1. Introduction

The construction industry contributes a significant part to the improvement and accomplishment of the goals in society. It has complications in its nature because it embraces an enormous number of parties as clients, contractors, consultants, shareholders, and regulators. It is one of the biggest industries which adds to about 10% of the Gross National Product (GNP) in industrialized countries (Navon, 2005).

The construction industry in Tanzania was the primary economic engine of the nation in 2021. According to the Bank of Tanzania's annual report for 2021–2022, the GDP of the nation was made up of three main sectors: services (32%), industry and construction (31%), and agricultural (agriculture, forestry, and fishing) (27%). Construction contributed around 16% of Tanzania's GDP, followed by crops (14%), manufacturing (9%), wholesale and retail commerce (9%), repairs (9%), transport (8%), livestock (8%), mining and quarrying (5%), and wholesale and retail trade (9%). Due to the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, tourism, another important sector of Tanzania's economy, had a decline in GDP from 10.6% in 2019 to 5.3% in 2020 before increasing to 5.7% in 2021 (BOT, 2022).

Figure 1. GDP contribution (Source; Bank of Tanzania 2022)

Despite its importance in the economy, the construction industry is full of unending challenges, demanding high energy and constant problem-solving (CRB, 2004). Most construction projects are facing major challenges which in one way or another lead to increasing project cost, poor project quality, project delays, reduced productivity, loss of profit, and damage to business relationships (Jaffar et al., 2011; Levy, 2018; Rwelamila P.D., 2000).

On the other hand, the escalation of construction management challenges as a result of unique construction projects such as poor resources, lack of specialization (knowledge and skills), poor technologies, poor local industries, weak construction companies, poor building regulations and standards available locally, many individual locations (two sites at the same time), high complexity and uncertainties have increased the consequences on managing the projects (Dainty & Leiringer, 2019; Windapo, 2013).

In addition to that, the industry is populated by small local firms with small market share (URT, 2003) due to few work opportunities, weak resource base, inadequate experience, difficult tender conditions, small capital base, delays in payments from clients, high hire rates and high prices which affect the way they manage the small project-based industry (CRB, 2004; Lu & Yan, 2013; Wang & Yuan, 2011).

Also, the existence of building production managers and staff who traditionally came from a trade background with the small trend towards staff from technical and degree courses has increased more problems in the industry while still there is a sophisticated system of registration of professionals such as architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors accompanied with mandatory large fee scale (Adjei et al., 2017; Chigara et al., 2013; Smith, 2014, 2016).

Also, a large part of the industry is still dominated by the dormant procurement option which is the traditional tender build process that preserves the sequential separation of design from production and therefore increases construction time and cost (Fellows et al., 2009; Mengistu & Mahesh, 2020).

Most of these challenges are associated with the capability and capacity of local contractors and consultants which has changed market share from local players (both consultants and contractors) by 20% (by value) as compared to 80% of the foreign contracting firms during 2003 (Anugwo et al., 2018; Boniface & Malongo, 2004).

However, one way of solving these challenges is to examine the way we can improve the construction management performance in Tanzania by identifying and analyzing the conditions which favor high productivity, to acquire the tangible benefits in all aspects of designing, planning, scheduling, monitoring, and construction of the project.

Due to the critical role which the construction industry plays in Tanzania and the level of performance of the industry in the country, identifying the key elements for improving construction management performance is a significant task. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify key elements for improving construction management performance in Tanzania.

1.1. Construction Management

In construction, the failure of any project is mostly associated with problems and failure in project performance (Khlaifat et al., 2019; KPI, 2000; Kuprenas, 2003; Nitithamyong & Skibniewski, 2006; Sage et al., 2014). To complete the construction process successfully and therefore succeed in project performance, the project has to meet the anticipated level of quality and also fit within the contractual terms. The process has to be well managed to permit the participants to accomplish their work competently, effectively, and safely (Nguyen et al., 2004; Robichaud & Anantatmula, 2011).

However, the rise of challenges within construction projects has been a major hindrance toward the improvement of how construction projects are managed, produced, and performed (Alinaitwe et al., 2007; Enshassi et al., 2007). On the other hand, to achieve sustainable performance, there has been a substantial demand for a positive attempt to ensure that construction projects are managed accordingly, and to accomplish that, construction project participants should use their knowledge and managerial skills available to ensure they achieve the project objectives (Alaloul et al., 2020; Maylor et al., 2008).

For a long time, many construction project participants received training in Construction Management, to cater for the rising failures and challenges in the performance of the construction industry (Benz, 1997; Wong et al., 2011). These trainings involve the use of specific, project management procedures to manage the planning, design, and construction of a project, from beginning (pre-design) to end (closeout) (Dounavi et al., 2022; Niittymäki, 2015).

But despite all that, most of the projects are still undergoing the same construction management challenges clarified above and some even fail to meet their projected benefit or are even totally dismissed and abandoned before or after their completion (Portny, 2015). Unfortunately, participants in projects are expected to build several construction management skills, both organizational and individual, to succeed in improving the performance of construction management to benefit many construction projects against participating in repetitive ineffectual environments that lead to poor results and reprise these environments time and time again with poor outcomes (Atkinson et al., 2006).

1.2. Project Performance

In measuring and evaluating project performance, a large number of performance indicators may be used. Primary performance indicators are key performance indicators (KPIs) further known as three predominant performance evaluation dimensions which are time, cost, and quality. They are also termed “triple constraints,” which traditionally consisted of only time, cost, and scope (Van Wyngaard et al., 2012).

Figure 2. Project triple constraints (Source; Van Wyngaard et al., (2012))

In addition to that, performance dimensions may be motivated by several characteristics of the project and always may have one or more indicators. For example, Dissanayaka and Kumaraswamy (1999) revealed that the characteristics of the project, the system of procurement, the performance of the project team, the characteristics of client representations, the characteristics of the contractor, the characteristics of the design team, and all external conditions have much influence on the performances project time and cost dimensions (Dissanayaka & Kumaraswamy, 1999).

In the case of the time dimension, it has different implications in management. The time and its changes are monitored along with defining and assessing project success in the entire construction process (Chan et al., 2002; Shenhar et al., 2001).

The project cost performance is influenced by many elements. Iyer and Jha (2005) agreed on issues such as the competence of project managers, the support from top management, coordinating and leadership skills of project managers, participant’s monitoring and feedback, decision making, project participants coordination, the competence of owner, the social condition of the project, the economic condition of the project, and site climatic condition as the major elements influencing cost performance (Iyer & Jha, 2005).

Figure 3. Project success (Source; Shenhar et al., 2001))

Harmonization among participants of the project was also selected as the most important of all the factors, having a maximum effect on cost performance. Excitingly, Love et al. (2005) inspected the project time-cost performance relationship, and their results indicate that cost is a poor predictor of time performance (Love et al., 2005). Besides that, project performance can be explained in a group of indicators. These are indicators explained by Cheung et al. (2004) such as performance on business, client changes, time, cost, quality, health and safety, and client satisfaction (Cheung et al., 2004).

Also, another interesting way of evaluating project performance is through two mutual sets of indicators explained by Pheng and Chuan (2006) namely macro viewpoint and micro viewpoint. The first set is connected to people who will analyze the performance of any project from the macro viewpoint which includes the owner, users, stakeholders, and the general public, while the second set is the group which consists of the project developer and the project contractor. These are people who analyze project performance from the micro viewpoint (Pheng & Chuan, 2006). On the other hand, there are eight key skills (performance drivers), established by Jere and Sanders (2008) which together form a strong bonding structure that demonstrates how the construction projects should be governed (Jere Jacobs & Sanders, 2008).

Some researchers such as Okuwoga (1998), Brown and Adams(2000), Ugwu and Haupt, (2007), Navon (2005), Love, et al. (2005), Iyer and Jha (2005), and Cheung, et al. (2004) reviewed several factors involved in construction management performance (Brown & Adams, 2000; Cheung et al., 2004; Iyer & Jha, 2005; Love et al., 2005; Navon, 2005; Okuwoga, 1998; Ugwu & Haupt, 2007). Table 1 summarizes some of the other literature established for reviewing this study.

Table 1. Some of the previous literature on Construction management

Sixty-eight (68) elements were submitted to the construction industry participants or respondents through questionnaires and allowed to identify and indicate the most important elements for improving construction management performance. Table 2 includes all chosen factors categorized into ten performance groups.

Table 2. Selected variables for the current study

2. Main Body

2.1. Methodology and Data Analysis

The methodology used in this study is to identify and analyze characteristics of management practices through a literature review. The identified attributes were analyzed and the respondents were prioritized based on relative weighting. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and conducted offline. The collected data was further analyzed using the MS Excel 2013 program. A quantitative research methodology was adopted to analyze the data collected and the following tools and techniques were applied to the data: reliability analysis to check the consistency of the data collected for this study, and a Relative Importance Index (RII) for the priorities and ranking of the attributes The data collected was used to evaluate the weighted average of the ratings given by the respondents.

The list of companies that create the population size of the study, came from construction stakeholders (i.e. clients, consultants, and contractors) based in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania. The target populations of Clients were the recognized local real estate agents, consultants were local architectural consulting firms registered by the recognized board (in this case Architect and Quantity Surveyor Registration Board (AQRB) while contractors were the Class-V local contractors, with offices in Dar es Salaam City because 95% of the local firms are in small to medium-sized enterprises in classes 5-7 (largely class 5).

The population samples were collected from the AQRB registry (as per November 2020 AQRB report) whereby there are 257 local registered architectural organizations and 24 foreign registered architectural organizations (65 firms located in Dar es Salaam), the Contractors Registration Board (CRB) registry of 2018 shows a total number of 725 class-V local building contractors (54 class-V local building contractors located in Dar Es Salaam) while for the case of real estate organization zoom Tanzania directory of 2020 indicate a total of 224 real estate agents (32 real estate organization located in Dar Es Salaam). Therefore, the population size of all the clients, consultants, and contractors is 151 respondents.

The target populations of clients, consultants, and contractors depend on the registered real estate organization, design (and consultancy services), and contractors located in Dar es Salaam City only. The sample size formula for the small and finite population is provided by (Kothari, 2004) and is given as;

2.2. Data Collection

Data for the research was collected through two sources, which are primary and secondary. Data collected through the primary source was through the administration of questionnaires and discussions with respondents. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that it answers the objective of the research.

Types of the respondents

The questionnaires were distributed to all clients (real estate organizations), consultants (architectural consulting firms), and contractors (Building contracting firms) which are located in Dar es Salaam. The population size is that of organizations located in Dar es Salaam which is 151 while the population sample is 110 which was identified using a formula established by Kothari, (2004).

Table 3. Distribution and collection of questionnaires

The sample size of this research was 110 respondents with 86 retrieved questionnaires whereby clients were 13, consultants were 52 and contractors were 21. Table 3 indicates the number of clients, consultants, and contractors who responded to the questionnaire where the number of consultants was higher than the rest of the groups.

Respondent’s designation

It should be noted that 29.7% of respondents worked at the Project manager/Deputy position, 15.1% as Site engineers/ Design engineers, 5.8% at the company manager /Deputy Level, and 51.2% at other managerial levels (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Job title of respondent

Years of experience

In selecting the research sample, respondents were guided by their broad and long-term experience in construction management-related activities, which enabled respondents to describe simply and accurately the characteristics influencing the effectiveness and to demonstrate the accuracy of the data collected.

Figure 5. Years of experience

Respondent’s education level

It should be noted that 29.7% of respondents worked at the Project manager/Deputy position, 15.1% as Site engineers/ Design engineers, 5.8% at the company manager /Deputy Level, and 51.2% at other managerial levels (Figure 4).

Figure 6. Respondents education level

The research aims to identify the most significant elements which if applied in the Tanzanian construction industry will contribute towards positive impacts and therefore improve construction projects in Tanzania. Using Microsoft Excel 2014, the analysis was conducted using the RII (Relative Importance Index) method where the ranks of elements in each group of respondents were determined. Then the elements with ranks between 1 to 10 in every responding group were recognized as the most preferred elements. The tables below (Tables 4 to 13) include 10 performance groups that have summarized the calculated RII of all the factors for improving construction management as selected by three responding groups (clients, consultants, and contractors). Then the elements with ranks between 1 to 10 in every responding group were recognized as the key elements.

Table 4. Cost Related Performance factors

Table 5. Time-Related Performance factors

Table 6. Productivity Related Performance factors

Table 7. Quality-Related Performance factors

Table 8. Client Satisfaction Related Performance factors

Table 9. Regular and Community Satisfaction Related Performance factors

Table 10. People Related Performance factors

Table 11. Health and Safety-Related Performance Factors

Table 12. Innovation and Learning Related Performance factors

Table 13. Environmental Related Performance factors

Table 14 below summarizes the key elements for improving construction management performance in Tanzania as selected by the respondents in the construction industry. The ability to solve the problems (J₂) is ranked first element because it was the first highly recommended element by participants to contribute most to the performance of the construction management with Relative importance index of 0.9538, 0.9269, and 0.933 of Client, Consultant, and Contractor respectively.

On the other hand, the Project manager leadership skills (E₁) is ranked second element because it was the second most highly recommended element by participants to contribute to the performance of the construction management with Relative importance index of 0.938, 0.9115 and 0.9238 of Client, Consultant, and Contractor respectively.

The site climatic conditions (I₁) is ranked third in the performance of the construction management with Relative importance index of 0.938, 0.9115, and 0.914 for the Client, Consultant, and Contractor respectively.

Furthermore, Cost of materials and equipment (A₁₄), Project construction planned time (B₁) Site condition challenges (F₄), and Lack of competent staff (D₄) are ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh in the performance of the construction management in Client, Consultant, and Contractor respectively and their Relative importance index are indicated within Table 14.

Table 14. Key elements for improving CM performance

Seven (7) key elements established in Table 14 were identified among 68 factors. Using Microsoft Excel sheets, analysis was conducted, RII was determined and ranks were compared. In the end, the findings indicated that there is significant agreement between clients, consultants, and contractors on key elements for improving construction management on 7 key elements namely; project construction planned time, cost of materials and equipment, lack of competent staff, project manager leadership skills, site condition challenges, ability to solve the problems and site climatic conditions.

This paper intended to find if there are common factors between clients, consultants, and contractors for improving construction management performance. The discussion conducted shows that the analysis was conducted on each performance group and the comparison of the RII was developed and the top-ranked factor on each group among ranks 1 to 10 between clients, consultants, and contractors was chosen. The findings indicated that there are 7 key elements for improving construction management.

3. Conclusions

This study revealed the seven key elements of construction management performance in Tanzania. All the variables selected for this study had been recommended by previous literature to have a significant impact on construction management in the construction industry. This study highlighted and established sixty-eight attributes to be used in the analysis of the research and help on establishing the base for identifying the key issues for this research.

With this research is concerned, the performance of construction management depends on several attributes and it is possible to complete the project within the time frame and the budget allocated to the project.

It requires a project team, led by managers who can solve the problems, with enough leadership skills, competent staff people who know the cost of materials and equipment, and how to deal with site condition challenges to meet a construction planned time.

This research added value to the existing knowledge bank by identifying and analyzing the important factors of construction management practices/techniques on the construction performance of building construction projects.

This study provided a solution to the construction managers and project managers to apply the findings of this study in their projects to control the issues of poor project performance and delays in the completion of the projects using the identified most significant attributes of construction management practices affecting construction management performance in the Tanzanian construction industry. The scope of the current study was limited to the Tanzanian building industry, and the analytical unit was chosen to conduct research and collect data at the project/site level located in different parts of the country.