Factors Contributing Towards Project Success or Failure in the Malaysian Construction Industry

Construction industry is a vital industry which has significant effect the overall Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) of a country. However, not every construction project can completed within the time frame, cost budget and quality expected. Construction project failures are common in Malaysian construction industry and it was increasing from day to day. More and more construction projects are abandoned that affects economy of Malaysia. Therefore, this research is mainly to determine time, cost and quality are the common issues in resulting project failure. Time, cost and quality are triple constraints of iron triangle. Project failures are not only affecting the parties involved in the particular project, also economy of Malaysia, Malaysians and homebuyer. A successful project means the project has been carrying out properly during pre-contract stages. Pre-contract stage is an important stage because if the works are not properly planning during the stages, it is affecting the project whether it can be completed within the time frame, cost budget or expected quality. On the other hand, this paper is also mainly focus on the impacts of project failures and roles of project manager in achieving project success in Malaysian Construction Industry. In a construction project, project manager is always the person who plans, organizes and controls the project throughout the whole construction process. He is the vital person who must have the general knowledge and experience in the particular type of project to plan, organize and control the project effectively in order to achieve project success. Characteristics of a project manager who is involved in a construction project must include leadership because project manager acts as a leader of a construction project. Ability of project manager to lead and plan the project by his leadership throughout all phases of project is affecting successfulness of a construction project. xiii The data are collected by distributing questionnaires to 300 respondents which are all relevant parties that involving in construction project. However, they are only 40 respondents completed the questionnaires survey among 300 respondents. Most of the respondents agreed that time, cost and quality is the common issues in resulting project failures such as delay, over budget, lower quality of works and a lot of defects. Moreover, project manager and contractor are the vital characters in a construction project because project manager acts as a planner and contractor acts as a builder throughout the project in achieving project success. In addition, as a project manager in a construction project, he shall consist of problem solving skills because the duration of a construction project may 2 or 3 years. Throughout the duration, it may occur any unforeseen event. Thus, project manager must be able to solve the issue or event immediately and effectively to prevent delay or over budget.