research methodology
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic. This chapter critically highlights the works of different surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources in the context of contactor selection and project performance of construction projects. This review has been done objectively focusing on the financial, technical and managerial capacities of the contractors in relation to project performance. The study has been anchored on the agency theory to explain the relationship between the principal and agency in explaining project performance in Mbarara district.
The study will be grounded in agency theory developed by Eisenhardt (1989). The agency theory underpins that, a contract between the government and a contractor reflects a principal-agent relationship. The principal (government) contracts with the agent (contractor) to perform some level of effort, such as construction of schools on behalf of government which is eminent in this current study. In this relationship, the government’s objectives include obtaining the product or service at the right quality, right quantity, right source, right time, and at the right price (Lee & Dobler, 1971). The government also has the additional objective of ensuring the product or service is procured in accordance with public policy and statutory requirements (FAR, 2010). Contractors, on the other hand pursue the objectives of earning a profit, ensuring company growth, maintaining or increasing market share, and improving cash flow, just to name a few. Because of the different and conflicting objectives between the principal and agent, each party is motivated and incentivized to behave in a certain manner. This behavior includes either withholding or sharing information. In principal-agent relationships that involve higher levels of uncertainty, which result in higher risk (such as developing an advanced technology weapon system), the information available to the government and contractor is typically asymmetrical.
Agency theory is concerned with the conflicting goals between the principal and agent in obtaining their respective objectives and is focused on mechanisms related to obtaining information (for example, about the marketplace, the supply or service, or the contractor), selecting the agent (to counter the problem of adverse selection), and monitoring the agent’s performance (to counter the effects of moral hazard). Thus, how contracts are planned (for example, competitive or sole source), structured (fixed price or cost reimbursement, with or without incentives), awarded (based on lowest priced, technically acceptable offer, or the highest technically rated offer), and administered (centralized or decentralized, level and type of surveillance, and use of project teams…), has its basis in agency theory and the principal-agent problem. Agency theory is therefore applicable to project management, specifically in the management of government projects (Moe, 1984).
The principal, in this case the project manager, is faced with the problem of ensuring the agents, in this context the members of the project team, will choose to pursue the principal’s best interests. Critical success factors have a direct relationship on an organization’s processes and resulting outcomes, such as projects and contracts. Thus, their importance is crucial to an organization’s process improvement efforts. Therefore, the study will examine critically this relation between the principal and agents in the construction of UPE Schools in Mbarara District
2.2. Empirical Literature Review
2.2.1. Financial capacities of contractors and Project Performance
According to Ghalayini H. & Noble, Z. (2011), the contractors’ financial capacity is the resource he requires to smooth the progress of implementation of the construction work on site. It is made up of money at hand, bank credit, overdraft, credit purchases, and work-in-progress and invoiced amount. Financial capacity also includes resources needed to grease the daily business of the construction firm. The management of financial capacity includes planning, sourcing, and controlling the use of financial capacity during construction. The sufficiency of financial capacity depends on the correct composition and correct financing at all times during construction. According to Kagioglou , M., Cooper, R. and Aouad, G. (2011) observed that it requires a determined positive effort by the contractor as mismanagement can weaken productivity and profit level. To ensure that the level of financial capacity is maintained and that there is sufficient provision of funds to finance current assets to facilitate projects to be project completion within cost and time, there is need of establishing the optimum level of financial capacity needs of a project. Further there is need of continuous checking and monitoring the quantum of individual parts that comprise the financial capacity to ensure that the requirements are not exceeded. This study seeks to employ mixed methods approach to examine how financial capacities affect the Project Performance in the UPE schools in Mbarara district.
In a study conducted by Ling, Y., Low, P., Wang, Q. & Lim, H. (2011) showed that cost overrun and financial constraints were the main factors that affected road construction projects in Singapore. In his study carried out a study on factors that affected road construction projects in Lagos, Nigeria. It was concluded that inadequate planning, delays and government approvals and regulations delayed construction of road projects. A study by Obelle, O. (2012), revealed that financial constraints and cost overruns were the key factors that affected road construction projects in Dar es Salaam. It indicate that completion of road projects was greatly enhanced by use of modern equipment, technical skills by project managers, project finances and project technology. The road infrastructure accounts for an estimated 93% of all freight and passenger traffic in Kenya (Ministry of Roads, 2012). Kenya has had a tremendous growth in traffic of 8.2% annually. Kenya is experiencing traffic growth of 8.2% a year, population growth of 4.1% a year and economic growth of 6% a year; has not been matched with development of road network resulting into persistent traffic jams and conflict of different modes of transport costing the economy about 0.9% of the GNP annually. However, these studies present a different context and talked about road construction project but the present study is much interested in construction works in schools which might have different designs from the road construction projects.
Further to note, Awards of major construction contracts in developing countries are skewed in favor of foreign counterparts against citizen contractors since the foreign firms are considered more technically and managerially advanced and well-organized in funds acquirement including competence. In comparison with this, citizen contractors have over the years had challenges related to inadequate financial capacity, poor project performance in terms of adhering to completion deadlines, poor work quality and capital management which has in many cases led to bankruptcy and in extreme cases, abandonment of projects. In other words, majority of citizen contractors usually do not complete construction contracts within initial contract sums and hardly within scheduled completion times. According Karim K. & Marosszeky M., (2011), in their studies in the Nigerian construction industry confirmed that indigenous construction companies have challenges of under-capitalization.
Karim K. & Marosszeky M., (2011) also observed that monetary strength of contractors and sufficient cash flow is critical in keeping construction progress as planned. Karim K. & Marosszeky M., (2011).observed that inadequate funds lead to time overrun and sufficient funding guarantees reasonable cash flow. According Wambui David Ndiang‘ui, Ombui Kepha and Kagiri Assumptah (2015), carried out a study on influence of payment default to contractors in the Kenyan construction industry and found that late payment of one or several certificates, underpayment or paying intermittently and nonpayment have led to cash flow hardships to contractors. This has led to late completion of projects, disputes in construction and even bankruptcy. The study recommended industry players to consider legislating on a payment specific regime just like it has happened in other countries. Others factors noted by many other studies which have been eroding financial capacity during construction include; access to credits, diversion of contract funds for other use as opposed to the project, poor project planning and control, foreign exchange fluctuations, and high cost of finance.
In construction projects in Zambia, a study by Pidd, M. (2012) identified the most significant causal factors for performance of projects as inadequate and inconsistent release of funds by clients, poor financial management by contractors or lack of capacity by contractors. The factors that influence construction quality implementation at the execution phase in Indian construction industry include financial limitation. In water projects in found that client related factors such as financial capacity, owner interference, decision making ability and scope variation, and consultant related factors such as financial capacity, equipment availability and quality skilled workforce, site supervision ability, material availability, and control over sub-contractors have significant influence on project quality. Contractual capacity basically means the ability of a contractor to execute the contractual works successfully to completion. Contractual capacity can be reviewed from three main dimensions including financial, management and technical according to Ministry of Public Works evaluation procedures. This research will mainly concentrate on the financial capacity of the contractors in the construction projects of UPE schools in Mbarara district.
According to Kerzner (2015), project success encompasses completion of project tasks within the allocated time period, within the budgeted cost, at the proper performance or specification level accepted by customer, with minimum or mutually agreed upon scope changes, without disturbing the main work flow of the organization, and without changing the corporate culture. Other researchers suggested that in addition to the measurement of time, budget, quality and customer satisfaction, the overall stakeholders’ satisfaction should be considered for project success (Ogunlana, 2010). As knowledge in project management field developed, the “golden triangle” was considered not enough to define project success. Project success was recognized to be a complex, multi-dimensional concept encompassing many attributes (Mir & Pinnington, 2014). Projects are unique, reason why project success criteria differ from one project to another (Müller & Turner, 2017). A combination of factors determines the success or failure of a project and influencing these factors at the right time makes success more probable (Savolainen, Ahonen & Richardson, 2012).
A real-world quantitative survey of 899 information system projects conducted by Sanchez, Terlizzi, and de Moraes, (2017) on project success factor for IT projects revealed project budget management as a key contributing factor. A qualitative study conducted with 41 London Olympics 2012 project teams by Agyekum-Mensah and Knight (2017) as to professional perspective on the underlying causative factor of project failure also revealed poor financial and commercial decisions was ranked among the top factors. This reemphasizes the importance of budget management role as key project success factor for any project type. Four steps for budget management as identified by Papadaki et al. (2014) include defining the budget, executing the budget, controlling the budget, and updating the budget. Project management software such as SaaS project management system and Oracle can be deployed to effectively manage project budget and control project expenses (Podolski, 2017).
H1: There is a positive significant relationship between contractors’ financial capability and project performance among UPE Schools in Mbarara District
2.2.2 Technical capabilities of contractors and Project Performance
The capacity of the construction industry in many developing countries has been noted to be deficient as has been widely reported. In construction, the formation of joint-venture between local and foreign contractors has been recommended by Karim K. & Marosszeky M., (2011) the integration of local and foreign constructors in construction project can facilities the transfer of technology. Studies carried out, indicate their indigenous construction firms in developing counties are mostly characterized by lack of capacity, confidence, motivation and long term aspiration among others. Many are struggling without basic foundation which construction firm’s internal strength depends on. The questions remains, what types of the technologies do the contractors in Mbarara use to construct schools in the district? And how does this contribute to high quality works in the schools?
According to Project Management Institute (2017), construction projects are usually in phases and also require some form of specialization. Due to this, project team managers in construction projects that are complicated are changes at different phases. This means that at a particular point in time, a specific activity is carried out in the construction industry. All tasks are completed within a given time frame thereby paving way for the next phase in construction works. There are macro and micro factors to performance (Lim and Mohammed, 1999). These authors were of the view that micro factors can be mapped out from the implementation stage where project managers demand continuously for high quality, cost effective and timely projects. The other factors which is the macro factors covers fulfillment and approval of end users of a project and stakeholders. This is based on the completion of projects on timely basis and also the satisfaction which will be gained from that particular project.
According to Multiple linear regression models reveal that technical expertise, past time in business, work methods and working capital significantly impact on contractor’s performance across time, cost and quality success(Brown, J. & Adams, T. (2008). Another basic requirement is that financial material and human resources are fully available for the implementation. In the United Kingdom there is evidence that the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) is viewed by employers as the approach to tackling the skills crisis. Amongst developing countries, skill certification was pioneered in Singapore but has recently been taken up by the construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in Malaysia. There are categories of skills registered by the CIDB-skilled and semiskilled workers, construction site supervisors and construction managers. Applicants have to prove their competence by submitting their relevant certificates or they can be tested on site. In certain trades (such as scaffolding) they may be obliged to undergo CIDB courses before registration. In other less developed countries, where many construction workers are illiterate, higher priority would have to be given to practical, as opposed to written tests(Brown, J. & Adams, T. (2008). A variant on the testing and certification of individual skills is the certification and registration of subcontractors. Employers in Singapore set up a scheme in 1993 to register subcontractors, known as the Singapore List of Trade Subcontractors, or SILOTS. The objective was to improve their performance as well as to help them to provide continues employment and better welfare on public workers. The scheme subsequently received government support with main contractors on public sector projects required since 1996 to engage only SLOTS listed subcontractors
Contractor’s selection is considered the most challenging decision for a client (Kog & Yaman, 2014). Today, the selection of a contractor involves a multi-attribute decision process that requires individuals to leverage competing objectives and limited resources when making their decisions (Watt et al. 2010). Doloi et. al (2011) confirms that multi-criteria choice is in favor of clients. Aje et al (2009) clarify that choosing an experienced contractor is paramount to successful project delivery. Liu et al. (2015) investigate that the project success in addition to other factors largely depends on the degree to which the contractor characteristics match the project delivery system. The study identified following contractor selection factors for a project to be successful; i.e., adequacy of equipment available to contractor, general experience of firm, specific experience with respect to type and size of the project, prior working relationship of contractor with the owner and consultant, number of change orders in past contracts, disputes and claims in past projects, and past record of time and budget. Alzahrani and Emsley (2013) investigate the impact of contractor’s attributes on project success from an immediate post construction perspective and link those attributes to project success objectives
Brooks (2019) emphasizes the teamwork factor as a determinant to project implementation. He comments that assigning more programme implementers to a project running behind schedule will make it even later, because of the time required for the new implementers to learn about the project, as well as the increased communication overhead. Henry Fayol noted that, when people have to communicate among themselves (without a hierarchy), as the number of programmers/implementers increases, their output decreases and can even become negative, i.e., the total work remaining at the end of a day is greater than the total work that had been remaining at the beginning of that day, such as when many bugs are created. A motivated team will go that extra mile to deliver a project on time and to budget. (Kurt et al, 2019). Keep your team motivated by involving them throughout the project and by planning frequent milestones to help them feel they are making progress. Communication is key here, so let your team know when they are performing well, not just when they are performing badly. The above information indicates not only the need to have teamwork but also having a motivated team. What is not clear however is how they should be motivated as a team to deliver as required hence the need for the study to address this gap in the context of Mbarara district?
Project management as a practice is often deployed in organizations to effect changes to the operation of an organization (Kerzner, 2014). This explains why projects are often referred to as temporary endeavors undertaken with the aim of creating a unique product or service (PMI, 2013). The heterogeneous nature of projects requires modern techniques to achieve project goals; hence, the need for heterogeneous and dynamic team members (Eriksson, Larsson, & Pesamaa, 2018). Following critical literature review and analysis of quantitative data from 73 project managers in the context of relationship management from the UK, Meng and Boyd (2017) concluded that the role of project manager in the construction sector can be likened to that of a facilitator and is grounded in the understanding of project management process and knowledge area. The project 28 manager is responsible for handling and managing the overall construction project from the initiation down to project closure (Damoah & Kumi, 2018).
Apart from the prime time, cost and quality parameters, Liu et al. (2017) focused on organizational competence of firms for evaluation of contractor. They suggested that technical competency, management expertise, marketing, and financial resources are critical criteria for the award of a contract. Semaan and Salem (2017) proposed contractor selection criteria as experience, reputation, bid estimate, and previous projects. Hasnain et al. (2017) proposed that besides bid price several other factors have a significant role. They emphasized on the performance, quality control, health and safety, project control for a contractor selection. Cheaitou et. al (2018) considered past project performance, financial stability, human resources, and equipment potential concerning the number of projects currently undertaken by a bidder and the type of projects a bidder normally undertakes as qualification criteria.
Empirical evidence presented by Jovanovic and Jovanovic (2018) in their qualitative investigation of the roles of the traditional project manager found that beyond the project itself, the project manager’s role extends to management of internal and external stakeholders including client and organization’s expectations. The project manager role in construction sector can be summarized into six main categories of planning, resource distribution, staff management, creating benchmark, budget management, and communication (Dziekoński, 2017; Jovanovic & Jovanovic, 2018).
Elattar (2019) designed a framework to measure the success of construction projects. He postulated three main principles for project success. The criteria used were based on the perception of the owners of the project, the project designers and project contractors. With the success criteria based on project owner’s opinion, elements such as agenda, cost, intended purpose, outcome projected, quality, aesthetic value, return on investment, marketability and decreased irritation. Happy customer, quality architectural product, meeting of design fee and project goal, skilled staff fulfillment, meeting budget and plan, marketable products/ process, reduced difficulties in construction, absence of liability claims, acceptability of project by the public, client payment and well-defined nature of work make up the perception of the project designers. The third category is the contractor’s perception. It encompasses meeting project schedule, return, budget, quality specifications, and absence of claims, anticipations of all actors, customer satisfaction, effective uninterrupted communication and no disclosures during the entire project.
Team competencies at the individual level are the characteristics that a team member ought to have to successfully get involved in teamwork (Alvarenga et al., 2019). A competency is generally defined as a combination of skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviors that enables an individual to perform a task or an activity successfully within a given job (Brooks & Silva, 2016). Camelo & Angerami (2013, further explains that team competencies can also be broken down to knowledge, critical thinking, and collaboration, attitude, and skill competencies. Eagly & Chaiken (2017) defined attitude as a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. Knowledge is the practical or theoretical understanding of subjects (Brooks & Silva, 2016).
Brooks & Silva, (2016) further defined skills as natural or learned capacities to perform acts. Collaboration involves working with others to achieve a common goal (Zaim et al., 2013) whereas Critical thinking involves using reasoning and criteria to conceptualize, evaluate or Team Competence is usually seen as a cluster of connected knowledge, skills, and attitudes that affects a significant part of one’s job (a role or responsibility), that correlates with project success on the work that can be measured against well-accepted standards, which may be improved via training and development. (Raji, 2020)
Podmetina et al., (2018) claim that there is a sturdy association between competencies and projects success. It is majorly because; organizations have noticed that the ability and knowledge utilization of their workforce is the key to realize sustainable competitive advantage. A stable and effective team with a strategic outlook and accentuating human resources is crucial for project success (Stanley & Uden, 2013). If the team is functioning effectively and performing well, it becomes expensive to imitate which in turn will lead to project success for example transitional economies, like China (Ramos-Garza, 2019). Once this team incorporates a proactive market-focused strategic orientation, a project will be able to attain a higher level of innovation and success (Chen et al, 2019). Team competences additionally allow the firm to remodel resources into price offerings, therefore leading to project performance (Stanley & Uden, 2013).
Projects are gradually rising in different sectors. This constant increase therefore demands more personnel to be actively involved hence strengthening relationships and regularity of contacts. Therefore, there is a need for proper definition of roles, responsibilities, competencies and relationships between project participants. Generally, construction projects remain labour intensive (Langford et al., 1995) and demand huge sums of money some degree of leadership and management skills, directing of various experts and employees. However, Katz et al. (2000) stressed that the workforce in the construction industry strongly influence their success or failure. in Chartered Institute of Building (2002) revealed that within the construction industry, a project manager’s duty is to organize and direct technocrats to give out their maximum best in order to accomplish the set objectives or goals. The main roles and responsibilities of the project managers within the construction industry are the coordination of technocrats to put up their best to achieve the project goals (Chartered Institute of Building, 2002). The success or failure of a construction project depends greatly on a number of factors. There is however, a need for project managers to realize and explore these factors to know the level of influence of these factors on overall Project Performance
Zuo et al. (2018) conducted a qualitative study on 109 project managers in the Vietnamese construction industry regarding the required soft skills for project management and concluded that project management is a form of skill and knowledge that can be acquired to ensure its effective practice. In a similar exploratory qualitative study based on extensive secondary data including peer-reviewed journals, Gbahabo and Ajuwon (2017) found that inadequate project management skill is as detriment to project success. This understanding aligns with PMI’s project management knowledge, which draws on 10 areas: integration, scope, time, cost, quality, procurement, human resources, communications, risk management, and stakeholder management (Alotaibi et al., 2016).
Project management can be said to be made up of core components summarized as defining the necessity for a project, detailing the project requirements, preparing a business case, developing a management plan, leading the project team, managing project risk and issues, monitoring progress and managing changes, maintaining project budget, ensuring and maintaining communication with all project stakeholders, and closing the project (Abyad, 2019; Cha, Newman, & Winch, 2018). This study employed qualitative approach which might have excluded some respondents to arrive at a logical conclusion, however the present study seeks learn from this methodological gap and apply both qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine this relationship between contractor’s technical competence and performance of projects in Mbarara district.
H2: There is a positive significant relationship between contractors’ technical ability and project performance among UPE Schools in Mbarara District
2.2.3. Managerial capacities of contractors and Project Performance
There is no magical formula for effective management rather there are a few skills required (Carvalho, Patah, & de Souza Bido, 2015; Sabrokro, Tajpour, & Hosseini, 2018). These skills contribute to developing a continual learning process which not only makes management easier but effective as well. Valcic, Dimitric, and Dalsaso (2016) believed that positive end results can be guaranteed if proper management skills are utilized. On the other hand, ineffective management implies the absence of necessary expertise required making it less helpful for managers to give positive results in the end. This implies that the management skills being used by managers would determine the ability to get the best leadership style that meets an organization’s need (Hamlin & Patel, 2017).
One of the key managerial functions is planning. With planning, projects can run on time and interact effectively with both customers and suppliers. Everyone involved understands what is wanted and emerging problems are seen (and dealt with) long before they cause damage. The authors however do not clearly show how planning based on effort, care and skill determine effective project implementation (Louis et al, 2021). Time spent planning is time well spent (Maddock, 2019).All projects must have a plan with sufficient detail so that everyone involved knows where the project is going. A good plan provides the following benefits: – Documented project milestones and deliverables, A valid and realistic time-scale, Allows accurate cost estimates to be produced, Details resource requirements, Acts as an early warning system, provides visibility of task slippage and Keeps the project team focused and aware of project progress (Michael & Young,2019).) Maina, B. M. (2016) in their study examined problem facing small contractor in South Africa and found that poor record keeping, lack of effective management, and lack of entrepreneurial skills are major cause of business failure for small contractors. Maina, B. M. (2016) also examined the factors affecting the performance of small indigenous contractors in Papua New Guinea; level of cash flow, financial skills, poor communication between the contractors and the client’s site representative are the factors affecting the performance of indigenous contractors. In a research conducted on the assets structure of medium-sized building construction contracting firms in Nigeria and its implications on operation, Maina, B. M. (2016) found that the assets structure of these firms comprise of fixed assets being less than half of the total assets. This means that a greater portion of the total is current assets (held mainly as account receivables that sometimes may not be available within one year). Prequalification of contractors is a common practice across projects, yet the investigation on the ability of the selected contractors‟ performance are:- Soundness of business and workforce; Planning and control; Quality management; Past performance; Rise management; Organizational capability; Commitment and dedication.
For administrators to move beyond operational management to true leadership, which can lead to project implementation in government-aided schools (Bjarne Kousholt (2017). They need to understand the capacity of their staff, promote open communication, and provide useful feedback on project implementation. David& Roland (2016) explains that for effective project implementation good leadership must be in existing leadership structures in government-aided schools, administrators should focus on respect rather than popularity. While it can be tempting to make a decision your staff might want, David& Roland says to centre your decision-making
Process about project implementation good leadership should be the priority. Chandan, (2019) lamented that “I’ve found that if project implementation is to achieve in government-aided schools, the administrators should keep all stakeholders is involved in decision-making and should be consistent as the enhance good leadership skills. Good leadership in government-aided schools is vital for improving the project implementation outcomes of students. Learn how to boost your school leadership capabilities. Bjarne (2017) desires that good leadership in schools is the practice of encouraging and enabling school-wide projects management. Albert Hamilton (2019) adds that good leadership can be driven by principals and executive staff in traditional leadership roles, as well as by school leaders and teachers without defined leadership roles.
Wu, Liu, Zhao, and Zuo (2017) on the relationship between effective communication and project success evaluated 310 questionnaires from construction project experts in Shanghai and Zhejiang province of China. Using structural equation modeling to test the theoretical model, they found strong correlation between effective communication and project success. Related study into the underlying causes of project failure by Yaser and Isail (2018) via effective analysis of 33 related peer-review journals found lack of effective communication as dominant. Identification of communication method and channels to meet stakeholders’ expectation initiates the project manager communication role. Without a doubt, the overall success of a project is heavily dependent on how communication is being managed in a project (Loehr, Weinhardt, Graef, & Sieber, 2017).
A quantitative study on 106 project managers, consultants, and engineers of the Indian construction industry reveals strong relationship between resource planning/allocation and project success (Bansal & Agarwal, 2015). The responsibility of understanding what and how many resources are required on the project lies solely with the project manager, who is also responsible for negotiating adequate resources for the project with project stakeholder’s especially higher management (Podolski, 2017). Poor allocation of resources can lead to redundancy and waste of time which if not managed in a timely manner can lead to project delay, cost overrun and project failure (Denis & Rashpal, 2018)
A field survey of 200 development project managers in Ethiopian NGOs by Aga, Noorderhaven, and Vallejo (2016) revealed that effective team management and team building can mediate the effect of leadership style on project success. Further critical literature review and analysis of multiple peer-review journals and articles by DuBois et al., (2015) using the electronic database of Drexel University revealed that project manager’s team management technique can bring about high team performance and subsequently improve project success
Fortune and White (2006) stated that the factors that affect the success of a project can be grouped into five main categories. These are project management mechanisms, project related factors, external environment, methods of procurement and project culture. Kougoulos (2000) also asserted that the success of a construction project depends on two major factors, particularly administrative and technology-based factors. Conversely, these factors indicated as determinants of a project’s success vary from one construction project to the other due to variation in projects as well as dynamics in the environment. This implies that for every industry, the success factors differ. Kougoulos (2000) added that an obligation of a project manager is to possess detailed information on the feasibility study report, maintain a good relationship with all project team members and stakeholders and finally hold a form of guarantee that all projects initiated are successfully implemented within the allocated time, budget and quality in order to meet customer needs.
A leader needs to be conscious of defining goals for their followers, introducing new directions and generally promoting an organization (Howell, 2018). Good leadership is one of the essentials skills for effective management. It requires managers to be able to make good decisions, motivate individuals, and lead by example (Datta, 2015). Following the analysis of 107 questionnaires from project managers in Australia, Sunindijo (2015) argued that although leadership skill might not negatively impact the overall performance of a project, good leadership skill is essential for project quality performance. Similar study using a sample of 70 project managers shows that leadership competence has a direct impact on sustainable building project success criteria (Tabassi et al., 2016). Notwithstanding their conclusion, both researches emphasize on the need for a project manager to build trust, gain respect, and encourage followers to give their best towards achieving good results and ensure productivity. It is rather unfortunate that a high number of managers especially in the project management field are lacking in this essential skill as they fail to motivate and manage employees to bring about desired output (Novo, Landis, & Haley, 2017). This ineffectiveness has been attributed to the major causes of project failure both schedule and cost wise (Nixon, Harrington, & Parker, 2012)It is important to mention that there are three main effective management skills that are paramount in leading infrastructure projects; these are task execution skill, people management skill, and commercial insight (Chai et al., 2016; Hernandez & Cormican, 2016). Both authors emphasized that if competence is maintained in these three skills areas it would be less challenging managing projects with higher degree of project success. Ineffective management would most likely be manifested when one or more of these skills are lacking in a manager making it difficult to get beneficial output from people even with greater effort. Gbahabo and Ajuwon (2017) found that several project managers are still in the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through trainings in different knowledge areas even while already leading infrastructure project in sub-Saharan Africa. Similar research by Tan and Nicholas (2015) via 10 semi structured interviews on infrastructure projects in Vietnam using selected countries best practice as benchmark, attributed project schedule delay and cost overrun to inadequate people and budget management skills of project managers leading infrastructure project. Thorough review of literatures and analysis of 35 questionnaire responses retrieved from top management of selected social cooperatives in Poland by Wronka-Pospiech (2016) revealed that despite the different needs and objectives of organizations, the type of skills required for effective management is somewhat similar. Related research on 108 project managers on the required soft skills for construction project management in Vietnam’s construction industry found similar soft skills as a basis for effective management (Zuo et al., 2018). Despite the uniformity in the required skills, Larsson, Eriksson, and Pesamaa (2018) believed that project managers are faced with varying challenges due to the heterogeneous nature of projects. Project management is often regarded as a specialized, multidisciplinary, and cross functional discipline that combines management, strategy, and business administration towards the achievement of specific project goals (Datta, 2015). Therefore, managers leading projects are required to possess a good number of effective skills which will be helpful in achieving project deliverables (Kirkland, 2015).
A qualitative research carried out on 45 managerial and non managerial employees of Korea firms by Chai et al. (2016) identified commercial insights as one of the core skills for effective management. Like budget management, this skill is highly recommended for gaining competitive advantage and it emphasizes efficiency which is necessary for success as well as beneficial to both private or government sector project managers. Good commercial insight provides managers with proper strategic thinking abilities that allow them to give priority to the right tasks as well as ensuring there is profitability and good return on investments (Kirkland, 2015). Additional value of possessing commercial insight skill leads to proper planning which helps project manager’s focus on the necessary competences required for diligent financial and resource allocation (Hernandez & Cormican, 2016).
H3: There is a positive significant relationship between contractors’ managerial capability and project performance among UPE Schools in Mbarara District.
2.3 Summary of literature gaps
In summary, the literature records several practices for contractor selection ranging from financial, technical, managerial capacities, highlighting key skills to be utilized in providing desired positive end results. Some authors have grouped relevant management skills into just personal and professional; others consider task execution, commercial insight, and people skills to be the main important management skills that can determine effective or ineffective management (Briere et al., 2015; Chai et al., 2016; Hernandez & Cormican, 2016). Irrespective of how these contractor selection practices, the focus is to execute tasks in an effective and efficient manner to achieve set goals using the resources available (Kirkland, 2015). However, the literatures presented methodological gaps where by most of the scholarly focused on using one approach at a time as a result the issues related to contractor selection were not exhaustively examined. Some scholarly presented subjective analysis of the issues as identified in the contents of the study as such there is still crisis on knowledge gap in the study. It’s based on this knowledge, conceptual, and methodological gaps that this study seeks to fill in perspective of the contractor selection practices in the construction of UPE schools in Mbarara district.
