STAKEHOLDERS’ PERCEPTION OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SUCCESS AT ASUTIFI NORTH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY

ABSTRACT

Stakeholders in construction projects play important roles which need much emphasis. The high failure rate of major projects has been attributed to lack of attention to stakeholders. Thus, specific aim of this study was to examine the perception of stakeholders on success of construction projects in the District Assembly. With this aim, various objectives were set which included the identification of common stakeholders in a construction project at the District Assembly level, the identification of the key success criteria and the identification of the stakeholders’ perception of construction projects success in the district assembly as well as the challenges hindering the achievement of the success criteria. In order to achieve these objectives, the research adopted the use of review of literature and questionnaire survey which was designed for respondents to indicate their views on construction project success as well the challenges. It was revealed that, Internal Stakeholders of the District who have higher stakes when it comes to construction project success classified construction cost performance as the main indicator for determining the success of every project whilst External Stakeholders who are the eventual end users of the project critically considered the quality performance criterion. Interestingly, cost performance criterion was ranked 1^st amongst all by both categories of respondents. The research discovered several challenges hindering the achievement of the construction projects success of which 61.81% of the respondents indicated that the revealed challenges really and actually affected the project delivery success. The recommendation made was that leaders of project teams (project manager) must make it a priority to identify the stakeholders in the project, determine and understand their necessities and perceptions of project success and try to meet those needs. Moreover, all relevant stakeholders at the District Assembly level should be well informed and be involved in the planning and implementation of construction projects to ensure its success. 

CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Every country’s development directly or indirectly depends on its construction as it provides fixed assets, jobs and serves as the most important aspect of production to other sectors of the economy (Ofori, 2012). The core function of the Building Industry is infrastructure development that improve the life of its citizens and the economy as whole. District Assemblies spend more than 75% of its budget on capital projects which makes them no exception as it contributes to the nation’s economy (Crook, 1994). The importance and roles of the industry that various sectors and agencies offer to the economy makes it to have diverse stakeholders with wide range of concerns that need to be addressed and managed.

It is against this background that Farinde and Sillars (2012), stipulated that, the construction industry is a complex and huge industry with several key players with different interests. The success of every construction project depends on these stakeholders and as such, their perception that defines the success of the project needs to understood and taken prospectively. Success in a construction project has been regarded as achieving project objectives, which traditionally have been provision on time, on budget, of a required performance or achievement (Aminu et al., 2014). The fundamental principle of every personnel involved in construction projects is to achieve this objective. Construction project involve numerous stakeholders, long production durations, an open production system, entailing significant interaction between internal and external environments (BS 6079-4:2006). The term project stakeholder refers to, ‘an individual, group, or organization, who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project’ Project Management Institute (2013). Stakeholders in construction projects play important roles which need much emphasis. Lack of attention to stakeholders has contributed to higher rate of failure in construction projects (Legris and Collerette 2006). According to Olander and Landin (2005), the negative attitude of stakeholders to a construction project can lead to increase in cost of production and sometimes delays because of the difficulty in implementation of project design. A project may not be considered successful if the project stakeholders are not satisfied.

Roxanne et al. (2012) asserted that to ensure good performance, it is essential for all stakeholders in the building industry to have a similar understanding of needs and requirement of the end-users. Both side need to have a shared understanding of the desired outcomes. In other words, industry professionals need to captivate, understand and define user and stakeholder needs before they start thinking about the solution. Construction project are becoming more and more complex and involving many stakeholders of different background and professional expertise.

Clients are more concerned with the overall profitability of project and the accountability of project generally. The attainment of the client’s objectives has been substituted and the attention has been geared towards a more technical aspect of managing cost on construction projects instead. There is little or nothing to prove the interest concerning contractor’s management of client’s cost. With this background, the study seeks to identify the perception of various stakeholders on the success of a project.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The success of every construction project depends on stakeholders and as such, their perception that defines the success of the project need to be identified and set as a bar to be achieved. Unfortunately, different stakeholders have different perceptions of the success criteria of a construction project and they act differently depending on their perception (Ivan and Lam, 2009). Thus, a project may be successful to one project stakeholder but a different stakeholder may see it differently. Stakeholders in construction projects play important roles which need much emphasis. Lack of attention to stakeholders has contributed to higher rate of failure in construction projects (Legris and Collerette 2006). According to Olander and Landin (2005), the negative attitude of stakeholders to a construction project can lead to increase in cost of production and sometimes delays because of the difficulty in implementation of project design.

A project may not be considered successful if the project stakeholders are not satisfied with the cost, time and quality of the delivery. It is therefore very imperative to identify the perception of the different stakeholders of a project and make it a necessity to satisfy all the stakeholders if possible. If their needs are met, a project is automatically deemed successful.

Asutifi North District Assembly is fortunate to have a lot construction projects being implemented all the time due its strategic location. Apart from the usual source of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and the District Development Facility (DDF), most these projects are funded from more regular sources like the Mineral Royalties, Stool Lands Royalties and the Grand Rent. However, the district is faced with problems such as projects completed for years and not been used by the community, abandoned projects at various stages of completion, and contractual disputes on some of the projects. All of these problems are as a result of major or minor issues concern with cost, quality and time of completion of the project. Moreover, environmental factors such as siting of the project is a major reason for communities to refuse use a completed facility like water closet toilet constructed in the District.

This research seeks to identify the perception of selected stakeholders in the Asutifi North District assembly on some success criteria so as to inform decisions made by project executors on how to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders.

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Item Type: Ghanaian Topic  |  Size: 65 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5

Format: MS Word  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.

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