Abstract:
The construction industry in any country is a dominant, huge, complex and highly risky industry. In the Sri
Lankan context, the construction industry has become a major component of rapid economic development
over the past years. However, the industry itself suffers from many problems, such as defects in
workmanship, defects in quality and overflow of time and cost. Thus, these industry problems have
challenged the successful project performance and total quality of the output. Nevertheless, these problems
will persist until every organization in the industry begins to take responsibility for developing new changes
within its own organization. Such changes can be initiated via effectively implementing the philosophy of
Total Quality Management (TQM). However, globally, the usage of TQM in the construction industry is not
so popular than in the manufacturing industry. Therefore, the research aims to identify the applicability of
TQM in Sri Lankan construction contracting organizations.
A qualitative research approach was followed in order to achieve the aim of the study. Thus, semi-structured
interviews were conducted among a total of ten top management professionals are associated with
contracting organisations and had in-depth knowledge in TQM and its practice. A content analysis using
NVivo 11 software was adopted to summarise and analyse the collected data. The findings revealed that
TQM can be followed by the construction contracting organizations in Sri Lanka. However, it is not that
much easy, because the TQM implementation process encompasses a series of barriers. Thus, the research
found financial barrier, insufficient collaborative work, lack of skill, resistant to change, time barrier and
less involvement of top management are such barriers in adopting TQM in Sri Lanka. Further the study
suggest that barriers must be mitigated cautiously for a better consequence.
