Challenges associated with project teams in managing variations on construction projects

Abstract

Variations on construction projects are very common and managing them is very significant. Challenges to project teams in managing variations generally retard the progress of a construction project. Such challenges affect all parties involved including the client, consultant and contractors, the impact of how badly it affects the project as a whole depends on the degree of the challenges to the team characteristic in question. The aim is therefore to examine the challenges in managing variations in a team setting. A questionnaire survey was conducted to rate 20 challenges identified from literature with the members of some selected construction project teams. The study used purposive sampling in choosing construction teams and some selected projects. The data was subjected to principal component analysis to reduce the challenges into further groupings. The analysis generated six factor groupings namely ‘weak management skills’, ‘divergent motivating interest’, ‘problems with coordination’, ‘Inflexibility attributable to lack of trust’, ‘communication difficulties’ and ‘bureaucratic barriers’. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges from the results and draws implications for future research.