Human Factors in the Australian Construction Industry: Towards Total Quality Management

Abstract

This paper concerns the challenges of applying the principles of total quality management to construction projects, particularly from the stand point of the human factor. The work is based on two major studies carried out in 1993–1995, at industry and project level respectively. The last study particularly targeted construction workers and their perception of the usefulness of the QA systems in place on case projects, and whether or not there were concurrent attempts to achieve workers' empowerment on these projects. The findings are that: (i) while the quality assurance obligations to clients (under the ISO9000's series) are being met through the existing systems (which are largely quality control based), the benefits to contractors in terms of continuous improvement and cost savings have not materialised; (ii) the view from the construction pit on the usefulness of the current generation of quality assurance systems is in marked contrast to the aims and objectives of quality assurance Standards and TQM principles; (iii) the communication processes within industry and projects remain poor; (iv) in the rush to become ‘quality endorsed’ the training needs of the rank and file of the workforce have generally been forgotten; and (v) better strategies are needed to ‘sell’ the TQM concept to the rank and file in industry and develop means of implementing TQM at project level effectively, thereby achieving workers' empowerment.