10 1108 - Ecam 02 2022 0114
10 1108 - Ecam 02 2022 0114
10 1108 - Ecam 02 2022 0114
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0969-9988.htm
Abstract
Purpose – There is growing recognition that effective project control systems (PCS) are critical to the success
of projects. The relationship between the individual elements of PCS and successfully achieving project
objectives has yet to be explored. This research investigates the enablers and barriers that influence the
elements of PCS success and drive project objectives.
Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts a mixed approach of descriptive analysis and
regression models to explore the impact of six PCS elements on project outcomes. Petroleum and chemical
projects in Saudi Arabia were selected as a case study to validate the research model.
Findings – Data from a survey of 400 project managers in Saudi’s petroleum and chemical industry reveal that
successful PCS are the key to achieving all project outcomes, but they are particularly critical for meeting
project cost objectives. Project Governance was identified as the most important of the six PCS elements for
meeting project objectives. A lack of standard processes emerged as the most significant barrier to achieving
effective project governance, while having skilled and experienced project team members was the most
significant enabler for implementing earned value.
Practical implications – The study offers a direction for implementing and developing PCS as a strategic
tool and focuses on the PCS elements that can improve project outcomes.
Originality/value – This research contributes to project management knowledge and differs from previous
attempts in two ways. Firstly, it investigates the elements of PCS that are critical to achieving project scope,
schedule and cost objectives; secondly, enablers and barriers of PCS success are examined to see how they
influence each element independently.
Keywords Project control systems, Project success, Maturity, Engineering, Construction, Enablers, Barriers
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The COVID 19 pandemic has and continues to have a dramatic impact on the global economy
and industrial sectors. Business has been severely interrupted by the pandemic and the
ensuing economic challenges (Gamil and Alhagar, 2020; Shibani et al., 2020). All sectors, other
than essential services such as public health and utilities, have been impacted. Organizations
© Sahar Jawad, Ann Ledwith and Rashid Khan. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article
is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial
purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence Engineering, Construction and
may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode Architectural Management
Vol. 31 No. 13, 2024
The authors acknowledge that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not pp. 181-207
published, in press, or submitted elsewhere. The authors have checked the manuscript submission Emerald Publishing Limited
0969-9988
guidelines and complied with any specific policy requirements specified. DOI 10.1108/ECAM-02-2022-0114
ECAM around the world have responded by shifting to a work-from-home concept to mitigate
31,13 government-imposed restrictions and social distancing regulations. Globally, Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to be impacted by 3–6% but might fall to 15% in some
countries (Prasad and Prasad, 2020; Maliszewska et al., 2020).
Recent studies have highlighted the extent to which different industries have been
negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the engineering and construction
industry being one of the hardest hit (Gamil and Alhagar, 2020). This pandemic has impacted
182 on the engineering and construction industry in many ways such as the suspension of
projects, schedule extension, cost overrun, resource unavailability and financial shortfalls.
Given the fact that projects in this sector typically have a high level of uncertainty due to large
scope, design difficulty, complex interfaces and involvement of multiple stakeholders,
challenges to complete projects once the pandemic subsides are more prevalent (Assaf and
Al-Hejji, 2006; Shibani et al., 2020). There is growing recognition that effective project control
systems (PCS) are critical to the success of projects and more importantly to address
challenges in the engineering and construction industry (Al-Jibouri, 2003; Ford et al., 2007;
Jayaraman, 2016). Therefore, an effective PCS becomes more crucial for the industry as it
recovers and comes out of the pandemic.
Although some studies developed different maturity models to assess and improve the
effectiveness of PCS (Backlund et al., 2013; Brookes et al., 2014; PMI, 2013; Crawford, 2014),
the question of how the PCS relates to, and influences, overall project objectives still needs to
be investigated. Previous research (Jawad and Ledwith, 2021) has identified six elements of
PCS: 1) change management, 2) earned value, 3) baselined plan, 4) resource allocation, 5)
progress method and 6) project governance. However, the impact of each of these PCS
elements on project scope, schedule and cost is not well understood. Additionally, the
relationship between the enablers and barriers of PCS success (Jawad and Ledwith, 2020) and
these PCS elements is also unknown. This research addresses these gaps by providing a
comprehensive model linking critical enablers and barriers with PCS elements and project
success this is illustrated in Figure 1. This can be summarized in the following research
questions;
(1) What are the critical enablers and barriers of PCS success and how do they impact the
PCS elements?
(2) Which PCS elements are critical to achieving project objectives: scope, schedule and
cost?
Figure 1.
Research model
To achieve this, three enablers, six barriers and six elements of PCS success were selected PCS
from previous research (Jawad et al., 2018; Jawad and Ledwith, 2020, 2021) to develop a model implementation
for this study. The significance of this research is to provide organizations in the engineering
and construction industry with a direction for implementing and developing PCS as a
strategic tool that can improve project outcomes.
This paper is structured as follows. Section 2 presents a review of the literature on
enablers and barriers of PCS, main elements of PCS success and project success objectives in
the engineering and construction industry. The research methodology is described in Section 183
3 and the results of the study are reported in Section 4. Section 5 presents the discussion and
final research model. Finally, Section 6 highlights the conclusions and implications of
the study.
2. Literature review
Engineering and construction projects are naturally high risk due to scope complexity,
contracting strategies, overly optimistic schedule, difficulties managing project change and
resources capabilities (Assaf and Al-Hejji, 2006; Braimah, 2014). Therefore, achieving project
objectives in this sector is one of the key subjects in project management (Olawale and Sun,
2014; Sakka et al., 2016). Although the definition of project success is different amongst
industries, it is based on the basic notion of overall achievement of project goals and
expectations. Typically, the iron triangle of scope, time and cost has been the dominating
performance indicator of project success (Al-Hajj, 2018; Tsiga et al., 2017). Particularly in
engineering and construction projects, a lack of definition of project scope at the beginning of
the project is a major contribution to unsuccessful projects. An accurately defined and
managed scope supports the delivery of a quality project outcome within stakeholders
agreement for cost and schedule targets (Misic and Radujkovic, 2015; Winch, 2012). While
ineffective project performance remains a major area of concern for project management
practitioners (Setia and Patel, 2013), previous research attributes the underperformance in a
majority of construction projects to poor project control practices (Yean Yng Ling and Theng
Ang, 2013; Liu, 2015a; Maqsoom et al., 2020).
PCS is an integrated framework of processes, tools and people that businesses use to track
and monitor project performance (Rozenes et al., 2006; Jayaraman, 2016; J€ unge et al., 2019).
The main purpose of a PCS is to provide a means to measure project performance parameters
and present them in a way that allows effective feedback against defined expectations. On
large complex projects PCS generally have many facets and demands consideration of time,
costs, quality, safety and environmental issues (Wang et al., 2017). In engineering and
construction industry with multiple stakeholders, PCS require project information from
different parties such as owner, contractor and vendor which makes the implementation of
PCS more complicated (Bower and Finegan, 2009; He et al., 2019; J€ unge et al., 2019).
An effective PCS has been shown to have a direct link to achieving project objectives and
to reducing the reasons for project failure (Benjaoran, 2009; Ford et al., 2007; Maqsoom et al.,
2020; Parnell et al., 2020). Although many studies emphasis that implementing effective PCS
is significant to project success (Al-Hajj, 2018; Durdyev, 2020; Sudhakar, 2016; Taherdoost,
2016), very few identify the elements of PCS that are most critical to improve project outcomes
(Jawad and Ledwith, 2021).
Maturity models are recognized as systematic approaches to measure the relative
performance of different aspects of project management (Backlund et al., 2013; Brookes et al.,
2014). PCS maturity in the context of project management has been addressed in previous
studies (Crawford, 2014). The majority of these studies have focused on specific elements of
PCS such as change management and earned value. For instance, change management
maturity model (CM3) was developed by (Sun et al., 2009) which consists of six key processes
ECAM evaluated against five maturity levels. Stratton (2006) also proposed a five-level maturity
31,13 model as a tool to assess an organization’s capability in earned value management. These
studies show that established, high capability maturity levels lead to better and more
consistent performance, particularly in the construction industry. Project management
standards also identify PCS as one of the project management knowledge areas and have
addressed PCS maturity as part of organizational maturity (PMI, 2013, 2017). A study
conducted by Jawad and Ledwith (2021) has attempted to consider more PCS elements by
184 proposing a new PCS maturity model that measures project control capabilities and the
quality of applying project control tools. This model defines six critical elements of a PCS: 1)
change management, 2) earned value, 3) baselined plan, 4) resource allocation, 5) progress
method and 6) project governance. The approach of this model is to provide a comprehensive
framework for PCS by including project governance that allows the project team to review
project performance and add corrective verification processes (White and Fortune, 2002).
These models provide a practical framework to help organizations assess their
performance in the main elements of PCS and improve their maturity in each element
however, the impact of enablers and barriers on these PCS elements has not been
investigated. A study of the construction industry in Oman identified a number of factors
effecting PCS success. These are: 1) schedule with documented milestones and deliverables, 2)
ability of project team to manage scheduled activities, 3) effectiveness in reworking
schedules, 4) reliability of schedules, 5) lack of leadership, 6) lack of support from project
stakeholders, 7) lack of skills in planning and scheduling, 8) ineffective control and reporting
system between management levels and 9) lack of use of new technology for project control
(Al-Nasseri and Aulin, 2016). Another study in the same year conducted in Kenya identified
project team experience diversity as a critical factor for PCS success and found that it had a
significant positive impact on the performance of construction projects (Obare et al., 2016). In
2018, Jawad et al. identified the critical enablers and barriers linked with successful PCS in the
petroleum and chemical industry using a fuzzy multi-criteria model and expert’s judgment.
Their study identified a total of nine enablers and 15 barriers that related to PCS success
(Jawad et al., 2018). A follow-on study was then conducted using interpretive structural
modeling (ISM) to examine the relationship between these enablers and barriers and to
identify the most dominant ones (Jawad and Ledwith, 2020). This study identified (3)
dominant enablers that drive successful PCS: 1) “Skilled and experienced project team
members”, 2) “Explicitly defined roles of project team members” and 3) “An accurate Work
Breakdown Structure (WBS)”. Also identified were six dominant barriers: 1) “Lack of
standard processes”, 2) “Vague contract deliverables”, 3) “Unclear project goals”, 4) “Unclear
project milestones”, 5) “Disparate control system between owner and contractor” and 6) “Lack
of information communication”.
Although previous studies present practical frameworks for 1) the main elements of PCS
success and 2) the enablers and barriers of successful PCS implementation (Jawad and
Ledwith, 2020, 2021), the relationship between these two frameworks needs to be investigated
in the context of project success. Two questions remain unanswered; 1) which PCS elements
are critical to achieve project objectives of scope, schedule and cost? and 2) what are the
critical enablers and barriers that impact these PCS elements.
This study builds on the research about PCS implementation and maturity models
described above by identifying; 1) the specific elements of PCS that impact project success,
and 2) the individual enablers and barriers that influence each of the six PCS elements. Hence,
three enablers, six barriers and six elements of PCS have been selected to develop the research
model for this study shown in Figure 1. A new modeling approach aims to provide a wider
understanding of PCS as an integrated framework for project success. The proposed model
contributes to project management knowledge and differs from previous attempts in two
ways. Firstly, it investigates the elements of PCS that are critical to achieving project scope,
schedule and cost objective; secondly, enablers and barriers of PCS success are examined to PCS
see how they influence each PCS element independently. The methodology to validate the implementation
proposed model presented is explained in the next section.
3. Research methodology
The objectives of this study are twofold: 1) to examine which of the PCS elements are more
important for achieving project scope, schedule, and cost and 2) to identify which enablers
185
and barriers of PCS implementation impact these elements and drives project success.
Following the literature review presented in the previous section, six elements are identified
as critical components of PCS. These elements are: 1) change management, 2) earned value, 3)
baselined plan, 4) resource allocation, 5) progress method and 6) project governance. The
performance of these elements can be measured using the PCS maturity model developed by
Jawad and Ledwith (2021). This model presents a framework for the measurement of PCS
success and improvement of PCS capability as shown in Table 1.
The assessment of maturity in this model involves improving project control capabilities
of the six PCS elements against five maturity levels (Crawford, 2014; Kwak and Ibbs, 2002;
Lianying et al., 2012) as described in Table 2.
The level of maturity is expressed on a 1 to 5 Likert scale, where 1 is the lowest level of
process maturity and 5 the highest (Backlund et al., 2013; Crawford, 2014; Lianying et al.,
2012). This scale is well established in the literature and one of the most widely used in
assessing process maturity in project management (Backlund et al., 2013; Brookes et al., 2014;
Duffy, 2001; PMI, 2013).
To achieve the second objectives, the dominant enablers and barriers of PCS
implementation have been selected from the literature review (Jawad and Ledwith, 2020).
The description of these enablers and barriers are shown in Table 3.
The approach undertaken to achieve the research objectives is a questionnaire survey. To
investigate the relationship between PCS elements and project success, the respondents were
asked to rate the impact of each of the six PCS elements on project objectives: scope, schedule
and cost. The survey also asked respondents to assess the performance of their PCS in each of
the six elements and to report the impact that each of the enablers and barriers had on these
elements. The steps of the applied methodology are outlined in Figure 2. The development of
the survey instrument used to collect data, and the data collection process is described in the
following sections.
1. Change Level 1 No change management processes in place. Few processes are defined on a
Management regular basis
A documented Level 2 Basic change management processes are established, but it is not enforced
management of consistently. The project team is reactive to changes
186 change process Level 3 Change Management processes are followed in a consistent basis and
that clearly sets documented. The project team begins proactive in anticipating changes.
out the method of Audit trail is recorded
project change Level 4 The change management processes are integrated throughout the team and
required to with other functions. There is a dedicated measurement system for change
correct management. The project team is supportive to managing changes
deviations Level 5 Change management Performance evaluation metrics are developed and
against project implemented. Processes are monitored and analyzed for potential
objectives improvement. The project team takes full advantage of technology support
2. Earned Value Level 1 No or limited EVM implementation in place, any use of Earned Value is
The value of limited to individuals
work performed; Level 2 Basic EVM at the lowest level of WBS is established and basic reviews of SPI
Earned Value and CPI are carried out
(EV) can be Level 3 EVM system is defined and documented based on an international standard
provided from Level 4 There is a dedicated measurement system for EVM use. Advanced
the PCS based applications of Earned Value
upon the basis of Level 5 Plans are put in place to improve the quality of the EV data and it use.
the project Metrics are used to track EVMS improvements
schedule
3. Baselined Plan Level 1 No formal methods for capturing the major Project deliverables (WBS),
An appropriately activities are randomly placed in the schedule, and some schedule
presented base constraints, calendars and major deliverables are identified
lined schedule Level 2 Scope, constraints, and major deliverables are defined, not all activities are
within an agreed assigned to a WBS element
definition of Level 3 The project durations and deliverables are clearly defined and documented
project scope and related to the projects WBS including third parties, subcontractors, and
using a defined field activities. Project has an established a clearly identifiable critical path
WBS Level 4 The schedule is comprehensively structured by the WBS and milestones.
Cross-WBS linkages are defined in the schedule logic. Schedule is integrated
with other functions such progress method and reporting. Schedule risks are
identified
Level 5 Changes to baseline are properly managed through a documented,
integrated change control process. Schedule modeling techniques are used
e.g. networking. All schedule optimization techniques are documented along
with a rationale and risk assessment and are approved by management
4. Resource Level 1 No formal methods to define the resource requirements, resource
Loaded categorization not defined
A schedule that Level 2 Basic Methods of presenting resource allocations and categorization are
defines activities established
and resources Level 3 Methods of presenting resource allocations and categorization are defined
required to and documented; resource requirements are based upon demonstrated
complete the historical performance
project- Level 4 Risk mitigation of resource constraints can be identified, and timely
considering the corrective action proposed. Changes to schedule comprehend the resources
Construction, constraints and is adjusted considering those constraints
Commissioning Level 5 Resource changes and update to PCS is defined in an integrated change
and Handover to control process. All schedule optimization techniques are documented along
Table 1. Operations with a rationale and risk assessment and are approved by management
Six elements of PCS stages
success with maturity
level criteria (continued )
Elements of PCS Maturity
PCS
success level Key capabilities of PCS success implementation
5. Progress Level 1 No formal progress method defined or in place, progressing deliverables
Method depend on the capabilities of individuals
Clear and Level 2 Basic methods of progressing deliverables and activities are established
documented Level 3 Methods of progressing deliverables and activities, forecasting, and
method to performance measurements are defined and documented. Methods of 187
progress progressing other project activities such as third-party services,
deliverables, construction, and commissioning are defined, documented and part of the
activities, and PCS
materials/sub- Level 4 Method in place to report deviation from the project baseline to allow
contractor corrective action to be undertaken. PCS is integrated and there is only one
throughout all entry of raw data on regular basis
stages of project Level 5 Processes are continuously monitored and analyzed for potential
“life cycle” improvement
6. Project Level 1 No governance program in place
Governance Level 2 Basic Process of project performance review with all stockholders is
The project has a established
governance Level 3 Governance program is defined and documented. Project management team
program with all roles and authorization level are defined and documented
stakeholders Level 4 PCS produces information and data that drives decision making. Information
where project sharing process that streamlines and empowers decision making
performance is Level 5 Goals are set for improving the governance program. Project team shares
reviewed holistic view of what value PCS is to the overall project success Table 1.
significance (Artur, 2019; Kriksciuniene et al., 2019). The same scale was used in the last
section of the survey, Section 4, to collect data on the impact of each PCS element on project
objectives: scope, schedule, and cost. To increase the response rate, an online survey using the
QuestionPro platform was developed. Finally, a pilot study was conducted to validate and
pre-test the survey and subsequently modified before a final version was submitted to the
respondents.
Barriers Definition
B1 – Lack of standard Poor standardized project management that is composed of standardized practices
processes standardization means the degree of absence of variation in implementing such
practices
B2 – Vague contract Vague and inconsistent information regarding contract, Scope of Work and contract
deliverables deliverables
B3 – Unclear project A lack of direction and define desired benefits and outcomes of project
goals and objectives
B4 – Un-clear project Poor planning for schedule activities that shows an important achievement in a
milestones project.
B5 – Disparate control Different control system between owner and contractor in term of defining Scope of
system between owner Work, deliverables, scheduled, payment methods and indistinct criterion used to
and contractor define project completion
Table 3. B6 – Lack of Poor communication planning that includes the processes required to ensure timely
Description of PCS information and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and ultimate
enablers and barriers communication disposition of project information
Figure 2.
Research methodology
contributor to the kingdom’s economic growth (Alkahtani et al., 2018; Erdogan et al., 2010; PCS
Moshashai et al., 2020). Schedule delays, budget overruns and scope changes that prevail in implementation
those projects, particularly with the COVID 19 pandemic, pose serious challenges in this
sector (Gamil and Alhagar, 2020; Shibani et al., 2020). An effective PCS will have a significant
influence on the way which these challenges can be addressed. Therefore, petroleum and
chemical projects in Saudi Arabia were selected to validate the research model.
The survey targeted organizations involved in the petroleum and chemical industry in
Saudi Arabia. The initial list came from a company register (gulftalent.com) this list was 189
shortened to include those companies that operated in the petroleum and chemical sector which
comprise 72 companies. The sampling technique used for data collection was random sampling
of respondents sourced from professional platforms. The survey was sent to 1,400 participants
in October/September 2020. According to Adam (2020), the number of respondents required to
provide a 95% confidence level in the survey was 302. The total completed responses received
back was 400 which represent 29% response rate and well above the required 95% confidence
level. The completed respondents came from nine owner/operator, 13 engineering and 21
engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies. Table 4 shows the complete
analysis of the survey, the high non-disclosure percentage for completed surveys was expected
due to the high level of confidentiality that exist within the petroleum and chemical industry.
The valid data set was then organized and analyzed using SPSS software.
Number Cronbach’s
Construct no. Description of items alpha
Construct 1 Maturity level of the six elements of PCS, Change Management, 6 0.951
Earned Value, Baselined Plan, Resource Loaded, Progress Method and
Governance Program
Construct 2 Significance of the impact of “E1 – Skilled and experienced project 6 0.951
team members” on the six elements of PCS
Construct 3 Significance of the impact of “E2 – Explicitly define roles of project 6 0.968
team members” on the six elements of PCS
Construct 4 Significance of the impact of “E3 – Accurate and detailed WBS” on the 6 0.929
six elements of PCS
Construct 5 Significance of the impact of “B1 – Lack of standard processes” on the 6 0.929
six elements of PCS
Construct 6 Significance of the impact of “B2 - Vague contract deliverables” on the 6 0.910
six elements of PCS
Construct 7 Significance of the impact of “B3 – Unclear project goals and 6 0.912
objectives” on the six elements of PCS
Construct 8 Significance of the impact of “B4 - Un-clear project milestones” on the 6 0.948
six elements of PCS
Construct 9 Significance of the impact of “B5 – Disparate control system between 6 0.937
owner and contractor” on the six elements of PCS
Construct 10 Significance of the impact of “B6 – Lack of information 6 0.958
communication” on the six elements of PCS
Construct 11 Significance of the impact of the six elements of PCS on project Scope 6 0.932
objective
Construct 12 Significance of the impact of the six elements of PCS on project 6 0.876
Schedule objective
Table 6. Construct 13 Significance of the impact of the six elements of PCS on project Cost 6 0.783
Reliability statistics objective
(Table 1). The purpose of this step was to operationalize the six elements of the PCS which PCS
represent the dependent variables in the research model. The variables were operationalized implementation
by averaging the items scores across each variable. Table 7 presents the distribution of survey
respondents. For example, for change management 0.8% of the respondents indicated that
they were at Level 1 (Ad-Hoc) and 50.8% indicated that were at Level 5 (Optimized). Generally,
the results show that a minimum of 90% of the respondents indicated that their organizations
operated at level 4 (Managed) or Level 5 (Optimized) for all six PCS elements.
The first objective in this study is to examine the relationship between PCS elements and 191
project success objectives. To achieve this, the respondents were asked to map how each of
the six PCS elements impacted the three project objectives scope, schedule and cost. The
average values for each construct between the six elements of PCS and three project
objectives were calculated. Table 8 presents the results showing which PCS element was
considered by respondents to have the greatest impact on each project objective.
The results show that project governance and baselined plan were judged to have the
highest impact on achieving project scope objectives with scores of 4.26 and 4.11,
respectively. Project governance (4.26), earned value (4.13) and resource allocation (4.13) were
ranked as most important for meeting schedule objective. Finally, for project cost objectives,
project governance and earned value were deemed as the most important with scores of 4.45
and 4.38. Based on these results, the top two elements within each of project objectives were
selected for regression analysis. These elements are: project governance, earned value,
baselined plan and resource allocation. From Table 8, it can be observed that all six elements
have a high score for project cost objective. This would indicate that the respondents consider
the PCS elements more important in controlling project cost and executing projects within the
planned budget.
Dependent variables
Model 1 Model 4
Governance Model 2 Model 3 Resource
program Earned value Baselined plan allocation
Independent variables Beta Sig. (p) Beta Sig. (p) Beta Sig. (p) Beta Sig. (p)
E1 – Skilled and experienced project 0.177 0.001 0.218 0.000 0.157 0.003 0.207 0.000
team members
E2 – Explicitly defined roles of project 0.087 0.108 0.132 0.019 0.054 0.330 0.076 0.171
team members
E3 – An accurate work breakdown 0.112 0.022 0.075 0.143 0.086 0.089 0.082 0.101
structure (WBS)
B1 – Lack of standard processes 0.246 0.000 0.151 0.006 0.224 0.000 0.214 0.000
B2 – Vague contract deliverables 0.013 0.760 0.035 0.430 0.042 0.343 0.016 0.718
B3 – Unclear project goals 0.176 0.000 0.183 0.000 0.186 0.000 0.183 0.000
B4 – Unclear project milestones 0.031 0.536 0.056 0.280 0.001 0.987 0.067 0.190
B5 – Disparate control system 0.141 0.001 0.157 0.001 0.134 0.003 0.141 0.002
between owner and contractor
B6 – Lack of information 0.028 0.595 0.078 0.153 0.004 0.936 0.011 0.838
communication Table 9.
R2 0.339 0.281 0.302 0.306 Results of the four
Model significance 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 regression models
ECAM insignificant with (p > 0.1), they were not considered as part of the research model and thus
31,13 warrant no further investigation.
195
Figure 3.
Final research model
ECAM (5) The findings of this study show that “Skilled and experienced project team members”
31,13 is a significant enabler that impacts the performance of the four PCS elements, most
significantly impacting earned value. Organizations need to recognize that essential
competencies are required in project team members across all elements of the PCS,
particularly earned value. These competencies involve detailed knowledge of the
systems and software being utilized on projects. Acquiring these competencies can
involve years of experience as well as technical qualifications (Khoury, 2014; Wang
196 and Yuan, 2011). In engineering and construction projects, the diversity and
complexity of projects requires skills gained through experience in the industry using
specific PCS systems and tools (Yosua et al., 2006).
(6) In addition, this study identified “Unclear project goals and objectives”, and
“Disparate control system between owner and contractor” as significant barriers for
the four PCS elements. This result can be explained by reflecting that engineering and
construction projects typically include multiple parties with different interests and
project goals. Differences in organizations’ objectives, combined with the enormous
variety of unexpected situations that emerge during project execution, makes
disparate control system between owner and contractor unavoidable (Doloi, 2011;
Kivil€a et al., 2017; Pinto et al., 2009). Effective PCS then depends on the project team
defining goals and objectives that all parties agree with and consider legitimate, this
allows them to be built into the organization’s PCS.
The research model has revealed some nuances specific to the three project objectives scope,
schedule and cost. These are discussed below:
Further reading
Cheng, E.W.L. and Li, H. (2002), “Construction partnering process and associated critical success
factors: quantitative investigation”, Journal of Management in Engineering, Vol. 18, doi: 10.
1061/(ASCE)0742-597X(2002)18:4(194).
Costello, A. and Osborne, J. (2005), “Best practices in exploratory factor Analysis: four
recommendations for getting the most from your analysis”, Practical Assessment, Research
and Evaluation, Vol. 10, pp. 1-9.
George, R.A., Siti-Nabiha, A.K., Jalaludin, D. and Abdalla, Y.A. (2016), “Barriers to and enablers of
sustainability integration in the performance management systems of an oil and gas company”,
Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 136, pp. 197-212, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.097.
G€or€og, M. (2009), “A comprehensive model for planning and controlling contractor cash-flow”,
International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 27, pp. 481-492, doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.
08.001.
ECAM Gulftalent (2021), available at: https://www.gulftalent.com/companies-in-saudi-arabia/9.
31,13 Hadi, N., Abdullah, N. and Ilham, S. (2016), “An easy approach to exploratory factor Analysis:
marketing perspective noor ul hadi”, Journal of Educational and Social Research, Vol. 6,
pp. 215-223, doi: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n1p215.
Ika, L.A. (2009), “Project success as a topic in project management journals”, Project Management
Journal, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 6-19, doi: 10.1002/pmj.20137.
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E2-explicity E3-accurate B5-disparate Appendix 1
E1-skilled and defined roles work control system
experienced of project breakdown B1-lack of B2-vague B3-unclear B4-unclear between B6-lack of
project team team structure standard contract project project owner and information
members members (WBS) processes deliverables goals milestones contractor communication
E1- Skilled and 1 0.310** 0.308** 0.350** 0.016 0.351** 0.163** 0.277** 0.252**
experienced team
members
E2-Explicity 0.310** 1 0.185** 0.483** 0.106* 0.273** 0.052 0.411** 0.312**
defined roles of
project team
members
E3-Accurate work 0.308** 0.185** 1 0.158** 0.016 0.121* 0.089 0.174** 0.268**
breakdown
structure (WBS)
B1-Lack of 0.350** 0.483** 0.158** 1 0.122* 0.397** 0.018 0.624** 0.150**
standard processes
B2-Vague contract 0.016 0.106* 0.016 0.122* 1 0.076 0.029 0.151** 0.065
deliverables
B3-Unclear project 0.351** 0.273** 0.121* 0.397** 0.076 1 0.032 0.247** 0.100*
goals
B4-Unclear project 0.163** 0.052 0.089 0.018 0.029 0.032 1 0.110* 0.024
milestones
B5-Disparate 0.277** 0.411** 0.174** 0.624** 0.151** 0.247** 0.110* 1 0.215**
control system
between owner and
contractor
B6-Lack of 0.252** 0.312** 0.268** 0.150** 0.065 0.100* 0.024 0.215** 1
information
communication
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
PCS
203
Table A1.
correlation test
Bivariate
implementation
ECAM Appendix 2
31,13 1-Regression Model 1 – project governance
Dependent Variable: Project Governance
Independent Variables: three enablers and six barriers of PCS implementation
Model summary
204
Change statistics
R Adjusted R Std. Error of R square F Sig. F
Model R square square the estimate change change df1 df2 change
AnovaA
Co-efficientsA
Unstandardized Standardized
coefficients coefficients
Std.
Model B error Beta t Sig
Change statistics
R Adjusted R Std. Error of R square F Sig. F 205
Model R square square the estimate change change dfl df2 change
AnovaA
Co-efficientsA
Unstandardized Standardized
coefficients coefficients
std.
Model B error Beta t Sig
Model summary
Change statistics
206 R Adjusted R Std. Error of R square F Sig. F
Model R square square the estimate change change df1 df2 change
ANOVAA
Co-efficientsA
Unstandardized Standardized
coefficients coefficients
Std.
Model B error Beta t Sig
Change statistics
R Adjusted R Std. Error of R square F Sig. F 207
Model R square square the estimate change change df1 df2 change
AnovaA
Co-efficientsA
Unstandardized Standardized
co-efficients co-efficients
Std.
Model B error Beta t Sig
Corresponding author
Sahar Jawad can be contacted at: [email protected]
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