Project management performance in the UAE construction industry

The tremendous growth experienced in the UAE construction industry has been mirrored by the development and expansion of the project management discipline. The UAE has had the unique opportunity of employing the best as well as adopting international best practices. This paper identifies whether project management, as a discipline, helps deliver the key project objectives - in particular, those of time, cost and quality. It further investigates whether project managers are involved at strategic levels with the power and authority to effectively influence the direction and course of the project or were merely relegated to a monitoring and reporting role at an implementation level. A survey was undertaken to test the performance of projects in the UAE and the use of established project management tools and methodologies. Analysis was undertaken on the results to compare them against an international benchmark and assess any correlation between those projects performing poorly and projects with poor use of tools and methodologies, or a poor ranking of the critical success factors. Over 33% of projects failed to meet their stated objectives in respect of time, cost and quality and were considered poorly performing. Project managers were generally well qualified in their primary discipline and experienced in the construction industry, but were less experienced in the field of project management - many with no formal affiliation to professional institutions. Although project managers generally had good knowledge of tools and methodologies, a significant proportion had either no knowledge or saw no practical use for the established techniques.