Benefit and Challenges Facing Implementation of Quality Management Practices in Construction in Abu Dhabi in the UAE

Abstract

Quality is one of the issues that have a significant impact on the construction industry in Abu Dhabi. There are some construction projects that are completed with good quality and quality requirements are implemented to a very acceptable. However, on the other hand, there are some construction projects in which the implementation of quality requirements is very low, and the end product is of poor quality. The main objective of this study is to study the success factors for implementing quality requirements, as well as the challenges that organizations face when implementing these requirements. Furthermore, studying the role of stakeholders in construction projects in implementing quality requirements and how they affect the quality level of operations as well as the end product. The background and quality aspects that need to be studied that affect construction projects have been identified. The literature has been reviewed for the two most used systems in Abu Dhabi in managing the quality of construction ISO 9000 and the total quality management systems. There are several success factors for these two systems related to top management, employees, customers, continuous improvement, quality culture, and the commitment to implementing quality requirements. Two projects of two different types were studied as a case study, in addition to conducting interviews with experts in the construction industry in Abu Dhabi to analyse and discuss the success factors and challenges facing the implementation of quality requirements, as well as the role and impact of stakeholders on the quality of construction projects. Quality management starts from the project owner where the quality requirements of the construction project are defined. Top management studies the nature of the project owner and therefore identifies strategies and quality policy for the project. The commitment of the top management of the consultant's office and the general contractor to implement the quality requirements is linked to the owner's emphasis. The organization works to achieve the policies and strategies of the top management, and therefore the objectives of the project, including quality. The results are highly positive in terms of the quality of the processes and the quality of the end product when everyone is committed to implementing the quality requirements.