Developing a performance measurement framework for municipal construction projects in Saudi Arabia

Performance measurement has the main aim of helping organizations to realize how decision-making processes can be harnessed to improve success rate in past activities and how the understanding from the current and past can lead to future improvements. Specifically, a comprehensive performance measurement practise must enhance the achievement of the key aim of the project stakeholders, the objectives of the project itself, and the needs of the users all of which should be capable of being represented in raw data to be manipulated and measured by a performance measurement tool. The performance of a project is directly related to its potential for success, and on the other hand, the CSFs of a project have a direct bearing on the project’s performance. In essence, the efficiency and effectiveness measures of a project are essential yardsticks for assessing project performance and success.The stakeholders in a project have needs and expectations which the project is being conceived to satisfy, therefore, these needs and expectations must be held paramount during the conceptual design, development execution, and operation stages of a project. This is applicable to the general construction industry and in particular, in construction projects implemented by municipal organisations. However, municipal construction project have been fraught with delays, cost overruns and failure in operational performance. Hence, the overall aim of this research is to develop a framework within which municipal construction project performance can be measured in the SA at any stage of the project, and specifically to increase its effectiveness and efficiency of the project in order to improve the project’s performance to the satisfaction of stakeholders.This study was implemented through the administration of a questionnaire survey based on a hypothesis that requires the identification of the challenges and obstacles that are facing the implementation of municipal construction project in SA. The collected data is based on responses from three major organisations; government, contractors and consultants that are involved in the delivery of municipal construction projects in SA. Mean and analysis of variance (ANOVA statistic) was used to manipulate the data from the questionnaire within the SPSS v.20 software environment. The resulting framework was subjected to a validation procedure which involved a structured interview process based on a focus group consisting of experts that were specially selected for the purpose establishing the extent to which the framework is practical, clear, applicable and comprehensive. Also, the focus group was used to determine the significance of the CSFs, PMs, and success (efficiency and effectiveness) measures.Overall, this study found that a total absence of performance measurement concept process permeates the management of construction projects in SA and in the municipality construction projects in particular. To close this gap, this study was embarked upon to investigate and identify the various performance measurement approaches and frameworks that are used to support the guidance of project performance toward success. Notably, this study emphasises the importance of stakeholder needs and expectation forming the bases of municipality construction projects in SA. Specifically, this study suggests that the measurement of project performance in municipality construction projects in SA should be integrated in a holistic framework containing several elements that will help to guide construction projects toward success