A Framework for total quality management in Sri Lankan building construction projects

Abstract

Building construction has significant quality issues, and those quality issues have led to negative impacts on the outcome of the final product. Total Quality Management (TQM) in building construction allows people to buy a quality product with an economic value. Therefore, TQM is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Managerial/ stakeholder, technical, environment/material/equipment and cultural/political are the main categories of quality problem factors of building construction. building construction has become much more prevalent in Sri Lanka. Further, the TQM application to building construction is under- research in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Therefore, this study aimed to propose a framework for TQM in building construction projects in Sri Lanka. An extensive literature survey was carried out to explore the background of TQM related to the research area. Eventually, a set of benefits and implementation barriers were identified. A mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) approach was adopted whereby the research problem was approached through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey. The semi-structured interview guideline was prepared to get an overall idea about TQM before going in depth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted as the first step with twelve respondents who are currently engaged in building construction projects. Then as the second step, sixty-five questionnaires were distributed among construction professionals working in Sri Lanka. The questionnaire survey reported a 53.8% response rate. Further, the interview findings and literature findings were analysed through content analysis. The collected data from the questionnaire survey were analysed using statistical tools (mean). According to the primary data and initial literature review conducted in the research four types of quality, problems are identified, namely managerial-related quality problems, technical- related quality problems, environment-related quality problems and cultural and political quality problems. According to the questionnaire survey, technical-related quality problems have the highest impact on building projects in Sri Lanka. The comparative analysis of the secondary data has proved that better customer satisfaction, reduction of rework, improved budget performance and improved relationships with architects’ engineers and Subcontractors are major benefits of the application of TQM in Sri Lankan building projects. The strategies that emerged through the data analysis were used to develop a TQM framework for building projects in Sri Lanka.