The Effect of Construction Organization Management Practices on Project Success

The construction industry traditionally evaluates success based on individual project performance. Because of this evaluation technique, there has been extensive focus to improve the efficiency and success of individual projects. This focus has resulted in a consistent evolutionary change in project management methods, from the development of CPM to the development of modern, computer-based scheduling and estimating systems. During this evolutionary development, the dominant attitude within the construction industry has been that strategic business management and long term business planning did not apply to the construction industry due to the constantly changing nature of the business/ projects. However, in the changing economic world, a resurgence of interest is occurring in the importance of organization management to the success of companies within the A/E/C industry. For an industry that has had the success of the individual project as the primary determining factor of success, this change in accepted thought will be slow to occur. Specifically, the impact of organization management practices on project success has to be determined and demonstrated before wide spread acceptance. However no bridge currently exists that connects organization management practices and project success. This paper explores the relationship that business management practices have with individual project success within the construction industry.