Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

Enhancing Performance in Construction

Project Management Teams
Strategies and Approaches for Achieving Higher Operational Excellence

Sahan Nishok Purasinghe

LIGS University
Hawaii, USA

Abstract:- The seminar paper provides a pragmatic facilities required for the functionality of majority of the
perspective of the topic of enhancing performance in industries are established through successful construction
construction project management teams. The paper projects.
provides a detailed collated review of several key areas
pertaining to construction project management teams Although there has been a wide miscellany of studies
and their performance based on the findings of previous done around construction to improve its performance and
research. The study has focused on a range of aspects efficiency, there are still areas with issues that require closer
namely, leadership, competence and capabilities, effective attention namely, schedule overruns, conflicts in between
communication, decision-making, interpersonal various stakeholders, loss of productivity, issues in
relationships and emotional intelligence, project performance, lapses of communication and coordination, etc
management and governance approaches, trust, (Tariq & Gardezi, 2022). As per Denicol et al. (2020) large
psychological safety, and team culture. Each sub-topic construction projects commonly referred to as megaprojects
(aspect) has been structured in a manner that includes a possess a higher frequency of failure due to a variety of
brief introduction to the aspect, its importance for aspects such as the magnitude of the project in terms of cost,
construction projects, the current state in construction scope and resources, greater uncertainty due to the lengthy
projects, strategies, and approaches to eliminate the duration of the project, complexity due to the wide miscellany
issues and contribute to increase in the team’s overall of moving parts within the project, urgency due to the fact
performance and finally, the novel strategies and tools that most of these projects are in alignment with
pertaining to the focus area. The author anticipates that governmental strategic objectives and finally, hardships in
the content provided in this seminar paper shall be managing the institutional structure and organizational
beneficial for effective decision making by organizational politics. Inferior performances of construction projects are in
leadership and for the project leadership and the team to fact classified as global issues due to the dependency of
pay more consideration towards the strategies and subsequent activities on successful completion and
approaches to enhance the elaborated aspects that are commissioning of construction projects (Tariq & Gardezi,
often overlooked in construction projects. 2022). As per Ingle and Mahesh (2020) due to constant
changes in the requirements of customers and increased
Keywords:- Performance of Construction Project Teams, considerations of the wellbeing of the environment, the
Performance of Construction Projects, Improving achievement of success has been tougher than ever. Some of
Productivity of Construction Project Teams, Productivity of the challenges are ever changing global market conditions,
Construction Project Teams. scarcity of material and skilled workers, shrinking of budgets
due to diverse focus and increased competition within the
I. INTRODUCTION construction industry (Ingle & Mahesh, 2020).

The world economy is highly reliant on construction As for Ingle and Mahesh (2020), construction projects
projects due to the role of significance it plays by establishing that are complete on time, adherence to the budget and
the required infrastructure to improve the global gross compliance with the scope and specifications are considered
domestic product and creation of employment directly and successful. Profit, turnover, return on investment and other
indirectly (Tariq & Gardezi, 2022). Construction projects are conventional financial metrics are still being used as criteria
crucial for addressing social demands by enhancing to determine the performance of projects (Ingle & Mahesh,
infrastructure facilities to create a healthy society and to stay 2020).
on par with other countries by constantly increasing the social
reputation of the country (Tariq & Gardezi, 2022). Its As per Dixit (2020), performance of construction
criticality is so much that it is widely understood that any lags projects is analyzed based on completion of the schedule, cost
or mishaps within the engineering and construction sector performance, productivity of tasks completed, and safety
could heavily influence the economic standpoint of the entire performance.
world (Tariq & Gardezi, 2022). Hence, it is safe to say that
construction projects are the backbone of all the industries as

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

However, the approaches pertaining to analysis of According to AhiagaDagbui et al. (2020), trust has played a
performance have recently been observed to be refined with direct role in improving the coorperation within the
inclusions of non-financial metrics namely relationships with community, which may have been the reason as to why there
the customers/users, satisfaction of stakeholders and has been an increase in the performance of construction
motivation of employees etc. which are more leaned towards projects with higher trustworthiness and reliability.
the human elements of projects (Ingle & Mahesh, 2020),
Further, due to higher degree of uncertainty in
Hence, based on the above it is evident that the success construction projects, psychological safety too has been an
of the construction projects heavily relies on the human area of concern as this is related to the way in which
elements that are involved in the project. The performance of employees perceive the repercussions of deviating from the
the construction team is crucial for achieving the ulterior norms or voicing their perspective to overcome situational
success of the entire project as the tasks pertaining to challenges (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). Social capital theory
construction projects should be performed by the team that is which is known to be defined based on trust, has proven to
assigned to the project. This together with the recent shift in be effective in establishing cooperation and mitigate
the focus of studies around construction project performance relational barriers that could act as roadblocks for the
from technical metrics to human-oriented metrics, strategies, intended performance (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).
and approaches for achieving higher operational excellence According to the theory, it speaks about 3 classification
within construction project management teams through pertaining to social capital namely “bonding” which refers to
enhancement of performances have been chosen as the relationship between within the project team or certain part
research area for this study. of the project team, whereas “linking” which refers to the
relationship between varying hierarchical levels, and
II. METHODOLOGY “bridging” which refers to the relationship between two
group which could be two different sets of subcontractors
The study has been completed in the form of a literature who may not share similar work scopes and identities
review and summary. The literature review has been (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).
performed using the keywords “Construction Project
Teams”, “Performance” by utilizing the google scholar According to AhiagaDagbui et al. (2020), psychological
search engine. A total of 28 journal articles have been safety backed by effective coaching has been the key to
utilized for the review as the findings seem to duplicate when establishing high-performance teams. Further, it is also seen
referring to the last set of journal articles which indicated the that establishment of psychological safety and a trustworthy
feasibility of terminating the literature survey. The findings environment, has significantly improved the commitment of
from the review have then been perused and classified into the entire project team to achieve the shared outcomes
broader topics as strategies and approaches that could be (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). Trust based relationships within
adopted to enhance the performance in construction project the project team have been found to mitigate the eventuation
management teams. The recommendations have then been of conflicts and also to mitigate the consequences if any
verified for relevance and applicability upon discussion with conflicts arise whereas, the psychological safety has
5 selected industry practitioners who possess at least 10 years improved collaborative problem-solving and innovative work
of Project Management experience in Construction. behaviours within the project team thereby increasing the
team performance (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). Improvement
III. DISCUSSION of the culture of the team and establishment of an
environment that is conducive for trust has shown a positive
A. Improving Interpersonal Trust, Psychological Safety, and association with the performance of the team (Engebø et al.,
the Team Culture 2020).
Construction projects are often considered as a vital
aspect of a country’s economy due to its ability to create According to Engebø et al. (2020), trust has resulted in
considerable amounts of jobs for people. This very reason of establishing unity and inclusivity within the team beyond
involvement of a higher number of manpower welcomes a formal agreements, and effective communication,
range of issues in construction projects that are not collaboration and improved teamwork, which has been
commonly seen in other projects especially around the extremely vital for construction projects that carries a
human elements. considerable number of risks and interdependencies.
According to Khosravi et al. (2020), a trust-rich environment
According to AhiagaDagbui et al. (2020), has resulted in team members showing a higher tendency to
comprehension of aspects pertaining to human resources accept feedback that may conflict with their own
such as voicing concerns of individuals, teamwork, self- perspectives and perceptions. This has increased
learning, interpersonal cooperation has been seen to be collaboration within the team to work towards a common
critical to achieve the targeted outcomes. Since construction goal that is best for the project whilst decreasing the avenues
projects involve greater amounts of stakeholders and larger for potential conflicts (Khosravi et al., 2020). Conventional
project teams, the degree of interpersonal trustworthiness and project management approaches followed within
reliability found within the group has determined the level of construction projects at present, governed by highly complex
performance of the project (Kukah et al., 2022, Yang, 2023). contractual agreements and stringent surveillance has

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

impacted the amount of trustworthiness within projects (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). According to AhiagaDagbui et
thereby decreasing the avenues for collaboration and al. (2020), the facilitation model has been formulated around
catalyzing opportunism among the team members to the best-for-project principle thereby creating a winning
prioritize their safety over the project’s objectives (Engebø et culture with a problem-solving attitude and encouraging joint
al., 2020). Hence, this has manifested the requirement of ownership of problems to enhance unity and inclusivity
integrating project teams and engaging the participants at within the project team. This model also encompasses a pre-
earlier stages of the project and to create a culture that is construction kickoff meeting to ensure that all the concerns
based on interpersonal relationships, trust, and ingenuity are heard at the earliest possible stage of the project about
(Engebø et al., 2020). According to Engebø et al. (2020), potential overlaps and derailments, monthly leadership
accountability and openness for collaboration have directly workshops during the project as well as after the project to
influenced trust within project teams. Out of all variables that determine the strengths to be maintained and areas for
influence performance of project teams, interpersonal trust improvement (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).
has found to be the most crucial factor (Yang, 2023).
However, it should be noted that the members to take
Coaching has proven to be effective to diminish the part in the said workshops should be cautiously picked based
friction between team members and to establish interpersonal on their openness for collaboration and amount of input they
trust thereby enabling them to perform at the best of their could provide into the team to make the change a success
abilities (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). According to Suzi (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). The aspect that stands out the
Pomerantz (2016), based on a survey that has been conducted most in this approach is the practice of enquiry-based pull-
at the end of a trust-building coaching program in an type communication instead of instruction-based push-type
organization, 90 percent of the respondents had confirmed communication which has enabled efficient identification of
that the coaching program has improved interpersonal trust shortfalls proactively thereby increasing the performance of
and collaboration within the organization. the entire project (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).

Definition and maintenance of ground rules in a way B. Determining the Most Appropriate Project Management
that encourages trust and psychological safety within project & Governance Approach
teams could be used as an effective approach to improve the Due to the complex nature of construction projects,
performance of the project team (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). derivation of “one-method fit for all” approach has shown to
This could also be reviewed throughout the project by be nearly impossible. Construction projects follow various
obtaining honest feedback from the employees and delivery methods due to various factors, constraints, and
stakeholders to ensure the validity of the rules interdependencies. Design-Bid-Build (DBB), Construction
(AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). According to Whatley (2009), Management at Risk (CMR) have seemed to be the preferred
the case study done around effects of ground rules have contractual options by Clients which, however, have not
shown that ground rules formulated with the consent of the shown much success in achieving the client’s expectations
team and its implementation have improved the interpersonal (Ingle & Mahesh, 2020).
trust within the team significantly as there is binding and
shall follow with repercussions if not complied with. Construction projects are often known to involve a
diverse range of stakeholders who bear varying degrees of
Establishing an environment to freely voice the influence within the project. Hence, the success of the project
concerns by the employees, adoption of a collaborative shall be interpreted in a myriad of ways based on the
approach and prioritizing resolution of issues over fault perceptions of stakeholders (Ingle & Mahesh, 2020). This is
tracing has shown to improve psychological safety within why an effective project management and governance
project teams (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). Further, approach with well-defined critical success factors is
according to Engebø et al. (2020), aligning the interests of required in construction projects to ensure that the project
the team with objectives of the project with the assistance of goals align with the expectations of all the stakeholders as
higher management such as promoting autonomy to be relevant, whilst ensuring the productivity of the project team
flexible within controlled scope of work has built trust within through proper clarity about critical activities and milestones
project teams. Welcoming ideas of the project team that are required to be achieved (Ingle & Mahesh, 2020).
pertaining to team building too has resulted in enhancing
trust and psychological safety within team members thereby Prevalence of an effective project management and
boosting their morale to actively engage in better teamwork governance approach equips the project team with the
(Soni, 2020). required risk management tools which enable the team to
collaborate effectively to increase the potential of
Adoption of a Project Facilitation Model has seen a eventuating events that could have a positive impact on the
surge in popularity for establishing trust, integration, and project whilst diminishing the possibility of eventuating
psychological safety within project teams (AhiagaDagbui et negative events (Khatib et al., 2022).
al., 2020). This model engages services of an independent
facilitator to formulate the program for cultural change as it The sequential “waterfall” approach and iterative
makes project team members to voice their concerns freely “agile” approach are the most used approaches for delivery
with no worries about subsequent repercussions of projects. Due to the provision of stability, sequence,

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

predictability, and complex documentation, construction through routine quality audits are some aspects that should
projects often prefer to adopt the waterfall approach be considered during the formulation of the project
compared to the iterative and incremental agile approach management approach for the project (Ingle & Mahesh,
which is often adopted by software and manufacturing 2020). According to Zhao et al. (2017), the case study of
projects (Thesing et al., 2021). However, adoption of a building projects in New Zealand, has manifested the
hybrid approach has shown success in certain construction importance of the accuracy of initial financial forecasts as
projects due to establishment of efficient communication and well as an effective cost management model which
feedback channels and improved transparency as shown incorporates tools for accurate forecasting and monitoring are
within the “agile” approach whilst adhering the higher-level vital for the successful completion of a project. Further,
structure and sequence of the “waterfall” approach (Thesing based on a case study carried out around quality audits in
et al., 2021). Hence, this proves the importance of identifying hospitals has shown that routine quality audits provide the
the best project management and governance approach based avenue to transmit feedback to the relevant parties there by
on the unique project circumstances such as project scope enabling them to improve delivery of their task there by
and uncertainty of customer requirements, instead of blindly improving the overall performance of the project (Hut-
following the most used approach (Thesing et al., 2021). Mossel et al., 2021).

Risk and uncertainty are considered a major area of Further, formulation of a Work, Health and Safety
concern in construction projects due to their dynamic, training plan and training programs to encourage continuous
sequential, and codependent nature alongside its lengthy professional development for the construction workers are
duration that could span for years based on the magnitude of also considered as a vital aspect that needs to be incorporated
the project. The project management and governance into the project management and governance approach (Ingle
approaches that have been adopted in construction projects at & Mahesh, 2020).
present tend to show lesser interest towards risk management
due to the novelty of technology, lack of flexibility shown in According to Kukah et al. (2022), adoption of novel
the existing governance structure and complexity of the tools such as Building Informational Modelling (BIM)
activities of the project (Denicol et al., 2020). According to systems has shown a surge in its popularity due to the ability
Dixit (2020) construction firms are often penalized with to improve collaboration in between the stakeholders and to
severe sanctions due to endangering the safety of the site transition towards complete automation.
team that has resulted in adopting an improper project
management and governance approach. Further BIM also acts as surveillance tool that has
proven to be effective for the project management team to
According to Denicol et al. (2020), improper definition monitor the actual performance of the project compared to
of roles and responsibilities of the project team and planned and to ensure better coordination with suppliers,
stakeholders and adoption of an improper project delivery other stakeholders as well as to improve decision making
approach have given rise to several risks within the project thereby reducing the number of disputes within the project
and supply chain that it is part of. Further, the prevalence of a (Khatib et al., 2022). According to Khatib et al. (2022), the
rigid governance structure within construction projects has General Manager of Van Wigjnin has admitted that BIM has
also been detrimental to the performance of the project due to played a significant role in increasing the speed of delivery
lack of flexibility to alter the approach as practicable based of projects and its quality. However, the main roadblock for
on circumstances (Denicol et al., 2020). BIM is the cultural change that is required within
construction companies to move away from the traditional
According to Thesing et al. (2021), the undermentioned project management tools (Khatib et al., 2022).
steps could be used to determine the most effective and
efficient project management approach that shall suit the Further, adoption of lean approaches to manage project
project, delivery and coordination in between stakeholders has also
 Identification of issues that have occurred in past projects shown a surge during recent times (Denicol et al., 2020).
of similar nature, Consideration of customer satisfaction, level of competency
 Proper definition of the issues that have been identified, and human skills within the project team as parameters to
 Identification of characteristics of the existing project measure project performance has seen an increase in recent
scope and the project team there by determining how it times which has in return produced much accurate results
could relate to the defined issues, pertaining to project performance (Khosravi et al., 2020).
 Identify alternative project delivery options (Analyse and
rank those using a weighted scale) C. Improving Interpersonal Skills and Emotional
 Determine the best model/approach and verify it using a Intelligence
pilot run. Emotional Intelligence is the potential to self-
comprehend one’s emotions and the emotions of others and
Proper financial assessment prior to commencement of react in a way that aligns with the situation and its
projects and constant surveillance of the cost performance environment to achieve a predetermined set of objectives
through earned value analysis alongside quality performance (Kukah et al., 2022). Further, it is also a psychological skill
which has a close association with the link between one’s

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

emotion and cognition which enables to attain self-regulation avoid hampering of performance and bottlenecks in
either as a group or individually (Kukah et al., 2022). construction projects (Khosravi et al., 2020).
According to Yang (2023), males tend to possess an
assertive, aggressive and risk-seeking behavior compared to According to AhiagaDagbui et al. (2020), adopting the
that of females who possess a greater degree of empathy use of “Humble Enquiry” to comprehend issues and to
driven behavior that shows higher cooperation and the collectively seek solutions has shown success in improving
preference towards nurturing which manifests that females emotional intelligence within the project team there by
inherently possess a much higher degree of emotional leading to effective and efficient decision making within the
understanding that that of their male counterparts. team. Further, facilitated workshops held with the
participation of members who are willing to contribute to the
Construction projects are often known to involve a collective effort, has also shown greater success at
much higher amount of manpower that any other project due minimizing conflicts and establishing unity within project
to its complexity and significant effort driven nature of tasks. teams (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).
Hence, emotional intelligence is a very critical element for
the success of the project as this enables construction According to Khosravi et al. (2020), emotional
workers to identify and comprehend their own emotions as intelligence as a parameter for the appointment of the
well as others to create an emotionally safe and productive leadership team within the project and provision of
space to complete the tasks (Kukah et al., 2022). continuous routinely training pertaining to emotional
intelligence backed by personality assessment tools, starting
According to Khosravi et al. (2020), the success of a from the inception of the project alongside has also shown
project relies more on the human skills and attributes of the greater success in projects due to improved interpersonal
project manager and the team than technical competence. relationships among team members. According to Zhang and
Comprehension of Emotional Intelligence enables the project Hao (2022), the case study around construction projects in
team to improve their ability to work on challenging tasks China manifests the influence of the approaches for
that require significant effort co-dependently to achieve the increasing emotional intelligence in construction project
intended goals whilst reducing interpersonal conflicts within managers on effectiveness of the team.
the team (Khosravi et al., 2020). Possession of considerable
emotional intelligence within the project team facilitates a Adoption of the novel trend of integrated concurrent
higher degree of empathy and cooperation within the team engineering has proven to facilitate the establishment of high
which could eventually result in increased performance and performing teams with greater emotional intelligence through
successful project delivery (Khosravi et al., 2020). Further, greater engagement and interaction with each other to resolve
Project Managers and Construction Managers, who possess complex and complicated issues collectively thereby
high levels of Emotional Intelligence, have shown effective improving the success of projects (Engebø et al., 2020).
communication with minimal disputes with stakeholders and
a tendency to investigate novel avenues to solve complex D. Effective Communication
issues with the participation of all relevant stakeholders According to Kania et al. (2020), transferring
(Khosravi et al., 2020, Kukah et al., 2022). information in between two parties or more in a way that is
understood by the receiving end is known to be
It is found that construction projects teams with low communication. The degree of reliability of the information
emotional intelligence often have more conflicts due to transmitted, relevancy of the individuals the information has
emotion-driven decision making and due to misinterpreting been transmitted to, determines the effectiveness of
feedback based on emotions instead of rationalizing factually communication which could lead to proper
(Khosravi et al., 2020, Kukah et al., 2022). According to reactions/outcomes (Kania et al., 2020). Further, according to
Khosravi et al. (2020), prevalence of conflict within project Taleb et al. (2017), effective communication results in better
teams leads to an increase in friction between team members awareness of the project team pertaining to the activities and
there by affecting the project performance as the team responsibilities they require to satisfy in the light of driving
members often tend to get distracted by trying to save their the project towards its intended success.
position instead of performing their tasks.
Due to its dynamic and complex nature which includes
However, due to the complex and complicated nature of a diverse range of teams performing a myriad of tasks,
construction projects, and the varying expectations and construction industry involves with excess of communication
conflicting opinions of the stakeholders, conflicts are at a given moment (Kania et al., 2020). Hence the
unavoidable which hence warrants effective conflict effectiveness of the communication that is being transmitted
management to achieve the outcomes (Khosravi et al., 2020). during a construction project is vital for its success.
Process conflict which relates to the employee’s perspective
about the way in which the task should be accomplished and It is found that effective communication has a positive
the task conflict which relates to the employee’s perspective relationship with team and individual performance,
about the scope of the task to be performed alongside continuous improvement, and problem resolution due to the
interpersonal conflicts are the key aspects pertaining to higher degree of accuracy, openness, relevancy of the parties
conflict management that should be handled cautiously to

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

involved and the precision of timing (Albuali, 2021, interdependencies and involves multiple contractors
AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020). (AhiagaDagbui et al., 2020).

The relationship of the project team with the project According to Leicht et al. (2021), the approach of
stakeholders is vital for the success of the project and it is an providing an insightful explanation pertaining to every
utmost need to ensure that there are minimum disputes decision made by project team members has proven to
among the stakeholders pertaining to the alignment of their eliminate any misunderstandings in between the fellow team
expectations with the expectations of the project (Ingle & members and stakeholders.
Mahesh, 2020). Hence, communicating the expectations
effectively plays a crucial role in the outcome of the project. Formulation of Integrated concurrent engineering teams
Further, according to Taleb et al. (2017), over half of the which includes the participation of all divisions is found to
project managers have manifested that effective be a growing trend that has been adopted to improve the
communication is the factor that contributes the most to the effectiveness of communication, relationship and interactions
success of a project. between the division thereby establishing a coordinated
effort to accomplish a common goal (Engebø et al., 2020).
It is commonly observed that although project managers
who drive the projects possess the relevant academic E. Improving Decision Making Behaviour
qualifications, they lack the competence pertaining to According to Kukah et al. (2022), decision making is
communication management (Albuali, 2021). It is also found identified as an intricate task that is often influenced by a
that the cause behind nearly 3/4th of the issues in wide variety of viewpoints, constraints, dependencies, and
construction projects has been lapses in the effectiveness of variables. Although Decision Making is usually considered a
communication which has led to disintegration of team vital component within the top management across any
members, procedures and the techniques thereby impacting industry it is often a mandatory component for any level as a
the entirety of the project (Engebø et al., 2020, Taleb et al., decision is made against a range of alternatives by every
2017). It is often a misconception that the authority and individual.
dictatorship could overpower communication lapses as it is
found to only worsen the prevailing issues as the parties may Hence, it is no doubt about the amount of decision
intentionally hold back information that is perceived to be making that is involved in construction projects and the
detrimental to their routines (Albuali, 2021). efficacy of the decision made due to its complex and
complicated nature and the involvement of a wide range of
Development and maintenance of an effective moving parts, dependencies, constraints, and a plethora of
communication management plan inclusive of processes and perspectives from the stakeholders. Construction projects are
techniques surrounding planning, managing, and controlling often known to experience mishaps such as delays, cost
of communication has shown a significant increase in the overruns, quality issues, deviation from specifications, etc.
effectiveness of communication within construction teams due to flaws in decision making.
(Ingle & Mahesh, 2020, Albuali, 2021). Proper definition of
communication channels and the tools and techniques such According to Denicol et al. (2020), there are 3 aspects
as the technology to be used, models, methods, the nature of pertaining to the behavior of management teams in
meetings, information management systems, reporting and construction projects which leads to inferior decision making
judgement pertaining which corresponds to each namely, being overly optimistic about the benefits of the
communication channel helps reduce the confusion within project against the cost incurred by heavily underestimating
construction project management teams (Albuali, 2021). The the costs involved, misrepresenting the actuals with an
construction management plan that is developed based on the intention to retain the personal benefits they receive thereby
project’s work breakdown structure should be then prioritizing the their own interests over the project’s success,
disseminated among the stakeholders that have been and reluctance to change by sticking to the same approach
identified for their concurrence to ensure the collaborative although there could be better alternatives to leverage for a
nature of the approach (Taleb et al., 2017). Further, ongoing better outcome of the project.
review and validation of the communication management
plan throughout the lifecycle of the project shall ensure that It is found that biased opinions provided by experts in
initial relevancy of the plan is maintained throughout the the field of construction about benefits of the project
project (Albuali, 2021). According to the case study of downplaying the risks and uncertainties involved in the
Yurley et al. (2019), formulation and maintenance of a project often lead to inferior project performance and
communication management plan has enabled effective eventual failures (Denicol et al., 2020). According to Denicol
transmission of information to the relevant stakeholders there et al. (2020), external pressures pertaining to political,
by reducing the potential of any confusions. organizational, and individualistic aspects within the
organization influence misrepresentation of the actuals to
It is found that on-going facilitation meetings avoid any momentarily adverse effects that could affect the
establishes the environment to discuss any potential leadership team involved in the project. These
showstoppers that could disrupt the progress of the project misrepresentations are often done by deceptively portraying
team proactively especially if it contains significant a higher progress of the project in terms of task completion,

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

underestimating the actual cost, and disregarding certain risk According to Imam and Zaheer (2021) due to strict time
items that would eventually enhance to become constraints and tight schedules, the role of the project leader
showstoppers (Denicol et al., 2020). It is also found that is found to be more crucial than ever especially when there is
strategic misrepresentation is also practiced obtaining the a multitude of dynamic elements and highly probable
support of certain stakeholders to keep the project alive uncertainties. Considering the wide miscellany of scopes,
(Denicol et al., 2020). varying magnitudes in terms of the cost and effort, and
differing complexities, unique styles of leadership with
According to Denicol et al. (2020), reluctance to change flexibility and better coping mechanisms are highly sought
is often practiced due to a misconception surrounding the after in the present context due to the higher correlation of
fact that construction projects when started are too costly to project leadership with the success of a project (Imam &
halt or diverted. This results in project leadership utilizing Zaheer, 2021). This can be further manifested by the fact that
additional resources to complete the project although the there is a less success rate in projects although there has been
analysis says otherwise such as an immediate halt or change a surge in the number of studies pertaining to technical
of scope thereby resulting not only in non-realization of aspects surrounding cost, time, and quality performances
benefits but also hefty losses to the company (Denicol et al., (Imam & Zaheer, 2021).
2020).
However, definition of a one-style fit for all approach in
According to Denicol et al. (2020) these issues can be project leadership may not address the plethora of issues that
controlled and mitigated by adopting the undermentioned are currently prevalent in construction projects as projects are
approaches, temporary, unique and possesses a greater amount of
 Developing an accurate baseline to track the project diversity and is also performed by a diverse group of
progress by closely perusing past projects that are like the individuals for a relatively shorter period of time compared
scope of the existing project. to business as usual operations, which warrants the necessity
 Exerting a considerable amount of time for proper of adaptation within project leadership (Imam & Zaheer,
planning and determining the uncertainties that could be 2021).
experienced during the project thereby taking measures to
proactively mitigate or define mechanisms to react in a According to Denicol et al. (2020), the primary cause
way that reduces the impact on the project. behind inferior project leadership and governance is due to
 Stringent governance by imposing penalties against the shortfalls in defining the culture of the project and the
misrepresentation and to proactively determine the sole purpose (value statement) of the project which has led to
stakeholders who have prioritized their own best interest misalignments within the project team as well as the
over project success. stakeholders of the project. It is also found that lack of
 Establish an environment with some flexibility to adopt dedicated team members with leadership qualities to drive
alternative approaches as deemed suitable to obtain a tasks within the project too has led to poor performance in
better outcome of the project. construction projects (Denicol et al., 2020).

According to the case study done by Rayan et al. Identifying employees with leadership qualities and
(2020), evaluation of the project’s performance against the assigning them to project leadership roles, upskilling project
integrated baseline covering schedule, cost, and quality have leaders and increasing their level of dedication to drive the
shown greater accuracy in the progress review. tasks as deemed necessary for successful implementation of
the project, proper definition of value statement of the
Further, adoption of Multiple Criteria Decision project, implementing projects that align with the strategic
Analysis (MCDA) is a growing trend within the engineering objectives of the organization, and considering diverse
and construction sphere due to its ability to analyse the perspectives from all the team members and stakeholders
available alternatives based on a range of perspectives and thereby combining those towards achieving common project
multiple parameters which enables decision makers and goals are some measures that can be adopted to increase
stakeholders the ability to identify an issue, determine the improve project leadership (Denicol et al., 2020).
possible preferences and to formulate a recommendation to
make a decision around the preferences which could result in Adoption of a shared leadership approach is found to be
better effective decision making (Kukah et al., 2022). a growing trend especially in dynamic projects that are
complex in nature which require greater amounts of
F. Improving Project Leadership creativity (Imam & Zaheer, 2021). Shared leadership has
A project is mostly completed by a project team that has proven to increase the workflow, faster identification of
been formulated to perform the tasks pertaining to the issues and solutions, greater accuracy in terms of planning,
project. The individual or the group of individuals (in the and increase in motivation within team members due to its
event of large-scale projects such as construction projects) ability to establish a collaborative nature within the project
that provide strategic and operational leadership for the team and stakeholders (Imam & Zaheer, 2021). Although this
project is often referred to as project leadership. approach is currently practiced within top levels of project
leadership (Eg- Project Manager managing the aspects such
as project coordination and stakeholder engagement, whereas

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

Construction Manager managing the work breakdown the focus area of the organization and its capabilities which
structure of the project), adoption of this approach within has led to acceptance of work that is beyond the scope and
lower levels of the project team is to be studied in greater capabilities of the organization (Denicol et al., 2020).
depth.
According to Hussain et al. (2021), finding the best
G. Improving Competencies and Capabilities of Project people for the job is key to being successful with the project.
Teams Further, establishing an integrated high-performance team
Due to the inherent complexity of construction projects with a collection of individuals who have been picked on
and their dynamic nature, competencies and capabilities of competence and capabilities that are best for the job has
construction project teams play a major role in shown to improve collaboration within the team and to
accomplishing the tasks as specified whilst ensuring there is achieve the required objectives (Engebø et al., 2020).
no hold ups to the subsequent activities and activities that are According to Leicht et al. (2021), Rosendin that has been
performed in parallel. Construction projects, based on their highly successful in delivering successful projects, has
magnitude, involves a myriad of contractors and shown preference to hire team players and subsequently
subcontractors which themselves have varying capabilities, develop the technical skills that are required for the role
competencies and cultural dynamics which warrants the through on-going training programmes. The case study done
necessity of a competent and capable construction project by Schumann et al. (2024) manifests the importance of
management team to overlook their performance and drive effective recruitment for the establishment of competent and
towards a common goal. capable project teams that deliver higher levels of project
success.
According to Hussain et al. (2021), the skillset
possessed by the project team has a positive association with Further, the recruited employees shall receive a
managing the project effectively. Further, lack of knowledge comprehensive onboarding into the culture, values and the
and project management related competencies and job responsibilities who are then mentored directly by their
capabilities have led projects to be far less effective (Hussain supervisors with an intention of shaping the employee to be
et al., 2021). his/her replacement, which enables the new hire to develop
the required competencies and skills swiftly (Leicht et al.,
Based on a study done in Pakistan, it is found that 2021).
nearly 33% of mega-projects have not been successful in
achieving the forecasted results and realize its benefits due to Also, Rosendin has shown a greater preference to
shortfalls in the capabilities of project management team and conduct a skills test during the onboarding process to
their approach towards the project (Hussain et al., 2021). It ascertain the strengths and the level of capabilities of the new
has also seen in Indonesia, that lack of project management recruits thereby formulating training and mentoring programs
knowledge possessed by project teams has resulted in instead of using a one-program fit for all approach (Leicht et
overbudgeting, cost and schedule overruns (Hussain et al., al., 2021).
2021).
According to Denicol et al. (2020), effective conflict
According to Engebø et al. (2020) improvement of the and dispute management by the organization itself, can play
competence of the team is highly potential in improving the a significant role in harnessing the capabilities of project
performance of the project team there by improving the teams as it could eliminate any friction that surfaces in
outcome of the project. The client of the project is the most between team members which could escalate into disputes
crucial stakeholder due to the power and influence he/she has that affect the retention of talent.
on the outcome of the project which in return warrants a
project team the requirement of their support and trust for Establishment and maintenance of an easily accessible
successful completion of the project. Possession of the up-to-date in-house Learning Management System with
required technical and project management skills by the continuous development programs inclusive of recorded
project team increases the confidence of the client and videos pertaining to novel concepts is also considered to be a
establishes a “swift trust” which leads to strengthening growing trend in the project management sphere (Leicht et
collaboration (Engebø et al., 2020). al., 2021). Further, Rosendin has also adopted formulation of
cross-functional teams as it increases the ability of team
According to Denicol et al. (2020) competencies and members to access a much broader realm of knowledge
capabilities of the project team carry a significant weight in possess across the organization (Leicht et al., 2021).
establishing teams that are capable of navigating through the
uncertainties of the project to deliver the intended result. H. Managing Cultural Change
Improper definition, ineffective recruitment and lack of All the strategies and recommendations that have been
upskilling and retention of talent have led to formulation of elaborated above shall bring about change to the existing
teams that do not possess the competence for successful practices. Change occurs alongside the shift in the mindset of
delivery of projects (Denicol et al., 2020). Further, a major employees and often results in establishment of a new culture
contributor behind capabilities of project teams surfacing as within organizations which leads to subsequent change in
an issue in construction projects is improper identification of behaviors of the employees (Errida & Lotfi, 2021). Hence,

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Volume 9, Issue 10, October – 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT576

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