CHOOSING BY ADVANTAGES IN PROJECT TEAM DECISIONS: CASE STUDIES OF CONCRETE WORKS IN SOUTH AFRICA TO ICIDA 2016

Published Conference ProceedingsGood decision-making is a fundamental element of improved project delivery in the construction industry. Such decisions determine the accomplishment of performance parameters in a given project. However, suboptimal performance, which is pervasive in the construction industry, has been linked to team decisions that undermine project actions. This problem exists in South African construction. To remedy decision-making pitfalls, the concept of Choosing by Advantages (CBA) is now promoted by lean construction. CBA is defined as the decision-making system, which must be based on the importance of advantages within a project team. The purpose of the proposed study is to explore the application of CBA in South Africa. The case-based method to be used for data collection is intended to reveal the characteristics of CBA system so that the advantages could be used to promote its application in South Africa. The impact of CBA on decisions and actions at the activity level shall be examined for improved project performance in South Africa. CBA method is preferred because it encourages decision, which focuses on the advantages of the project rather than the disadvantages of the project. These methods can be adopted when working either on large or small project

IMPROVING THE BUSINESS TRAJECTORY AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Published ArticleThe Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) register of contractors shows that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) outnumber established firms in South Africa. However, the failure rate of SME businesses, which has increased in recent years, constitutes a source of concern in the industry. This situation is reflected in the limited number of successful construction SMEs as a percentage of the total registered firms in the industry. The research design for the study reported on entailed semi-structured and unstructured interviews, which were conducted over an extensive period of time to gather sufficient information from the research participants. However, the preliminary findings that form the nexus of this paper are based on the reviewed literature, and a pilot study that was conducted among a purposive sample of construction SMEs - Grades 1 to 5 on the cidb register. It is notable that the initial findings suggest that construction SMEs often encounter difficulty in securing projects, fail to realise core organisational objectives and goals, and are unable to gain cost advantages over their immediate rivals, which affects their business performance. Thus it appears that more effort is required to improve the business performance of construction SMEs in South Africa

Target costing in construction: perceptions from Quantity Syrveyors

Published Conference ProceedingsThe purpose of this research is to explore target costing (TC) principles in relation to its use and adoption, with the intention to reveal the potential for positive impact on project performance in South Africa. The field work used interviews about the principles of target costing to uncover the nuances of cost management practices in the construction contracting sector. Interviews were conducted among practising quantity surveyors (QSs) in Bloemfontein and Buffalo City of South Africa. The QSs opine that when TC is utilised, construction projects can be managed efficiently in terms of budget and expenditure and the design of the project with its related change orders can be minimised. However, the QSs also perceived that implementation of the principles TC could be difficult due to lack of extensive knowledge of its implementation. The study is relevant because the new knowledge will help to develop strategies for professional development and update the education curriculum to train the QSs for future challenges