Risk management implementation in the iranian construction industry from contractors' perspective

One of the most significant and integral part of project management is risk management. Depending on the adopted risk management approach, the construction project may fail or succeed. Despite the paramount importance of risk management as one of the subfields of project management, unfortunately less attention has been paid to risk management in Iran. In very few organizations, employers or contractors can be seen who have a proper insight into risk management. Whereas risk management is a new field, there are only several seminars, university projects, and a few researches have taken place in this field in Iran. This study aims to improve the implementation of risk management within contractor companies in the Iranian construction industry through the evaluation of the contractors’ perception of risk management. The main methodologies considered for this study starts with preliminary interviews with construction practitioners followed by comprehensive literature review. The data collection stage conducted through interview sessions using semi-structured questions and questionnaire surveys. Moreover, the methods considered for analysis of data are Frequency Analysis and Likert scale using mean index, Risk Analysis Matrix, and Single Sample T-Test. All in all, fifty four (54) risk factors were identified through conducting comprehensive literature review, classified into five (financial, technical, design and construction, policy and political, and weather and environmental risks) groups and their level of risk were evaluated and ranked. The results of study showed that the most critical risk group is financial risks followed by weather and environmental risks. Through questionnaire survey, fifteen out of fifty four risk factors identified from literature were found to have the high level of risk, while the remainder have moderate risk level. Furthermore, the survey results showed that there are eleven barriers in the Iranian construction industry preventing contractors from implementing risk management, seven of which evaluated as important, whereas the rest had average importance. Among identified barriers, unsupportive culture in construction industry evaluated as the most important barrier. Finally, a theoretical risk management strategy was proposed on the basis of the outcomes of literature review and questionnaire survey. The proposed theoretical strategy is composed of seven main stages.