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Facilitating Project Management Through Effective Quality Management: the Need for Implementing ISO 9000 in Construction

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Facilitating Project Management Through Effective Quality Management: the Need for Implementing ISO 9000 in Construction Built-Environment-Sri Lanka -Vol. 03, Issue 02:2003 Facilitating project management through effective quality management: the need for implementing ISO 9000 in construction N.D. Gunawardena Abstract This paper describes the relationship between project management and quality management. It identifies the similarity between the recognised project quality management processes and the ISO 9001 quality management system; then it illustrates how ISO 9001 quality requirements could be applied to construction project management. The paper also presents the results of a survey carried out to identify quality management practices adopted by local construction companies, using ISO 9001 standard as a yardstick. According to the survey, the companies had some shortcomings with respect to quality management during the construction stage. The results indicate that the lack of proper quality management could, in turn, affect the project management adversely; this point is supported by the Project Management Process Maturity Model, which is a quality improvement model that uses five levels to determine the relative maturity of any organisation and its ability to achieve cost and schedule objectives of a project. Finally, the paper suggests that the quality managements systems based on ISO 9000 could be very effective in facilitating the project management efforts in the construction industry. Introduction A project can be defined as a complex, non-routine, parties must have mutual understanding as to what one-time effort limited by time, budget, resources and services are to be provided by the contractor in return performance specifications (Gray and Larson, 2000). for the agreed consideration; this usually is ensured by Project Management is the application of knowledge, a set of documents such as drawings and specifications skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order that define the scope and the performance aspects of to meet or exceed stakeholder need and expectations the product. Clients may need to employ an architect from a project (PMI, 1996). Accordingly, those who or a consulting engineer, or perhaps both, to carry out manage projects must not only strive to meet specific the design work and to provide the above documents, scope, time, and performance goals of the project; they and supervising the work done by the contractor during must also facilitate the entire process to meet the needs the construction stage; this is often the case when the and expectations of the people involved in or affected clients do not have the knowledge and skills required by project activities. to undertake such activities themselves. Construction industry deals with products that are A construction project is regarded as successful if the expensive, complex, immovable and long-lived. They product is completed within schedule, budget and are unique in nature and seldom offer scope for repetition. quality standards, and achieves a high level of client The project approach has long being the style of doing satisfaction; but this may also depend to certain extent business in the construction industry. As Peter Morris on the type of contract or the method of procurement (1994) quite correctly points out: as well (Naoum, 1994). The type of contract, mentioned above, is called the 'Traditional Contract', and there are ' Managing Projects is one of the oldest and most other types of contract such as the Management respected accomplishments of mankind. We stand Contract, the Construction Management Contract and in awe of the achievements of the builders of the Design and Build Contract (Ashford, 1989). However, pyramids, the architects of ancient cities, the the discussion presented in this paper is limited to the masons and craftsmen of great cathedrals and traditional contracts as this is the most predominantly mosques; of the might and labour behind the Great used type in construction work in Sri Lanka. Wall of China, and other wonders of the world.' Quality Management in Construction Construction projects are usually carried out in the form of contracts. The essence of a construction contract is There are many different definitions of quality. These that two parties together make a deal whereby, one definitions vary from "Conformance to requirements" party, called the client, promises to provide some (Crosby, 1979) to "the totality of features and consideration or payment in exchange for the services characterise of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy offered by the other party, the contractor. Therefore, both stated or implied needs "(ISO 8402,1994). -82- Built-Environment-Sri Lanka -Vol. 03, Issue 02:2003 Quality in construction is not only meeting product Total Quality Management (TQM): quality requirements, but also is directly related to The approach used in TQM is based on the analytical the time and cost associated with the works; poor evaluation of work processes, the development of a quality always results in unnecessary time quality culture, and the empowerment of employees extensions and/or extra costs in rectifying for the purpose of continuous improvement of the product deficiencies. Therefore the approach used for or service (Hellard, 1993). Unlike quality assurance, managing quality determines to a great extent the TQM aims to address all aspects of a business including success of the project. people, methodology and technology; it emphasises on customer satisfaction as well as continuous The approaches to managing quality can take various improvement (Jawahar-Nesan and Price, 1997). TQM forms such as quality control, quality assurance and has become more popular in the manufacturing industry total quality management (TQM). than in the construction industry (Arditi and Gunaydin, 1999). It is known that many construction companies that have addressed the issue of quality are quality Quality Control: assurance-oriented and only a relatively few have Quality control includes 'the operational techniques implemented TQM for this purpose (Sommerville and and activities that are used to fulfil requirement for Robertson, 2000). quality' (ISO 8402,1994). This is considered as the simplest approach to managing quality and New Quality Management Approach of ISO 9001: traditionally, and it has been the main approach to The International Organisation for Standardisation manage quality in construction. It is primarily revised the ISO 9001 standard twice since its concerned with detection of defects through inspection introduction, in 1994 and 2000, and it is now called and testing, and sometimes using statistical 'Quality Management System Requirements' rather techniques (Olomolaiye, etal., 1998). than 'Quality Systems - Model for Quality Assurance'. The problem with quality control is that it does not The quality management approach described in the build quality into the product; as mentioned above, latest ISO 9000 standard (ISO 9001,2000) could be the quality of the finished product is, instead, checked illustrated using the methodology known as "Plan-Do- by way of inspection and testing. Therefore, it is Check-Act' (PDCA)'. The PDCA cycle is shown in frequently argued that many construction defects are Figure 1. covered up during subsequent activities and Plan consequently the finished works cannot be assessed by final inspection (Chung, 1999). Even if defects are identified in finished works they are very difficult, if not impossible, to replace. As a result, the client is sometimes left with a patched up product with poor quality. DOVSNN\ Quality Assurance: The situation is much better in quality assurance, which includes 'all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality' (ISO 8402,1994) and has a broader scope than that of quality control. It is the implementation of processes, which aim to ensure that concern for quality is designed and built into products or services. It covers the entire life cycle of a construction project in a planned and systematic way; the primary objective is to provide the necessary confidence to Figure 1: PDCA Cycle the client that all concerned with project are carrying out their activities effectively to meet his requirements. The above activities can be defined as follows (ISO This approach had been first applied to manufacturing 9001,2000): processes at the beginning of modern industrialisation • Plan:establish objectives and processes (Devos et al, 1996), though it was only in 1987, an necessary to deliver results in accordance with international standard for quality assurance systems, customer requirements and the organisation's policies referred to as ISO 9001, was published. ISO 9001 (1987) introduced a framework or formal arrangements • Do: implement the processes for quality assurance, and is universally adopted by organisations in managing quality (Dick, 2000). -83- Built-Environment-Sri Lanka -Vol. 03, Issue 02:2003 • Check: monitor and measure processes and Project Quality Planning product against policies, objectives and requirements for the product and report the results As mentioned earlier quality planning involves identifying which standards are relevant to the project and • Act: Take actions to continually improve process determining how to satisfy them. It is one of the key performance facilitating processes during overall project planning. It must be performed in parallel with other project planning This new concept of quality management covers a wider processes such as
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