit of QM 3.92 6th

2 Lack of employees involvement in the implementation of QA 4.26 2nd

3 Lack of quality policy for the parties 3.98 4th

4 Lack of top management commitment to QM 4.28 1st

5 Lack of government rule and policy to enforce quality assurance 3.42 11th

6 lack of contractual agreement including the implementation of quality 2.77 15th

assurance

7 Contractor’s unwillingness to implement QA 3.53 10th

8 Supervisor’s carelessness 2.34 18th

9 Lack of hired quality managing personnel 3.55 9th

10 Lack of construction lab in a nearby area 2.19 19th

11 Lack of the necessary tests in the nearby lab 2.38 17th

12 Lack of quality planning 2.49 16th

13 Implementation of quality assurance is expensive 2.13 22nd

14 Lack of quality assurance training to employee 3.85 5th

15 Learning and implementing quality assurance is difficult 2.15 21st

16 Lack of qualified consultant 2.17 20th

17 Employees unwillingness to implementation quality management 3.4 12th

system

18 Only one kind of construction material quality exist in the area 2.04 23rd

(nothing to choose from)

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19 The project is facing cost and time overrun 4.26 2nd

20 Cost is treated as the main priority 3.36 13th

21 Project manager and supervisor focus on problem solving not on 3.3 14th

prevention

22 Lack of expertise in quality management 3.64 7th

23 Lack of quality improvement trend 3.6 8th

Taking the weighted mean score value for contractors and consultants these challenges were ranked.

Lack of top management commitment to QM was ranked 1st as the most challenging factor in the

building construction projects of SNNPR. Cost and time overrun and lack of employees involvement in

implementing quality assurance were ranked 2nd. Lack of quality policy for the parties and lack of

quality assurance training to employee were ranked 4th and 5th respectively. Lack of understanding

about the purpose and benefit of QM, lack of expertise in quality management, lack of quality

improvement trend, lack of hired quality management personnel and contractor’s unwillingness to

implement quality assurance were ranked 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respectively. The top ten challenging

factors are discussed below.

Lack of top management commitment to Quality management: the combined response of the

stakeholders show lack of top management commitment to be the most challenging factor in

implementing quality assurance in building construction projects of the region. This research agrees

with the findings of Anane. She ranked inadequate management support as number one problem to

project quality.

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Cost and time overrun: the combined responses of the contractor and consultant show cost and time

overrun problems to be the 2nd most challenging factor in building construction projects of the region.

Since this is one of the most common problems in construction projects, it has become one of the most

challenging factors in quality management and delivering the desired quality.

Lack of employees’ involvement in implementing quality assurance: this factor got ranked third based

on the response collected from both stakeholders. Literatures show that, implementing quality

assurance should definitely include all the employees of the organization. Considering quality of

building construction projects, the process of implementing quality assurance should involve everyone

working on site. But, the projects in the region show lack of workers involvement. This makes quality

assurance unthinkable.

Lack of quality policy: this factor was ranked fourth. Quality policy is a must in defining the quality

management standards and principles for the stakeholders. As discussed on 4.3.7, majority of the

contractors and consultants lack quality policy. This shows that in majority of the cases, neither the

contractor nor the consultant has a set standard and principle to guide the quality management process

of the projects in the region. Some of the respondents show the existence of quality policy. This might

be because of their consideration of the contract document as quality manual and the agreements as a

policy.

Lack of quality assurance training to employees: this was ranked as the fifth challenging factor for the

public building construction industry in SNNPR. As different literatures show, the process of quality

management requires trainings to be given to employees. This is to increase their involvement in the

implementation. But, lack of these trainings led to lack of their involvement which makes the

implementation of quality assurance impossible.

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Lack of understanding about the purpose and benefit of QM: this is the sixth challenge for quality

assurance implementation. As discussed on the literature, everyone involved should have an

understanding on the purpose and benefit of quality management. This can be achieved through

awareness creation trainings and seminars both to the top management and to the employees working

the daily work of the project. But as discussed earlier, there is lack of training and this causes lack of

understanding.

Lack of expertise in quality management: this factor is ranked as the seventh challenge to the industry.

This shows lack of knowledge or skill on how to manage the quality.

Lack of quality improvement trend: while comparing the weighted mean score values of the listed

factors, this factor became the eighth challenge. This means there is lack of continuous process to

improve the quality of the project from time to time and the efficiency either stays the same or

decreases since there is trend of improving the project quality.

Lack of hired quality management personnel: with the weighted mean value of 3.55, it was ranked

ninth. This is related to lack of expertise in quality management which makes the process of finding

quality managing expert impossible. This means there is no hired personnel specifically assigned to

manage the quality.

Contractor’s unwillingness to implement quality assurance: this factor was ranked as the tenth most

challenging factor. The contractor is the one responsible for delivering the specified project quality.

Their unwillingness to cooperate in the implementation of quality assurance means thre is no quality

assurance process.

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4.4.2.3 Spearman Correlation Coefficient

In this section the relationship between stakeholders ranking of quality management challenges of the

projects is tested using spearman correlation coefficient ρ, rho. The Spearman correlation coefficient

(ρ) is calculated using equation 3.1.

Using equation 3.1, spearman correlation coefficient was calculated and a value of 0.74 was obtained.

The critical value is obtained from the table of critical values of spearman’s ranked correlation

coefficient ( ). According to the table, the reading from the table shows a value of 0.409. The

questionnaire is considered to be valid since the spearman correlation coefficient is greater than the

critical value.

Spearman correlation coefficient shows validity of the data. On the other hand, Cronbach alpha value

shows reliability of the data. Using SPSS, reliability is analyzed and a value of 0.772 is obtained. Since

the obtained value lies between 0.7 and 1, the data is considered reliable. This means the questionnaire

is acceptable. Table 16 shows the Cronbach alpha value for challenges of quality assurance.

Table 16: Cronbach alpha value for challenges of quality assurance

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

0.772 23

4.5 Analysis of Interview results

4.5.1 General Information

This section of the thesis shows the analysis of interview responses and the results are discussed. The

respondents selected are professionals with different work experiences and working positions in

62
SNNPR building construction projects. There are six interviewees and are coded as R1, R2, R3, R4, R5

and R6. At first, discussions are made regarding the meanings of quality and quality management. This

is done to assess their understanding on the topic. These definitions are discussed in conjunction with

the practices and challenges. Then, the interviewees were requested to answer regarding the quality

management practice of the region and challenges faced in the implementation of quality assurance.

The table below shows the list of respondents and information about their educational background,

position in the projects and work experience. Table 17 found below summarizes the information about

the interviewees.

Table 17: Information about interviewees

Respondents Position in the project Work Experience Educational Level

R1 Project Manager 6 years MSc
R2 Resident Engineer 3 years BSc
R3 Resident Engineer 4 years BSc
R4 Project Manager 6 years BSc
R5 Resident Engineer 10 years MSc
R6 Project Manager 7 years BSc

There were three respondents from the groups of projects managers and resident engineers each. Two

of the respondents have educational qualification of MSc and the other four have BSc. This shows that

66.67% of the respondents are BSc graduates and the remaining 33.33% of the respondents have MSc.

Among the six respondents, four of them have more than five years of work experience. But

respondents coded as R2 and R3 have work experiences of 3 and 4 years.

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4.5.2 Analysis of the quality management practice

After discussing the definitions, the quality management practices are discussed. Among the list of

quality management practices mentioned, the top five usually practiced and other five mostly ignored

practices were distinguished. Then, they were asked if they are facing these challenges. It was

confirmed that both the activities considered as the most and least practiced were agreed by majority of

the respondents. Considering both activities shows either the type of quality management technique

used or lack of any defined quality management technique.

The activities considered as least practiced, are discussed below. They are:

Compliance with planned time and cost: as discussed in the literature, time and cost compliances are

considered as one of the criteria for a project to be considered as quality. But, according to the

responses, cost and time overruns are one of the most common project related problems in the region.

As respondent R1 stated, “thinking public building construction projects in the region without cost and

time overrun has become impossible.”

Trainings about quality management: all the respondents agreed to the necessity of quality management

training to employees in order to increase efficiency and improve project quality. But, training

employees at site has been neglected. This shows lack of quality improvement trend in the project and

shows the existence of the same old trend of quality management.

Hired quality managing expert: majority of the respondents labeled this practice as one of the least

practiced activities. But respondent R5 said, “even though this activity is one of the least practiced

activities, it is not a critical factor that we should worry about. This is because; either the project

manager or the site engineer could cover this gap.”

64
Planned Quality objective and prepared quality manual: the discussions about quality management

showed the need for set quality objectives and manuals. Based on the results from the interviewees,

there are no set quality manual and objectives.

Improper use of construction materials and equipment: according to respondent R5, the practice that is

more critical when compared to hiring quality managing expert is the practice of using inappropriate

construction materials and equipment. This will directly affect the quality of the project.

4.5.3 Analysis of quality assurance challenges

During the interview, the interviewees were asked if they have faced the top ten challenges gathered

from results of the questionnaire. They were asked to describe these challenges and their causes. All the

respondents agreed to the existence of these problems and their interdependence. The findings from the

interview are discussed below.

Lack of understanding about quality assurance: all the interviewees agree to the fact that lack of

awareness is the major cause for most of the listed challenges. This is related to the top management,

the contractor, the consultant and the individual employees working on the project. Therefore, the

problem with lack of awareness is labeled as the root cause for most of the other challenges. It can lead

to lack of top management commitment or lack of employees’ involvement in the implementation.

Even contractor’s unwillingness to cooperate may arise from less understanding.

Lack of top management commitment: If the top management is not committed to implementing

quality assurance, then the concept of its application became ideal. As discussed earlier, it can be the

result of less awareness. It can also be the result of carelessness. Therefore, the interviewees agreed to

the fact that lack of commitment is usually observed especially for public construction projects.

65
Lack of employees’ involvement in implementing quality assurance: these challenges are considered as

one of the most challenging activities to the industry in the region by majority of the respondents. But

one respondent (R4) disagreed to the point of these factors being one of the critical ones. The

respondent stated that these challenges can easily be solved by creating awareness and by having

seriously committed management. This shows his disagreement for these two activities to be ranked as

one of the most challenging activities.

Lack of quality assurance training to employees: the interviewees noted trainings as a solution to solve

problems related to less awareness. If trainings were given properly and periodically, most of the

challenges would have been reduced or even eliminated. But the respondents stated that the habit of

giving quality management training is neglected.

Lack of hired quality management personnel and expertise: as majority of the respondents stated, hiring

a quality manager would have multi-dimensional functions. As discussed in 4.3.2, respondent R5

disagreed to the point that this factor would be one of the top 10 challenges of the industry.

Contractor’s unwillingness to implement quality assurance: this challenge can still be caused because

of less awareness. According to the interviewees, some contractors are unwilling to implement quality

assurance techniques because they consider quality assurance as an expensive method and would cost

him extra expenses.

Cost and time overrun: this is a factor that both the questionnaire respondents and interview

participants agree up on. Both results labeled this activity as the most common challenge that public

building construction project of SNNPR face.

Lack of quality policy and improvement trend: as the questionnaire results indicate, the projects lack

quality policy and the process of quality management follows the same routine for a such long time.

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Lack of government rules, regulation and policies: according to respondent R5, instead of considering

lack of hired quality manager as a major problem, the issue related to rules and regulations is series. He

said that even with the presence of rules and regulations for quality management, its enforcement in the

projects is ideal.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction

This section of the thesis has three parts. Findings from the study are presented on the first chapter. The

second part concludes the whole idea of the thesis. Then, the last part shows the recommendation the

findings.

5.2 Summary of Findings

The findings from the precious chapter are summarized and presented as follows:

 As the data collected from the respondents show, majority of both the contractors and

consultants follow either quality controlling or no specified quality managing technique.

 No building construction project in SNNPR had a hired quality managing expert. The quality

management process of all the projects was led by either the project manager or the site engineer.

 Majority of both the contractors and consultants has no quality policy.

 Workers’ supervision, taking corrective measures, having clear specifications, careful

selection of workers and having procedures to check quality of produced materials were ranked as the

top five most frequently practiced activities in public building construction projects of SNNPR.

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 Project’s compliance with the planned time and cost, giving quality management trainings to

employees, hiring quality management expert, having planned quality objective and prepared manual

were the top five activities that are usually ignored in public building construction projects of

SNNPR.

 Lack of top management commitment, lack of employees’ involvement in the implementation

of quality assurance, cost and time overruns, lack of quality policy and lack of quality assurance

trainings for employees were found to be the top five challenges for the implementation of quality

assurance.

5.3 Conclusion

This research is done on the topic of quality management practice of SNNPR public building

construction projects. The objective of the paper is to assess the quality management practice of

stakeholders, challenges for the implementation of quality assurance and to recommend measures for

the effective implementation of quality assurance. Different literatures were reviewed to define

quality management and its practices. The tools used to study are questionnaires and semi structured

interviews.

The quality management practices of both the contractors and consultants were assessed. According

to the findings, quality control is the technique usually used by both stakeholders. This means instead

of error prevention, corrective measures are used. This increases risk on the projects since it consist of

inspection and testing of finished products. The findings also show the lack of hired quality

management personnel and quality policy in the building construction sector of the industry in the

region.

Complying with planned time and cost, giving quality management trainings, hiring an expert, having

quality objective and manual were the activities that are least practiced activities. These activities

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being the least practiced ones shows the lack of properly organized quality management system and

the absence of skilled personnel.

Related to these activities, the challenges of the industry are related to top management commitment,

employees’ involvement, complying with the planned time and cost, having quality policy and

trainings. Listing out these problems helps to identify the gaps observed in the industry and the

measures that should be taken to improve the quality management practice of the industry.

5.4 Recommendation

Based on the findings listed above, the following recommendations are made for contractors and

consultants participating in public building constructions.

 In order to achieve a better quality building construction projects, both the contractor and

consulting companies should be committed to implement continuous quality improvement and

implement quality assurance.

 Contractors and consultants involved in the industry should have quality manual and policy

and develop the culture of giving trainings to the employees working on site.

 If the organizations does not have quality manual, the project managing team should prepare

quality manual to lead the project. And common understanding and agreement should be made

between stakeholders.

 The construction Bureau who is responsible for the supervising most of the public building

constructions should consider quality management techniques in the bidding process instead of

considering the least bid price only.

 The government should formulate rules and regulations for quality management that are

coercive for contractors and consultants.

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 The office responsible for giving license for the contractors and consultants should consider

checking their quality policy and management commitment as a criterion for licensing.

 The Ethiopian education ministry and the universities in the country and in the region should

consider giving quality management as a field and equipping skilled quality managers.

70
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 Appendices

Appendix A: Questionnaire

A STUDY ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE OF PUBLIC BUILDING

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN SNNPR

Dear respondents,

This questionnaire is part of my MSc thesis on the study of quality management practice of public
building construction projects in SNNPR. The objective of this study is to assess the quality
management practices of contractors and consultants in the region and to determine the challenges of
implementing quality assurance on public building constructions or SNNPR.

All responses will be treated with utmost confidence. The results of the survey will be used for research
purpose only. Individuals and their responses won’t be revealed in any circumstances.

Please try to answer all the questions. Am looking forward to get your information and opinion
regarding the project you are working.

Thank you for your participation.

If you have any question about the questionnaire, you can contact me on the following address.

Elilta Tantu

Mobile: 0926043900

Email: eliltatantu@gmail.com

Part 1

This section is to categorize the respondents and the parties involved in your project.

Information about the respondent

1. Address/Zone: ____________________
2. Educational level: ________________________
3. Current position on the project
a. Project manager b. Supervisor c. Foreman d. Other

77
4. Professional experience
a. <1 year b. between 1-5 years c. between 5-10years d. >10 years
5. The project is
a. Hospital b. Housing c. Offices d. School e. Other

Information about the contractor

1. Is the contractor public? -----Yes ------ No

2. If your answer is no, what is the level of the contractor? GC -------
3. What is the quality improvement program of the contractor?
a. None c. Quality control d. Quality assurance
b. ISO e. Total quality management
4. Who is responsible for delivering the specified quality?
a. Quality manager b. project manager c. site engineer
5. Does the contractor have quality policy? -----Yes ------ No

Information about the consultant

1. Is the consultant public? -----Yes ------ No

2. If your answer is no, what is the level of the consultant? -------
3. What is the quality improvement program of the consultant?
a. None c. Quality control d. Quality assurance
b. ISO e. Total quality management
4. Does the consultant have quality policy? -----Yes ------ No

Part 2

This section is required to assess the quality management practice of local contractors and consultants
working on public building construction projects of the region. Please tick (√) in the box that best
reflect the condition of your project.

1= strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = neither agree nor disagree 4 = agree

5 = strongly agree

No. Quality management practices 1 2 3 4 5

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 1 The project has planned quality objective
2 The project is led by prepared quality manual
3 Specifications were stated clearly
4 There is staff responsible for managing the quality
5 There is a procedure to check the quality of purchased
construction materials
6 There is a procedure to check the quality of construction
materials produced on site
7 Selection of daily workers is done carefully
8 Data recording is done properly
9 Corrective measures are taken when errors occur
10 The project has complete design and document
11 Workers are supervised
12 Proper equipment are used for construction
13 Effective construction method
14 Trainings regarding quality management are given
15 The project is going according to the planned time and cost
16 Standard construction materials are used
17 The project is going in compliance with to the statutory
regulations
18 There is an adequate support for a continuous quality
improvement program
19 An expert in quality management is hired
20 Error prevention techniques are used

Part 3
This section is required to determine challenges of implementing quality assurance in public building
construction projects. Please tick (√) in the box that best reflects your answer.
1= strongly disagree 2 = disagree 3 = neither agree nor disagree 4 = agree
5 = strongly agree

No. Challenges 1 2 3 4 5
1 Lack of understanding about the purpose and benefit of Total
quality management
2 Lack of employees involvement in the implementation of
quality assurance
3 Lack of quality policy for the parties
4 Lack of top management commitment to Total Quality
Management

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5 Lack of government rule and policy to enforce quality assurance
6 lack of contractual agreement including the implementation of
quality assurance
7 Unwillingness of the contractor to implement quality assurance
8 Supervisor’s carelessness
9 Lack of hired quality managing personnel
10 Lack of construction lab in a nearby area
11 Lack of the necessary tests in the nearby lab
12 Lack of quality planning
13 Implementation of quality assurance is expensive
14 Lack of employee training to implement quality assurance
15 Learning and implementing quality assurance is difficult
16 Lack of qualified consultant
17 Employees opposition to the implementation process
18 Only one kind of construction material quality exist in the area
(nothing to choose from)
19 The project is facing cost and time overrun
20 Cost is treated as the main priority
21 Project manager and supervisor focus on problem solving not on
prevention
22 Lack of expertise in quality management
23 Lack of quality improvement trend

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 Appendix B: Interview Questions

These interview questions are prepared to get detailed information. It will help the researcher to get

clear explanations on the quality management practice of SNNPR and the challenges the projects are

facing. The respondents will be project managers and site supervisors.

Section 1

 Name __________________________________

 Position ___________________________________

 Experience ______________

 Educational background _______________

 Address ___________________________________

Section 2

1. What is quality for you?

2. What is quality management for you? And what is the standard used for your project?

3. How do you manage the quality of your project?

4. What are the procedures you use to manage the quality?

5. What are your challenges in managing the quality?

6. If the contractor is found doing something out of the specification, what are the measures you

should take?

81