The management of public sector construction projects in Kenya : a systems and contingency approach

Abstract

This report sets out to explore the possibility of extending systems and contingency theory of organization into the management of construction process for a public sector building project in Kenya with a view to identifying a theoretical framework which can be used to explore the patterns of relationships which exist between project participants. A review of the evolution of conventional project organization procedures and of the related literature on project management reveals that project management in the UK has developed from the Master Mason of the Middle Ages to the designer-lead project team of today. Problems of uncertainties in the growing complexities of the construction industry has lead to a review of these procedures culminating in a succession of official industry's reports on topics of project organization. In Kenya the conventional procedures are said to have origins In the UK practice and to have remained substantially unchanged amidst growing specialization and differentiation of skills in building process. These procedures have received criticism, from the industry, for their inappropriateness. The usefulness of systems and contingency approach to problems of building process is demonstrated. By examining application of some of the systems/contingency concepts in construction process the importance of the approach, which lies in its advocacy of view of the process as a "whole system", is illustrated.