Summary of Previous Studies of Causes of Delay in the Middle East

This section will refer to theoretical studies using Excel analysis functions to determine the key literature related to delay causes, particularly in the Middle East. The literature recognises that there is insufficient coverage of project delays as a research field, both in academic studies and leading project management journals. Moreover, it could be argued that the largest number of studies related to delayed projects is from countries in the Middle East.

This section begins by providing background to the theoretical framework using a literature review of previous studies related to delay causes since 1995. An inductive thematic analysis then investigates which factors are involved in the delay of projects and are therefore perceived as key to project problems. The results of this investigation will inform the design of questionnaires and interviews in the next phase of this study.

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The literature review for this section uses a combination of a coding framework (Bryman and Bell, 2015), an “integrative literature review” (Levy and Ellis, 2006; Davis, 2014) and “thematic analysis” (Ritchie et al., 2013; Davis, 2014) to ensure an in-depth search process. According to the literature, Levy and Ellis (2006) suggested that a valid method should be followed, in order to perform a systematic “integrative literature review” (Levy and Ellis, 2006). Webster and Watson (2002) argued that “a systematic search should ensure that you accumulate a relatively complete census of relevant literature” (p. 16).

Many studies in the Middle East have been reviewed on the topic of construction project delays. Such studies are found in different countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Oman, Turkey, Egypt and Qatar.

As such, the author began by reviewing 18 articles about the 12 countries in the Middle East. Of course, the construction projects in these countries are subject to differentiated political, economic, social and cultural conditions. The focus was on key articles and an initial reading of abstracts, results and findings led to the extraction of project delays and their factors. This resulted in thirteen articles being selected for review. One recently published article was selected for each Middle Eastern country. The exception to this rule was Saudi Arabia, for which two articles published in 1995 and 2012 were chosen, because of the large number of studies that were written in the context of this country related to the delay of projects. Table 4.2 shows a summary of previous studies on construction delays in the Middle East.

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Table 4.2 Summary of previous studies of the causes of delay in construction projects in the Middle East

No. Country Researchers Rank Major causes of delay

1 Slow preparation and approval of shop drawings 2 Delays in payments to contractors

3 Changes in design/design error 4 Shortages of labour supply 5 Poor workmanship

1 Owner had more concerns with regard to financial issues

2 Contractors regarded contractual relationships as the most important

3 Consultants considered project management issues 1 Changing orders

2 Owners’ financial constraints

3 Owners’ lack of experience in the construction business 1 Slow preparation and approval of drawings

2 Inadequate early planning of the project 3 Slowness of owner’s decision-making 4 Shortage of manpower

5 Poor site management and supervision 6 Low productivity of manpower 1 Presence of unskilled labourers

2 Shortage of technical professionals in the contractor’s organisation

3 Improper technical study by the contractor during the bidding stage

4 Poor planning and scheduling of the project by the contractor

5 Too many changes to orders from owner 6 Slow decision-making by owner

1 Difficulties in financing projects by the contractor 2 Delays in delivery of the project site obstacles

3 Disputes between the contractor, supervision and owner

4 Errors and inconsistencies in design documents 5 Unqualified labourers

6 Labour shortages, causing a delay in the contracting process and supply of building materials

1 Delay in processing payments by client

2 Changing of orders by client during construction 3 Poor site management

4 Slowness in decision-making by client 5 Financial difficulties of contractor Mezher et al.,

1998 Lebanon

2

6 Syria Mustafa and

Hussain, 2010 7 Iran Pourrostam and Ismail, 2012 4 United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Faridi and El- Sayegh, 2006

5 Jordan Sweis and

Sweis, 2008

1 Saudi Arabia Assaf et al., 1995

3 Kuwait Koushki et al., 2005

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According to the surveys carried out by 13 authors in 12 Middle Eastern countries, including projects in the construction sector, changes in design or changing orders are the greatest

1 Low performance of the lowest bidder contractor

2 Delays in sub-contractor’s work

3 Poor qualification, skills and experience of the

contractor’s technical staff

4 Poor planning and scheduling

5 Delay in processing payments by the owner

1 Security

2 Corruption

3 Poor qualification of the contractor’s technical staff

4 Delay in processing payments by owner

5 Poor site management and supervision by contractor

1 Planning and programming of construction work

2 Poor construction experience

3 Shortage of material

4 Failure of work programmes in practice

5 Poor site management

1 Labour-related delays

2 Finance-related delays

3 Material-related delays

4 Changes/revision-related delays

5 Contract-related delays

1 Finance and payments of completed work by owner

2 Variation of orders/changes of scope by owner during

construction

3 Effects of subsurface conditions (e.g. soil, high water

table, etc.)

4 Low productivity level of labourers

5 Ineffective planning and scheduling of project

1 Delayed response from utility agencies

2 Major change of design during construction

3 Ineffective planning and scheduling

4 Ineffective control of progress

5 Changes in the scope of the project

6 Slow decision-making

13 Qatar Emam et al.,

2015

11 Turkey Cülfik et al.,

2014

12 Egypt

Marzouk and El-Rasas,

2014

9 Afghanistan Niazai and

Gidado, 2012 10 Oman Alnuaimi and Al Mohsin, 2013 8 Saudi Arabia Abdullah Albogamy et al., 2012

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cause of project delays in 10 out of 12 countries. This factor is jointly followed by the two second highest causes of projects delay in 8 out of 12 countries: (a) difficulties in financing or delayed payments for completed work by the owner, and (b) unqualified people working in the domain of the project. Poor project planning is ranked in third place among the factors that caused the delay of projects in 6 out of the 12 Middle Eastern countries. Finally, the last major factor that caused a delay in projects in 4 out of 12 countries is slow decision-making by the owner, as shown in Figure 4.2.

On the other hand, it was found that some causes of delay in other nations were not common among most Middle Eastern countries, such as:

1) The dispute between the contractor, supervision and the owner in Syria. 2) Security and corruption in Afghanistan.

3) Shortage of material in Oman.

Figure 4.2 Major causes of delays to projects in the Middle East 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Changes in design or

changing orders financing or delayedDifficulties in payments for completed work

Unqualified people working in the domain of the project

Poor project planning Slow decision- making by the owner

Fr eq ue nc y Causes

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