Research

TQM CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

Bhimaraya A. Metri*

Received: 8. 12. 2004. Preliminary communication
Accepted: 18. 10. 2005 UDC: 658.56:624

The construction industry has lagged behind other industries in implementing reform through total quality management. It has not followed the manufacturing industry in the implementation of TQM. The success of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy in manufacturing and other industries is forcing construction organizations to adopt TQM. This paper first outlines the imperatives of quality and its initiatives in the construction industry and then analyzes the critical success factors (CSFs) of the fourteen most prominent total quality management (TQM) frameworks. Based on the comprehensive analysis and examination of existing TQM frameworks and literature, the paper proposes the 10 critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM for construction industry. Finally, it describes the CSFs from the construction industry perspective.

1. INTRODUCTION

The construction industry of any country is the backbone of its infrastructure and economy. Though it is a major contributor to the economy of any country, it faces the problems of high fragmentation, instability, low productivity, poor quality and lack of standards. Abd. Majid and McCaffer (1998) further established that most countries are dealing with the same common problems despite the differences in their economies. Due to the above mentioned quality problems, construction clients are not satisfied with the performance achieved on many of their projects (Kometa & Olomolaiye 1997). Kometa & Olomolaiye (1997) state that despite many efforts, apart from time and cost overruns, unsatisfied clients and other difficulties continue to plague the industry. Thus the reputation of the construction industry is ill suited for meeting the competitive challenges of today’s fast changing market (Torbica & Stroh 1999), where the

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