Assessing Project Management In Myanmar Construction Companies

Many organizations are project-based in their operations and process, therefore they had to plan, manage and complete the project more successfully. Such project-based operations put pressure on project manager to plan, integrate, control schedule and improve overall organizational performance. However many organizations are uncertain, complicated and misdirected about the current applications of project management. Consequently, many companies are having major problems in implementing or improving their project management processes. This is especially important to project managers who have responsibility for implementing project management processes and practices in their organization. To perform the project success, engineering and construction organizations need to have high maturity levels and capabilities in performing in project activities.

Myanmar is a developing country which infrastructure needs to develop from buildings, transportation, telecommunication and etc. Many companies are interested in construction business for sure profit, but most projects are not successful. Therefore, how to enhance the success of the projects has become the important task for Myanmar practitioners and researcher. These delays can be avoided or reduced by identifying the major causes of delay and implementing good project management.

The management of construction projects has faced many difficulties, so project management (PM) should be improved. Ms. Saw Sandar made a case study which main objectives were: (1) to study PM implementation and PM process in Myanmar Construction Company; (2) to investigate organizational maturity and project management maturity; (3) How organizational maturity and project management maturity affect the project performance; and (4) How organizational maturity affect the project management maturity

Results of the Study

The results are based on the SPSS analyses.

1. Project management process in Myanmar construction organizations

Most of the construction companies in Myanmar were small and medium enterprises and they were family types. Authority and power was distributed to the lowest level, so the organization structure was flat and communicate easily. In addition, top manager of Myanmar construction companies were spent enough time in running the projects and the quality control system. As a result the quality of construction project was good and they got acceptable client satisfaction.

For the project management, although Myanmar construction projects were created WBS by subdividing the major project deliverables, project managers were weak in looking for impacts to constraint of time and budget when change order occurred. For the procurement management, most project managers were not assured the timely flow of materials and they cannot minimize the procurement to reduce the purchase costs which were excess uses of resources. As a result, most of the construction projects were cost overrun and cannot deliver on time.

2. The dimension of organizational maturity and project management maturity

In this study, organizational maturity is the combination of project management knowledge, project management attitude and actual project practices. The organization will be mature when the organization has knowledge on input, process and output and an understanding of the whole picture. The maturity level of organization will increase if the organization has attitude of low uncertainty avoidance, low power distance, femininity and collectivism which is strongly cohesive force between the groups. In addition, the organizational maturity level will be increased when the actions at top management level, tactical level, admin level and operative level are well applied during the project operation.

Project management maturity is based on nine knowledge area that means project management maturity is the degree of project management best practices which are developed by implementing project integration management, project scope management, project time management, project cost management, project quality management, project human resource management, project communication management, project risk management and project procurement management.

3. Organizational Maturity, Project Management Maturity and Project Performance

The result of analysis showed that the organizational maturity and project management maturity is significantly positively correlated to project performance. Organizational maturity is the combination of project management knowledge, project management attitude and actual project practices. The results indicate that these factors are significantly positively correlated with project performance. That means that the mature the organization, the better the project performance.

The results showed the time criteria for project performance are not correlated with the dimension of organizational maturity of project management knowledge about input, process and output. However the mean score of project management knowledge about input, process and output are not too low, over 3.5 (acceptable). It can be concluded that most of the Myanmar construction companies have acceptable knowledge on how to acquire qualified construction materials and human resources requirements and good understanding in the effective way to operate the projects, the projects were still cost overrun and delay. This is due to external factors such as rising in construction costs, lack in updating technical performance, took long time to meet the government regulation and sometimes the projects were have to stop due to heavy rain and flooding. Therefore, in order to successfully operate the construction project, external factors must have to consider.

Project Performance

Based on the result of this study, it can be concluded that in order to finish the project on time, project scope management, project quality management and project procurement management should be given emphasis when running the project. The researcher found out that most of the Myanmar construction projects were weak in this project management and especially in procurement management. Most developer and construction contractors were suffering from lack of finance, since construction materials were imported and the prices varied all the time. Therefore they cannot manage the materials to reach the project sites on time.

4. Organizational maturity and Project management maturity

The result of analysis showed that the organizational maturity is significantly positively correlated with project management maturity. That means the higher the organizational maturity, the better the project management maturity. On the other hands organizational best practices influenced project management best practices and vice versa.

Organizational maturity assessment provides identifying and measuring the participants knowledge about project management, attitude towards project management and actual project practices of an organization. Furthermore, project management maturity assessment also provides measuring project management maturity by analyzing nine project management knowledge areas. This study analyzed the strength and weakness of project management practices of construction companies and it also identified the problems that the project managers face in the project management process. In addition, companies should benchmark their operation by using these assessment questionnaires which are logical references to make process improvement.
Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract

The construction industry is vital for the development of any nation, even though construction projects are commonly faced in uncertainty due to low maturity of project management and the nature of the project. Construction industry is performance industry compare to another industry. To perform the project success, engineering and construction organizations need to have high maturity levels and capabilities in performing in project activities. This study was based on quantitative research through questionnaires and conducted to identify the organizational maturity, project management maturity and how it effect on project performance.

This study was conducted in Myanmar construction companies and construction projects to study organizational maturity and project management maturity. The overall organizational maturity means score for Myanmar construction industry is 3.66. The result found that project management knowledge, project management attitude and actual project practices of organization are prerequisite for organizational maturity. The best project management practices based on nine knowledge area and it can improve the project management maturity.

The result showed that the organizational maturity and project management maturity is significantly positively effect on project performance. That means the mature the organization and project management, the better the project performance. In addition the organizational maturity is also positively correlated with project management maturity. On the other hands, organizational best practices influences project management best practices. This study indicates not only correlation of organizational maturity, project management maturity and project performance but also the best practices for organization and project management