An assessment of quality management practices for corrective actions on Uganda’s public construction projects: a case study of Kampala City

Abstract

Recurring nonconformances and quality deficiencies on public construction projects have been a challenge in developing countries like Uganda. These quality issues adversely affect the projects’ success by leading to cost over runs, delays, increased wastages, reworks, client dissatisfaction as well as health and safety threats towards the users and environment. The recurrence of these quality issues raises concerns regarding the effectiveness of quality management practices for corrective actions. Therefore, this research delved into assessing the quality management practices for corrective actions on public construction projects in Kampala City, Uganda, with the aim of developing a framework for their effective implementation. The research assessed the current quality management practices for corrective actions, the challenges inhibiting their effective implementation, as well as the key performance indicators and critical success factors for their effectiveness on public construction projects. The study mainly employed a quantitative research method using an electronically distributed survey questionnaire as the research instrument. A total of two hundred and nineteen responses were obtained from construction professionals working on public construction projects within Kampala. The respondents were selected mainly using the stratified random sampling technique and supplemented by purposive sampling. The data collected were analysed using mean item score, standard deviation, crosstabulation, analysis of variance, relative importance index, exploratory factor analysis and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that the five most significant quality management practices for corrective actions were having mechanisms in place for quick detection of quality deficiencies, conducting root cause analysis for all major quality deficiencies, documentation of quality deficiencies and corrective actions, having clear measures in place to identify and segregate nonconforming items, and issuance and sharing of non-conformance reports with responsible stakeholders. The study further identified challenges inhibiting effective quality management practices for corrective actions, as well as the key performance indicators and the critical success factors for effective quality management practices for corrective actions. The study recommends strengthening independence of quality management teams, adoption of the developed framework, adopting online documentation and reporting platforms, establishing documented timelines and escalation protocols for corrective actions as well as enforcing stringent anti-corruption policies to improve quality performance of public construction projects.