Impact of quality change management on civil engineering projects in India

TQM is the representation of an organisation’s attitude and culture, with the goal to satisfy the needs of the customer by using products and services of good quality (Mehta et al. 2014; Sadeh and Garkaz 2015; Sahney 2016). The organisation has quality in their culture, reducing waste and defects in its operations and with its process being done right the first time. TQM is a method in which all stakeholders are involved in the continuous improvement process of project development. It combines management with quality to improve the project’s performance after eliminating rework and waste (Batty et al. 2012; Mahmood et al. 2014; Sadeh and Garkaz 2015; Kuraksin et al. 2017).

TQM is a management function that integrates engineering, design, development, finance and customer services to focus on completing the project with customer satisfaction. It involves implementing a management strategy that improves service and product quality to achieve sustainable growth with greater customer satisfaction. It supports organisations by continuously improving their processes with the help of the project team’s experience and knowledge. The objective of TQM is to do the right things the first time, every time (Zeithaml 2000; Shan et al. 2011; Sao et al. 2017; García-Onetti et al. 2018).

TQM is mainly about continuous improvement at all levels, from designing, planning and decision-making to the execution of the project. It guides continuously improving performance by improving processes, personnel skills, capabilities and technology. It should deal with increasing capabilities to improve performance rather than improving results. Technology, operations and people capability are the focus areas for increased capabilities. TQM believes people make mistakes, but poor systems and faulty processes cause them. Thus, they can be identified and eliminated by improving the capabilities and processes (Howell 1999; Ballard et al. 2002; Mostafa et al. 2016; Sweis et al. 2016). The three significant mechanisms of prevention are as follows:

Prevent mistakes (mistake-proofing or poka-yoke).

After implementing TQM, the following advantages can be achieved:

Easy to adapt to the changing market conditions and government policies

The researchers who contributed the most to the quality management domain were Thomas and Lamouri (1998), Abdel-Galil (2012), Aziz and Hafez (2013), Mahmood et al. (2014) and Sen et al. (2018). They supported the idea that there is a connection between the financial performance of a firm by adopting the quality management system. Deming points out that to improve the quality of products and different services, reducing variations and uncertainties from the projects’ production processes need to be undertaken. Deming has stated 14 principles as the fundamental elements to his idea. Kannan and Tan (2005) studied the three approaches supply chain management (SCM), JIT and TQM to understand their interconnection with each other and their impact on business performance. The JIT phenomenon simplifies the production process by eliminating waste. It reduces set-up time, controls material flows and emphasises preventive maintenance, and thus reduces excess inventories and utilises the resources more efficiently. TQM emphasises focus on the customer, continuous improvement, training and development of employee and improved decision-making processes. Alignment of customer expectations and product design and focus on quality at each stage of production can improve business performance. SCM improves the decision-making process by allowing the integration of suppliers and buyers. It can reduce lead times, and the cost and quality of materials. SCM, JIT and TQM improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organisations by improving their operational functions. Results show the many interconnections between SCM, JIT and TQM at both the strategic and operational levels (Kannan and Tan 2005). SCM and commitment to quality have a great influence on project performance. The factors identified and analysed by are listed below:

JIT

Supply management

Researchers have studied the scope of the Project Organisational Culture and its impact on the Performance of Construction Projects (Nguyen and Watanabe 2017). Due to its vital role in the project’s success or failure, cultural influence has received the attention of academics. The purpose of their study is to analyse the influence of organisational culture on the performance of construction projects. For data gathering by structured questionnaire, they analysed 199 completed construction projects in Vietnam. The literature shows that satisfaction of participants and overall better performance can be achieved by worker orientation, commitment of contractor and reliance with goal alignment. Cooperative orientation and commitment of the contractor can improve the productivity of labour, whereas learning performance can be ensured by the commitment of the contractor with trust and goal alignment. Nguyen and Watanabe (2017). As per the above available literature the different project organisational culture dimensions are Empowerment orientation, Cooperative orientation, Reliance and goal alignment, Worker orientation and Commitment of contractor.

The literature shows that satisfaction of participants and overall better performance can be achieved by worker orientation, the commitment of contractor and reliance with goal alignment. Cooperative orientation and commitment of contractor can improve the productivity of labour. Learning performance continuous adaptive blending (CAB) is predicted by contractor commitment and goal alignment and reliance. With good results, this study also has some limitations. The first limitation is that the study is conducted on a small size sample. With the increase in sample size, the results may vary. The second limitation is about the nature of the respondents. The major respondents were contractors (85%). This lack of diversity in respondents might affect the results. David Waldman defined the influence of TQM on work performance (Waldman 1994). His findings show that TQM may result in continuous improvement and better project performance by cooperative efforts and better teamwork.

The identified key elements for TQM are as follows:

The commitment of top management to place quality as the highest priority.

Mallawaarachchi and Senaratne (2015) studied the importance of quality for success of the construction project. They believed that a balance between quality, cost and time is important. At high cost, it is possible to achieve high quality in less time, and at longer duration it is possible to achieve high quality at low cost. A required level of quality at every stage is extremely important for success of a construction project. Finally, to have easy and smooth entry in the commissioning phase of a construction project it is important to have good construction quality and minimum defects. They reviewed the literature and processes at construction stages and concluded that quality is most important for a successful construction project. Prevention, appraisal and failure due to poor quality could increase the organisation’s unnecessary cost. A proper quality management plan can be implemented at the stage of project inception where drawings, standards and constructability can improve the quality of the project. It is important for the organisation to have management commitment and support for continuous improvement. To lead towards success of construction project, awareness and training programme and collaboration of all parties involved is essential. Philip Barlow analysed the cost of poor quality in the American construction industry. According to him, the construction industry needs to decrease non-conformance to quality and cost of poor quality and understand the importance of good quality. Rework in commercial building costs around 5% of direct cost (Barlow 2009). In 2007, due to rework the construction industry in the U.S. wasted US$62 billion of direct cost of poor quality from US$1.246 trillion (Barlow 2009). Researchers have predicted that quality costs can go up to 20% of construction costs (Crosby 1980; Barlow 2009). The direct cost of rework in industrial construction projects can go up to 12% of the total cost (Barlow 2009). In commercial building construction, direct cost estimates from rework averaging about 5% are more conservative (Barlow 2009). The main concern of the Deming theory was to lower down the variability and achieve conformance to quality and specification. Good quality leads to higher productivity and decreased cost and thus increases the competitive advantage. Measurement of quality is done through various methods. Seven dimensions of quality were described by Barlow (2009), which applies to performance of the construction project, reliability of project, conformance, durability of construction, serviceability of project, aesthetics of project and perceived quality of construction.

Prevention cost: To prevent the issue of internal or external non-conformance of activities undertaken by the contractor, the following steps are essential:

Planning

Appraisal cost: To conduct an inspection, data collection and evaluation process by the contractor.

Testing and equipment

Internal failure cost: These costs are due to Contractor’s unsatisfactory (failure) results prior to acceptance of the building specification by the owner.

Scrap

External Failure Cost: These costs are due to poor quality (defect) by the contractor after acceptance of the building by the owner.

Warranty cost

Many researchers attempt to graphically depict the cost of quality. Barlow (2009) developed one such graph as shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2:

Based on the literature review, researchers have identified specific attributes of quality management that significantly impact project performance. The selection criteria include the following:

Relevance: Attributes directly related to CSFs identified in previous studies.

The literature highlights several critical factors influencing construction project success, such as effective quality management, organisational culture and addressing delays. However, while previous studies have identified numerous factors and established relationships between them, there is need for a comprehensive analysis that integrates these findings to form actionable insights for improving project performance. This study aims to fill this gap by systematically analysing quality management attributes and their impacts, providing a structured approach to enhancing construction project outcomes. The research question explores the relationship between specific quality management attributes and construction project performance. This involves the following:

Identifying key attributes: Review the existing literature to identify attributes that have been shown to significantly impact project performance, such as planning, process control, resource management and continuous improvement.

By addressing these areas, the research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of enhancing construction project performance through effective quality management.

The questionnaire used in this study was developed through an extensive process involving a thorough literature review and expert analysis. This process identified the aspects of quality management that affect project performance. Additionally, discussions with various industry experts provided valuable insights into the various aspects of project performance influenced by the quality management system.

The initial version of the questionnaire underwent a pilot study to assess its consistency and reliability. Feedback from the pilot study participants was carefully analysed, and necessary modifications were made to enhance the questionnaire’s effectiveness and relevance.

The target group for this study comprises professionals actively engaged in the Indian construction industry. This includes project managers, engineers, architects, contractors and other relevant stakeholders with expertise in construction project management and quality assurance.

To address potential biases in our sampling, we employed random sampling techniques to ensure representation from various construction industry sectors. Additionally, sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of our findings and identify any potential biases that may arise from sample selection.

Data collection was conducted through a structured questionnaire survey administered online to professionals in the Indian construction industry. Participants were requested to rate the impact of quality on different attributes of project performance using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5.

The responses collected from the questionnaire survey were analysed using a variety of statistical tools, including the RII, reliability analysis, KMO test and factor analysis. These analytical techniques provided insights into the relative importance of quality management attributes and their impact on project performance in the Indian construction sector.

The respondents were selected from a diversified portfolio. The average experience of the respondents is 8 years. A structured questionnaire has been floated to different professionals in the Indian construction industry including but limited to architects, engineers, consultants, academicians, built environment professionals, developers and researchers. The questionnaire was shared with 370 respondents and after three reminder emails over a period of 2 months, a total of 152 valid completed responses were received with a response rate of 41%. The respondents were asked to rate the different aspects of construction project performance affected by quality management system on a Likert scale of 1–5 according to their influence. The values of Likert scale of 1–5 are defined as 1 = ‘no Impact’, 2 = ‘very Low Impact’, 3 = ‘moderate Impact’, 4 = ‘high impact’ and 5 = ‘very high impact’ (Dixit et al. 2017).

The reliability analysis is the measure of the consistency of data collected. Its value varies from 0 to 1, and a value of >0.5 is considered good for the study using structured questionnaire surveys (Dixit et al. 2019). For the current research project, the value is 0.81, which is excellent for the study as shown in Table 2. Cronbach’s alpha is a measure of internal consistency reliability, indicating the extent to which items in a scale or questionnaire are correlated. In our study, a value of 0.81 was obtained for Cronbach’s alpha, indicating excellent reliability for the structured questionnaire used. This high level of reliability ensures that the data collected are consistent and dependable for analysis, contributing to the robustness of our study findings.

The respondents were asked to share their inputs on the attributes selected in the questionnaire on a Likert scale rating from 1 to 5 (Shah et al. 2019). RII is used to prioritise and rank the attributes on the basis of weighted average calculated using the below formula in which the number of responses and value of the Likert scale are used. From this positioning, elements were evaluated as having a direct or higher impact on project performance: 1 Rii=∑01r∗nr5N \[{{R}_{ii}}=\frac{\sum\nolimits_{0}^{1}{r*{{n}_{r}}}}{5N}\]

R = Rating on Likert scale

Eq. (1) is used for performing RII, while all considered attributes and their total respondents with relative scores are as listed in Table 3. Maximum (R_ii) value is measured as 0.85 for the attribute Impact of Quality on reduction in rework, while minimum (R_ii) value is measured as 0.62 for attribute competency of the project management team.

The attributes discussed were selected based on their RII scores and their relevance to key performance indicators in construction projects. The following criteria were used for the selection:

High RII scores: Attributes with the highest RII scores were chosen as they indicate a greater perceived impact on project performance by the respondents.

The first aspect of construction project performance affected by quality is the rate of rework. It has a relative importance of highest index at 0.89. Poor quality of work is not accepted by the owner or management and cannot satisfy the customer too. The poor quality of work also decreases the safety of the tenant in the project in the later stage of building use. Poor quality of work leads to rework or rectification of work. It incurs the cost of additional material and generated waste. Good quality of work is essential to reduce the rate of rework. Good quality of work satisfies the owner and management and majorly reduces the rate of rework.

The second and major aspect of construction affected by quality is the project performance RII score at 0.88. Good quality of work leads to lesser rework and defects handling in the future of the building. Good quality of work also increases the satisfaction of the customer, owner and management team. With a satisfied customer, the owner can get higher profitability and a good market image. Good construction quality also leads to less number of maintenance issues in the project in use stage and increases the performance of the building.

The third aspect of construction project affected by quality is that the cost has an RII score of0.8545. Rework in a commercial building costs around 5% of direct cost. The construction industry in the U.S. spent US$1.246 trillion in 2007 and among that US$62 billion is dissipated from the direct cost on rework due to poor quality (Barlow 2009). Quality costs can go up to 20% of construction costs (Barlow 2009). The direct cost of rework in an industrial construction project can go up to 12% of the total cost (Barlow 2009). In commercial building construction, direct cost estimates from rework averaging to about 5% are more conservative (Barlow 2009). The cost of quality can be divided into four major parts: Prevention cost and Appraisal cost as good quality costs, and Internal failure cost and External Failure cost as poor quality costs.

The fourth aspect of construction project affected by quality is safety, with an RII score of 0.85. Safety of the workers during the construction of the project and safety of the tenant after the construction of the project are major aspects which are affected by the quality of work. Poor quality of work increases chances of failure and decrease in the level of safety. Good quality of work increases the level of safety as there are lesser chances of failure. There are enough number of examples available which show that the failure of a building is due to poor quality of work and lack of commitment from the management team and contractor towards the implementation of quality management systems.

Another aspect of construction project affected by quality is labour productivity, with an RII score of 0.82. Good quality of work leads to the satisfaction of the owner and management team and increases the level of safety by decreasing the chances of failure. Good quality of work increases profitability as it decreases the internal and external failure costs. The worker is rewarded and encouraged by the contractor as well as the management team for their good quality of work. Workers also feel safe if the quality management systems and effective quality assurance plans are in place. These will increase the productivity of the workers.

The final aspect of the construction project affected by quality is profitability, with an RII score of 0.76. The desired quality reduces non-conformance and the cost incurred to reduce the non-conformance, which are appraisal cost, prevention cost as good quality costs, and internal failure cost and external failure cost as poor quality costs. The cost of implementing the quality management system is not more than the cost incurred due to rework and additional cost of the material. A similar type of study reported the impact of quality management on the profitability of the project studied. The results show that the firms that implemented quality management models achieved higher profitability and higher work performance (Pignanelli and Csillag 2008b).

The interaction between the various attributes of quality management and their impact on project performance is critical for understanding the holistic effect of quality management practices. Our study, based on a structured questionnaire survey with 152 valid responses, provides insights into these interactions. The major aspects of construction project performance affected by quality management are the rate of rework, overall project performance, cost, safety, labour productivity and profitability. These aspects have RII scores of 0.85, 0.82, 0.78, 0.76, 0.71 and 0.67, respectively.

The higher RII scores for rate of rework and overall project performance indicate that quality management significantly reduces rework and enhances the overall performance of construction projects. These findings are consistent with previous studies that emphasise the importance of investing in quality conformance to reduce costs associated with non-conformance (Barlow 2009; Olaniran 2015).

This study has identified several key attributes that affect the implementation of quality management systems in construction projects. They include the following:

Employee training (RII = 0.75): Proper training ensures that employees are well-versed in quality standards and practices, reducing the likelihood of errors and rework.

To ensure the reliability of the collected data, we conducted a reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha, which resulted in a value of 0.816. This high value indicates excellent internal consistency of the data. Furthermore, the RII was used to prioritise and rank the attributes based on their weighted average scores.

Our study highlights the significant positive impact of quality management on various aspects of construction project performance. By focusing on quality conformance and proactive quality management practices, construction firms can reduce rework, improve overall project performance, enhance safety, boost labour productivity and increase profitability.

In conclusion, the study provides empirical evidence that quality management practices have a substantial impact on the performance of construction projects. The implementation of a comprehensive quality management system, supported by key attributes such as employee training, organisational culture and continuous improvement, can lead to significant improvements in project outcomes. Future research should focus on exploring the long-term effects of quality management practices on construction projects and identifying additional factors that may influence the effectiveness of these practices. By continuing to refine and enhance quality management systems, the construction industry can achieve higher levels of performance and success.