Share:


Causes and effects of poor communication in the construction industry in the MENA region

    Akram Suleiman   Affiliation

Abstract

The construction industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) faces many challenges throughout the project’s lifecycle; on top of these challenges is poor communication which occasionally results in project failure or at least time and cost overruns. A range of steps and methods must be taken to minimize the causes and effects of poor communication to enhance communication. The main aim of the study is to exploring poor communication in MENA construction industry and defining the causes and effects of poor communication from the perspective of consultants, clients, and contractors in small and medium enterprises in a developed region like MENA. Construction professionals from different project parties were asked to complete a questionnaire listing 32 causes and 21 effects of poor communication identified from the literature. The model was validated by Structural Equation Modelling SEM in terms of convergent and discriminant validities. The results revealed, that out of 54 cause and effect factors of poor communication, only 18 factors were retained. These causes and effects were ranked using the relative importance index RII. Results showed that all causes and effects are highly important, with RII above 0.6. The most important causes of poor communication are lack of communication procedure and training, followed by lack of adequate representation for project stakeholders. However, the least important cause of poor communication is a lack of understanding among the construction parties. Conversely, the most acute effects of poor communication are misinterpretation, followed by conflict among construction parties. However, the least important effect of poor communication is a late response to the disaster. Results and recommendations derived from this study represent the vital need of the MENA construction industry to focus on enhancing the current status of communication. The commitment of all project stakeholders to the drawn recommendations regarding the causes of poor communication will undoubtedly limit or reduce the effects of poor communication. Construction firms looking to improve their performance may benefit from the developed model.

Keyword : poor communication, MENA, construction, causes, effects, SEM, RII

How to Cite
Suleiman, A. (2022). Causes and effects of poor communication in the construction industry in the MENA region. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 28(5), 365–376. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2022.16728
Published in Issue
May 3, 2022
Abstract Views
3808
PDF Downloads
2448
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abd El-Razek, M., Bassioni, H., & Mobarak, A. (2008). Causes of delay in building construction projects in Egypt. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 134(11), 831–841. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2008)134:11(831)

Abdul Rahman, I., Memon, A. H., & Abdul Karim, A. T. (2013). Significant factors causing cost overruns in large construction projects in Malaysia. Journal of Applied Sciences, 13(2), 286–293. https://doi.org/10.3923/jas.2013.286.293

Abdul Rahman, I. A., & Gamil, Y. (2019). Assessment of cause and effect factors of poor communication in construction industry. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 601, 012014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/601/1/012014

Agarwal, S., & Garg, A. (2012). The importance of communication within organizations: A research on two hotels in Uttarakhand. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 3(2), 40–49. https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-0324049

Ahmad, H. S., Ayoush, M. D., & Al-Alwan, M. S. (2019). Causes of delay to public infrastructure projects according to engineers representing different contract parties. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 10(1), 153–179. https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-03-2019-0026

Akinradewo, O. F., Ojo, L. D., & Oyefusi, O. N. (2017). Effects of communication among professionals on building projects delivery in Nigeria. Journal of Contemporary Research in the Built Environment, 1(2), 50–66.

Alhomidan, A. (2013). Factors affecting cost overrun in road construction projects in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering, 13(3), 1–4.

Alwi, S., Mohamed, S., & Hampson, K. (2002). Waste in the Indonesian construction projects. In Proceedings of the 1st CIB-W107 International Conference – Creating a Sustainable Construction Industry in Developing Countries (pp. 305–315).

Anantatmula, V. S. (2015). Strategies for enhancing project performance. Journal of Management in Engineering, 31(6), 4015013. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000369

Arantes, A., & Ferreira, L. M. D. (2021). A methodology for the development of delay mitigation measures in construction projects. Production Planning & Control, 32(3), 228–241. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2020.1725169

Assaf, S., Hassanain, M. A., & Al-Zahrani, S. (2015). Causes of contractors’ failure in industrial projects in Saudi Arabia. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 9(3), 158–164. https://doi.org/10.19026/rjaset.9.1390

Aulich, T. (2013). The role of effective communication in the construction Industry: A guide for education and health clients. Construction Economics and Building, 13(4), 92–101. https://doi.org/10.5130/AJCEB.v13i4.3740

Baguley, P. (1994). Effective communication for modern business. McGraw-Hill.

Bassioni, H. A., Sarhan, A., & Zaki, A. S. (2013). Cost overrun causes related to the design phase in the Egyptian construction industry. Journal of Engineering Management Research, 1(5), 138–147.

Berntzen, P. (1988). Communication and related work problems in the construction industry. University of Texas at Austin.

Brookins, M. (2020). Reasons for poor communication in the workplace. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/reasons-poor-communication-workplace-10137.html

Cerić, A. (2003). A framework for process-driven risk management in construction projects. University of Salford.

Cerić, A. (2010). The impact of asymmetric information on communication risk in construction projects. In Working Paper Series: Proceedings of the Engineering Project Organization Conference, Lake Tahoe, SAD.

Chan, D. W., & Kumaraswamy, M. M. (1997). A comparative study of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 15(1), 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(96)00039-7

Cheng, E. W., Li, H., Love, P. E., & Irani, Z. (2001). Network communication in the construction industry. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 6(2), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280110390314

Dainty, A., Moore, D., & Murray, M. (2007). Communication in construction: Theory and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203358641

Darvik, L., & Larsson, J. (2010). The impact of material delivery-deviations on costs and performance in construction projects [Master’s thesis]. Chalmers University of Technology.

De Lessio, M. P., Wynn, D. C., & Clarkson, P. J. (2009). Communication and design process planning: Initial insights from literature and industry interviews. In DS 58-1: Proceedings of ICED 09, The 17th International Conference on Engineering Design, Vol. 1, Design Processes, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

Emmitt, S., & Gorse, C. (2006). Communication in construction teams. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203018798

Emuze, F., & James, M. (2013). Exploring communication challenges due to language and cultural diversity on South African construction sites. Acta Structilia, 20(1), 44–65.

Enshassi, A., Mohamed, S., Mustafa, Z. A., & Mayer, P. E. (2007). Factors affecting labour productivity in building projects in the Gaza Strip. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 13(4), 245–254. https://doi.org/10.3846/13923730.2007.9636444

Enshassi, A., Al-Najjar, J., & Kumaraswamy, M. (2009). Delays and cost overruns in the construction projects in the Gaza Strip. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 14(2), 126–151. https://doi.org/10.1108/13664380910977592

Eze, C. E., Awodele, I. A., Adegboyega, A. A., Onyeagam, O. P., & Guto, J. A. (2020). Assessment of the triggers of inefficient materials management practices by construction SMEs in Nigeria. International Journal of Real Estate Studies, 14(1), 38–56.

Faridi, A. S., & El-Sayegh, S. M. (2006). Significant factors causing delay in the UAE construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 24(11), 1167–1176. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446190600827033

Fichet, H., & Giraud, L. (2007). How the information flow is processed in project-based companies compared to others and how it affects strategic drift [Master’s thesis]. Umeå University.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18, 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104

Gamil, Y., & Abdul Rahman, I. (2017). Identification of causes and effects of poor communication in construction industry: A theoretical review. Emerging Science Journal, 1(4), 239–247. https://doi.org/10.28991/ijse-01121

Hair Jr., J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.

Hair Jr., J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2013). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Hussain, A. M. A., Othman, A. A., Gabr, H. S., & Aziz, T. A. (2018). Causes and impacts of poor communication in the construction industry. In 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Construction and Project Management – Sustainable Infrastructure and Transportation for future Cities, Aswan, Egypt.

Hyväri, I. (2007). Project management effectiveness in different organizational conditions [Thesis]. Helsinki School of Economics.

Jimoh, R. A. (2012). Improving site management practices in the Nigerian construction industry: The builders’ perspective. Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management, 5(4), 366–372. https://doi.org/10.4314/ejesm.v5i4.5

Kazi, A. S. (2005). Knowledge management in the construction industry: A socio-technical perspective. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-360-9

Khahro, S. H., & Ali, T. H. (2014). Causes leading to conflicts in construction projects: A viewpoint of Pakistani construction industry. In International Conference on Challenges in IT, Engineering and Technology (ICCIET’2014), Phuket, Thailand.

Lee, J., & Bernold, L. E. (2008). Ubiquitous agent-based communication in construction. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 22(1), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3801(2008)22:1(31)

Loosemore, M., & Muslmani, H. A. (1999). Construction project management in the Persian Gulf: Inter-cultural communication. International Journal of Project Management, 17(2), 95–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00030-1

Love, P. E., & Li, H. (2000). Quantifying the causes and costs of rework in construction. Construction Management & Economics, 18(4), 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446190050024897

Mahamid, I. (2016). Micro and macro level of dispute causes in residential building projects: Studies of Saudi Arabia. Journal of King Saud University-Engineering Sciences, 28(1), 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jksues.2014.03.002

Mailabari, H. K. (2014). Assessment of barriers to communication in the Nigerian construction industry [BSc thesis]. Ahmadu Bello University.

Memon, A. H., Rahman, I. A., & Azis, A. A. A. (2012). Time and cost performance in construction projects in southern and central regions of Peninsular Malaysia. International Journal of Advances in Applied Sciences, 1(1), 45–52. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijaas.v1i1.537

Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Obonadhuze, B. I., Eze, C. E., Siunoje, L. U., & Sofolahan, O. (2021). Causes and effects of ineffective communication on construction projects. Borneo Journal of Sciences and Technology, 3(1), 77–92. https://doi.org/10.35370/bjost.2021.3.1-11

Omran, A., & Suleiman, A. S. H. (2016). Problems facing project managers in the Palestinians’ construction projects. Annals of the Faculty of Engineering Hunedoara – International Journal of Engineering, 14(4), 39–46.

Omran, A., & Suleiman, A. S. H. (2017). Identifying the competence components of the construction project managers in the Palestinian construction industry. The Engineering Project Organization Journal, 7(2), 2–27. https://doi.org/10.25219/epoj.2017.00110

Oshodi Olalekan, S., & Rimaka, I. (2013). A comparative study on causes and effects of delay in Nigerian and Iranian construction projects. Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 3(1), 29–36.

Pérez Gómez-Ferrer, A. (2017). Communication problems between actors in construction projects [Master’s thesis]. Aalto University.

Poppulo. (2020). 7 Factors that influence ineffective communication. https://www.poppulo.com/blog/factors-that-influence-ineffective-communication

Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., & Straub, D. W. (2012). Editor’s comments: A critical look at the use of PLS-SEM in MIS quarterly. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410402

Ringle, C. M., Wende, S., & Becker, J.-M. (2014). Smartpls 3.0. SmartPLS, Hamburg.

Salem, Z. T. A., & Suleiman, A. (2020). Risk factors causing time delay in the Jordanian construction sector. International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology, 13(2), 307–315. https://doi.org/10.37624/IJERT/13.2.2020.307-315

Sambasivan, M., & Soon, Y. W. (2007). Causes and effects of delays in Malaysian construction industry. International Journal of Project Management, 25(5), 517–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.11.007

Sunday, D. O, & Afolarin, A. O. (2013). Causes, effects and remedies of errors in Nigerian construction documents. Organization, Technology & Management in Construction: An International Journal, 5(1), 676–686. https://doi.org/10.5592/otmcj.2013.1.4

Tai, S., Wang, Y., & Anumba, C. J. (2009). A survey on communications in large‐scale construction projects in China. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 16(2), 136–149. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699980910938019

Teo, W. M. (1991). Communication: Information management in the construction industry. University of South Australia.

Thomas, S. R., Tucker, R. L., & Kelly, W. R. (1998). Critical communications variables. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 124(1), 58–66. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1998)124:1(58)

Thorpe, T., & Mead, S. (2001). Project-specific web sites: Friend or foe?. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 127(5), 406–413. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2001)127:5(406)

Tipili, L. G., Ojeba, P. O., & Ilyasu, S. M. (2014). Evaluating the effects of communication in construction project delivery in Nigeria. Global Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2(5), 2360–7955.

Vdovin, A. (2020). The causes of poor communication in the workplace. https://www.alert-software.com/blog/the-causes-of-poor-communication-in-the-workplace

Waziri, F., & Khalfan, S. (2014). Cross-cultural communication in construction industry: How do Chinese firms cross the barriers in Tanzania?. European Journal of Business and Management, 6, 118–122.

Wetzels, M., Odekerken-Schroder, G., & van Oppen, C. (2009). Using PLS path modeling for assessing hierarchical construct models: Guidelines and empirical illustration. MIS Quarterly, 33(1), 177–195. https://doi.org/10.2307/20650284

Worthington, R. L., & Whittaker, T. A. (2006). Scale development research: A content analysis and recommendations for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(6), 806–838. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006288127

Yakubu, G., Ogunsanmi, O., & Yakubu, A. (2019). Influences of communication problems on project performance in Nigeria. African Journal of Engineering Research, 7(3), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.30918/AJER.73.15.017

Yap, J. B. H., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Chen, W. (2017). Collaborative model: Managing design changes with reusable project experiences through project learning and effective communication. International Journal of Project Management, 35(7), 1253–1271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.04.010

Yap, J. B. H., Abdul-Rahman, H., & Wang, C. (2018). Preventive mitigation of overruns with project communication management and continuous learning: PLS-SEM approach. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 144(5), 04018025. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001456

Zidane, Y. J.-T., & Andersen, B. (2018). The top 10 universal delay factors in construction projects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11, 650–672. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-05-2017-0052