An empirical study of quality culture in the construction industry : A GCC Context

Keywords: Quality, quality culture, construction industry, organisational culture, GCC, construction, critical success factors, strategy, management, leadership, continuity, infrastructureQuality has proven to be an effective management concept in the twentieth century and a powerful catalyst for driving organisational effectiveness and competitiveness. In recent years, research interests have shifted from the implementation aspects of quality and thus the shaping of local and organisational cultures that drive quality through continuous improvement and optimisation, towards the emerging concept of sustainable organisational excellence. The construction industry is a key pillar of every country’s economic activity. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, continued strong growth is demonstrated by the number of landmark projects, both residential and commercial, in development across the region. The construction industry in the GCC has become more sophisticated, complex and daring than ever before and the pace of development and expansion appears unabated, despite the economic downturn. This study looks specifically at the challenges the construction industry faces in the process of implementing quality management principles and creating effective quality cultures that can deliver organisational excellence and performance impacts on a sustainable basis. The research closely scrutinises how quality cultures are defined and created in various construction-based organisational settings and aims to assess the effectiveness of quality culture maturity.A combined integrated methodology was used to examine a list of critical success factors identified in the literature review. By using six case studies spread across three GCC countries and a survey questionnaire distributed to members of all GCC countries, plus the affiliate country of Jordan, 46 critical factors emerged as dominant (and with high significance). Several unique contributions to the existing body of knowledge were added through this study. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of the literature, this study used an integrated triangulated methodology suitable for researching the GCC construction industry