AN ASSESSMENT ON COMMUNICATION PRACTICE DURING PROJECT EXECUTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

AN ASSESSMENT ON COMMUNICATION PRACTICE DURING PROJECT EXECUTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

      ABSTRACT

The study gives an insight on communication practice in the construction industry during project execution in Minna metropolis. In the research, the various means of communication in the construction industry were determined, the role of information communication technology and its devices during project execution. Also the study further identifies the barrier to effective communication during project execution. Random sampling survey was conducted using questionnaires, which were distributed within ongoing project in Minna metropolis. The results obtained were then analyzed using statistical methods such as the analysis of mean and standard deviation analysis based on the ranking order method. Also pie charts were used in presenting results. From the result gotten from the means of communication during project execution it was observe that among all other means there are some that are very significant as a means such as, drawing, report, auto-cad, letters, tender document, project planning document, micro-soft project and program chart are ranked with a high relative importance index. The role of information communication technology was observed to be significant during project execution because of the following; it reduce cost, is saves time, it facilitate decision making, makes complex task easier and also earlier completion of the project execution and also it devices are found to be significant during project execution of which if they are not used can result to delay in information communication flow. And also from the study on the barrier to effective communication, it was analyzed that there are factors that affect communication flow such as lack of motivation, lack of understanding the role of communication, poor verbal skills, fear of authority, language diversity and inferiority complex are some of factor that majorly cause barrier in communication base on this research. In conclusion, it is clear that before any project can commence the management should be able to device a proper means of communication as well as adopting a good information communication devices that can be used during the project execution and also implement policies that will properly handle the factors that cause barrier to communication during project execution.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Communication is define as a process of conveying or the transmission of information from a source to another, which include the transfer of idea, skills, emotion, knowledge by means of figures, symbols, words, pictures, graph or by illustrations for the purpose of making communication understandable to the recipient. It is important to know that most construction industries or project management depends solemnly on the large amount of information communication during the construction process and throughout the building life cycle (anon).

Therefore in this context, it is important to know how effective communication has impacted the construction industry in terms of providing information in the construction site in such a way has enable data integration, task control, communication between the company, client and supplier (subcontractors) and also the material and resource control (Olalusi and Jesuloluwa, 2013).

Many researchers in the field of management communication have defined communication as a vital aspect of management with an important role in project management. Some have a tendency to be less successful and fall short of their optimal performance, companies with effective communication strategies are usually more successful (Smallman and Weir, 1999; Argenti and Forman, 2002 quoted by Mani Hemmaty and Peter Sutherland, 2008). Therefore, researchers in the field of management communication have suggested that companies should develop well-working communication strategies in order to achieve success in the turfs of projects (Goczol and Scoubeau, 2003).

Adoption of effective communication practice is very important in the construction industry since the industry is considered to be diverse and fragmented. Since the stakeholders represent professions and multi-disciplinary skills including project management, quantity surveying, architecture, builders etc., this diversity may limit possibilities for cooperation among them. The reason for this lies in the problems of proper communication. Some common examples are not having an open line of communication, inappropriate communication channels and unexpected communication breakdowns.

Today the diverse professionals involved in larger and more complex construction projects are faced with a great challenge of maintaining an efficient and better information communication exchange than in other industries (Cheng et al., 2001; Tommelein, 1999). As a result, the construction industry has been categorized by inaccurate and untimely communications that often result in added costs and time delays to the progress of a construction project (Weippert and Kajewski, 2002).

 Several researchers assert that effective communication is difficult to achieve in the construction industry due to the fact that the industry is unwilling to change. According to Tam (1999), the construction industry is one of the many industries that fully depend on information communication.

The task of managing all the information needed to design and construct any major projects is a real challenge, and according to Björk (2001) many believe that more efficient information management systems (IMS) are primary mechanisms for the construction industry to increase its productivity. Implementing new communication methods however depend upon trust and mutually beneficial stable partnerships. It is likely that the use of more efficient IMS would offer greater possibilities for the efficient conduct of conflict and claims situations that often arise as a result of poor transfer of project documentation (Sommerville et al., 2004).

Moreover, construction projects are characterized by several companies involved in local or international projects consisting of a workforce of people from diverse cultural and ethnical backgrounds working together in teams. Since the role of the Project Manager is to successfully plan and execute the project, communication is an important instrument to keep team members coordinated (Strid, 1999). With large construction projects comes the vast number of documents needed to sustain the information flow that arises due to the large numbers of stakeholders in the project. Even though the majority of the documents are created by computers, still lot of documents are printed out and transferred through paper-based documents, this often results in cost delays to the progress of a construction project (Björk, 2001). Over the life of a project, team members and organizations will accumulate huge amounts of real-time information, and this coupled with the fluctuating nature of construction contracts and the increased vulnerability of project personnel, has often meant that project information is not transferred nor stored in the way it was intended to be (Sommerville and Craig, 2006).

In addition, there is a propensity within the construction industry to use old communication system and face-to-face mediums (Björk, 2001), which has add to the need for the industry to achieve an efficient flow of information communication. Ineffective communication might create difficulties for the management in terms of costs and extended projects, therefore a change is desired towards more and better contact between the projects stakeholder (Sommerville et al., 2004; Kadefors, 1997).

1.2 Statement of problem

The construction is a sector that accommodate all discipline that relate to it of which in recent times the industry is face with so many challenges of which information communication is one of it major challenges, with this the industry is trying to adopt a method that will be able to solve this challenge. The industry, during project execution having been faced with improper communication method or means to pass information during the project. The method that was then adopted was the transfer of information using the means of written document, with this means the management team to a project were seriously faced with the challenge of how to store this paper information in such away it will not be affected or get lost and sometime how to get the information to other team members that are far off since there were no other means of conveying this information all because the construction industry has not been able to come up with a very good means of communication that will suit the industry and will suit  any type of project execution. During project execution the project management team on their own part as neglected or has failed to adopt other means of communication that are more helpful in terms of conveying information across because in countries like Nigeria where we have divers languages, this has really affected the construction process because the industry here has really find a way out of this menace.  As a result of this poor attitude in the industry, it is found necessary to create solution to such problems through this research as to improve productivity in the execution of a construction project.

In project execution one of the barriers to proper practice of communication in the building project is the diversity in languages and because of this communication has  been so difficulty to practice in during project execution. While it’s obvious that language barriers can impede communication, even people who speak the same language can run into communication barriers. Verbal and non-verbal language are both equally important, and not understanding jargon-even when used within your own organization, say within another department-can cause misunderstandings. To this reason, attention has not been giving to improve the effectiveness of communication.

1.3 Justification of the study

The impact of communication has become more or less significant in the construction industry because of its major role it places to make a successful execution or completion of a construction project. It will be noted that most construction companies has not being able to know the importance of effective communication and a good communication method that will be adopted in other to successfully complete a project at a good time and at less cost implication. The importance of communication practice in  project execution is to reduce the time of construction, cost, risk, conflict and also reduce the breakdown of construction production. Careful selected communication method that will suit the construction project, planning and setting the right expectations with all the project stakeholders is extremely important so as to bring about a successful productivity in the execution of a building project. Therefore looking at the communication practice in the execution of a project it has being noted that communication has a long way of affecting the execution of any building project.

1.4 Aim / objective of the study

1.4.0 Aim

The aim of the study is to assess the communication practice during project execution in the construction industry.

1.4.1 Objective

The specific objectives are;

1. To identify the means of communication during project execution in the construction industry
2. To determine the role of information communication technology during project execution in the construction industry
3. To find out the barrier to effective communication during project execution in the construction industry

1.5 Scope of study

The research will be limited to some ongoing project execution handled by some construction company in Minna metropolis of Niger state.

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