AN ASSESSMENT OF ROLE OF ESTATE SURVEYOR AND VALUER IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

Performance of building projects is affected by several factors. The focus here is on the relationship between Project Management Practices carried out by Estate surveyor and Valuer and project performance. Estate surveyor and Valuer involved in the management of projects were thus selected as estate surveyor and Valuer for the study. Three criteria for measuring project performance were identified for their widespread application in project management definition and general understanding amongst practitioners. These include: time, cost and quality criteria.Semi-structured personal interviews have been carried out within the selected organizations for identification of practices undertaken in the management of building projects. Other significant project management practices were also captured in relevant literature. A structured questionnaire was developed to gather information for measurement of the project performance and determination of project management practices significantly relating to project performance. Performance indices were developed for measurement of the time, cost and quality performance. To test for significant differences between the performance of the categories of projects, each belonging to one organization, a pair-wise analysis, using independent t-tests, was used. Multiple Regression Analysis has been used to determine the relationship between the significant project management practices and project performance. Considerably, significant difference between the time performance of the categories of projects was observed. There was significant cost performance difference of the categories of projects across all the organizations whilst there was no significant difference in quality performance across all the three pairs of categories of projects analyzed. It was realized that as significant difference exists between the performance of a given pair of categories of projects from organization to organization the corresponding significant project management practices also vary from organization to organization and vice versa.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background

Execution of building projects is undertaken through management practices carried out by various project managers daily. Specific project objectives are set to be achieved at the end of the project. The objectives may vary from one project to the other. Time, cost and quality objectives are however basic and common to almost all projects; they are discussed in the success subject matter of most projects. [Belassi and Tukel, 1996; Walker, 1995, 1996].

In order to achieve set project objectives, specific Project Management (PM) practices  are carried out daily by project managers. It has been argued that the PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer may vary from organization to organization. Other project managers however argue that since professional practice within the construction industry is required to follow set down guidelines and ethics, PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer may not necessarily vary from organization to organization; the purpose of adopting a particular practice may therefore be due to peculiar environmental and social demands of the project at hand. Highly satisfactory performance cannot be compromised on and so is the need for optimum practices. As asserted by [Ramabadron et al., 1997], the high performance achieved by a project is what makes a practice adopted optimum.

The factors that affect the individual set project objectives are the ones that confront or promote the project success, outcome or performance. Although project performance is influenced by several factors [Blismas et al., 2004], this study focuses on the relationship that exists between PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer and project performance. Performance of a project therefore needs to be measured to pave way for knowing the optimum practices among the lot.

Estate surveyor and Valuer in Nigeria have therefore been selected for the study. They are regarded as PM organizations in the direction of their having a set of personnel involved in the management of construction projects. Each organization is distinguished from each other by the kind of funding sourced for their development programmes and certain peculiar organizational goals. However, the mission of executing building projects is common amongst them. They specifically include:

1. Nigeria Education Trust Fund (‘TETFund’) organization
2. District Assemblies’ Common Fund (‘Common Fund’) organization: and

• Social Investment Fund (‘SIF’)

There are certain main organizational goals that are peculiar; Whilst the ‘TETFund’ organization has the sole objective of supplementing the provision of education at all levels in Nigeria, the ‘common fund’ organization, is set to improve housing schemes, sanitation management and primary health care in addition to improving Nigeria’s educational facilities. The ‘SIF’ organization also has the main object of reducing rural and urban poverty. Annually, building projects are undertaken to facilitate achievement of these and other objectives.

In-spite of slight disparity in the specific organizational goals, supplementing and improving educational facilities is common amongst the organizations. This common feature is capitalized upon to pursue the research objectives. The focus is therefore not in the distinguishing features.

  Statement of Problem

• Within the sphere of a given project there are several project management activities. Several ways of carrying out these activities emerge and become accepted as day to day practices. The need to meet certain environmental and social challenges, as may be faced by a particular organization, may cause the adoption of certain PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer. Personnel involved in project management may also adopt certain PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer and stick to them for purposes which may however not relate to the project success. Several practices are therefore carried out in the management of projects but not recognized as PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer.
• The need to obtain successful projects calls for the need to also undertake optimum practices. Knowing the success, or outcome or performance of a project has a great deal of relevance to knowing the optimum practices. The effort put into the measurement of project performance in the country has portrayed little or no help in this direction. The possible, simple and most understanding way of measuring project performance with hard data is therefore needed in this
• Performance of group of projects managed by an organization may differ from performance of another group of projects with similar characteristics but managed

by another organization. The kind of PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer carried out by the different organizations for achieving project success may also influence variation in the performance of the projects. The significance of such differences in performance of the groups of projects is therefore necessary for determination of the characteristics of influential PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer.

• There is a relationship between PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer and project performance [Ramabadron et al., 1997]. Certain PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer adopted do not necessarily have a significant satisfactory influence on projects performance whilst some have. There would therefore be the need to promote optimum practices and a second look taken at others that confront the success of building

  Aim

The principal aim of this research is to find out the project management practices carried out within the PM organizations that affect building projects performance.

  Objectives

The specific objectives of this research are:

• To identify the project management practices carried out by estate surveyor and Valuer for management of the selected building projects
• To measure the time, cost and quality performances of the building projects executed by estate surveyor and Valuer
• To determine if the performance of building projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer differs significantly from the performance of building projects managed by another organization
• To determine the PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer that significantly influence the performance of building projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer

  Hypothesis

The performance of building projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer differs significantly from the performance of building projects managed by another organization.

  Research Methods

OBJECTIVE # 1

To identify the project management practices carried out by estate surveyor and Valuer for management of the selected building projects

OBJECTIVE # 2

To measure the time, cost and quality performances of the building projects executed by estate surveyor and Valuer 

OBJECTIVE # 3

To determine if the performance of building projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer differs significantly from the performance of building projects managed by another organization

 OBJECTIVE 

To determine the PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer that significantly influence the performance of building projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer

  Justification of Research

As several practices emerge for carrying out the management of building projects the need to have knowledge of them and their probable effect on project success also becomes increasingly important. By this knowledge, project managers, client’s team members and end users become more aware of both the negative and positive influencing tendencies of daily practices engaged in. Thus, there would be an efficient way of going about controlling and redirecting management efforts so as to achieve higher project success.

A comprehensive assessment of factors that affect construction time, cost and quality objectives of a project is highly necessary in the management process of every project. Having knowledge of a relationship between project performance and PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer would greatly enhance such an assessment. Most construction projects are often said to exceed time schedule and cost budgets. Highlighting the need to continually measure time and cost performance is a step towards increasing awareness amongst project management personnel and project client of the huge loss made through sacrificing project time and cost objectives for other objectives not related to project success.

  Scope

Numerous are the factors that affect project performance. The focus here is on the effect emanating from engaging in certain PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer. Project performance is considered in the context of achievement of a project’s Time, Quality and Cost objectives; it does not include other emerging performance metrics used in the measurement of project performance. Of the two main sub-sectors in the Nigeria construction industry (road and building) the concentration is on the building sub-sector. Of the building projects, too, the focus is on those executed under the ‘TETFund’ (tertiary school projects), ‘Common Fund’ and ‘SIF’ “organizations”.

Limitations to Study

Apart from limited time available for completing the study, respondents were reluctant in providing data required. Both the interviewing and the questionnaire distribution stages are characterized by initial unwillingness on the part of interviewees and respondents. This was lately overcome through persistence and giving assurance that confidentiality of the projects’ time and cost information would be maintained.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The study is will be significant to the development of Project Management in the Country according to the following expected outcomes:

• The study aims at finding out the relationship between PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer and Project Performance; by having this knowledge Project team members would accordingly extricate themselves from PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer that have negative relationship with Performance while engaging more in those that exhibit positive relationship. This would contribute to realizing improved performance of building projects in the country.
• Furthermore, with the information that projects managed by estate surveyor and Valuer differs significantly from similar ones managed by another organization, and that this is influenced by variation in the PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer carried out, one organization would be prompted to benchmark relevant practices that would improve the performance of the projects it manages. In the long run, organizations involved in project management in the country would have enhanced quality of PM Practices by estate surveyor and Valuer.

Definition of terms

 Project management: Ways of carrying out the day to day project

practices: management and administrative activities and decisions from the “cradle” to the “grave” of a project

Project Performance: The totality of time, cost and quality performance of a given project

Time Performance: The degree to which a project’s time objective is achieved, measured on the basis of a before-and- after effect

Construction Time:The number of days from the commencement of work on site to the practical completion point.

Cost Performance:The degree to which a project’s cost objective is achieved measured as the “unit cost”

Quality performance:The degree to which a project’s quality objective is

attained which is subjectively measured on a ranking scale.

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