THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY OF GHANA: EXPLORING THE NEXUS BETWEEN COMMUNICATION AND PROJECT DELIVERY(ACTIVITIES); A CASE STUDY ON THE ROAD SECTOR (ACCRA) By Amanda Koranteng (BA. Social Administration) A thesis submitted to the Department of Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Novemeber, 2019 0 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Compiled by: AMANDA KORANTENG …………………… …………………. (5337218) Signature Date (STUDENT) Certified by: PROFESSOR DICKSON OSEI-ASIBEY …………………… …………………. (SUPERVISOR) Signature Date Certified by: PROFESSOR BERNARD K. BAIDEN …………………… …………………. (HEAD OF DEPARTMENT) Signature Date i ABSTARCT Communication is the exchange of information with the emphasis on creating understanding between the sender and the receiver. All project Participants prepare information in a variety of ways to meet the needs of project stakeholders. Team members also receive feedback from these stakeholders. However, the purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between communication and project delivery and its objectives are to determine the various communication channels employed by project professionals within the road sector in Accra, to identify the communication barriers affecting project delivery, to assess the perceived impact of project communication on project delivery. The study introduction offers the overview of the construction industry. Followed by the literature which review the overview of the construction industry in Ghana, the concept of Communication and gives an outline of the road sector in Accra. The main three (3) agencies and departments under the Ministry of Roads and Highways which includes the Department of Feeder roads, Department of Urban roads were carefully chosen to be the case studies for this research. The mixed method, which includes open and closed questionnaire, were used to collect data from construction professionals. SPSS was used for the analysis respectively. After the discussion was made, there was a complete relationship established among responses received. This study draws attention of project companies to take interest to develop communication skills of all their project professionals, since communication stand as a strong backbone in project delivery. In conclusion, communication among project professionals is necessary for project delivery. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION....................................................................................................................... i ABSTARCT .............................................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................... viii DEDICATION......................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER ONE ...................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................................... 2 1.3 RESEARCH AIM......................................................................................................... 3 1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ......................................................................................... 3 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................... 3 1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................. 3 1.7 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 4 1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................. 4 1.9 STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 7 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2 THE OVERVIEW OF THE GHANAIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY.............. 7 2.3 PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS ..................................................................................... 9 2.4 CONCEPT OF COMMUNICATION ........................................................................ 10 2.7.1 Types of communication in an organisation ........................................................ 12 iii 2.7.3 Elements in Communication ................................................................................ 13 2.7.4 Characteristics of Communication ....................................................................... 14 2.7.5 Communication Methods ..................................................................................... 15 2.7.6 Communication model ......................................................................................... 17 2.7.7 Communication Channel ..................................................................................... 18 2.7.6 Barriers to Communication .................................................................................. 20 2.8 COMMUNICATIONS OF PATTERN ...................................................................... 21 2.9 THIS IS THE COMMUNICATION UNDERGONE AT THE DESIGN OR CONCEPTION STAGE ................................................................................................... 22 2.10 THE COMMUNICATION INVOLVED DRUING THE APPROVAL BY THE PLANNING AUTHORITY ............................................................................................. 22 2.10.1 Structure Planning .............................................................................................. 22 2.10.2 Local Planning ................................................................................................... 22 2.11 THE COMMUNICATION PRACTICED BETWEEN THE VARIOUS GROUPS .......................................................................................................................................... 23 2.11.1 Communication between design team and building team ................................. 23 2.11.2 Communication within contractor‘s organisation .............................................. 23 2.11.3 Communication between parties on site ............................................................ 23 2.12 THE ROAD SECTOR (GHANA) ............................................................................ 23 2.12.1 Road Infrastructure in Ghana ......................................................................... 26 2.12.2 Types of Roads ................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 30 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 30 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 30 3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH ......................................................................................... 30 3.3 UNIT OF ANALYSIS / DATA SOURCES............................................................... 31 iv 3.4 POPULATION AND SAMPLE FRAME .................................................................. 31 3.5 SAMPLE SIZE ........................................................................................................... 32 3.6 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE ........................................................................................ 32 3.7 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT .................................................................... 33 3.8 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS ................................................................. 34 CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................. 36 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS ................................................ 36 4.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................